JLA: The Greatest Stories Ever Told

The Greatest Stories Ever Told

by Gardner Francis Fox, Dennis O'Neil, Martin Pasko

Superman. Batman. Wonder Woman. Green Lantern. The Flash.Aquaman. Martian Manhunter. Green Arrow. Black Canary.They are the Worlds Greatest Super-Heroes, and they compose the Justice League of America. For over 45 years, this all-star team of DCs greatest characters has entertained generations of comics fans. And now, this exciting new collection reprints eight of their greatest tales in one volume, covering nearly every era and incarnation of the League!From classic adventures of the Silver Age, to stories that formed the basis of the best-selling IDENTITY CRISIS, to newer tales featuring a humorous League and the return of the classic lineup, this volume has something for every fan of super-heroes!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Superheroes, Dc Comics, Collections, Batman, Graphic Novels Comics

192 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2006

About the author

Gardner Francis Cooper Fox was an American writer known best for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. Comic book historians estimate that he wrote more than 4,000 comics stories, including 1,500 for DC Comics.
Fox is known as the co-creator of DC Comics heroes the Flash, Hawkman, Doctor Fate and the original Sandman, and was the writer who first teamed those and other heroes as the Justice Society of America. Fox introduced the concept of the Multiverse to DC Comics in the 1961 story "Flash of Two Worlds!"

Pseudonyms: Gardner F. Fox, Jefferson Cooper, Bart Sommers, Paul Dean, Ray Gardner, Lynna Cooper, Rod Gray, Larry Dean, Robert Starr, Don Blake, Ed Blake, Warner Blake, Michael Blake, Tex Blane, Willis Blane, Ed Carlisle, Edgar Weston, Tex Slade, Eddie Duane, Simon Majors, James Kendricks, Troy Conway, Kevin Matthews, Glen Chase

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another comic, another DC repackaging of the Greatest Stories Ever Told. This time it’s the JLA. These aren’t the greatest JLA stories ever told, not quite. In this volume, the editors even tried to stretch a concept – superhero identities - for an entire book, and it gets stretched almost to the breaking point. That said, this is readable.

The first story suffers from Silver Age brain freeze – Dr. Destiny, from his prison cell, sends letters to all the Justice League members. The letters are coated with some substance that causes the heroes to dream up super version of themselves.

- This is where the Silver Age logic starts to fall apart under its own weight. How does a letter get delivered to Aquaman in the ocean, let alone Superman or the Atom? The postman can barely find my mailbox after he’s had a liquid lunch. -

These super-versions come alive, defeat the real heroes and start going on a crime spree. The real heroes are arrested…



…and forced to go into exile in outer space and watch The Atom sit and think on top of a globe…for eternity.



The heroes decide to attack their super-evil rivals as their aliases, because nobody knows who they really are.



Wait? Wonder Woman is a woman in real life?

Aquaman, at this juncture in DC publishing history, didn’t have an alias, so he’s stuck in outer space, in a space ship, that Green Lantern created for him. I think Lantern also created a few bottles of water as well.

And they forgot all about him!!



They don’t seem too broken up about it either, especially after they put some Amnesium in their crack pipes and smoke it.

Aquawho?

Snapper Carr!



Were hepcat, beatniks this annoying?

Snapper Carr gets roughed up due to his “mascot” status with the JLA…



…until he’s rescued by Joe Ordinary. The Joker in disguise. Huh?



I think Bats’ll somehow get out of this. Don’t you?

There’s tales of secret identity switcheroo’s…



…so, Superman has to cook up more Amnesium to keep on hand in his Opium Den/Fortress of Solitude.



A fairly cool trope is explored: Super villains switch bodies with super heroes.

The super villains are The Secret Society of Super Villains, who like to announce themselves to super heroes they’ve beaten senseless.



And whose plan succeeds brilliantly.



The true meaning of Evil - profound immorality, wickedness, and depravity, especially when regarded as a supernatural force

Let’s all join in with the maniacal laughter: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *coughs up a lung* hahahaha…

How do the villains tip their hand? Faux Green Lantern puts the moves on Black Canary. Will power, baby, will power!

In Keith Giffen’s story, the JLA are having issues, hence their need to include my favorite lovable dickhead superhero, Guy Gardner on the roster.



Just the threat of getting punched in the face again by Batman is almost a deterrent.



There’s a Morrison/Millar tale of the superheroes giving up their powers in order to avert a potential future disaster.



But not Bats, who gets to smack the Flash around.



Hence, Flash’s discomfort in Joe Kelly’s tale.



You know what they say about having a Bat-rocket between your legs.



Bottom line: If you’re relatively new to comics and want a lowdown on the Justice League, this would be a fun place to start. Even for seasoned comic geeks, there’s tales to be recommended, though the lack of original cover art is off putting.

Three and a half stars rounded up.

[John Parungao · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always loved the Justice League and this collection included some of my favorite stories. It also includes the infamous story where JLA "mascot" Snapper Carr is tricked by the Joker into betraying the Justice League, that is one of the highlights of this collection.
The first story of the Justice League International era is also part of this collection and is an important turning point in the history of the Justice League. My favorite stories and my favorite era of Justice League is featured at the end of this book, the JLA series from 1997 is the highlight for me.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It must really bother the rest of the Justice League that no matter what they do they'll never be as awesome as Batman. I bet Superman hangs out in the Fortress of Solitude sometimes wondering if he could up his coolness quotient by finding some Arctic Bats and breeding them.

[Robert Noll · Rating 3 out of 5]

The “single-issue” format does an injustice to the JLA. There is too much action to pack into anything less than a three issue story arc.

On the plus side, the artistry and authorship improve as the years pass. An early Grant Morrison/Mark Millar collaboration was a bonus.

[Steve Howells · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really great read. Some cool old school JLA stories with great art work.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good collection of stories. The Justice had a lot of trust issues at the beginning.

[Lindsay Stares · Rating 3 out of 5]

Premise: A collection of iconic Justice League stories from throughout the history of comics.

I picked this up at the library on a whim, because I like the Justice League, and I like zany classic comics. Some of these were a little corny and boring even for me, though. Some, on the other hand, were pretty great.

The first story is “The Super Exiles of Earth”, in which the Justice League has to reveal their secret identities to each other to defeat a bunch of evil duplicates. It’s a little zany, with stilted dialogue and a really silly, forced resolution. The second story is the one where Snapper Carr betrays the League in the name of “normal” people. It has some nice Batman stuff, but a really silly ending as well.

There’s another one based on secret identities, where each Leaguer thinks he’s actually one of the others. This is a neat idea, but the plot involves Doctor Light setting traps for them based on their mixed-up memories. So, for example, Green Arrow falls into a trap in Ray Palmer’s lab that the actual Atom could have escaped from. Which sort of begs the question: why not just set that trap somewhere Oliver Queen would go? The end effect is rather silly. It’s better once it gets into the big fight scene, though.

The one where the JLA body-swap with a bunch of villains was rather fun, with lot of interesting character moments and plot twists. That’s followed by the story of the formation of a later incarnation of the League, which since it includes Guy Gardner, Black Canary, Dr. Fate, Mister Miracle and Batman, is full of rather hilarious bickering. The plan to beat the bad guys in this one was pretty neat, too.

Finally there are two modern era stories: Star Seed, from Grant Morrison’s run, and a one-shot issue called Two Minute Warning. I really liked both of these, especially the latter. Two Minute Warning is a great exploration of the League, jumping back and forth between a big battle and vignettes about what each member was doing before the alarm went off. Also, there’s some really excellent interactions between Batman and Wonder Woman that make me quite happy. It does have Plastic Man, though.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this compilation, although I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to anyone who isn’t already a fan.

[Randall Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just skimmed through this. A couple stories I remember reading, when JLA was still great in the '70's-'80's, before it was overhauled and all the "world's greatest heroes" were replaced with less interesting heroes with annoying personalities [first making Aquaman the leader of a boring league that introduced forgettable characters like Hispanic teen hero Vibe - remember him? Of course not. Then reintroducing a few of the old league like Batman and Black Canary, but adding obnoxious characters like Guy Gardner and Booster Gold, while turning other familiar leaguers into sex-crazed irresponsible teenagers instead of the adults they used to be.)
These stories (in the first large portion, when the JLA was still a bunch of cool adults) show the league working as a compatible team, as Black Canary first learns to control her powers and Snapper Carr turns traitor. One story I had read before, in which the JLA's bodies are switched with those of their enemies, is not one of the greatest JLA stories ever told, but it definitely shows what the JLA once was: a team dedicated to working together, uniting their individual personalities and powers to form a unified front. It's because they know one another so well that the rest of the JLA finally see through the disguises, led by Green Arrow, who instantly recognizes that his fellow leaguers are not acting like themselves.
A nice quick read, with some nostalgic looks of JLA through the decades. Borrow it from the library like I did and skip past the stories that are less appealing.

[Viridian5 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just can't get into a lot of Golden or Silver Age stuff, especially not when it involves things like an element a group of super-heroes uses to selectively mindwipe each other and civilians, though at least one story addresses a danger of amnesium. Comics also did a lot of telling and less showing then. As for the modern era works, I read Justice League #1 1987 when it came out, but this first issue of the series wasn't its strongest story by any means, just important for continuity reasons. (Not that DC always cares about continuity.) The only story in here I can say I really liked is "Two-Minute Warning" from JLA #61, February 2002.

[Ubalstecha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of stories from the history of the JLA. A lot of it is from the Dick Dillon era of the 70s and 80s. Including two different stories where the League has to fight impersonators. With guest appearances by characters like the Joker, Doctor Light and Max Lord, this collection is a fun read for the long-time JLA fan.

[to'c · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good stuff in here and fun seeing the evolution of the group over 40 years, most of which I've missed. And the stories almost form a cohesive whole. I don't know if that was intended or just an illusion on my part but I liked it anyway. A good collection of writers and artists as well.

[Abby Frye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another omnibus/greatest hits book. If you don't know the JLA story at all avoid this type of book as main characters and supporting characters change from story to story without more information. Can make it harder for someone who is new to the genre and group to follow.

[Frank Taranto · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shows why DC was never as good as Marvel.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a big JLA fan, but this gives a great introduction into the organization and all of the superheros who have served on the JLA.