I hoped the solution would be simple, and it was: Give Mark Waid something relevant to do, and let him succeed at it.

Of course, Waid’s already got the bestselling Batman/Superman: World’s Finest series, which led into Lazarus Planet, among other things. And he spearheaded DC’s most recent line-wide event, Absolute Power. But for me, World’s Finest being perpetually stuck in the past (for the most part) makes it an aesthetic joy but sometimes narrative drudgery, and Absolute Power had many confused, unfinished aspects that suggested, perhaps correctly, Waid joining the project at the end and not the beginning.

Justice League Unlimited Vol. 1: Into the Inferno feels like what we’ve been waiting for. The whole toybox of DCU characters is Waid’s for the playing with and he uses that power well, builds a mystery and then reveals it, and Dan Mora renders it all fantastically. It is not ground-breaking, reminiscent significantly of the animated series from which it takes its name, but we’ve got now the intersection of Waid telling a good story, which he can do, and also having that story mean something, the aspect that’s mostly been lacking. Those together are plenty for me.

[Review contains spoilers]

A few things I’ll call out at the top: Waid using Tefe Holland, the real “pulling everything out of the toybox” moment; that Waid cameos Elongated Man and Plastic Man in the same issue; the wholly random bit where Blue Beetle Ted Kord needles Question Renee Montoya in the Watchtower hallway; new character Xanthe Zhou alongside Zatanna and John Constantine; that Mark Waid writes Impulse again, thinking to himself in pictographs (and Bart solves the mystery before everyone else!). Again, a lot of this is taking inspiration from the animated namesake, but Waid does well making this feel like a lived-in world; characters coming and going, Renee on patrol, the Atom Project ongoing here even as we also know it’s happening in its own miniseries.

The goal is obviously to have a rotating set of protagonists, but it seems like Waid means to highlight Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman — DC’s Big Three — with prominent roles this time around for Star Sapphire Carol Ferris and Mr. Terrific. I am impressed with how many disparate DC storylines are coming together in Unlimited; neither Jeremy Adams' Green Lantern nor Geoff Johns' Justice Society were linchpin titles going in to Absolute Power like Batman or Superman, but the combined presence of both Sapphire and Air Wave come out of those books and not anything Waid or another DC stalwart like Joshua Williamson had a hand in — which, too, makes this all feel very lived-in.

Carol Ferris is hardly “new,” but Waid positions her as something of the perspective character, amazed at all the superheroics happening around her. We also get a clever, touching scene to explain the Star Sapphire’s powers to the reader — Air Wave too, for that matter; she’s able to heal a man using the power of love only after Air Wave uses cell service to locate his wife. Thus the audience understands Carol as the capable, compassionate rookie; I will be interested to see what plans Waid has in store for her and how they dovetail with what happens over in Adams' title.

As mentioned, another character getting the spotlight here is Mr. Terrific, roundabouts his big screen debut (blink and you’ll miss it but Rex Mason is around, too). Waid writes Michael Holt rather more frantic than I expect, at one point proclaiming, “I’ve never failed … I don’t fail” and “I’ve got to be right!” I’ll be curious to see here, too, whether Waid is building some subplot regarding Terrific or if that’s just how Waid views him. Waid’s Terrific had an uncharacteristic spat with Batman in Absolute Power that may simply indicate Waid not writing Terrific like I conceive him; see also what seemed Waid’s suggestion that Plastic Man was in love with teammate Phantom Girl, which also isn’t accurate.

The mystery, such as it is, is that seemingly eco-terrorist group Inferno is causing disasters around the world, though the League swiftly suspects this is a feint. (For needs of the plot, perhaps, “Inferno” is particularly bad at keeping their own secret, with presumably Black Manta letting slip that Aquaman is his “old enemy.”)

There’s a Mora cover that displays the Legion of Doom, but then in the story the Legion is considered and dismissed since Luthor’s out of commission as of Superman: House of Brainiac and etc. — and then, the culprits indeed turn out to be the Legion of Doom, from the past, I think. Knowing as I did that the time-travel “We Are Yesterday” crossover was coming and that it seemed to involve mainstream villains (I thought “modern,” but I guess “classic” makes more sense), the reveal was not exactly shocking; rather the “it is/it isn’t/it is” reveal feels awkward, though it doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm for the crossover.

There’s upwards of 25 variant covers included here, of varying degrees to my own tastes. A lot, maybe too much cheesecake; a well-done Jenny Frison Wonder Woman cover that surely wasn’t originally meant for Unlimited; a couple photorealistic ones that struck me as oddly formed; one where I can’t imagine what’s supposed to be happening between Poison Ivy, Sinestro, the Justice League Watchtower, and Xa-du, the Phantom King, or what that cover was originally for either. But I do adore the Justice League homage covers, Dan Jurgens drawing his 1992 Justice League Spectacular cover with the new characters, Ed Benes from the Brad Meltzer era, and Howard Porter, of course. More of those any time.

There’s an irony in the conclusion of Inferno, which I assume is intentional, that despite the League opening up to essentially every DC hero ever, there potentially aren’t enough heroes to repel Inferno’s final attack. One, the souped up Justice League Unlimited is perhaps on the ropes too soon for having just formed, but two, I wonder if there’s something Waid will make of that. A Grant Morrison-ian solution, used more than once, would be that everyone on Earth is deputized as a Leaguer; I don’t think that’s where this is going, but I’m interested in the solution.

And so, Mark Waid’s Justice League Unlimited Vol. 1: Into the Inferno does everything it needs to do. It’s early days yet, with the big swing of a crossover right out of the gate, so questions of mission statement and main characters and storylines may be on hold for a while. But for me this is the first time since Waid’s return to DC that one of his books feels firing on all cylinders, and that’s fine enough for the start.

[Includes original and variant covers]