Product Description

Eisner Award-winning painter Alex Ross has stunned fans time and again with his artwork in books including KINGDOM COME and THE WORLD'S GREATEST SUPER-HEROES. Now one of comics' greatest artists turns his attention to the greatest heroes of the DC Universe: the Justice League of America!

In this final volume of the series, the Justice League must storm the stronghold of their greatest foes in order to free the world from their grasp.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #232534 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-10
• Released on: 2007-10-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781401214678
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
The epic battle between hero and villain rages on in this second volume of artist Alex Ross's ambitious tales of the greatest heroes of the DC Comics universe. After Lex Luthor, the Riddler and other villains share a vivid dream in which the Earth is destroyed for trusting in the superheroes, they strike hard against the Justice League, immobilizing many heroes and offering to help the world in ways the League never did. As Ray Palmer (the Atom) struggles for his life, a mysterious force continues to control Batman. Badly beaten and struggling, the heroes converge on the Fortress, where they realize that saving the Earth may not be as simple as stopping the villains. Together, Ross and Krueger craft an epic story, compelling in its delivery and a swift read. The choice of using incarnations of characters outside of DC's current story lines makes it accessible to all fans, and the story requires no broad understanding of their history. Paired with Braithwaite, Ross has a different sense of anatomy in his art, but it's as rich and vivid as ever. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
In the second Justice collection, the Justice League's archenemies have put Superman, Batman, and the JL's other big guns out of commission to forestall the destruction of the Earth that the superheroes envisioned in a shared dream. Hence, such second-stringers as Captain Marvel, Elongated Man, and Hawkman must step into the breach. It's tempting to read the idealized depiction of these famous heroes by superstar artist Alex Ross, who developed the story line and painted the pages over Doug Braithwaite's pencil drawings, as his response to the controversial miniseries Identity Crisis (2005), which depicted the same iconic figures in a morally ambiguous fashion.(Reviewed March 15, 2007))Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

More please....(mild spoilers)
This book collects the #5-8 of the ongoing Jusitce maxi-series written by Jim krueger (Earth X) and illustrated by Doug Braithwaite and Alex Ross.

The story picks up immediately after volume one of Justice where the JLA is systemetically being taken apart. The heroes begin to somewhat regain their footing but the battle is far from over. We find out that there is even a bigger play on hand than what appears. Batman is being mind-controlled, so are several members of the JLA. But thorugh the intervention of second tier or reserve JLA members such as Captain Marvel, the heroes narrowly escape the clutches of the Legion of Doom. And speaking of Captain Marvel, he has a prominent presence in this book. His powers and representation here is very similar to that in another story, Kingdom Come (which should come as no surprise). But not soon have the heroes regained their composure do they find out that their loved ones, i.e. Aquaman's son have been kidnapped. The battle lines have been drawn and the JLA and Legion of Doom are ready to go at it, which one can assume will take place in the next volume...and I for one can't wait.

The art team continues their excellent work. I love the scenes where Captain Marvel swoops in to save Superman and with the ease he disposes of Bizzaro, Metallo, Parasite and Grundy. Since, Parasite took Superman's strength, he also gained his weaknesses and Capt. Marvel exploits that by ripping out Metallo's kryptonite heart and using it against Parasite...awesome. I also liked the little banter that Superman had with Capt. Marvel after they recues the Flash whose own metabolism is killing him.

Superman: Do you have any money on you?

Capt. Marvel: Billy has maybe ten bucks, why?

Supes: Barry has to eat. An there's an all-you-can-eat buffet about 50 miles from here. It's $5.99. I hate asking...but my wallet got burned up when you threw me into the sun.

Capt.: This is going to be unfair to the buffet, isn't it?

Like I said, the writing is great.

As a bonus feature of sorts, the book features an intro by Doug Braithwaite which was very poignant. He writes about how he read the JLA as a kid and has the same enthusiasm as he pencils Justice. There is also more files of of profiles presented for heoroes and villains from Batman's computer. You also get a look at several pencilled pages.

In case it didn't coem through, I love this book. The way the story is written is vintage Superfriends type cartoon which has been matured to certain extent. It's an excellent read and I am very enthusiactic to see how it will end. So, do yourself a favor and pick this up. You won't regret it.

Ross Delivers on Visuals but Story is Lacking
Whenever Alex Ross is involved in a project it feels like an event and Justice is no exception. The art is absolutely gorgeous and it's a real blast to see classic DC characters like Gorilla Grodd and Solomon Grundy rendered in museum quality detail. Ross's inspiration for Justice was the old Challenge of the Super Friends cartoons from the late 70's. What I tried to do was mentally separate the spectacular art from the story and see how it holds up and quite frankly judged on its own merits the story is rather average. Justice started off with a huge bang in book one with a coordinated assault by the Legion of Doom that left the Justice League reeling. Perhaps the most indelible image was the four on one attack on Superman by Bizarro, Grundy, The Parasite and Metallo. The other big shock was Brainiac cutting open Aquaman's skull. I love the look of Brainiac in the doctors' scrubs like an evil scientist from the 1940's.

Each Justice book has impressed me less then the previous and I think I've put my finger on the problem, writers Alex Ross and Jim Krueger just wimped out. If you're going to write a non-canon comic about well established characters why not go for it all. Have a major character or two die or create a fundamental change in the dynamics of the relationship between the heroes and villains. It seemed after book one that this was where the writers were going with the villains discovering the secret identities of the JLA and Brainiac lobotomizing Aquaman. This was powerful stuff. The Legion of Doom was more vicious than ever but in book three we discover that they were being controlled by Brainiac's nano-technology and everything is resolved using DC comics ultimate Deus Ex Machina, the ring of Green Lantern. Wimpy.

The cover of Justice 3 shows the JLA all decked out in form fitted armor created to protect them against Brainiac's mind controlling nano-worms. To me it seemed like nothing more than a plot contrivance created so that our heroes could wear super cool constumes. On the upside some of the villains, most notably Grodd, Grundy and the Toyman are rendered and written superbly. It was nice to see Grundy back to his zombie like, decaying self. Gorilla Grodd has never looked more legitimately frightening and even the usually goofy Toyman is fiendishly terrifying. Again, I have no complaints on the visuals.

Justice just doesn't compare to classics like The Marvels or Kingdom Come but I have to give Alex Ross major credit for bringing back the Legion of Doom particularly since I'm old enough to have watched them when they were originally broadcast. If I had it to do all over again I'd still purchase the Justice series in a heartbeat but it's unlikely to go down as a modern day classic. I give it five stars for the art and three stars for the story which averages out to four stars.

Justice comes to a satisfying and fitting end.
This volume is the third in the Justice trilogy written by Jim Krueger and illustrated by Alex Ross and Doug Braithwaite. It picks up right where volume 2 left off with the good guys and the bad guys priming their forces for the final showdown and I have gotta say that it does not dissapoint. Going into the story, the readers (for the most part) know how the story will end...the good guys will undoubtedly win and kick the bad guys' collective butt. But knowing that fact doesn't detract from the story and half the fun of the story is seeing the heroes get to that point.

The highlights in this book (in my humble opinion, of course) are the awesome fight scenes. In the first opening chapter, you have Captain Marvel has going up against Black Adam and a brain-washed duo of Mary Marvel and Capt. Marvel Jr. Capt. Marvel tries to pull his punches and the emotion he feels for his family clearly shows through. Thanks to Ross and Braitwaite, saying "Shazam" never looked so good. Another highlight in the fight scene between a very gruesome looking Wonder Womand and Cheetah. There are many more fight scenes, rescue attempts, double crosses, near fatalities but thanks to our intrepid heroes, they do not come to fruition.

I have said it in my reviews of the previous volumes and I will say it again, this is one of the best told JLA stories in recent years and will be enjoyed by fans of both Silver Age and Modern Age comics.

And finally, for those who are still doubting the awesomeness of this comics, I have 2 words: "Vampire Joker". 'Nuff said.