I know that to well, I was a grandfather at 38 years of age.

 

Despite my intention to work my way through the JSA trades in order, I skipped ahead. "Black Reign" was $12.99, the cheapest of the bunch, and I've read good things about that storyline, so I bought it. There's nothing like jumping into the middle of a story, but it's a darn good one in my opinion. Everyone on the team gets a good bit of page time and a good role in the story, and some of the twist endings were really good. Of course now I won't be able to read about Atom Smasher without thinking ahead to the way he stamps the dictator under his foot like he's crushing a roach or something, so it might have been better to just wait.  

Thoughts on this storyline?

I did pick up Darkness Falls, and I see that Extant is on the cover. Looks like it won't take long for the rematch.  

 

JSA: Darkness Falls

The second collected JSA volume contains what were originally issues 6 through 15 of the series for $20. That’s a decent bargain. However despite the overarching title, there are actually four story arcs contained within the trade, and sadly the one that interests me the most has the least emotional and dramatic impact.

The first chapter is a standalone story. The Justice Society announces their re-formation and opens their headquarters as a museum to the public at the same time. Naturally a super-villain decides to attack the group at exactly that moment. In this case, the villain in question is Black Adam, Captain Marvel’s arch-enemy, and he’s enough of a powerhouse to make short work of the team. His defeat is achieved through the means of time travel, believe it or not. Yes, Doctor Fate’s method of stopping him is creative, but it’s also a lot more complicated than it had to be. I’m hoping this is setup for later storylines, because it’s pretty boilerplate storytelling when taken at face value.

The second storyline concerns Alan Scott’s estranged son Obsidian, who has gone bad and attempts to plunge the entire world into darkness due to the way his powers work. He’s been partially corrupted by old JSA enemy Ian Karkull who was at one time inadvertently responsible for the team’s slowed aging. Black Canary and a new Dr. Mid-Nite help to free the team, while Alan Scott actually uses his powers to their full potential for once to defeat his son. I’m often disappointed by how easily the original Green Lantern goes down in a fight, or how little he sometimes accomplishes when he ought to be the powerhouse of the group, but here he goes all out and shows what he’s capable of.

The third and fourth storylines are somewhat interconnected. The team splits in two with one half going to take on Kobra and rescue a captured super-hero while the other half goes after Extant, the villain who caused so much trouble during Zero Hour. This is the story I referred to in the first paragraph that disappointed me. The loss of half the original team to death thanks to Extant is certainly mentioned, but the rematch never feels as dangerous or emotionally taxing for the team as it should logically be. All the emotion comes from Atom-Smasher, whose mother is killed in a plane crash as Kobra tests his new weapon and makes his threats to the world. Although in an interesting move, particularly for the old fashioned "we don't kill" JSA, Atom-Smasher arranges for Extant to switch places with his mom at the last minute, meaning Extant is killed in the plane crash.

The volume ends with several team members leaving for one reason or another. Jack Knight (Starman) quits. I think his series had ended about this time and the character Ted Knight had died. The android Hourman quits as well. It feels like a transitional point for the team, and a natural place to end this trade paperback.

 

Justice Society of America #40
We all knew that the Nazi-dominated future timeline would be undone. That was a given. That’s the type of story Willingham has been telling. No problems there. So the question was, how would it be undone, and would the method used be creative or standard? After a brilliant cliffhanger last issue, I have to admit that the story resolution disappointed me.

Mr. Terrific gets the message from the future at a point when he’s been declared dead. Suddenly he bolts upright and warns those present that Obsidian must be restored and how to do it. The execution of the plot bothers me here. The last issue piled setback on top of death, and left our heroes in the worst possible position imaginable, and then compounded that when the message to the past arrived when Mr. Terrific was apparently unable to receive it. Things couldn’t have been worse. But in this issue, that is suddenly resolved quite easily when it turns out that Holt is either not quite dead or else some property of the darkness engine was able to revive him as well as deliver the message into the past. An explanation is not given either way. The simplest explanation is that Dr. Mid-Nite was wrong, and that he wasn't dead.

It just seems to me that after an excellent build-up last issue that the resolution is way too quick and easy, and an insurmountable problem is solved with a minimum of effort and explanation. All the heroes last issue died for nothing, everything was hopeless, and then suddenly that’s not the case.

On the other hand, Alan Scott's reaction to Holt's statement is no-nonsense and exactly right. And I have to admit that it's a relief now that the bubble's burst and we know that the timeline with the Nazis will never come to pass.

The rest of the issue is narrated by the restored Obsidian as the revised history that now exists is summarized. Most of it takes place as it did before, with the addition of Obsidian’s presence during events. The twist is that he’s having vague half-remembered memories of the future that won’t now happen, while Mr. Terrific seems to know everything. That message that his future self was only able to make a few seconds long seems to have contained a ton of information. Or maybe there’s another explanation. Maybe the darkness engine implanted the knowledge in his head, which is why Obsidian is at least partially aware of it since Obsidian powered the engine. That’s the best explanation I can come up with, and if it’s correct I wish there had been some indication within the narrative that it was the case.

Still, the final few pages are very good, as Mr. Terrific goes to find Karla, who was his handler in the future. She’s still a young girl, living with her single mom, and he delivers a tuition grant from one of Bruce Wayne’s charities so Karla could have her college paid for. It’s a touching scene, and a great example of a man making a difference by exercising some compassion and empathy. It’s the polar opposite of the Nazi regime we’ve seen over the previous four issues, where brutality and fear were the order of the day.

Overall, there’s a lot to enjoy, but there are some disappointingly vague plot developments as well. “Reset” is not a bad ending to the story, but it’s not as strong as it perhaps could have been.

 

Did anyone read this week's issue of JLA that starts the crossover story with the JSA? I thought it was ok, but I didn't know some of the things that were alluded to. They talk about Power Girl going crazy after being possessed by the Starheart. Where/when did that happen? They alluded to stuff that I don't think I've seen.

The end was cool though seeing Alan in his Kingdom Come armor.

 

Thats because the cross over didnt start with that issue.

It started 2 issue ago in JLA.

 

I'm wondering if I need to pick up the two issues of JLA leading up to the crossover in order to get the full picture?

 

It's hard to say.

I really didnt think they did much to start the story off.

The basic jist of it...

Jade becomes trapped in the starheart....Alan go into some kind of coma....and meta humans around the world lose control of their powers and go crazy [PowerGirl is among those].

The JLA responds to the starheart crash in the USSR, Jade is found inside, Alan [in comoa] narrives with the JAS behind.

Thats about it.

 

Marc Guggenheim to become the new writer on Justice Society of America.

Someone on CBR said that the artist will be Scott Kollins. I'm not too familiar with either of these men, so any thoughts on whether these are good choices for a creative team?

Reading the interview, some of his ideas sound good, like a strong focus on Jay Garrick, and a focus on the relationship between the three old-timers. Not sure about the violent new villain or the Society as a genuine society though, but moving the team away from WW2/Nazis sounds like a good plan. It's well past time they looked forward rather than backward.

Edit: another article at Newsarama: http://www.newsarama.com/comics/marc-guggenheim-jsa-interview-100714.html

 

You might know Guggenheim from his Wolverine run during Civil War.

In any case, I decided I'm done with the book. I dropped it as stated during the last creative change and that "new team" seems like it was a temporary fix that exploded in their faces. Where as JSA was one of the best books out there, after the change, there is now not a single person I know who reads it.

And I think the problem is that DC does not have any writers on staff that could actually handle a team book like this properly. Johns could but he told his story already. Maybe they could get Winnick or Bedard to light a spark but it wouldn't be permanent. Simone might be really good but I'd hate to take her away from Birds of Prey.

The person I think would actually do a great job with this team would be Mark Waid. I don't think he does anything or even has ties with DC anymore but his JLA stuff was excellent and the way he wrote FF proves he can write a "family" centric book.

 

I wanted to read this latest arc with the crossover with the JLA, but since I missed out on the first two chapters, I may skip it. I've been wanting to downsize the books I get every month anyway.

That said, PLEASE keep Winnick away from the JSA!

 

I was thinking about that too. I love a JLA/JSA crossover and, to be honest, I'm more interested in Mark Bagley's work than the writing.

 

No, I don't read any Marvel books. I used to read the Incredible Hulk waaaaay back when Peter David was writing, and some Daredevil from that same time, but that's about it.

I've enjoyed Willingham's storylines, and I'm sorry to see him go. But it's often good to see a good creative shake-up, so I won't pre-judge the incoming team. Hopefully I'll enjoy what they have in mind for the characters. I like the JSA enough that a writer would have to seriously derail the characters before I'd drop the book.

 

Yeah, this is the main reason I'm buying JLA, even though the story's mediocre now...

 

Right now I'm only buying JLA for the Brightest Day and JSA tie in's.

I'm most likely drop the book when both are done.

But if Jade and Jessy Quick stick around I might change my mind.

 

A few thoughts on JSA vol. 3, "The Return of Hawkman"

- 10 issues in one volume (judging by chapters anyway). Very nice.   Definitely getting my money's worth from this collection.
- I'm reminded of when these issues were published by the fact that the Spectre turns up, and it's Hal Jordan! Heh.
- It's kind of refreshing to see Dinah Lance involved with someone other than that jerk Oliver Queen. And Dr. Mid-Nite is apparently the perfect gentleman.
- His ploy with Sand to defeat Johnny Sorrow is what I expected, but it was still cool to see.
- And I have to say, as a Jay Garrick/Flash fan, I'm really happy with how much story material he gets here. Not only do we get the return of one of his past foes, The Rival, but we learn about the adopted son that he and Joan had for all of two weeks, and how much Jay still misses him. I found his discussion of this with Mr. Terrific to be a very touching scene.
- Interesting revelations about Kendra and who she actually is.
- It's good to see Carter Hall return as himself, though younger and not blonde any more? And the past incarnations of the character are not retconned out, they're mentioned and accounted for as some of Hall's past lives, since he's been reincarnated many times, don't you know? As an attempt to unravel the twisted continuity of the Hawkman character, it's a pretty good attempt.
- And the Thanargarian wingmen wear the uniforms from the "Hawkworld" series.  
- I don't quite know how I feel about Black Adam joining the team, but he's well-behaved and almost noble here. Knowing what a killer he is later on colors my opinion of him though. I want to like him, but I can't.

The JSA series continues to improve. This is my favorite run of stories from either the JSA or Justice Society series so far. I look forward to getting volume 4 soon.

 

What do all of you think of the current crossover with the JLA? I think the concept is pretty strong, but the potential of the story hasn't really been met. And it's largely due to a lack of sufficient characterization. Maybe there are just too many characters for the writer to juggle, but with one or two exceptions, everyone feels very generic.

 

I'm not a fan of the way the JLA has been handled lately, so the crossover is dragged down a little by that in my opinion. Though I've not properly read the latest issues of either series yet.

 

I'm really liking Robinson on JLA, so I'm definitely a fan. I think he stumbled a bit with his incredibly short-lived lineup coming out of Blackest Night (and, of course, the disaster that was Cry for Justice), but he seems to be finding his footing and I really like the ersatz "big seven" he's using (Dick Grayson, Donna Troy, Supergirl, Jade, Jesse Quick, Starman, and Congorilla). Plus I've been a Bagley fan for ages.

 

Justice Society of America #44

Very disappointing. This is the first issue with the new creative team of Mark Guggenheim and Scott Kollins, and while the art is pretty good, I feel like I'm reading a book from the worst days of the 90s. Dark, brutal and bloody are not words I'd normally use to describe the adventures of the Justice Society, but that's what we got here.

Some super-powered terrorist is being held in a CIA secret prison in Afghanistan. He escapes and slaughters everyone guarding him. He heads to America and attacks a city, so the Justice Society heads out to stop him. This nameless, motiveless, unknown plot device of a villain proceeds to trash the group with ease, bloodying everyone up and breaking Alan Scott's neck. In the end, after hours of fighting in which a good chunk of the city is destroyed, Lightning stops him by seriously electrocuting the guy, while Dr. Fate contains him.

Aside from the fact that Alan Scott/Green Lantern was declared the most powerful man on Earth just two issues ago, and here he's taken out in five seconds flat, didn't we just see a team member seriously wounded and near death in the last storyline? And Alan Scott himself has already been nearly killed back during the Johnny Sorrow storyline early in the run of the JSA title, making this feel like a retread idea.

I was pretty turned off by this issue. I'm seriously considering dropping the book if this is what can be expected from Guggenheim.