SPOILERS
The art is phenomenal as expected, from pencils to inks to colors. The only hiccup is on the first page where Barry Allen was missing a good chunk of his face. A minor detail!
In terms of writing, it's all getting better story- & speed-wise. The strength, however, is in the character work. I'm taking it all a bit better now that there are more characters that can feed off each other so I can see variety and more of less annoying dynamics. I was pretty much done with Batman and Hal Gordon after the first issue. I wanted others already and at least we got two more to mix it up with them here.
I really dig Superman's depiction. He wasn't made to be a chump as he often is when going up against Batman. He finally posed a real, credible threat when facing off against his superhero peers.
I'm actually warming up to Barry Allen. (Forgive me, Wally West!) The bit when he said "Then I'll clean up" was what did it. What a guy.
New 52 Batman's not a jaded ass-munch like the post-IDENTITY CRISIS Batman, who, out of paranoia, built a frickin' satellite to monitor the activities of his colleagues, which then became a sentient mass murdering machine! Overreact much? Anway, New 52 Batman's especially cool when contrasted against annoying Hal Gordon. Ugh... again with that Hal Gordon. We just can't shake that persistent green dingleberry.
Hal Gordon's my least favorite character, by far, but I'm glad that the numb-nut finally has a personality injected into his cardboard cut-out self, at the very least. It took decades, but it finally happened. He's finally more than his fake tan.
Another thing I noticed was how the personality traits of my favorite brave and the bold pairing of John Stewart and Wally West a la JLU have been switched now between Hal Gordon and Barry Allen. John Stewart's no-nonsense attitude translated to Barry's more straight-laced personality; whereas we can now look to Wally West's charm in Hal Gordon's pesky college bro humor. It must have had something to do with Ryan Reynolds' portrayal in this year's Greg Lantern film. I don't know. I didn't watch.
I'm very pleased with how closely they tied in Cyborg to the beginnings of the League. I was even more pleased that they didn't end the issue with a pin-up of Wonder Woman only because it would've reminded me of how glacial the pace of the story continues to be. I finished reading it only considering its strengths in art and character. The Steve Trevor and Amanda Waller transcript and the Cully Hamner design guides for Superman and Batman made it all an even more pleasant experience. I can't wait for the next issue.
I give it 4.5 out of 5 donuts. It's getting there!
Peace.
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