Aquaman #3

This is the style Reis and Prado are using to convey Aquaman's flashbacks. It really conveys a sense of wonder and warmth that filled Aquaman's childhood.

And then on the next page, Aquaman gets bit. So apparently I was wrong about him getting bit in that last write up. Maybe I should be paying closer attention to what I'm doing!

So more fighting! I suppose you can't have much of a super hero comic book without the occasional batch of pages used for fighting choreography and witty (or, usually, less than witty) banter.

One thing I didn't mention in the last issue because I didn't really think much about it were these scratches or tears on the creature:



I first thought maybe they were inflicted by the other creatures as they fought for man flesh. But of course they're tears in its skin due to the change in pressure between land and its deep sea home! How could I not have noticed that straight away when I hoped, in the preview, to see an issue of Aquaman where he explodes as he surfaces due to the pressure change?!

Nice touch, Creative Team!

This comic introduces us to a Stephen Shin, a marine biologist of some kind who knew Aquaman's dad when Aquaman was young. He apparently helped Aquaman to learn how to use his powers. Afterward, when Aquaman wouldn't show him where Atlantis was, he apparently tried to kill Aquaman.

But Aquaman uses him to find out about the weird fish things anyway. I suppose it's mainly to lay some groundwork for a future story starring Mr. Shin as Asian Manta.



While swimming down into the trench, we get a little philosophical debate between Mera and Aquaman. Aquaman seems to be empathizing with these creatures. What must they be going through in the depths to risk their lives coming up to the surface. Are they another race on the verge of extinction? And what if they are? Should they be stopped at any cost?

Find out in Issue #4 when Aquaman says: Two Goldfish are in a tank. One turns to the other and says, "You drive! I'll man the guns!"

Aquaman #2

The art in Aquaman #2 doesn't quite live up to the art from the first one. Perhaps that's because they had more than a month deadline to get the first issue together. But a lot of the panels seem less worked than they should be, a little sketchy. And some just look downright goofy:



The art isn't bad at all. It's just very inconsistent. Some panels look polished while some look like they were quickly sketched out to get the page done.

As for the story, it's a lot more comic booky than the previous one. A bunch of people are killed by some hungry fish creatures who constantly make a weird sound effect.


I don't know what it's doing! HWAANK!

Aquaman and Mera do a lot of fighting and beating things up with a little bit of Aquaman's history fighting for space.

Aquaman and Mera's time at home is juxtaposed with their dealing with land dwellers later in the comic. Even though they just want to live quietly on land, Mera can't seem to stomach the way the military and authority figures treat Aquaman, King of Atlantis.

I was just complaining about the way the Justice League had to get beaten down before they could rise up and save the day and how that always seems to be the way. But Aquaman and Mera kick ass from the beginning of the fight with the fish men to the end. Okay, so it isn't completely over yet. But besides Aquaman getting bit by the Biggest of the Villain of the Month, it doesn't really faze him much. He also gets spit on and called food. But I think Aquaman hears much worse from gawkers on the streets of Boston.

And apparently Mera can do this with water:



Did she used to be able to do this in the old comics? Like I said in my preview of Aquaman, I really didn't follow him and his much.

Aquaman #1

Aquaman begins with a bunch of crazy strange deep dwelling creatures crawling out of the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean's floor while speaking in their fishy gibberish language. I'm glad I didn't have to translate this language like I translated Peraxxus's language in JLI. I could have! Because this fishy language is using a typed font instead of a letterer transcribing some alphabet. The letters in the font look like a bunch of ink blots but they're all recognizable and repeatable as letters. I wasn't sure at first because it all just looks like a bunch of spilled ink. But then the fish guy says, "Up," and there are two distinct letters and the 'U' repeats in the previous bubbles.

It seems the most important thing to Geoff Johns while writing Aquaman #1 was to set up Aquaman in a world that realizes that Aquaman has become the butt of many, many jokes. It reminds me of Shaun of the Dead and how they played a zombie outbreak among people who, for once, actually knew what a zombie outbreak was.

Page Five:


First example. The gun-toting robbers laugh at him.


Second example. The cops make a wise crack.


Third example. The cops smirking about asking Aquaman if he wants a glass of water. The line is kind of dumb but I do like this picture of Aquaman glaring at these men he realizes are not taking him seriously.


Fourth example. The cops realizing they're going to get their chops busted for this.

I'm torn by this. I get that Aquaman is a big joke. And I also get that what Johns plays up here in this bit are all the things people tend to forget about Aquaman that make him a real threat. He's probably as strong as Wonder Woman. The robbers in this scene blast him with a machine gun and the bullets mostly bounce of his pressure thickened skin (except for a small cut by one bullet to the head). He basically leaps into the city because he heard the sirens from the shoreline. And he flips the robbers truck with ease.

So I find it almost impossible for a new Aquaman comic to ignore the fact that people think he's a joke. But I also think that in a world that knows of Aquaman, robbers would be a hell of a lot more respectful of the things Aquaman can do to stop them! Especially since this is taking place five years after Aquaman has become well known since he is in the Justice League and the Justice League takes place five years prior to this story (since I'm assuming all 52 stories take place in the present unless specifically noted).

While Johns is trying to make Aquaman work to an audience that treats him like a joke, he makes Aquaman a joke in the world that he would really be anything but. If I were a robber and Aquaman just landed in the middle of the street from nowhere with a thunderous smash as he busted the asphalt his dense body landed on, I'm pretty damn sure I wouldn't try to drive my truck right through him. I get what Johns is trying to do. Get past the joke so we can once again get serious with Aquaman. But I just don't think Aquaman would be thought of as a joke in the comic book reality.

But, hey, I'll go with it! Especially because I really like the way Aquaman deals with it. That picture of the cops smirking with Aquaman is just one of my favorite panels.

Afterwards, Aquaman heads on down to a local fish and chips type establishment for lunch. And since there is a loud THOOOOM sound effect from outside the restaurant, it looks like Aquaman leaps everywhere he goes. Boston must be full of Aquapotholes.

I really like this reaction as he takes a seat in the seafood restaurant:



And this reaction by Aquaman after this guy responds to Aquaman ordering the fish and chips:



There are just so many small touches in this first issue that I really, really like. Ivan Reis and Joe Prado do a marvelous job on the pencils and inks. Aquaman's expressions say everything. Which is really important because he seems like a man who just does what needs doing and doesn't have to talk a lot about it. This Aquaman is quite a bit different from the cocky, wanna-be leader Aquaman seen five years ago (in comic time!) in the Justice League. Since Johns is writing both comics, I'm hoping we'll see how and why he changes over the course of the years.

We get a few one panel glimpses of Aquaman's past as a pushy blogger questions Aquaman at his table. He asks how Aquaman pays for things and we see a past memory of Aquaman opening a chest full of gold coins on a lone beach. The blogger asks why this restaurant which evokes a memory of Aquaman as a child there with his dad.

So the blogger says some other things that sort of clue us in on Aquaman's past and then he asks Aquaman point blank: What's it feel like to be nobody's favorite hero?

And Aquaman has had enough. He storms out, leaving a couple of gold coins for the waitress. And he leaves because of this one jerk. But the majority of the people in the restaurant seem star struck. Aquaman doesn't notice or care.

This is an Aquaman I find interesting. Johns is building a history here right from the start. He's created a character whose motivations are quickly becoming clear. He has fond memories of his father guarding the shores as a lighthouse keeper. And suspicious memories of the Atlanteans who tried to have him killed as a teenager. He is a man of two worlds. A man of the shoreline. And currently he's chosen to stay on land with Mera to live as normal a life as possible. For Aquaman.

But! That peace won't last long because remember those fish creatures from way back! They've surfaced and eaten a fisherman! Uh-oh! Next issue: Trouble!

Justice League International #4

In case the readers weren't sure about Batman and Booster being captured at the end of the last issue, this issue starts off with them being overwhelmed.


Superman. Flash. Wonder Woman. Green Lantern. A different Green Lantern. Some other Green Lantern. Plastic Man. Aquaman. No, just kidding! Starfire. Supergirl. Superboy. Firestorm. Captain Atom. Mister Terrific. Hawkman. Batwoman. Batgirl. Nightwing. Red Hood, whoever he is! Blue Beetle even!

After Bats and Boosts go under, Green Lantern is shown still alive and getting up. So even Peroxide has a better ethic than Superman! Although I'm sure in a subsequent issue, Johns is going to have Superman say something about how he knew they were not living or sentient or something else because of his X-ray vision.

But Perraxus, having left Green Lantern for some reason (perhaps thinking him down for good? Why not kill him?) comes back to where Gardner is but gives Gardner a little heads up this time by talking to himself. But this time he's speaking in an alien language:



Let me translate for you: "The alarm! There is an intruder!"

I'll go through the whole dialogue for the next few pages with the translations I made. Now, I'm not sure if the Alien has a problem pronouncing his 'R's or if the letterer just fucked up a few times:

P: "The alarm! There is an intruder!"
G: "Huh?"
P: "Puny Green Lantern!"
P: "I will defeat you with eae!" (Oh, and apparently an S here and there. Also, in this speech bubble, the I is different in the alien language. Perhaps because it is a capital I?)
G: "You must be the one who took me down when I wasn't lookin'. Not many guys get two chances to cheapshot me."
G: "No one gets three."
P: "I shall not need a third!" (So apparently he understands English. He just doesn't speak it. The I in this speech bubble is yet a third different shape!)
P: "I will simply destroy you now!" (This is an odd comment since Peraxxus, just after beginning to speak English, states that he 'had first thought to kill' Green Lantern but 'has decided to learn' from him instead. And yet, if he had first thought to kill Guy, he could have done it earlier. Did Peraxxus just have a horrible sudden case of diarrhea between issues that couldn't wait for the killing blow on Guy?!)
G: UHN!
G: "Nice. I like a guy with juice. Means I can really cut loose."
P: "We had enough of your chatter, Eathling!" (There is a letter or mark before WE which I didn't bother with. Possibly a letterer error. And I can't say that EATHLING is actually missing a letter because maybe this creature calls Planet 3-147 "EATH!" Oh no, wait! He calls it Planet 3-147! Should't Guy be a 3-147ling?!)
P: "The tanslators in my ship..." (Hee hee! Tanslators!)

And then he starts speaking English. Tally ho and pip pip and all that! And so Guy and Peraxxallus teleport down to the chamber where the rest of the JLI are held captive.


Guy does like a guy with juice! Mmmm! Guy loves a guy with juice! MMMMMM!

Next is the big reveal. Heroes soon to die so Peraxxus gets all loosy-goosy with the tongue. And while the Villain of the Month gabs and gabs, the rest of the team come up with a plan (of sorts!) Ice is instrumental to their freedom, freezes things so they break, blah blah, and then:



Looks impressive! You'd never guess that in the next few pages, Peraxxus kicks their asses! Or maybe you would.

So the comic ends with Peraxxus having started up his end of the world machine. What is going to happen? Eeeee! I don't know! But I'm excited to find out! Yay comic books!

Oh yeah. One last thought. How come the heroes always almost fail? Why do they have to get beat issue after issue before they come back just in time to save the day and win at the end and come from behind?! It would be nice if the majority of stories had the heroes easily defeating the bad guy and then all of the drama and tension could play out in other ways, through character interaction and possibly things happening back in headquarters.

I wish I had some readers here so they could direct me to comics where the hero kicks major ass all day long and rarely falls behind in a fight!

Justice League International #3

I don't think I've discussed the art of the comics too much. Or at all, maybe. I prefer the art in Justice League International over Justice League. It was hard to actually put my finger on what I dislike about Jim Lee's art but I think I may have figured it out while reading JLI. Jim Lee's characters tend not to have much personality. They have grit and determination and lots of crosshatching and lines. He knows how to draw them to express certain emotions. But the characters themselves just aren't coming out of his art.

I know it's a huge personal preference thing because it seems Jim Lee has many, many, many fans. But I've never been one of them.

As for Aaron Lopresti over here at JLI, I'm enjoying just about everything except for Booster Gold's overly muscled body and skin tight suit. If it is a suit. It might just be paint. But then Booster Gold is a sexless Eunuch from the future. I guess that's plausible!



I like the Legion flight ring on his finger. It's just that kind of touch that is nice about 52. Seeing that on his finger as the comic is just taking off turns the reader's attention back to the old Booster Gold series since they'll know the history of it and Booster while new readers may be left to wonder why and where he got it.

So back to the storyline! Here's Booster Gold's plan: break up into four teams of two and do some recon on the chambers underground where the Sentinels, I mean, mysterious robots came from. Forget about those rock creatures that might still be under ground in Peru (and are most likely underground in all the other places that haven't been repelled even once)! It's just recon! If there's trouble, they can probably get out, right?

In Peru, Booster goes in with Batman. I guess this makes sense. Booster has a lot of firepower and Batman is stealthy. Booster distracts the robot and Batman sneaks in. Seems like a good plan.

In Russia, Rocket Red teams up with Ice who apparently wasn't as close to death as everyone thought:


One band-aid later and she's ready to go!

This team I'm not so sure about. Rocket Red appears to have all the scanning technology he needs to do the recon. And he can put up a pretty good fight as well. But Ice just doesn't have the offensive power they may need. Maybe the whole point is to avoid fighting, so that shouldn't matter. Although, again, that's ignoring those little rock guys they fought!

Meanwhile, Guy Gardner heads out into space to fight that purple and pink guy we saw at the end of last issue. That part seems about right! That's just what a Green Lantern is for!

South African Team is Vixen and Fire. Fire is probably the current powerhouse of the group since Gardner hasn't actually opted in just yet. And Vixen can be just as stealthy as Batman with a whole host of supernatural animal talents that Batman can do naturally!

Of course, in the confined space of the underground chamber and the fact that there are just as many of the little rock critters as they saw in Peru, Fire and Vixen are quickly overwhelmed and taken prisoner. It's a good thing these little rock guys have a better ethical compass than Superman!




The last team, in Canada, is Godiva and August General in Iron. Is it about time I just start referring to him as AGI? Okay, agreed! I'm not sure what being able to control your hair brings to the recon mission. Perhaps Booster thought AGI was the most capable so he sent him in with the horny hair hero.

And AGI does indeed save Godiva in the fight while defeating the little rock guys. They continue further down and then this:



Now I've already read Issue #4 and they don't reveal what they're reacting too. They just end up captured just like all of the others. Perhaps they were reacting to a room full of the little rock guys? Or perhaps they were reacting to the great alien technology furnace thingy that Booster and Batman end up finding this issue. In that case, I don't know why AGI declares failure at that point. If it's just more of the little rock guys, it's a stupid reaction and a lame ploy to make the reader wonder what the fuck they've just uncovered!

Let's just accept it as a stupid scene cut.

Booster and Bats have a little more luck than the rest which is to be expected. It is Batman! But they're still overrun as well.

Finally, Green Lantern boards the new alien ship and is immediately downed by Peraxxus. Yes, that's his name, revealed on the last page. PERAXXUS!


It looks like Guy Gardner retained his glass jaw from the last universe!

Justice League International #2

Justice League International quickly answered one question that was bugging me after the first issue: In which city is the Hall of Justice located? Apparently it's in Washington, D.C.

With Godiva trying to fuck Booster, August General in Iron and Rocket Red debating whose country is better, and Briggs trying to deal with a burning Hall of Justice and a Justice League getting their asses kicked, Ice gets blasted pretty hard.

Why is Ice such a punching bag for the writers? Is she the innocent, naive virgin character that all the fanboys can empathize with? We're two comics into the new universe and she's nearly dead! Again! (Thanks, Judd Winnick!)

The team retreats, giving us this nice bit with Batman and Booster:



I like how Batman is acting like the coach of this Justice League. And he wouldn't be Batman without being there for other reasons. He's definitely there because he doesn't trust what the United Nations (or this Briggs guy, in particular) is going to do with a group of super heroes.

Guy Gardner comes back when he sees on the news that Ice was hurt. Apparently there is a history between these two, just like in the old DC Universe.



Although it looks like a pretty short history, I'm interested in it! Let's see a back-up story of their date!

The issue winds down with more pages of Booster wondering if he's even capable of leading this team. Whine whine! But the communist gives a great speech about following your leaders! And Batman says he believes in Booster but I think he doesn't really. Batman just knows the others will believe in Booster if Batman says he believes in Booster, probably.

And then the comic ends with some new Galactus-colored Space Villain coming to single-handedly destroy Earth. Unless he's against split infinitives. And then he'll probably destroy earth some other way.


Ha ha! Get it!? This guy is so scary that he might destroy the real world before the next comic book comes out! Or else they realize he's got a bit too much of that Galactus thing going and Issue #3 could get shut down by Daredevil.

Overall, a pretty decent second issue. But this comic brings up one of those big questions when you've got a whole Universe at hand and this is just one story happening within it. When, exactly, does Batman call in the real Justice League to fight this threat? One giant robot in an isolated location, no big deal. Let them figure out their team and get some experience. But then five robots and the whole team had trouble with just one? It just makes Issue Three fairly questionable when we see how Booster decides to handle the five robots by splitting up the team into pairs. This might seem like a good idea if your pairs are Superman and Wonder Woman or Flash and Green Lantern! But Godiva and August General in Iron?! Against a super intergalactic robot! Okay, okay. I'm getting ahead of myself!

Justice League International #1

Just like Justice League, Justice League International begins by laying the groundwork for the team to come. It doesn't last long and it's important to show that the International version of the Justice League will be at the mercy of the United Nations. But we can see shades of Maxwell Lord already in this Andre Briggs person.

Whatever he's playing at, we can bet that he'll pretty much be lying to the UN and to the JLI while manipulating everyone and everything toward his own ends. Or maybe I'm just expecting another Maxwell Lord!

No, no. He's pretty much Maxwell Lord. Especially since I'm pretty sure the readership is supposed to hate him when he openly calls them all closed-minded, basement dwelling, internet trolls. Or is that just Jurgen pissing on his fanbase?

The JLI headquarters is going to be the Superfriend's Hall of Justice! Hooray! But this revelation comes with possibly the lamest bit of comic scripting I've ever been asked to swallow! A bunch of everymen (and women!) are protesting the UN's takeover of the Hall of Justice because it is a Public Building. What the public was doing with the building and why a bunch of average joes would care that the UN was taking it over, we aren't told. Perhaps they can't bear for the UN to use it because, as one protestor says, it's a symbol! But you know they're average guys because they drop a lot of consanants and say things like "doin'" and "cuz" and "followin'". And when they realize the UN is going to be installing a bunch of heroes in their unused symbolic public building, they get all threatening and terroristy! I'm hoping this glowing red guy in the crowd is the cause of all of this nonsense!



Nine pages in, we get our first glimpse at the collected group. And it warms my heart to see Guy Gardner flip out and throw his first tantrum just eight pages in! I'd scan the picture of him yelling "Are you out of your freaking minds?!" except I'm reading JLI #1 out of the 1000 page book of collected #1s and it'll probably break my scanner and/or the binding on the book trying to get this pic from an inside border.

Guy Gardner ends up bailing on the team but I see him on the cover of Issue #2 and Issue #3, so he'll be back! Batman sneaks onto the jet as the team heads for Peru on their first mission to save some UN people doing UN work of some sort or another. The members of the team:

Red Rocket. He seems very similar to the original Red Rocket which is to say he's a cliche of an ESL Russian immigrant. He's earnest and speaks funny. In this issue he does some scanning with his suit and blasts some little rock guys with some kind of wrist cannon. He can also fly.

Fire. An easy enough name to guess what she does. She shoots flames! She's also probably hot-headed because she's made of fire and because she's Brazilian. She snaps at Godiva during the mission which proves what I just said!

Ice. She freezes things and rides on ice blocks that can float in the sky. So either she makes lighter than air ice blocks or she also has some telekinetic ablility as well. She probably can't get emotionally close to others!

Vixen. She doesn't actually do much in this episode except state that it doesn't matter who is on the team as long as they have a Green Lantern (which they don't!). If I remember correctly, she uses the inherent abilities of animals. I don't know if animals need to be nearby or if she can just do whatever any animal can do. Unless that's Animal Man. Maybe it's just both. Vixen may only be able to use one power at a time. So if she's flying she can't have the strength of a gorilla. Maybe. Like I said, she didn't do much this issue.

August General in Iron. I vaguely remember this guy from somewhere. He was a hero of China who came into conflict with another group. It may have been The Authority or Stormwatch or Planetary or maybe the original JLI. I don't know what this guy can do besides argue with Rocket Red and love his country. He carries some stick like thing that looks like it has a current coming out of it.

Godiva. She can control her hair the same way one might control their legs or arms or hands or fingers. Batman accuses her of not pulling her weight at some point and she kind of responds with a less accurate, differently worded, "Duh! What use is my hair against Rock Creatures?!" She also wants to fuck Booster Gold.

Booster Gold. Booster Gold is the group leader because Andre Briggs probably figures he control and manipulate Booster fairly easily. He can fly and make jokes. He wears a skin tight suit that clings to everything except his penis and balls.

The comic ends with their mission apparently being harder than they thought it was going to be!

I really liked the rhythm and flow of the characters in Justice League International. I also like that before destroying the rock creatures they encounter, Fire asks if they're alive. Rocket Red's sensors confirm they are just animated rock. It's at that point the heroes completely open up and beginning destorying the creatures. That other Justice League is looking really bad now after the way they just began pulling heads and limbs off of the Parademons before finding out what they were killing! Especially since what they were killing were innocent creatures which Darkseid had enslaved and mutated to become Parademons. I'm sure that will be explained later as the innocents died in the process and what was left was some sort of mindless automaton that can only scream, "FOR DARKSEID!"