Grant Morrison returns to write the Justice League? And Ed McGuinness is handling the penciller chores? Sounds like a sales success in the making to me. But the question I'm concerned with is this: is it any good? Well, I don't know the definitive answer to that one. This first chapter in the inaugural story arc is exciting and boasts some entertaining, over-the-top ideas. Ultimately, the characters are all strangers to me, though, and I get the feeling I'm meant to care more about them, to feel more of a connection to them. The one familiar figure to show up here is portrayed in a way that's inconsistent with the status of his character for the past two decades.
The Justice League has gone missing, and when a super-powered terrorist threat arises in Africa, the International Ultramarine Corps is left to step in and save the day. There's a problem, though. The international heroes are surprised to discover that a certain power-hungry, mind-warping super-gorilla is at the heart of the chaos, but what's more is that he's not the real threat. Meanwhile, the only Justice Leaguer left around, the Batman, learns of the Ultramarines' encounter, and he teams with one of their number of find the only ones capable of averting disaster: the Justice League.
Ed McGuinness does things big and pretty, and he does it well. This isn't a story about men triumphing over evil, but about gods wrestling in the clouds overhead. The Ultramarine designs, for the most part, seemed aimed at depicting them as inhuman, as alien ghosts and brutes. It distances the reader from the characters even further than the plot does, and it makes the Squire even sillier than her tam-topped costume does. I also found myself thinking that the Knight was Prometheus, a JLA villain and Grant Morrison creation; he certainly looks a lot like him. The action is explosive, and the artist conveys the larger-than-life nature of the characters and the circumstances. McGuinness's portrayal of Grodd as a frothing animal reinforces the sort of twisted savagery that Morrison includes in the script. The action is a bit difficult to follow at times, though, but it seems more the result of both the script and the art being frenetic; they fail to take the time to let the reader know who these characters are and what they're capable of.
Grodd's bloodthirsty and manic descriptions of what he wants to do to mankind, generally and specifically, are brilliant, giving the reader a sense of the ugly evil that fills the character's mind. His animalistic urges tempered with intent and disturbing creativity really make for a fun, dark villain.
As noted earlier, Morrison makes the mistake of not allowing readers to get to know the Ultramarines before throwing everyone, characters and audience members alike, in the middle of a big action scene. Where the script really falters, though, is in its effort to reconcile the grim, brooding Dark Knight with the sci-fi hero the script requires the Batman to be. The problem isn't that this Batman is different, it's that Morrison tries to maintain both are the same man. "I'm opening the sci-fi closet, Alfred. DOn't tell my friends in the G.C.P.D. about this." The notion that the Batman who patrols Gotham, trying to prevent the sort of tragedy that scarred him as a youth, would have a box full of seemingly magical toys just doesn't wash. The reader has to accept that he only resorts to those tricks when he ventures outside of Gotham, and that means the reader has to accept that the Batman holds back in his original mission. Am I taking this too seriously? I'm quite sure I am, but it still didn't feel right as I was reading it. It took me out of the story. 5/10
