Justice #8

Written by Jim Krueger and Alex Ross

Art by Doug Braithwaite and Ross

Cover by Ross

 

When we last checked in with the Ross-iverse’s Justice League, they had recently had their asses handed to them by various factions of the Legion of Doom, and they all retreated to Superman’s Fortress of Solitude to lick their wounds and figure out their next move.

 

This issue, some progress is made on that front, as the Flash snatches Captain Cold, Batman plays Bad Cop to scare some info out of him, Superman gets some perspective on who’s behind it all and Hal Jordan finally escapes his ring with the help of a stranger. 

 

The Legion of Doom makes some progress too, brainwashing the Teen Titans and other young heroes like Batgirl and Supergirl to kidnap the loved ones of the Leaguers, and it looks like they’ll have to deal with a wild card sooner or later, as the Joker is on the loose and seeking to infiltrate one of their weird escape pod thingees.

 

That all adds up to a whole lot things going on in this one issue, but the true action in this story is the interpersonal characterization Ross and writer Jim Krueger do, as the cooped up superheroes start to act like Real World-ers stuck in a reality show.

Superman and Batman have one of their seemingly monthly "You know the difference between you and me?" conversations, but Krueger finds a new angle to it. Captain Marvel has a dramatic conversation with the badly scarred and poisoned Wonder Woman, drwaing on the common ground they share as superheroes powered by the gods.  

The highlight though, is probably an argument between the Elongated Man and Plastic Man, the latter of whom Ross and Braithwaite do an incredible job of portraying, as Ross’ photorealistic rendering of him and the pair’s focus on capturing Plas mid-shape shift gives us one of the more fluid and realistic portrayals of the character ever.

 

“Uh, Plastic Man? Can we talk?” Ralph asks, and Plas responds “Oh, man, this isn’t going to be another one of those talks, is it?” Ralph is pissed that Plas is usurping his place as the League’s stretchy guy while not paying his dues (monitor duty and so forth), while Plas takes the opportunity to make fun of Ralph and shut him down with a “Okay, Ralph, you want to tell Captain Marvel he’s too much like Superman and that’s why he’s got to leave?”

 

It’s one more successful challenge (and defeat) of DC editorial’s and DC fandom’s conventional wisdom (foolishness?) regarding the Justice League, something Ross and company have continued to do with every single issue of this title. You really can have two stretchy guys or two, three or four Superman-types on the League at the same time. Aquaman can be a total badass. Hal Jordan doesn’t have to be boring.

 

That coupled with the amazing art, in which the backgrounds often brew with as much life as the foregrounds (check out Cap’s reaction to Plas’ C.C. Beck-style impression of him, or Beast Boy’s entrance at the back of a crowd scene), makes Justice by far the best Justice League book on the stands. Hopefully DC’s editors and writers will look to the book for clues as to the make up of the next incarnation of the League, or how to make characters like Martian Manhunter or Captain Marvel work without radically altering them.

 

Rating – 9.5