Justice League and its continuation / continuation Justice League Unlimited are criminally underrated cartoons. And maybe the best episodes were wrapped in the Justice Lords, the Justice League’s own world-ruling, totalitarian version.
The villainous team was introduced as the Justice League from an alternate dimension, in which an evil Superman had used his laser vision to lobotomize President Lex Luthor and the Justice League took control of the human race from there. But in the course of a seasonal arc – yes, Justice League Unlimited had seasonal arcs – the show revealed that the Justice Lords didn’t come from another reality. They came from a possible future that seemed to get closer each day.
Now thanks to DC Comics’ new one Infinity of the Justice League Set in the continuity of the animated series, we get another story about the villains whose every appearance reminds the Justice League of the true potential that they are on a dark path.
What else happens on the pages of our favorite comics? We’ll tell you. Welcome to Monday Funnies, Polygon’s weekly list of books our comics editor liked over the past week. It’s partly society pages about the lives of superheroes, partly reading recommendations, partly “Check out this cool art”. There may be some spoilers. There may not be enough context. But there will be great comics. (And if you missed the last issue, read this.)
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Image: JM DeMatteis, James Tucker, Ethen Beavers / DC Comics
Infinity of the Justice League # 1 is a hodgepodge of Justice League Unlimited Favorites. Amazon? Check. Elongated Man and Booster Gold? Check. That subplot where the Martian hunter left the league to secretly live as different human identities, to learn to love humanity? Check!
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Image: Gerry Duggan, Adam Gorham, Tom Muller / Marvel Comics
Yeah, yeah, the X-Men moved into a tree house in New York and built a mech to fight a Kaiju in some good ol ‘superhero hijinks, but the real highlight of X-Men # 1 is Gerry Duggan continues his quest to put Murd Blurdock, an alien space attorney and parody of Daredevil, into whatever he can.
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Image: Sas Milledge / Boom Studios
I’d never read a book by Sas Milledge before, but I can’t say no to “teen hedge witchcraft with a slight fantasy setting.” mummy # 1 rewarded me with beautiful art and that absolute hook of a dual character introduction.
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Image: Mariko Tamaki, Amancay Nahuelpan / DC Comics
Crush & Lobo It’s absolutely about Crush’s distraction from how her friend broke up with her by taking a galactic road trip to meet her dead father – but it’s so good old too Lobo Space absurdism, what a nice touch I think. For me, Lobo will always be that Space pope of a fish religion.
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Image: Jason Aaron, Javier Garrón / Marvel Comics
With the end of the Heroes born again Arc, avenger Performs from World War She-Hulk – you know how World War I Hulk but with Jennifer Walters. The world war seems to mean something different here, because Russia kidnaps Jennifer Walters and throws her into the Red Room for brainwashing, turning her into – what else – Red She-Hulk.
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Image: Joëlle Jones / DC Comics
It’s hard to choose a panel Wonder girl # 2. The book starts Yara with a beautifully rendered point of origin – and Jones brings in so much of the wider (DC Comics) Amazon world and invents new pieces at the same time. This is how you instantly earn my loyalty to a Wonder Woman book: Take advantage of the Amazons.
