I’ll dispense with my typical long winded review and just get to the heart of the matter.

I’ve recently finished reading The New Justice Machine: High Gear Edition Volume one, by Mark Ellis, Darryl Banks, Mike Gustovich, Adam Hughes, Rik Levins and Melissa Martin-Ellis.

Now, I have to say until I met Mark, I didn’t really know about the Justice Machine – Of course I knew all about the major superhero teams like the Avengers, JLA etc… but never heard of the Justice Machine.

I guess it was because back then if it wasn’t Marvel or Dark Horse, I really didn’t care about it.

I’ve always been willing to try something new and different, so when it was finally available at my local comic shop, I bought the first volume of the New Justice Machine.

It intrigued me.

The characters hail from an alternate universe, and the first few pages of the graphic novel gave enough back ground information so that I wasn’t totally lost, or for that matter, overwhelmed by information. I’d say it was a great balance.

The rest of the graphic novel essentially had these quite literal aliens trying to fit into American society, while trying to prove their worth to the American Government.

It allowed an insight to the characters themselves, as well as had some great dialog, and some scenes that were quite funny to read.

Overall story simply had me wishing that the graphic novel was longer – now I’ll have to wait for volume 2 to hit the stands.

Some people will argue that having a graphic novel done in black and white takes away from the quality. I would disagree. I’ve seen plenty of comics that were done in full color and they were terrible. Sometimes by doing a comic in black and white, it tends to make it more ‘atmospheric’.

The fact that the graphic novel is done in black and white in my opinion actually adds to the experience of reading it, instead of taking away.

The artwork throughout is excellent, as one would expect. 

One other thing that really makes the graphic novel worth picking up is the Musings Redux by Mark Ellis at the end. It essentially tells the history of the Justice Machine comic - its various incarnations, publishers and longevity.

It’s a worthwhile read, not only for original fans, but for newcomers such as myself.

5 out of 5