Justice League of America #1

"Power and Glory Part One" by Bryan Hitch, Daniel Henriques, Wade Von Grawbadger, and more.

Aquaman makes a big, er, splashy return to the Justice League with the first issue of DC's new Justice League of America title, which debuted last week. The story opens with Superman getting an invitation to the headquarters of a mysterious company called The Infinity Corporation, run by a quirky genius named Vincent who shows the Man of Steel something rather surprising: a room full of dead bodies, all of whom are Superman from other dimensions! What the what?!?

Meanwhile, at the United Nations, Aquaman is making a speech about the relations between Atlantis and the surface world:

At the same time(?), others Leaugers--Green Lantern, The Flash, Batman, and Wonder Woman--have all been lured to the Metropolis Clean Energy Power Plant, where they are sucker-punched by the energy-devouring bad guy The Parasite. Superman gets wind of this and leaves Infinity to help out.

In Atlantis, we see why Aquaman was called away so suddenly:

After The Parasite is defeated (with the additional help of Cyborg), Superman inquires why everyone showed up at the MAW independently of each other. Batman says they were invited, with tips Superman back to Infinity. He, Batman, and Cyborg return to the company's HQ, only to find it...gone.

But before even that mystery can be investigated, a being radiating energy arrives in the sky, claiming to the Great God Rao and saying "I have come to save you." To be continued!


I was of course happy to see Aquaman returning to the Justice League, and being drawn by Brian Hitch doesn't hurt. The chronology of this story confuses heck out of me, so about five pages in I gave up worrying about it and simply enjoyed Aquaman in his classic garb. I do wish the writer part of Mr. Hitch had found something a little more original to do with the Sea King--tense negotiations between Atlantis and the Surface World, again?--but of this was just scene setting before (presumably) he gets involved in the main story (On another note, someone please buy Arthur a razor? Sheesh).

Some of the storytelling baffled me--for instance, Aquaman's final scene in the book feels like it's missing one more page as opposed to actually ending. But that may just be the end result of so many story threads being juggled at one time. Whether I continue on with Justice League of America remains to be seen--I had high, high hopes for Geoff Johns' version, only to find Aquaman mostly pushed out of the book after Throne of Atlantis. Let's see if Bryan Hitch has longer range plans for the Aquatic Ace!