JUSTICE part 1: THE BOOKS

The last fully-painted Alex Ross project to see the light of day was DC’s Justice, a massive 12-issue story arc that took 2 years to complete (2006-2007). In this story written by Jim Krueger and Ross we see a giant event unravel, the villains of the world neutralize the heroes by doing what they were supposed to do, help humanity, so they cure diseases and help the blind to see, in order to gain people’s trust. All this, of course, is just a big scam and you’ll never suspect who the orchestrator of this diabolical plan is and how he achieves this goal. Some of the heroes turn bad, others are nearly killed, and Aquaman ends up being the coolest hero ever! Honest! This story is so amazing that you just have to read it, it’s chockfull of great scenes, battles and even funny moments, like when Plastic Man and Elongated Man start arguing because there can’t be 2 stretchy guys in the League. Awesome! The art was handled by Ross painting over Doug Braithwaite’s pencils, yet what you get in the end is an Alex Ross book, sorry Doug, but it is, the covers are done by Ross and there is a sketchbook section on each issue by both artists. Top row: Issues #1 (with both heroes and villains covers) thru 6. Bottom Row: Issues #7 thru 12 (again with the heroes and villains covers).

This series was such a huge seller that 2nd and even 3rd prints of some issues came out, these usually reprinted the art from the sketchbook sections. Left to Right: Issue #1 – second printing (the only one with new art) and third printing, issues #2, 4 and 5 second printings.

As this bimonthly series progressed, 4-issue hardcover collections came out, three in total, featuring new art by Ross. Top to bottom: Hardcover #1 – issues 1-4 (heroes cover), Hardcover #2 – issues 5-8 (villains cover) and Hardcover #3 – issues 9-12 (heroes in armor cover).

Now, since this series is new, expect to see a complete hardcover as well as a paperback edition soon, I’ll keep you informed. Part 2 will deal exclusively with the action figures that came out of this series. IN MY COLLECTION: Issues 1-12 with variant covers and Hardcover #1.