4 out of 5

The first two Grant Morrison JLA volumes go together extremely well: while bits and pieces from these stories would be relevant in the insanity to come, they stand on their own moreso than what would follow, and have a blissfully always-on approach that’s fun to be subjected to in its mini-arcs of four and two-issue stories.  (Plus, the way these were previously collected into two short-than-usual trades was always kind of annoying.)

The ‘essential edition’ doesn’t have any bonus material, but it does also include JLA Secret Files #1, which, if you’re just reading Grant material, was initially bundled with a Mark Waid trade (Tower of Babel), so that’s convenient.  The new Howard Porter / Brian Miller cover, revising the image on issue #1, is an interesting comparison to the original for how the character models have changed, and the Essential Edition trade dress is appealing.  Price-wise, at 20 bucks, that breaks down to 2 bucks per issue, which is a good deal.

There are quite a few lettering blips throughout, though – what looks like some kind of layering issue where an effect or foreground element clips off some of the letters – and while I don’t have the original trades / issues anymore to compare, I don’t recall this being so noticeable as it is here, and besides: just, y’know, give it a once over before you reprint this stuff.  It was easy to catch with a casual readthrough.