Justice League of America #201.4 (Imaginay Cover)

Normally when I do these imaginary covers I go and work up a plot. Not here :) I just love Mitch's art, that classic late 70's / early 80's Justice League line up and so loves me some disco Brainiac! Loved Pulsar Stargrave since I first saw Keith Pollard's gorgeous pin up of him in Who's Who. And the idea of someone that powerful taking on the Justice League makes perfect sense. And so it was building on Perez's classic JLA run with a final little coda of awesomeness.

The question was - if I made Stargrave even more powerful then how could the League defeat him? Kirby, as always, is the answer. Bringing in the New Gods and Darkseid specifically to humble Stargrave made perfect sense. The New Gods seemed to be so rarely used at this point in DC history. And, of course, the idea that the story would have to end with Darkseid extracting a promise from the to do something for him in the future would be a great ending.

Some beautiful faces from Mitch - Flash, Mister Miracle, Manhunter, the Hawks ... But it's Orion here that's really the stunner. Magnificent Mitch Ballard does it again! A -very- big thanks to Rob Shalda. Rob contacted me and asked if he could work his magic on these and I had to say yes. Incredibly kind of him to color these and prove yet again that he's the king of the classic colors. Pushed all these covers into the A+++ realm he did. Thanks Rob!

Original size 11x17