The DCAU is given new life, as everyone’s favorite Justice League animated series continues its adventures in an all new comic series. While the League deals with Apokaliptic unrest from Darkseid’s disappearance, in the farthest reaches of the cosmos, something is luring Amazo to itself, taking advantage of his existential fears – but to what end? Justice League Infinity #1 is written by JM DeMatteis and James Tucker, drawn by Ethen Beavers, colored by Nick Filardi and lettered by Tom Napolitano.
Until Into the Spider-Verse came along, the Justice League animated series was the best adaptation of superhero comics that I’d ever seen, anywhere. Even now, I’m not sure which one of those two properties comes out on top. As much as I loved it as a child, I got to enjoy it even more as an adult, watching my favorite superheroes being handled with a depth and humanity that modern superhero storytelling still has trouble capturing.
It’s fair to say that Justice League Infinity has a high bar set before it.
While the show and its sequel series, Justice League Unlimited, covered a number of themes I was surprised to see on a children’s show, one that I appreciated the most was its exploration of loneliness. Time and time again, the show would shine a spotlight on characters who felt truly out of place with humanity, and then offer them a solace of simple things. Nowhere was that concept better explored than with J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter, last of his race and always keenly aware of it.
J’onn serves as narrator for this issue, speaking from some point in the future, covering three story perspectives that build off plot threads the animated series left dangling. The first of these stories is the all-powerful Amazo’s, who has apparently returned to wandering the universe, seeking to understand who he is, and what his purpose can be.
The first thing that struck me, as Amazo flies past a civilization that’s terrified of his mere approach, is how good the DCAU could be at setting the scene. J’onn’s narrative prose mixed in with the weird, abstract reality Amazo finds at the end of the universe sell the awe, and that sense of the bizarre – it’s a great hook.
In the meantime, J’onn is continuing his odyssey to understand humanity. When last we saw him he had begun living life as a human, leaving superheroics behind to enjoy a happy marriage. While she’s not mentioned in this issue, we see that J’onn is continuing to do much of the same – travelling the world one locale at a time, appropriating different identities that fit in to better form connections with strangers around the world. He is still in awe of humanity – and still is apart from it, lonely in his inability to set down roots.
The connections he’s made haven’t gone away, however. He still maintains a psychic connection to his friends in the Justice League, as they throw the Flash a birthday party. While J’onn has left the life of a hero behind, it’s clear he still has a lot of love in his heart for them as people.
The Justice League aspect of the story leans the most heavily on its cartoonishness. With Darkseid being removed from the equation in the show’s final episode, Apokolips is in a state of unrest, and its generals are targeting the Justice League simply to up their rep back home. Blue Beetle’s appropriately insulted. A little bit of silliness in the face of danger, it’s a low-stakes battle despite the source of the threat.
This first issue feels a lot like an appetizer, a light-hearted return to this universe, but setting up what feels like a very exciting main course in future issues. We get a lot of great character moments. JM DeMatteis was one of the writers on the original series, and has a great handle on these characters. The art captures the Bruce Timm style of animation well, but between the softer lines and the shinier colors, the aesthetic feels like it’s being modernized. The Justice League characters you know best, in shiny new packaging for a shiny new era.
Justice League Adventures, another comic that told tales set in this universe, favored simpler, done-in-one stories. Justice League Infinity seems to be going for something a lot more ambitious, and at the moment, it’s a lot messier. J’onn’s pathos pairs well with Amazo’s lonely frustration, but is a bit jarring with the cartoonishness featured at the Flash’s party.
The heart of the show is still there, however. The execution doesn’t quite clear the high, high bar I had set for this series – but reading through it still feels like coming home.
