“Wanna be a member? Wanna be a member?” From Bimbo’s Initiation, directed by Dave Fleischer and Grim Natwick, 1931.

It’s possible that at some point you thought it would be cool to be a member of the Justice League. If so, I have good news for you: at long last, you might now be a member!

You might possibly be in Justice League Unlimited #1, the “new” Justice League monthly by Mark Waid and Dan Mora that is not based upon the teevee series of the same name, the one that featured damn near every DC superhero and was written by a Who’s Who of great comics writers. Nope; this one is brand new — it came out last week, while you were stuck in Thanksgiving traffic.

Check out story page seven. Perhaps you are hiding behind Big Barda. I think that’s where I’d try to be.

I would understand your confusion about the title, but if you didn’t see that 39-episode teevee show let me assure you that this new comic book does that series one better: by definition, everybody in the DC Universe (well, the one in the comic books) is a member of the new Justice League. Hence the “Unlimited” part.

We know this by the premier placement of Air Wave, a DC hero that started in 1942 and ran a bit over six years. He was a deep back-up in Detective Comics, a magazine that also published the adventures of a longer-lasting hero. Right from the get-go, it’s easy to understand that the JL (no longer “A,” which never was appropriate) accepts everybody — evidently whether they want to join or not. You’ll note Metamorpho is now in the group; he famously refused to join back in his early days.

Here’s the scary part. All of these extraordinarily gifted heroes work out of the Justice League’s brand-new headquarters. It’s a much bigger clubhouse, and it, too, is in outer space hovering right over our Earth. By “our,” I mean whatever DC’s interpretation of the multiverse happens to be during any given week. Its name, The Watchtower (not sure if that’s the Jehovah’s Witness’s interpretation or Bob Dylan’s) might seem a bit threatening. Well, paranoia strikes deep. This proves to all who haven’t been paying attention that Mark Waid has been and remains on top of current events no matter how unpleasant they might be. There always has been this rather passionate yet laid-back revolutionary inside of El Che Waid.

I know if I were walking the Earth, as in fact I have been, I would be concerned about an infinite number of creatures with god-like powers living and/or working over by the cloud servers, watching us all and judging right from wrong. I have no idea if Bruce Wayne knows Elon Musk, who left South Africa when apartheid was coming to its long-awaited end. Just sayin’.

Evidently, DC’s commitment to everyone everywhere all at once extends to their brand-new “Absolute” line (insert your favorite vodka gag here; I’ve used all mine up). I understand, perhaps incorrectly, that it will tie in to the Justice League Unlimited in one form or another — more likely, in one form AND another, possibly through their also brand-new New Gods series. This is because the All-In Absolute Confusion one-shot suggests this is how they will deal with Darkseid’s temporary death. I apologize for that obvious comic book redundancy.

There’s a problem with this “Unlimited” agenda: as it has no limits, anybody can pop up any time. In a fit of plotting desperation, a lesser writer might feel compelled to deploy the deus ex machina method of pulling the exact right character out of the ether just to resolve a story situation. It’s the ultimate (or is that absolute?) hold-out weapon. I’m not concerned about Waid succumbing to that; Mark’s way too good a writer. But I doubt he will be writing Justice League Unlimited until global warming cooks our final kettle of fish. It should be a great ride while he’s at the lever. Hey, not too much pressure, right Mark?

This series likely will be great fun… and maybe a bit scary to those with sociopolitical appreciation.

Which, of course, can also be great fun.