Review: Justice League of America Hereby Elects trade paperback (DC Comics)

With all apologies, Silver Age DC Comics stories are hit or miss for me. I like the Crisis on Multiple Earths trades because they're "event" comics and give a sense of DC Comics history, whereas I've for the most part avoided the Showcase collections because I don't have an interest in "regular," if you will, Golden or Silver Age Superman adventures.

As such, I very much enjoyed Justice League of America Hereby Elects, the companion collection to the new post-Infinite Crisis Justice League era. I've mentioned before that I like these "relevant" archival DC Comics collections--that is, collections that reprint old DC stories that are essentially still in continuity--and these become all the more relevant now that Infinite Crisis has looped so much more of DC's history back into continuity.

Hereby Elects is a collection of Justice League "new member" tales, when Green Arrow, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Red Tornado, Hawkgirl, Zatanna, and Black Canary were offered membership to the League. While these are not all spotlight tales--Green Arrow is captive for much of his story, and Hawkgirl's is similarly light--they show an interesting cross-section of Justice League history. Elongated Man is put to good use in his own story, and for those only familiar with Ralph's comic Justice League International incarnation, this is a better chance to see Ralph as a real member of the League (as is Elongated Man's issue in 52: The Companion).

Those interested in DC's new/old multiverse should also take note of this volume. While there's no direct focus on the multiverse here per se, the Black Canary and Red Tornado issues both reference the other earths, and indeed some of the issues collected in Hereby Elects directly follow issues collected in DC's Crisis on Multiple Earths volumes. Red Tornado specifically occupies quite a few of these stories, dying and being resurrected at least twice, and increasing this volume's relevance for fans of the newest Justice League.

While I had my reservations, Justice League of America Hereby Elects turned out to be an interesting diversion, and I enjoyed reading about this incarnation of the Justice League enough that I've added Justice League: Zatanna's Search (referenced here) to my to-buy list. Here's hoping DC follows this trade with more of the same.

[List of Justice League memberships from various eras, Justice League membership certificate, but no covers (!)]

On now to Justice League of America: The Tornado's Path!