Slugfest!

In a project that has developed out of the Justice League vs. Suicide Squad mini-series, DC was very thorough in setting up the new Justice League of America (Vol. 5) releasing a series of one-shot issues featuring each of the supporting characters: Black Canary (Dinah Drake-Lance), Vixen (Mari McCabe), The Ray (Ray Terrill), The Atom (Ryan Choi), Lobo (The Last Czarnian), and Killer Frost (Caitlin Snow). They also published a Rebirth issue to establish how Batman personally recruits each team member with the exception of Lobo, who was recruited by Black Canary. It's a series somewhat reminiscent of the original Batman and the Outsiders, with its varied assortment of metahumans.

Steve Orlando does his best to create the internal dynamics of the fledgling team, and Brazilian artist Ivan Reis and a team of inkers (Joe Prado, Oclair Albert and Julio Ferreira) bring the book together visually.

The issue opens with everyone in various locations: Batman and Vixen prowl through Gotham City, The Ray and Black Canary are in the city of Vanity helping to evacuate people from a burning building, Lobo is somewhere over the Pacific Ocean dealing with baddies, and Atom and Frost are in The Sanctuary in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island working together to fix the Troubalert, a program which will alert the team so they will know where they are needed.

Meanwhile, in Saratoga, New York, Lord Havok and the Extremists cross "the weakened universal membrane" in an energy bubble. Luckily, Caitlin and Ryan get the Troubalert working in time to see Havok and company beginning their assault. Batman is immediately alerted and contacts each member of the team as they prepare for the transmitter surge to transport them to the site.

As the destruction of Saratoga begins, Lord Havok espouses that since governmental structures cannot be trusted to protect its citizens and unchecked freedom only lead to disaster, only authoritarian, despotic leadership can offer people protection.

The JLA arrive just in time to counter Havok's claims! The battle erupts and when the Atom attempts to infiltrate Havok's armor, he is repelled by an electric shock. Havok then grabs Atom by the throat and when he is about to use his axe to kill Atom, Batman offers himself as the sacrifice...to be continued!

I was a little skeptical when I read that Lobo would have a place on this team, but he adds levity to an otherwise very serious team of characters. The Extremists are interesting choice for the initial issue and similar to Marvel's Squadron Sinister (who mimicked DC's Justice League....see Slugfest reviews of Avengers #69-71...heh), as each member is patterned after Marvel counterparts: Lord Havok (Doctor Doom), Doctor Diehard (Magneto), Dreamslayer (Dormammu), Gorgon (Doctor Octopus), Tracer (Sabertooth) and Brute (Hulk).

DC's measured Rebirth has slowly expanded to larger proportions with Steve Orlando now handling the task of writing Supergirl and this book. It's great to see Ivan Reis on a regular gig instead of the one-off Rebirth issue (Batman #6 and Superman #14) and Rebirth covers. I'm curious to find out if where the Extremists energy bubble came from will be fully explained. Also, what exactly does Havok mean by "the weakened universal membrane" and is it connected to a larger story in DC's Rebirth? It will be interesting to see where this series takes us.