[New to DCU] Book Club REBOOT! (The Groundwork) Week 2 Justice League: Totality (2018- #1-7)

[Nathan.Payson]

Hey Everyone Click here for my Weekly Note!

Hey everyone! Welcome to our humble abode!! Thanks to everyone who joined us last week and anyone joining us for the first time this week! This club is for those who WANT to get into current comics that are just arriving on DCU. The first 8 weeks will be called The Groundwork. The Groundwork will focus on reading the series which define all the current stuff.

The Groundwork

Week 1: Justice League: No Justice by Scott Snyder
Week 2: Justice League: The Totality by Scott Snyder
Week 3: Justice League Dark/Wonder Woman: The Witching Hour by James Tynion IV
Week 4: Man of Steel by Brian Bendis
Week 5: Flash War by Josh Williamson
Week 6: Flash: Reckoning of the Forces by Josh Williamson
Week 7: Batman: The Wedding and Batman: Cold Days by Tom King
Week 8: Justice League: Graveyard of Gods by Scott Snyder

As we are wrapping up on these titles, we will have a vote to decide on how to format future weeks! Remember this is designed to help you read BRAND NEW titles. Almost every series we read will be less than 6 months old.

So let’s talk about Justice League: The Totality

Official Description

Spinning out of the cataclysmic events of Dark Nights: Metal and JUSTICE LEAGUE: NO JUSTICE, the core members of the Justice League—Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the Flash and more—are reunited in all-new adventures! The League was forced to make an impossible decision…and now it’s time to face the consequences! The returning Martian Manhunter struggles to protect the team from an incoming threat that will shatter the world as they know it, while a familiar face strikes out on a dark path…This new title collects JUSTICE LEAGUE #1-7!

WHAT TO READ
Justice League: The Totality. This arc is #1-7 of Justice League (2018-)

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Is this your first time reading Justice League: The Totality

2. What was the stand out moment in the story to you?

3. Which development was cooler the slow force or the Ultraviolet force

4. What did you think of the ending? (isn’t this the same question as last week?)

5. Should this club read Vol. 2 of this book when it comes out?

• Yes, This series rocks!!
• No, I don’t want to read more.

I would love to hear your general reactions to the story!

2019-10-29T07:00:00Z → 2019-11-06T08:00:00Z

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P.S. If you want background information, here is the Primer!!!

Want to join the club for an exclusive ever-changing flair, notifications, AND early access to reading orders? Join the club by clicking this link: https://community.dcuniverseinfinite.com/g/NewtoDCU

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Questions, Comments, Concerns? Feel free to reach out to me on through messaging.
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New to DCU Wiki

[VengeanceNightBatman]

Honestly, I feel like Snyder’s run so far hasn’t matched the heights of this initial arc.

But then, I haven’t gotten around to reading the latest installments of the Justice/Doom War yet.

[VengeanceNightBatman]

Anyway, the standout moment in this story was the whole sequence with Batman and Hawkgirl vs. Luthor and the Joker inside Superman and Martian Manhunter’s bodies. Equal parts humor, nightmare fuel, and badassery.

[Noyo]

That was pretty intense. Still trying to wrap my mind around it all enough to answer the questions. Very good though. I’m excited to see how it plays out. I would be very interested in reading Vol 2. as a club when it comes out. Also I like the new flair. Is it going to change very week?

[Nathan.Payson]

Yep every week. It’s based on the weekly reading!

[Nathan.Payson]

(yeah it’s intense! So excited to hear your thoughts!)

[Noyo]

1. Is this your first time reading Justice League: The Totality
   Yes and it was a whirlwind
2. What was the stand out moment in the story to you? I have to agree with @VengeanceNightBatman how the action unfolded inside of Batman and J’onn was great. Easily my favorite part. I also liked how John Stewart’s arc played out in this.
   This part had me cracking up
   
3. Which development was cooler the slow force or the Ultraviolet force
   I’d have to go with Ultraviolet force. For me there was just more of a background for it and I think it played out better. The slow force just confused me more than anything. (I’d love clarification on why its cool if anyone has that opinion).
4. What did you think of the ending? (isn’t this the same question as last week?)
   Good ending again, definitely sets up the other forces to come into play and I’m ready to figure out what they are and how they play into all of this.
5. Should this club read Vol. 2 of this book when it comes out?
   Yea for sure, I would really enjoy reading it with the community.

I’ll probably try to read this again just to catch some stuff I missed and understand it a little better

[MACJR.1962]

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Is this your first time reading Justice League: The Totality
2. What was the stand out moment in the story to you?
3. Which development was cooler the slow force or the Ultraviolet force
4. What did you think of the ending? (isn’t this the same question as last week?)
5. Should this club read Vol. 2 of this book when it comes out?

1. Yes

2. When John Stewart has an epiphany, realizing that he can use his darker side energy by refocusing it, channel it, and then utilize that energy for good. On the personal side, I discovered this process back in about 1997. I had known, to some extent, that I had a darker side from a very young age, but I had only glimpsed it, and did not understand it at all, or even know how it came to be there in the first place. This was only an occasional occurrence though, seeing a glimpse of my dark side. Then, while living through a very rough time in my life, a time that included the loss of my son while he was still an infant, back in my early 20s, my dark side came out, to an extent that I had never seen or felt before, and it scared the hell out of me. It took years to understand what had happened, and gain control over it. To trap it in a cage and fight with all my strength to keep it imprisoned within me. Then in the early 1990s, I started to explore this darkness within, trying to understand it, and find better ways to keep it in check. Then, one day, in 1997, I found my inner-light buried deep within me, at the center of all that darkness. There was a core of good deep inside of me too. What a relief that was to find. Then I understood that I could use that dark energy as fuel, to help make me stronger, without giving into the darkness, by just using its energy to fuel my good side. This may be one of the reasons I seem rather intense at times though. I have a powerful inner energy source, and it is a challenge to keep that energy at a safe level. This is all metaphorical, not literal, of course, but this is the only way I know how to describe it.

It seems that I am not the only one to have had issue with their dark side, and found a way to use that energy, for good, or at least, something other than what it would be in its raw form.

3. I would have to say the Ultraviolet Force. It has the more practical usefulness.

4. It was good to see Starman again, that Starman, but that was just a teaser moment, and a cliffhanger moment at that. I am not fond of cliffhangers. Never have been. I might read the next available comics to see if there was more story later.

5. I am not sure. To tell you the truth, I was not fond of this story arc. It was not all bad, and actually was interesting at times, but the story is rather dark, and I do try to avoid overly dark stories, for some reason. Actually, for a very good reason.

I only take on these DC U Book Club assignments every so often, and this is only the second one that I have participated in. I have time budget issues, but when the mood strikes, and I feel I can squeeze in an assignment, I will do so, especially if it is of a topic of interest for me. I like Justice League stories from way back, so I fit this one in.

MACJR

[Nathan.Payson]

@MACJR.1962 Such a great way to explain why I love the concept of the Ultraviolet Light Force. I love how accurately it portrays our inner darkness. I actually started calling the darkness we suppress Ultraviolet Emotions. It just makes sense. I’m glad you read it and I try to pick things that are fun. On one hand, while it is kinda dark, it mostly likes pure comic joy. There’s a whole 38ish issues of this story, so it’s by no means over, and this club will likely read all of them overtime.

Thanks for sharing!!

[Nathan.Payson]

@Noyo Of course he did! HAHAH

[Jay_Kay]

Is this your first time reading Justice League: The Totality

No – I read it initially as it came out and then again to start catching up a bit to the title.

What was the stand out moment in the story to you?

Definitely the Hawkgirl vs Joker in Martian Manhunter’s body and Batman vs Luthor in Superman’s body stuff. I mean, just typing that sentence down alone is wild. I think it really gets into what makes superhero comics so bonkers and fun.

Also, the issue that delves into the origin of this Legion of Doom was great. I know a lot of people were initially bummed that Luthor was going to go villain again, but I liked how in this they show how, in his mind, he is the villain in that he is embracing what humanity really is and is making a utopia that he has seen for himself. That said, I will say that the last sentence of “F**k Justice, side with Doom” is a little bit of a stumbly way to end with the bleeped word. Like, come on, PG-13 rated movies get one F-bomb per movie, why not let PG-13 rated comics have one F-bomb…a year, let’s say.

Which development was cooler the slow force or the Ultraviolet force.

Agreeing with the Ultraviolet Force, as well as saying that I don’t think the Still Force was really all that well explained or utilized in this story, to the point where it kind of hinders everything else. They could have easily abandoned that and it would have still worked.

What did you think of the ending? (isn’t this the same question as last week?)

Yes it is, and my answer is about the same – it’s kind of sudden and deus-ex-machina in how it settles, but considering how this is less of it’s own story and more of a first act towards Snyder’s overall narrative in this book, I think it works better.

Should this club read Vol. 2 of this book when it comes out?

I mean, why not? I’m up for talking about it when we get there.

One thing I do want to mention about the foundation time-frame you have on the first post – considering that @nu52 is doing JLD/WW: The Witching Hour right now on the World of Wonder book club, I wonder if you might want to substitute that for something else. I’m willing to talk about it again if you don’t, but that’s pretty close together.

[Nathan.Payson]

We already are substituting it!

[JLWWSM]

I just finished issue 3 (RIP Moon), and why is Lex in Superman’s body? Because OF COURSE Lex is in Superman’s body . I’m enjoying the story, there is a lot going on in this one!

[Jay_Kay]

Let’s be real, Lex has always wanted to be inside Superman.

[JLWWSM]

I’m on the West Coast - I still have 3 hours to finish this on time, I’m reading now!

[JLWWSM]

runs back in

I’m really curious about who the baby is.

runs back out

Edit: soooo… I’m at this part and I can’t see how this can be undone without some kind of time shenanigans. I really want her to pull through, but decapitiation is kinda hard to come back from. Poor Hawkgirl . Ok I’m leaving again…

[Nathan.Payson]

@JLWWSM No worries, I won’t close discussion on anything. I’ll just begin focusing on a different book!

This arc is a real doozy that could basically be an event. It’s something else.

[Nathan.Payson]

Hey everyone! Make sure to vote on the poll!

[JLWWSM]

• Is this your first time reading Justice League: The Totality
  Yes

• What was the stand out moment in the story to you?
  The two I mentioned earlier. Hawkgirl’s “death”, and Lex being inside Superman’s body. The amount of things that happened in this story was amazing.

Things that [almost] happened in Totality:

• Batman “died” in Superman’s body
• Hawkgirl got “decapitated” by the Joker
• John lost his GL ring
• Lex controlled Superman
• Gorilla Grodd walked around with a human baby strapped to his chest

There was a lot of creativity in this story! I liked the mental round table.
__

• Which development was cooler the slow force or the Ultraviolet force
  The Ultraviolet force. New Lantern colors always interest me!

• What did you think of the ending? (isn’t this the same question as last week?)
  It wrapped up pretty quickly (I think that was my answer from last week too). The story covered a lot of ground, so any ending would feel a little quick given the amount of things that happened.

• Should this club read Vol. 2 of this book when it comes out?
  I’m ok either way.

Thanks for the pick. I liked the art a lot in this one!

This was one of my favorite moments Poor Lex. Luthor is like Wile E Coyote. I know he’s going to fail, but I just have to watch him do it!