Green Lantern

How mad was Batman?

Flash

Why do you love love poking his bear so much?

Green Lantern

Because he’s so cuddly.

Steve Trevor (to Congress)

So I’ll go tell the League you don’t trust them. Which means, they might not trust you. And I can’t wait to see what a quick sweep of your offices with x-ray vision might reveal.

Main Story “The Villain’s Journey Prolog” (22-pages)

Through pouring rain in Baltimore, Maryland a crowd of terror-stricken people run. Behind them is hoard of pint-sized monsters (all mouth, teeth, and claws, but no eyes or much of a body). Steve Trevor’s A.R.G.U.S. (Advanced Research Group Uniting Super-humans) troops hold back the monsters, but the crowd only relaxes when the familiar “BOOM” of a Boom Tube signals the arrival of the Justice League. Cyborg‘s intel identifies the sources of the creatures (“Seeds”) as a new super-villain called Spore. He was Samuel Street, a military biologist who was delivering the a super-virus to A.R.G.U.S. for safe-keeping. However, he became infected after he was attacked by an intruder at A.R.G.U.S. headquarters.

Spore/Street how has the ability to generate an increasingly number of flesh-eating Seed drones. Cyborg’s computer searches reveal that Street is recently divorced and that he had been abusive towards his ex-wife. Batman begins to lay out a strategy, but Green Lantern cuts him off and runs off with the Flash to Spore’s last known location. They find him attacking Street’s ex-wife, but are almost overwhelmed before the rest of the League arrive to back them up. An hour-later, Steve Trevor gives a press conference to brief the press on Spore’s capture. The press are dismissive of Trevor’s agency’s work (much to his annoyance), but are uncritically enthusiastic of the League.

Trevor’s mood is not improved by arrival of his new aide, Etta Candy, who reminds him that he has a pending briefing with a Congress committee. The Congressmen and women on the oversight committee again ask Trevor about the League’s repeated dismissal of their request for greater transparency. They try to press Trevor, but he makes them back-down with the veiled threat that they don’t want the League to see them as enemies. Later again, Trevor tries to brief Wonder Woman on the Congress situation via a video link, but their conversation is hijacked by the rest of the League’s banter. When everything is quiet, Etta brings Steve his coffee and asks him what his real relationship with Wonder Woman is. He admits that he is in love with her and that he told her so. He doesn’t elaborate, but that appears to have been a problem.

The Justice League’s adventure was watched by David Graves, the burglar who stole the Orb of Ra from A.R.G.U.S.’s Black Room and the man who “accidentally” transformed Street into Spore. Graves concludes that Colonel Steve Trevor is actually the key to defeating the Justice League.

Back-up Story “Shazam” (12-pages)

Part one of Shazam’s new origin by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. I’ll leave our analysis/review of this story until a later date and do all the parts together.

• A.R.G.U.S. are a para-military security agency led by Steve Trevor. They are tasked with handling super-human situations, but that effectively makes them the Justice League’s babysitters and clean-up crew.
• The Orb of Ra has been stolen by an unknown individual from A.R.G.U.S. “Black Room”.
• The Justice League sanctioned the creation of Justice League International.
• The Justice League operates from an orbiting satellite Watchtower. However, they leave post-operation clean-up and press/media relations to Steve Trevor and A.R.G.U.S.

Preview

It was Entertainment Weekly’s turn to have DC exclusive preview.

The 5-year jumo

Writer Geoff Johns talked to ifanboy and described how this issue fits in between the first and second story arcs and how it was important in setting up the current day status-quo. He described the changes to the characterisation between the two stories.

Obviously with Batman it’s, you know, pretty straight ahead. With Cyborg it was new. With Flash, Green Lantern and Aquaman it’s pretty straight ahead. And in Aquaman you will see a lot about his past, even before Justice League and The Others. What he was like before then and how and why he changed. You’ll see why he changed then, why he’s changed now. With Wonder Woman I did talk to Brian about how she’s going to be portrayed in the Justice League and how she’s going to be portrayed in the monthly book. With Hal, in Justice League #7 when we cut to the present day, Hal still kind of goofs off. He’s a bit of a cocky guy when he’s around his friends. It’s like when you hang out with a group you’ve known for a long time–there’s a short hand, you relax a little bit. You act a little bit differently than you would in another situation. A

nd so with the Justice League it was a matter of figuring out what the relationships were gonna be five years ago and how they would evolve to today and how they evolve to the next thing, because the next arc Jim [Lee] and I are working on, “The Villains’ Journey” is really about?and it will become very clear in Justice League #7?here’s where the Justice League is today in the world, here’s where the characters are in the world in relation to one another, and “The Villain’s Journey” changes all that. The next arc is really: we’ve established the League and then we see what the League has been like and what they’ve been doing, and then we see a whole new level to them in “The Villain’s Journey”. And it sets them off in different ways. The relationships among the team members will be radically different, but we’ll see that happen. I wanted to actually see why and how things changed rather than filling in the five year gap. We will do that, but really once we establish where they are now we really want to try to move forward.

Gene Ha’s Design Work

The Source shared preliminary sketches that Gene Ha did for the ARGUS body armour. JL editor Brian Cunningham commented that:

In this instance, Gene [Ha] did a ton of research when coming up with an A.R.G.U.S. agent’s body armor and helmet. And based on that, he did TWO tons of sketching until he got to a place that he and Jim Lee both agreed to.

One thing Jim wanted was a fancier, more high-tech helmet than what Gene had in his first round of sketching. Ultimately, Gene came up with this design. It’s very clever in that there’s the option to make it look ominous or so that you can see the person’s facial expression. It’s extremely versatile.

They also shared Ha’s design for Spore. On that Cunningham commented:

One of the reasons I love working with Gene [Ha] is that besides being an enormously talented artist, he also truly invests himself into the material he works on. Spore is a modern monster based on the ongoing threat of bio-warfare, and Gene clearly had a blast designing him and his flesh-eating Seed creatures. What’s poignant about Spore is that his predicament is a subtle metaphor for the heart of issue #7’s overall story. Oh, and Spore’s origin definitely ties into the next big arc — the hows and whys will become apparent later in the ‘Villain’s Journey.’

Covers

The usual covers featured artwork by Jim Lee despite Lee taking a break from the interior art this issue. The 1:25 variant cover was supplied by Gary Frank who kicks off the Shazam back-up feature with this issue. The combo-pack and the 1:200 pencil variant featured permutations of the Jim Lee cover as usual. That recoloured artwork was also used for the cover to the second printing.

Sales

This is the first issue of this series since the launch of the New 52 not to place at No. #1 or #2 in the Diamond sales charts. Those positions are taken by Marvel’s Avengers Vs. X-Men #0 and #1. Justice League comes in at the No. #3 position and is down about 2.7% on last months numbers.

Source	Date	Chart	Units	Notes
ICv2	March 2012	3	131697	Est. Units. Normal
ICv2	March 2012	269	4739	Est. Units. Normal
ICv2 Total			136436	Est. Units

My Thoughts

Surveying the Internets

Tip of the hat to Robot 6′s Chain Reactions which has their own list of pull-quotes from reviews of Justice League #7.

Reaction to Steve Trevor’s role

The juxtaposition of the informal League and their dutiful liaison is commented upon my most reviewers. That juxtaposition does not make the League look good. Erik Norris (IGN) describes the situation well:

What’s interesting about this approach is that Geoff Johns doesn’t really pull any punches in making the members of the League come off as cocky jerks. For being the book’s titular characters, you would think this series would paint them in the best possible light. But that isn’t the case. Instead, we follow along with Trevor as he acts as the liaison between the League and Congress, a job that looks like it’s an absolute nightmare made worse by the fact that Trevor is essentially an errand boy for “gods.”

And Valerie Gallaher (MTV Geek) comments on Trevor’s reaction to this.

…the League’s quite guileless sense of authority and even privilege very rightly disturbs Trevor

Trevor’s character is also picked up by Don MacPherson (Eye on Comics):

But Johns offers up a radically different interpretation of Trevor. He’s brilliant, he’s determined, he’s tough and he’s privately melancholy. He stands out as the most “together” person in the story, but he’s also the most broken and conflicted. Johns delivers a strong character study, one that’s so strong I hope we get to see a lot more of the character beyond this new story arc.

And finally, Andy Hunsaker (Crave Online) sarks that the reason Trevor appears so good is because the League have looked so poor:

Steve Trevor seems like the only one in this entire mix who isn’t an idiot, and it makes us realize how goddamned refreshing it is to have ONE PERSON WHO IS NOT AN IDIOT in this book.

Gene Ha on fill-in art duties

Not only is this story a Steve Trevor spotlight, but it is also a spotlight on guest artist Gene Ha who gives regular artist Jim Lee a month off. Walt Richardson (Multiversity) contrasted the two artists,

Gene Ha is an interesting artistic follow up to Jim Lee, because his style contrasts the current house artist’s so distinctly. Lee’s work is angular and cross-hatched, while Ha’s artwork has a smooth appearance due to his tendency to only use solid black for shadows. This issue, though, Ha’s art isn’t quite as polished as it usually is, resulting in a lot of uneven pages. It’s not even that his work is poor at any point; rather, his figures alternate between rough and smooth appearances that would look fine if they weren’t standing right next to each other.

However, Don Ventura (Cape Town Community) proposes promoting Ha to full time JL artist.

Gene Ha deserves to be the full-time fill-in artist on the series. This issue looks terrific and Ha dives right in with his own interpretation of some of the teams’ new costumes. Where certain artists have had a challenge with Superman and the Flash’s armored looks, Ha adds a nice depth to the layered look of the heroes’ uniforms.

Seeing a replacement artist on the billing can put some people off, but Caz Tidrick (ORP) for one was “glad I didn’t just skip it” and was” pleasantly surprised” with the result. Shane Pelzel (Major Spoilers) also celebrates colourist Art Lyon atmospheric lighting which accompanied Ha’s art:

The lighting of the art plays an intricate part as well in this rainy Baltimore, and the artists do this masterfully. From the Green Lantern’s constructs to Cyborg’s muzzle flash to the holograms to the Flash’s lightning to the flashes of lightning… Okay, well, it really was done beautifully.

General Views

Separate from the Steve Trevor storyline is the shift of this book into the present day. As Greg McElhatton (CBR) puts it,

Thanks to a lack of “this is how they all met,” we end up with a much zippier pace. [...] Each plot point is hit quickly and effectively and then the story moves forward.

Sean Elks(Player Affinity) questions whether five-years of character evolution have actually happened:

Without being told otherwise, I would have assumed this story took place a few months after the origin story or at the end of the first year at the outset. The reason for this is that there is so little development apparent in this issue. When the Justice League shows up to save the day from Spore, it’s the exact same Justice League lineup from five years ago. [...] The bickering and immaturity from the team’s early days is still present as if no development has taken place between these people.

I’m not reviewing the Shazam section here, but its addition makes Don MacPherson (Eye on Comics) observe that

The good news is this is the first issue of this series to deliver enough content to merit the $3.99 US cover price. With the main story and the backup, it finally feels as though we’re getting value for that extra dollar.

Verdicts

Type	Site	Reviewer	Rating	Equivalent
	Grand Average		67.1%
Character Site	The Captain's JLA Homepage	Jason Kirk	3.5/5
Digital Comics	Comixology	581	4/5
Reviews Portal	Comic Book Resources	Greg McElhatton	3.5/5
Reviews Portal	Comic Vine (Staff)	Tony Guerrero	3/5
Reviews Portal	IGN	Erik Norris	7.5/10
Reviews Portal	Inside Pulse	Grey Scherl	7/10
Reviews Portal	Newsarama		6/10
Community Site	Comic Vine	18 reviews	3.0/5
Community Site	iFanboy	1309 pulls	3.6/5
Magazine	Crave Online	Andy Hunsaker	4.5/10
Magazine	What Culture	Marcus Doidge	2/5
Blogs	A Comic Book Blog	ACB	90%
Blogs	Cape Town Community	Don Ventura	A
Blogs	Captain Bloggington	Wade Christian	3/5
	Comic Book Movie	Destroyer 14	8/10
Blogs	Comicosity	Keith Callbeck	5/10
Blogs	Eye on Comics	Don MacPherson	6/10
Blogs	Heretical Jargon	Jimmy Trapp	10/10
Blogs	Major Spoilers	Shane Pelzel	4/5
Blogs	Multiversity	Walt Richardson	6/10
Blogs	Opinions, Reviews, and Previews	Caz Tidrick	8.5/10
Blogs	Player Affinity	Sean Elks	7.2/10
Blogs	Razer Fine Reviews	Alan Rapp	1/5
Blogs	Weekly Comic Book Review	Minhquan Nguyen	C+
Character Site	Batman on Film	Chris Clow	A
Character Site	Batman News	Andrew Asberry	5/10
Character Site	Gotham Knights Online	Brendan S.	3.5/5
Character Site	Simply DCU	Adam Basciano	7/10
Character Site	Superman Homepage	Michael Bailey	2 (story) & 4 (art)/5

Page 1-2. This is the first appearance of A.R.G.U.S., the Advanced Research Group Uniting Super Humans, an agency led by Steve Trevor. He’s got the same rank he did five years ago. A reporter calls A.R.G.U.S. the “World’s liaison to the Justice League”, but they are obviously more than that and are quite capable in their own right. They also appear to be an agency of the US Government as Trevor’s reports to Congress’s oversight committee

The name ARGUS has two symbolic meanings. The first mythological Argus was a watchful 100-eyed giant who guarded the nymph Io from Zeus’s advances. The presence of an eye in the ARGUS logo reinforces this symbolism of watchfulness. However, there was also a second Argus, Odysseus dog in the Odyssey, the only creature that remained faithful to Odysseus after his long journey. ARGUS the organisation would seem to fit the 100-eyed giant, but Steve Trevor – as we’ll see – has that same sort of unrewarded dog like loyalty to Wonder Woman as Odysseus’s pal.

Page 3. This issue takes place five-years after the conclusion of the Justice League’s origin in Justice League (vol. 2) #6 (April 2012). The Justice League still has its original membership and they are using Cyborg’s ability to summon Boom Tubes.

Page 4-5. The commentary is by David Graves, the Leagues biographer turned villain, who will return in a the second story arc called “A Villain’s Journey”. This issue is the prologue to that arc.

Page 6. The Orb of Ra is one of the DC Universe’s major magical artefacts. It was the plot device that originally turned Rex Mason into Metamorpho – the Element Man. Based on early publicity image we are expecting an Element Woman to show up so this must tie-in.

This is the first mention of a “Black Room”. The “Red Room” is Silas Stone’s facility at STAR Labs where he collects advanced super human and alien technology for study. The “Black Room” is A.R.G.U.S. equivalent for mystical artefacts. These rooms seems to qualify as an updated version of the Justice League’s trophy-room, but they also qualify as study centres under the “Advanced Research” part of A.R.G.U.S.’s name.

Page 7-8. Batman taking control is a classic Morrison-Era JLA trope. However, it is subverted here by Hal Jordan undercutting Batman and running off before he can layout the game plan. It’s an indication that this is a different Justice League than shown in JLA, one that isn’t so deferential to the Batman. Hal’s the obvious difference. He’s the man who no fear so the fear-inspiring Batman has no sway over him. “We got this.” is a call back to Hal’s attempt at a catchphrase from Justice League (vol. 2) #1 (Oct 2011) and Justice League (vol. 2) #6 (April 2012). Also note that Batman is the only member of the League that Hal doesn’t create an umbrella for — even Aquaman gets one.

Page 13. A surprising reaction from a group of cynical hacks. I like the guy on the right who is making J and L with his hands. The reference to the “Super Friends” is of course a shout out to the old cartoon show highlighting the Justice League.

Page 14. Americans may not recognise the man who accosts Steve Trevor and suggestively asks him about his relationship with Wonder Woman. However, the Brits will recognise him as UK chatshow host and TV producer Jonathan Ross. Ross is a massive comic book fan and has presented documentaries on Japanese popular culture and his search for Steve Ditko. However, he is mainly known for his mainstream TV chatshow (in the Conan O’Brien mould) where his cheeky personality lets him getaway with asking the type of suggestive question he puts to Steve Trevor. Ross is currently writing America’s Got Powers for Image with fellow Brit Bryan Hitch.

Etta Candy is another member of Wonder Woman’s old supporting cast. She first appeared in Sensation Comics #2 (Feb 1942) as a short, fat, white comedy relief character. She was most often seen as part of the Holiday Girls. In the post-Crisis DCU of the 1980s Etta became a colleague of Steve Trevor and the two characters eventually sent off into the sunset to get married. The post-Flashpoint Etta Candy is different again. Her ethnicity has been switched from Caucasian to African-American, but she is still Trevor’s aide.

Page 15. The League’s headquarters is confirmed as the satellite Watchtower. This is a confluence of two-different bases. The League’s base in the 1970s was a space station that was just called the Satellite. In the 1990s it was a moon-base called the Watchtower. When the Justice League cartoon series launched they folded the ideas together and created a space station called the Watchtower. It was established in the final season of Justice League Unlimited that the League had a ground based building called the Hall of Justice (a tip of the hat to the Super Friends) and a secure space based Watchtower. Those dual facilities were incorporated into Brad Meltzer’s run on the Justice League and then into the Young Justice cartoon series. Both bases appear to have survived into the post-Flashpoint canon, but the Hall was destroyed by terrorists in Justice League International (vol. 3) #1 (Nov 2011).

Page 16. This exchange between Steve Trevor and Congress prompted Bleeding Cool to comment that “the Justice League are the New Authority”. They conflate both teams and describe them as,

They act independently of government, even when suckling on its teat. They are autonomous weapons of mass destruction, that the American government distrusts and fears. And despite the good that they do, and the reaction of the audience, they are sloppy, lazy, self assured and… well, basically, the bad guys. It’s just there are worse things out there.

A little over the top, but the point that the Justice League are independent of Washington is strongly made.

Page 18-19. The skype session is amusing, but it tells us little bits and pieces.

• Hal Jordan is still a jerk.
• Batman — who stays off camera when he realises he’s being recorded — complains about the JLI despite showing quite a different attitude in that book. The confrontation with Congress puts the JLI in context as the League’s sanctioned compromise with the politicians.
• Cyborg complains about his father trying to hack the League’s computers, but he himself hacks Steve’s video feed to complain about it.
• Trevor averts his gaze when Aquaman and Superman walk past. Why? What is the conflict between between them, or one of them, and him.
• The Flash is polite.
• Wonder Woman cares what Steve is doing.

Page 21. A few interesting moments here. Steve Trevor has been belligerently defending the League to Congress, but on page 17 he ducks Etta Candy’s question about whether he actually believes in the Justice League himself. Later on page 20 Wonder Woman also asks him why he does what he does, but he gives A.R.G.U.S. answer not his own personal reason. Its only here when talking to Etta Candy that he admits that he’s in love with Wonder Woman. His cryptic “That’s the problem. I did” would imply that she rebuffed him. His work with ARGUS is then away for him to stay near here and in some way protect her. Steve Trevor doesn’t so much have a belief in the Justice League as he has a belief in Wonder Woman. That could make his dealing with the group complicated.

Page 22. The narrator is again David Graves.