One of the comics that got a new creative team change post Convergence was Justice League United. Jeff Parker is at helm with writing while Travel Foreman provides the artwork. What can these two men bring us with this comic, which seems aimed to have a huge roster of characters? Is it good?
Justice League United #11 (DC Comics)
Something big and dangerous is starting to break through to the DC Universe’s reality. The remaining members of Justice League United have decided to gather together a special team of various heroes (and even a villain) together to handle this mission. Will they be enough to stop this?
Justice League United #11 has a solid and intriguing start thanks to the new creative team. It’s a fairly easy to jump aboard entry point for new readers as Parker provides you all the background you need to understand. he story Parker crafts gets you curious about what exactly this threat is that everyone is up against and why all of these characters were specifically needed for this mission. This threat is so strange looking and bizarre in how it is presented (they looked they are made of jam early on) that it makes you curious to see more of them. Outside of that, it’s a fairly standard, “get the team together” issue that is executed very well.
Parker also does a good job at capturing each character’s voice well and honestly, no one seems out of character all that much (Etrigan could have maybe rhymed some more though). The only disappointing or weak area of the characterization is that Stargirl was barely in the book, even though she seemed like she was going to be an important character and Poison Ivy doesn’t seem to have much purpose… yet at least. The pacing and transitioning are both handled well, resulting in a book that never feels hard to read or keep up with. The dialogue is enjoyable and there are plenty of great exchanges and scenes (Poison Ivy has some of the best lines in the comic for instance) that had me smiling and laughing. The only difficult or frustrating parts of the book are Adam Strange’s dialogue, mostly due to how it is lettered and how odd it sounds.
Now the biggest thing that will vary for each person is the artwork by Foreman. He’s got a really unique and different kind of style that you don’t usually see in superhero comics with the way characters are drawn or how things are inked. His style is very capable of producing some great looking characters, expressions, stylized action, and even very bizarre to surreal creatures and foes (loved his work back in Lemire’s Animal Man). However, his work can often backfire with how inconsistent the inking can be, how terrifying or creepy the characters can look, or in the characters’ facial expressions. His artwork is efficient, creative, and unique but can also easily turn others off with how things come out looking.
Is It Good?
Justice League United #11 is a promising start for the new creative team. While it’s a familiar sort of setup, the execution is very well handled and the issue featured a lot of great character moments and scenes. The writing is good and same goes for the artwork, though the latter can at times be rather unintentionally creepy. All in all, I’m eager to see where the next issue takes us.
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