Justice League United #0 Review

A book about Canada’s Justice League could have easily been a punchline of a comic. Luckily, DC put Jeff Lemire and Mike McKone on the book. The result is a jaunty superhero romp that reads more like an issue of the original Justice League International run than anything DC is publishing today. And that’s definitely a good thing.

Lemire’s plot in this book is pretty standard. Aliens are invading. They’re kidnapping people. It’s nothing readers won’t have seen before. It’s the way he writes the book’s characters that elevates it beyond its basic story. He quickly creates a relationship a la Blue Beetle/Booster Gold between Green Arrow and Animal Man, and Martian Manhunter is established as a force to be reckoned with. Stargirl is also pretty loveable and her friendship with Animal Man feels very organic. Occasionally the dialogue becomes pretty hammy and banter-heavy. This may be a turn-off for some readers, but fans of something like the Batman: The Brave and the Bold cartoon will get a kick out of it. Lemire is at his best when writing weird horror and he proves it during an extremely memorable sequence introducing a new character called Equinox.

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