Books : Justice, Vol. 2

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- Alex Ross' Epic Is Completed
This is the big finale of the Justice series. The story is great and Alex's art continues to be amazing. The Heroes finally reliazethe Villans are working together because Grodd implemented thoughts into thier minds. The epic final battle is absoluetly gorgeous and Ross does the characters full Justice. The series is a great read and all three volumes are reccomanded.

Rating:

- Incredible artwork, the story does not live up to the art
The art, as always with Alex Ross is incredible. Ross's work in collaboration with Doug Braithewaite adds a level of dynamicism not seen in his other work. Ross's work is hypercolorful & painstakingly detailed, while Braithewaite's pencils (that Ross colored over) present spontaneity, motion & action not typically seen at this level in Ross's other work. I would say this is Ross's best art so far. I hope to see Ross collaborate more with Braithewaite or another artist that can draw motion into their pictures.
The book beautifully presents this art with extremely well done renditions. I have noticed no production flaws.
Unfortunately the story is not on the same level as the incredible artwork. The story is on par with other writing seen today, which is unfortunate because this is some of the best art work I have ever seen in a comic. Unfortunately the story's presentation gets a bit disjointed & mashed together a bit too much toward the end of the story arc.

Rating:

- 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.

Rating:

- Alex Ross Beautiful Artwork Showcased
Alex Ross continues to do some of the most beautiful comic art ever made in the second volume of Justice. The story continues in this volume, where after an onslaught by the villans in the first volume, the heros get there feet under them and prepare to figure out what exactly the villans have planned. It sets up the finishing volume and the majority of the action is in that volume but nontheless this is another volume worth picking up.

Rating:

- Justice at last
All cylinders fire in this, the final volume of the JLA saga that's put new life into the classic characters. Awesomely rendered by the pencils of Doug Braithwaite and paints of Alex Ross, the story (also by Ross and Jim Krueger)runs to a fast paced yet satisfying close with the doom of one character and the rebirth of another. My only gripe with this embarrassment of riches is that sometimes the full spread action becomes a tad confusing as characters mix it up at full attack, bringing the narrative flow to a stutter. A minor quibble however, against such a fine production. If you liked Kingdom Come you'll love Justice. One to treasure.

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