Justice [Hardcover]

Alex Ross (Author), Jim Krueger (Author), Doug Braithwaite (Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: August 2, 2011 | Series: Justice

After the villains of the Legion of Doom — led by Lex Luthor and Brainiac — band together to save the world after a shared dream that seems to be a vision of the Earth’s demise. They are confronted by the Justice League of America, who doubt their true motives. The true plans unfold as the two teams do battle.

Editorial Reviews

Review

You have never seen an epic more beautifully crafted than this one, both visually and structurally. - Library Journal Xpress Reviews: Graphic Novels | First Look at New Books, December 23, 2011

About the Author

Jim Krueger was a creative director at Marvel Comics and later became a freelance comic book writer/property creator. His original works include The Foot Soldiers, Alphabet Supes, The Clock Maker and The Last Straw Man. Other comic book writing includes the award-winning Earth X trilogy with Alex Ross for Marvel Comics, as well as Avengers, X-Men, Star Wars, The Matrix Comics, Micronauts, Galactic and BATMAN.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (August 2, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401231853
• ISBN-13: 978-1401231859
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 1 x 10.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #510,832 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jim Krueger is one of the top-rated writers currently working in American comics. In addition to creating his own comics properties, his projects include the prestigious X Trilogy from Marvel Comics, and Justice from DC Comics.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars 384 pages of detailed, gorgeous superhero art work. August 9, 2011

By blauereiter

Format:Hardcover

Fans of comic artist Alex Ross enjoy his detailed and highly realistic art work, and here they are in for a major treat, for JUSTICE dishes out a non stop, superlative serving of his best work from cover to cover. Expect to see some serious superhero action with the Legion of Doom, led by Lex Luthor and Braniac pitted against the heroes from Justice League of America, including Superman, Green Lantern, Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman and many, many more.

This edition covers JUSTICE no. 1 to 12 and is a definite bang for your buck, housed in a sturdy hard cover.

To see more pictures from inside the book, please visit my blog via my Amazon profile link.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Fun, but collapses under its own weight October 23, 2012

By Babytoxie

Format:Paperback

JUSTICE is a difficult book for me to review, as I have such mixed feelings about it - perhaps more so than any other comic. Conceived by Alex Ross, it brings in co-writer Jim Krueger and penciller Doug Braithwaite to present what is essentially the Super Friends vs. The Legion of Doom, albeit with a much darker tone than the Saturday morning cartoon. Over the years, Ross has proven himself to be not only a spectacular artist, but a pretty good idea man. When those ideas were developed by writers such as Kurt Busiek and Mark Waid, the results could be brilliant; however, Ross' collaborations with Krueger have resulted in unfocused and drawn-out stories that don't seem to know when to end. Based on that, I had planned on avoiding this 12-issue limited series, but a free copy of the softcover edition changed that.

The story begins with the destruction of the Earth, despite the best efforts of the Justice League. It is slowly revealed that this is a dream shared by the League's enemies, apparently foreshadowing a great disaster brought about by Earth's over-reliance on its heroes. As a result, the villains decide to use their substantial powers to solve world problems and empower humanity. Utopia appears to be at hand, but at the heart of it, the heroes know that something isn't right. The compromising of their secret identities and subsequent attempts on their lives lead them to uncover an insidious plan that, frankly, only ended up confusing me.

At the heart of JUSTICE is Alex Ross' love of the Super Friends, and as such, we get classic '70s versions of our favorite heroes and villains; not just the core Super Friends, but also supporting members, as well as the Doom Patrol and the Metal Men.... The characterizations are excellent, and the creators do get some neat ideas onto the page. Unfortunately, these various bits are mired in a tedious narrative that ups the ante at every turn, so that by the time I reached chapter 8, I was ready for the story to end. There are so many ways in which Krueger and Ross could have streamlined this story, eliminating some dead ends and tightening the plodding conclusion. Artwise, it's difficult to appreciate Braithwaite's contribution. He is an accomplished artist in his own right, and I'm a huge fan of his, so it would have been nice if his style weren't completely hidden by Ross' paints. On the other hand, Braithwaite's jarring and awkward layouts really make it difficult to follow what's happening. Cuts between scenes are not handled well - they are extremely abrupt, to the point that I had to constantly go back to make sure that I hadn't missed a page. Some objective oversight of this project might have helped to smooth things out, but I guess editors are hesitant to say "no" when Ross is involved.

I can't help but to compare the overall product with the grand mess that is Marvel's Secret Wars, as there are numerous similarities between the two (even the toys!), but with JUSTICE, I at least enjoyed the better part of the ride. This was such an ambitious project, and it does fare much better than most of Krueger and Ross' collaborations, but ultimately, JUSTICE comes across as an indulgent pet project of the creators, rather than something done for the readers. Read more ›

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Beauty is in the Execution September 4, 2012

By worldwearytraveler

Format:Paperback

This is a story that you have heard many times before: bad guys pretend to be good, people fall for it, bad guys beat up good guys, good guys regroup and beat the crap out of the bad guys. As anyone who has read their fair share of comic books, this is not a unique plot. However, as with most anything, the real beauty of this book, and where it ultimately rises to the level of classic, is in the execution.

First, the art is glorious. Alex Ross is a phenonemonal painter, and his lush and detailed colors flourish over Doug Braithwaite's realistic and stylized pencils. The emotions are excellently represented, characters who change their appearance do so in ways that are different from each other, and the fight scenes are very well choreographed and executed.

of course, I have always been a proponent of the idea that great art, no matter how beautiful, cannot save a bad story; it's the main reason why I will not buy Batman Noel. Luckily, the story here not only holds steady with the art, it downright excells. The characterization is stunning to behold simply because of the scope: there are over TWENTY-FIVE main characters in this story, and each are masterfully given their own unique voice and character traits. In fact, my absolute favorite moment in the book is a three-page spotlight on the Martian Manhunter, where his inner monologue revealed a shocking amount of information that I had never even thought about with regards to his character, like how he views his own natural abilites that we call 'superpowers'. It was an amazing bit of work, and the rest of the book is just like that.

Overall, this is my absolute favorite Justice League story, beating out Tower of Babel be a thin margin. It's big, it's sweeping, it's epic, it's JUSTICE.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars pure genius all around. December 17, 2012

By artistandy

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

this may be alex ross's masterpiece. hand painted watercolors over pencils by doug braithwrait. the writing is extraordinarily good. there are many clever twists that even smart comic nerd readers cannot see coming. great, mature, smart, often funny, often philosophically engaging characterizations of all the classic dc heroes involved, which is quite a few.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great compilation but... September 13, 2011

By Dardanos

Format:Hardcover

This will be my first compilation of this Alex Ross Justice League/Legion of Doom fantasy arc, having collected the comic book installment version (with a few "A" covers) back in 2005-2006 and not having bought the previous three-book softbound compilation (2008-2009) nor the oversized, "boxed" Absolute Edition hardcover (2009).

The printing is A+, the pages are excellent. I won't go with reviewing the story/plot (it would be negative) but seeing the DC heroes and villains you saw from old TV cartoons rendered in realistic painted art would take your breath away.
(To me this is a non-canonical fantasy romp of Alex Ross fusing in a "Challenge of the Super Friends" and DC Comics circa 1970s set in the 2000's. Of course, minus the Wonder Twins, but including the Shazam Family, Metal Men, and Doom Patrol (which apparently died in the late 1960s).

This is a bit of a disappointment because despite its size, it fails to include all the other alternate covers Alex Ross was commissioned to do for issues with 2nd or 3rd printings or special covers. I hope this will be corrected on the "trade paperback" version.