Justice League 3001 #1 Review

Justice League 3000  was a series that no one really gave any mind about. The sales and general news presence alone attests to that. It was a wonder that it even lasted as long as it did, before finally getting the axe. Yet, if there’s one thing that anyone knows about creators Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis - it is that you can’t bring them down. Justice League 3001 is proof enough.  

  Alongside artist Howard Porter, the trio has brought back the series for another year. Full on new ideas with the same old characters that we have come to love and love to hate. This is a good issue in some respects, but also one that could have been more accessible. What I mean by this is that, in the week since its release, there are many who have never read the series who got confused by the context. Through no fault of their own, of course.   What this boils down to is that, while fans were generally pleased, the newcomers were left with slightly bad tastes in their mouths. This is a #1 issue, so when you’re going in you somewhat expect being able to jump into it - especially a Justice League book - while this series picks up with a lot of the previous book’s plot threads. Giffen and DeMatteis work with what they did very well on a purely story level.  

  The characters are still the same goofs they were. Superman 3k, with his slight character growth, is still the grating jerkwad we’ve gotten used to, while we also have some fresh faces. Guy Gardner has returned to his familiar female form and is just as Guy as Guy’s ever been. I’ll just say one thing about the “controversy” is that while Batman and Superman were bickering - Guy was getting the job done. Guy’s identity is Guy.   The plot for this issue is itself more about setting up the main plot thread for this arc, and maybe future arcs, that the Injustice League 3k is still around and setting up their fall. We’ll probably get more later, but this is just an acclimation issue. Porter is the real star here. I had thought we had seen as many Starros as there could be - but Porter knocks it out of the park. I’m not shy with saying that this is possibly the best Starro design ever.  

  Justice League 3001 is a strong start to a series that needed at least a second chance. Will it be able to ride the wave of the “DC YOU” push? One hopes so. I certainly do, because this is a team of creative forces that should be on everyone’s watch list. Of course not even this team is infallible - we’re going to be getting some guest artists. But one of them is Scott Kolins, who can hate that? Thoughts and comments would be appreciated below.