I was in high school when Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire transformed the Justice League of America into something radically different: a comedy title. Justice League #1 was one of the first books I bought in the first comic-book store that opened in my small hometown. I was instantly taken with Maguire's detailed and expressive artwork, but what really hooked me was the humor. Repetition was key to the hilarity, and that, as well as the other traits of the original material, remain strengths of this super-hero spoof today. I'm not sure how new readers might react to this tongue-in-cheek look at colorfully costumed warriors, but for those of us who enjoyed it in the 1980s, Formerly Known As... serves as an entertaining look back.
Maxwell Lord is back at it again, looking to turn the honorable calling of super-heroics into a profitable venture. Before he can recruit old friends to be members of his new "everyman's" super-hero team, though, he must first bring a trusted aide back into the fold: L-Ron the robot. But what ever became of the Max's mechanical majordomo? L-Ron's fate is too horrible to imagine... and it makes it easy for the sarcastic tin-can to rejoin the manipulative Max. The subsequent recruitment efforts prove to be a challenge, as Max and L-Ron find most of their costumed comrades to be rather reluctant to relive the goofiest period of their past.
Kevin Maguire's artwork is as richly detailed as it was in the late 1980s, and it plays to the goofier strengths of the script. I also enjoyed how the artist manages to demonstrate that these aren't the same heroes we enjoyed so much years ago. They've aged a bit; you can see it in Blue Beetle and Fire.
The creators manage to recreate the same tone, sense of humor and visual style as the original humor-era Justice League books. It seems DC has even gone so far as to replicate the subpar grade of paper. Given the slick, carstock cover, I was surprised to find such low-grade paper inside.
It seems clear that the creators are aiming solely for the fans of the source material, because this isn't the most accessible of stories. L-Ron, Fire and even Captain Atom are rather obscure characters in comics these days, and the writers really don't provide much in the way of exposition for any of the characters.
The greatest strength of the book is the humor, obviously, and while I wasn't busting a gut like I was during the first few issues of Justice League, Giffen and DeMatteis still had me smiling from ear to ear. I was pleased that they chose to bring a new element -- Mary Marvel -- into the group. How she reacts to the others and vice versa should bring plenty of potential for new gags.
