Looking back on the Geoff John's Justice League run as a whole, it was definitely a mixed bag. Early on, it really struggled to provide a confident direction for the New 52. The first two story arcs, in general, are pretty mediocre with surface level characterization, one note villains and, at times, incoherent storytelling. It's not until
Throne of Atlantis that the book really begins to hit it's stride, beginning to flesh out the characters more and to tell more compelling and well written stories. From there it goes back and forth in quality with
Forever Evil being the high point and
Trinity War a relative low point.
Visually it's almost always worth a look, with Jason Fabok's art being the standout. His facial work is really strong and he also delivers some really epic full page spreads. Throughout the run John's provided plenty of epic moments for comic book fans and all of the various artists really knew how to deliver. Even the most terribly written stories feature some dynamic artwork. With that said, the art could be inconsistent at times. The rapid pace that monthly comic book publishing demands means that, oftentimes, multiple artists would have to work on a given issue, so the art style could change in the middle of a story. In addition to this, the main pencilers, like Fabok and Reis, didn't always have time to finish their work and some issues feature art that has (rather obviously) been completed by a back up artist.
Standout moments in the run include Wonder Woman and Superman kissing (though its memorable for all the wrong reasons), Aquaman accepting his birthright in
Throne of Atlantis, Lex Luthor killing Alexander Luthor in
Forever Evil, the death of Darkseid, the death of Owlman, and Batman taking Green Lantern's ring and overcoming the Mobius chair in
The Darkseid War. Johns made some major contributions to the DC Canon in this run, introducing some memorable new characters, most notably Jessica Cruz, and reintegrating some old favorites, including Billy Batson. He also made Lex Luthor into something of an antihero. I would never have thought that having Luthor join the Justice League was a good narrative choice, but Johns made it work. The run was definitely held back by DC's editorial machine.
Trinity War comes across more as a company mandate then as a story Johns wanted to pursue. It's strange having
Forever Evil come right after another major (and arguably bigger) crossover event. Of course the company's decisions regarding the core characters in the New 52 reboot also had a major impact on Johns' storytelling, especially early on. Since Johns was already the company's chief creative officer when the New 52 was launched, its impossible to know how much of this was his idea.
Of all the regular core Justice League members Johns probably does the best job with Batman and Wonder Woman. Aquaman is really only focused on during
Throne of Atlantis and Hal Jordan is absent for a good chunk of the run. Superman and Flash, on the other hand, never really get much to do at all. Kal is at his best when interacting with Luthor while Barry gets to shine as Jessica Cruz's mentor. Speaking of Jessica, she, and many of other the new members inducted into the league over the course of the run, are generally more fleshed out. Adding Cyborg to the League was a little bit controversial, as he's usually a Teen Titan and many felt that the character worked better in a more teen focused book. While I tend to agree I do like what John's does with the character. Victor Stone is the one character who's their from the beginning who really grows and changes over the course of the run, becoming a more confident and fully rounded individual by the end. Lex Luthor, who joins the League after the events of
Forever Evil, was also a welcome addition and his more ambiguous morals provided a nice contrast to the League's selfless heroism. We continually see Lex try and, oftentimes, fail to be a hero and this is something that has continued to be explored in the Rebirth era by Peter Tomasi and Dan Jurgens in
Superman and
Action Comics respectively.
The villains featured throughout the run are also a little hit-or-miss. Darkseid fails to make much of an impression in the opening arc. This is remedied a little during
The Darkseid War but, ironically, he is killed half way through that story. Grail is the real villain of
The Darkseid War and is a pretty good one with a nature vs. nurture style backstory. Other new villains include the lackluster David Graves; Grid, the supervirus who takes over Victor Stone during
Trinity War; and patient zero, who turns into Amazo. Of these three Grid is definitely the most interesting being a sort of mirror for Victor Stone, showing what he could be if he lost his humanity and forcing him to confront his deepest fears. In general, it's the Crime Syndicate who stand head and shoulders above every other villain in the run. The ever tense power dynamic between Ultraman, Owlman and Superwoman really makes for some compelling reading. Both Ultraman and Olwman get fleshed out backstories, mirroring Superman and Batman, and the same goes for Grid, Johnny Quick and Atomica, and Power Ring. Superwoman's origin is left unexplained, in order to hide her relationship with Alexander Luthor until the big reveal, but this is mitigated somewhat in
The Darkseid War, where she easily has the biggest role to play out of the surviving members.
For anyone wanting to check this run out I'd recommend starting with
Throne of Atlantis (especially if you like
Aquaman stories) and then slogging through
Trinity War, which you kind of need to read before
Forever Evil. If your not hooked by then this run probably isn't for you.
To read my detailed thoughts on all of the trades collecting this run see the links below:
Justice League Volume 1: Origin
Justice League Volume 2: The Villain's Journey
Justice League Volume 3: Throne of Atlantis
Trinity War
Forever Evil
Justice League Volume 6: Injustice League
Justice League: The Darkseid War
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