Justice #4

In 1986, to mark the 25th anniversary of the Marvel Universe (although it was really just the 25th anniversary of the 1961 comics) Marvel EIC Jim Shooter launched the New Universe with eight titles.

Starbrand who was not Superman or Green Lantern
D.P. 7 who were not the X-Men
Mark Hazard: Merc who was not the Punisher
Psi Force which in no way was ripped off to make Captain Planet
Spitfire and the Troubleshooters which was not like Iron Man and friends
Nightmask who wasn't the Phantom Stranger
Kickers, Inc which wasn't at all created to reuse old Team America stories
and finally

Justice which in no way made any kind of sense.

The basic idea behind the New Universe was it was the world outside of your window until July 22, 1986, 4:22 EST.  That's when the White Event happened and 2 out of every million people developed superpowers.  One of the novel things about the NU was the fact that things moved (for the most part) in real time, one month passed between issues and so there were a lot of self-contained stories.  So despite my somewhat snarky description of the titles, I actually enjoyed much of the New Universe.  But then came the editorial shakeup at Marvel resulting in Jim Shooter's ouster and the New Universe which never sold that well was turned upside down and in my opinion became a lot less fun to read.

But when this comic was published that was still in the future, so let's look at Justice #4.

Who is Justice?  Honestly, I didn't stick with the title long enough to find out.  But here's the Wikipedia page which only slightly makes more sense than the comic itself.

So let's look at the cover.  Justice is disco dancing with a guy in a white suit.  Now that's the way to sell comics.

 

We begin with Justice enjoying some quiet time with a lady friend and thinking about how he lost his right hand seven weeks ago.

 

Justice then explains that he needs balance or something.  Did I mention Justice made no sense?

 

Luckily, Justice can grow back his hand, "the way a lizard can."  Now that's what I call writing.

 

Justice kisses Becky and teleports to LA to confront the big bad.  LA is evil, of course.  You can tell it's evil by the way Justice walks right by a kid about to be molested by a man who covers his face with his hat.  That's evil 101!

 

Justice doesn't trust those new fangled elevators so he takes the stairs.  No really, that's in the book.

 

Justice and the big bad engage in battle, but the big bad gets the upper hand and as he strikes the fatal blow...

 

Justice finds himself transported to his home world where his friend explains that Justice has been contaminated by our world.   Once again Justice makes no sense, don't even try to figure it out.

 

Justice goes see the Queen and demonstrates that he's a two universe player.

 

You know who has a problem with Justice's affection for the Queen?  The King.  Who being the king instantly decides to kill Justice.

However, the King's blast sends Justice back to our world and he spends a couple of pages jumping back and forth between the universes before simply shooting the big bad.

 

After shooting the big bad, Justice then calls his "Dad" and threatens him.  Once again, JUSTICE MAKES NO SENSE.

 

I would like to tell you what happened from here but this is about the time I dropped Justice.  It makes no sense now, and it made no sense then and I didn't have the money to spend on a comic that made no sense.   However, I kept buying other New Universe titles until the destruction of Pittsburgh and the sad decline of the New Universe.  But that's a story for another day.

Bonus: Lazer Tag

 

Double Bonus: The Comet Man

 

Next time: A Halloween Special with Hellblazer