Justice League Unlimited #1
Scheduled to arrive in stores: November 27, 2024
Cover date: January 2025
“Justice League Unlimited”
Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Dan Mora
Cover: Dan Mora
Variant Cover: Jim Lee, Andy Kubert, Howard Porter, Ed Benes, and Simone Bianchi
1:25 Variant Cover: Dave Wilkins
1:50 Variant Cover: Edwin Galmon
1:100 Variant Cover: Yasmine Putri
Raised UV Foil Variant Cover: Daniel Sampere
Reviewed by: JP Rocha
We are thrown right into the action in Balhauzer, South Africa, where members of the Justice League arrive to find the city in dire ruins.
After this cold open, the story restarts hours before on the new Justice League Satellite. Air Wave has just been transported to the satellite as a new member of the Justice League. Flash literally picks Air Wave up to give him a quick tour, showing him and us some of the satellite facilities and team members.
Before Flash can stop for proper introductions, a Priority Alert interrupts with a warning of weapons of mass destruction employed in Balhauzer, South Africa. Red Tornado, acting as the satellite’s AI because he is currently without a body, employs Alpha Wave: Superman, Wonder Woman, Star Sapphire, Black Lightning, Kid Flash, and Firestorm to the scene.
Red Tornado informs the team that the attack has been initiated by Inferno, a group that must be interested in controlling the local Iridium supply. The heroes break into two teams. Wonder Woman leads Superman and Firestorm against an army of drone war-wheels while the rest of the team works to rescue civilians.
From here, the story focuses on a local wounded soldier who was fighting off the Inferno attack. Black Lighting and Star Sapphire immediately attend to him, finding a mortal wound. The soldier repeats one word, over and over, “Amahle”, revealed to be his wife. Air Wave uses his power to take control of all the phones in the area to call Amahle. Once she is found, Kid Flash rushes Amahle to her husband. From there, Star Sapphire is able to use their love and her ring to create a healing force to save the soldier.
After Wonder Woman and Superman finish off the war-wheels, they find some kind of communicator. Inferno, who was behind the attack, has a message for the Justice League: that they are insignificant and that they and the universe already belong to Inferno.
Meanwhile, Batman and Blue Beetle Jaime Reyes arrive in Monteverde, Costa Rica, only to find some alien-like pods scattered throughout the forest. Whatever they are, they are too much for the pair, so Batman calls in to request support from Red Tornado.
The story ends with Air Wave torn between the league and his undying revenge mission.
Story – 4: DC is All In, with Mark Waid and Dan Mora leading the way with Justice League Unlimited, the flagship title of the initiative. From the special, we know that All In focuses on two universes, the main universe, one built on hope, and a second one that Darkseid has negatively manipulated.
If the idea is to have Justice League Unlimited be a great jumping-on point for a new and returning readership, Waid’s other book, Batman/Superman: World’s Finest, still seems to be the better option. Justice League Unlimited seems to be for more long-term readers. Waid has a lot of heavy lifting to do as he is setting up a new Justice League, the direction of the DC universe, and future storylines. Perhaps with the heavy lifting out of the way with issue one, upcoming books will be new reader-friendly.
Waid uses Air Wave as a “point of view character” to introduce us to the new Justice League and the Satellite. As the Flash shows Air Wave around, we see The Golden Room, a meeting place for The Justice Society. There is also the auxiliary headquarters for The Titans, and the Super-Family. We are shown that The Question, Renee Montoya, is the head of security. We are introduced to the Atom Project. We are shown that the Robin’s Nest is the central communications home to Red Tornado. We are also introduced to a Phantom Zone gate. We are told that every single hero has a home on the watchtower if they want. Finally, we learn that the new Justice League’s goal is to unite all heroes, creating an unlimited integration of power, technology, and innovation.
Art – 5: Dan Mora, on art, there is no better artist to be drawing DC’s flagship title!Cover Art – 4: Dan Mora’s cover features Star Sapphire, Black Lighting, Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Atom, Captain Adam, and Flash. The art is excellent, but this is just a feature cover showcasing some of the Justice League members featured in this issue. Except for Captain Atom, who is not seen in this issue.
There are variant covers by Andy Kubert, Jim Lee, Ed Benes, Howard Porter, and Simone Bianchi. One of the leading covers is Howard Porter’s, which features Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Kid Flash (Wallace West), Swamp Thing, Spectre, Beast Boy, and the JLU Satellite.
There is a series of three Incentive Covers by Dave Wilins (1:25), Edwin Galmon (1:50), Yasmine Putri (1:100), and Jim Lee (1:250) for Hush fans. The best of these covers is the Edwin Galmon, which features Wonder Woman, Star Sapphire, Darkside, Captain Atom, Superman, and Batman. This issue also has a Hush 2 preview, which is why they have a Jim Lee Hush and Batman variant cover.
The best cover outside the primary cover is a Raised UV Foil Variant by Daniel Sampere. The art for this cover has been featured in the All In promotional art.
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