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DC Finest: Justice League of America #4
DC Finest: Justice League of America: Crisis on Earth-X
Across the multiverse, worlds live or die on the Justice League’s next move. From the Nazi-ruled Earth-X to the metafictional Earth-Prime, these landmark adventures showcase the super-team at their most iconic. This DC Finest volume celebrates the definitive Bronze Age era of Justice League of America, headlined by writer Len Wein and artist Dick Dillin.
In this volume, members of the JLA and JSA from Earth-2 are unexpectedly transported to Earth-X, where they must help that world’s heroes defeat a Nazi regime that won World War II. But it’s not all danger and doom, for amidst the chaos, the JLA finds time to save Christmas and attend an intergalactic wedding!
Collects Justice League of America #103-132.
In this volume, members of the JLA and JSA from Earth-2 are unexpectedly transported to Earth-X, where they must help that world’s heroes defeat a Nazi regime that won World War II. But it’s not all danger and doom, for amidst the chaos, the JLA finds time to save Christmas and attend an intergalactic wedding!
Collects Justice League of America #103-132.
632 pages, Paperback
First published August 18, 2026
About the author
Len Wein
1,600 books162 followersLen Wein was an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine, and for helping revive the Marvel superhero team the X-Men (including the co-creation of Nightcrawler, Storm, and Colossus). Additionally, he was the editor for writer Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons' influential DC miniseries Watchmen.
Wein was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2008.
Wein was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2008.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 12, 2026
This was a must buy for me. So why did you rate it so low? Is a reasonable question. Because I want to be honest to someone thinking of buying this and not lull them into thinking "great stories, great art".
Let's start with why it was a must buy for me. This collection contains my first comics books (other than Spider Super stories) that I read as a child. Looking at when they came out it means I started reading at 4.5 years old? Obviously I was looking at the art - some of the words - and trying to understand the stories as best as I could. But I still have them - even though they are barely holding themselves together. And as a young boy, just seeing a bunch of heroes in full colour was enough for me. I have fond memories of them - especially the JLA/JSA/Earth Prime crossover "Where on Earth am I" and "The Avenging Ghosts of the Justice Society" even though I was probably 100% confused by what was happening. What is Earth Prime? Who are Cary Bates and Elliot S. Maggin (writers for JLa who inserted themselves in the story)? What is the cosmic treadmill? How did the heroes that died come back to life? Which leads me to my review as an adult reading this collection....
...the stories still make no sense. Poor young Michael struggling to understand these stories. Pity him. Because the reality is, most of these stories are very poorly written. The best of them are fun and trying their best to come up with a crisis that involves a bunch of heroes with a bunch of different powers and having JLA and JSA crossovers once a year. But at their worst they are just jumbles of ideas that have no logic holding them together. And "yes" all super hero stories strain credibility but there are still logical rules holding together that universe which these stories usually do not follow. I will say :en Wein (IMO) did the best job and Cary Bates did the worst.
Let's focus on the one where Cary Bates inserted himself into the story. On his (our) Earth he and his friend Elliot (another comic book writer for DC) find the Cosmic treadmill that Flash used to get himself back to his Earth (Earth 1). They put it back together (why?) then Elliot accidentally turns it on and Cary runs into another dimension (Earth 2 where the JSA live). Let's stop there. This treadmill only works for Flash who can run fast enough - Cary shouldn't be able to get it to work. The next issue they try to explain it by saying "it must have had residual Flash speed left over in it"...which is an example of "poor writing" and "no logic". The writers wanted to get Cary into Earth 2 so they used poor writing to get hm there - logic, coherence, be damned. Next they wanted Cary to be a super villain with unlimited powers once he got to Earth 2 so ...again this is the worst writing ever...while he was on his way through dimensions a villain called the Wizard a) gave him godlike powers b) made him evil. The Wizard never had this ability before. Why choose Cary? How did he sense Cary traveling through dimensions? If the Wizard has the ability to give someone godlike powers why not give himself and all his friends these powers on every adventure? Cary then uses these powers to trick the JLA into thinking the JSA are the villains and they fight. The JLA barely punch the JSA but every one of them dies. (imagine how confused I was as a kid reading this - heroes hit villains all the time and they never die - why now?) Again - no logic. If Cary wanted the JSA dead he could have easily killed them himself. Why not also kill the JLA? Why set up this elaborate rouse to get the JLA to kill the JSA? Then the Spectre comes out of nowhere and brings the JSA back to life. Um...okay.
I hurt my head just thinking about it. Almost as much as the art. Dick Dillin is the artist for every single one of these stories. He had an iron grip on this titles for years, until his death. I think he is one of the worst artists in comics. If you were charitable you would say he is serviceable. But if you were honest you would say his poses were static, his story telling suspect, and when asked to draw fantastical things like aliens it is downright ugly. Look, he still draws 100 times better than me but aesthetically it is so unpleasant to look at.
So - should you buy this collection? If you want pure comic reading enjoyment - no. Am I still happy I got it? Yes, unquestionably. They are a part of comic book history and part of my childhood. To put it in perspective: It is still better than the stories written by Dennis O'Neil (which would be in the volume before it). The Len Wein stories are actually pretty good (he does about half of the stories). But I would still say the original Gardner Fox stories are more fun/interesting/clever and the ones that follow after Dick Dillin passes away (some are drawn by George Perez) are more enjoyable because of the art. Not that you asked, but the JLA run by Giffen and Maguire is superior and Grant Morrison's run is probably my favourite.
Let's start with why it was a must buy for me. This collection contains my first comics books (other than Spider Super stories) that I read as a child. Looking at when they came out it means I started reading at 4.5 years old? Obviously I was looking at the art - some of the words - and trying to understand the stories as best as I could. But I still have them - even though they are barely holding themselves together. And as a young boy, just seeing a bunch of heroes in full colour was enough for me. I have fond memories of them - especially the JLA/JSA/Earth Prime crossover "Where on Earth am I" and "The Avenging Ghosts of the Justice Society" even though I was probably 100% confused by what was happening. What is Earth Prime? Who are Cary Bates and Elliot S. Maggin (writers for JLa who inserted themselves in the story)? What is the cosmic treadmill? How did the heroes that died come back to life? Which leads me to my review as an adult reading this collection....
...the stories still make no sense. Poor young Michael struggling to understand these stories. Pity him. Because the reality is, most of these stories are very poorly written. The best of them are fun and trying their best to come up with a crisis that involves a bunch of heroes with a bunch of different powers and having JLA and JSA crossovers once a year. But at their worst they are just jumbles of ideas that have no logic holding them together. And "yes" all super hero stories strain credibility but there are still logical rules holding together that universe which these stories usually do not follow. I will say :en Wein (IMO) did the best job and Cary Bates did the worst.
Let's focus on the one where Cary Bates inserted himself into the story. On his (our) Earth he and his friend Elliot (another comic book writer for DC) find the Cosmic treadmill that Flash used to get himself back to his Earth (Earth 1). They put it back together (why?) then Elliot accidentally turns it on and Cary runs into another dimension (Earth 2 where the JSA live). Let's stop there. This treadmill only works for Flash who can run fast enough - Cary shouldn't be able to get it to work. The next issue they try to explain it by saying "it must have had residual Flash speed left over in it"...which is an example of "poor writing" and "no logic". The writers wanted to get Cary into Earth 2 so they used poor writing to get hm there - logic, coherence, be damned. Next they wanted Cary to be a super villain with unlimited powers once he got to Earth 2 so ...again this is the worst writing ever...while he was on his way through dimensions a villain called the Wizard a) gave him godlike powers b) made him evil. The Wizard never had this ability before. Why choose Cary? How did he sense Cary traveling through dimensions? If the Wizard has the ability to give someone godlike powers why not give himself and all his friends these powers on every adventure? Cary then uses these powers to trick the JLA into thinking the JSA are the villains and they fight. The JLA barely punch the JSA but every one of them dies. (imagine how confused I was as a kid reading this - heroes hit villains all the time and they never die - why now?) Again - no logic. If Cary wanted the JSA dead he could have easily killed them himself. Why not also kill the JLA? Why set up this elaborate rouse to get the JLA to kill the JSA? Then the Spectre comes out of nowhere and brings the JSA back to life. Um...okay.
I hurt my head just thinking about it. Almost as much as the art. Dick Dillin is the artist for every single one of these stories. He had an iron grip on this titles for years, until his death. I think he is one of the worst artists in comics. If you were charitable you would say he is serviceable. But if you were honest you would say his poses were static, his story telling suspect, and when asked to draw fantastical things like aliens it is downright ugly. Look, he still draws 100 times better than me but aesthetically it is so unpleasant to look at.
So - should you buy this collection? If you want pure comic reading enjoyment - no. Am I still happy I got it? Yes, unquestionably. They are a part of comic book history and part of my childhood. To put it in perspective: It is still better than the stories written by Dennis O'Neil (which would be in the volume before it). The Len Wein stories are actually pretty good (he does about half of the stories). But I would still say the original Gardner Fox stories are more fun/interesting/clever and the ones that follow after Dick Dillin passes away (some are drawn by George Perez) are more enjoyable because of the art. Not that you asked, but the JLA run by Giffen and Maguire is superior and Grant Morrison's run is probably my favourite.
September 4, 2026
This books collects a good chunk of Bronze Age Justice League. Len Wein is a pretty solid writer for some of it, and then it gets passed around between Cary Bates, Elliot S! Maggin, Martin Pasko and Gerry Conway. Dick Dillen does pencils for basically all of it, which helps give it a really cohesive (if a workman's) aesthetic.
It's definitely clinging to that classic goofy tone of Gardner Fox era Justice League, with a bunch of silly contrived plots, but with a bit more willingness to experiment in narrative structure. The titular "Crisis on Earth X" is one of the better ones, with the Earth-1 and Earth-2 heroes getting transported to a parallel world where the golden age Quality Comics characters are locked in an eternal battle with Nazis (well technically supercomputer robots that have secretly replaced the Nazis to control the world.) In this and other stories, Red Tornado is one of the most interesting characters, constantly vacillating between foolish blundering, secret betrayal, and heroic sacrifice. It's also cool to see Adam Strange show up- he's got such a great classic spaceman vibe that's just very fun.
There's also some pretty dumb stories, particularly when Cary Bates and Elliot S! Maggin are writing, where they self-insure themselves into the story and it gets very meta and tedious. They also have Spectre just politely ask God to resurrect the entire JSA in an incredibly lazy Deus ex Machina. Really a lot of these stories end in some half-baked sci-fi "twist" solution that barely makes sense.
All in all, this is a pretty decent taste of a very classic-feeling Justice League era, especially with the JLA Satellite featuring very prominently, but it's not anything groundbreaking. The characters feel like they have a bit more personality but it's still pretty constrained by the Justice League formula and reading a bunch of these in a row you don't get much a sense of progression to the team dynamics.
It's definitely clinging to that classic goofy tone of Gardner Fox era Justice League, with a bunch of silly contrived plots, but with a bit more willingness to experiment in narrative structure. The titular "Crisis on Earth X" is one of the better ones, with the Earth-1 and Earth-2 heroes getting transported to a parallel world where the golden age Quality Comics characters are locked in an eternal battle with Nazis (well technically supercomputer robots that have secretly replaced the Nazis to control the world.) In this and other stories, Red Tornado is one of the most interesting characters, constantly vacillating between foolish blundering, secret betrayal, and heroic sacrifice. It's also cool to see Adam Strange show up- he's got such a great classic spaceman vibe that's just very fun.
There's also some pretty dumb stories, particularly when Cary Bates and Elliot S! Maggin are writing, where they self-insure themselves into the story and it gets very meta and tedious. They also have Spectre just politely ask God to resurrect the entire JSA in an incredibly lazy Deus ex Machina. Really a lot of these stories end in some half-baked sci-fi "twist" solution that barely makes sense.
All in all, this is a pretty decent taste of a very classic-feeling Justice League era, especially with the JLA Satellite featuring very prominently, but it's not anything groundbreaking. The characters feel like they have a bit more personality but it's still pretty constrained by the Justice League formula and reading a bunch of these in a row you don't get much a sense of progression to the team dynamics.
September 7, 2026
Esta recopilación tiene una primera parte bastante decente, con el veterano Len Wein a los guiones y un gran Dick Giordano entintando los lápices del sólido artesano Dick Dillin. Las historias no son maravillosas, pero el sentido del humor y la aventura no se pierden, e incluso en ciertas ocasiones estamos ante tebeos bastante disfrutables, como ocurre con la excelente historia situada en Tierra-X que da título al volumen.
Sin embargo, toda la segunda parte es aburrida, tontorrona y formulaica. Los guiones de Cary Bates —un guionista mediocre, como mucho—, Elliot S! Maggin y Marty Pasko no llegan ni a la suela de los talones a los de Wein; ni siquiera el cruce con la JSA se salva, con una serie de giros de guion estúpidos que ni siquiera resultan divertidos: se trata de una serie de episodios simplemente mediocres, demasiado serios para la Silver Age y demasiado vacuos para la Bronze Age. Es una época de transición que a DC Cómics le costó superar, y en estos tebeos es evidente que solo Wein tiene el oficio necesario para guiar a la Justice League hacia esa nueva era en la que, claro está, Marvel llevaba la voz cantante (y la seguiría llevando hasta mediados de los ochenta). Además, Dick Dillin cambia de entintador, y con esto se le ven los mimbres propios de un señor de otra época que tan bien habían logrado tapar las tintas de Giordano.
En conclusión: de todos los volúmenes de la Justice League publicados dentro de la línea DC Finest, este es el que menos me ha gustado. Considero que DC haría mejor recopilando todos los números de los años sesenta antes de abordar estas etapas más bien mediocres de su supergrupo por excelencia.
Sin embargo, toda la segunda parte es aburrida, tontorrona y formulaica. Los guiones de Cary Bates —un guionista mediocre, como mucho—, Elliot S! Maggin y Marty Pasko no llegan ni a la suela de los talones a los de Wein; ni siquiera el cruce con la JSA se salva, con una serie de giros de guion estúpidos que ni siquiera resultan divertidos: se trata de una serie de episodios simplemente mediocres, demasiado serios para la Silver Age y demasiado vacuos para la Bronze Age. Es una época de transición que a DC Cómics le costó superar, y en estos tebeos es evidente que solo Wein tiene el oficio necesario para guiar a la Justice League hacia esa nueva era en la que, claro está, Marvel llevaba la voz cantante (y la seguiría llevando hasta mediados de los ochenta). Además, Dick Dillin cambia de entintador, y con esto se le ven los mimbres propios de un señor de otra época que tan bien habían logrado tapar las tintas de Giordano.
En conclusión: de todos los volúmenes de la Justice League publicados dentro de la línea DC Finest, este es el que menos me ha gustado. Considero que DC haría mejor recopilando todos los números de los años sesenta antes de abordar estas etapas más bien mediocres de su supergrupo por excelencia.
October 19, 2026
Absolutely insane writing and stories that make no sense but its really fun Bronze Age comics. Liked how less popular members like Atom, Red Tornado, and Elongated Man had important roles to play. Also the JLA and JSA crossovers were great as always. 1972-1976. 8/10
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews