Talk about flying under the radar, did anybody know this was coming out? I kid, I kid. Well, here we are at the dawn of a new era for DC as it takes one small step for the JL and one giant leap for comic books. How’d they do?

STORY: Honestly, I just don’t know yet. When this first arc is wrapped up perhaps this first issue will be fantastic as part of the larger picture of introducing readers both new (hopefully!) and old, but on it’s own it is a perfectly satisfactory read. No more, no less. It tries to balance the weight of being the first glimpse into this new universe of adventure and be a setup issue that will leave the reader wanting to buy the next issue. There are few true traditional villains to be found amongst the back and forth banter of Green Lantern and Batman, with perhaps the greatest threat being introduced is the world they live in: namely, humanity and their fears and hatred of these new costumed crusaders. Johns does a decent job of world building an almost impossible task because this is the first book of the re-launch and it is more like universe building. There was maybe a little too much indication that the world at large doesn’t trust super-beings. Nothing cringe-worthy, but enough to make you think “yeah, I get it. people in costumes aren’t going over real well with the general populace”. The dialogue is mostly fun as both Hal and Bruce’s personalities are laid out pretty clearly. Lots and lots of setup (how will Vic go from hi school football star to cybernetic Justice Leaguer? How large a threat is the appears in name-only villain?) might leave some wanting something more grandiose out of this milestone issue and that’s fair. Overall some fun beats and character introduction mixed with world building leads to a satisfactory story that is more a part of a story than a BANG welcome to a whole new world!

ART: It’s Jim Lee, so if you’re a fan you won’t be disappointed and if you aren’t, there’s nothing in here that will make you change your mind. The new costume designs certainly makes everyone clunkier than before (compared to Lee’s Batman in Hush for example) and I think there’s a loss of fluidity as a result. Occasionally I found myself confused as to what was happening in a panel (did the bad-guy fart fire at that helicopter?) because there was just a lot of things happening in most panels and in the calmer panels (Vic at school) I found myself thinking his style was cartoon-ier than I remember. Overall, Lee is still a master at rendering and can make any hero seem larger than life, highlighted by his final panel.

So, we made it everybody! How’d we do? Well…pretty alright. Is it an earth-shattering, never before seen comic book to forever change the way we look at comics? No, not by a mile. But it is fun and great to look at, to the point where I think very few will be dropping this title after only the first issue. I, for one, am excited to take this first step into a brand new DCU, whether it is by giant leaps or very reasonable sized strides. Huzzah!