JLA,The Ultimate Guide to the Justice League of America

JLA:The Ultimate Guide to the Justice League of America
Scott Beatty

Hardcover Published: November, 2002 96 pages
Amazon Sales Rank: 236660
List Price:

$19.99

33 Available
Priced From: $7.25

For the last 40 years, DC Comics' Justice League of America has united the most powerful superheroes -- Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman, and Green Lantern -- against some of the most diabolical villains in comic book history. The Ultimate Visual Guide tells the history of the Justice League of America; their epic battles against awesome adversaries such as The White Martians, The Key, and Megaddon; and includes specially commissioned, spectacularly detailed artwork revealing JLA's brand-new headquarters on the moon, Wonder Woman's island home, Aquaman's undersea base, and more.

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Reader Reviews

Review From a Future Critic (4) - I do agree with the person who said that this book should have had more on previous Justice Leagues, but if you just recently got in to comics and want to know more this book is a must have.

An incredible guide for the Grant Morrison JLA (4) - This guide follows the rest of the Ultimate Guide/Visual Dictionary series of books by DK, with the emphasis on the current JLA envisioned by Grant Morrison.
Full of pictures, and "popup video" style tidbits about the characters, it is a quick, easy to absorb gallery of characters used in the JLA comic book series by DC.
What it lacks is the comprehensive info for the Justice League of America and its other incarnations, but then again, it was listed as JLA: the Ultimate Guide. Because of that it's great for what it's worth. The timeline does make a nice attempt to mention all of its past incarnations.

One thing... it keeps mentioning Triumph, but it didn't really show who this traitorous character is or looks like.

The Justice League Revised (2) - This is not a good book. If you are a fan of the current "Dark Age of Comics" and revisionist history it may be your cup of tea, but not mine. Yes, it has some decent drawings, but has a cookie cuter style standard with the publisher DK. It favors heavily the current group over past superior line-ups touching only lightly on the Bronze Age Maxwell Lord and Martian Manhunter led inner city groups. It fails to value the fondly regarded Super Friends. The whole thing appears like an ad for the present Justice League. If you are looking for a more fair and balanced overview I suggest petitioning Les Daniels of "The Complete (Superman, Batman Wonder Woman) series to do a Complete Justice League of America. This volume and others in the DC Ultimate series try, but do not hit the mark. They are worth buying, but not at this price. And with a little effort could be improved upon.

BRIGHT, COLORFUL , AND ENTERTAINING (4) - One of the better superhero guides put out recently, this presents a highly entertaining overview of the League. Wisely, it opts to forgo a mind-numbing encyclopediac recitation of every hero who somehow stumbled into the JLA, and instead focuses on the most recent series. For purists, there is a fairly complete (if brief) history of the JLA's previous incarnations, and a detailed timeline that acknowledges both the actual comics and the multiple revisions that DC has made to the JLA's history over the years. Even longtime fans of the JLA should find new information, or at least a convenient (and attractively designed) handbook giving a helpful history of the JLA. Though there are one or two characters that get short shrift (Zatanna and Captain Atom, for example), this book remains one of the more informative and entertaining "ultimate guides". Recommended.

Lacking (3) - When I first received the book, I was stunned to see how thin it was compared to the X-Men version (almost twice the size). That was already a bad sign. This book is devoted to the current incarnation of the Justice League. There is a two page spread that mention the several past incarnations, but nothing more. It is a shame that the Justice League history was treated with such unimportance. No in-depth coverage of the beginnings of the league, the tragic era (with Steel, Vibe, Vixen, and Gypsy), and Justice International (with my faves Blue Beetle and Booster Gold). They could have easily taken the time and effort to present a more comprehensive history. At least feature a few more characters prominently like the Red Tornado and Black Canary instead of giving them corner blurbs. In scanning the book, there is even text missing from one of the pages.

Despite the huge disappointment on my part, I still give the book 3 stars. It still has the brilliant presentation and younger readers will be less affected by the lack of history and acknowledgement of the previous leagues. I just don't understand why this book got only half the attention in comparison to the X-Men when it could have easily been filled out more. I would be interested in seeing a revision some day that gives the Justice League the attention they deserve.