The Justice League picked up the baton from the Golden Age Justice Society, combining the greatest superheroes of DC Comics into one potent package. Since its debut in 1960, the team has evolved with the times, but one thing has always stayed the same: the Justice League is greatest group of superheroes ever. There are few teams out there that could survive the ups and downs the group has, and its 65-year history has given readers some of the best superhero team stories ever, all while using the multiverse concept in the best possibles ways. There’s something about the Justice League that fans love and always have.
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There are few teams out there that can stand with the Justice League. If it wasn’t for them, Marvel Comics as we know it wouldn’t even exist. That’s the kind of legacy that the group has, and it’s made them into a team unlike any other out there. These ten Justice League stories are the best in the team’s history, brilliant examples of why they are so amazing.
10) JLA: The Nail
DC’s Elseworlds have told amazing stories, taking readers to all-new worlds and introducing them to new versions of their favorites. JLA: The Nail, by writer/artist Alan Davis, takes place on a Earth where the Kents ran over a nail and missed the crash landing of Kal-El. In the future, after Lex Luthor wins the mayoral election of Metropolis, the Justice League are pulled into the master plan of a mysterious mastermind with technology and power beyond anything they’ve ever seen. Davis is able to combine the classic and the modern with this story, and it’s a masterpiece. This book doesn’t get the credit it deserves, but it definitely is one of the best Justice League stories, taking readers on a ride they’ll never forget.
9) “World War III”
Grant Morrison writes the best team books in comics, something they proved with their JLA run. Working with artist Howard Porter, Morrison took the team back to basics and gave readers the kind of gonzo superhero action that the League was famous for. Their and Porter’s last story on the team was the perfect epic to close out on. “World War III” kicked off with the people of Earth going crazy, their anxiety and anger ratcheted up to new heights. As the Injustice Gang launches an attack, it’s revealed that the reason behind all of this strife is a weapon of an older universe, one that the heroes had been warned about for ages. What follows is the ultimate battle between good and evil, as the greatest heroes take on a weapon that can extinguish universes. This is big concept Morrison at its finest, with perfect art from Porter rounding it all out.
8) Justice Legague of America #29-30
DC Comics in the 1960s was at their height of their popularity, with the Justice League standing tall. However, you’re not going to find too many of those old stories on this list because, to be frank, unless you really love comic books, Silver Age DC is very hard to get in to (more so than Silver Age Marvel, honestly). It’s so different from what we have today, but there are still some gems that any one can enjoy. Justice League of America (Vol. 1) #29-30, by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky, is the first appearance of the Crime Syndicate of Earth-Three, with the League needing to call in Earth-Two’s Justice Society to help them survive against their evil doppelgangers. This is the kind of multiversal madness that DC was known for, and will appeal to anyone, even if it’s just as a relic of a bygone age. Fox and Sekowsky are amazing, and if you like this one, you’ll love the next one.
7) Justice League of America (Vol. 1) #21
Justice League of America #21, by Fox and Sekowsky, began the yearly tradition of JLA/JSA team-ups. Earth-Two had already been discovered in The Flash #121, and this issue saw the two main teams of each world team up, as the League meets the Justice Society of America for the first time. This is an amazing little piece of superhero history, as two different generations of DC heroes teamed together for the first time. It’s a story that will knock your socks off, even with its decidedly old school presentation, giving you a greater appreciation for those Justice League classics of yesteryear.
6) “The Lightning Saga”
After Infinite Crisis brought back numerous pre-Crisis ideas, DC rebooted Justice League of America and Justice Society of America. Eventually, the two books had a major crossover, a la the old pre-Crisis ones, with “The Lightning Saga”, by Brad Meltzer, Geoff Johns, Ed Benes, Dale Eaglesham, Fernando Pasarin, and Shane Davis. When a captured Trident turns out to the Legion of Superheroes’ Karate Kid, the two teams embark on a quest that will take to all around the Earth to figure out what’s going on. This story is a flawless blend of old school and modern that will knock your socks off. It was an amazing story when it was coming out and it still stands up, grabbing your imagination and never letting go, with great writing and deft art.
5) Kingdom Come
Kingdom Come is a DC classic, an amazing story about the ideals of the past meeting the realities of the present and beyond. Mark Waid and Alex Ross’s opus opens on a world where the heroes of yesteryear have been replaced by a violent new breed. When a disaster changes everything, Superman leads the champions of yesterday into a battle against forces that have long awaited this moment. Kingdom Come focuses on Superman, but it’s as much about the Justice League and its legacy as the Man of Steel’s. It’s a story that has its flaws — it was created by two Silver/Bronze Age DC fans to call out the problems with ’90s comics — but also has a timeless quality that makes it amazing. Beautiful art combines with awesome writing to give the reader a grand superhero epic.
4) Justice
Justice, by Jim Krueger, Alex Ross, and Doug Braithwaite, is an amazing Justice League epic that plays off the Bronze Age version of the team and the SuperFriends cartoon to create a modern masterpiece. Dreams of the apocalypse are given to the superhumans of the world, with the League and the Legion of Doom mobilizing to stop the upcoming destruction in different ways. What follows is a story that pits the greatest superheroes against the greatest supervillains in a battle with nothing less than all of society at stake. Krueger and Ross give readers a story that will hook you from the world go, with Braithwaite’s pencils enhanced by Ross’s amazing painting to give readers what is, in my humble opinion, the best looking Justice League story ever. It’s classic and modern at the same time, a perfect slice of Justice League goodness.
4) “New World Order”
The Justice League’s ’90s renaissance can be traced back to JLA, the blockbuster team book from Grant Morrison and Howard Porter that brought the team back to basics. That series kicked off with “New World Order”, a four-issue masterpiece. A new team of heroes named the Hyperclan show up, claiming that their proactive methods are better for the world then the League’s. However, they have a terrible secret, one that only Earth’s greatest heroes have a chance of discovering before it’s too late. Unfortunately, the Hyperclan know their enemy and the League doesn’t. Morrison and Porter created the style we now call “widescreen action” with this story, giving readers beautifully rendered, exciting action with the best writing you can ask for. This story is 29 years old and it’s still as awesome as it was in the ’90s.
2) The New Frontier
The New Frontier, by the late great Darwyn Cooke, took readers back to the Silver Age. From the ashes of World War II rise a new kind of superhero, and just in time for a threat unlike any they’d faced before. A dazzling new age is wrought upon the Earth by these metahumans, but it’s one that the world may never live to see. The New Frontier uses the ideas of the Silver Age in new ways, taking a warts and all look at the world of yesteryear and what it could have been like. This six-issue series is a true masterpiece, a story that will enthrall you from the word go. I remember going to the comic store and being excited everytime a new issue came out, never guessing where this amazing tale was going to take me. It still has that same feel all these years later.
1) “Rock of Ages”
Morrison and Porter’s JLA‘s first nine issues were spectacular, but it would reach perfection with “Rock of Ages”. Lex Luthor, armed with the Philosopher’s Stone, brings together the Injustice Gang to destroy the Justice League once and for all. As the heroes are constantly getting outclassed by the villains, the Flash, Green Lantern, and Aquaman discover the terrible truth of the Philosopher’s Stone and see the horrible world that will come to pass if the Justice League defeats the Injustice Gang. How can the heroes who always win lose in order to save the world without allowing the villains to take over in the present? That’s the main narrative conceit of “Rock of Ages”, and it makes for an amazing story. Morrison and Porter are flawless together here, weaving a tale that will have readers on the edge of their seat. It’s a twisty, turny Morrison special, and it will blow your mind by the end.
What’s your favorite Justice League story? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
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