The painted cover artwork of Justice Issue 1 grabbed my attention immediately but I had been fooled too many times by comics with cover art completely different from the rest of the book. Opening the cover I was pleased to see the work of Alex Ross continued within. Sequential Art is a highfalutin way of saying comic books but it is entirely appropriate in the case of the fully painted work of Alex Ross. Alex Ross is the artist behind Kingdom Come and Marvels, two epic series and not only is his artwork stunny but the writing is of appropriate high quality to match.
Justice is a twelve part series featuring the Justice Leage of America (JLA) a team of all the greatest heroes from DC Comics, including characters such as Batman, Wonder Woman and the Flash. The writer asks the question have we become too dependant on heroes and as a result failed to meet our own potential? The story begins with a nuclear holocaust which Superman and his fellow heroes are powerless to prevent and can only stand by and watch as all around them is destroyed. The desctruction is only a premonition, a terrible shared dream which has not yet come to pass. Eleven more issues to go, I look forward to seeing how this turns out and I think it may well be another classic.

Issue one of a comic might be of value some day or at least that is what I told myself when I bought two other new releases. In reality it is rare to make any money on comic books and you cannot have your cake and eat it too. They say you shouldn't judge a book by the cover but I bought a comic primarily because stylish cover art by Michael Turner formerly the artist for Witchblade and Fathom. (The comic in question was terribly frivolous and cheesey so I will not tell you what exactly it was but it shouldn't be too hard for a comic book geek to figure it out from what I've already told you).
On the recommendation of Rob (owner of Sub City my local comic book store) and to offset my slight embarrassment at buying the other silly comic book I picked up issue one of Winter Men. Comic books may be quintessentially American but Winter Men is a gritty story set in modern Russia. The former Soviet secret police and spies are thrown together with the modern Russian mafia and our protognist is a "man between season" not quite managing to make his way in this brave new world. The artwork doesn't do anything for me but the story is interesting enough and I plan to pick up the next few issues and see where it goes.