JLA (1997-2006) Vol. 1

JLA: Volume One is a deluxe edition collecting the first issues of the Justice League's mid-1990's incarnation. At this point, we had a lineup of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, the Flash (Wally West), Green Lantern (Kyle Raynar), Aquaman, and eventually Green Arrow (Connor Hawke). Other heroes assisted the JLA, but this was the core lineup.The series, penned by popular writer Grant Morrison, started out with the group already formed, and dealing with numerous external threats. Apparently, this is not the first time they have formed the League together in that continuity. This is merely the newest set-up for the League, and we quickly find out what crisis caused them to join together once again this time.At the time in the mid-90's, the comics industry was just starting the idea of average story arcs of six issues. Usually, the adventures were either standalone, two to three issue arcs, or giant-sized arcs such as Batman: The Long Halloween and Crisis on Infinite Earths, etc. Because of this, there are several different stories in this graphic novel. I will briefly review each story, and give it a rating; then I will conclude by briefly reviewing this collected edition as a whole, and rating it as a whole.-----The first story is a short arc that deals with mysterious visitors from outer-space who come to earth to render aid to humanity. At least, that is what they tell us, claiming they can cure diseases, stop wars, heal the environment, etc. Of course, this isn't what they really want. They want to conquer earth and use our people and resources for their own ends. To be honest, exactly what they wish to use us for is kinda vague, but that might be the point. The aliens seem to be more interested in satisfying their own war-like urges than anything else.Needless to say, they don't succeed. Largely due to Batman and his chief super-power, which is being underestimated and then proving to the bad guys just how awfully stupid it is to dismiss Bats as being "just a simple man with no powers". Batman's quick thinking and use of psychological warfare was terrific to see. In many ways, this was the beginning of the most recent conception of Batman, who, while good at fighting and other areas, is not the world's best at everything. He simply makes it his business to prepare for everything, and thinks well on his feet.The ending was also really neat, as the bad guys were simultaneously rehabilitated and punished in a truly ironic manner. All in all, a great tale.My rating for this story was five stars.-----Following that arc was a one-shot tale featuring a new hero. The JLA is conducting interviews for new members when they come across an unknown metahuman who calls herself "Tomorrow Woman". I know, even in a world of goofy names, this is a really goofy one, but oh well. Her chief ability centers around amazing telekinetic abilities. The only problem is that she is not who she seems to be.She is an extremely well-created android who was created with metahuman abilities, and she has been sent by the insane scientist who created her with one goal, the destruction of the Justice League. In a conclusion that is both touching and sad, she refuses her programming and sacrifices herself to save the league.My rating for this story was three and a half stars.----This third story was a one-shot that lead directly into the two-issue arc following it. It was a really confusing story of an angel who wished to be mortal and was granted this request by God. Yet some rogue angel is trying to kill him for it. And.... this is about all I got. This was a tale that had some real promise but fell through for a very natural reason such stories often fail miserably.The reason is that the tale was haphazard and connected to nothing larger. All the story seemed to be about was introducing a new character who would be the replacement for Hawkman (whose status at the time was uncertain). That was it. A nonsensical story was told that relied on cliches and convenient timing for even a comic book, all to shoehorn in a new "main" character that doesn't really work. And what makes it all even worse is that the story was truly interesting, yet they couldn't execute.My rating for this story was 1 and a half stars.-----The second major story arc, following on from the above mentioned disaster of a story, was a two-part tale having to do with the villainous "Key", who captured the Justice League, and is using them for his purposes. Essentially, he is an extremely powerful telepath, who is attempting to access a type of extra-universal energy field he has discovered. He plans to turn himself into a godlike entity and rule the world, but first he must access that energy.To do so, he comes up with a novel plan: let the Justice League win. Count on it, in fact. The Key proceeds to trap the Leaguers in a dream environment where they will realize they are trapped and all come out at the same time, "winning". The resulting psychic surge they will feed to the machines they are connected to (which in turn are connected to the Key) will enable the villain to access the energy he seeks to harness, and thus rule the world. Only the new Green Arrow can defeat him.This was one of my most fondly remembered arcs from when I was a kid, and I loved it now as an adult. My rating for this was 4 stars.-----The final story was a Justice League annual edition that told the story of the League repelling an alien invasion (that long-time readers of the comic will recognize as being from the Starro mind-control aliens). But this is far harder for the League to deal with than most such crises.The Spectre, who is the embodiment of the Wrath of God, visits the League, and tells them not to go intervene, or else they will be subverted and used to conquer the universe. To save those already taken control of, the League's super-powered folks must agree to temporarily give up their powers.What follows is a pretty impressive display of just what a team can do even without their abilities. In other words, it is made abundantly clear they are heroes no matter what, for their hearts above all else make them heroes.-----Overall, I really enjoyed this first collection of the mid-90's JLA adventures, except for how the stories were a huge wet kiss to Batman. Look, Bats is my favorite super-hero ever, but some of the "Batman is the greatest of all" stuff was a little overdone. It was great to see my favorite hero get his kudos and screen-time, but let's not overdo it, okay?The art was nothing spectacular, but it was noticeably better than early periods. They finally were taking it more serious in the late '80's onwards, and it shows.This was a fun collection of comics, and a great read.

[Review for Morrison JLA Deluxe Editions 1-4]I'm a pretty mixed Morrison fan. I've enjoyed smaller titles and shorter works, but his Batman run was more miss than hit for me, and Final Crisis made me want to tear out my hair. Sometimes, I feel like he's convoluted and layered in allusions and obscure references at the expense of a coherent story.But I read JLA and suddenly things clicked. No, I still do not completely love what I think of as the extreme Morrison, but this run of JLA really cemented two things for me: (1) the sheer scale and number of ideas running through this writer's head are incredible, and I can now see echoes in his work in so many other current writers (Snyder, Taylor, King, etc.); (2) when he's constrained by a certain kind of book, like an ensemble like this, and paired with a methodical artist who approaches the visuals cleanly, his stories are so much easier to understand (even if the written content is still convoluted). What makes some stories like Final Crisis so frustrating, I think, is that the art, while beautiful, is just as close up and choppy and messy as the writing. But the crisp storytelling in the JLA, the constraints of self-contained arcs with explainable endings, all come together in a way that made me appreciate his genius.The complete run contains some truly unforgettable stories you'll see other folks talk about (Rock of Ages for example). And I'm so glad I purchased this. It's like there was a big missing piece in my DC reading and it suddenly fell into place. I strongly recommend this, even if you don't think of yourself as a Morrison person. Just give it a shot. I'm so glad I did.

So did I. After reading All-Star Superman and some of his Vertigo titles, JLA seemed like a fun place to continue. This Deluxe hardcover contains JLA #'s 1-9, and JLA Secret Files #1 which is a full-sized prequel issue that I assume was a one-shot. It is co-written by Mark Millar.If you would rather have these issues in a softcover paperback issues 1-4 are avaiable as JLA: New World Order and 5-9 as JLA: American Dreams. I do not know if Secret Files #1 is included in either of those collections. I will say that each of those books is a tiny, flimsy little trade and considering that this hardcover is available from Amazon for the about the same price as the two of those combined I recommend going with this one.In regards to the content, I felt the first story arc from issues one through four deserved two or three stars. If you have a strong connection to these characters you might think more highly of it but I know little about them and came on board strictly because of Morrison. Just to be objective I must say I never would have guessed those four issues were penned by Morrison had his name not been on the cover. In my opinion they lacked the flair, witty dialogue, and overall brilliance we have all come to expect from the master. **begin edit** It's now a few months later and I just reread the opening story arc. It was way better the second time! **end edit** Just when I began to regret this purchase issue five came along and the Grant I know began to shine through. Books six and seven were very good, and the Elseworld tales from issues eight and nine were fantastic. The Secret Origins one-shot which concludes the collection was also good.I think if you really like the Justice League you will very much enjoy this collection. If you are signing up for Morrison, the first four issues may leave you somewhat flat but by the end I think you will come around. I look forward to purchasing volume 2.

The JLA has been a mainstay of the DC universe for decades, the follow-up to the earlier Justice Society. But each time it gets rebooted, it is successful for a while and then seems to fizzle out. The previous iteration started as a humorous take, ended up getting more serious... but with characters who felt a bit B-List.This reboot brings it back to basics, but I'm not convinced it was necessary - why not just continue from the previous version, rebooting that? At least that deemphasised the 'America' part and made it seem like a global organisation. This one is still global but its name and characters pretty much relagate the rest of the world to 'nothing happens there'.Also a reboot is great jumping on point, but if you don't get in on the act immediately the author fails to provide any further jumping on point by having each story end, but starting the next story in the same issue, which really presents problems for continuity with other comics (11+ regular titles are supposed to happen within the same continuity). It also presents a problem for this collection as issue 9 ends on a cliffhanger, even though it had completed the story.To my mind this is poor writing. I have no problem setting up future storylines within the ongoing storyline, but every so often there should be a cut off moment where new readers can join without wondering why the 'new' story seems to start part way through.This album has some really good stories, particularly the opening White Martian storyline, and the return of the Key gives some interesting 'Elseworld' takes on the main character as well as showing that Green Arrow is a viable member of the group.But then there is the dire Zauriel storyline that is basically an alien invasion with a twist in that the 'aliens' work for God (except they don't). The fallen angel is the good guy. I found this one just a bit offensive, and also it didn't quite make sense.This mixed bag doesn't hold up to binge reading in the way that it might have done when originally released. Morrisson can do a lot better.

Collecting the 1st 2 major stories of Grant Morrisons JLA run this volume seems The Justice League stocked full of all the 'big' players. Batman, Superman, Wonder woman, the Flash, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman and Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner).Prior to this run the Justice league was mostly B-lister heroes and interest was waning. Morrisons take is to bring back all the big guns and do huge action adventure stories with intergalatic enemies and threat on a global scale. And in this aim the series succeeds. The foes are epic, the heroes super heroic and the adventures grand. This is a great big scale superhero adventure.The artwork is superb with some oddities that newer readers may find strange. Superman is sporting his 90s era Mullet, but with all the swashbuckling and dering do going on here that's a minor quibble. The pacing of the story is breakneck speed, this truely feels like a adventure that only the worlds greatest heroes combined could contend with.The only gripe I have with this book is that between the 1st and 2nd stories obviously a lot happens to the characters that isn;t covered here. Superman suddently pops up as a blue energy based hero with totally different powers and bar a couple of brief mentions it's not really explained. This is pretty jarring to someone who wasn't familiar with the Super-goings on in the 90s.Overall this a great thrill ride of a book, the artwork is big, bold and colours are strong. The cover gives in good impression of the style found in the volume. As with all 'team up' style comics it suffers a lack of screen time for the individual characters. I would certainly recommend picking this up but you might want to familiarize yourself with some of the characters present before delving in.

Great product .

As a DC fan, especially of the justice league, I very much enjoyed Grant Morrison's take on the Justice league and their associated stories. Though long, it fails to disappoint by having interesting characters, great stories inside by one of the best comic book writers in the industry. Would recommend to other DC/ Comic fans both old and new.

Great artwork and fun stories make this an enjoyable read. Not Morrison's best work, but still very good. Martian Manchester, the flash and green lantern have some of the best parts in the collection.