Brand Echh: JUSTICE #1

The development of the New Universe line had been a haphazard process. After several months had been spent in pursuit of high-minded goals in terms of creative innovation and the pedigree of those who would innovate said titles, in the end there was a mad dash to the finish line in terms of launching the eight titles that had been added to Marvel’s publishing schedule and bottom line. These books pretty much all wound up being created by Marvel insiders as opposed to top science fiction authors of the day, and in a number of cases, the books themselves were swiftly handed over to other hands. Such was the case for JUSTICE, which was put together by well-respected writer and editor Archie Goodwin. Goodwin, though, would only write the first issue before turning the book over to other hands.

JUSTICE was the series launch that seemed to be the most at odds with the stated premise of the New Universe, which was intended to be the actual “world outside your window,” at least up until the point where the worldwide White Event unleashed super-powers. No Mer-People, no repulsors, no unstable molecules as EIC Jim Shooter puts it in the Universe News Bullpen Bulletins page in this issue. But JUSTICE flies in the face of this idea. It concerns Tensen, a misplaced “Justice Warrior” from another dimension who is pulled to Earth against his wishes and who must seek out the criminal Darquill and his son Conquest, who are themselves lawless wizards from his own universe. The whole idea of an alternate dimension populated by humanlike aliens who can past as regular people in our world flies in the face of the greater degree of realism that the New Universe was supposed to embody. But given that this was Archie Goodwin coming up with the concept, and that the deadlines were looming to get the books completed and to print, Shooter bent his own rules once again and permitted the series to move ahead.

Artistically, JUSTICE #1 was the work of Geof Isherwood, helped out with mandated changes and corrections by Joe Delbeato and the pseudonymous Jack Fury.

ADDITION: James Fry tells us: Jack Fury was occasionally other artists, but only on books I worked on as well. I had created the name as my own version of “The Crusty Bunkers” or “M(any). Hands”. the hope was that other artists would/ could use it as well. Issue # 1 of JUSTICE carried Jack’s byline. Jim Shooter wanted heaving gutfuls of the story redrawn before the book went to the printer, and it needed to happen over a single weekend. That time Jack consisted of myself, John Romita, Sr., Mike Harris, Doc Bright, Art Nichols, Andy Mushynsky, Frank Giacoia, and Vinnie Colletta.

Isherwood would remain the regular artist on the title at least through most of its first year (though as with the other books in the line, there’d quickly be fill-in art jobs scheduled), and would eventually write a couple of issues as well. The story is a strange mix of action movie tough guy tropes and the more science fictional idea of invaders from another mystic dimension. Its influences are plain to see in this first issue, as the lead character is intended to be the sort of hard-ass law enforcement agent of the type that was all over the B-movies of the period.

The story opens with the nameless and stoic Justice Warrior appearing in a crack house in Alphabet City in Manhattan. He swiftly shows off his three main powers: the ability to read the auras of people to determine whether they are inherently good or evil, the power to project a protective energy shield from his left hand, and the ability to unleash a destructive energy blast from his right, referred to as his sword. The Justice Warrior vaporizes the gang-bangers that he finds in residence, taking the stylized shades that one was wearing to disguise his pupilless red eyes, and then heads out into the wider world. Meanwhile, in California, Damon Conquest takes a call from his father, Darquill. They speak of the need to eliminate the Justice Warrior, indicating that he will likely be suffering some disorientation and memory loss as a result of his passage into this world.

Tensen thereafter winds up attacking and killing some drug pushers, but not before he resolves to follow their corruption up the ladder to destroy the root of the darkness that is plaguing the city. This draws him to the Factory, a newly-opened industrial club in St. Marks Place that’s also a front for illegal drug activity. There, he encounters Rebecca Chambers, an undercover cop who is also trying to bring down the gang behind the drug smuggling. The sight of Chambers dancing causes Tensen to flash back to his beloved Shandra on his homeworld, and how he was ambushed and spirited away to this one. At this point, he remembers his name, and begins speaking aloud in perfect English, opening up. When there’s a falling out between the drug suppliers and the operators of the distribution ring that spills out onto the dance floor, Tensen gets involved, using his shield to protect bystanders and his sword to disintegrate anybody his Aura sight tells him is guilty. By the end, Chambers and her partner Hoyt Pittman have Tensen at gunpoint, intending to arrest him, as one of the people he disintegrated was an undercover cop (who, unbeknownst to the other two, was really working for the bad guys.)

JUSTICE #1 isn’t terrible, but it is a bit dull and lifeless, a by-the-numbers piece of work without a whole lot of enthusiasm filling its pages. The characters, human beings and aliens alike, are portrayed cartoonishly as broad caricature “types.” Goodwin, usually a total pro, feels like he’s discharging an obligation here rather than writing a story that he’s genuinely invested in. With the second issue, Steve Englehart came on board to take over the writing, though he’d only wind up doing four-and-a-half issues, several of which were drawn by artists other than Isherwood. With Englehart’s departure, the series floundered in the way that most of the New Universe launches did, lurching from creative team to creative team in what felt like a succession of fill-in stories. Nobody was driving the bus, nobody was being put into place with a strong enough command of the strip to take over and guide it into a direction. Given that fully half of the New Universe titles were cancelled at the end of the first year, you’d be betting safely to assume that JUSTICE was one of these, especially given how at odds the whole thing was with the premise of the universe. But that’s the exact opposite of what happened.

In issue #15, with Shooter gone and Mark Gruenwald put in charge of wrangling the flagging line, Peter David comes on board as writer and promptly reveals that everything that had been established within the series up to this point had been a lie, a delusion. This style of shock storytelling had become fashionable off of the back of Alan Moore redefining DC’s SWAMP THING in this manner, turning it into a critical darling and a commercial success. The abrupt change in series direction was gruenwald’s idea, to better bring the premise of the book into line with the other remaining titles and their shared world. It was revealed that Tensen was actually John Tensen, a DEA agent who had been subsumed into the fantasy of the criminal he was chasing, Darquill, whose paranormal ability allowed him to reshape reality in a limited fashion. Gone was all of the otherworldly lore and the quasi-mysticism. Tensen lost his ability to perceive auras but retained his other powers, and he adopted a less rigid, more nuanced stance on the concept of justice, policing other paranormals like himself who had chosen to use their abilities to harm others. Under David and artist Lee Weeks, the series became quite readable, albeit utterly divorced from what it had been for its first year of publication. Even after the series eventually concluded with issue #32, David kept coming back to the character: he introduced a thinly-disguised version of Justice in the sixth of the PSI-MAN novels he wrote under the pseudonym David Peters, and later created the Net Prophet during his time on SPIDER-MAN 2099, who was clearly meant to be John Tensen in another guise.