Mild Mannered Reviews – Justice League: Rebirth #1

Superman being a member of the Justice League of America is not something that works for this critic. Superman is a League onto himself, and when he’s placed on the JLA, he’s usually lessened to allow him a place on the team, and so as not to show up the other members. The satellite era and Grant Morrison’s JLA run are exceptions, but it’s not easy to manage a character fast as the Flash, more powerful than Wonder Woman and Aquaman combined, and with a power set that makes having a Lantern ring irrelevant. Batman hasn’t been forgotten, he is, however, a non-factor, as he receives the opposite treatment: he is aggrandized to make up for his lack of abilities, becoming the de facto leader of the team, using the others as tools in his utility belt. It’s not an easy balance to strike, if such a thing is possible. Hitch’s opening to his run on Justice League (if you ignore his abandoned Justice League of America series) does strike the right equilibrium, at least in this issue, as he borrows from Morrison’s rule book, and also seems genuinely interested in telling big stories, another Morrison rule, using the powerhouse team he has assembled before him. What Hitch does get right from the jump, is the need for the League to need each other. They can only go so far without the Lanterns, and without Superman, the League might have been consumed altogether this outing. Most of the rating comes from what seems to be Hitch’s zeal for playing with these characters. The Flash is constantly moving, the Lanterns are rookies, even Aquaman is played to a rare and unused strength, but most of all, Superman seems to be in good hands… for the nonce.