Justice League 3001 Vol. 1: Deja Vu All Over Again (Justice League 3001, 1)

This is a fun take on the Justice League and other DC characters. It's essential that you read Justice League 3000 to understand what's going here. It may be a metaphor for reboots.Even those who have read Justice League 3000 will be surprised by some of the classic characters who make appearances in this version of a DC Comics future.I'm not sure if it would be offensive or empowering to transgender folk, but I think there is certainly some elements open for discussion about the way gender manifests itself here.I'm not a big fan of Etrigan the Demon, but I did not find his presence to taint my enjoyment of the text.

Spoilers ahead:I really wanted to like this series, but compared to JL 3000, this one was a far cry. Without any kind of real conflict or opposition (let's face it, the battle with Etrigan was anticlimatic and the Injustice League is a joke), the story seems to defunct to short pointless noncontinuous stories where random Justice League members keep getting resurrected because no one seems to have any qualms anymore over the whole "taking over the host body and basically killing people," thing and people from the past keep showing up because apparently it's normal for people to survive for a 1000 years because that's just normal. Yeah, I will give you one or two people, but not five or six?!Weak plot aside,the story still could've been redeemable had the writer at least attempted to develop the characters and their relationships, but the JL members still haven't really changed from their first appearance. They don't work as a team and half the comic is just them bickering like children regurgitating the same dialogue and same tired arguments. It's actually gotten predictable, and I'm getting tired of the same exposition getting repeated over and over again.Besides some fragmented memories, they really aren't friends and can barely even be called teammates. The lack of respect and fidelity towards one another is glaring.The only thing that seems to be holding them together is the fact that once upon of time they used to be entirely different people who worked together, but nothing they do really seems to be bond worthy and even when they are given the chance, it always seems to fall short, or shallow, or the opportunity is just completely missed.Really, I was fine with them being at odds in JL 3000 team. Having a rocky is only natural, but by this point of the story they should've grown, but they seem to be exactly the same as they were since issue one and the lack of growth is boring and stagnating.Also, nothing really seems to get resolved in a sensible manner.Finally, on a personal note, Batman and Superman are kind of useless. Superman is too busy with his head up his butt, and Batman doesn't really contribute anything noteworthy in battle or to the team considering no one really listens to him. I just keep waiting to see Superman finally grow up or Batman show how important he is to the team, but still nothing. I guess they were just added to the story for the sake of having Batman and Superman be a part of the Justice League, but its so disappointing to see them reduced to hardly mattering at all in battle or in plot.In any case, I am really hoping the next volume will make up for the lack of plot and development. Maybe this was all just a set up for something greater, I really can't say, but so far I'm bored and waiting...

Guy Gardner gets the JL3000 treatment as the calendar flips to 3001 and I keep kicking myself for not giving this series a chance when it was hitting shelves monthly. It's more than satire/parody/upgrade or whatever. It transcends what you expect. I wish we could've gotten more of 'this' justice league. It's a smart comic that is far better than we deserve when we'll keep shelling out for the typical superhero team up/argue and squash a threat formula. The humor is good.

I always liked Giffen and Dematteis. Justice League 3001 was a comic that went under the radar with me. This is remarkably good with really good art.

Product came with some bended edges.Story so far good, still don't dig Scott Rollins art, but it doesn't hurt the book.

good read of a good book

Always enjoy Keith Giffen's work. I'll miss this comic in Rebirth.

With their enemy defeated, the JL3k (and their author) find themselves at odds and ends flailing around for a story line. We get more 21st century characters who've somehow survived into the 31st. The stories become sarcastic and snarky, they try to be funny like Giffen's old Justice League International but have a bitter aftertaste. The Legion of Super-Heroes make a cameo appearance as a pile of dead bodies in a ditch, again a bitter note for fans of the series. Then things finally turn serious with a new foe and a shocking death.It's an uneven book with several artists and a rapidly changing tone. Characters seem to be introduced, then dropped, without much thought. Several JLI characters enter with increasingly contrived reasons for surviving into the 31st century, but add little. The story jumps a year forward halfway through (with the book relaunched as Justice League 3001) making things even more disjointed. Looking online I found that issue 6 (the last one in this book) was solicited with a very different cover and story than the one that was published, indicated that there were troubles behind the scenes.According to DC's site we were supposed to get "Evil Zeus of Injustice League 3000 has returned, and he’s created a new race of the most bizarre New Gods in DCU history! And a new threat enters U.P. space and they’re systematically eliminating any and all obstacles to their master’s conquest. Plus, the most unexpected super death in super history. No. Really. You’ll never guess." We instead got a very different story with the JL3K fighting faceless robots while the Injustice League 3000 was forgotten.And, having read the last book, things only get worse with the book being cancelled and ending on an unresolved cliffhanger.Give it a miss.