When DC decided to do a reboot of their universe with Rebirth, changes were made across the board. One of the interesting twists was the new version of the Justice League of America. Following the Justice League vs. Suicide Squad miniseries, Rebirth brought together the likes of Black Canary, Vixen… even Lobo. 

“What’s coming is bigger than me. The world needs heroes they can know, not gods, to inspire them – show them they can be heroes.”

The main premise is that Batman wants to assemble a team of heroes that have skills without being god-like. So the beginning of the series has him approaching some unlikely characters to become allies. The initial make-up of the team ends up being Batman, Atom (Ryan Choi, Ray Palmer’s assistant), Vixen, Ray, Killer Frost (the Caitlin Snow incarnation), Black Canary and Lobo (thankfully not the anime-looking twerp they tried to pass off in a reboot).

Not surprisingly, team members don’t get along too well, especially at first. But no one would expect this team to run smoothly just because they’re working toward the same goal. So the story is a bit predictable in that regard. Some of the interactions are intriguing though and there’s some good action. Overall, however, the storyline of the issues collected in Justice League of America Vol. 1: The Extremists is lacking in excitement and depth. And there’s really no logic to Batman’s choices for the team when you consider that every one of them has super powers – how is that supposed to inspire non-powered humans to be heroes?! And btw… Lobo isn’t even human!