Today, Shelby and Peter are discussing Justice League 11, originally released July 18th 2012.

Shelby: Losing a loved one is beyond difficult. It can be the most trying, emotional, painful experience we’ll ever know. Whether it’s a sudden death or a prolonged illness, the grief of loss is a heavy burden to bear. It’s one thing to forever carry the memory of a loved one with you, but something else entirely to carry that burden of grief, never letting go, never moving on. Justice League features a villain literally doing just that; Graves constantly carries with him the souls of his family, and his grief will not abate until he exacts his revenge. You would think with such a heavy and universally relatable idea, this issue would garner something stronger than “meh.”

As the League regroups from Graves’ attack, Cyborg traces him to the home of Tracy Trevor, Steve’s sister. The crew teleports there, only to see Graves disappear. Tracy accuses Wonder Woman of putting her brother’s life in danger, and demands she bring him home. Wonder Woman is understandably upset, and decides to run off to kill Graves and rescue Steve. Hal — of all people — councils patience and tells her they’ll all go, she can’t handle this alone. Diana snaps, and an inter-League fight breaks out. Cyborg teleports them all to Graves’ cabin, and Aquaman calms things down. Batman uses his superb detective skills to read Graves’ journal and get some backstory. They all head to the Valley of the Spirits for some answers; interestingly enough, only Cyborg can see the entrance, which is apparently only visable to those who walk the edge of life and death. Once inside, they are all confronted by spirits of their passed loved ones. Cyborg sees himself, and even worse, Diana sees Steve.

My first read through of this issue, I wasn’t wild about it, all because of the fight. It seemed too big, too much; Wonder Woman pretty much lost her mind one she realized Steve was in trouble.

I thought about it more during my second read through, and I realized this is Geoff Johns giving us exactly what we’ve been wanting. We’ve been frustrated with the slow pace of this story: well, here you go, a big-ass fight scene and a ton of exposition. I could try to make some sort of argument about the tension between teammates finally boiling over, or Wonder Woman’s feelings for Steve going deeper than even she realized, or Batman’s exposition is totally justified because it gets us to the Valley of Souls where shit is gonna get real. I don’t know, for an issue so action-oriented, I was a little … bored.

That’s not to say this issue is wholly without merit. It’s nice to see the team finally acting like a team instead of a bunch of whining babies, even though it took a fist fight to make it happen. Also, the reveal about Cyborg seeing himself in the Valley of Souls is very interesting.

It’s true, he would be dead without the technology fused to his body, I can see that giving him the death’s-edge vision needed to see the entrance to the place in the first place, but his soul is in what appears to be limbo! What sort of implication does that have for him, personally? That is a deep, deep question, and definitely the most interesting thing I took away from this issue.

I still wish this title were better. It hasn’t been bad, but I feel like Johns just hasn’t been able to hit his stride with this. I still don’t really believe in the individual characters, let alone the team as a whole. Steve was the most interesting and strongest developed character, and he might be dead at this point. It seems like each character is just acting like the role they are supposed to play: Hal is the cocky jerk, Batman is the bossy one, Wonder Woman is the sometimes angry, sometimes sensitive woman, etc. I might buy into that if they all came together and created a cohesive team, if the Justice League itself became a character. I’m just not seeing it, and at this point I don’t know if I will.

Peter: I agree that this title hasn’t really hit it’s stride yet. I bet that it will pick up by the time we get to the Trinity War. We have griped about the fact that Johns doesn’t use all the characters at his disposal in this book. In this issue, however, he’s starting to get away from that slump. It’s still not what it could be, but every member of the team says something this issue. I also like that everyone has a moment in the Valley of Souls, and during the fight with Graves.

The big winner in this issue is Wonder Woman. Johns is really developing her character here through her connection to Steve. I mean, she goes so far as to beat the crap out of several of her teammates. I agree with you Shelby that I still was a little bored by the action. It didn’t really do much more than show off Jim Lee’s amazing pencils. It felt quite hollow.

I’am also really liking Cyborg in this issue. This whole thing with him seeing himself in the Valley is pretty messed up. I can only assume that we are setting up for a Cyborg-centric issue in the near future, dealing with this whole idea of him being dead/alive or whatever. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and here is what I’ve come up with. After the accident at S.T.A.R. and Vic’s subsequent transformation into Cyborg, his old, ‘human’ life is dead. He is now just Cyborg. That is his future. He will never age or grow, he is only the Cyborg. I hope that at some point we get some Cyborg centric stuff. He’s the only member of the League that doesn’t have his own series. I would read a Cyborg book, especially if it covers his psyche, like Johns is trying to dabble in here.

Shelby, you didn’t talk about the The Curse of Shazam story, but I really liked it. Here’s a quick recap. Sivana and Black Adam team up. Billy and Freddy are trying to sabotage the Bryer’s SUV when the car alarm goes off. Billy shoves Freddy into a bush and leads the Bryers away from him. They run into a subway station, Billy jumps a train, gets punched in the nose, and the train takes him to the Rock of Eternity.

Way back when The Curse of Shazam started, I made a big deal about Billy’s new character. I thought he was just a little shit. Gradually, we have been getting more and more insight into his character. In this issue, Billy sacrifices himself to save Freddy. That’s huge. Initially, I wasn’t sure Billy was worthy of the power of Shazam, but now I’m sold. His new character will provide a very interesting dynamic for the Shazam character. Still not totally convinced by the new Sivana, and it’s too early to tell about Adam, but when issue 0 rolls around, I hope that we really get going with these characters.

The design of the Rock of Eternity is really cool. In the Free Comic Book Day issue, we are introduced to the first magic wielders of Earth, from different early civilizations. The Rock has taken on characteristics of these civilizations.

Each is represented in some fashion in art or décor. It’s really cool.

I hope that this series picks up soon. The Graves storyline is cool, but it is dragging out, and is somewhat confusing. Right now I am more optimistic about the next storyline, where the team fractures (or at least, is supposed to). I love the JL, it is just slow goings for this book in the new universe.

For a complete list of what we’re reading, head on over to our Pull List page.  Whenever possible, buy your comics from your local mom and pop comic bookstore.  If you want to rock digital copies, head on over to DC’s website and download issues there.  There’s no need to pirate, right?