The venerable super-team has a new logo, but what's up with that star?
Justice League is the original superhero team, created in 1960 as the Justice League of America and providing the impetus for Marvel's Stan Lee to develop his own superhero gang, the Fantastic Four. It's getting on for 60 years old now, and with an eye on this anniversary, DC has just unveiled a brand new logo design for its Justice League comic.
What's the deal with that star? [Image: DC]
Just as the line-up of the Justice League has changed over time – the current roster is comprised of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl – so the logo itself has been redesigned and modified, most recently in 2016. This one, however, harks back to the style of the original 1960 logo.
Over the years the Justice League logo has featured a signature star – in fact the original version had a load of them, perhaps a few too many – and while it's been missing in recent incarnations, for this latest version it's back, along with clean lines and just a hint of depth.
The original Justice League logo from 1960. So many stars [Image: DC, cover art by Mike Sekowsky and Murphy Anderson]
There's a slight weirdness to it that you might not immediately be able to put your finger on, however, and it's this: while the Justice League wordmark is slanted at a jaunty angle, the star itself isn't. Not only that, one of the vertices runs parallel to the angle of the text; it's clearly a deliberate design decision, but it does look a little bit odd. Maybe that's the idea; it certainly catches the eye.
As well as marking the Justice League's 60th birthday a little early, this new logo marks the beginning of DC's Year of the Villain event, and it gets its first outing on the front cover of Justice League #25. In this extra-sized anniversary issue, Lex Luthor makes the world an offer: reject the Justice League and follow his plans to save humanity, because justice isn't getting the job done.
The new logo makes its debut on the cover of Justice League #23 [Image: DC, cover art by Jorge Jiménez and Alejandro Sánchez]
The new issue goes on sale in stores and online on 5 June; you can find out more over at DC Comics.
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Jim McCauley is a writer, performer and cat-wrangler who started writing professionally way back in 1995 on PC Format magazine, and has been covering technology-related subjects ever since, whether it's hardware, software or videogames. A chance call in 2005 led to Jim taking charge of Computer Arts' website and developing an interest in the world of graphic design, and eventually led to a move over to the freshly-launched Creative Bloq in 2012. Jim now works as a freelance writer for sites including Creative Bloq, T3 and PetsRadar, specialising in design, technology, wellness and cats, while doing the occasional pantomime and street performance in Bath and designing posters for a local drama group on the side.
