By Jim Krueger, Alex Ross & Doug Braithwaite (DC Comics)
ISBN13: 978-1-84576-350-3
Set outside of regular DC continuity (which is much easier to do since 52 and Countdown I suppose) this tale begins with dreams of Nuclear Armageddon and the failure of Earth’s heroes to save the world. These dreams plague many of Earth’s super-villains, and overcoming a natural distrust of each other they unite under Lex Luthor to finally overcome their arch-enemies.
Not only do they hunt down and deal with Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman and the rest of the Justice League, but they also begin a public charm offensive, whilst changing the world in ways the heroes never have. As the deserts are made to bloom, the crippled cured and the hungry fed, the world is oblivious to the fact that their erstwhile heroes are being brutally murdered…
This first volume also contains additional artwork, illustrated fact-files on the huge cast of characters and some of Doug Braithwaite’s pencilled pages before Alex Ross applied his magic brushes.
Ross’s faux-realist painting style has carved him a unique place in modern comics and led to a number of high-profile successes. This latest project, a twelve issue maxi-series (this volume collects issue #1-4), is a tribute to the big Goodies Vs. Baddies sagas of his own childhood, both in 1970s DC Comics and also the animated Super-Friends and Challenge of the Super-Friends TV shows.
Although a beautiful and visually compelling series it could have greatly benefited from a little of the clear, clean simplicity of those long-ago stories. And while I’m kvetching, I can’t see any benefit to the faithful readership, let alone any new fans, to collect the series into three expensive hardback editions when it could comfortably and handily fit into one. If we keep treating product as artefact we’ll stop being a popular or mass medium and become just another clique market like Collector Plates or Toby Jugs…
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