Justice League International #2 Review

Posted by Chris Kirby
October 6, 2011 at 10:15 AM

Introductory issues aside, the power of Booster Gold begins to come into light.

What They Say:
The United Nations’ new international team of heroes must learn to work together–and fast–if they’re going to discover the mystery behind the giant alien Signalmen who are appearing all over the globe. Can Booster Gold lead his team to victory, or will they fall?

The Review:
Picking up where we left off in issue #1, the Hall of Justice is destroyed and the JLI are knee deep in fighting strange creatures as a giant robot stands there…waiting. The first issue was extremely unfit as an introductory issue to the characters but not the concept. The purpose of the JLI and why these particular heroes were chosen was made clearly and while we may still not know just who these characters are we get to see them in action and dealing with the growing pains of a new team.

If you can push past not knowing who everyone is and get lost in the story, JLI #2 makes for some good reading. Faced with an enemy they know nothing about, an enemy there were completely unprepared to face, the team attempts to figure out the best course of action. Booster Gold, the leader, makes the decision to retreat. The way the various members deal with this decision is actually really well written and full of perspective. The angles of cowardice and true bravery are addressed and make Booster into a much stronger character that deserves to be the leader of the JLI. The action doesn’t last too long before we are reading a lot of dialogue between the characters. This dialogue provides some meat to select characters and creates a sense of excitement that only drama can bring.

The downside is that only select characters are given an opportunity here to be fleshed out. I am certain that as the series goes on everyone will get their due but for right now…the cast is just too big and sacrifices must be made for the sake of brevity. I am OK with this because my personal favorites are the ones given the spotlight: Booster Gold and Guy Gardner. Batman serves greatly to the story as well and I hope he becomes a regular cast member despite the U.N. not wanting him on the team. The issue ends with a larger mystery revolving the giant robots coming to light and a crazy looking bad guy being introduced that gives off Darkseid vibes. A vast improvement over the first issue, JLI looks to be the series people will have to stick with for it to get great but great it will surely get!

In Summary:
I am sticking with JLI because I believe in the power of Booster Gold, and this disrespected superhero gets his due in this issue. The focus seems to be on getting people to take Booster seriously and with the dialogue and decisions made here he will surely get respect. The action scenes still aren’t plotted out to provide a sense of excitement or urgency but this is turning out to be more of a character piece than a brawler. I respect what Dan Jurgens is trying to do and given enough time he will definitely succeed but it needed to happen quicker, it needed to happen last issue. If I wasn’t such a Booster Gold fanboy this would be a trade pickup. With the trades, people will be able to get the whole story and get into the characters at a better pace which will serve better to build a fanbase. It’s just a shame that the monthlies can’t provide that yet.

Grade: B