Justice #12 (August 2007)

Well, this is it. Over the last year, we looked at a maxi-series that chronicled the Justice League of America's greatest battle against the Legion of Doom. Over the last year, we saw their identities get exposed to the world, and seemingly outdone by the Legion of Doom, driven by a dream of nuclear destruction. But as time went on, we discovered that dream had a dark twist to it, and only the Justice League could end the true madness behind it all...with some help from their friends, of course. So, how does it all end? Do the Justice League truly end up saving the day? Let's find out in Justice #12!

The cover is, naturally, an Alex Ross piece. It depicts a bunch of heroes flying into action, most notably Zatanna and Red Tornado in the center. It is a bit of a basic cover, I admit, but I do think that Ross gives it a grandeur and power that makes it still an eye-catcher.

"Chapter Twelve"
Writer: Jim Krueger
Pencillers: Alex Ross, Doug Braithwaite
Inker: Alex Ross
Colorist: Alex Ross
Letterer: Todd Klein
Editors: Stephanie Buscema, Joey Cavalieri
Executive Editor: Dan DiDio

The story begins with Superman making his way through Toyman's toy-themed forces with ease. As he does so, he thinks about being bulletproof. Thing is, bullets have long been shown to bounce off him as easily as a rubber ball bounces off a tile floor. But as Superman points out, the bullets that bounce off him still will go somewhere, and possibly hit someone else. It's something he has to live with every day. But it doesn't stop him. He's Superman. And he has a responsibility to save the day. 

Toyman taunts him, saying the Man of Steel will die. The dream (from the first issue) showed that. But that doesn't deter the Metropolis Marvel, either. He can hear him. He can see him. And that allows Superman to find the Toyman. And he finds Winslow Schott in...a state.

"Hey, Superman. You got my Funyuns?"

Superman compares Brainiac's plan to Winslow's state. Schott has hooked himself to a machine. In a way, similar to what Brainiac plans to do: make people into machines.

Toyman asks Superman where he'll take the children. The cities are their only haven now, as Brainiac has control of all the world's nuclear missiles. But Superman's going to stop Brainiac. The League will save the world, and the children will still be safe.

Elsewhere, Luthor tries to justify his actions to Batman. He claims he was trying to save humanity by putting people he considered "undesirables" in the cities, leaving Earth only with the people he considered disciplined and strong. yeah, that's totally not tyrannical.

Batman taunts Luthor's justifications by pointing out he trusted an alien robot who ultimately planned to nuke the Earth and kill every living person on it. Batman orders Atom to give Grodd the yellow power ring. The ring's charge is gone, but Luthor has the battery. Brainiac shrunk it down and gave it to the bald madman as a failsafe. Luthor is still free from Brainiac's nanites. He still can make his own decisions. And as such, he can choose to save humanity. This is Batman choosing to play on Luthor's ego and his delusions that he is humanity's savior. 

Back in the Scarecrow's city, the League and their allies are trying to stop the crowd from tearing each other apart in fear. Superman bursts in, and the heroes deal with the fear gas. Zatanna gets the Marvel Family to help rescue the children from Toyman's city. The Man of Steel asks Brainiac how they can stop him, but he moved his program to another body.

Superman asks if Scarecrow used the teleporters to escape, but Zatanna informs him that only Black Manta did. Yeah, Manta has Arthur, Jr. Superman orders everyone to get the people off the cities. The Scarecrow makes his escape, but encounters the Joker, who wants to show off his Dracula cosplay.

"It was a pain finding a costume shop here."

He then bites the Scarecrow with some gag fangs. The heroes go to the cities. Supergirl leads a strike team to Poison Ivy's city. Aquaman heads to Black Manta's city to evacuate the people...and to get his son. Wonder Woman leads a team to Cheetah's city...while touching upon her dying from the centaur's poison. I don't think that plotline's been spotlighted in a while. She senses that she's being hunted, so she has a plan.

She'll draw out the Cheetah, allowing the others to get the evacuation done. The Cheetah tries to ambush the Amazing Amazon, but despite her condition, she gives a good fight, and manages to take down her former friend.

Zatanna takes the Red Tornado and Superman to the Brainiac factory that Hawkman and Hawkwoman destroyed. Brainiac possesses the destroyed bodies that littered the ground. 

"Against the Justice League? Regular zombies would not be enough."

That panel brings the creepy zombie vibe. The three heroes wreck the robot bodies. Despite that, Brainiac escapes again. In Poison Ivy's city, she managed to get her vines on Green Arrow, Black Canary, Supergirl, and Metamorpho. Arrow feels his will to fight slipping away. Metamorpho points out that there's an imbalance in the air caused by her plants...and it's basically getting him high. Wheee...

Supergirl and Metamorpho easily deal with Ivy using a mix of his elemental-changing powers and her heat vision to make an explosion that knocks the crazed botanist silly.

Meanwhile, the Martian Manhunter uses his telepathic powers to link Luthor and Grodd's minds. This will allow the Martian to use Luthor's knowledge of weapon systems and command the yellow ring (Grodd can mentally control the ring). This will hopefully shut down the nukes. Atom warns that the city's still sinking.

Meanwhile, Aquaman is in hot pursuit of Black Manta.

This reboot of "Taken" is weird...

The King of Atlantis gets besieged by the Manta's men, all acting more robotic than human. The Manta has Arthur Jr. and threatens to kill him if Aquaman surrenders. If Aquaman does so, the Manta will return him to Mera unharmed. Aquaman drops his trident, and Manta's men swarm the Sea King. As his men tear away his armor, Manta asks Aquaman how many of his people were beaten in front of their children? How many times his people suffered because of the will of others? 

This requires a bit of context. Remember, this miniseries is paying tribute to the Silver/Bronze Ages of DC Comics. In the pages of Adventure Comics #452 (), it was first revealed that Black Manta was an African-American man who wanted to dominate the ocean for black people, but became consumed with his own lust for power. Yeah.

Arthur points out that Manta being a hypocrite. He's acting no different from those who tortured and enslaved his own people in the past, using his suit to make his men follow orders. An infuriated Manta beats up Arthur and orders his men to kill the baby. However, he gets a surprise reaction.

Manta pauses for a moment hearing this, but then whips out a blaster at tries to shoot Arthur Sr. It goes as well as you'd expect.

Superman, Zatanna, and Red Tornado are still tracking Brainiac. Over with Batman, Atom, J'onn, Luthor, and Grodd, they have managed to use the yellow ring to change the course of the nukes. But it's now up to Hal to do his part. Luthor teleports away. He went over to Brainiac's ship. Brainiac finds himself back in his original body. But that was part of Luthor's own plan. He knew the Coluan criminal would betray him, so he reprogrammed one of Brainiac's bodies to bring him back to his ship. He just wanted to brag about how he saved humanity from another alien menace. 

He tries to leave as Superman, Zatanna, and Red Tornado arrive, but he's stopped by Zatanna's magic. It's revealed that the yellow ring's charge had run out after it diverted the missiles...and erased the Legion of Doom's knowledge of the Justice League's secret identities. Brainiac tries to flee, but is stopped by Superman. And the Green Lantern Corps arrive to grab the nukes. Superman gets Zatanna back to Earth, as she can't breathe in space. 

Over in Paradise Island, Hippolyta prays to Aphrodite to heal and restore the dying Wonder Woman. it works, and Wondy is good as new. Back in the Batcave, Batman ruminates on these events. The Green Lantern Corps tossed the nukes into the sun, Brainiac is incarcerated in his ship which has been put in the Bottle City of Kandor, and the other villains are heading back to Arkham. Batman points out that more nukes will be built...but maybe in some way, this will inspire humanity to progress further and move forward from this near-tragedy. That humanity can truly be better. He sees that in his friends, the Justice League.

This was a great ending. It was very action-packed, tied everything up, and ended with a note of optimism and hope. One thing I did like about the ending is Batman's monologue at the end. It's nice seeing the Dark Knight occasionally show some moments of optimism. I think that's why he's better when he has his Bat-Family and the Justice League. They remind him that he's not alone in the world, that he's not the only one that is fighting to make a better world in their own way. The cameo of the Legion of Super-Heroes symbolized that Batman's hopes are not misplaced, which I thought was nice. 

I do wish the series did focus a little more on Wonder Woman's dying from the centaur's blood. It wasn't focused on much but considering the epic scope of the story and the large cast, sometimes stuff will end up falling by the wayside, unfortunately. It just seemed like a bigger deal in the earlier issues. I also was a bit mixed on the Joker's appearance. I did feel it was a bit unnecessary, but at the same time, it kind of fit him. Joker is an egocentric agent of chaos, and I don't think it would be completely out of character for him to just show up and cause chaos because he wasn't invited to join the Legion of Doom. 

When it does come to the art, Ross and Braithewaite turn in A+ work. As I said before, they manage to do a fantastic job making the colorful characters of the DCU look like they stepped right out of the real world while also still making them jump out of the pages of the comics.

All in all, I have to say, Justice is a great maxi-series. I highly recommend it. If you want to read it for yourself, track down the 2011 trade paperback Justice. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves, and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, wear a mask, and get your vaccine/booster! See you next time!

Justice #11 (June 2007)

It's that time again! It's time to check in with the Justice League as they face their greatest battle against the Legion of Doom! Last time, we saw an epic brawl between our heroes and their dastardly counterparts. What will happen next? How will that epic battle end?! Let's find out in Justice #11!

The cover is an Alex Ross piece. It's pretty neat, if a bit basic. It depicts Sinestro and Hal Jordan facing off, seemingly smashing their rings together. The glowing yellow light gives the impression Sinestro is winning out. It also makes me think that people who use power rings have a weird idea of a thumb war. The black background does help make the eye focus on Hal and Sinestro. Not much else to say about it, really.

"Chapter Eleven"
Writer: Jim Krueger
Penciler: Doug Braithwaite
Inker: Alex Ross
Colorist: Alex Ross
Letterer: Todd Klein
Editors: Joey Cavalieri, Michael Wright, Stephanie Buscema

The story begins with Joker just blowing a city up.

Joker, being Joker is laughing his head off. He cackles that the Legion should have expected him to crash their party. After all, Joker hates being left out of things. As some of the Legion flee, Poison Ivy asks if this was part of the plan. Brainiac says that it is. Yeah sure, Brainiac.

During the battle, Parasite is able to absorb some of Black Adam's power. Parasite then rips out Metallo's Kryptonite heart, saying he intends to shove it down Superman's throat. Parasite sees someone struggling with Bizarro and he thinks it's Superman. To his surprise, when he rips open the covering over the person's chest, it's not the "S" Shield surrounded by blue, but a golden lightning bolt surrounded by red.

Hal and Iron team up to take care of Sinestro, alongside a bit of Blue Kryptonite that Superman kept in his Fortress. You see, Blue Kryptonie weakens Bizarro like Green Kryptonite does to Superman. Speaking of the Green Kryptonite, Captain Marvel finds the shard and crushes it. 

Parasite goes after Superman. Captain Marvel finds the weakened Black Adam. Adam asks him if this state is what Marvel wants him in. But it's not. Marvel doesn't want to see anyone be twisted by hatred. Black Adam's power could have been used for good, he could have been a great man. He asks Adam to say the magic word and surrender. Adam agrees. The magic lightning bolt hits the Parasite.

Elsewhere, John Stewart engages the mind-controlled Teen Titans and Marvel Family. Hal Jordan fights Sinestro. Sinestro tries to get into Hal's head, saying the ring was meant for him, not Hal. Hal doesn't care. Even if Sinestro manages to kill him, there's John. There's the League. There's the other Green Lantern Corps. As they fight, Hal thinks about what the Phantom Stranger wanted him to learn: that pieces are left behind from the misuse of power. And no matter how powerful you are, there's always someone stronger. Someone smarter. And someone bigger. As if fate was illustrating this, Rita Farr takes down Giganta.

The mind-controlled heroes and allies are freed somehow (presumably by John's ring), and happily reunite.

The group finds Grodd heading towards them. Martian Manhunter stops an infuriated Barry Allen from pulverizing him and reads his mind. Brainiac used his nanotechnology to take control of every WMD in the world. He's going to make the nightmare scenario, the dreams from the very first issue, very, very real.

Superman orders Zatanna to take everyone to the Fortress of Solitude for safety. Batman says they're going to need Luthor's help. Hal and Sinestro continue their fight, Hal pointing out their rings are dying. Sinestro tells him Hal is nothing if he is not a Green Lantern. Hal isn't taking the bait. He's trusting in a lot more than his ring. 

Brainiac emerges from a teleporter, telling Toyman he's back and he does not expect to stay long. He still has Arthur Jr. in his arms, so naturally, Aquaman is in hot pursuit. He then realizes Brainiac hid himself in a crowd of Brainiacs, all holding Arthur Jr. Which one's the real one?

Hal and Sinestro continue their brawl, and the Green Lantern is able to knock the former Corpsman unconscious. The League and the other superheroes engage the Brainiacs, trying to find the real one and Arthur Jr. There's no trace of them in the city, but there are other civilians that need saving. Superman flies ahead. After all, this is a job for him. 

Solomon Grundy bashes through a wall, sending water everywhere. Hal and Sinestro fall through a ceiling, I think. But Hal is saved by John Stewart's ring. The heroes encounter the Scarecrow who has a crowd of civilians around him.

Using his mastery of fear, the Scarecrow makes the army of civilians attack the League. But Hal is able to bring them back to their senses with his ring. The Scarecrow then tries another tactic. If he can't make his army of people tear apart the League with their fears, then he'll make them tear each other apart.

The story ends with Scarecrow giving the League a choice: Go after him...or save the civilians.

I did enjoy this issue, but I do feel it's one of those issues that's best read as part of the whole story than on its own. There's plenty of action, and there's also some nice character moments, like with Captain Marvel saying he doesn't want anyone to be twisted by hatred. The story is a continuation of the story's climax, backed up by great art from Braithwaite and Ross. The Scarecrow's gambit is a terrifying one, and quite a way to end the story.

If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2014 trade paperback Justice. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, wear a mask, and get your vaccine/booster! See you next time!

Justice #9 (February 2007)

It's that time again! It's time to rejoin the Justice League as they engage in their greatest battle against the Legion of Doom. Last time, the heroes started to recover from their assaults on the Legion of Doom. So, how will they fight back? Let's find out in Justice #9!

The cover is an Alex Ross piece, and it's pretty good. It depicts Black Adam and the Marvel Family beating up on Captain Marvel. The angle and the usage of the clouds and lightning give a mythic quality, almost like we're glancing into a battle of gods. 

"Chapter Nine"
Writers: Jim Krueger, Alex Ross
Penciler: Doug Braithwaite
Inker: Alex Ross
Colorist: Alex Ross
Letterer: Todd Klein
Editors: Joey Cavalieri, Michael Wright
Executive Editor: Dan DiDio

The story begins with Captain Marvel contemplating at the Fortress of Solitude. He thinks about the power. The power...of words. Words are magical. They can inform, they can conceal. Words can also be like keys. He says a word, and he can access the power of the Gods. Names are also words. And the power of words is how the Legion of Doom unlocked the secret identities of their long-time enemies, the Justice League of America. 

Hal Jordan points out nobody tried to kill him, but that was because of how his ring works. If he died, the ring would go to someone else. So, Brainiac had to get the ring itself far away from Earth, hence his being Boom-Tubed across the universe. His ring detected Brainiac's mind-controlling nanites in Captain Cold. Metamorpho is understandably confused. Why would Brainiac use the nanites on him? Aren't they allies?

Captain Marvel points out that super-villains can't form and maintain alliances like the Justice League. Presumably because they are too obsessive and selfish in nature. This highlights a massive problem: How can the Justice League fight back if Brainiac can just infect them with his little worms? Will Magnus has a solution.

Yup. Armor. Some nice tough armor. Ray Palmer, Niles Caulder, Will Magnus, and the Metal Men get to work making some. Hal uses his ring to trace the transmissions of the worms in Captain Cold. It's a location in Africa, hidden using the same technology Gorilla City uses to hide from humanity's detection. The League will bait the Legion here. However, Grodd has figured they'd do that.

He appears to the heroes using a duplicate of Sinestro's power ring. Black Adam tricks Captain Marvel into an ambush. And a fight breaks out.

Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. fight Captain Marvel in the air. Black Adam orders Mary to say her magic word, and she does. As plain ol' Mary, she plummets to the ground...and Billy is forced to watch, being held back by Black Adam and Marvel Jr.

Back in Gotham, Bruce Wayne takes Clark Kent to meet a woman: Leslie Thompkins.

Leslie takes them to meet some of the children in her clinic. Some of them were healed by Brainiac. Clark uses his vision powers to examine the child and realizes that Brainiac is turning the people being "healed" into organic machinery. Kind of like Dr. Robotnik's robotization devices from the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons.

We get a brief aside of Luthor examining Brainiac's robots, and then back to the Marvel Brawl. Captain Marvel manages to catch Mary, but it was a trick.

She transforms back into Mary Marvel and tosses Billy into the ground. Captain Marvel rises from the ground, the narration implying he's now under Brainiac's control.

We get a brief aside of Batman, Atom, and Doc Magnus discussing the League's armors, then back to the battle in the Arctic. Members of the League are able to beat Grodd, but he gets rescued by Sinestro. However, Metamorpho was able to get Grodd's duplicate ring.

Captain Marvel tries to bust his way into the Fortress of Solitude, but Superman intercepts him, and Green Lantern is able to get the nanites out of him. After he recovers, he joins Green Lantern on a trip to Arkham Asylum. It's here that the Big Red Cheese finds his greatest enemy.

Meet Dr. Thaddeus Bodog Sivana, the World's Wickedest Scientist. Sivana appears to be in pain. Realizing he's got the nanites inside him, Captain Marvel tearfully asks Green Lantern to remove them. Hal does so. Captain Marvel asks him what Brainiac has planned. Sivana explains it has to do with something the mad scientist invented...and Brainiac had envied. You see, Sivana had created the nanites, which he called "Mr. Mind". Brainiac took the device, mass produced them, and shrunk them to microscopic level. Presumably with the same tech he used to shrink cities, as per his Silver Age/Bronze Age gimmick. 

These nanites cannot just manipulate minds, they can also manipulate bodies. They can make you have dreams (explaining the mutual dream the Legion of Doom had) and affect the way you think and act (explaining why they're suddenly helping people and working together, despite their villainous natures). And it was all controlled by Brainiac.  And it's all Brainiac. Luthor would have hated the idea of Brainiac turning half of humanity into machines and killing the rest. Which makes sense. Luthor is an egomaniac. He sees himself as the greatest man in the world, and everyone should be subservient to him. As such, the plan was that instead of half of humanity being destroyed, it would go to Luthor. For him to rule. 

The Justice League armors up, and heads into action. 

The story ends with Luthor teleporting in to pick up Captain Cold and commenting that everything is going very well...

This was a fine issue. The ending was awesome, seeing the League in their suits of armor, and Lex at the end made for some nice foreboding vibes. Make me wonder what he could be up to, considering there's only three issues left. What I liked about this issue was there was a little bit of everything here. We got some action scenes and we got some character stuff. Captain Marvel is the main focus of this issue, as a lot of stuff centers around him here. It's pretty clear the creators not only are very fond of Captain Marvel, but clearly understand his character. It's nice to see.

I don't know what else I can say about Doug Braithwaite's art that I haven't already. It's fantastic stuff. 

If you want to read this for yourself (and you should), I recommend checking out the 2011 trade paperback Justice. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, wear a mask, and get your vaccination/booster! See you next time!

Justice #8

It's that time again! It's time to join the Justice League in their ultimate battle against the Legion of Doom! Last time, the Justice League seemed to be in dire straits. The Marvel Family were captured, Hal Jordan was trapped in his ring, and Aquababy got kidnapped! How do our heroes recover? Let's find out in Justice #8!

The story begins with Batman and Superman discussing their approaches to crime-fighting. 

Page 1, Panel 1

Batman operates through fear, through intimidating criminals, whereas Superman does not. Batman points out that criminals exist in Gotham and Metropolis. There may be differences between criminals in those cities, but that have one thing in common: They all fear getting caught. That's why Batman operates the way he does. It's also necessary for him to operate this way because he doesn't have the abilities Superman has. Superman can see through walls, he's superhumanly fast, he's extremely durable. And everyone in Metropolis knows that. Because Superman said so in interviews. Batman sees it as Superman instilling fear in criminals in his own way...and he actually thinks Superman is quite clever for it.

(whoa)

Batman points out that now the League in the position of Metropolis criminals. Someone has seen through their walls, can strike any time...and seems implacable. This ignites a bolt of inspiration in the Man of Steel.

(idea)

He takes to orbit above the Earth and sees the giant city orbs touching down. The Metropolis Marvel realizes that Brainiac is behind all this. After all, collecting people in cities...this is his MO. In a desert, Captain Cold is enjoying living life like a king, but the Flash plans to put a damper to it. 

The Master of Absolute Zero tries to use his cold gun to freeze Flash. The Scarlet Speedster vibrates out of the iceberg. Cold tries to confuse Flash by borrowing a trick from fellow Rogue Mirror Master, but it doesn't work. Even creating a ton of ice statues doesn't work. Flash is able to nab the Rogue and take him to the Fortress of Solitude...so Batman can interrogate him.

(gulp)

Why Captain Cold? Well, as Batman would say, criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot...and Captain Cold is especially superstitious and cowardly. He also likes money.

(money) 

In the Fortress of Solitude, Batman begins interrogating Captain Cold. Meanwhile, we go out into deep space, where we join Hal, still trapped in his ring. Hal is showing off his plane to his brothers, but they think he's trapped himself in memories of the past. It makes sense considering his current situation. Back in the Fortress of Solitude, the Atom is examining the little worms that the Hawks found in the last issue. Superman believes they were mass produced, then shrunken by Brainiac. Thanks to the interrogation of Captain Cold, Batman is able to brief the league on the apocalyptic dreams the Legion of Doom had. 

This saving of humanity is actually a part of a much bigger scheme. Those cities will be "governed" by the Legion. As for the worms? Well, the worms are a form of mind control of the people that will go into those cities. It's tied to the "cures" and the "help" the Legion have been providing. But things are looking up a bit. Aquaman is back in action.

Page 12, Panel 8

Meanwhile, the Joker heads up towards one of the cities (he was seen waiting in line to go to one in the last issue). We also get to see Luthor, Scarecrow, Clayface, and Parasite go after some other League members and people close to them, like Supergirl and Commissioner Gordon. Back in Hal's ring, the EMerald Knight himself has seemingly regressed to childhood, playing with a toy jet with his brothers. They leave, saying he's living in a dream world. But he gets a visitor.

Page 15, Panel 5

Mr. Deus Ex Machina himself, the Phantom Stranger. He's also an honorary Leaguer. Zatanna asked him to find Hal. Back at the Fortress, Captain Marvel checks up on the clearly wounded Wonder Woman. She reveals that when Cheetah scratched her up, her claws were dipped in the blood of the centaur. This is baking her body from within, reverting Diana to the clay she was once made from...and she doesn't have a lot of time left.

Plastic Man and Elongated Man discuss them both being stretchy heroes. Plastic Man debuted first, and his powers are arguably greater than Dibny's, as Eel O'Brien can shapeshift into other forms, whereas Ralph can't. Even though Ralph is an actual League member, Eel's abilities still clearly gives him a bit of low self-esteem. Eel doesn't see a problem, as even though they're both "stretchy guys", they can still co-exist. After all, Captain Marvel and Superman have similar powersets, and they work together fine. He taunts Ralph by saying that maybe he should change himself into something the League needs.

(ouch)

The Phantom Stranger draws Hal out of the ring and gives him his battery so he can recharge his ring. Hal vows to kill Sinestro for trapping him. The Stranger warns him against returning for revenge, as it will only trap him in the way he was trapped in the ring. The world needs a hero, not a sword of vengeance. As Hal recharges his ring, he reminds the Stranger the world needs the League...as much as Hal does.

Mera heads to the Fortress of Solitude, where she tells Arthur about Garth kidnapping Arthur Jr. Hal also returns and uses his ring to clear all the worms out of Batman. Arthur is happy that the League has seemingly survived all of this, but there's something to remember: Brainiac is still out there. He cut into Arthur's brain to figure out how to control Gorilla Grodd. This is all part of a bigger scheme. Brainiac is a machine that this waging war on all living organic beings. 

Red Tornado reports that the Legion has kidnapped all the League's loved ones, their allies and friends. Likely as a fail-safe in case the League survived their assault. As the Justice League process this, Rita Farr asks the Chief a question. What if the dream was true? What if stopping the Legion of Doom ultimately dooms the Earth? The Chief just answers that it's certainly a possibility...

I liked this comic. This the recovery. We've seen the League take some hard hits, but they're getting their second wind. I liked the battle between Captain Cold and the Flash. It was neat seeing Cold try various tactics against the Scarlet Speedster, even taking a nod to his Rogue comrade Mirror Master. Also, it was neat seeing Hal's struggles to maintain his sanity within the ring. He may claim to have no fear and to never panic, but I think these scenes show that Hal can, he expresses it differently. The scene with 

Justice #7 (October 2006)

It's that time again! It's time to rejoin the Justice League in their biggest battle ever. Last time, members of the League found themselves in some dire straits. Superman got tossed into the Sun in an attempt to burn mind control worms out of him, Hal Jordan is trapped in his ring, Ray Palmer nearly suffers death by Giganta, the Flash is trapped in superspeed, etc. How will things continue on for the League. Can they survive? Let's find out in Justice #7!

The cover is an Alex Ross piece, and it is pretty awesome...if it is a bit basic. It's basically Hawkman wrecking shop. Still, Ross's easily recognizable style would make it stand out on a comic shop shelf, and I admit, Hawkman wrecking stuff is awesome.

"Chapter Seven"
Writers: Alex Ross, Jim Krueger
Pencilers: Doug Braithwaite, Alex Ross
Inker: Alex Ross
Colorist: Alex Ross
Letterer: Todd Klein
Editors: Joey Cavalieri, Michael Wright
Executive Editor: Dan DiDio

The story begins with the Martian Manhunter and Zatanna in Argentina looking for the Martian Manhunter. The two fear that the worst may have happened to the King of the Seven Seas. They find Brainiac's lab. Thankfully, there's no Brainiac inside.

They do find Aquaman on the slab...and he's...not in the best of shape.

"...five more minutes, Mera..."

As people are being taken into the artificial cities, Luthor, Brainiac, and Grodd discuss the matters bothering them. Luthor notes that Brainiac is not there in person, just as a hologram. He believes that this is because his poking around in Aquaman's brain led to a dead end. Luthor failed to kill the Justice League, but Grodd has some agents to take care of that.

Wonder Woman and Batman arrive at the Fortress of Solitude. Hawkman and Hawkgirl fight off Brainiac's backup robot bodies. They're able to escape from the Toyman's factory with the help of a plasma globe-like bomb. Hawkman finds some little objects raining down from the ruins.

"These better not be worm turds..."

In space, Superman and Captain Marvel spot Barry Allen, trapped in hyperspeed. The good captain has a plan to rescue Barry, but it could end up killing him. Hopefully, Superman can match Flash in speed. Marvel pours on the speed of Mercury, catching up to Flash. The Flash is vibrating real fast, too fast to be grabbed. So, Marvel places himself right up to the Scarlet Speedster, and says the magic word.

"This is gonna hurt!"

Superman catches Billy Batson and a freed Barry Allen. Barry needs to eat, and there's a buffet restaurant about 50 miles away. Superman asks if Captain Marvel has any money to pay for it, as his wallet got burned up. Billy has around ten bucks on him. Good thing the buffet's about six.

The Daily Planet is attacked. Black Manta takes on Aqualad. Solomon Grundy ambushed Dick Grayson and Wally West. 

Inside his power ring, Hal Jordan talks about his relationship with Carol Ferris. It's a nice little character moment as we see that Hal comes to a bit of a realization about himself. He's self-centered, putting his duties as a Green Lantern ahead of his personal life. Hal thinks he's going to die alone. But the ring reminds him of something: he's now an energy impulse. Hal demands to be changed back, but the ring refuses. After all, doing so would violate its programming: to protect its bearer. In essence, he'll live forever and be alone. 

Mary Bromfeld and Freddy Freeman make their way to the cave containing the Seven Deadly Sins. The two briefly discuss magic words when Mary is caught by Black Adam. 

In the Arctic, the heroes gather. Batman apologizes to Red Tornado. He understands, remarking that we are all slaves to programming. This gets the Dark Knight thinking...

With the arrival of Flash, Captain Marvel, and Superman, the heroes enter the Fortress of Solitude. They also recruited Niles Caulder to help Arthur. Caulder announces there was nothing he could do...well, nothing he needed to do.

Well, it's simple. Caulder believes that Brainiac's little bit of brain surgery on Aquaman was an attempt to figure out how he's able to telepathically communicate with sea life. Also, Arthur's physiology grants him a special boon: A regenerative healing factor. The Doom Patrol put him in a special tank to help him recover.

"...five more minutes, Mera..."

When his eyes open, the Sea King has one thing on his mind: Mera. Speaking of Mera, Aqualad swims like a...well, like a shark out of Hell towards Atlantis. He reports to Mera that Black Manta was the one who kidnapped Aquaman. She asks how they're going to help, and Garth's like, "We're not". He gives Mera a Mighty Punch, then makes off with little Arthur Jr. The story ends with Black Manta taking the baby, remarking that Brainiac is going to be a very happy alien.

I enjoyed this little comic. The big highlight is the fun little character interactions. Superman asking Captain Marvel for some money, the interplay between the married Hawkman and Hawkgirl, etc. I also liked seeing Luthor plot against the other villains. It fits his ego and his nature. I can understand why some would view Aquaman suddenly being able to heal from Brainiac's little bit of brain surgery like Wolverine is a bit of a copout. It's something I don't think we've seen Aquaman be able to do before. The story at the very least does try to justify it as being part of his amphibious nature, so kudos for that at the very least. 

As for Ross and Braithwaite's art, I can't think of another way to compliment it. It's fantastic, and so wonderful to look at. Thair art really manages to capture the majesty and menace of the heroes and villains of the DCU, yet at the same time, make them look plausible and realistic. It's amazing. I can't wait to go through the next issue.

Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, and wear a mask! See you next time!

Justice #6 (August 2006)

It's that time again! It's time to once again join the Justice League of America in their greatest battle against the Legion of Doom! Last time, the JLA were dealing with various attacks and ambushes by the members of the Legion, but a ray of hope just may have arrived in the form of the World's Mightiest Mortal, Captain Marvel. Can the Big Red Cheese help turn the tide? Let's find out in Justice #6!

The cover is an Alex Ross piece, and it's pretty awesome. It depicts the Atom about to punch a giant eye with Poison Ivy appearing in the eye. The cover is awesome, but it does make me ask some questions. Is Ivy inside the eye? Because eye can reflect, and it should be reflecting the Atom. And Ivy being inside the eye would make sense, as the Atom is clearly in a standing position. Yeah, I think we're just going to have to let this go by Rule of Cool. 

"Chapter Six"
Writers: Alex Ross, Jim Krueger
Pencilers: Alex Ross, Doug Braithwaite
Inker: Alex Ross
Colorist: Alex Ross
Letterer: Todd Klein
Editor: Joey Cavalieri, Michael Wright
Executive Editor: Dan DiDio

The story begins with Superman and Captain Marvel flying towards the sun. 

If you remember last issue, Superman discovered that he has been infected with microscopic Mr. Mind-like worms that will take over his mind, like they did with Alfred Pennyworth. The Big Red Cheese is understandably worried about tossing the Man of Steel into the sun. After all, it may burn the worms out of the Kryptonian powerhouse, but also keep in mind this.

Superman was badly weakened and took a horrendous beating from Bizarro, Solomon Grundy, Parasite, and Metallo. There's no guarantee that he would even survive this. Understandably, Captain Marvel doesn't want to be known as the man who ended up killing Superman. Despite this, the Big Red Cheese agrees to toss the Man of Steel into the sun. 

At a hospital, Ray Palmer is recovering from getting shot. He's convalescing with Jean Loring when a nurse comes into his room, telling them it's time for Ray to get some rest. Jean agrees, and says she'll visit in the morning. The nurse offers another pillow to Ray, but he's good. She insists.

The nurse is actually Giganta in disguise, out to finish the sizeshifter off. But Ray has his belt, and he uses it to shrink down and beat Giganta by hitting her in the eye and making her fall to the ground. Out in space, Hal Jordan learns his ring has seven hours of charge left. If that ring dies, then Hal is a dead man. But there is one option left. His ring can convert his body into a series of electronic impulses. In that state, Hal can be kept alive indefinitely. But if someone else takes his ring, he's lost forever...for some reason.

Elsewhere, Martian Manhunter meets up with Hawkman and Hawkwoman. In his civilian identity of detective John Jones, J'onn has learned from some of his underworld contacts that the Toyman has defenses at the location he's sending the Hawks to, so they should be careful. Then they'll rendezvous at the Fortress of Solitude.

Thanks to his reading Grodd's mind, J'onn believes there's a dark conspiracy at work here. At another unknown location, Brainiac points out that Captain Marvel's arrival was unexpected, but not much of a problem. After all, organic life is chaotic by nature. Luthor isn't happy about this, as he got involved with this to rid the world of super-powered beings. Brainiac is like, "Don't worry about this, Lex. I'll take them out of here." But since Captain Marvel's involvement means that likely the League will recover from their incapacitation, they'll have to expand their own ranks. Grodd plans to send the apocalyptic dream to Black Adam. 

The Scarecrow seemingly heals a young boy's eyes. As Vicki Vale reports on the Legion of Doom suddenly going philantrophic and the disappearance of the JLA, a disguised figure heads towards one of the artificial cities, saying he has to go there as he's never been well.

Yeah, count on the Joker to be somewhere he's not wanted.

Superman bursts his way out of the sun. Wonder Woman heads towards what look like an alternate entrance to the Batcave, her face and body still bearing the scars from her fighting Cheetah. She finds the Batcave covered in vegetation, like nature has reclaimed it.

She frees Batman and Alfred, but Ivy tries to ambush her with vines, thorns, and an angry mutant Venus fly trap. The Hawks arrive at a warehouse, where true to J'onn's warning, they find the Toyman and an army of angry-looking toys waiting for them. But in the process of fighting the toys, they make a discovery.

Back at the Batcave, Wonder Woman is attacked by Batman. The Dark Knight presumably has fallen victim to the mind control worms that were in Alfred. The Amazing Amazon seemingly falls unconscious, but not before she's able to get her lasso around the Caped Crusader. This allows the Dark Knight to sucker-punch Ivy. Grodd spews out some threats through Alfred, but Batman tells him to shut up. 

At Ferris Aircraft, John Stewart comes by to ask where Hal Jordan went off to. Neither Carol Ferris nor Tom Kalmaku have any idea where he is. Tom suggests he's in the sky, the flyboy that Hal is. Meanwhile, Hal is inside his power ring. The ring has him in what is presumably a construct of his hometown of Coast City. It's has left Hal a lot of time to think. Think about Abin Sur, the Green Lantern who passed his ring to him. He asks the ring how to create constructs of people with a will of their own. The ring has no idea.

In his lab, Dr. Will Magnus is trying to repair Red Tornado with a little help from Zatanna. They are being observed by the Metal Men. Zee was able to use her magics to rescue the wrecked android from the Satellite before it exploded. Magnus notices the wounds that the Red Tornado suffered are self-inflicted. Which is kind of...odd for a robot. He's able to repair the Tornado enough that the robotic air manipulator is able to reveal where the missing Aquaman is: Argentina. And the story ends with the Flash still running, unable to stop. 

I liked this issue. There's plenty of action, and the story is pushed a little further. One of my favorite little moments is the Joker trying to make his way into one of the artificial cities. I think it rather fits his character. The Clown Prince of Crime has a tremendous ego, and it makes sense that if the Legion don't want him involved in their little scheme, he'll force them to involve him. The big issue of this comic is that in my opinion, this comic is best read as part of a larger story. That does not mean it's bad. It just means it's best enjoyed if you're reading Justice as a whole story, not just one issue at a time. It's a necessary evil for mini-series like this.

I don't know what else I can say about Ross and Braithwaite's art here. I think it's spectacular. They manage to make these characters with their fantastic appearances and costumes look perfectly plausible and realistic without losing any of their "comic book-ness", for lack of a better term.

If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2007 trade paperback Justice. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves, and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, wear a mask, and get vaccinated and boosted! See you next time!