Comic Books

JUSTICE LEAGUE #7

Now that the team’s origin story is complete, starting with this issue we shift to the present-day Justice League! What has changed? Who has joined the team since?

Featuring artwork by Gene Ha, the story also reintroduces the team’s greatest champion: Steve Trevor!

Also starting in this issue: “The Curse of Shazam!” featuring a story by Geoff Johns and art by Gary Frank! Discover Billy Batson’s place in DC Comics – The New 52 as we reveal his all-new origin story!

Written by Geoff Johns
Pencilled by Gene Ha & Gary Frank
Inked by Gene Ha & Gary Frank
Lettered by DC Lettering
Colored by Art Lyon
Cover by Jim Lee, Scott Williams, & Brad Anderson
Cover Color by Alex Sinclair

Price: $3.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 0.6%

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Comments

  1. Okay…going for my ‘third wind’ here by giving this title another shot. We’ve got a new story arc, a new penciller (Ha’s work is nothing to laugh at) and Shazam’s new origin.

    I’m starting out excited anyways!

  2. For some reason, my interest in this title has been diminishing over the last two issues. Let’s see how this one goes with the new storyline.

  3. Well, based on the four-page preview in Entertainment Weekly, I’m more interested in the Shazam backup than I am the actual Justice League story. But that’s something, I guess.

  4. I read the first issue, and it did nothing for me.

    I want to like this book, so I’m gonna give this issue a try, but if this modern day League does nothing for me I’m out for the foreseeable.

  5. Done with this.

  6. Im sticking with this…but be warned, time to get on with it

  7. I’m already done. I’ll look at this in the store, but since Johns is still the writer, I don’t think I’ll want to pay the $4. I am interested in the back-up, but an angry/dark/intense Capt. Marvel is not MY Capt. Marvel, so I’m already not excited about it.

  8. Serving notice, its on the fence of being dropped

  9. Love this title, not even close to dropping.

    • yeah, right!? sometimes i think i’m getting a different copy than the haters and fence riders.
      maybe we’re the crazy ones, however doubtful.

    • @sitara119 It’s just how the world is; you can’t expect everybody to be the same. Some will like it and some won’t, some will love it and some will hate it. 🙂

    • words of wisdom. i expect nothing from everybody:)

    • Like, I think the Walking Dead TV show is ok at best. My friends think its the greatest thing on TV. I kind of lean towards my friends are dumb as hell, but then realize that with record breaking ratings, I must be in the minority.

      I want to like JL so much, but it’s really been 5 issues of nothing and only really picked up in issue #6, and most of that is because of the references made near the end along w/ the Pandora short.

      Honestly, summarize JL #1 – 5 and its… I dunno… seems like a lot of pages to tell such a sparse story. And I’m not commenting at all about the things others hate on… like Batman taking off his mask or the relationships, etc… I’m ok with what happened… I just don’t get why it took 6 whole issues to tell this story.

  10. I’m more exited for this this issue than the last four put togetter and doubled, gene ha! Modern times! Gary Frank! Shazaaam!!!:)

  11. The Justice League is cool and all but seriously, Shazam is probably the most exciting thing about this book right now. To bad it’s only a back up which is what like 8 pages? Oh well, I’ll settle for at least some Captain Marvel awesomeness. This character really needs more exposure though

  12. Gene Ha? Gary Frank? How can you not give this at least one more issue? Curiosity alone is enough to keep me excited.

  13. I’m looking forward to this for the back up, which is not a good sign for a book that costs $4. Now that the origin story is out of the way, hopefully the book will do something to keep me interested, otherwise it will probably have to go.

  14. Loved the past arc cant wait to see the present justice league. Also interested in the shazaam backup considering i know almost nothing about him

  15. This book could be great but it’s not and it’s bumming me out.

    Biggest disappointment of the new 52 for me. Well, maybe George Perez’s morbidly verbose Superman would be first.

  16. Getting for the Shazam back up. $3.99 for almost 1/4 a story.

  17. I’m not sure I get the point of telling an origin story then jumping on 5 years. Without Jim Lee this comic has less interest for me. I’ll see how Ha does and then make a decision about dropping.

  18. Really wish Gary Frank wasn’t just doing the backup. Would love to see him on the book full time.

  19. Excellent book so far. Can’t wait to see present day stories. I know nothing about Shazam, so that will be interesting too.

  20. This has fallen from the number one spot on my favorite comics that I am reading right now and it is only by a small margin. SS is in the number one spot followed by this fine title, the Justice League has really returned to greatness and I look forward to it’s release every six weeks!!
    (SORRY THIS HAS MORE TO DO WITH ALL COMICS AND PERSONAL INFO) This will be a very big Wednesday for me as I started to mention in my comments to Batman #7 however; I did not elaborate. Not that anyone cares; I just wanted to note that my son of 21 years old has departed to the Army and he has always been my comicbook partner and this will also be the first year where he will not be joining me at a convention. He is signed up for four years and sarts his boot camp in SC and then 5 months of schooling out in Virginia somewhere. It is going to be a long and hard fours years as he will be growing into a man and also has a baby on the way and just got married last week. I introduced him to comicbooks as early as possible and he has been there every step of the way. JL has been our biggest favorite on the TV or in the comicbooks and I will be thinking of him everytime I read a comic until he gets back.
    To all the people that served in the military you have my gratitude and my prayers will always be with you! My father served in four branches of the military and now my sone which is a whole new world for my wife and I however; there have been some outstanding people that have been very helpful through this begining part of all of our journeys and they have also been in the military! Thanks for welcoming us into the military family and helping us begin to simulate, thanks again to all the IFanBoy military readers as well for serving our country!! God Bless!!

    Thanks,
    K

  21. Despite the characters being empty ciphers of themselves, I’ve been enjoying this series. Curious if the “present day” stories will have a different tone than the first arc.

  22. Taking this title off my pull list as of this issue. The first six issues increasingly disappointed, and everything I’ve read about Shazam has irked me. The hood was the last straw.

  23. They made Billy Batson an ill-mannered, angry teen, who turns into a brooding, hoodie-wearing Superman Earth One cover knock-off….not a good opening…

  24. This is make or break time for me – if this issue doesn’t grab me I’m out.

  25. So if this book takes place during the “present day”, how is Hal in the Justice League? Does Sinestro “loan” him the ring for JL duties? Does this bother anyone else or is it just me?

    • I imagine they mean “more or less present day” and it just takes place in a period of time before or after the current Green Lantern story. Why isn’t Batman trapped in a labyrinth? Why isn’t Wonder Woman in Hades? Big universe superhero comics need a loose timeline to function.

  26. Why is Batman anti-JLI now? I dropped JLI after issue 5, but by all accounts, even if the team was amateur, Batman still sanctioned them and supported Booster Gold. Now he’s suddenly against them?

    I’m pretty sure I liked the Shazam back-up better than the main story. I want more Billy (even though he’s become kind of a jerk).

    • Also, is it just me, or does some of the dialogue for the characters seem out of character? And the generic dialogue of “They’re here now! Everything’s going to be all right!” It doesn’t sound believable.

      I look forward to the villain arc and the Green Arrow appearance though. Hopefully Johns can save the character.

  27. Probably the best issue so far, I really liked the focus on Steve Trevor. A little disappointed in the Etta Candy redesign. Also the Savana redesign is terrible, he looks way to much like Lex Luthor instead of the wretched little sniveling mad scientist he is.

  28. Reading the Shazam back-up made me wish that he had his own ongoing series. Even though Billy is kind of a jerk at this point. We’ll see though. The rest of the issue was alright, but the focus on Steve Trevor was kinda weird. Overall it was a solid issue.

  29. This was ok. I would’ve enjoyed seeing more of a difference in the team”s characterizations five years later. Hal ignoring Batman just out of spite was a bit childish. Seems to me that after five years of Batman being right they would listen to him a bit more.

    A lot of people complained about the way Hal was written in the previous six issues, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. At this point however, he should be a little more mature. This and GL are being written by the same guy, but you wouldn’t know it. The two characterizations couldn’t be more different. In GL, he’s reading like he has for the past six years. Here in JL, not so much.

    I enjoyed the focus on Trevor. He’s a character that I’ve always been kind of indifferent towards, but here I actually kinda cared about him for the first time.

    Maybe it’s my failing memory, but this art from Gene Ha didn’t seem as solid as I recall. Kinda sloppy.

    I was looking forward to the backup, but it left me kinda cold. Not really interested in a bratty Billy Batson, regardless of how DC might feel that it reflects today’s youth or whatever.

    3/5

  30. Why was GL carrying WW in an orb? I thought she could fly. I was hoping to see new members in the League at the start of this arc but I guess it’ll take six issues for that too. As for the back-up, I liked it. It was right in my wheelhouse. I’m not really liking the abandonment of the Captain Marvel name though. Can’t wait until they introduce SHAZAM Jr and Mary SHAZAM. So dumb.

  31. This was my favorite issue of JL so far! Really had fun reading this. It’s interesting to see Geoff Johns tweak the tone of his own book, if not his entire style, to accommodate for the 5 year jump in setting – and I welcome the change. Also, giving Steve Trevor a place in the JL milieu makes him immediately more interesting to me; I am curious to see how he’ll be used (by Johns, and our “narrator”) in the next issue, and I’m plain grateful that this legacy character will be relevant again. This is finally the JUSTICE LEAGUE I’ve been wanting out of the New 52! (Though I do wish DC would cool it with their mysterious acronym organizations; we can now toss A.R.G.U.S. onto the same heap with N.O.W.H.E.R.E., S.H.A.D.E., and whatever others I know I’m forgetting…)

    I also enjoyed the SHAZAM backup. I laughed when we saw Billy Batson drop his syrupy sweet orphan schtick to show his true colors. His scrappy, jerky attitude was a fun change of pace, especially knowing what his fated role in the DCU is/will be. Anyway, cheers to Geoff Johns & Company, I’m a happy camper 🙂

    • Me, too. I thought it was great! And I gave last issue a 2. I don’t get the hate for this issue. It was SO much better. Maybe we just need to keep Jim Lee away?

  32. I would love to read the Shazam stuff but, there is no way I’m giving this book any more of my money.

  33. After a trip to my LCS, I can now say that I looked at this issue, not read, just looked at it, and decided not to buy it. So I haven’t read it, but from my in-store perusal, I can say that what I saw didn’t grab me. It looked like a lot of time was spent on Steve Trevor and I don’t care about Steve Trevor. In the back up story, I did not spot a lot of Captain Marvel (which would’ve made me want to purchase), but I did see a lot of Billy Batson. I never really cared about Billy Batson. For me, he was just a pathway to the Big Red Cheese. Since I wasn’t knocked out by the first 6 issues when I considered the 24 dollars I spent on them, I decided to call it a day on this title. It’s not that I dislike much about it, or hate it, but there are just too many other titles I’d like to try out. Even some other New 52 titles…

    • My sentiments exactly.This was a make or break issue for me after not really liking theway the first arc ended. Dropping this STAT! Suicide Squad was recommended to me & I picked up issues 6&7. Fun read, solid art, stellar wrighting, and some holy sh*t moments!!

  34. I dislike this book but keep pulling. I will say that I thought Ha did a great job when Wonder Woman was on the computer link w/ Trevor, I could understand why poor Steve was in love…beautiful.

  35. Geoff Johns tells us that this is in current timeline continuity..so why is Hal still being a dick and hitting on the villains ex-wife? Isn’t Carol still in the picture? What’s the deal with his ring? Is it from Sinestro? Who the hell is Steve Trevor?

    Why is Billy such a dick?

    dropped.

  36. Guess i’m in the minority here…. I really enjoyed this issue. Ha’s artwork was more than solid. Dug the backup story in this one to.

  37. The whole back up story for Billy really seems to have become one of those angry teens, I really think this is all for a reason as he will be tested and then some tragedies and things will make him change. I think I like the new look though, very powerful!!
    The JL story as much as I try to make it into something, it really was nothing. Does that make any sense? Needless to say I was disappointed with this issue, the JL side of things were just confussing I am really not sure of what the threat was here and where it came from? I will read it again tonight and hopefully my mind is just pre-occupied thats why I am slightly confused. The Shazam story kept it at a 4 rating.

    K

  38. I still like the new direction of the Justice League and Geoff Johns’s writing, but I’m getting very tired of every comic having a drawn-out 6 issue story arc. My feeling is that I don’t want to collect everything in trade, and longer stories turn off readers because they’re harder to follow and expensive. Single issue stories, like this one, can be funny, exciting, and entertaining. That being said, I laughed out loud at Batman’s comments about the JLI – they are a pale shadow of the JL, both in art and writing. And the Shazam backup was great – 5 art, 5 writing.

  39. Johns..

    what have you done?
    this book is SATURATED in generic and fake dialogue.

    you’re so much better on aquaman & gl.

    stop trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

    billy batson isn’t a jerk either. his purity of heart is what made him the best candidate for being shazam.

    and why doesn’t superman say more then a couple of sentences in the whole book? he’s the leader of the group!
    he IS DC comics.

    and it still feels really forced that cyborg is in there. it should be a natural, flowing kind of inclusion, not such an awkward one.

    i don’t know how much more of this i can take.

    and p.s., i still don’t give a crap about steve trevor.

  40. Odd how the best issue of Justice League so far was the issue where the Justice League made the most marginal appearance. I really liked this issue, since it shows that Johns is creating a story with a well defined backdrop and supporting characters, and isn’t just “Justice League punches ill-characterized Darkseid” all the time.

  41. My favorite issue of justice league so far…. Ha’s art was really good and I like the Steve Trevor angle. The back up really didnt do anything for me either way.

    And a big up to Charm City sen sen.

  42. What is up with the horrid art in this issue? and the shazam backup? not much better… I’m confused as to why the flagship title consistently has the worst art in the whole line

    • What are you some kind of a lunatic? Gene Ha drew his pictures better than anyone else I saw this week. BUBLICLOT!

    • *BUMBACLOT!

    • Not crazy about Gene Ha’s artwork however; I will admit it is way better than mine. I prefer as a customer for certain things and thats as it should be. Gene was at my comicbook store on Saturday signing autographs and of course I did not go not that intrested, if it were Jim Lee I would have went. Anyway these things are all a matter of opinion from persons taste to another. So I will some what agree that the artwork was not good for me and the Shazam back up was good to see Capt. Marvel and he will always be Capt. Marvel to me no matter what!!

      K

  43. Issue #7 was a such a let down. I expected more of this issue since it was the first present-day appearance of the League. The art was not the best fit, and the League barely showed up in it.

    Please check my mini-review here:

    http://bit.ly/GKTiT0

    Comments and feedback are always welcome!

  44. While nice to look at, the main story isn’t grabbing me like I hoped it would. Johns shows he has a lot of knowledge and love for the old DC universe, but thanks to his ruthless annihilation of the DCU with Flashpoint, that universe is no more. Now we get Superman in an ugly costume, younger looking more hip core characters and a sense of “what the hell is going on here” headscratching that is spreading thru the books like wildfire. This book continues to swing up and down in quality and the entertainment value is on life support.
    There are a couple of good scenes here and there, and Cyborg gets a moment to shine, but over all the series continues it’s slide to oblivion.
    The Shazam backup by Johns and Gary Frank was very good though. I don’t know how I am going to handle a “darker/gritier” Shazam in my future, but it was the only thing I was excited about after reading this book.

  45. awesomeness. that’s what this book conveys to me. pure, unfiltered awesomeness. i like the dynamic between batman and GL. GL is such a goofball and provides a lot of comic relief and batman is always so grumpy. it’s funny watching him be a dick to everyone. it’s also fun to see hal hit on everything that moves. “so, you’re divorced?”
    surprisingly, trevor is a good character and i’m interested in the role he’s been given and how it will be exploited down the road. the building resentment the government has for the JL should make for good storytelling and trevor being thrown in the middle of it will make for great conflict.
    the conversation between trevor and WW, what with all the background hijinks, made for good reading.
    gene ha did great, but i am eagerly awaiting the return of the man himself, jim lee.
    JL is quickly becoming an instant classic.
    salut

  46. A solid 3 for me.

    I sometimes liked the art (Flash looked great, facial expressions were good overall, and I liked Spore’s look), but sometimes it looked a bit too sketchy.

    HATED how Batman was so nasty about the JLI when he seemed to almost be a booster for it (heh) in its own book.

    HATED Billy Batson in the DCnU and HATED Sivana looking like a Luthor clone.

    I did like some of the attempted humor in the JL part of this issue.

    I do look forward to next issue, but if that one does not do more for me, I may well drop this book. I don’t think $4 is a good price to pay for a book I find only so-so.

    • @mgriffith I was confused about Bat’s JLI quote too. Maybe we’re missing something that is coming up in the next book? I mean, isn’t Batman an unofficial member of the JLI at this point? As I said in my own post below, it’s a good book to read on the phone because it doesn’t matter where you’re at when you stop/start again. It’s all “action and humour” and there isn’t much story to be seen.

  47. regarding the sivana look,
    i think it might be important to point out that we are early in a relaunch and orgins here and there are being tweeked and revisited. as it stands, what stood out the most to me is that he doesn’t seem evil and he’s talking about saving his family… in addition to his looking good, strong and fit.
    does anyone want to take a wild guess as to what might happen to make him an evil villain. anyone? bueller? bueller?

    i think a dead family and a possible disfigurement might do the trick. seems logical and i hope i’m right cuz i would hate to see the bad doctor as a lex clone.

    sidenote: does anyone else think that the guy in the elevator looks like josh flanagan with a dye job? i can never see his mouth so i might be way off.

    • Saving his daughter has always been a part of Sivana’s origin.

      And going from being a tall, muscular guy to being a tiny weakling with an oversized head would be a pretty strange disfigurement.

      But now that you mention it, the guy in the backup does kinda resemble Josh Flanagan.

    • yeah…i’m thinking they’re all trapped in suspended animation. like before. but who knows?
      but anyway, my point is that i don’t think he’s crossed the line to evil yet. when he does, i’m betting that’s going to be around the time his look changes. at least i hope, cuz i like the shriveled, creepy sivana look.
      and i don’t think it’s that strange of a disfigurement. not for a comic book, anyway. have you seen dr.ock recently. or it could be looked at like reverse hulk. usually as a standard, mad scientist types are always dealing with stuff that has the craziest effects on people’s minds and bodys. and he’s about to be dealing with magic that he probably doesn’t fully understand and that shit is even crazier with the effects.
      but i’m by no means a shazam expert, so what the fuck do i know. it’s just fun and inspired guesswork on my part.

  48. I really liked the decision to make Steve a much more important character in the DCnU and I couldn’t help but like the guy in this issue. The Etta Candy redesign was interesting as well and this issue overall was a significant improvement over last month in my opinion. That said It’d be nice to see Hal Jordan not be the biggest douche in sector 2814 and not looking at Jim Lee’s art more often is a plus. I’m not trying to trash talk Lee or Johns and I think they’re great at what they do but some of it just wasn’t working for me in issues #1-6. Anyways, GO STEVE!

  49. You know this is such an odd book. If I didn’t know the characters from there own books I wouldn’t know them at all from this book. The art is always great but the story is so thin and shallow…..How is it possible that after 7 issues we haven’t gotten to know any of the characters…….I’m so disappointed.

  50. Shoddy art but a fairly interesting story and take on what the Justice League would be like in a modern world. Not blowing me away but fun enough.

    • I thought the art looked like shit. I know Ha is usually quality so I don’t what happened, you’d think he’d bring his A game to Justice League, though in fairness I don’t think Johns did either. Lookin forward to the return of Jim Lee.

  51. I’ll give this book one great praise, it’s a good read on the phone. Because the story is so thin, it doesn’t really matter where you leave off/pick up. The team is kicking bad buy butt and that’s pretty much all you need to know. It’s the popcorn flick of the new 52.

  52. The Shazam! backup in Justice League #7 was interesting; especially because this new Billy Batson is a jerk. People don’t seem to be happy about Sivana, though; he looks too “Lex Luthor”. The story was also way too decompressed.

    Please check my mini-Review of Shazam! here:

    http://bit.ly/GVdbIK

    Comments and feedback are always welcome!

  53. I felt the art was pretty dynamic but the JL story has been very lacking since this comic began. As a New52 reader who’s never picked up a Justice League book before, there’s nothing being explained at all, they just kinda throw out little hints with names of characters I know nothing of and then keep fighting more DarkSeid goons.

    Good jumping on point for new readers? nah, not really. I enjoyed the Shazam! piece at least.

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