Justice League 3000 is a book I’m really glad I stuck with, because it’s turning out to be a very entertaining series. As a huge fan of Batman Beyond as well as Marvel’s 2099 universe, I love the future timeline premise. And the creative team of J.M. DeMatteis, Keith Giffen and Howard Porter is an all-star one.
The basic premise of JL3000 is that the universe has been subjugated by a group of godlike beings called The Five. As a last resort, Project Cadmus tried to re-create the Justice League of our time by taking the DNA of the originals and bonding it with human hosts. The results are a bunch of headcases with some of the powers and limited memories of their previous versions.
From the outset, the new versions of Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern and Batman are way out of their league when it comes to battling The Five. Flash literally gets torn to shreds at one point, and Project Cadmus has to make another one, sacrificing another human host in order to do so. This new Flash has to try and rescue his counterparts, who are being pursued by The Five. When he gets captured along with them, it’s up to Green Lantern to save the day, as he’s managed to escape and has set about freeing his teammates before The Five realizes they’re gone.
Issue #6 sees the story finally hitting its stride, as things started out slow and moved along in fits and spurts for the first few issues. Flash and Green Lantern are emerging as the two likable characters of the bunch, which is something this book lacked initially. I feel like Giffen and DeMatteis made such a point of showing us how flawed the new League is that they overplayed it a bit, giving us no one to root for. But the characters are starting to feel distinct now, and I’m now invested in seeing how they actually become heroes.
So, if you jumped off after an issue or two, now might be a good time to get back onboard. Justice League 3000 is coming together.
3.5 out of The Five