Wandering my local comic shop I recently spotted a new comic from DC that seemed interesting. The title itself caught my eye, Justice League 3000. I am a fan of the Justice League in any iteration so I stopped and picked it up. It turns out this book is plotted by Keith Giffen with dialogue done by J.M. Dematteis. These things tipped the scale in favor of picking up the book and it made it into the pile that made it to the checkout.

I was not disappointed with the purchase.

Justice League 3000 is set in the early 31st century. The galaxy is still reeling from coming of the five.Who they are is left a mystery but the results of their coming is not. Billions died that first day and entire planets went dark. A resistance began forming when the carnage finally stopped. This resistance wanted to see a return of the heroes of the past and did something about it.

The opening scenes of the book are intriguing. We follow the flight of Ariel Masters. She is the voice that providing the opening exposition. She shares with the reader that the resistance wanted heroes in the worst way and it is her fault that they got their wish. I like how it sets up a dark future where the answer was not necessarily the best response to what has happened.

The rest of the book is spent in introducing us to this new Justice League. They come from the floating planet Cadmusworld and are being overseen by the Wonder Twins. Luckily it isn’t the Jan and Jace of Super Friends fame. These wonder twins have a definite hard edge to them and what their abilities are hinted at here but left to the imagination. They do explain that this new Justice League was made from archived genetic material of the original Justice League that Cadmus had some how acquired. The problem is that this is a group of heroes that are adrift. Superman never had the benefit of Ma and Pa Kent. Batman never had the driving trauma of his Parents murder and Wonder Woman was not raised by Amazons.

This has left the team both more brutal and less cooperative. Batman and Superman aren’t friends. They are constantly taking potshots at one another. Wonder Woman is much more brutal and straight forward. The Flash and Green Lantern are the two that seem closer to their past counterparts and have concerns about this new life that the group has been given. The team, as a whole, is effective yet on the edge of disintegrating.

I picked up the book for the Giffen/DeMatteis story and this was a good choice. They present several good questions that I want to see played out across the title. They’ve also created a team that explores what these heroes would be without their origins to anchor them. The art is good as well. The style is reminiscent of the Legion of Super Heroes, which I also like. I plan on picking up the next issue and letting you know how it goes.