Elseworlds: Justice League Vol. 2

by Doug Moench, Randy Lofficier, Ted McKeever (illustrator)

Genres: Comics

424 pages, Paperback

Published September 24, 2024

About the author

Doug Moench, is an American comic book writer notable for his Batman work and as the creator of Black Mask, Moon Knight and Deathlok. Moench has worked for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics and many other smaller companies; he has written hundreds of issues of many different comics, and created dozens of characters, such as Moon Knight. In 1973, Moench became the de facto lead writer for the Marvel black-and-white magazine imprint Curtis Magazines. He contributed to the entire runs of Planet of the Apes, Rampaging Hulk (continuing on the title when it changed its name to The Hulk!) and Doc Savage, while also serving as a regular scribe for virtually every other Curtis title during the course of the imprint's existence. Moench is perhaps best known for his work on Batman, whose title he wrote from 1983–1986 and then again from 1992–1998. (He also wrote the companion title Detective Comics from 1983–1986.)

Moench is a frequent and longtime collaborator with comics artist Paul Gulacy. The pair are probably best known for their work on Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu, which they worked on together from 1974–1977. They also co-created Six from Sirius, Slash Maraud, and S.C.I. Spy, and have worked together on comics projects featuring Batman, Conan the Barbarian and James Bond.

Moench has frequently been paired with the artist and inker team of Kelley Jones and John Beatty on several Elseworlds Graphic Novels and a long run of the monthly Batman comic.

Reviews

[James Farley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contains some of the best Elseworlds content (80 Pg. Giant), some of the weirdest (the Expressionist trilogy) and the all-time worst. (JLA : Act of God)

[Sebastian Lauterbach · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection is a very mixed bag. There's a selection of short stories, that span 10 pages or less, and then there's two trilogies of Elseworld tales.


DC Comics Presents 80-Page Spectacular:
I had some fun with these ones. They are so short, that they barely have any substance. Not all of them worked for me, e.g. the Super Sons story was really bad, but there were some unique ideas explored. -> Good

Superman: Metropolis, Batman: Nosferatu & Wonder Woman: The Blue Amazon:
These three stories were all done by the same creative team and each of them put the characters from the DC universe into the setting of a classic movie. First of all, the art is horrific. Everyone and everything looks ugly and I can't believe someone thought this could be published. It drags the whole thing down. Underneath the terrible artwork, the story tackles philosophical questions with a different spin in each story. This might have been interesting, but I was glad when I was done with the stories. A prime example of why the artwork is important in comics.-> Terrible

JLA: Act of God #1-3:
A 150 page story, where every superpower is taken away by a mysterious light and the story shows the aftermath, how the world develops. I like this idea and I love the artwork in this story. There are stakes, as every hero is mortal now and the villains clearly have the upper hand now.
The story does have some problems though: There is too much time spent on heroes mourning and lamenting the loss of their powers. Superman immediately leaves his wife and is a crybaby throughout the whole story. The ending was good, even though I wish some of the mystery could have been answered. -> Good

No reason to read any of these stories for a second time and I question the existence of these collections at this point. In the end, I feel like reading the main runs of these heroes and teams is more satisfying than going through mediocre retellings of these characters.