DC COMICS/DC Zoom – @DCComics
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
STORY: Michael Northrop
ART: Gustavo Duarte
COLORS: Marcelo Maiolo
LETTERS: Wes Abbott
EDITOR: Sara Miller
ISBN: 978-1-4012-8413-8; paperback; (July 31, 2019 – Diamond / August 6, 2019)
176pp, Color, $9.99 U.S., $13.50 CAN
Age Range: 8 to 12
Dear Justice League is a 2019 original graphic novel staring DC Comics' marquee super-team, the Justice League. It is written by Michael Northrop; drawn by Gustavo Duarte; colored by Marcelo Mailol; and lettered by Wes Abbot. Dear Justice League features some of the greatest superheroes of all time answering questions sent to them by young fans via text, email, and letter.
Dear Justice League was originally published under DC Comics' “DC Zoom” imprint, which offered original graphic novels for readers that were 8 to 12-years-old or that were classified as “middle grade” (MG) readers. DC discontinued many of its imprints in 2019, so Dear Justice League would now fit under a new designation (“DC Graphic Novels for Young Readers”?).
Dear Justice League finds its members going about their usual business, but they occasionally take time to answer questions sent to them by young fans. In a “Dear Superman” letter, the Man of Steel is asked, “have you ever messed up?” In “Dear Hawkgirl,” the high-flying hero, who is also known as Kendra Saunders, is asked if she, as Hawkgirl, eats small animals. In “Dear Aquaman,” Black Manta has high-jacked a nuclear submarine, but Aquaman wonders if he smells like fish, as one fan has asked.
In “Dear Wonder Woman,” a young fan who is about to turn 11-years-old wants to know if Wonder Woman remembers her eleventh birthday. In “Dear Flash,” two envious boys, “T-Bone” and “J-Dawg,” pose a time-centered challenge to “the fastest man alive” via a dishonest question. In “Green Lantern,” the newest Lantern, Simon Baz, is asked if he has ever suffered a fashion faux pas.
In “Dear Cyborg,” a young fan asks for Cyborg's screen name so that the fan can challenge the hero in an online video game. Meanwhile, Cyborg/Victor Stone is monitoring a possible alien invasion. In “Dear Batman,” the new kid in town asks Batman if he has ever been the new kid in town. Finally, in “Dear Justice League,” eight of the world's greatest heroes, the Justice League, battle an invasion of “Insectoids” from the planet, “Molt-On.” So a fourth-grade class sends a letter asking the members of the League, “How do you always manage to show up just in time and save the day?”
Well, how do they do it? And have they done it this time in order to stop an Insectoid invasions?
I am slowly making my way through DC Comics's first wave of original “DC Zoom” and “DC Ink” titles. I still have a few to read before the lines were discontinued. I have to say that I am quite surprised by how much I like Dear Justice League. It is not a great work, because it has some missteps, but it is exceptional because there is nothing else like it on the superhero comic book market.
In Dear Justice League, Michael Northrop has written a funny comic book, and some of the fan questions are quite good. Asking Aquaman if he smells like fish falls flat, although asking Hawkgirl if she eats small animals seems just perfect. Asking Wonder Woman to recount her eleventh birthday strikes the right story notes, and that question carries over into “Dear Flash,” in a clever little bit about two jealous boys. Batman gets a great question – has he ever been the new kid in town – but Northrop doesn't execute the answer as well as he could have.
Gustavo Duarte's illustrations and graphical storytelling are perfect for a kids-oriented Justice League comic book like Dear Justice League. His stretchy drawing style, which recalls classic Looney Tunes cartoon shorts of the 1940s and 1950s, captures the funny side of the eight particular heroes of Dear Justice League.
Marcelo Mailol's colors on Duarte's art look as if he used color pencils and also recall classic four-color comic book coloring (but is better than most of it was back in the day). Letterer Wes Abbot turns on a symphony of lettering fonts that provide a colorful and varied graphical soundtrack for a story that offers a lot of different sounds, from the noise of battle to the rackets of errors and mistakes.
I highly recommend Dear Justice League to readers who want to share Justice League comic books with younger readers. It would also be nice as a semi-regular series.
B+
7 out of 10
- A six-page preview of the original graphic novel, Dear Super-Villains, by Michael Northrop and Gustavo Duarte
- A six-page preview of the original graphic novel, Superman of Smallville, by Art Baltazar and Franco
- the two-page, “Hall of Justice Top Secret Files”
- the one-page, “Auxiliary Members” (pets of the Justice League)
- biographies of Michael Northrop and Gustavo Duarte
- “Dear Michael Northrop,” a letter from younger Michael Northrop to older Michael
- a mock-up of a page of lined paper so that the reader can write a letter to the Justice League
- bonus illustrations
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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