So, if this cover is to believed, this is the new JLA. Post-Infinite Crisis, post-52, One Year Later. Or, Red Tornado could get blown up by page 13.

First impression: I am so done with Michael Turner pinup covers. The guy is overplayed to the extreme, especially when all he's told to do is crap out an impossible standing/floating group scene. I think I know why Hal's ring is flashing; he's busy willing a set of bleachers. I could go the rest of my life and not see anything by that guy ever again.

But the roster... the Big Three are there, which is to be expected. Batman is throwing his usual anti-establishment non-verbals. Did New Earth get us back to the version of Batman where he never shows up in public and Gotham isn't quite sure if he's real or an urban legend? I always preferred that angle.

Everybody else seems picked because of a link to another important element of the DCU...

Black Lightning, now with bald. OK. Tough to tell, but I'm hoping his costume was upgraded a bit. As a character, he's something of a blank slate at the moment, since he hasn't been seen much in 10+ years. Last I heard, he had retired and returning to the teaching profession, which meant that the few times you did see him, he was in a suit. Which I liked, because then he was like Morgan Freeman in "Lean on Me" with badass electric powers. Didn't his daughter take up the Black Lightning mantle? Like Hal, this is another hero who seems to have been de-aged in recent years. His connection: the Outsiders (?).

Speaking of Hal, yes yes yes to his inclusion. There's almost always a Lantern in the League... but it hasn't been this Lantern in a while. He is important enough that he should be standing in the front row. He'll probably be competing with Arsenal for the position of Team Jerk. I'm sorry that he and Batman made up already, because I really liked the notion that Batman hates Lanterns. Obviously Hal gets us in good with the Lantern Corps.

Black Canary. Yes. I know she's been returned to glory over in Birds of Prey, but I don't follow that title so this is like a happy reunion. I hope that DC delineates what her New Earth legacy is, now that Wonder Woman is back in the JLA charter member club. Man, I hate when they retcon a retcon. Connection: Oracle.

Hawkgirl. Sure. When Zauriel joined, somebody made the comment that there's always room in the League for a guy with wings. I grew to really like her during her early JSA appearances... back before the Return of Hawkman when she was a tortured, suicidal, reluctant hero. Connection: JSA.

Vixen. No. They better have some relevance planned for her, but quick. At least they removed her embarrassing 80's supermodel hairstyle. (Probably because it looked exactly like Hawkgirl's helmet.) Connection: the Detroit League? No, she's in because of her animalistic/spiritual side.

Arsenal. Eh. He's a pretty crappy character with a horrible name, some silly five o'clock shadow, a typically obfuscated Teen Titans backstory, and a Marvel-esque "angry loner" attitude. Back when I was getting Titans (during the Devin Grayson years), the only thing I liked about him was his daughter, Lian... who was five years old and regularly getting kidnapped by her mother, Cheshire. I vote that we give him a new name. And a new personality. At least when Green Arrow was on the team, you got a kickass personality to go with the unnecessary skillset. Connection: the Titans AND the Outsiders.

Red Tornado. Ick. A dopey, poorly defined Silver Age relic. Is he a sentient robot? Is he a wind elemental? Is he both? Who cares, he looks idiotic with that swirling lower torso. Every time there's a major crossover event, Reddy ends up in pieces. He's a bad risk. The only time he has ever been interesting was when he chaperoned Young Justice... and coincedentally, he was kind of a foster father to Arsenal's daughter Lian back in those days... wonder if they'll bring that up? (Do I have that wrong? Am I thinking of Traya?) Connection: assuming he maintains his air elemental status, he's our new mystical pipeline to the supernatural side of the DCU.

The obvious missing faces:

Martian Manhunter, whom I hate to see blacklisted like this. Thing is, there's something of a fanboy backlash against the guy - and writers HATE having him around, because he has Superman-level powers - so he suddenly became dispensable.

Two things about Martian Manhunter: first, the weakness to fire thing is ridiculously awful and needs to go (again). Somebody had a great way out of it years ago... they changed it from a physical weakness to a mental weakness. Turns out the shock of seeing the funeral pyres of his wife and daughter was what caused it, and when he came to terms with that, he was cured. Good work, character development. Fin. Then some choad brought it back (probably the over-rated Grant Morrison during his awful White Martian storyline in the 90's JLA revamp), then some other choad removed it again... with the caveat that he is still weak to "flames of passion." Let's see some future writer try to work that into a storyline.

Also, back at the end of Breakdowns, there was this beautiful moment with J'onn voluntarily leaving the JLA, off on a personal quest for identity and solitude. And then he came back, like, a week later. Unchanged. And leading Justice League Task Force, which was DC's attempt at turning the B-grade ex-Leaguers into the X-Men. This time, he was almost killed in Infinite Crisis (again, writers hate him) and now he's off on his own miniseries with a terrible new costume. I much prefer the former scenario.

The Flash. We'll see him join the League soon enough. Probably as soon as his title settles down and we find out 1) What happened to Wally and 2) Who is the new Flash.

Manitou Dawn. After her appearance in Justice League Elite and the final (terrible) storyline of the previous JLA series, I was expecting her to show up in the lineup. I would have taken her on instead of Vixen or Red Tornado (hell, both) in an instant. She's a new character with good potential, one of the bright spots in League stories over the past few years.

Nightwing. Is this even possible? Can he even be in a team with Batman? Dan Didio is right; nobody knows what to do with him anymore. I would have cried to see him killed in Infinite Crisis (as originally intended) but I would also have have recognized it as an appropriate and moving character arc. (And come on, he would have come back anyway. They always come back.)

Plastic Man. Glad to see him gone. There's a lot of ridiculous super-powers in the world, but "immortal stretchy plastic god" is the worst. One of the reasons I like 52 so much is the - what I'm hoping - is the fall of Elongated Man, DC's other plastic guy. He is far more interesting in the Identity Crisis fallout than he's been in years... and he's no longer stretching. Although 52 is either going to kill him or return him; at this point, I don't know which.

Final note. I really hate DC returning "of America" to the book's title. I understand the name's historical significance, but that was born during a very jingoistic time... it was simple flag-waving back in 1960. Superman and company are charged with protecting the whole damn universe, not just America. I'm sure DC wanted a name change because "JLA" has far less marketing power than spelling it out... but why not just stick with "Justice League"? I'm feeling another batch of needless patriotism here.