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Mild Mannered Reviews - JLA Comics

Justice #4

Justice #4

Scheduled to arrive in stores: February 15, 2006

Cover date: April 2006

Writter: Jim Krueger and Alex Ross
Penciller: Doug Braithwaite
Painter: Alex Ross

"Justice: Chapter Four"

Reviewed by: Nick Newman

Click to enlarge


Giant images of the villains address the world, announcing that they will help the world, while the so-called superheroes have done nothing. In his apartment, Clark Kent is watching the address as Bizarro crashes into his building. Before Clark can react, he's dragged out of the building and into the sky by his doppelganger.

In his locker room, Hal Jordan receives a warning the moment before everything starts to turn yellow around him. Sinestro appears and hurls Jordan into a boom tube, sending him away.

Green Arrow and Black Canary spend a night together, when the two are suddenly ambushed by Clayface and Scarecrow, catching them completely off guard.

After giving her speech, Wonder Woman returns to her room only to be attacked by Cheetah. Diana tries to fend off the attacks, but before long she's brought down by her enemy.

The Hawks, in their civilian identities find themselves attacked at work by a giant Toyman robot.

Working in his office, Ray Palmer is completely unprepared as a sniper shoots him from a nearby rooftop, catching him in the shoulder.

Back in Metropolis, Superman fights back against the Bizarro. Right as he starts to gain the upper hand, Solomon Grundy joins the battle. The two beat on Superman, when Parasite appears and begins to drain Superman's power.

Out to dinner, Barry Allen has to leave when he suddenly receives a Justice League signal from Superman. Leaving his girlfriend in the restaurant, he doesn't notice Captain Cold in the kitchen as he hurries out. As he runs towards Metropolis, he finds himself unable to slow down as he begins to outrace himself.

Just when Superman can't take any more, Metallo steps out and bombards Superman with his Kryptonite heart.

Across the planet, the League lies defeated as Superman yells for help.

5Story - 5: You might not be able to tell by the length of my review, but this is the issue when things finally got going. I've commented on previous issues that not enough was happening. Setup issues are fine, but when it's a bi-monthly series, six months is a long time to wait to see plans really get going. It was definitely worth the wait.

Being the Superman Homepage, obviously we care most about the Last Son of Krypton, and it was great to see him take the starring role for this issue. Of course, all we saw was our hero getting beat to a pulp, but at least he got the respect he deserves when the villains sent four villains after him while every other hero was taken down alone.

So far the real stars of this series have been the villains, and I like what they're doing with them. Regardless of their true motives, a lot of what Luthor says has some merit to it, and I like seeing this series address the issue of the heroes not solving the big problems.

Justice continues to be a standout book in DC's lineup. Considering we haven't seen a good issue of JLA for 6 months or so, this is a fantastic series.

5Art - 5: I've said this three times before now, but this art continues to be absolutely beautiful. The shot of Metallo revealing the Kryptonite was fantastic, Flash's out of control sprint was cool, and that final splash page with Superman at the mercy of his attackers was fantastic.

Ross' painting is always great, but I think that working over Braithwaite's pencils is really helping his style. The whole book is just gorgeous.

5Cover Art - 5: I love this cover, and have ever since I saw the early solicitation for it. I do wish that they had worked Metallo and Parasite in, but as it is, this is still a great iconic image of Superman and his villains.

Mild Mannered Reviews

2006

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

January 2006

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