Hero coverVillain coverBy Alex Ross, Doug Braithwaite, Jim Krueger, & Todd Klein. Cover by Ross.

OverviewJustice was a 12-issue limited (or maxi) series (published bi-monthly) released in 2005-2007. It was conceived by Ross to be a “Superhuman war. The superhuman war.” Because I haven’t read this since it was first published, I wanted to reexamine this series. To read previous posts, click the link.

Now that I’ve reached the end of this story, what limited series should I focus on next? Let me know!

SynopsisSuperman confronts Toyman, who reveals that all of Earth’s nuclear weapons are being deployed. Superman vows to save the planet, “I don’t care what you dreamed.”

Lex Luthor justifies his actions by claiming that Brainiac was going to take those who “wanted a free lunch. The lazy. The sick. The undisciplined”, leaving Earth with those who “would have been capable of anything”. Batman calls him a fool for trusting an alien robot and threatens to kill Brainiac ten minutes before nuclear armageddon. He taunts Luthor with the knowledge that only Superman survives the disaster, asking him, “Is that really what you want?”

Superman flies into Scarecrow’s city to confront Brainiac, but he transferred to another body. Superman deduces that Black Manta has Aquaman’s son and tells the assembled heroes to remove all the people from the cities. Nearby, a fleeing Scarecrow encounters Joker dressed as Dracula. Joker attacks Scarecrow, biting his neck with fake plastic teeth; Joker laughs.

Supergirl leads a team to Poison Ivy’s city, Aquaman arrives in Black Manta’s, and Wonder Woman leads a team to Cheetah’s city. Cheetah stalks and then attacks Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman removes her helmet revealing scarred, desiccated flesh, bound together by her lasso. The fight continues with Wonder Woman head-butting Cheetah unconscious.

Zatanna teleports Red Tornado and Superman to one of Toyman’s factories. They find Brainiac is present in one of the duplicate heads. Superman tells him his plan has failed and wants to know what he was trying to accomplish. Brainiac reminds Superman that they both lost their people, and Brainiac was going to create a new Colu by transforming his collection of Earthers to robots. To rule over, Superman quips.

Supergirl defeats Poison Ivy with heat vision, and the Martian Manhunter links with Grodd’s and Luthor’s minds to access the nuclear weapons and redirect them with Grodd’s yellow power ring.

Aquaman confronts Black Manta, who holds Aquaman’s son with his hand at the infant’s throat. He tells Aquaman that if his son is so important to him, “don’t fight back”. Aquaman drops his trident and lets Manta’s people beat him. Aquaman tells his son not to be afraid, and Manta taunts Aquaman, “How many of my people were beaten before the eyes of their children?” Aquaman tells him, “This is you … you have enslaved them”. Manta hands Arthur Jr. to another and begins beating Aquaman himself. Manta gets close enough for Aquaman to rupture the tanks on Manta’s back. Manta commands that child be killed, but his people refuse — the circuitry controlling them now damaged. Manta realizes what he did, the hypocrisy, and that all he has left is his hatred for Aquaman. He draws his hand trident to shoot Aquaman, but the sea king quickly disarms his foe and punches him.

Atom sees that the nuclear missiles’ courses changed, and the rest of the League has evacuated the cities. Luthor manages to escape and confronts Brainiac, wanting to gloat that when “mankind does not die this day” it was because of Luthor. Brainiac finds he cannot leave the body he’s in, but Luthor tells him there’s only one body he can go to, the one in his ship. Just as Luthor is about to teleport away, Zatanna arrives with Red Tornado and Superman and stops Luthor from leaving. Brainiac transports himself to his remaining body, and Superman flicks Luthor into a wall. They follow Brainiac to Earth orbit, where Superman freezes Brainiac’s miniature ship, which Red Tornado grabs, and then Superman flies Zatanna back to Earth and revives her. Meanwhile, the Green Lantern Corps arrives to capture all of the missiles. Batman uses Grodd’s yellow ring to erase the knowledge of their identities from all of the villains’ minds.

Later, the League assembles at Paradise Island as Diana dies. Her mother prays to the gods, and they answer by transferring Diana’s essence to a new clay body and Diana is revived.

In the batcave, Alfred asks what happened to Brainiac. Batman tells him that Brainiac is still in his frozen ship, on display in the Kandorian Museum. He also notes that Joker and Riddler have been returned to Arkham Asylum. He wonders if the world has changed:

What if, this time, rebuilding really means moving forward, beyond what was before? … Imagine … a world transformed …. If our lives and the struggles we face were able to purchase that future, how could we not be grateful for the opportunity to fight for that possibility? That tomorrow? … Or perhaps nothing will happen. But … I can hope that this will not have all been for nothing.

ReactionFirst, I only had the villain cover until a few years ago. I always found it interesting that I didn’t always get the main cover for books I was subscribed to at the comic book shop I used to patron. Anyway, when I realized I needed the hero cover so that I could have all issues in the same style, I bought it. Should I get rid of this villain cover or buy the villain cover for issue one to keep the symmetry? :) Second, I love that the hero cover has them rising and the villains falling. Yes, it’s a little too on the nose, but accurately depicts the events of the issue.

I found one of the revelations about Superman interesting. At one point, he’s narrating as he fights Toyman’s killer toys and tells us, “The people in the most danger are those closest to me. Imagine living with that every day. It would be great if someone else were Superman, but I wasn’t given a choice, only the responsibility.” Wow. This seems like a reluctant Superman who’d rather someone else have the responsibility — I certainly don’t like that interpretation, but it’s interesting.

This final issue had a lot of narration to explain what was happening in between (or even in) panels. I’m not a big fan of that, especially when all the various Leaguers’ “voices” sounded exactly the same. I find this a weakness of Ross’ storytelling, which has been pretty good for the most part during this series. Everything was resolved (sort of) and the status quo restored, so how satisfying was the ending? Not so much. Ross and company started off with big swings (end of the world because of the League, villains turned humanitarians, the heroes’ identities revealed, the people turned against the heroes), but it just fell flat at the end, despite the coda.

Using Batman (of all people) to deliver the “what a wonderful world this would be” soliloquy at the end of this was an interesting choice, especially when paired with the final images being Superman dressing as Clark Kent, rejoining humanity to help better it (I guess?). I like the message, just not necessarily the way it was presented. It seemed more like a speech that Clark would have given, but I get why they wanted that symbolism. However, given the beginning of the story, the superhuman war that ensues, and the impact on humanity, is the metaphor of Superman as Clark, superhuman as “human”, enough? Especially when we get no scenes with any human being that isn’t a hero or villain? I would say no.

So, a very promising beginning with a tepid ending. I think this would have worked better as Elseworlds story that didn’t have to restore the status quo. Would we have gotten a Squadron Supreme-like story? Given what Ross did with Waid on Kingdom Come, I can see why he may not have wanted to go that route. However, this series was raised in my mind having reread it almost 20 years later. It was a pretty strong plot but the last issue and the lack of a human connection (again, contrast that with KC) throughout keeps it from being a really good story. I think the bimonthly publishing at that time did this series no favors. It’s definitely a better read at one go.

Private FilesJeez, they skimped on the Zatanna entry. It’s basically a brief origin story, power set, and a complement from Batman about her ability to turns the odds in the Justice League’s favor. It’s almost an afterthought at the end of this series and considering how much the League needed her abilities in this issue, it’s a bit of an insult as well.

Contrast that with the Joker’s entry, Batman reveals that he believes Joker has played the best joke on everyone by making them believe he is insane and treated with kid gloves. I’ve not seen this reflected in the Batman books I’ve read over the years, especially recently (sometimes Batman is screaming at Joker that he’s a “diseased maniac!”). Still, it’s more attention than Zatanna got and for a character that basically had a useless cameo in the story. At least the close-up Ross did is great to look at. It’s like Joker is agreeing with Batman’s assessment of him.