Why We Need Justice League International

As Twitter reminded us recently, the 30th Anniversary of the seminal comic Justice League International is impending, and DC apparently has not seen fit to mark that in some way or another. While that does sound strange on the surface, that’s not sadly anything new in the storied saga of DC and it’s relationship with the BWAHAHAHA era. However, we at Pop Culture Uncovered believes the world needs the Justice League International and I’d like to take the time to explain why. It’s not a stretch to say that the JLI was one of the most important eras in the history of the DC Universe. While it can be difficult to imagine, there was a time when the Justice League wasn’t at the stature it is today, or even where it used to be, there were also a lot of concepts borne out of this series that still reverberate and resonate today.

The JLI characters aren’t quite where they were 30 years ago, but given the objective of Rebirth is to bring back the aspects of DC history that the New 52 expunged, there’s no reason the Justice League International shouldn’t be subject to this. The major failure of the last Justice League International comic was that it was too generic. While the original comic wasn’t immune to this with standard adventure comic arcs or plot ideas, it also subverted expectations. While everyone remembers the comic now simply as comedic moments like Batman acing Guy Gardner with one punch, or Booster getting shamed trying to flirt with women in Paris. However, the comic also had dramatic moments like the team dealing with the original Rocket Red on the team being a traitor, or Batman attempting to out-gambit Amanda Waller in their confrontation with the Suicide Squad. That balancing act between drama and comedy tends to tilt towards the latter in our minds, but what makes the book of such quality is the human element that outshines the plot details that seep into our minds. While punching foot soldiers can make for a brief entertaining moment, the real memorable aspect of a comic like this are the character interactions that result. That fidelity that presented itself in a team that crackled together, like J’onn cracking under the strain of underqualified people mismanaging their authority, or Rocket Red’s integration with US culture: those are the things that the New 52 lacked.

While the idea of a unified global team isn’t quite the accomplishment it was back in the 80’s in light of the Cold War. However, given the paramilitary nature of superhero comics post-Authority, and how that’s bounced back upon the Justice League itself, I’d say there’s plenty of room for something a little closer to the classic superhero mold. It’s not as if Giffen, DeMatteis, and Maguire haven’t done that themselves with projects like Formerly Known as the Justice League, I Can’t Believe It’s Not the Justice League!, and kind of with Justice League 3000/3001 sadly sans Maguire. That said, this is all just talk unless the talk about a return given by those men is given voice by the fans. As much as DC has dug itself out of the hole with Rebirth, there has to be a greater respect given to all parts of their history. As much as DC has talked about their desire to honor their history, in execution that can be muddled outside of more sales-happy stuff like the Batman line, now the question of whether Justice League can sustain spin-offs isn’t the easiest one given the sliding nature of recent spinoffs. It’s better at any rate to diversify the tone and look of the line, and there’s no better way of that than embracing the fun nature of comics, right?