Finally got me grubby hands on this. Originally published as a 12 issues limited series back in 2005..but alas, the excitement waned as I progressed through the entire all in one collection under the Absolute hardcover slipcase edition series. Ross' photo realism artwork still rocks but the storyline felt kinda...flat. No, this is definitely not another Marvel or Kingdom Come (as much as I want it to be...). Ross had mentioned that after Kingdom Come, he wanted to take a break from those type of storyline i.e. superhuman wars and instead focus on stories which are akin to The World's Greatest Super-Heroes oversize collection of one-shot individual stories about the main core members of JLA. Overall it is about JLA vs Legion Of Doom, a super group comprising a number of supervillians headed by Lex Luthor, with Brainiac working behind the scene. The plot is simple, bring down the existing superheroes (and super heroines) one by one quietly, whilst promoting in the eyes of the public about the new changes the bad guys (and girls) are bring to the world - helping and resolving the world's problems, like giving out prosthetic limbs, creating lakes and foods in famine struck countries etc. Luthor announces to the world that JLA has failed in their role for not using their mighty abilities and gifts to resolve issues which has been besetting the world. Using "black globes" which are given to him by Brainiac, Luthor intends to create new utopias for the human race. However, Brainiac, being a living computer/AI, has a more sinister plan than this and it does not take two shakes of a lamb's tail to figure out what he intends to do eventually. Of course the good guys emerge unscathed and victorious in the end, but the portrayal of certain characters, particularly Superman, somehow irks me...Supes kinda come across as a whiny big blue boy scout. Bright moments include some humourous exchanges between some of the characters, a particular scene involving Green Arrow and Black Canary when they are ambushed by Clayface, and where Aquaman has part of his brain removed by Brainiac. Overall, still alright, just that it kinda fall a tad short of my expectation of what it should be.
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