Justice League Vol. 1 #01

Under the scrutiny of the media, the members of the new Justice League come together for their first meeting. By the time most of the team has assembled, Guy Gardner, the Green Lantern, calls the meeting to order and demands to be the new commander of the team.

In Washington, D.C., a businessman, Maxwell Lord IV, scrutinizes all the media coverage on the Justice League.

Back at HQ, Guy Gardner’s declaration of command cases an argument that escalated to a battle between the heroes. When Batman arrives in the middle of the fight, he put an end to it, intimidates Gardner to step down and takes over the meeting.

Meanwhile, at the United Nations in New York, Dr. Kimiyo Hoshi (Doctor Light) is being held hostage by terrorists along with the General Assembly. The leader of the terrorist group, John Charles Collins, is equipped with a bomb on his chest that will detonate if his heart stops beating. Dr. Hoshi uses her signal device, given to her by a mysterious figure at an earlier date, to alert the Justice League.

After receiving Doctor Light’s distress call, the League storms the UN building reluctantly following Batman’s plans and orders. The terrorists on guard, who had poor training and substandard weaponry, are very easily defeated. Batman notes this and seems suspicious. After securing the main meeting area and evacuating the hostages, Batman ordered everyone to evacuate the building leaving Collins and his bomb to his own doing.

It is later reported that Collins body was found with what appeared to be a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The bomb, however, did not go off.

In Washington, Maxwell Lord continues to watch the media coverage of the events. Through monologue he reveals that he supplied Collins with the bomb but disabled it by removing the firing pin.

Notes

• Ranked #18 in Wizard Magazine’s list of “100 Best Single Issue Comics Since You Were Born”.
• Steel, Gypsy, Vixen and Vibe are only seen in this issue on a monitor screen that J’onn looks at before purging their information.
• References made to Justice League of America #258–61 and Legends #6.
• Lonnie Chu— is a parody of news anchor Connie Chung.