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Elseworlds: Justice League Vol. 1
- GenresComics
432 pages, Paperback
Published August 20, 2024
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3 people want to read
About the author
Adam Warren
190 books131 followersAdam Warren (born 1967) is an American comic book writer and artist who is most famous for his original graphic novel Empowered, for adapting the characters known as Dirty Pair into an American comic book, and for being one of the first American commercial illustrators to be influenced by the general manga style.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 27, 2025
A potpourri of very unrelated Elseworld stories, loosely tied in by the Justice League theme. 2 are good, 2 are mediocre and 2 are terrible.
DC Comics is known for their large archive of Elseworld stories - Tales, where things are different and the reader gets to reacquaint with their favourite characters. I have a stack of 8 of these books and I decided to start with the Justice League.
These stories are all from the 90s, but there's no context here and the jump from one story to the next is anything but subtle. It often helps to have a good understanding of the DC Universe to get something out of these stories of course. As such, these collections are for the most dedicated readers only.
Let's have a look at all of them:
Elseworld's Finest: This is Superman and Batman in the 1920s. The story has a lot of cameos of other characters, but it's basically about the two heroes and their most iconic villains. Doesn't really fit the Justice League theme in my opinion. The artwork is quite good, the writing less so. The story wants to sell that Clark Kent is Superman and Bruce Wayne is Batman as a shocking twist. That doesn't work at all for me. A bit boring overall -> Mediocre.
Justice Riders: The story from the cover of this collection. Wonder Woman is a Sheriff and assembles her own Team to fight a city destroying menace. It's a cool theme, Wonder Woman as a Gunslinger is badass and the story works even without Batman and Superman. The artwork could be better, but I've had fun with this one -> Good.
League of Justice: This one made me angry. How can such an unreadable mess be published, let alone in the 90s? Walls of text; the writer completely ignores that comic is a medium, where the writing needs to collaborate with pictures. Instead the pages are cluttered with rambling. One of the worst comics I've read period -> Terrible.
Wonder Woman: Amazonia: Men are misogynic pigs and Women are their slaves during Victorian England. It's a bit extreme. The artwork is very unique here, but the story doesn't flow well and is confusing. I do appreciate the experiment though -> Mediocre.
Titans: Scissors, Paper, Stone: I love the artwork. It's like a coloured manga. The main characters are fighting Kaijuu in a distant future. Should be a winner, but this story is very badly written. Things are not explained properly and the characters ramble about confusing things. Unreadable and -> Terrible.
Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl: The best one in this collection. I can tell, because it's the only setting where I would read further stories, if they'd exist. Batgirl is portrayed as a cold and calculating Ruler of her city, almost like a dictator, not on friendly terms with other superheroes. This is a fun and innovative angle. I didn't care much for Supergirl here, but the overall dynamics and politics in this one were quite intriguing -> Great.
In total this collection doesn't really win me over and I don't even know who would be the target audience for this, as plenty of Elseworld stories can be found incorporated in the main runs of any given character.
DC Comics is known for their large archive of Elseworld stories - Tales, where things are different and the reader gets to reacquaint with their favourite characters. I have a stack of 8 of these books and I decided to start with the Justice League.
These stories are all from the 90s, but there's no context here and the jump from one story to the next is anything but subtle. It often helps to have a good understanding of the DC Universe to get something out of these stories of course. As such, these collections are for the most dedicated readers only.
Let's have a look at all of them:
Elseworld's Finest: This is Superman and Batman in the 1920s. The story has a lot of cameos of other characters, but it's basically about the two heroes and their most iconic villains. Doesn't really fit the Justice League theme in my opinion. The artwork is quite good, the writing less so. The story wants to sell that Clark Kent is Superman and Bruce Wayne is Batman as a shocking twist. That doesn't work at all for me. A bit boring overall -> Mediocre.
Justice Riders: The story from the cover of this collection. Wonder Woman is a Sheriff and assembles her own Team to fight a city destroying menace. It's a cool theme, Wonder Woman as a Gunslinger is badass and the story works even without Batman and Superman. The artwork could be better, but I've had fun with this one -> Good.
League of Justice: This one made me angry. How can such an unreadable mess be published, let alone in the 90s? Walls of text; the writer completely ignores that comic is a medium, where the writing needs to collaborate with pictures. Instead the pages are cluttered with rambling. One of the worst comics I've read period -> Terrible.
Wonder Woman: Amazonia: Men are misogynic pigs and Women are their slaves during Victorian England. It's a bit extreme. The artwork is very unique here, but the story doesn't flow well and is confusing. I do appreciate the experiment though -> Mediocre.
Titans: Scissors, Paper, Stone: I love the artwork. It's like a coloured manga. The main characters are fighting Kaijuu in a distant future. Should be a winner, but this story is very badly written. Things are not explained properly and the characters ramble about confusing things. Unreadable and -> Terrible.
Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl: The best one in this collection. I can tell, because it's the only setting where I would read further stories, if they'd exist. Batgirl is portrayed as a cold and calculating Ruler of her city, almost like a dictator, not on friendly terms with other superheroes. This is a fun and innovative angle. I didn't care much for Supergirl here, but the overall dynamics and politics in this one were quite intriguing -> Great.
In total this collection doesn't really win me over and I don't even know who would be the target audience for this, as plenty of Elseworld stories can be found incorporated in the main runs of any given character.
March 17, 2025
Mostly cool JLA stories set in the Elseworlds format. I object to the Manga Teen Titans being featured, because IF I were to read some Manga, it would be Astroboy, NOT the Titans. Manga is a Japanese comic strip style, and it's expression SHOULD feature Japanese characters, NOT American ones. Adding in the fact that the collection was advertised to feature the Justice League, These two facts cost the collection a star.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews