Justice, Inc. #1 Comic Book

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Characters

Listed in alphabetical order.

Albert Einstein , Avenger, Doc Savage, Enrico Fermi, H.G. Wells, Howard Hughes, Lamont Cranston, Margo Lane, Shadow, Voodoo Master.

Title:

(No title given)

Date of Publication
August 2014

Cover Price
$3.99

Our Rating:

Credits:

Michael Uslan

Writer

Giovanni Timpano

Penciler

Giovanni Timpano

Inker

Marco Lesko

Colorist

Alex Ross

Cover Penciler

Alex Ross

Cover Inker

Alex Ross

Cover Colorist

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Comic Book Synopsis / Plot

Written by Peter Silvestro

Today: In his remote science lab in the Himalayas, Doc Savage prepares to activate his Universal Quantum Machine, which may make time travel possible. He tells his colleagues that the project was funded 75 years ago by Richard Henry Benson, the Avenger….

The story then flips back to 1939 where Doc is discussing splitting the atom and discovering its secrets with Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, and a nervous H.G. Wells. He is planning to fly them all to his new atomic lab in the Himalayas, stopping in New York to pick up Richard Henry Benson, their financier….

Meanwhile, Benson is presiding over a board meeting at his company Hallibenson in the wake of his father’s recent death; Benson is refusing to cover for executives who have been linked by the FBI to the villainous Dr Rodil Mocquino, and they are threatening him. Benson assures his wife and daughter that everything will be fine while they are flying to Nepal with Doc Savage….

Today: Doc’s supercollider tears a wormhole though time but the machine runs out of control and hurls a jet in to the past. Doc flies his P-39 Airacobra after it and boards the craft as they are hurled into 1939. The air traffics controllers deny this strange futuristic craft permission to land but the Man of Bronze asks them to contact Howard Hughes to verify his identity. Elsewhere in the airport as Hughes rushes to the runway, Margo Lane and Lamont Cranston are intercepted by the Shadow who orders Cranston to leave the country so he can assume his identity. Aboard the jet, Doc explains everything to Howard Hughes. On his way to meet Doc, "Cranston" is overpowered and carried off to Benson’s plane. This is observed by Dr Rodil Mocquino a/k/a the Voodoo Master, who is plotting the destruction of Hughes, Cranston, Benson, and Savage, and he recognizes an enemy working against him….

Comments

Peter Silvestro (October 1, 2014)
Last time I asked "Anybody out there catch something I missed?" Well, by now you should all have caught my misspelling of TWILIGHT ZONE! And me an editor!

Peter Silvestro (September 2, 2014)
Comments: a) This comic follows the pulp Shadow tales in having “Lamont Cranston” be a character the Shadow assumes rather than his true identity as in the more famous radio series; b) the Voodoo Master battled the Shadow in issues #97, 102, and 151 of the original pulp series; c) 1939 Doc Savage has normal looking hair as on the pulp covers but modern Doc has the widow’s peak made famous by James Bama for the Bantam reprint series; d) none of Doc’s aides appear in the issue; e) evil board members Robeson, Ernst, and Walter are named after Kenneth Robeson (house name for the authors of the Doc Savage and Avenger pulps), Paul Ernst (real author of the early Avengers stories), and Walter B. Gibson (author of most of the Shadow tales); f) the Shadow and Howard Hughes previously met in the Dynamite series THE SHADOW/GREEN HORNET: DARK NIGHTS,” also written by Uslan; g) writer Michael Uslan mentions that there are a few tributes to THE TILIGHT ZONE in the story; I spotted “The Odyssey of Flight 33,” “Twenty-two,” and “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.” Anybody out there catch something I missed?

Peter Silvestro (September 2, 2014)
Review: Very nice epic teaming the three Street and Smith pulp heroes for the first time. Looks like Dick Benson isn’t yet the Avenger and they are setting up his origin for #2. No word yet on whether Doc Savage and the Shadow already know one another or this will turn out to be third “first meeting” of the two (after DC and Dark Horse, found elsewhere on this site). Mike Uslan gets the characterizations right and the art is a great improvement over the Doc Savage miniseries which preceded this; the layouts are nice and the art is more vibrant than the rather static Doc series. Uslan also opts to mix historical figures in with his pulp heroes which makes sense with a character like Doc Savage. This can be very good if it isn’t overdone; that verdict will have to wait until the end of the series. My biggest complaint with the story is that the plot can be murky (a problem shared with many but not most, time-travel tales). It took me several readings to realize that there are two “Flight 33s” in the story and that all of the Benson scenes are set in 1939. The fault there lay in some anachronisms in the board room scene, with “CFO” and “You’re toast” appearing several decades prematurely. Quibbles aside, this looks like it will be an excellent addition to the annals of Doc Savage comics--and Avenger comics, though I can’t speak for the Shadow. Can’t wait for issue #2!

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