Cosplay: Justice League #5 Review

I think I finally have realized the reason behind the vague sense of dissatisfaction, if not downright unease, that I’ve been feeling reading Geoff Johns’s and Jim Lee’s Justice League: these characters don’t act right. At best, they act like versions of the original characters that have suffered an extended and untreated fever, or perhaps some period of natural gas-related asphyxia, or some other unknown cause of mild brain damage.

I get that these are supposed to be the members of the Justice League at the beginning of their careers, and therefore it’s probably to be expected that their personalities are somewhat different than we’re used to. Which, as ideas go, is not a bad way to go, and one that could drive many character-driven stories. Unfortunately, over the course of five issues, it’s become apparent that Johns has decided that the primary difference in character is that five years ago, the World’s Greatest Superheroes were Complete Motherfucking Idiots.

Johns has these characters doing things and acting in ways that beggar belief. Don’t get me wrong, what they’re doing isn’t unrealistic or badly written or even ring particularly untrue… provided you’re reading some Image book or an old Crossgen comic where they’re trying to build a new superhero universe. But this is the Justice League. Green Lantern is meant to be supremely confident and somewhat cocksure (Heh. “Cocksure”), with a certain je ne sais quoi… but which those of us from nations with deodorant available sais quoi as “moderate competence.” This guy is a mouthy dick who uses his Power Ring – a weapon that can turn the simplest thought into reality – to try to punch Darkseid in the face. Actually, that’s not entirely fair – he actually tries and fails.

And then there’s Batman. Johns has Batman do something so supremely out of character it makes Bat Shark Repellent look like The Killing Joke. Particularly considering that Batman: Year One is still considered in-continuity following the New 52, for Batman to do what he does in this book makes no sense whatsoever. Actually, even if Year One wasn’t in continuity – hell, even if the only thing that was in continuity was the Batman Adam West TV series – what Johns has Batman do here doesn’t make any sense. It’s fucked and weird on it’s face – picture Batman introducing himself while disrobing in front of Green Lantern, who has generated himself a giant plasma fist. Actually, you don’t have to picture it, because that’s the thing that happens. The whole sequence dragged me right out of the book, because my brain kept trying to play stripper music.

Jim Lee’s art, as always, is detailed, finely-lined and impressive, but I think I’m starting to see the rigors of producing a monthly comic – well, almost monthly comic – starting to show through. There are almost no panels in this book that couldn’t be blown up into a pin-up. However, some of the storytelling is getting a little muddled. Frankly, a couple of these panels look like some wires got crossed between Johns, Lee and one of the four (four!) inkers on the book. There’s a scene where Superman is hit by one of Darkseid’s Omega Beams, and the inking implies he was impaled dog dead through the chest by it, whereas the beam hits him in a completely different area. Blood on Green Lantern’s face appears, disappears and then reappears, as does a rip on Flash’s costume. None of these are gamebreakers, and the general storytelling is clear, with fluid action sequences and the standard spectacular Lee facial expressions. The art is still worth the price of admission, but I hate to see the little details fuck up my general suspension of disbelief.

Justice League is not a terrible book, although it is displaying moments that are moving it to the wrong side of inessential – and compared to Batman, Detective Comics and several of the other New 52 books, Justice League isn’t all that essential. Johns is making bold choices in how he’s writing these characters… but when one of those choices could take Lee’s art, remove Johns’s dialogue and replace it with, “My name is Bruce Wayne. Have you seen my penis in this light, Green Lantern? Would you like to?”  We’re less into Justice League and more into what feels like disturbing cosplay. Maybe you want to skip it.