Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis are known for their unconventional approaches to superhero team books, as evidenced by their famed Justice League International and the “I Can’t Believe It’s Not The Justice League” runs. Ah, the good ol’ Super Buddies. However, their idiosyncratic tone doesn’t necessarily fit in with what DC seems to be doing with the New 52, which seems to be stridently pro-edge and anti-fun. So the beloved writing has found a way to split the difference and not worry about tying into the New 52 with Justice League 3000 – a series set in a far flung future that sucks and sucks hard.
The set up is that, early in the 31st Century, everything had mostly been great in human society until a mysterious group called “The Five” came and, in ten years’ time, ruined everything, killed billions, toppled governments and sent civilization into chaos. So Teri & Terry, teenage so-called “Wonder Twins” who work for Cadmus on a mobile planet called Cadmusworld, are managing a team of clones of the original Justice League legends… but these are clones with fractured memories and severe attitude problems, because they don’t have their personally-defining experiences to guide them. As Teri describes it:
“We’ve got a Superman without the Kents’ guiding hands, Batman without the motivating trauma of his parents’ deaths, a Wonder Woman too close to pure Amazon for comfort, a Flash whose powers just might burn him alive, and the sole remaining Green Lantern – the most despised organization in the universe.” That translates to Superman being an indestructible bully, Batman who hates him and can’t stop antagonizing him, a Wonder Woman whose violent urges are uncontrollable, a Flash who’s unrelentingly bleak, and a Hal Jordan who somehow seems to be a voice of reason.
Oh, and the heart and soul of the project to bring an oppressed humanity some heroes, one Ariel Masters, has realized she’s made a horrible mistake, and is now on the run from Cadmus to try and figure out how to rectify that problem.
This team is a broken mess – Batman and Superman hate each other, Wonder Woman thinks the Flash sucks, Flash hates their whole lot in this weird un-life of theirs – and that’s right in the Giffen/DeMatteis wheelhouse. It’s still New 52-style dark and edgy, thanks to the highly-detailed art from Howard Porter, but it’s all about personality conflicts writ large – writ even larger than the old days where Guy Gardner and Batman would always butt heads back in JLI, because it’s now Superman and Batman, and with none of the inherent morality that holds them back from wanting to kill each other.
Justice League 3000 #1 is a great way to give a much-beloved creative team free reign to do what they do without having their style crimped by the mandates of the New 52. It could get pretty brutal, as any story where Superman is an unstable jerkwad threatens to be, but I’d guess that Giffen/DeMatteis know that there’s more entertainment value to be had in Superman/Batman bickering catfights than in yet another book wherein Superman gets all murder-crazy-go-nuts. That’s what will keep this book interesting.
