The Justice League of America, as they were once known, seems like an awfully specific name for the world's most powerful heroes saving world-from amazing threats. Apparently that was the mindset in the late 80s, when "Justice League" was introduced, and later changed to Justice League International. Basically the diverse team handled global threats, and a tight bond developed between the mish-mash of characters. The run is also well known for bringing the "bwahaha"
The Justice League International has recently reformed independently in the pages of Justice League: Generation Lost. The group is often diverse and close knit, with friendships running deep to the point of tragedy at times. I'll talk briefly about a couple of the characters shown in the image, though I want to point out that writer Dan Jurgens has said this isn't the final lineup. Batman is of course notable here, and with his Batman Inc. organization and his prominent position in the original series, it makes sense. You also have this core of the JLI group, a people who's relationships are deeply intertwined in friendship, love, etc. They make up the character usually associate with the previous JLI: Booster Gold, Fire, Ice, Guy Gardner, and Rocket Red. Additionally in this image are a few international heroes: Vixen, whose totem is used to tap into the power of various animals, and August General in Iron, a Chinese hero of the group The Great Ten, his armor fashioned from alien tech. While these two have interacted with some of these other heroes before (Vixen has been Justice League on and off for a while now), it will be more interesting to see their interactions with this particular group.
Now, while there will no doubt be other heroes involved, and their missions more of an international nature (I believe they are sanctioned by the UN), this group's interpersonal relationships always stood out to me. That's the difference between them and the standard "Big 7" JLA.
Dan Jurgens will be writing this with Aaron Lopresti on art. Dan Jurgens I've mentioned before, and has long paid dues as both a writer and an artist. He's been working with Booster Gold and these members of the Justice League for a long time. So not only is he qualified, but he's familiar, and he has a consistency that is appreciated. Aaron Lopresti is fantastic artist, and handled this team along with Joe Bennett in their recent adventures in Justice League: Generation Lost. He also did much of the art for Wonder Woman during Gail Simone's run, with Brian Reed on Ms. Marvel, and on his own creation, Garbageman, which was serialized in the anthology mini-series Weird Worlds.
Now I mentioned way back when I started this but I was going to hold off on the JLI collections... and here they are!
Justice League vols. 1-6, by Keith Giffen, J.M DeMatteis, Kevin Maguire, and Bart Sears.
Justice League: Generation Lost by Judd Winick, Keith Giffen, Aaron Lopresti, and others.
Later today I'm going to talk about Mister Terrific, a character who's never had his own ongoing series before (I'm not even sure he's gotten a mini!).
Also, I apologize about the tardiness. I had a rough night at my second job, and I couldn't manage to get very much typed out that wasn't gibberish. Thanks to whoever checked in at 8am, I hope I haven't driven you off with my unprofessionalism.
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