Collecting JLA #47-60, JLA: Heaven's Ladder by Mark Waid and Bryan Hitch with J.H. Williams III, Javier Saltares, Phil Jiminez, Ty Templeton, Doug Mahnke, Mark Pajarillo, Mike S. Miller and Cliff Rathburn.

The collection begins with JLA: Heaven's Ladder as the Justice League investigates when the Earth is stolen from its orbit and transported into a massive alien craft. The culprits are a race of ancient alien beings that are approaching the end of their life-cycle and are afraid of what happens next. They have stolen the Earth as well as other planets to learn about the concept of faith and the afterlife as a means to build a heaven for them when they die.

I was confused to see the Justice League being so chummy after his actions in the previous Tower of Babel story line. I thought there had been a vote to kick him out of the League. I guess this special one-shot was set before that story line. Most of this story went over my head. The alien ship was so big and detailed that it was almost too much for my puny mortal brain to take. The rest of the League had pretty much the same reaction when the Martian Manhunter mind-linked with them to show what he was seeing. It was nice to see what the other alien races of the DC Universe consider to be the afterlife, from the Durlans and the people of Rann to the Thanagarians and the Khunds.

The first proper story arc is #47-49 in which the Queen of Fables is released from an ancient book and takes Wonder Woman prisoner, believing her to be the fairest in all the land. The rest of the Justice League must brave a Manhattan that has been transformed into a fairy tale nightmare in order to save Wonder Woman. That is is their bickering about Batman's expulsion from the League doesn't tear them apart.

This story arc was much my sort of thing. Never mind ancient aliens that mortal minds can barely comprehend, give me superheroes stuck in a fairy tale nightmare and I'm much happier. I liked the Medieval makeover the heroes were given when they were sucked into the Queen's book in #48. Wonder Woman's new outfit didn't look all that different though. She just looked as if she had put on her fancy armour. I liked Superman's knight outfit and Plastic Man's jester costume the best. It's a pity that the Queen of Fables didn't go on to appear in more comics as I thought she was a very interesting character. As far as I am aware she only ever appeared twice more. She popped up again in Action Comics to try and make Superman into her own Prince Charming and again in Wonder Woman's own comic as the executive in charge of a Wonder Woman film.

The next story arc takes place in #50-54. Things start off with the Justice League taking on Dr. Destiny,. Superman goes to Batman to tell him that the League is tearing itself apart over the decision to expel him. The whole problem was that Batman was keeping secrets from the rest of the League, so his plan to regain their trust is to reveal his secret identity to them and get them to do the same. Then Batman pulls up in the Batmobile. But wait, if it's Batman in the Batmobile, then who is Bruce Wayne. It becomes apparent that the League members' personalities have been split into two, their superhero identity and their secret identities. Wonder Woman and Aquaman are the only ones unaffected as they don't have secret identities.

This was another enjoyable story arc. It was interesting to see how the different Leaguers reacted to being split from their superhero identity. Clark Kent and Wally West enjoyed having to live normal lives with their other halves without having to keep running off to save the day. John Jones might have missed having his telepathy, but he was no longer had to cope with the loneliness of being the last of his kind. Not everybody was so happy with the situation though. Kyle Rayner was starting to go mad without his Power Ring as a creative outlet. No longer being Plastic Man meant that Eel O'Brien was beginning to revert to being a petty thug. Without the training of Batman as a release for his anger, Bruce Wayne was gradually getting more and more violent.

The next story arc takes place in #55-58. Some time ago, the Justice League tricked a group of invading White Martians into believing that they were regular human beings. Now, somehow, the White Martians have regained their memories and are back trying to take over the world. The League previously beat them thanks to the Martian weakness of fire, but how can the League do that when the White Martians take away the ability to make fire?

I remember the White Martians from Grant Morrison's run on JLA. These particular White Martians were called the Hyperclan and their plan was to masquerade as metahumans to take over the Earth. The League defeated them and put a mental block on their powers. The mental block was lifted by accident during the period when the League members were split into their secret and heroic identities.

The next two issues are single stories. #59 is a tie-in to Joker: Last Laugh by Chuck Dixon, Scott Beatty and Darryl Banks. The Justice League has to deal with a Jokerized Doctor Polaris. In #60, Plastic Man tells a story where Santa Claus fighting the demon Neron and even joining the Justice League.

I haven't read the Joker: Last Laugh crossover in a while, but I think it was about the Joker turning all the other super villains insane and making them look like him. The whole mess starts off when the Joker finds out that he has a terminal brain tumour, so he decides to go out with a bang in one last crazy scheme. It turns out that the results that revealed the Joker was dying were all a lie in an attempt to make him lead a more sane life. That really worked then, didn't it?

#60 was pretty silly, but of course it was because it was a Plastic Man story. Santa is forced to lay off all his elves because there are no good children to deliver presents too. The children have already been given presents by Neron so they will be naughty. Naturally, Santa isn't happy about this and decides to take Neron on himself. In the end we are led to believe that it was all just a tall tale... Or was it?

This was a pretty enjoyable collection. I could have done without the Heaven Ladder's one-shot. It was a bit too heavy for me. Everything else was good though. I have all the other collected editions of the late 90's/early 2000's JLA, but this one was the only one that I didn't have. I guess that means I have all the trades now. It was good to read about the Justice League again. Maybe I will go back and read the other trades.

My rating: 3.5 stars.