JLA #7

Jul 1997 · DC · 1.95 USD; 2.75 CAD

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“Heaven on Earth”

★ 1st appearance — Asmodel

About this Issue

JLA #7 ('Heaven on Earth') closes the two-part angelic-invasion story that introduced Asmodel — the rogue King-Angel of the Bull Host — to DC's cosmology, marking his first full physical arrival on Earth as a character. The issue also serves as the narrative bridge between the Zauriel debut arc and the immediately following 'Imaginary Stories' arc, closing with The Key ambushing the entire League and setting up a story that would formally bring Green Arrow into the team's orbit. Within Grant Morrison's broader project of treating the Justice League as a modern pantheon of gods, this issue pushes the premise furthest into explicitly theological territory, pitting Superman against a being capable of threatening Heaven itself — a tonal move that permanently expanded how DC writers could deploy its cosmic mythology. It also plants the seed for the JLA: Paradise Lost miniseries, where Zauriel's story was continued and Asmodel's alliance with the demon Neron was developed.

In "Heaven on Earth," Grant Morrison and Howard Porter deliver a striking entry in the JLA series, where the superhero team confronts a crisis that blurs the line between utopia and manipulation. Set against a backdrop of surreal consumer imagery and familiar brand icons, the story explores the cost of perfection with a tone that's both cerebral and emotionally charged, all rendered in Porter’s dynamic art with John Dell’s sharp inks.

writer Grant Morrison · artist Howard Porter · inker John Dell · inker Ken Branch · colorist Pat Garrahy · colorist Heroic Age · letterer Ken Lopez · cover Howard Porter, John Dell

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (NM) $3

CGC 9.8 · 6 in census $20

CGC 9.6 · 3 in census $20*

CGC 9.4 · 3 in census $20*

CGC 9.2 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 9.0 none in existence

CGC 8.5 none in existence

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CGC 8.0 · 1 in census $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

More listings for this title

NM $1 VF/NM $1.92 VF/NM $3.96 VF $4.5 JLA #7 (1997) 1st App Asmodel Grant Morrison Howard Porter DC Comics $2 JLA #7 1997 DC Comics 1st Appearance Comic Book $5

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History

Grant Morrison launched the JLA title in January 1997 alongside artist Howard Porter and inker John Dell, restoring the League's classic 'Big Seven' roster after years of diluted spin-off titles had eroded the brand's prestige. The Zauriel/Asmodel two-parter (issues #6–7) arose directly from an editorial constraint: Morrison had conceived an angelic new Hawkman for the roster, but DC's editors declared Hawkman off-limits because of the character's famously tangled post-Hawkworld continuity — so the winged-hero slot became a wholly original fallen angel instead. Morrison and collaborator Mark Millar shaped Zauriel as a conceptual successor, and the creative team embedded a winking in-universe acknowledgment by having Aquaman briefly mistake Zauriel for 'Katar' upon first meeting him. Issue #7 was inked by both John Dell and Ken Branch, one of the few collaborative inking credits across the early run.

Trivia · 8 facts

Story title: 'Heaven on Earth'; cover date July 1997; published May 7, 1997. Part 2 of 2, continuing directly from JLA #6 ('Fire in the Sky').
Written by Grant Morrison; pencils by Howard Porter; inks by John Dell and Ken Branch; edited by Mike Carlin.
First full physical appearance of Asmodel, King-Angel of the Bull Host of Heaven, who descends on San Francisco to personally hunt down Zauriel — multiple collected-edition character indexes list this as Asmodel's introduction issue.
Zauriel (first appearance JLA #6) appears prominently throughout; his sonic abilities become the key to the JLA's victory when Green Lantern constructs a sound-amplification device and Flash runs on it to generate enough sonic energy to banish Asmodel's angelic army back to Heaven.
Neron, Abnegazar, and Ghast appear as a villainous subplot: Superman must use a magnetic field from the Moon to prevent the villains from pulling the Moon out of its orbit as part of their plan.
The issue ends with a scene-break to the Watchtower, where the Key attacks and incapacitates the JLA — a direct bridge into the 'Imaginary Stories' arc beginning in JLA #8.
Zauriel's story thread was continued and expanded in the three-issue miniseries JLA: Paradise Lost, written by Mark Millar.
Collected in JLA: New World Order (DC Essential Edition, collecting #1–9), JLA: The Deluxe Edition Vol. 1 (2008 hardcover), the Grant Morrison JLA Omnibus, and JLA Book One (recent DC trade paperback series collecting #1–9 plus related one-shots and Paradise Lost).