Justice League United, Volume 2: The Infinitus Saga

Justice League United

by Jeff Lemire (Writer), Neil Edwards (Illustrator), Jay Leisten (Illustrator)

Visionary writer Jeff Lemire (GREEN ARROW, ANIMAL MAN) and artist Neil Edwards (FOREVER EVIL: A.R.G.U.S.) bring together two teams of heroes from across centuries: Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, Supergirl, Animal Man, Stargirl, Equinox, and Alanna and Alan Strange—together they are the Justice League United.

They've barely been together long enough to consider themselves a team, and already they're faced with a threat that could destroy all of space—and time. A group of time-traveling crusaders called the Legion of Super-Heroes has suddenly appeared on the JLU's doorstep with a dire warning: Ultra, the multi-alien hybrid the team just rescued from the mad Thanagarian shape-shifter, Lord Byth, has a future of doom and destruction ahead of him. The Legion has come back to stop young Ultra before he ever gets a chance to become Infinitus, annihilator of worlds!

Though this devastation won't happen until the 31st century, the Legion believes they can prevent it in the present day. Little do they know that their presence out of time will only accelerate the course of events—and that fits perfectly into Byth's master plan!

Collects: Justice League United #7-10, Annual #1, Futures End #1 and Justice League Futures End #1.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Science Fiction

208 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 15, 2015

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Jeff Lemire is a New York Times bestselling and award winning author, and creator of the acclaimed graphic novels Sweet Tooth, Essex County, The Underwater Welder, Trillium, Plutona, Black Hammer, Descender, Royal City, and Gideon Falls. His upcoming projects include a host of series and original graphic novels, including the fantasy series Ascender with Dustin Nguyen.

Reviews

[Jayson · Rating 2 out of 5]

(C+) 67% | Almost Satisfactory
Notes: Blathering blatherskite, it's a bunch of blah, brainless brawls, bloated by babble, and burdened by a bazillion battlers.

*Progress updates: Justice League United: Futures End #1 and Justice League: Futures End #1 ◦ Annual #1-Issue #6 ◦ Issue #7

[Calista · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought the first volume was much better. We were just getting to know the Justice League United better and then they bring in this Legion of Superheroes from the 31st century. What in the world?? There were like 20 new characters all the sudden and I didn't know any of them and it was just a horrible mess. I mean a mess. What were they thinking and how did they think this was a good idea.

It didn't feel big to me or like anything mattered. It felt like a failed experiment. I do like the JLU and Equinox. It was a great idea, but adding a whole other league ruined any character development they had going.

I'm disappointed. Such a shame. Also, most of this takes place in space, which this team isn't really all that space oriented besides Martian Manhunter. What's so wrong with a story set on Earth? Do they need to try and make it saving the universe, I mean really? Ehh.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid Justice League story but nothing earth shattering. I like the Legion of Super-Heroes but the story would have probably have been better served if he focused on fewer members. It's a lot for a reader to even juggle. I thought the Future's End story was better. It was more tightly focused and featured some of DC's heavyweight villains.

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 3 out of 5]

State library ILL records show I requested this on 2020-09-29 and it found its way home on 2020-12-15, and the blurb seems familiar, so taking credit for finishing it...

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that, by bringing in the Legion of Superheroes, a little more heft has been added to this title. Whenever the LOS gets involved, you know that the consequences could be universal and long-lasting; so, in this volume of JLU, the stakes became higher and this DCU b-list team was up against something that actually tested their mettle.

The only thing is.... as a big LOS fan, I can't seem to place when in their timeline this story would have taken place. It's after the Brainiac/Supergirl relationship, but before Sunboy dies and after Legion Lost gets stuck on Earth, and I guess before Glorinth et al join the team? I'm not sure. When the New 52 last left the LOS, they were not in good shape, so.... I was left with many questions about the timeline.

A pretty solid, standard, LOS crossover story. Not great, but not too shabby, either.

3/5

[Brini · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ich hatte mir nach dem ersten Band mehr erhofft und wurde nicht nur enttäuscht, sondern war zeitweise sogar leicht gekränkt. Die Zeichnungen waren mir diesmal etwas zu sexistisch/porno was die weiblichen Figuren anging während alles andere überschön und detailreich war. Was die diversen Geschichten angeht, wenn sie nicht gerade überflüssig wie die Indianer Geschichte waren, dann waren sie einfach nur einfältig. Die ewige Frage ob man zurückgehen sollte (wenn man es denn könnte) um Hitler (in diesem Fall Infinitus) als er noch ein unschuldiges Kind war, zu töten, kennt man schon zu genüge. Wobei mich hier eher gestört hat, dass Infinitus wohl nur eine DC Nachmache von Galactus ist. Charakterstark war dieser Comic jedenfalls nicht. Supergirls Strategie war es einfach nur draufzuhauen und dann vielleicht nachzufragen, aber draufhauen sollte anscheinend besser sein...eh? Sie ist zwar erst 16 Jahre alt, aber dann sollte sie vielleicht einfach nicht auf Superheldin machen. Zudem tauchten alle paar Seiten immer wieder neue Gruppen von Superhelden aus der Zukunft auf, so dass sie wohl selber nicht mehr durchblickten. Da helfen auch die Heldenbeschreibungen am Anfang nicht viel. Ich weiß einfach nicht, was das alles sollte.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 'Futures End' chapter at the beginning threw me off at first. I thought I'd somehow missed some tie-in event under another title, which is annoyingly common with DC. But upon closer examination (aka reading every. single. text. bubble. on the first page) I realized my mistake and was happy to find the main story picking up at the conclusion of the Futures End bit. Why the publisher put it at the beginning of the volume instead of the end, I just don't know. Overall, an all right volume, but it gets a bit cast heavy once all the Legion characters are thrown in. This is forgivable however, because this volume gives a lot more information about Equinox. First Nation young woman with the power of the seasons? Seems weak... if you've never experienced a Canadian winter (I haven't, but I know people who have, and I am grateful in my ignorance). I would read a whooooole book about Equinox flying around and laying the smackdown across Canada. I would also read all the Equinox/Stargirl/Supergirl teamups.

[Will Robinson Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jeff Lemire is one of the best writers in comics currently. It seems like he can just take any superhero or team and make them important. Justice League United Vol. 1 and 2 are basically the Infinitus Saga. Jeff Lemire does a great job of balancing the time we get to spend with each League member. It should not be hard to get into Green Arrow's head as h e just finished up a stellar run with the character. I agree with what one reviewer said this story was more interesting than some of the events we get in comics today. The weakness to me was probably the fact we got too many superheroes with the inclusion of the Legion of Superheroes. But I do not want to gripe about that because after all that is why one reads a superhero team book like this to get a lot of the heroes we love in one book.

[John Yelverton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Granted, there were some weak spots in the storytelling, but this was an excellent graphic novel. This was better than any "event" that DC has done in the past decade, and it wasn't even an event.

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

Solstice deserves so much better than this.

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gobbledygook Mumbo jumbo Mumbo jumbo blab blab babble babble babble.

*This review makes more sense than the plot.

[Paweł · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bełkotliwe dialogi i szarpana chaotyczna akacja nie pomagają ani trochę w odbiorze tego "dzieła". Dzięki doktorowi Manhattanowi to już koniec.

[Matt town · Rating 4 out of 5]

The futures end story is 5 stars for me. The Legion of Superheroes one was destined to be bad for me (my least favorite superhero time by far) so I give that story a 3. Average for a 4.

[Cale · Rating 2 out of 5]

Terminally average. It hits all the cliches - teams of super heroes who fight first, then talk before teaming up. McGuffin who will become extremely powerful and destroy the universe unless stopped a millenium earlier. A PROFOUND misunderstanding of how time travel works (if you're able to go 1,000 years in the past, 24 hours in the past doesn't mean the future has moved 24 hours ahead too; you can go back to the exact time you left. Really, it's not that complex). Lots of B and C list characters thrown together, most of which never even get their name mentioned. A hero who is brainwashed, but is able to be immediately rejoin the good guys when his brainwashing is defeated. A climactic final solution where one character does something he could have done on the first page and solved everything without the rest of the characters even needing to be involved. And the good guys manage to make the situation worse and much of the climax is basically them trying to minimize the impact of their failed attempt. Oh, and there are two issues of Futures End that... actually their story has almost the exact same plot and resolution as the other story. Maybe it's personal bias, but the Legion of Super Heroes has rarely if ever made a story better, and the Justice League United characters are barely even used. The more I think about it, the less I like it. It's pretty much a pointless collection of a series that utterly under-utilizes some of my favorite characters while simultaneously trying to capitalize off of Marvel's Ms. Marvel work. Give it a miss. Jeff Lemire has much better books you can read.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Future's End. A good Future's End story because it accepts but doesn't obsess on the dark-and-gritty future. Instead, we get an interesting story of the JLA + JLU that hints at possible future events for both teams while also telling an exciting story of a future jailbreak [7/10].

Infinitus Cycle. This was why I actually picked up the comic, to see what's going on with the Legion and get some better closure on Legion Lost. Unfortunately, it's got excessive fighting in the nu52 style: the Legion and JLU fight; Hawkman and JLU fight; the Legion, JLU, and some random mercs fight; everyone fights Byth and some demon things; and you get the idea.

Overall, this story succumbs to the same problems that Lemire had with his story in Justice League United, Vol. 1: Justice League Canada. He doesn't have any time to characterize his characters because they spend so much time fighting. I have to guess this is a typical nu52 problem of overly controlling editorial, because he's much better elsewhere.

This story also doesn't have much value as a Legion story. Issue #8 is kind of nice, because it's set mostly in the future, but overall there's no real characterization and little continuity for the Legion, making this appearance totally forgettable.

Hoping we'll see them back in a better comic soon.

[Danielle Booey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this volume to be SO much more enjoyable than the first volume. I liked the focus on J’onn and Ultra’s relationship, the budding friendship between Kara, Courtney, and Miyhabin, as well as the appearance of the Legion (a team that I really need to read more of). Pushing the lame arguing between Buddy and Oliver into the background really helped.

This is a fun galaxy spanning storyline with a true villain in Lord Byth. I would love to see more of him. For as much as I made fun of Justice League “Canada” when it first came out, volume 2 really lived up to its United name.

If you are on the fence with this volume because of the lackluster first volume, take it from me, stick around for volume 2. It might just surprise you.

[Stephen Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considerably more engaging than the first volume, it’s difficult to know if this works because of or in spite of the deluge of characters from the Legion of Superheroes. With so many characters jostling for space on the page, it’s difficult to form an emotional attachment with any of them, although the members of the JLU still dominate. Two quibbles: Brainiac 5 is irritating and condescending, and the costumes for Supergirl and Dream Girl show extraordinary amounts of leg and, lets be honest, butt cheek. When the writer makes a point of telling the readers that Kara is still only 16, this seems like gratuitous sexualisation.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Always fun to see any iteration of the Legion of Super-Heroes in action these days, and always fun to see them interact with any iteration of the Justice League. The story felt a little convoluted to me (especially the whole "kill Hawkman, oh wait he's not really dead, because we're going to kill him again in his own miniseries a year from now..." aspect (ain't hind-sight grand?)). But art is over-all excellent, and I like Lemire's characterizations of the Leaguers for the most part.

[Scott Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This second volume is better than the first, although that's nothing remarkable. Good but not great. The best thing about the volume in my opinion was the appearance by the Legion of Superheroes. The Infinitus saga is a decent effort--there were some moments I really enjoyed as I was reading, although I have to admit none of them stuck with me enough to provide examples right this second.

[Adan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still a pretty fun Justice League, so it's a bit sad it was so short-lived. The inclusion of the Legion of Super-Heroes was very welcome, especially since this Legion was a mix of classic and less-classic members. And I still really like Equinox, so I hope her stories continue.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the first volume but still an entertaining read.

[Beelzefuzz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not even Lemire can make the Legion of Superheroes interesting.

[Mike McDevitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm grateful for every effort to keep the Legion alive. Plus, Equinox is pretty cool.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a big Legion of Superheroes fan.

[Vincent · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall this is a pretty conventional, modern comic. For some reason, the Legion of Super Heroes gets far more page time than the Justice League and drive almost all of the plot.

There are two things I found really off-putting.

First, this volume opens with an issue that is completely disconnected from the remainder of the story and is part of some DC event that readers of the collected editions will have no idea about. It interrupts the cliffhanger that ended the volume 1.

Second, I have a lot of suspension of disbelief, and am willing to stretch it even further for comic book science, but in the climax of the story, Lemire abuses science so much that it becomes impossible to understand the stakes, scope, or possible solutions to what's happening. When all rules are thrown out, we don't understand just how much danger the heroes or bystanders are in. We don't know how long the heroes have to act. We don't know what kind of distance or time are necessary to be safe. It turns the climax into empty spectacle.


Edit: and I didn't even mention the worst part!


The Justice League has apparently setup a jail on Mars for especially dangerous villains, and is using the Martian Manhunter to use ESP to invade their minds and mentally sedate the prisoners! It's like the JLA learned nothing from the Identity Crisis fiasco! I don't think I can take the side of the "heroes" on this issue.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jeff Lemire's Justice League run ends and while its better than the terrible first volume, its not great. As a Justice League story its not good but as a Legion Of Super-Heroes tale, its much better. I actually enjoyed the Legion aspects but this JLU team is hard to enjoy. They don't make sense together and Lemire's dialogue with them is rough. Hawkman's plight was just another embarrassment for the character. Neil Edwards had some really nice panels and did an excellent job with the vast amount of characters. Overall, an below average story lofted up by very good artwork. This series has been ill-conceived from the jump.

[Anchorpete · Rating 3 out of 5]

Man, Those Legion of Superheroes time travel stories can really be far out, can't they? Not only are they are far out, but they are super epic. Let me see if I can make a metaphor here.... When you never read a comic, but you decide to make a point to see ever Marvel movie, that is like taking the random bong hit at a party. Reading an epic Legion of Superheroes story is like Injecting Meth into that vein in your toe. you really have to be a Huge Comic book dork to keep with an epic legion event. Are you ready for this book? Do you have your needle?

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bit of a muddle and I’m unsure if Lemire can write teams well. Juggle a crap tom of characters, yes, but make the, feel like teams? Not until the climax does the story and some semblance of characters the way we’ve seen them be before

Glad I finally read this Legion crossover even if most of the heroes weren’t quite in character

I’ll forgive a lot since two faves ( Bouncing Boy & White Witch) got nice spotlights

[Kurt Vosper · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. Nothing overly unique but I enjoyed meeting Canadian hero Equinox and seeing this group of Justice Leaguers confront a universe ending threat alongside the Legion of Super Heroes. Great art work and got to see quite a few familiar characters from my younger years reading comics.

[Ming · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Futures End story was somewhat readable, but the bulk of this was... ugh. Thought Vol. 1 was thin in character? How about let's throw in about 50 more at one go, and see how thin everything can stretch?