Here’s an issue I enjoyed an awful lot. What got me most excited was the final page so it’s fair to warn you I’ll be showing that below – I don’t want to ruin any enjoyment if you’ve not yet read the book.
The story opens in Los Angeles, with a new figure telling us what he’s been up to.
Meanwhile, JSA members, joined by Batman, want to have a word with the man monster Solomon Grundy, but Grundy isn’t playing ball.
At Belle Reve prison in Louisiana, another sub-team visits supervillain The Icicle.
And in Ivy Town, Dr Mid-Nite has come to see the madwoman once wed to Justice Leaguer the Atom.
While in Salem, Dr Fate is finding Forties transplant Salem the Witch Girl not the most amenable superhero intern.
When things calm down, unexpected visitors come calling.
Did anyone see that coming from writer Geoff Johns? Classic Substitute Hero Stone Boy. Another Legion of Super-Heroes reject, Rainbow Girl, who eventually joined the Subs after Johns linked her power to the Green Lantern emotional spectrum. And Animal Lad, another LSH wannabe, unseen since his original appearance in the early Sixties and rocking one of Superman’s most famous Red Kryptonite looks.
Mind, there was a 31st-century JSA start-up spotted in last November’s New Golden Age special.
I am intrigued!
I’m also a little wary – so far as I know, this series is slated for a one-year run, giving us five issues left. And Johns is continually setting more subplot balls rolling. I love subplots. I’m constantly sighing over the good old days when every issue the likes of Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway would give us an A plot, a B plot and a C plot… as one was dealt with, another would move to prime position and a new one added. Here, I couldn’t tell you what Justice Society #7’s A plot is, but every strand grabbed me.
What’s the deal with the tattooing vigilante who readers of the aforementioned New Golden Age and the first issue of this series know is The Harlequin’s Son? What do heroes from the future want with Dr Fate? Is Eclipso about to return?
And why the heck is the JSA trying to recruit Solomon Grundy and the Icicle (II, to be precise)? I know earlier issues showed the Huntress and Power Girl, around the year 2050, running a JSA featuring them, along with the Harlequin’s Son, the latest Mist and Ruby, daughter of old Alan Scott enemy Red Lantern. But that was due to desperation, a lack of legacy heroes – the current JSA isn’t short of members, they even have a brand new intake with the Lost Children.
My biggest question: how is that upsettingly uneven Red Lantern logo meant to be acceptable?
Kudos to Johns for keeping things gripping, but given there’s so much going on there’s no excuse for five splash pages – one of which is just a big old door – in a 20-page comic book.
Mind, they do look great courtesy of artist Marco Santucci, who’s back after last time to fill in for regular illustrator Mikel Janín. His clear, crisp,storytelling is a real asset to the book, with plenty of telling facial expressions and scads of eye-popping action. I’d love to see this book’s run extended and Santucci made regular co-artist or, were Janín unavailable, lead. And could we please keep Ivan Plascencia on colours and Rob Leigh on letters? The former has the pages alternately blazing with power or dripping with mood, while the latter ensures the speciality fonts and bubbles come out only when needed – Icicle’s icicle word balloons, for example, are a classic.
Mikel Janín’s cover is the best yet, a great composition, well-executed with an especially groovy Grundy.
To sum up, this is a busy comic with a nicely worked script, excellent art and a lot going on. With just 12 issues of 20 pages each to play with, though, Johns needs to stop throwing space away with unnecessary splash pages.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
I’m very excited to read this. The delays have been frustrating but every time a new issue drops I’m sucked back in.
I do find the lack of interviews with Johns about this title curious and wonder if they have at all to do with the news he is forming a new publisher whose founders will be exclusive to that company…
I hadn’t realized that to be the case until today when I read the NYTimes piece above. I figured Johns could split his time. So seems like he is def on his way out the door at DC at this point, Martin, and your fears about this being wrapped up in 5 issues are certainly valid. But this was announced as a 12 issue series so I’m hoping he planned ahead 🙂
I have fallen in and out and in and out of love with Johns’ work over the past 20-plus years, but this Justice Society relaunch reminds me what I enjoy about him. The subplots. The appreciation for continuity and DC’s history. I would dare say that since the New52 reboot a dozen years back that we just don’t get books like this anymore. Jean Loring!?!? When the heck was the last time Identity Crisis/Infinite Crisis was referenced in a DC book?!?!? Probably before the New52!
I’ve said before here that this title really seems like a throwback to that time before the reboot. It’s like Johns just decided to start writing the title as if just a few years had passed, nevermind almost a dozen (plus however many years he was off the JSA when it was still being published as an ongoing pre-New52…) and I’ve been loving that approach.
But knowing it appears to def be over after 5 issues now makes it bittersweet. There has been some vagueness/confusion online about whether this is an ongoing or not, but if it is, we now know Johns won’t be the writer.
And I’m just not sure if DC is committed enough to these characters if Johns isn’t around to champion them or if another writer could get them to sell as well. Maybe one of the authors of the related Golden Age miniseries will be entrusted with their care?
-Brian
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On the one hand, it is great the pre-Flashpoint history survives; on the other, what a shame it’s Jean Loring’s possession by Eclipso… is it too much to hope the murder of Sue Dibny has gone? After all, Ted Kord is back, and we did see a Ralph and Sue in Gail Simone’s Secret Six series! I do feel for Jean, the only big stories she got for decades involved her losing her mind.
I tried to read the NYT piece but it’s behind a paywall. So I tried to sign up to a £20 for one year offer, but it wouldn’t work and an NYT robot decided I’m a robot and blocked me. I have emailed!
I vote for Jeremy Adams to start working on issue 13 now.
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Oops. Sorry about the “Times” problem (and the double post after it looked like my first one didn’t go through). I will give the “Jay Garrick” mini a shot based on your positive reviews! Interesting point about where Jean Loring, the Dibnys stand at this stage. Honestly though it makes sense for Johns to keep the Eclipso connection cannon because he really is writing as if the New52 never happened.
-Brian
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Very excited to read this.
Unfortunately it looks like Johns is done with this book and DC following the 12th issue…
I had heard he was helping to found a new publisher, but until I just read this NYTimes article above hadn’t realized he and the other creators involved would exclusive to it.
I’ve really enjoyed Johns’ return to the Justice Society but also find the experience bittersweet. His work on the book so far reminds me of the modern-day DC I fell in love with between the mid-1990s and the launch of the New52 reboot in 2011.
It’s kind of a tease – like a “lost” JSA series that was shelved when the New52 arrived – and now it’s even more bittersweet given it appears to be Johns’ swansong for the company (at least for now).
-Brian
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I’ve been looking forward to your review all day.
Won’t be picking up my issue til the end of the month, and I always value your opinions.
The arrival of the Subs at the end has got me so excited, though I’m curious how this apparently pre-Bendis team impacts on the version of the Legion that have appeared earlier in this series.
I too long for the days of the A,B,C plots and subplots of yesteryear, but assume titles are much less secure in this day and age. With an apparently guaranteed 12 issues, I’ve faith in Johns to juggle all the balls he’s thrown up in the air, and tie up the loose ends by series end.
But no matter what happens I look forward to reading your thoughts on the developments.
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Thanks for the lovely words, they make me even happier than the French Fancy I’m currently gobbling. After Doomsday Clock I can take different versions of the LSH dropping into the same limited series, I’ll just assume they dropped off different versions of the Hypertime tree!
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If DC would just se the divergent future theory pretty much everyone else on Earth writing alt futures using, you wouldn’t need hyper-thyme.
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Wasn’t the version of the Legion that appeared earlier in the series the one that Johns had a hand in writing (buzz cut Saturn Girl and Gary Frank costume designs)? It looked to be the team that was around just before the Bendisboot (in which case, this version of the subs appears to be totally in line with that version).
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I really love this title, but this issue didn’t impress me like the previous issues. There’s no clue on the overall plot or what’s next besides Huntress and the present day JSA getting her gang of villains to be goodies in the present. The Eclipso plot should feel more important since he’s such a menacing foe to the JSA, but it feels like an unwarranted side plot here. Hopefully next issue is more clear on the future for the title. Some positive though was the Slaughter Swamp and Belle Reve sections, Johns’ really showcases the characters personalities well.
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I definitely get being disappointed at the disappearance of plotlines/lack of focus… we don’t know if this will go beyond 12 issues. Let’s hope next issue has more Eclipso – he’s one of DC’s best villains and can lift a book.
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