‘Justice: Volume 3’ – Ross, Krueger & Braithwaite (D.C. Comics)

My journey through the ‘Justice’ storyline has been a bit of a mixed bag to say the least. Volume 1 saw me absolutely captivated by some gorgeous artwork and intrigued by the promise of a storyline that looked like it might actually dare to do something different with the nature of (super) heroism. Volume 2 though... The artwork was absolutely gorgeous once more but what I found myself with was a story that was headed down some very familiar paths. The stakes were high but you could almost tell how it was going to turn out...
Or could you? With only one more volume to work through I was always going to finish the story off and I couldn’t help but hope there’d be at least one small surprise to send things out with a bang. As it turned out…

I’ll be honest with you, life has led to me writing this review on the fly and I’ve copied/pasted the blurb instead of rewriting it as I normally do. Read on but BEWARE OF SPOILERS in the next paragraph…

Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter are the world's greatest super-team - the Justice League of America! With Lex Luthor's plan - and Brainiac's betrayal - revealed, the world's heroes must regroup and launch an all-out assault on the headquarters of a huge society of supervillains, in order to free the world from their grasp! Master tactician Batman has a plan...but will any heroes survive long enough to put it into action?

Even if I hadn’t told you to beware of spoilers you already knew how this one was going to go… I guess the problem is that some superheroes are just too well established as a brand for writers to be able to do anything truly innovative with them. Volume 3 follows the path set by Volume 2 in drawing clear battle lines and setting one group against another ahead of a foregone conclusion. That’s not to say that there aren’t some nice moments along the way though. I’m thinking about Aquaman’s attempts to save his son and a beautifully drawn page where he realises that it won’t be as easy as he thought; this volume is worth picking up for moments like these.

A big ol’ superhero/villain smack-down is inevitable and there are no surprises about how it turns out. What you can’t deny though is the energy present in the dialogue and artwork; if you didn’t know that there’s a scrap happening then you will and in no short order!

At the risk of repeating myself once again… Ross and Braithwaite’s artwork is superb and leaves you with no choice but to turn the page, once you’ve finished running your eyes over the gorgeous detail that is.

‘Justice: Volume 3’ doesn’t surprise its reader at all but what it does do is done very well and rounds things off with a bang that you will see coming but will enjoy nonetheless. If you’re a DC fan then you’ve read this series already but read it again anyway, the artwork is more than worth it.

Eight out of Ten