The Greatest Justice League Comics
The Justice League of America may not be the first superhero team of all time — that honor belongs to the Justice Society of America. But they are the most important.
After the long superhero drought that followed the end of World War II, DC Comics brought the superhero back into vogue by revamping their classic heroes for the nuclear age, reimagining Green Lantern and the Flash as science-based characters instead of their more magical predecessors.
The success of those Justice League comics revamps led to the forming of the Justice League of America, a collection of new and old heroes so successful, that it prompted Stan Lee to give superheroes another shot and invent the Fantastic Four.
1. JLA #1 (1997)
Although the Justice League of America began as a collection of the greatest heroes in the DC Universe, it became over time a more eclectic mix, with B- and C-listers appearing as often as Superman or Wonder Woman.
When Scottish writer Grant Morrison took over the book in the late 90s and relaunched it as JLA #1, they sought to return the team to its former glory by basing the line-up on the big seven — Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, and the Martian Manhunter. Even as they added others to the roster, Plastic Man in particular, this line-up of heavy hitters allowed Morrison to Justice League comics stories about larger-than-life threats and god-like heroes.
2. Justice League #1 – 5 (1987)
Ten years earlier, DC had phenomenal success with an approach opposite to Morrison’s. Coming out of the low point that was the Detroit Justice League (more on that in a minute), editorial demands prevented the new Justice League creative team — writers Kieth Giffen and J.M. DeMattis and penciler Kevin Maguire — from using the company’s biggest names.
As a result, Justice League #1 debuted a team that included Blue Beetle, Doctor Fate, and the grouchy Green Lantern Guy Gardner. To match this eclectic group, Giffen and DeMattis wrote Justice League comics like a sitcom, playing up the comedic potential of mismatched heroes and making full use of Maguire’s mastery over facial expressions. By the time Batman punches out Guy Gardner with a single punch, Justice League (or JLI, as most call it) set a standard that few other books have managed to match.
3. JLA/Avengers (2003)
Since the Avengers debuted a few short years after the introduction of the Justice League, the two teams have often played as mirror images of one another, collecting the greatest heroes of their respective universes and balancing cosmic adventures with personal interactions.
In a rare instance of corporations putting creativity over profit, DC Comics and Marvel Comics allowed their flagship teams to interact in the four-issue crossover JLA/Avengers. Only writer Kurt Busiek, with an encyclopedic knowledge of both worlds, and artist George Pérez, a master at coherent and dynamic crowd scenes, could pull off the feat, matched by Tom Smith’s classic four-part coloring. The resulting miniseries exceeds all expectations, giving readers scenes both expected (Green Arrow and Hawkeye in a shooting contest) and shocking (Darkseid dons the Infinity Gauntlet).
4. Justice League of America #200 (1982)
Before the Morrison run, the Satellite Era of the Bronze Age represented the best of Justice League comics. With a line-up of both A-listers and C-listers, such as Elongated Man and Zatana, the Satellite Era relocated the team to the Watchtower in Earth’s orbit, allowing them to protect the entire world.
That period hit its climax with Justice League of America #200, written by Gerry Conway and drawn by a variety of superstar artists, including George Pérez, Gil Kane, Brian Bolland, and more. The oversized issue pits the expanded League against their first adversaries the Appellax aliens, for an epic story that feels decades in the making.
5. JLA #10-15 (1997-1998)
While some readers found the galactic and reality-level threats of Morrison’s JLA run confounding, no one can deny their sheer impact. Case in point, Rock of Ages, in which arch enemies such as Lex Luthor and Ocean Master form an Injustice League to take down the JLA, starting by replacing the heroes with evil doppelgängers.
No sooner do the JLA stop the Injustice League than they make a fatal error, allowing Darkseid to create a new doomed reality. Even if readers cannot understand all of the beats in Rock of Ages, Morrison and penciler Howard Porter keep things moving at an exhilarating pace, aided by clear inks from John Dell, popping colors by Pat Garrahy, and expressive letters from Ken Lopez.
6. Justice League of America #78 (1970)
In its earliest incarnations, the Justice League worked out of a cave in Happy Harbor or in the Hall of Justice. With Justice League of America #78, writer Dennis O’Neil gives the League a headquarters befitting its stature in the form of a satellite base called the Watchtower. Penciled by Dick Dillin and inked by Joe Giella, Justice League of America #78, keeps things pretty terrestrial, despite the team’s orbital home. That contrast between hi-tech settings and battles against street thugs reminds readers that despite the League’s amazing abilities, they remain committed to saving the day for regular people.
7. JLA #43 – 46 (2000)
In addition to raising the stakes of the League’s adventures, Morrison also cemented Batman’s position as the most formidable member of the team. With his endless brilliance and resourcefulness, Batman could take down baddies that bested even Wonder Woman and Superman.
Morrison’s successor on JLA Mark Waid took that premise to the extreme with the Tower of Babel storyline, in which the terrorist Ra’s Al Ghul finds Batman’s secret plans for defeating each of his teammates and uses them against him. Penciler Howard Porter uses his sharp-angled figures — inked by Drew Geraci and colored by Pat Garrahy, with letters by Ken Lopez — to emphasize the dissension within the team, proving that Batman can do anything except make his teammates trust him.
8. Justice League of America #183 (1980)
No villain challenges the modern DCU Darkseid, the tyrant ruler of the planet Apokolips. However, after his debut in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #134 (1980), written and penciled by Jack Kirby, Darkseid and his fellow New Gods stayed sequestered from the rest of the DCU.
Writer Gerry Conway, penciler Dick Dillin, inker Frank McLaughlin, colorist Gene D’Angelo, and letterer Ben Oda bring the New Gods into the rest of the DC world with Justice League of America #183, which also guest stars the Justice Society of America. When the two teams intervene in a crisis on the planet New Genesis, they come face to face with Darkseid, the first in many clashes to follow.
9. The Brave and the Bold #28 (1960)
Even if editor Julius Schwartz intended to introduce the Justice League as a showcase for DC’s updated heroes, their introductory story set the mold for the team’s adventures. The Brave and the Bold #28 wastes no time chronicling the origin of the first League.
Instead, the story by writer Gardner Fox and penciler Mike Sekowsky begins with Aquaman calling a meeting of the League to deal with alien starfish Starro the Conquerer. With the help of human teenager Snapper Carr, the heroes use their combined might to thwart the odd alien threat. From that moment on, the Justice League would be the standard by which all other superhero teams are measured.
10. JLA #68 – 75 (2002 – 2003)
No one would charge the Justice League of weakness, especially not the main seven members. Still, Aquaman has long been a pop culture punching bag, given his fish-based abilities. In the storyline The Obsidian Age, writer Joe Kelly and a team of artists — including Doug Mahnke, Tom Nguyen, colorist David Baron, and letterer Ken Lopez — don’t try to apologize for Aquaman’s skills or change the character to make him cool. Instead, The Obsidian Age connects Atlantis to a deep reservoir of magic, reminding readers that the King of the Seas must have tremendous power.
11. DC: The New Frontier (2004)
Although most of the heroes of DC’s Silver Age debuted in the late 50s, the League itself premiered in 1960, during the days of John F. Kennedy. Writer and artist Darwyn Cooke tapped into that energy for The New Frontier, a six-issue series that reimagined the dawn of the Silver Age.
Cooke makes the founding of the League more contentious than portrayed in previous Justice League comics but never distracts from the sense of optimism and adventure of the era, washed in Dave Stewart’s pop-art colors and expressed in Jared K. Fletcher’s distinctive letters.
12. Justice League of America #21 (1963)
In 1961, the story “The Flash of Two Worlds” in Flash #123 introduced readers to Earth-2, an alternate reality where the pre-Silver Age superheroes existed. In 1963’s Justice League of America #21, Flash let his colleagues get in on the fun. “Crisis on Earth-One” brings the Justice League and the Justice Society of America together to stop the Crime Champions, a team of baddies including Felix Faust and Chronos.
Original Justice League creative team Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky get an assist from inker Bernie Sachs and letterer Gaspar Saladino for a story that felt monumental at the time, but now seems refreshing and quaint compared to most multiversal team-ups.
13. JLA #5 (1997)
Even though Grant Morrison and Howard Porter tended to tell large-scale Justice League tales, they never deprived the characters of pathos. No issue demonstrates the heart at the center of their JLA run better than issue #5, which introduces Tomorrow Woman. When the League holds a drive looking for new members, a heretofore unknown candidate called Tomorrow Woman wins them over.
Despite her cheerful exterior, Tomorrow Woman is in fact a robot designed by mad scientists T.O. Morrow and Professor Ivo, who plan to use their creation to destroy the League. As that synopsis suggests, Morrison and Porter embrace the goofy premise, all while making Tomorrow Woman into a rich and tragic figure.
14. JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice (2003)
The once-vaunted team-ups between the Justice Society and the Justice League grew more pedestrian after the destruction of the multiverse in Crisis on Infinite Earths, which located the two teams within the same reality. Writers Geoff Johns and David S. Goyer sought to restore some of that prestige to the team-up with their one-shot Virtue and Vice, penciled by Carlos Pacheco, inked by Jesús Merino, colored by Guy Major, and lettered by Ken Lopez.
After the two teams find themselves turning on one another, they uncover a plot by powerful enemies Despero and Johnny Sorrow, who use the Seven Deadly Sins to bring out the heroes’ worst impulses. Pacheco and Merino have fun playing up the comedy in the two teams’ dark sides, while still making the combination feel titanic.
15. Justice League: The Nail (1998)
The Elseworlds story Justice League: The Nail takes place in a reality very similar to the mainline DC Universe, with one crucial difference. When Jonathan and Martha Kent took a drive one evening, their truck hit a nail and they got a flat tire, preventing them from seeing a rocket ship from Krypton. From that simple premise, writer/penciler Alan Davis crafts a story about how one small change can have colossal consequences.
Without a Superman to help them, the Justice League faces all manner of pressure, including xenophobia stoked by Lex Luthor and the coming of Starro the Conquerer. Instead of diminishing the importance of the League, Davis and his collaborators — including inker Mark Farmer, colorist Patricia Mulvihill, and letterer Patricia Prentice — demonstrate that no team can thrive without all of its members, even a team as powerful as the Justice League.
16. Justice League of America #1 (1960)
Not even DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz was surprised that Brave and the Bold #28 thrilled readers, so the Justice League almost immediately jumped to their own comic, bringing along the same creative team from their debut.
Rather than replay the hits from the League’s first story, Gardner Fox introduces one of the team’s most terrifying villains, an alien powerhouse called Despero. Unlike the hulking brute he’ll become later, the Despero of this story uses his cunning and telepathic powers to fight the League, which in turn proves that this collection of heroes has mental as well as physical might.
17. Justice League of America #29 – 30 (1964)
Where the first Justice League “Crisis” story brought together Earths 1 and -2, the second presented the heroes with a more frightening reality. The two-part story in a two-part story from writer Dennis O’Neil, penciler Dick Dillin, and inker Joe Giella, Justice League of America #29 – 30 sends the Justice League and the Justice Society to Earth-3, where they meet the evil Crime Syndicate of America.
O’Neil has fun playing up the opposites on Earth-3, where the all-powerful Ultraman gets stronger when exposed to Kryptonite and Power Ring gets his emerald weapon from the chaos-bringer Volthoom. It may not make much sense on a logical level, but the story has imagination to spare.
18. Justice League International #7 (1987)
No matter what their full name suggests, the Justice League of America has always been a global force. But it took six issues of the late ’80s Justice League series for DC to recognize the change. With issue #7, writers Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis and artist Kevin Maguire (with Al Gordon inking, Gene D’Angelo coloring, and Bob Lappan lettering) retitle the book Justice League International.
The name in part reflects the team’s expanded roster, which includes the Russian Rocket Red and Mr. Miracle of the planet Apokolips. However, it also reflects the book’s larger scope, something that Giffen and DeMatteis explore while retaining the series’ trademark humor.
19. Justice League of America #258 – 261 (1987)
Most comic readers count the period between the Satellite era and the start of Justice League International as a low point for the team. With the satellite destroyed and most of its members gone, Aquaman and Martian Manhunter relocated to Detroit and recruited C-listers such as Vibe and Sarge Steel. Despite the general distaste for the Detroit-era League, Justice League of America ended on a powerful note, thanks to DeMatteis, penciler Luke McDonnell, inker Bob Smith, colorist Gene D’Angelo, and letterer Albert DeGuzman.
The four-part finds the rest of the old hands abandoning the League and a series of assailants destroying those who remain. The storyline ends the twenty-seven-year-old series on a dour note, setting the stage for the more lighthearted Justice League, but not at the cost of the characters’ heroism and humanity.
20. Justice League: No Justice (2018)
Although many amazing Justice League stories have appeared in the comics, many learned about the team through the hit cartoon show Justice League Unlimited. That series featured a League with a gigantic roster, which saw unusual team-ups such as Green Arrow with Warlord Travis Morgan or Green Lantern with Supergirl. Writer Scott Snyder and artist Francis Manapul sought to bring that approach to the comics with the four-part mini-series Justice League: No Justice.
To stop reality-altering Titans, the League expands to include almost all of the DC Universe, from mainstays such as Superman and Martian Manhunter to allies such as the Teen Titans to villains including Starro the Conquerer and Sinestro. Snyder and Manapul do let things get overwhelming, but that’s all part of the fun in this wild adventure.
21. JLA: Year One (1998)
By 1998, the DC Universe had gone through a few reboots, rendering the original Justice League stories a bit out-of-date. To remedy this, writers Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn joined artist Barry Kitson, colorist Pat Garrahy, and letterer Ken Lopez for JLA: Year One.
This version of the story follows the League’s first year together, from their assembling to fight the Appellex aliens to terrestrial terrorists called the Locus. Masters of small interactions, Waid and Augustyn keep focused on Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, and Black Canary (replacing Wonder Woman from the team’s first appearance), before hinting at the team’s much larger and more familiar line-up.
22. Justice League: America #72 – 75 (1993)
While Justice League International gave the team some of its best stories, few creatives could follow the model set by Giffen, DeMatteis, and Maguire. Too often, Leagues full of B-listers disappointed, including the line-up that followed the dissolution of the JLI.
However, before that downward turn in quality, writer and artist Dan Jurgens combined the new and the classic with the “Destiny’s Hand” storyline. As the new Justice League tries to come together after Superman’s death, they encounter an evil version of the Sattelite-era League, haughty heroes unimpressed with the Ray, Bloodwynd, and other C-listers. Jurgens and inker Rick Burchett, colorist Gene D’Angelo, and letterer Willie Schubert do a great job arguing for the merits of the current team, even if that group fails to match the heights of “Destiny’s Hand.”
23. Justice (2005 – 2007)
Before Justice League Unlimited, fans of a certain age learned about the League through the cartoon series Superfriends. Despite the limitations of cheap 1970s TV animation, Superfriends captured the imagination, as demonstrated in the homage artist Alex Ross presents in the twelve-part series Justice.
Written and painted by Ross — with some help from writer Jim Krueger, penciler Doug Braithwaite, and letterer Todd Klein — Justice follows a clash between the League and the Legion of Doom, a villain team that includes Lex Luthor, the Toyman, and Black Manta. While Ross takes Superfriends as inspiration, he moves far beyond that series, not only in a team that includes the Atom and Red Tornado but also in his hyperrealistic take on epic gods.
24. Forever Evil #1-7 (2012)
From time to time, reformed villains have joined the Justice League, including Major Disaster and one-time crook Plastic Man. However, these examples were exceptions that proved the rule, at least until the 2012 crossover Forever Evil. Billed as a victory for DC’s supervillains, who form a massive team to end their foes, Forever Evil instead builds to a clash between the denizens of New Earth and the Crime Syndicate from Earth-3.
The battle leads to a change of heart for some of the bad guys, including Lex Luthor, who becomes an official member of the Justice League. With Forever Evil, Geoff Johns and penciler David Finch — along with inker Richard Friend, colorist Sonia Oback, and letterer Rob Leigh — present an interesting change to the League’s status quo, even if it proved short-lived.
The post The Best Justice League Comics first appeared on Wealth of Geeks.
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