Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Just a Bad Dream: Justice #1

Ever had a bad dream? Or even a nightmare? Everyone has them sometimes. Maybe you've had the one where something is chasing you and you can't seem to move. Or maybe you've had the one where you show up for work or school and suddenly realize that you've forgotten your pants. Or maybe...umm, on second thought, I won't mention THAT one. The point is, we all have bad dreams, but you wake up, get a glass of water, go back to bed and forget all about it.

In Justice #1, the villains of the DC Universe are sharing the same bad dream. This isn't the kind of dream you just go back to sleep and forget about, though. Sharing dreams is disturbing enough, but this is one whopper of a bad dream. This is an apocalyptic, end-of-everything bad dream. Even stranger, the villains all see the heroes of the Justice League completely failing to save ANYONE in this dream of theirs. Since even the bad guys don't want the whole world to be destroyed, they are going to have to work together to make sure this dream never comes true.

Justice is a collaborative effort with a story by Alex Ross and Jim Krueger, and gorgeous painted art by Ross and Doug Braithwaite. Everybody knows Alex Ross, and you get just what people expect from him in this book: incredibly detailed paintings that make the heroes and villains of the DC Universe seem real enough to step right off of the pages. The backgrounds are amazingly lush, and Ross really shines depicting both apocalyptic explosions and amazing views of Aquaman's Atlantis.

The creators of Justice are not thinking small. The story is just as big and bold as the art. From beginning to end, this book is about huge, momentous, Earth-shattering events, with the promise of more to follow. There is no slow build-up to the action while characters sit around and chat here. For readers not as familiar with the DC Universe (like me!), there are some very helpful files from the Batcomputer included to fill you in on the major characters. No more will you be mocked because you don't know Black Manta's backstory!

Really, this book is worth 3 bucks for the art alone. Add in a great story, and you just can't go wrong. Try Justice #1 now, while it is Four Color Fantasies' guaranteed Book of the Week! We can't promise you won't have any more bad dreams, but next time you have one you can roll over, read your copy of Justice, and realize that your dreams could be worse!

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