Review: Justice League Vol. 1- Origin

Quick Summary

Pros: Plenty of action and superheroics keep this book interesting. The lighthearted and humorous tone works well for the characters. Jim Lee’s art looks great and makes the reading experience even more enjoyable.

Cons: Wonder Woman is oddly characterized. Interactions between League members sometimes feel forced and inauthentic.

Overall: This is a solid origin story that really manages to bring the Justice League into the modern age. It is funny, thrilling, and enjoyable in a way that all comics should try to be. Though the story isn’t necessarily groundbreaking and the book does have some flaws, overall this is a fun bit of action and adventure from one of the greatest team-ups of all time.

Story

In Justice League Vol. 1: Origin, Geoff Johns reimagines the first ever meeting of the Justice League in a way that makes sense from a modern day perspective. They are individual heroes who are called together to save the world and thus respond accordingly. They don’t always get along, something that is sometimes humorous and enjoyable and sometimes annoying and poorly written. But they still manage to fight plenty of bad guys along the way. It is a standard superhero story that doesn’t do anything overly special or unique but serves as a great introduction or reintroduction to the Justice League.

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The book starts out by showing the individual members of the Justice League meeting each other and interacting for the first time. For the most part, this is pretty standard superhero fare and doesn’t do too much out of the ordinary. It does provide some great moments however, such as Aquaman decimating a horde of Parademons with a barrage of shards and Wonder Woman scaring an ice cream salesman.

The end of the story is where things really pick up. Batman’s plan to infiltrate Apokolips is smart and enjoyable to watch while the rest of the League’s fight with Darkseid is a tribute to superheroes fighting supervillains. The book certainly ends high and, though Darkseid is defeated, the threat of his return is quite tantalizing.

Perhaps the best part about this volume is the lighthearted feeling of heroism that Johns manages to put into it. The heroes are unequivocally good, the villains are bad to the bone, and the main characters are not hesitant to drop a joke or a quick quip. It mirrors the fun and energy of movies like the Avengers or even the original Star Wars. In particular, Green Lantern is written perfectly and provides a slew of comedic moments while managing to avoid devolving into an all around joke. Overall these are the lighthearted superheroics that many would expect from comic books and are something Johns delivers in spades.

However this book is not without its fair share of problems, the first of which is Wonder Woman’s characterization. Wonder Woman is written as if she were an angry child. She refuses any attempt at authority and is hell-bent on fighting as much as possible. It really makes her seem like a surprisingly one-dimensional character, which is something she absolutely is not. Hopefully this is rectified as this series progresses.

The second major problem is the already present power struggle within the Justice League. Nearly every member of the League is fighting for power in some way, despite facing the biggest crisis they have even seen. Aquaman asks who is in charge and makes a play for leadership on the very first page he is introduced. All of this is clearly done to set up storylines in the next volume. However it is so heavy handed and unnatural that instead of building up excitement, it just makes this volume worse.

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Art

Jim Lee provides the artwork for the entirety of this collection. Nowadays, it goes without saying that Lee is a fantastic artist, and, in this book, things are no different. Characters look great, locations are detailed and imaginative, and the splash pages are beyond compare, which is where Lee really defines the book. Full page spreads of Darkseid appearing or being attacked by the League look absolutely amazing and stand out as some of the best art in this era of the New 52. They also make reading this collection a joy and amplify the excitement felt in those moments of intense action.

However, Origin might not be Lee’s best work. Outside of the splash pages, there are quite a few moments in this collection where things don’t look quite as nice as one would expect. Characters’ faces, in particular, lack a touch of detail. This by no means is implying that this artwork is bad, but simply that it is not the greatest for a fantastic artist like Jim Lee.

Continuity

Justice League Vol. 1: Origin starts the Justice League’s adventures in the New 52, so there are not many connections to other works. This collection will lead directly into the next collection, Justice League Vol. 2: The Villain’s Journey (Review)

The Darkseid plotline and the mystery behind it is continued in Justice League Vol. 7: Darkseid War Part One. The Pandora plotline and the mystery behind it is continued in Trinity War (Review)

This volume also references stories from other comic books, all of which are detailed below.

• The end of the book makes a few quick references to various superheroes who are appearing around the world. Each one of these heroes stars in their own series.
  • Green Arrow appears in his own series starting with Green Arrow Vol. 1: The Midas Touch (Review).
    
  • Zatanna appears in Justice League Dark starting with Justice League Dark Vol. 1: In the Dark (Review).
  • Hawkman appears in his own series starting with The Savage Hawkman Vol. 1: Darkness Rising (Review).
    
• The Phantom Stranger mentions Pandora rewriting reality. This happened at the end of Flashpoint (Review)