JUSTICE LEAGUE #3
Part Three

January 2012

Written by Geoff Johns

Pencils by Jim Lee

Inks by Scott Williams

Coversby Jim Lee and Ivan Reis

Synopsis

In Washington D.C., Diana (aka Wonder Woman) hears the news of a winged creature on the loose and decides to investigate.  In Detroit, Silas’ Stone’s only son has been seriously hurt by the emergence of the winged creatures.  He only has one chance to save him.  In Metropolis, the winged creatures have also appear and are taking people with them.  Superman, Batman, Flash, and Green Lantern battle the winged creatures.  They are joined by Woman Wonder.  Meanwhile, Silas injects his son with experimental nanites that begin to transform his body.  Elsewhere, the heroes follow the winged creatures to the ocean, where a citadel appears, reaching up to the sky.  Suddenly, the heroes are joined by Aquaman, who wants to know who is in charge.  He then votes for himself. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

"I am speaking your language correctly, am I not?"

I really liked this issue.  I thought the increased pacing, the increased action, and the introduction of not one but two more League members helped move the book along rather quickly.  Lee’s art is wonderful with some great action scenes, while Johns manages to pack a lot characterization and witty dialogue into the action scenes to help define the characters and their relationship to each other.  Remember, this story takes place in the early days and Johns’ writing firmly underscores that time period by showing the characters getting to know each other in the midst of chaos.  It is also underscored by the cockiness and arrogance of their actions, that feeling they can easily defeat whatever comes at them, not realizing they are facing something bigger, stronger, and smarter than they are.  They have not yet faced that, and it shows in the way they act and react to everything around them.  The characterization is different, but I like what Johns is doing and how he is handling these characters coming together for first time.  Now that the pace and action has picked, this is getting better. 

I wonder how this will read once it is bound together as a single story.  Reading it monthly, the cold opening featuring Wonder Woman walking around the city searching for harpies and eating ice cream was amusing and certainly provided a good foundation for her character.  Yet, I can’t imagine how it will read when you go from the action-oriented cliffhanger from the previous issue to a slow, meandering pace to explore a new character. 

There are a number of rather interesting cameos from Dr. T. O. Morrow (creator of Red Tornado) and Professor Ivo (creator of Amazo) as scientists at STAR Labs.  I am guessing this would be ebfore they built their famous machine.  There was also the appearance of Steve Trevor, but his role as Wonder Woman’s “handler” or friend or whatever is one of those things that I am sure DC can’t really mess around with. 

On the first page, the identity of Orr is rather prominently displayed.  I am guessing this is supposed to be Mr. Orr from the Superman story “For Tomorrow”, which was drawn by Jim Lee (oh, by the way).  The two characters look similar (at least from what memory tells me; I am not going to look it up).  I don’t think it is either Ben Orr (bass guitarist for the Cars) or Benjamin Orr (Massachusetts politician in the early 1800s).

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