My First Foray Into the New 52: Justice League #1

           Okay, I should probably start this off with the obvious fact that I find the whole idea of DC rebooting their whole universe (for, I believe, a fifth time) to be stupid. It's the one trick they know so they just keep doing and it never sticks. Love it or hate it, there's a lot of hype around this initiative and the first book they trotted out is, of course, Justice League. Now, I'm not opposed to JL being rebooted because I've hated the title since Dwayne McDuffie (who will be missed...R.I.P.) was fired from writing it. For all intents and purposes, this should be DC's flagship title and Geoff Johns creates a feeling that it's what the book is going to be. In this incarnation, our heroes don't know each other and don't seem to trust (or maybe even like) each other either and the public seems to share this sentiment. There was a lot of focus on Batman and Green Lantern which gave it the feeling of a slightly edgier episode the Brave and the Bold cartoon. The back and forth dialogue between the two, introducing their personalities to us makes the book feel a little slow despite the action. We also get an introduction to another member of the team (pre-powered) whose purpose for being on the flagship team I've yet to figure out (probably because I've never been a fan of this guy). The thing that troubles me so far is that our superheroes don't really come across as heroes. It seems like a bunch of macho people getting dressed up to go looking for something to punch (some of whi.ch do so in the third person...ugh), only performing gestures to protect the status quo as an afterthought. Part of this is probably because of Jim Lee's decision to limit the emotional range of the  faces to frown and half smiles. All in all, the banter was fun, the action was acceptable, and Jim Lee did what Jim Lee does but the characters feel like they could soon become an attempt at competing with Marvel's Ultimate Universe....which is not what we read DC for. Not quite legendary, but a decent start. 7.5 out of 10.

P.S: about the cover...why does Superman look 17?