Comic Books

JUSTICE LEAGUE #5

Now, with the teenaged powerhouse Cyborg at their side, this group of individual heroes must somehow put their differences aside to face the terror of Darkseid!

Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art and cover by JIM LEE and SCOTT WILLIAMS
Variant cover by ERIC BASALDUA
B&W Variant cover by JIM LEE

Price: $3.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 8.1%
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Avg Rating: 3.8
 
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Comments

  1. While I know they won’t take him down, I’m really excited to see how this group works together having just met and all.

  2. I was planning on staying on through the first arc, but I might be done. It’s fine, I guess, but it’s just not making me care.

  3. The greatest comic on the market right now!! I love the artwork which is very detailed every issue and the characters are just as I imagined them to be getting together for the first time. Johns and Lee you make me very proud to be a Justice Head again!! Kudos for sure..
    Darkseid is going to beat them down hard….they may get away just barely?? I want to see an epic battle since this is their first time working together and Darkseid I am sure has seen many a battles!! Flash will be the differance maker in my opinion, he seems to have the more level head and really thinks things thru faster than the neubs. Can’t wait till Weds!!!!!!

    K

  4. The cover exemplifies something I wish Jim Lee would get better at…overly crowded splashes where the inking ends up being sort of a consistent grey mess all over the page…I find sometimes that Jim Lee’s team shots sometimes don’t have the “punch” that I think larger entirely white or entirely black would help with.

    It’s a shame, only because he is such a fantastic artist and sometimes the reader almost has to work to appreciate the detail he puts in. Am I the only one who has trouble making heads or tails of the cover…it took me a while to even see/appreciate Cyborg in the middle of it all.

    • You are right, it looks crowded. Of course, this is hardly unique to Jim Lee. Most artists have trouble tossing together 5-7 heroes in an 8×10 space. I think Lee’s very detail oriented style is a slight detriment, as in some cases a rougher, more suggestive style would make it look less busy. It is also a matter of personal taste. I tend to like simplistic covers that emphasize design and layout. You can give me the details on the interior of the comic. Others might like a cover that gives that a million things to look at, like a Where’s Waldo image.

    • The only issue I have with it, is the lack of Batman.

    • @Urthona: I never formalised that thought but you’re totally right. Lee’s work is always so bloody crowded

    • I don’t think, since the new 52 started, I’ve seen a good Justice League cover yet! I love Jim Lee’s work but for some reason the covers are terrible, lifeless, awful.

  5. This is easily top of my reading list every time it comes out! It’s a complete blast and has single handily got 6 of my friends into buying comics just by me gifting them issue 1 via Comixolgy.

  6. if we get a glimpse of Orion, Mister Miracle or any of the New Gods in the next two issues i will totally mess my pants, just ordered the New Gods Omnibus:)

  7. So is this now a week 4 book or was it just pushed back for this month?

  8. this book is like a superhot girl that looks great and has zero personality but, hey, she gets enough attention so fuck you

  9. For me, each issue of this series gets better than the last.

    Not a great comic, IMO, but fun for me.

  10. Johns is very disappointing on this. Can’t complain about the Jim Lee artworks. Seems about as good as it’s always been. The dialogue and drawn out story is bringing it down. Will give it a try when they move to current time, but I hope it’s way past the fratboy attitudes of the initial arc.

  11. Anyone else a bit cheesed that Mr. Jim Lee is only on for six issues? What else is he cooking up? More jobs for Liefeld? Some new Pandora arc? More Wildstorm infestation?

    • Jim Lee is a busy man, and we should be thankful that he was able to get this out with minimal delay. I’m sure he’ll be back in some fashion, if not then okay he did what he had to do. Jim Lee has nothing more to prove.

    • it saddens me that mr.lee will shortly be departing. i am super thankful for this first arc of his, though.

    • i believe 7 & 8 are one shot issues, perhaps Jim Lee is just getting ahead on the next “real” arc?

    • He’s supposed to return with #9…or maybe #10.

      Either way, he’s definitely not bolting from the book (at least as of this writing)

    • @tomo
      you just made my morning. seriously. i’m going to have a shit eatn’ grin for the rest of the day. hell, probably the week.
      where did you read that? i would love to know more

  12. You know… the initial excitement of the ‘DC reboot’ is beginning to wane quickly… this comic and 2 more are about the only ones that are holding my interest.

    • Maybe for you but i for one went from buying 5 comics a month to 18 and the only reason its not more is because my wife would chop my balls off if i spent anymore money on comics. Between digital and quality of books i have never been more excited for comics. Also because of the reboot i have 6 real life friends that never read comics before all reading 4+ monthly series each.

    • @thompsonlive agreed-The excitement is still going strong for me and my other comic book nerd friends

    • I went from buying one DC book (Flash) to 18. Several of them are among the ones I enjoy the most each month as well. Really enjoying the relaunch.

    • the dc relaunch is not waning. as a matter of fact, it’s in a waxing phase. soon it will come full circle when all these initial arcs come to a close and most of us say “goddamn! these are some awesome fuckn’ comics! can i get a witness to testify!”
      sorry. i’m still super-psyched about the things dc is doing right now
      JUSTICE LEAGUE IS A GREAT COMIC,

    • @sitara TESTIFY my brotha

  13. Yep agreed. Reading way more DC books. Even Justice League, it’s not a perfect book but it’s got an A-list team like it should have. Who even cared about this title before the new 52.

  14. There is no wanning in comics….. It just takes a little time to see what the new product is and stick with what you enjoy just like anything else. I for one have been a comic fan and not just a collector for about 30+ years and right now is one of the best times in years for comics and I have to say it is because of DC comics and a hand full of other publishers out there that are making some great changes. I am a big fan of Marvel as well and it is more so the traditional characters however; they have now fallen behind on the times. Avengers should be thier flagship as JL iand always should have been for DC. The Avengers has been well…. no so much lately. Anyway I wait month to month now just like I used to when the JL was worth it and right now this is the book for everyone!!
    If you like comics and like Iconic heroes and villians and just want to keep up with DC in some way this should be the book! Great artwork; say what you will about Lee he is fantastic and knows how to treat a winner!! The plots and story line well…. its Johns just sayin’.
    There are a few flaws and to each of us it is different when it comes to this reboot and I can honestly say that I have been reading every single title up until issue #4 and then I had to start dropping before i went bankrupt. So I started with the titles that really I buy just to buy, then the ones I find have bad artowork or no real plot, then characters that have not done well in my eyes thru this reboot. So right now I am still reading about 60% of the DCU reboot comics and one DC Universe Online book which Marv Wolfman is really making it worth reading. Soon I will need to bring it down a little more and thats the key since it will be basically because of the JL title that I keep certain titles and maybe a few off the hip ones ie… Animal Man, Stormwatch, Voodoooo, Grifter and for sure SQ! But as of right now JL and the Suicide Squad are my top two comics out of all comics not just DC!!

    JL forever!!

    K

  15. It looks like I’m one of the few that misses the “old DC”. I went from buying almost everything DC to around 10 books. I’ve been reading comics for 30+ years and DC has always produced my favorite stories and characters. A lot of the current books have just become overly violent for my taste. The changes made to some of the characters were so drastic, they have become almost unrecognizable. I realize that DC was trying to make changes to bring in the new readers, but if you chase away the old farts like myself, then what have you really accomplished? The Justice League book is just one example of this. I’m buying this book for the art alone. I think in a few years the numbers will be back to pre-reboot levels, probably even lower. I hope I’m wrong and I really want comics to grow and flourish for decades to come. Maybe the second wave of new books like Earth 2 and World’s Finest will re-excite me for DC, but the current stuff just isn’t doing it.

  16. This was a fantastic issue with some great character moments between GL and BM. I love the new Darkseid look and damn Jim Lee is on top of his game here as always. The scene with Flash and Sup racing againt the OMEGA beams had me smiling like a little kid again…5/5 probably my POTW but still got a view more to read on my stack

    • This was the one comic I pulled this week, so I decided to skip this week and wait till next Wednesday to get my comics, but hearing that Superman and Flash were trying to outrace the OMEGA beasms, and the fact that Darkseid is absolutley my favourite villain ever (aside from Joker) makes me so sad I have to wait till next week :'(

    • i concur doc. on all points. that darkseid look is on fire and i love the gl and bm moment. haha, we said “bm”. potw

  17. @comicBookchris: I realize that DC has had violent scenes before in their books, and I have no problem with that. It just seems that some of the more recent stuff has extreme violence just to be violent…with no rhyme or reason. Oh how I miss the 1980’s. I must go now, it’s 4:30 and time for supper, plus there’s a Matlock marathon on TBS.

    • Just try to keep in your mind that nostalgia can make things appear much better than they ever were. Art was comparatively terrible without modern computer assistance, especially in terms of coloring (compare the recent Xmen 1 rerelease to the original for proof). Also writing was often so explanatory as to be painful.
      Progress.
      I mean, in any other sense, would you really want to live in the 80’s again? No internet, Reaganomics, Thatcher, ~20 channels on the most premium cable plan, and nothing but 90’s comics to look forward to in the near future…

  18. Almost gave this a 2. I liked the character designs at the back of the book more than the story. It feels like an old Image comic – just a bunch of superheroes fighting. I know Geoff Johns can do a lot better than this.

  19. I thought this issue was the weakest of the five we’ve gotten. Not only was it light on plot (both DC & Marvel *must* find a way to combat decompression) but Batman does and says stuff here that just had me shaking my head in disapproval. I know this is a new Batman for the New 52 — but it’s still out of character.

    • Also, I was amused when Jim Lee is very specific in the back pages re: Aquaman’s trident having “five razor-sharp prongs” (wouldn’t that be a quindent?) – and then draws only three on the cover. I guess he didn’t draw that part of the cover? Or it was done way before…?

    • I’m always amused when people say something’s out of character for Batman… more than any character, he shows up in 10 books a month for the past 60 years and has fought dinosaurs on Mars in his spaceship with Robin. Then again, it’s probably just because I think he’s such a stupid character.

      Good book though.

    • The fact that Batman’s been written about so much and for so long only makes him that much more well-defined a character. If someone such as the newly-created Teen Titan “Bunker” does something brash, no one can really claim it’s out of character; his character’s still being crafted. But when Batman – who’s been around for 73 years, and has been wildly secretive of his true identity for all of that time – suddenly pulls off his cowl in the middle of a city street? Then yeah, I think it’s very justifiable to claim that’s out of character.

    • I understand that. Devil’s advocate though; Batman’s changed throughout the eras as this is certainly a new DC universe. It’s too early to tell what is “out of character” for the Batman of this era.

    • the mask came off cuz the city street was leveled for at least the block. all civilians are dead except GL and bats. my first thought was that bats didnt think he was coming back and needed GL to step up.
      then i noticed bruce removed his bat-emblem before pseudo-surrendering. so i began to think that he wanted to appear as just a regular person when he arrives at wherever the people are being held instead of as a”‘hero type” so that he might have the element of surprise.
      just a thought, but i think it stands to reason. he’s gonna hide in plain sight instead of the shadows.
      bizarro ninja style. i hope i’m right.
      also, this takes place in the past, so their character hasnt fully developed yet.
      that’s my friendly 2 cents

    • I don’t think Batman was out of character at all here. He saw what was required and did exactly what was needed considering the situation. It reminded me ALOT of the first JLA arc by Morrison.

    • i am a huge morrison fan and have not read his JLA run.
      i must be more insane than batman or a bigger idiot than lantern..probably both

    • probab;y 😉 I’d advise it, it’s ace.

  20. What the hell?!?! Batman would NOT do that!!!!

  21. I hope these two aren’t on this book for too long. It reads like a bad Teen Titans story. This book makes me want to watch TV.

  22. I think i read this issue in under 4 minutes. Seriously, I took to the crapper to read, needless to say, I was left wanting for something the read before leaving

  23. I still gave it a reluctant 5 since it is still thee best JL title I have seen in years! There were three things that bugged me and seem to have bugged everyone else as well however I took them with a grain of salt since the main focus right now is this is all out war with a god!! There is no time for formalities and there are no gaurentees of anyone coming out this alive, think about that for amount.

    1.) Cyborg was basically, I don’t reallt know what happened to me however; I am going to fight even though I literaly just got this new body. ( This was like he popped his head and said ok I will fight and that was that) (War, I know however; for this situation I got nothing. Just seemed to be lazy and like no one really cares for Cyborg in this series so why rush him into the fold?)

    2.) Batman revealing his identity and saying whatever he needed to, to manipulate Hal into doing what he wants and what at the time needed to be done for the group. (This is the begining of the league don’t forget and this is thier first real battle and they have not even really formed into a group. No one here other than maybe Supes and WW have a chance to live?? Really this is all out war against a god with a whole army of demons. Batman was giving him self up for the greater good and figured to get Hal motivated this was a risk he had to take and Batman has no idea he is going to live as he heads off to save Supes for the world.)

    3.) Aquaman and WW have almost non-exsistent in this big battle issue. (They have become just background noise at this point however; this is all out war and Johns has to help build them all into a group and right now those two know this is war and they are in the fight no real time for games.)

    Just some thoughts and other than that;I loved this issue and thought it was controlled in a war like setting which is usually what happens in war on the battle field on the front lines where these heroes are at right now, no?

    K

    • I agree WW and Aquaman were barely in this issue but they were both pretty big parts in the last 2 issues. As an arc I think he’s balancing the amount of exposure for each character pretty well.

  24. I was wondering why cyborg is depicted holding the american flag on the cover? Is it simply a nod towards when the JL was known as the JLA or something? I’m like they’re defending humanity against a threat from another world its not like ya know the germans are invading metropolis. I’m not complaining about it, its just something I’ve been pondering…

  25. It would’ve been nice to see the new version of one of my favorite villains utter a syllable. If the New 52 Darkseid spouts less epic trash talk than the old one, I will consider him sub-par. Even if he had just laughed at them. Gimme something here!

    I enjoyed this a tad less than the previous issue, but it was still pretty. Not gonna lie, Bruce’s behavior in this felt a little off. Sitara119’s point regarding Bruce wanting to look like a regular human to the enemy makes sense, but he could’ve ditched the costume right before he surrendered. I can understand wanting to reach out to Hal (I’ve always enjoyed Johns’ focus on their relationship), but surely there are more effective ways to do it. Like appealing to Hal’s massive ego perhaps. Instead we have Bruce calling him an idiot, and then two pages later revealing his greatest secret to this “idiot”. Doesn’t fly.

    • in the first couple of issues batman reveals that he has studied superman. he also has shown that he knows about the other leaguers. hell, he’s probably already made profiles on each in case of the potential threat to society. however, i think he knows that they are the good guys. he should know now anyways, after hours of seeing them save as many lives as possible while putting their own at risk.
      look, he needed lantern to lay down his ego and trust what he was saying. so, shockingly, he removed his mask and got hal’s full attention and his trust. he needed him to rally the troops and get on the same page. it’s the end of the world. secret identity be damned if it means saving the world. bruce cares about his identity, but he cares about saving lives more.
      that dog hunts just fine if you ask me

    • @sitara119 completely agree. At first the old jaded comic reader in me was like bullshit batman wouldn’t reveal his identity like that and then I thought for a second….wait this is a lot younger version of batman and the world is literally falling apart at the seems and he has one chance of fixing it. So yeah I totally believe he would do it and it’s not out of character.

    • Eh … I’m pickin’ up what you two are puttin’ down, but I still think he could’ve made the same impact on Hal without ditching the mask. And it has nothing to do wih being a “jaded comic reader”. Bruce Wayne (old or new) has trust issues. It took pre-relaunch Bruce years to trust his allies, and even then not all of them knew his secret ID. But we could go round and round with this forever. My point is, it was a dumb plan. And Bruce Wayne (old or new) isn’t dumb. Sure, it worked. But that’s because Johns wrote it to work. I stand by the opinion that it was slightly out of character (old or new), and that the speech could’ve just as easily inspired Hal without the unmasking.

    • i think that might depend on which pre-relaunch bruce your talking about. silver age or post infinite crisis. silver age batman trusted his team-mates a lot more than the relaunched post infinite crisis batman. i dont know exactly how long it took to reveal his identity, so i dont really know how out of character it is.
      hell, golden age batman has been seen using guns and killing people with them. that seems way out of character, but it’s the original.
      i dont think it’s dumb at all. just new. different. not the same ole’ same ole’. change is good and it does work. every thing in a comic works out the way the writer intends. they’re the creator. but more than that, i believe it.

    • @sitara good observations all the way man-I totally agree it was done to make Hal step up and lead. Batman always uses his superior intellect to get into peoples minds so to me this was not out of character.

    • To me it was funny that Hal said who the heck is Bruce Wayne lol…That had to hurt the ego of bats alittle

    • @sitara119 I’ll buy what you’re selling. I was a little miffed by the whole batman/green lantern scene. But I like your thoughts on it.

    • @sitara119: I’m glad you believe it. I, however, do not.

      The pre-relaunch Bruce I was referring to is exactly that; pre-relaunch Bruce. I’m not stoned enough to compare New 52 Batman to gun-toting Golden Age Batman. As BionicDave mentioned above, the longer a character is around in comics, the more refined he becomes. And while many of the changes to many of DC’s characters post-relaunch have been invigorating and exciting, you’ll notice that the characters who were already in good shape have changed the least. Batman being the prime example. He’s damn near perfect the way he was. Could you see Batman doing this in Snyder’s title? Which, unless I’m mistaken, takes place in the same universe, albeit a few years later, when Batman is perhaps less stupid.

      There are certain core aspects to each hero that need to remain unchanged in order to preserve the magic and integrity of their history. Bruce Wayne’s paranoia is absolutely essential to his character. As is his unparalleled intelligence. While I concede that many of your points are thoughtful, the idea that the whole city is leveled so Bruce wouldn’t mind shedding his mask is a weak argument. There are still civilians being scooped up by parademons throughout the book, and Bruce would simply not take the chance of being spotted by even one civilian. It runs the risk of blowing his entire mission. Just because Hal doesn’t know who he is, doesn’t mean he’s not a celebrity.

      I’m not some old troll who needs everything to stay the same forever. I completely agree that change is good. I just don’t really dig this particular, tiny deviation. It’s not even a character change. It’s a bad choice by Johns, and an oversight. Overall, I really liked this issue. It was the usual eye feast, had some great character moments, and the ending has me pumped for #6. But I stand by my opinion that the unmasking was unnecessary, out of character (regardless of incarnation), and sloppy.

    • it’s ok that you dont believe it. thats your constitutional right. that doesnt stop the “refining” process.
      can i see snyder doing this? i dont know. let me take a few more puffs…..there is a 5 year difference….still dont know.
      absence of civilians was one aspect of my argument, not the entire argument. you might find that one point weak, and who knows, perhaps it is. but it by no means reflects the entirety of my argument or negate the other possibilties listed, so my argument as a whole is strong as ever and a few people even agree with me
      it’s the end of the world, the mission is about to be blown and drastic measures are called for.
      it’s a little premature to judge it as an “oversite” or a “bad choice” cause all of this is speculation. we have no idea whats going to happen and to be honest…i trust johns’ and lee’s judgement more than yours.
      however, i respect your right to choose and have enjoyed this debate thus far

    • and technically, pre-relaunch bruce would be golden age/ silver age bruce. this is at least the 3rd relaunch of the dc universe because infinite crisis changed many if not all of dc’s character’s histories at least a little bit.
      so you might want to spark up and think about it….or not

    • sorry, at least the 2nd relaunch (cough, cough)

  26. Wow – what a let-down!

    Issue 4 was my favorite issue of the run and now this ….

    I need sketch pages like I need a third nostril and whereas I liked some of the characterization (The Flash) and art (the scenes with Flash and Superman outracing the Omega beams), the rest of the issue was so … so …. just NOT what I wanted.

    Disappointing in many ways.

  27. NEEDS MOAR AQUAMAN!
    thats all.

  28. I just had the horrible thought that maybe batman unmasked himself and derobed as a means for Jim Lee to show off the rest of his “awesome” batsuit redesign

  29. About the same amount of time it takes to eat a Snickers.

  30. Batman taking his mask off in public?

    NO

    • If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around because they’ve all been buried under rubble or vaporized by Darksied, does it make a sound?

  31. Out-of-character moments: this series so far! 0_o Why the fuck did Batman unmask himself to go save Superman!? Just to show GL he’s just a man, like him!? NONSENSE!!!

  32. I think some people that can’t believe that Batman unmasked or didn’t have the perfect plan are stuck with the “Bat God” concept. Batman knows Gotham. This may not be Year One but this is his introduction to the big Leagues. World conquerors, super metas, and doomsday scenarios. I doubt he has a well-prepared plan on his first outing.
    The whole unmasking was 1) inspirational and 2) strategic. No one was around to see him unless they were stupid enough not to flee for their lives.

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