Justice League International Omnibus Vol. 2

Justice League International Omnibus

by J.M. DeMatteis, Keith Giffen (Illustrator)

The satirical 1987-1996 Justice League adventures are collected in a single hardcover edition.

A new generation of the world's greatest super-heroes takes center stage in the wake of a world crisis, but it's the most unlikely grouping of heroes ever - Batman, Black Canary, Blue Bettle, Captain Marvel, Doctor Fate, Dr. Light, Guy Gardner, Martian Manhunter, and Mister Miracle. Known for its comedic tones and quirky cast, this chapter from 1987-1996 in League history is unforgettable!

Collects Justice League America #31-50, Justice League Europe #7-25, Justice League America Annual #4, Justice League Europe Annual #1, Justice League Quarterly #1, and Justice League International Special #1.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels, Comic Book

1192 pages, Hardcover

Published November 24, 2020

About the author

Also Credited As:
DeMatteis, John Marc
Ellis, Michael
Lombego, Wally

Bio:
J.M. DeMatteis was a professional musician/singer and rock music journalist before entering comics in the late 70's.

Credits include Spider-Man, Moonshadow, Brooklyn Dreams, Justice League, Abadazad, Hero Squared, the Life and Times of Savior 28.

Created I, Vampire , Creature Commandos, Moonshadow, Hero Squared (co-creator), Abadazad, Stardust Kid, Savior 28 and more.

Reviews

[Christian Zamora-Dahmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read it in single issues. And just in case, it collects Justice League America #31-50, Justice League Europe #7-25, Justice League America Annual #4, Justice League Europe Annual #1, Justice League Quarterly #1, and Justice League International Special #1.
It’s been a long read, so I won’t stop on the single details. I will just say that the two main series kept a nicer pace and way more interesting focus than the specials (and in this sense, I’m talking about Quarterlies, Annuals and Special). Still, I’m keeping a 5-star grading because the fun is so good!
The cast of the League shifts a bit, but the sense of evolution is right there. This set has some glorious moments, like Kooey-Kooey-Kooey (and everything related with the Injustice League), the deadly serious Despero story (showing that the team can do serious), the Extremists and the mysteries behind Crimson Fox. As I mentioned, it’s non-stop fun.
Oh, the General Glory arc was a misstep— but I’m still keeping the 5-star. I know. I’m a sucker for this era of the Justice League.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one disappointed me.

It's weird cause I think Volume 1 is a banger. The team stayed the same for both America and Europe. But for some reason some of these stories (especially Europe) really missed the mark. I reviewed a lot of the individual issues, and some still were great. Especially Glory Bound coming in, or the nobody becoming a major villain, or just general life of heroes on vacation. Those slice of life issues work really well.

But JLE issues when they went to multi-issued stories really didn't work. Especially a certain time travel story really sucked it out of me to continue reading. It took me forever to get through those issues, which slowed down my reading experience.

Overall still solid overall even with the weaker issues. I hope volume 3 brings it back up to full on enjoyment like Volume 1 did though. A 3 out of 5.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll have to admit, this is not nearly as fresh as the first omnibus, containing the start of the JLI run. It took me more than half-a-year to work all the way through, and that's in large part because the silliness increasingly derails actual storytelling in this volume, with the island-scam issues being some of the worst.

Still, there's some great material in here, primarily when the creators focus more on serious stories, and use the humor as an undertone. The Despero arc is the best, both for its tragedy and its remembrance of JL and Jonn Jonnz backstory. The Global Guardian stories similarly respect continuity and offer stories with real consequences, while the Extremist introduction is another of the best. Conversely, the giant worms story near the end of these JLE issues shows how serious can go badly wrong.

Generally, the JLA is stronger than the JLE, primarily for its characters. It's not just that the JLE team never gels, but I've never found Metamorpho or Crimson Fox interesting, and they're used as the foundation of a lot of stories.

I'm still thrilled with the continued collecting of these stories, and am looking forward to Breakdowns in, I think, the next volume

[Rizzie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review is for the entire Giffen/DeMatteis run, not just this volume.

I guess I'll just get right to it. I think the reputation of this run has grown a bit beyond the quality of the run itself. I'm a bit disappointed in that regard. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of fun stuff in here, but it's pretty vastly outweighed by generic late 80's superhero fare. The run is at its absolute best when it's just being a workplace comedy with D-list superheroes. That's the stuff that JLI is remembered for. It's called the "Bwahaha" era for a reason, right? But man, that just isn't most of the run. This is a BIG run, and I would say the comedic issues take up maybe 30% of the page count.

The worst part is that most of the funniest "iconic" moments happen within the first 15-20 issues. What happens after that? Well, I hope you like revisiting the same uninteresting subplots a dozen times, because you're gonna be reading a LOT of arcs about the same villains returning over and over (I'd guess that Silver Sorceress, Queen Bee, the Global Guardians, and the Extremists take up more than half this lengthy run). Who are any of those people? Who cares? Giffen, that's who. There are some decent non-comedy arcs here and there, such as the first Despero story, but they're few and far between.

The real sin though, are the goddamn "membership drives". The roster of the JLA (and later JLE) change CONSTANTLY, and they take entire issues to explain these changes every single time. Seriously, I couldn't tell you how many issues revolved around heroes leaving to deal with much more interesting stories in their respective solo books (Batman, Animal Man, Black Canary, Mister Miracle, many others). The various teams never got any time to develop a dynamic because no one stuck around long enough. You know why people remember Booster Gold and Blue Beetle from this run the most? Because they're two of the only characters to stick around the entire run and have a well-defined relationship to each other. The problem is particularly bad in Justice League Europe, which never found its footing across its entire run. What a massive failure on editorial's part. The Animal Man exit was particularly pathetic. He was one of the founding members of JLE, did absolutely nothing, basically only appeared in the background, then only a few issues into JLE had a whole issue explaining why he was leaving the team. Good god, what a waste of the reader's time. The book basically comes out and tells you that you should be reading Morrison's Animal Man rather than JLE, which is an entirely correct assessment.

So overall, this run was quite the disappointment for me. It was enjoyable at parts to be sure, but it was such a slog to get to those moments. The image of Giffen's JLI that people have in their heads is sadly not how the run really is. Rather, that image is defined by the books this run would later inspire, including those by Giffen himself which leaned much heavier into his strengths (namely, "Formerly Known as the Justice League" and "I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League", both good fun). For that reason, it's hard to say whether I can recommend this. Basically, I'd say read until you stop enjoying it, because it starts fun but only gets worse as it goes. If you are totally fine with generic 80's superhero fare, you'll probably love it from beginning to end. If you need a bit more however, don't make the mistake of hoping it will get better after it starts dipping. The final extended arc, "Breakdowns", is the worst part of the whole run by far.

[Remxo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the second volume of this tongue-in-cheek take on the superhero team. So far this run has been consistently good, if not great. The main focus of the book are the characters and their never-ending banter, but Giffen and DeMatteis keep things interesting with longer story arcs that are mostly twisted but original takes on familiar superhero tropes. Highlights are the Conglomerate story arc about a spin off superhero team paid by Big Corp and lead by Booster Gold, and Catnap about the catnapping of the mysterious one-eyed cat that walked into JLI's headquarters one day.
First time reader of this material.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Master piece of comics history.

This is a JL without the Trinity but a lot of faces, sometimes almost underground for today's readers.

It read more pacely than the first omnibus, maybe less wordy or maybe I just got used to it quicker.

The silly slices of life, silly but not shallow - there is some real character development - at the ambassies are the best parts. It is a sitcom in comics format.

There are also a few more epic arcs with a larger threat / stronger villain, but that is not the majority.

Booster Gold leaves the team quite early in this second omnibus, I missed him. Other characters (Dr. Fate, the Specter, Animal Man, Mr. Miracle, etc.) go in and out, I suppose in line with their other individual stories published at the time.

I am very much looking forward to the 3rd Omnibus!

[Tom French · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haven't read the individual issues from this Omnibus in a lot of years, so it was fun to revisit. I was a big fan of JLE with Bart Sears and JLA with Adam Hughes, even as I thought the plots were getting way out of hand. (The Living Island storyline in particular is a low for the series, as beautiful as Hughes made it look.) The humor in JLI worked, when it was a background element -- look at the first year, tightly plotted, excellent stories, but the humor was character-driven, sly. In the 3rd and 4th year, especially with JLA, the silliness got in the way of the storytelling.

I'm still a fan -- and always will be. It was a series I was surprised to find myself liking as much as I did. The magic diminished as it went along, but it's a great read -- and brings back terrific memories.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not every issue deserved 5 stars, of course, but the cumulative effect of reading this volume was. So cool to see this artwork in giant size and what beautiful art there was. The stories were always interesting, at least, and I think I appreciated the later issues of JLA and JLE collected here than I did the first time around. I also listened to the JLI Podcast from the Fire and Water Network, hosted by Shagg Matthews, which is a great companion to this volume (though I'm now ahead of where he is in his coverage). I realize I'm rambling here a bit, but maybe that matches what you get with a massive omnibus like this. I hope there's a third volume to come.

[roberto ortiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Acción y comedia, buen dibujo, entretenida que más pedir. Dos Ligas, un club en una isla x un lado, Despero aparece y pone el tono de sangre y destrucción que hasta ahora no se había visto. Un periodista que descubre todos los secretos de los héroes revolviendo la basura más el General Gloria y robots nazis gigantes.
la JLE por su parte va a aprender francés, tiene un cruce en un pueblo europeo con el Hombre Gris, Metamorfo conoce a su hijo, y se enfrentan a la mayor amenaza de los Extremistas. Todo bien hasta los chistes están bien.

[Steele Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Despero story in #38-40 is one of the more effective dark n gritty superhero stories I've read. Its preceded by 37 issues of relatively light, screwball comedy, so the sudden tone shift really sells Despero as this dangerous, terrifying threat.

A lot of delightful ideas and characters. Booster Gold and Blue Beetle are MVPs of course.

[Darik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely shaggier and less focused than the earlier volumes, but there are a lot of great ideas in here. The Extremists! The Conglomerate! General Glory! Justice League Antarctica! Big, weird, swing-for-the-fences ideas that keep this relatively low-key satire/workplace comedy series fresh and engaging.

This is my Justice League.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lacked the magic of the first volume. Adam Hughes and Bart Sears were really on point when they were behind the pencils, but the stories really showed their flaws when the art quality dropped with fill in artists. The Despero arc was great though and I wish it could have been longer and larger in scale, there was so much energy that they let fizzle out in too few issues.

[Thomas Haley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Same as last review iconic and hilarious