JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA COMIC BOOK history
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08 A brand new era in 2016’s Justice League: Rebirth #1 09 (clockwise from top left): Different realities meet in 1963’s Justice League of America #21; the Justice League and the Justice Society of America fight side by side in Justice League of America #22; a new (slightly funnier) beginning in 1987’s Justice League – the series would later be known as Justice League International; the team is reborn in the 1980s miniseries, Legends
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of both teams were abducted and transported to New Genesis, home of the New Gods, to assist in a conflict between that planet and its dark twin, Apokolips. Change had been a feature of the Justice League since the team’s earliest days, but in the 1980s, the changes became ever more stark. A war between Earth and Mars saw the Justice League satellite destroyed, and with most of the core members all absent from the roster, Aquaman elected to disband the League and create a new one. Incorporating a number of street-level heroes, this version of the team set up shop in Detroit. A year later, the League was shaken by even bigger changes, first by the reality-reordering epic Crisis on Infinite Earths, during which The Flash was killed and myriad alternate Earths were destroyed, then by the crossover Legends, during which the League itself disbanded. At the close of Legends, realizing that a brotherhood of heroes was needed now more than ever, Batman, Martian Manhunter, Doctor Fate, replacement Green Lantern Guy Gardner, Black Canary, Captain Marvel (alias Shazam), and Blue Beetle agreed to form a new Justice League. Launched into a new series by writer/artist team Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire in 1987, this was a witty, anarchic take on the League, and the team transformed into Justice League International. A relaunch came in 1997, under the guiding hands of writer Grant Morrison and artist Howard Porter. This retitled series, JLA, saw the “Big Seven” – Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter,
The Flash (Wally West, the former Kid Flash), and Green Lantern (alias Kyle Rayner, who had replaced the then-dead Hal Jordan) – take center stage in a succession of epic storylines. Through the 2000s, the Justice League was buffeted by a series of escalating crises: a murder mystery and hidden secrets in Identity Crisis (2004); the return of the multiverse in Infinite Crisis (2005); and the return of Barry Allen in Final Crisis (2008). But the most far-reaching crisis came in 2011, when the Flash-starring Flashpoint event rewrote the entire history of the DC Universe, not least that of the Justice League… As detailed by writer Geoff Johns and artist Jim Lee in 2011’s relaunched Justice League series – part of a line-wide reboot by DC titled the “New 52” (later revisited and rechristened as “Rebirth”) – it transpired that not only had the League been brought together under different circumstances than those described in the 1960s, but its founding members now included a character who hadn’t even been invented back then: Cyborg. Cyborg was placed front and center at the formation of the League, as, in a reimagined origin, the World’s Greatest Super Heroes came together for the first time to fight an invasion by the forces of Apokolips and legions of Parademons. Cyborg’s cybernetic systems allowing him to interface with the Apokoliptian technological marvels known as Mother Boxes, Cyborg played a decisive role in this battle, establishing his position as a key component in this reinvigorated, reenergized Justice League for the modern age.
JUSTICE LEAGUE collector’s edition 95