Pull List 8: Please tell me we're not losing the bwahahas...

A team of internationally-drafted superheroes fight each other and their bureaucratic supervisors as much as they do global crime in JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #1 from writer Dan Jurgens and artist Aaron Lopresti. The cover to issue #1 is by Aaron Lopresti.

Justice League International
Writer: Dan Jurgens
Artist: Aaron Lopresti

You know...this raises a lot of questions for me, and answers several others. First question: Why not call the other team Justice League of America? It's a classic name, and since you *already* had a JLI, I can't see a reason *not* to do it.

Second question: That's clearly a different Batman, so...we have two, still? I'm, not certain how I feel about that. There really should only ever be one Batman (whether it's Dick Grayson or Bruce Wayne), as it's not exactly the Flash Family or the Green Lantern Corps. I'm guessing that's Dick under the mask, but I'd be super-happy if it were actually Bruce and he was running some kind of game to screw with everyone's head.

Setting all that aside, again, DC seems to be picking some of my favorite artists for these books they're launching. Aaron Lopresti's a talented penciller and I've found his work a joy to behold ever since I read Shooter's run on the Threeboot Legion back in 2008. And Dan Jurgens--other than Keith Gifften, there's no better choice to write this team, though like I said--I honestly hope we're not losing the bwahahahas from this group. That would be terrible--it's too soon to suck out of this new universe.

Love the line-up though. While it's not strictly "A-List", they stuffed this team with fan-favorite B-List characters. And MOST of them are from other countries, for once! Vixen's from Africa, Ice is from Scandinavia, Fire is from Brazil, Rocket Red's from Russia, and the armored guy is from China though I can't recall his name. (Thank you Wikipedia. August General in Iron, is his name. Yes, seriously.) I think four people from America is a bit much (Batman, Black Canary, Guy Gardner, and Booster Gold--though he's from the future America), but they're all classic JLI members and the team wouldn't be the same without them.

Hopefully the team actually expands as time goes on to have a few other members, but for now this looks like it'll be a great comeback. The first trade I ever bought was the first six issues of this team's original comic--it changed the way I looked at superheroes, and made me realize you could be heroic without brooding, even if your name isn't "Spider-Man". I love this team, and I'm glad DC sees that everyone else does too.