By Alex Ross, Doug Braithwaite, Jim Krueger, & Klein. Cover by Ross.

Overview

Justice 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.

Synopsis

The Martian Manhunter and Zatanna find Aquaman, and Zatanna asks, “What have they done to his brain?”

Brainiac has Grodd signal their agents, and the close associates or family of the Justice League are kidnapped.

Wonder Woman and Batman travel to the Superman’s Fortress of Solitude, awaiting the Man of Steel to arrive.

Hawkman and Hawkgirl destroy Toyman’s Brainiac-building factory, and Hawkman finds a clue.

Superman and Captain Marvel rescue Flash from his superspeed induced suicide.

Hal Jordan decides that living in a simulacrum of his life is the wrong choice and orders his ring to return his physical form to space so he can die there, but the ring’s programming refuses the request, telling Hal, “.. you will now live forever, alone”.

Mary Batson and Freddy Freeman arrive at the Rock of Eternity, looking for Billy, but find Black Adam instead.

Members of the Justice League and other superheroes gather at Superman’s Fortress and he let’s them in so that they can plan.

Martian Manhunter and Zatanna take Aquaman to Professor Niles Caulder to see what he can do, and he places Aquaman in a tank to heal. He tells them that Aquaman “is a man of untapped potential”.

Aqualad kidnaps Mera and Aquaman’s son and takes him to Black Manta, who says, “I can’t tell you how happy this is going to make Brainiac”.

Reaction

This being the seventh issue, it makes sense that the heroes, who have been at a distinct disadvantage for more than half the story, are now starting to rally. But Brainiac’s plan is just getting started as well. What did he not get from Aquaman that he thinks he’ll get from the hero’s son? How will he use Lois Lane, Dick Grayson, and the rest against the heroes? Plot-wise, the series is finally starting to get interesting and move forward.

However, I wish at this point we knew more about the black sphere cities, or are they just another bottled city plot. Brainiac does seem to be in charge of the villains now, more so than Luthor. To that point, Brainiac responds to Luthor about his failure to kill the Leaguers with, “Still, if you want something done right…” and Grodd looks over at Luthor, seeing how he’ll respond but also judging him. The coalition is unraveling more and more.

I loved the monologue Flash was having as Superman and Captain Marvel worked out how to stop Barry’s run, which included this: “Iris. I wish I could just stop and sit with her.” Though, I don’t understand how Barry didn’t break his neck or anything else as he skipped over the ocean like a stone before Superman caught him.

We get a scene with Mary Batson and Freddy Freeman in the Rock of Eternity where Freddy says, “…magic words shouldn’t really work, should they? Makes you wonder about the power of any word. Or any speaker.” Given the prominence of that on the page, I wonder if this will come into play later. Or is it commenting on Luthor’s speech in an earlier issue?

Finally, given what Black Manta did to Mera and Aquaman’s son in another continuity, seeing Manta holding the baby certainly was a little chilling.

Private Files

Both files on Hawkman and Toyman are little more than Who’s Who entries, but they both touch on the nature of crime. In Hawkman’s entry, Batman comments on why Katar does what he does because he knew of a crimeless world once and wanted to stop crime on Earth. Toyman does what he does because he was a victim of a crime and, as Batman says, “Crime twists the entire world” — where one man fights against it, another embraces it. I don’t know if Ross intended these entries to be somewhat mirror images of each other, but, either way, the dichotomy works.