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Justice League International: New Edition
Justice League International, Book Two: Around the World
The League International era continueswith morewild and witty misadventures from Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Guy Gardner and the rest of the unlikely team!
Comic book legends Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguirerelaunched Justice League and did something unprecedented with the series--infusing the super-team with the effortlesslyendearing chemistry of an ensemble comedy, while retaining the high-stakes action you'd expect from the title's pedigree. The fun continues in this second collection of the League's international exploits, including Guy Gardner vs. Lobo, the arrival of the Injustice League, Blue Beetle and Booster Gold hunting a vampire, and the Huntress teaming with the Justice League against Darkseid's forces!
Comic book legends Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguirerelaunched Justice League and did something unprecedented with the series--infusing the super-team with the effortlesslyendearing chemistry of an ensemble comedy, while retaining the high-stakes action you'd expect from the title's pedigree. The fun continues in this second collection of the League's international exploits, including Guy Gardner vs. Lobo, the arrival of the Injustice League, Blue Beetle and Booster Gold hunting a vampire, and the Huntress teaming with the Justice League against Darkseid's forces!
576 pages, Paperback
Published January 26, 2021
4 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
Keith Giffen
1,931 books217 followersKeith Ian Giffen was an American comic book illustrator and writer. He is possibly best-known for his long runs illustrating, and later writing the Legion of Super-Heroes title in the 1980s and 1990s. He also created the alien mercenary character Lobo (with Roger Slifer), and the irreverent "want-to-be" hero, Ambush Bug. Giffen is known for having an unorthodox writing style, often using characters in ways not seen before. His dialogue is usually characterized by a biting wit that is seen as much less zany than dialogue provided by longtime collaborators DeMatteis and Robert Loren Fleming. That approach has brought him both criticism and admiration, as perhaps best illustrated by the mixed (although commercially successful) response to his work in DC Comics' Justice League International (1987-1992). He also plotted and was breakdown artist for an Aquaman limited series and one-shot special in 1989 with writer Robert Loren Fleming and artist Curt Swan for DC Comics.
Giffen's first published work was "The Sword and The Star", a black-and-white series featured in Marvel Preview, with writer Bill Mantlo. He has worked on titles (owned by several different companies) including Woodgod, All Star Comics, Doctor Fate, Drax the Destroyer, Heckler, Nick Fury's Howling Commandos, Reign of the Zodiac, Suicide Squad, Trencher (to be re-released in a collected edition by Boom! Studios)., T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, and Vext. He was also responsible for the English adaptation of the Battle Royale and Ikki Tousen manga, as well as creating "I Luv Halloween" for Tokyopop. He also worked for Dark Horse from 1994-95 on their Comics Greatest World/Dark Horse Heroes line, as the writer of two short lived series, Division 13 and co-author, with Lovern Kindzierski, of Agents of Law. For Valiant Comics, Giffen wrote XO-Manowar, Magnus, Robot Fighter, Punx and the final issue of Solar, Man of the Atom.
He took a break from the comic industry for several years, working on storyboards for television and film, including shows such as The Real Ghostbusters and Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy.
He is also the lead writer for Marvel Comics's Annihilation event, having written the one-shot prologue, the lead-in stories in Thanos and Drax, the Silver Surfer as well as the main six issues mini-series. He also wrote the Star-Lord mini-series for the follow-up story Annihilation: Conquest. He currently writes Doom Patrol for DC, and is also completing an abandoned Grant Morrison plot in The Authority: the Lost Year for Wildstorm.
Giffen's first published work was "The Sword and The Star", a black-and-white series featured in Marvel Preview, with writer Bill Mantlo. He has worked on titles (owned by several different companies) including Woodgod, All Star Comics, Doctor Fate, Drax the Destroyer, Heckler, Nick Fury's Howling Commandos, Reign of the Zodiac, Suicide Squad, Trencher (to be re-released in a collected edition by Boom! Studios)., T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, and Vext. He was also responsible for the English adaptation of the Battle Royale and Ikki Tousen manga, as well as creating "I Luv Halloween" for Tokyopop. He also worked for Dark Horse from 1994-95 on their Comics Greatest World/Dark Horse Heroes line, as the writer of two short lived series, Division 13 and co-author, with Lovern Kindzierski, of Agents of Law. For Valiant Comics, Giffen wrote XO-Manowar, Magnus, Robot Fighter, Punx and the final issue of Solar, Man of the Atom.
He took a break from the comic industry for several years, working on storyboards for television and film, including shows such as The Real Ghostbusters and Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy.
He is also the lead writer for Marvel Comics's Annihilation event, having written the one-shot prologue, the lead-in stories in Thanos and Drax, the Silver Surfer as well as the main six issues mini-series. He also wrote the Star-Lord mini-series for the follow-up story Annihilation: Conquest. He currently writes Doom Patrol for DC, and is also completing an abandoned Grant Morrison plot in The Authority: the Lost Year for Wildstorm.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 17, 2023
This was fun! A great showcase of the JLI's shenanigans and banter, especially between Booster Gold and Blue Beetle. The dialogue made me laugh out loud frequently -- the writing was very tongue-in-cheek and willing to make fun of itself. I'm also glad some issues of Justice League Europe were included for the sake of being thorough, but in all honesty, the JLE was more annoying than anything and definitely lacked the JLI's quirky charm.
My major criticism is the casual objectification of women and toxic masculinity consistently displayed by various male characters (including Wally West, whose writing bothered me). Guy Gardner's sexual harassment of numerous female characters, especially Ice, was revolting -- granted, he was criticized for it by several characters, but it was never truly condemned as unacceptable behavior for anyone, especially a superhero. I know it was the 80s, but still. This casual sexism was markedly not present in other books at the time, such as the New Teen Titans.
My major criticism is the casual objectification of women and toxic masculinity consistently displayed by various male characters (including Wally West, whose writing bothered me). Guy Gardner's sexual harassment of numerous female characters, especially Ice, was revolting -- granted, he was criticized for it by several characters, but it was never truly condemned as unacceptable behavior for anyone, especially a superhero. I know it was the 80s, but still. This casual sexism was markedly not present in other books at the time, such as the New Teen Titans.
September 16, 2024
Found this series much funnier, after a breather inbetween the last collection!
This series leaps right into the humor unlike the original collection which really builds into it.
While there are slimier heroes (this particular GL and Flash) in this book, the women hero focus is really appreciated with Big Barda, Ice, and Fire!
Not only is the humor a lot better, but there is time taken to dive deeper into the JLI members this go around!
Overall a better improvement and definitely see it's hyped pop culture status people refer to, more clearly!
This series leaps right into the humor unlike the original collection which really builds into it.
While there are slimier heroes (this particular GL and Flash) in this book, the women hero focus is really appreciated with Big Barda, Ice, and Fire!
Not only is the humor a lot better, but there is time taken to dive deeper into the JLI members this go around!
Overall a better improvement and definitely see it's hyped pop culture status people refer to, more clearly!
Read
March 31, 2024I think at least half of the JLI need to be chemically castrated
August 16, 2023
Vol. 2 is more of the same of what made Vol. 1 great. The writing is still extremely funny despite being written thirty years ago, and the deft way the ensemble cast all manage to eke out relevance and partake in important plotlines is still impressive. A few issues I had with the previous volume are corrected, leading to an overall enjoyable experience.
Barda is central to a major arc early on, which is great after feeling like she got sidelined in the first volume. Fire and Ice also get story importance, and later when we switch over to a different league (more on that later) Kara, and civilians Sue Dibney and Catherine, the French liaison, get plenty of page time. I liked the writing for all of them and though there’s still some very 80s heteronormative humor, I didn’t find it nearly as distracting as before.
Guy gets reverted from his “Sweetheart” persona to his usual, er, charming self and remains so for the remainder of the book. Guy is so unlikable that he kind of wraps around into being likable. It’s very complicated. I think sometimes I hate him. Other times I kinda like him. He’s going to be a tough sell for a lot of readers, but I imagine he has his diehard fans. I’m sure one thing everyone can agree is that Ice deserves much, much better.
Batman feels less prominent in this volume, like DC thought the team could stand on their own, which works. It makes his frustration with the team a little less exaggerated and the comedy works better for me. Some real standouts to the cast are Oberon, who is one of the most prominent characters in both books despite not being a superhero himself, and Max Lord. Max gets a lot of interesting development and screentime, and I’ve really come to love this slimy used car salesman-turned benevolent public relations guy.
Booster and Beetle remain my favorites. We stan the Blue and Gold ship, ya’ll. Ted gets to be part of a more serious story when it’s revealed Queen Bee has turned him into a sleeper agent, and the book dips into low-key horror, with the humor toned down for a bit as the characters try to find a way to safely free him. There’s an absolutely awesome Exorcist parody homage. Amanda Waller makes a guest appearance and everyone knows I simp for the Wall. She’s shown as especially vulnerable and capable of mistakes here, but not in a way that I think is unfaithful to her character or uncharacteristic. She stole every page she was on and I would like to see this writing team do something more with her in the future.
Late in the book we swap to a totally different branch of the league, led by Captain Atom. I was pretty unfamiliar with Atom outside of his physical appearance, and some quick appearances in group shots in other books, so watching him deal with the stress of becoming a leader was very informative and helped endear him to me. At first, I was a little put off swapping to a totally new team, but I quickly came to love their dynamics. Ralph and Sue, especially, are well-written and a believable, fun married couple. I did notice that Wally’s hair appeared to be blond in some early appearance before swapping to red. Because of Animal Man and Ralph appearing in the same scenes as him, it could be hard to keep Wally totally identified. Also, Wally is a huge asshole. I come to the table already loving Wally, but between this and Teen Titans, I can see he had to come a long way to get to where he is now.
The book ends with a completely different story that’s tonally something out of Batman with a first person POV and lots of introspection, but focuses on J’onn. The majority of the series has seen J’onn as the leader of the JLI and the straight man/comedic foil to characters like Boostle, Barda and Guy. This story drops most of the book’s fundamental humor (outside a sidebar with Guy, Oberon and Max) and instead focuses on J’onn’s psyche. He’s coping with grief, as well as the complicated feeling on how much of Earth culture he’s assimilated to. It reads similar to a non-native person moving to a new country and becoming entrenched in the country’s culture, to the point it creates jagged dissonance between the person before and after their move, and how those two identities intertwine to create something new. Despite how completely different it is, it really worked for me (what can I say, I like J’onn and I’m a sucker for these sorts of stories) and the inner-glimpse into J’onn’s thought processes, and how he uses his telepathy pretty casually but without malice, made me love him even more.
Overall, an excellent read and one I’d honestly recommend to any DC fans. Can’t wait to see what shenanigans these crazy kids get up to in Volume 3!
Barda is central to a major arc early on, which is great after feeling like she got sidelined in the first volume. Fire and Ice also get story importance, and later when we switch over to a different league (more on that later) Kara, and civilians Sue Dibney and Catherine, the French liaison, get plenty of page time. I liked the writing for all of them and though there’s still some very 80s heteronormative humor, I didn’t find it nearly as distracting as before.
Guy gets reverted from his “Sweetheart” persona to his usual, er, charming self and remains so for the remainder of the book. Guy is so unlikable that he kind of wraps around into being likable. It’s very complicated. I think sometimes I hate him. Other times I kinda like him. He’s going to be a tough sell for a lot of readers, but I imagine he has his diehard fans. I’m sure one thing everyone can agree is that Ice deserves much, much better.
Batman feels less prominent in this volume, like DC thought the team could stand on their own, which works. It makes his frustration with the team a little less exaggerated and the comedy works better for me. Some real standouts to the cast are Oberon, who is one of the most prominent characters in both books despite not being a superhero himself, and Max Lord. Max gets a lot of interesting development and screentime, and I’ve really come to love this slimy used car salesman-turned benevolent public relations guy.
Booster and Beetle remain my favorites. We stan the Blue and Gold ship, ya’ll. Ted gets to be part of a more serious story when it’s revealed Queen Bee has turned him into a sleeper agent, and the book dips into low-key horror, with the humor toned down for a bit as the characters try to find a way to safely free him. There’s an absolutely awesome Exorcist parody homage. Amanda Waller makes a guest appearance and everyone knows I simp for the Wall. She’s shown as especially vulnerable and capable of mistakes here, but not in a way that I think is unfaithful to her character or uncharacteristic. She stole every page she was on and I would like to see this writing team do something more with her in the future.
Late in the book we swap to a totally different branch of the league, led by Captain Atom. I was pretty unfamiliar with Atom outside of his physical appearance, and some quick appearances in group shots in other books, so watching him deal with the stress of becoming a leader was very informative and helped endear him to me. At first, I was a little put off swapping to a totally new team, but I quickly came to love their dynamics. Ralph and Sue, especially, are well-written and a believable, fun married couple. I did notice that Wally’s hair appeared to be blond in some early appearance before swapping to red. Because of Animal Man and Ralph appearing in the same scenes as him, it could be hard to keep Wally totally identified. Also, Wally is a huge asshole. I come to the table already loving Wally, but between this and Teen Titans, I can see he had to come a long way to get to where he is now.
The book ends with a completely different story that’s tonally something out of Batman with a first person POV and lots of introspection, but focuses on J’onn. The majority of the series has seen J’onn as the leader of the JLI and the straight man/comedic foil to characters like Boostle, Barda and Guy. This story drops most of the book’s fundamental humor (outside a sidebar with Guy, Oberon and Max) and instead focuses on J’onn’s psyche. He’s coping with grief, as well as the complicated feeling on how much of Earth culture he’s assimilated to. It reads similar to a non-native person moving to a new country and becoming entrenched in the country’s culture, to the point it creates jagged dissonance between the person before and after their move, and how those two identities intertwine to create something new. Despite how completely different it is, it really worked for me (what can I say, I like J’onn and I’m a sucker for these sorts of stories) and the inner-glimpse into J’onn’s thought processes, and how he uses his telepathy pretty casually but without malice, made me love him even more.
Overall, an excellent read and one I’d honestly recommend to any DC fans. Can’t wait to see what shenanigans these crazy kids get up to in Volume 3!
August 30, 2025
No particular reason for this one to get a lower rating than the first one, not sure which collection I liked more in total but I just am not feeling a 5-star. Has all the same qualities as the first one, possibly even better because we know more of the characters better. Though there wasn't an arc in here that I particularly liked better than the Doctor Fate or Lord Manga ones (the latter did finish here, but most of it was in the first). Character specific arcs stood out a lot though, Blue Beetle/Booster Gold issues were awesome and the final one with Martian Manhunter was fantastic. I also found there to be a lot more serious and reflective moments/scenes in-between all the banter, which were easily the most memorable parts of the experience. The inclusion of Justice League Europe near the end was a fantastic shift that refreshed the experience while retaining the same tone. Gave me even more characters to know and care about.
April 1, 2024
When I'd read the first volume, I described it as a comic book version of the CW television show Legends of Tomorrow. But finishing THIS volume, I feel like a more apt comparison is Ghostbusters: a sarcastic, character-driven workplace comedy about an unusual fantasy profession. The threats are all, largely, legitimate dangers that are played seriously (save for the Injustice League, a gang of losers who only show up to get their asses handed to them); the comedy comes from the heroes themselves and their interpersonal conflicts as they try to come together to DEAL with the threats.
This volume features the International team splintering into two factions-- Justice League America and Justice League Europe-- and while I'm not as fond of the Europe team, both books are still a lot of fun. I wish DC'd put out another softcover volume of this series! (Guess I may have to bite the bullet and buy the omnibus...)
This volume features the International team splintering into two factions-- Justice League America and Justice League Europe-- and while I'm not as fond of the Europe team, both books are still a lot of fun. I wish DC'd put out another softcover volume of this series! (Guess I may have to bite the bullet and buy the omnibus...)
July 21, 2023
As much fun as its first volume.
The antics, back-and-forth dialogues and interpersonal interactions remain as witty and hilarious as the previous issues.
Highlights to me were the arc that saw Barda and the rest of the JLI going off to Apolkolips to save Mr. Miracle from the clutches of Granny Goodness, and an Annual that focused on Blue Beetle and Booster Gold trying to make some extra bread on an heroic side hustle that went comically wrong.
Incredible how the Giffens/Matteis JLI lost none of its hilarity, and Kevin Maguire's and Ty Templeton's artwork remains some of the most expressive ever to grace a mainstream super-hero comic.
A 9/10 for me.
The antics, back-and-forth dialogues and interpersonal interactions remain as witty and hilarious as the previous issues.
Highlights to me were the arc that saw Barda and the rest of the JLI going off to Apolkolips to save Mr. Miracle from the clutches of Granny Goodness, and an Annual that focused on Blue Beetle and Booster Gold trying to make some extra bread on an heroic side hustle that went comically wrong.
Incredible how the Giffens/Matteis JLI lost none of its hilarity, and Kevin Maguire's and Ty Templeton's artwork remains some of the most expressive ever to grace a mainstream super-hero comic.
A 9/10 for me.
February 8, 2021
A fantastic trip down memory lane for me, with a style of humour that shaped mine growing up. I appreciate the storylines more on different levels than I did as a youth. And there's so much to love in this thorough collection. Giffen and DeMatteis' writing with Maguire's exceptional facial art, just a fantastic package overall.
May 13, 2021
Comedy and bantering are still striking gold 30 years after.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews