Justice Machine

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caption="Justice Machine" #1 (June 1981; Noble Comics)
Cover art by John Byrne & Michael Gustovich
team_name=Justice Machine
publisher=Noble Comics
Texas Comics
Comico Comics
Innovation Comics
Millennium Publications
debut=Justice Machine #1
creators=Michael Gustovich
base=Earth, formerly Georwell
members=Challenger
Diviner
Titan
Blazer
Demon
Chain Talisman
Youthquake
Ms. Liberty
memberlist=
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hero=
villain=
sortkey=PAGENAME|The Justice Machine is a fictional team of superheroes originally created by Michael Gustovich and appearing in comic books from many small publishers in the 1980s and 1990s.

Publication history

Justice Machine debuted in Noble Comics' "Justice Machine" #1 (June 1981), created by writer-penciler Michael Gustovich, with the first issue cover penciled by John Byrne and inked by Gustovich. This initial series lasted five issues, cover-dated Winter 1981, April 1982, Fall 1982, and Winter 1983. The first three issues were published in magazine format. An annual publication, "Justice Machine Annual" #1 (1983) was published by Texas Comics, and featured a crossover with the then-defunct Tower Comics' superhero team T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, by writer William Messner-Loebs (as Bill Loeb) and penciler Bill Reinhold. A second story, by writer-penciler Bill Willingham, introduced the superhero team the Elementals.

This led to a miniseries, "Justice Machine featuring the Elementals" #1-4 (May-Aug. 1986), by writer Willingham and artist Gustovich, published by Comico. That company subsequently published an ongoing "Justice Machine" series (vol. 2) that lasted 29 issues (Jan. 1987 - May 1989), plus a 1989 annual. That series' initial creative team consisted of writer Tony Isabella and artist Gustovich.

Innovation Comics published a three-issue miniseries, "The New Justice Machine" (Nov. 1989 - March 1990), by writers David Lawrence and Mark Ellis, with pencils by Darryl Banks and others, and inks by Gustovich. An accompanying annual, "Justice Machine Summer Spectacular" #1 (Summer 1990), by writer Messner-Loebs and penciler Reinhold, had originally been intended for publication by Texas Comics in 1983. [ [http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=250336 Grand Comics Database: "Justice Machine Summer Spectacular" #1] ] This was followed by the one-shot "Hero Alliance & Justice Machine: Identity Crisis" #1 (April 1990), by writer Ellis, pencilers Banks and Rik Levins, and inker Gustovich, as well as a new ongoing series, "Justice Machine" vol. 3, which ran seven issues (April 1990 - April 1991). Initially produced by the same creative team as the annual, it acquired series creator Gustovich as both penciler and inker for issues #4-6, and Isabella as writer for issues #5-7.

Finally, Ellis' Millennium Publications produced two issues of a fourth volume (Oct. & Dec. 1992), by writer Ellis and penciler Banks. These feature updated versions of the characters. Ellis had purchased the Justice Machine rights from Gustovich in 1991.Fact | date = October 2008

Fictional team history

In the first two versions of the team, the Justice Machine is an elite law enforcement agency from the planet Georwell, a parallel world with advanced technology that the Machine members believe is a utopia. Arriving on Earth in pursuit of Maxinor, a criminal and accused terrorist from their world, the team members soon discover that Georwell is much more fascist and dystopian than they had previously believed. Meanwhile the Georwellian authorities have activated a second team, the Guardians.

Zarren, their corrupt superior, has the Machine indicted as traitors and they have no choice but to remain on Earth. Later, Zarren falls victim to his own schemes and must flee to Earth, where he sets himself up as the president of small South American island, the Arriba Atoll.

"Georwell" is a play on George Orwell, the author of "1984", and the society of Georwell is based on the society of 1984, though much more technically advanced.

In "The Chimera Conspiracy" scripted by Mark Ellis and Darryl Banks (published by Millennium Publications) it is revealed that Georwell is actually Earth in an alternate future, some 900 years hence. Rather than traveling from one dimension to another, the Justice Machine went sideways and backward in time, drawn to a temporal nexus point where the events which eventually create Georwell are in a state of flux.

Membership

The Justice Machine
*Challenger -- the leader, phyically adept and a skilled strategist, effectively the Georwellian military Batman/Captain America. He is very conscious of his age and declining physical abilities.
*Blazer -- teenager, initially thought to be daughter of the leader of an earlier version of the Justice Machine, turned out actually to be Challenger's daughter, enclosed in a protective suit to prevent her thermal powers overloading and causing a fiery cataclysm. Later, she is able to exert more control over her powers.
*Titan -- Mutant male, able to increase his size and mass, at the apparent expense of his intellect. [The Heroes Unlimited sourcebook]
*Demon -- highly trained (and egotistical) martial artist, and secret user of ability-enhancing drugs.
*Diviner -- Challenger's (ex-)wife (but not Blazer's mother), totally dependent on a body-suit for any of her senses, but consequently able to use those senses at paranormal levels.
*Talisman -- mutant with the power of karma: good things happen to him (and by extension to his team-mates), bad things happen to his foes, so long as his cause is righteous. Career criminal, fraudster and gambler.
*Chain--A physical education instructor who gains the ability to focus a form of telekinesis through a chain-saw and destabilize matter on a molecular level.

Allies
*Maxinor -- A rebel against the oppressive regime of Georwell. Initially an enemy of the Justice Machine, both he and the Justice Machine eventually become allies.
*Youthquake -- Maxinor's son. A mute youth with the power to control quakes. He falls in love with Blazer and the two of them marry. Eventually, Blazer gives birth to their son.
*Ms. Liberty -- From Earth. A highly-skilled athlete.
*Jubal Woolcott--Founder of the Justice Institute, a private law university near Alexandria, Virginia. The Justice Machine takes up more or less permanent residence on the campus.

The Guardians
*Big Brain -- otherwise known as "the Id" -- a bodiless intellect which led the remaining members of the group.
*Night Lightning -- mutant with the ability to generate and expel electrical energy.
*Phaser -- mutant able to phase his body out of solidity
*Monolith -- Titan's jealous brother, able to grow slightly more but starting out with less intellect
*Crusader -- a slightly-less effective Challenger
*Malefactor -- a man-hating female Demon, armed with a ball-and-chain weapon
*Fist -- large muscle-bound ex-criminal, used for wetworks (killing) operations.

Department Z
*An organization of super-powered operatives who work for Zarren. The core group consists of The Directress (also known as Ms. Liberty), Skrapiron, Aquinox, Heavyhand and Ornithon.

Independent Operators
*Dark Force -- Dedicated to destruction of the Georwellian government, willing to work with the Machine to suit its needs. Revealed to be an armored suit used by a young girl in the villain's first incarnation. Upon the entity's return in "The Chimera Conspiracy", Darkforce is obviously an entity of energy.

Other media

The Justice Machine was the subject of a sourcebook for the role-playing game Heroes Unlimited, published by Palladium Books. This version was based solely on the Noble comics version, but includes details of story-lines and characters stretching beyond the comic-published material.

Footnotes

References

* [http://www.comics.org/search.lasso?query=justice+machine&type=title&sort=chrono&Submit=Search Grand Comics Database: "Justice Machine"]
* [http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/j/justmach.htm International Superhero: Justice Machine]
* [http://www.markellisink.com Mark Ellis] official site
* [http://www.comicspace.com/markaxlerellis Comicspace.com: MarkAxlerEllis]