Comic Book Review: Justice League International - Volume 1 - DC Comics (2011)

Written by Dan Jurgens
Art by Aaron Lopresti & Marco Castiello

A group superheroes representing different countries are put together by Andre Briggs, Head of United Nations Intelligence.  The thought is, this group would be able to answer to an authority, something the Justice League does not do.  The new team, led by Booster Gold, are tasked with their first challenge which is much larger than they originally thought.  This review is about the first volume trade paperback which collects the first five issues.

This series was much better than I was originally willing to give it credit for.  Dan Jurgens writes a fun series, as one could imagine, with Booster Gold leading a team who are tasked to go out as a team having never met each other previously.  The task, being much more than they had imagined, turns into five issues of action, humor and seeing a team come together.

The team has familiar faces and, for those not as familiar with DC Comics, some not so familiar faces.  As stated earlier, Booster Gold is the leader and the other members include Ice, Vixen, Fire, Rocket Red, August General In Iron, Guy Gardner, and Godiva.  If that doesn't tickle your fancy, DC puts Batman with the group to help keep things going and give everyone an open mind to give this team a chance.

Admittedly, I do not know as much about DC as many others so I really enjoy the books that have some of the lesser known characters.  The interactions in this volume are done really well.  The heroes, being from different parts of the globe have different feelings on how to deal with threats.  There are other philosophical differences which also lead to butting of heads.  Guy Gardner alone adds the dimension of confrontation, especially when Booster Gold, who isn't known to be the most serious individual, is made leader.

Batman ties this all together well.  His belief in Booster Gold and his mentoring helps move this book along.  I was hesitant to believe Batman would be the right short-term addition to this book.
I really thought the Caped Crusader was on the cover to help the book get sold.  He may have been, but inside the pages, it works.

Aaron Loprestri, Marco Castiello, Matt Ryan, Vincenzo Acunzo, and Hi-Fi are the art team of this first volume.  They do a fantastic jobwith eye popping visuals.  I like when heroes are jumping out of panels and all of the action with all of these super-powered individuals are displayed extraordinarily.  The colors from Hi-Fi are great as pages seem to glow with the explosions, Guy Gardner's Green Lantern powers, and the interplanetary foes.

If you are looking for a fun book with a ton of action, then check out Justice League International.  It's a short lived series and you can pick up the trade paperbacks.  You can probably find the original comic books at a decent price if that's your preference.

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