The day has finally arrived. I get to read the long awaited issue of JLI! My interest in this title was spurred on by my enjoyment of Booster Gold also written by Dan Jurgens and the 80’s JL/JLI titles that I have come to cherish to this day. I get a kick out of reading characters who don’t always get their time in the spotlight, and who seemingly have a lot of room for character development. Jurgens has done an amazing job of carrying on that growth from the 52 series into the recently cancelled Booster Gold title. Does it carry on into the new DCU? Let’s take a look!
The first issue starts like you would expect, with someone sifting through the roster of available heroes to construct the team. The
United Nations is behind it and catering to the nations involved by nominating heroes from their home countries. The choices make sense as each character comes from a different country. Booster Gold is chosen to lead the team, and is immediately opposed by Green Lantern Guy Gardner, big surprise. Batman makes an appearance but makes it clear to Booster that it’s not because he has no confidence in his leadership ability. Batman is more or less “curious” as to the motivations for the UN to put this team together but not actually invited to be on the team. Pretty soon the team has it’s first chance to get into action (minus the whining Guy Gardner) by exploring the disappearance of a UN research team in Peru. There they encounter giant monsters and a giant robot.
The issue is a whirlwind. Lots of introductions, not much for character depth, and throws in a little action to get us excited. I appreciated the attention Jurgens gives Booster Gold and that nothing appears to be lost in his development of the character in the last few years. I was a little afraid that we were going to step back in time and go through the whole “Booster is a selfish glory hog” business again but I think with his being chosen to lead the JLI and the respect that Batman has for him we can be sure there’s a little more too him then most people expect. Guy Gardner appears to be the one who hasn’t changed his ways, and the rest of the team gets little to no attention. Is this enough to keep me tuned in? I’m not sure. I’ll admit I’m not usually big on the DC team books. They generally lack depth and this appeared to be the typical team gets thrown together and immediately confronted with a big bad meanie. I already find myself missing the complexity that Booster’s series had come to give – which may not be fair to compare to a team book – but impossible when I had been following him and Dan Jurgens for so long now.
The art from Lopresti was decent but nothing that’s going to overly impress. I had almost accepted it was Jurgens doing the pencils until I went back to check the credits as Jurgens so commonly does both writing and art duty on his books. The highlight was the update to Booster’s outfit. Looks pretty sharp!
Although it wasn’t a “bad” issue I don’t think it was enough to keep me in it. Having a character I enjoy isn’t enough. I want something different to go along with the “new” DCU. I hope the book succeeds but it’s just not what I’m looking for.
Script: 7/10
Art: 7/10
Parental Concern: Yellow
I’m going to go ahead and disagree here. In a criminally brief time, the entire premise of this huge book was brilliantly setup for me.
Having little experience with these characters, I know exactly what each one’s role is within team, their relationship with one another, their speech cadence and their overall attitude. I became easily interested in every character and their interactions.
Not only that, we also get some simple and smart plotting. Very much worth $3.
JLI #1 pulled off a great bronze age vibe with a considerable amount of sophistication thrown in.
I’d give this two eights easily. I’m certainly checking out issue #2 at least. I had a great time reading this.
I’m with Jason. I thought it did pretty well for a first issue, which, let’s face it, tend to suck in general. I do hope it gets more in depth, but I think it gave us enough to know that these aren’t going to be shallow characters. The characterization we DID get was pretty subtle, too, which I like. Booster’s pep talk to Rocket Red about “China and Russia will be great friends. I’ve seen it.” Was a nice nod to his origins in the 25th century, without actually SAYING he’s from the future. Stuff like that.
I also LOVED all the shout outs to the the original JLI (I picked up the first two trades last week. It’s totally all your fault, Chip. Your glowing praise of the series was too much to withstand! Lol). For instance, Guy Gardner wanting to be in charge; Batman and Booster’s interactions; The team having it’s strings pulled from the very beginning. Also, Batman backing Booster up (“Don’t sell him short. He can do this.”) was a nice nod to both the original JLI and Booster’s series, where Batman (and sometimes ONLY Batman) had confidence in Booster, as a person and a hero.
It’s nice to see all that. One of my biggest pet peeves with reboots and new series is that they tend to forget everything that came before. I like that that doesn’t seem to be happening here.
The only thing I didn’t like was Booster’s new costume…but MAYBE it’ll grow on me. Maybe.
Maybe it was having read Animal man at the same time. That book was so boss!
