Just finished the 4-part No Justice series...underwhelmed

[Krypto's Fleas]

I fell behind on my comic box and just binged on the four issues of Snyder's No Justice. I have to say that I found it fairly underwhelming--particularly when compared to how he setup Metal. Here's the rundown of my thoughts:

PROS

• Loved the Lex Luthor dialogue. For the first time in a long time I felt like someone nailed the character.
• Very much appreciated the care for reinstalling Martian Manhunter's importance to the JL and the DCU
• Similarly, glad to see Green Arrow get some love in a big time cross-over event
• Great seeing Brainiac and his ship. Too bad he didn't last long.

CONS

• Thought Damien was a total shoehorn for the story and completely unnecessary to have a Robin involved. He became fairly obnoxious, actually (and not in a typical Damien way).
• The Titans were pretty lame as villains. These are supposed to be multiuniversal threats that are ultra complex in their motivations and origins but really had zero depth to them at all. There have been several Green Lantern Corps beings that have come and gone that felt like the Titans.
• The art in issue 3 was horrible. It really took me out of the issue and I'm rarely that comic fan who complains about the art, rather praising truly great art. But in issue three, it fell off the table.
• I could have used more Hal. His style of humor really does balance out the JL and is a main reason why I think he needs to be a more consistent member, thought that won't be happening anytime soon.
• Overall, it just felt like a rush job.

I still haven't read Snyder's JL #1 yet, but I'm hoping it's better than this miniseries.

[PyroTwilight]

Yeah I thought it was alright but it felt more like a really weird expanded one shot than anything.

Odd art at times didn't help.

It also was odd in that it didn't really set much of anything up inside of it and ended just with stuff sorta teasing the other books like it was an after thought in production.

And I know Brainiac tech is great stuff but should that really have slowed down Cyborg and his New God tech to the level it did?

[BatmanJones]

I found it a total bore and unnecessary in every way; it's not at all required reading in order to follow anything that comes after. I absolutely LOVED Justice League #1 but didn't need NJ at all to appreciate it.

[Jabare]

It's just a filler set up for Justice League. I think you had your expectations little too high. I felt there was a little too much going on a little too quickly especially with all the characters involved, but I guess it served its purpose. I didn't have high expectations going in so there is that.

If you didn't like No Justice you might want to lower your expectations for Justice League.

[Drakeon]

It sets up JL Dark and JL Odyssey with the Colu trees and the restored bottled planets. But the Titan plot itself was terrible.

[Jackalope89]

What, no pros for The Main Man Lobo?

[Krypto's Fleas]

What, no pros for The Main Man Lobo?

He was almost a con for how one note he was.

[Krypto's Fleas]

It's just a filler set up for Justice League. I think you had your expectations little too high. I felt there was a little too much going on a little too quickly especially with all the characters involved, but I guess it served its purpose. I didn't have high expectations going in so there is that.

If you didn't like No Justice you might want to lower your expectations for Justice League.

Just read JL #1 and you're right--need to lower expectations. This might be the first DC series that Snyder takes on that I don't really like.

[Robanker]

It's a trailer for Justice League with pretty art most of the time and some fun between Lex and J'onn. The good weekly book from DC right now is Man of Steel.

[BatmanJones]

It's just a filler set up for Justice League. I think you had your expectations little too high. I felt there was a little too much going on a little too quickly especially with all the characters involved, but I guess it served its purpose. I didn't have high expectations going in so there is that.

If you didn't like No Justice you might want to lower your expectations for Justice League.

I agree with your assessment of No Justice but not with the idea that one should lower expectations accordingly. I had no use for Metal or No Justice but I found JL #1 to be a thrilling breath of fresh air. I haven't been this excited for Justice League (typically my top title) in forever and though I really disliked No Justice I loved the hell out of JL #1.

[Krypto's Fleas]

I agree with your assessment of No Justice but not with the idea that one should lower expectations accordingly. I had no use for Metal or No Justice but I found JL #1 to be a thrilling breath of fresh air. I haven't been this excited for Justice League (typically my top title) in forever and though I really disliked No Justice I loved the hell out of JL #1.

You're someone I usually stop and pay attention to. I finished JL #1 yesterday and didn't feel much of a difference from it and No Justice. Curious to hear what has your attention with it.

[BatmanJones]

You're someone I usually stop and pay attention to. I finished JL #1 yesterday and didn't feel much of a difference from it and No Justice. Curious to hear what has your attention with it.

Thanks for the kind words. I appreciate your posts too and I love your user name. I'll do my best to explain...

The difference lies largely in the restored relationships and history between characters that USED to have rich history together which all went away with New 52 and which really seemed to restore with this issue. I also felt like the difference between Metal/NJ and JL was the difference between writing nifty ideas without any foundation or stakes beneath them while JL felt like a real restoration of what I've always loved about having the JL/A at the center of the DCU.

And I was surprised to appreciate a Snyder issue on an emotional level when his other work has been purely academic/heady to me. I love art that makes me feel so much more than art that makes me think. And though Snyder was the second sort of writer for the longest, he never made me think deeply. He just kept my appreciation for his work in my head rather than my heart and I don't care for that as a general rule.

In Justice League I felt like I was reading characters and relationships. In No Justice I felt like I was reading a list of ideas. That's the main difference. I was also excited by the restoration of a wider past membership as represented by the costumes in the Hall of Justice and by the bevy of guest stars that made sense and made you feel like JLU cartoon did, like anyone could show up and for a good reason and not just because it would be a nifty "idea." And you must see a pattern forming. I don't like to read about ideas. And up until this issue, with exception of Black Mirror, I felt like that was all Snyder had to offer.

My history with Snyder goes like this:

- LOVED Black Mirror and it made me excited to read his Batman run. Black Mirror was the first Snyder writing I've read and it made me excited to read his Batman.
- Started out really digging his Batman but it wore out its welcome for me for same reasons as Metal and NJ: it came to feel like a series of ideas that weren't grounded in emotion. Still I consider it a "fair" run. Not great, not terrible, just fair.
- Metal: Here, for me, Snyder reverts to his worst habit--writing a series of ideas that aren't rooted in any human emotion.
- No Justice: High expectations really slaughtered anything I might have appreciated about this series. But even if I'd had no expectations I agree with the poster that referred to NJ as kids banging action figures together. It was SO slight and the stakes were only high because we were told they were. And it's all resolved with an entirely unearned, sci-fi-silly, deus-ex-machina. When a big bad or event is resolved with sci-fi mumbo jumbo I don't appreciate the cleverness in the resolution. I feel like I'm being told to think or feel a certain way but I'm utterly removed from it.

And then, somehow, out of nowhere, I was reading a Justice League with a rich history and longstanding relationships again. I found the Batman impressions to be a bit forced and didn't love them like others did. I found the focus on character and emotion to be unlike any Snyder book I've read and so much to the better.

Probably expectations have a lot to do with it.

By end of No Justice my expectations were at an all time low for Snyder's work. So it wasn't too terribly difficult for him to overcome them.

But that issue did so much more for me than beat the very low expectations I had for it. It did the thing I've been wishing all post-New 52 series would do in restoring relationships and history. This is my greatest hope for Doomsday Clock so I was very pleasantly surprised to see it happening in the DCU proper. It's the exact course correction I hope to see from DC and that's why I'm loving DC so much lately.

Since New 52 the Martian Manhunter has just flat gone missing. When he was included in Stormwatch, JLA, JLU, to me it just wasn't him. It was more a new "idea" about him and it had little to do with the character I've loved so long. JL #1 felt like we were getting the character back for the first time in forever and that J'onn was actually J'onn. That was true of so many characterizations in that issue.

I still fear for a Snyder penned Justice League. I just happened to love #1 when I was expecting to be utterly nonplussed by it. And my appreciation of it grew on each re-reading. I think I've probably read it 5-6 times since it came out and each time I've found something new to appreciate about it.

That's just my opinion of course. And I don't love Jimenez as much as others here so this book is sort of constantly on the bubble for me. Still I found JL #1 to be just plain terrific.

Hope that helps at all. I don't write it to change anyone's mind (I never do except by offering to buy and gift #1's to people that are criticizing work they aren't reading), only to try to answer your question.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

I'm still only getting through Metal on #4. Snyder I don't know what I saw in him when he was writing Batman.

I'll probably only check his JL out when we get that big Aquaman arc.

[Jabare]

I loved Snyder when he did American Vampire and Dark Mirror. His Dick Grayson Batman stories and all his Pre-New 52 work was great.

But after the New 52 hit his style changed.

He's trying to cram way too much into these issues and it doesn't help.

[Bayls_171]

I didn't understand the point of it. It was fine, even relatively enjoyable, but nothing great.

The Titans were definitely boring. And the fight around the trees on Brainiac's planet seemed to go on for way too long