Comic Info
Comic Name: JLA
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Howard Porter
# of Issues: 4
Release Date: 1997
JLA #1
Reprints JLA #1-4 (January 1997-April 1997). Earth has a new group of heroes! The Hyperclan have come to the planet and begin to show how they are willing to take a proactive approach to helping the world…something that the Justice League has never done. When the Justice League is attacked at their base and the world begins to turn on them, a new JLA must form to fight the Hyperclan and expose their true intent!
Written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Howard Porter, JLA Volume 1: New World Order restored the Justice League to DC’s premiere super team. The series quickly became a best seller and provided a spark to the book. This collection contains the first storyline of the series and has also been collected as part of JLA Deluxe Edition Volume 1.
Growing up, the Justice League to me was the Super Friends. All the heavy hitters, Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, Aquaman, and Flash (plus those Super Friends created for the series). If you grew up on Super Friends, picking up a Justice League book in the ’90s must have been rather confusing. With members like Green Flame, Ice, Guy Gardner, and Metamorpho, new readers were probably scratching their heads and wondering where the real Justice League was.
JLA #2
Grant Morrison followed up the Mark Waid and Fabian Nicieza Justice League: A Midsummer’s Nightmare limited series with a much more solid core team that most people expected from the JLA. I remember that this series outsold expectations and JLA #1 and JLA #2 quickly became collectibles. The JLA was back!
The only problem with this volume of the JLA is that the story feels really rushed. It feels like this should be a six issue story crammed into four issues. I would have loved to see more of the Hyperclan before they were exposed as White Martians and seen how they manipulated the Earth to turn on the JLA. The six issue format of stories was just picking up at this point in comic books so it is understandable to have a quick opening story.
If you are a big fan of Grant Morrison, don’t expect much of the twisted Grant Morrison in JLA. His story is well developed through his issues of the series, but it is much, much more mainstream than his writings on Doom Patrol or Animal Man. He is also backed by the solid art by Howard Porter who just presents a very classic version of the heroes that you loved as a kid.
JLA 1: New World Order picks up here and once you read this volume, you’ll probably want to read more. The JLA just should be the ultimate super team for DC much like the Avengers should be the team for Marvel…here Morrison makes it so. JLA 1: New World Order was followed by another short volume in JLA 2: American Dreams.
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