JSA #1 review

Posted on by martingray1

It’s a new start for the Justice Society of America. Since last we saw them there’s been a reorganisation, with some members out, others returning and a new leader. This new series begins with a quick recap of the history of the team before we join some of the current members in St Roche, once home to Hawkman and Hawkwoman. Jesse Quick, the female Wildcat and Obsidian are tracking down Kobra minions. They’re not prepared for how creepy Obsidian, with his shadow powers, can get

Soon Green Lantern’s son is using rather nasty means in a bid to extract information. The rest of the active JSA line-up arrives, and his sister, Jade, isn’t happy.

Back in New York we learn what’s been happening lately.

The tensions within the team cause Jade to bring the meeting to a speedy close, but the heated discussions continue elsewhere in the Brownstone. Elsewhere, the missing heroes are fighting to hold back monsters.

They’re at the Tower of Fate, trying not to be overwhelmed while finding a way back home – we don’t learn if they know how they got there. We do find out that someone is trying to make contact with Dr Fate Khalid… and they look pretty sinister. And back at headquarters, there’s a Traitor Within the Justice Society.

Lordy, how I love a good traitor…

Writer Jeff Lemire is taking a risk in not showing how we got from the situation at the end of the just-finished Justice Society of America maxi-series – we comic readers love our details. But I don’t blame him for wanting the cleanest of breaks from the Geoff Johns series, which has been bedevilled by delays. Maybe we’ll see, for example, Jade elected leader in a flashback, but given how things are going there’s probably little point getting invested…

I do, though want to know what Stargirl is up to, she’s been the heart of the JSA for a long time, yet here she’s relegated to the Reservists’ board. Is she mentoring the returned Lost Children?

Actually, let’s take a look at said screens.

There, at bottom left, is Cyclone, a character who – unless I’ve missed something – hasn’t had a line in a DC comic for years. I’d love to see her added as a series regular; she has a great design, useful powers and, best of all, a sunny personality, something the new team lacks.

This issue is called ‘Ragnarok’, reminding me of that depressing period when the JSA was banned from DC Comics, banished to a limbo dimension in-story. The barbarian hordes we see outside the Tower of Fate look as if they could be Norse, but the title may well be hinting that this story is an ending as well as a beginning.

I love superhero soap, but I’m not keen on Hourman and Jesse Quick arguing publicly, they were such a great couple in their JSA All-Stars series and the pretext is wafer thin… he never abandoned her in the Absolute Power story, she was kidnapped, he wasn’t. I’m more down for this, though.

Has there been a fling? We shall see.

One thing I don’t get is why the JSAers left behind don’t know the mechanics of the members’ vanishing. Are there no cameras? What about all the mystics and time travellers they know?

The final pages, with the traitor revealed to the reader, shows us who’s been messing the JSA around, and it does have me wondering if there’s emotional manipulation at work, blowing up little things into massive issues.

The credits page has Jeff Lemire in a bigger font than artist partner Diego Olortegui, which is poor form – even if a writer is a figuratively bigger name than the artist, or vice versa, one without the other does not a comic book make. And Olortegui, who did such a fine job on the recent Jay Garrick series, works similar magic here; his storytelling is terrific, his characters are full of expression, the energy is off the scale. Little details such as Jesse’s lightning earrings, Alan’s Green Lantern ring and the shine on the Flash’s helmet – yes, I realise I’ve mentioned this previously, but it never fails to impress me. We also get, with the help of the fine colourist Luis Guerrero, a cool modern spin on a Steve Ditko magical dimension. I’d love it, mind, were Olortegui to swap out the new helmet of Fate, which is terribly fussy, for the classic design – I mean, is that meant to be a menorah on the lower part?

Steve Wands uses a super-friendly font – think Comic Sans but not irritating – while the aforementioned Guerrero keeps the locations distinctive and the heroes’ customary colours on point. Plus, the differently toned backgrounds look good and help convey the idea that we’re going from scene to scene.

I’d like Olortegui’s cover, which is decent, more were Dr Fate not so randomly big – it’s not like he’s sending the other characters on missions inside. And why are Green Lantern and Wildcat just standing there? Mind, quibbles pale when set next to the logo, which is absolutely rubbish.

I liked this debut issue an awful lot and look forward to seeing how the series develops, there’s a shedload of potential. A long run of Justice Society stories by a committed creative team would be fantastic.

39 thoughts on “JSA #1 review”

  1. I *loved* this issue. Omg it’s head and shoulders above the last series.
    We’ve had more characterization in this one issue than in all twelve of the last run so I certainly won’t quibble if Lemire wants to put distance between this series and the one that came before.

    I loved that we’re starting off in mid adventure (and honestly I don’t even care if any of the details between the two series get sketched in. I’m happy to fill in the blanks myself).

    The art was dynamic! At times it was busier than I like, but that’s a small quibble.

    And, can I just say… subplots!! Pages and pages of subplots. And even the main story looks like it’s got a couple of elements going on. Love that!

    I’m curious who all the characters are on the last page. Some I recognize, some I can make some educated guesses about and some are a complete mystery to me.

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      1. Someone online thought she might be Scandal Savage.
        I think we’ve got the villains from the recent Flash and Sandman minis. Maybe Shadow Thief.

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      4. I’m very confused, and sorry, in my mind he showed up in The Terrifics series as a member of the Dreadfuls, but the only Mr Horrific I can find referenced online was a tiny namecheck in one of the animations. He’s not in the Terrifics so far as I can see. There was a three-parter called ‘Mr Horrific’ in the JSA Classified series, but no character with that name… that’s likely what put it in my head. So far as that last page of JSA #1 goes, I was possibly imagining he was there. My head hurts!

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      5. Injustice Society(Cameo)

        https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/JSA_Vol_2_1

        Liked by 1 person

      6. I like those members a great deal except for the upgrade Shadow Thief got. He just feels off to me with more than his original power set. Wotan’s the favorite but Ro-Bear was a treat in Jay’s recent mini. I just can’t stop thinking of the Hogan’s Heroes character when I hear the name in my head.

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      10. Thanks. It does make me laugh that after eight decades JSA antagonists still copy the good guys’ round table; I mean, they’re meant to be transgressors, sit at a long table or something!

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  2. I didn’t like this at all but I’ll stick with it. Johns won me back after the New 52’s removal of the team from history had me unable to pretend these weren’t hundred year old people running around like forty or fifty. Everybody fighting with everybody, even if it’s the traitor’s doing, feels wrong. Especially Jesse and Rick. It’s like messing with Linda and Wally. I’m also cool with Olortegui getting lesser billing since I don’t like his art. I’ve only read four things by Lemire I liked (which admittedly is a high percent of what little of his stuff I’ve read) but at least I don’t cringe at his work.

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  3. I’m cautiously very optimistic about this. I’ve only read a few of Lemire’s projects – Frankenstein, Terrifics – and they’ve been fun but nothing that blew me away. I have not tried his really critically acclaimed work and it seems to me his taking on the JSA is quite a big deal. And in interviews he has been very enthusiastic about the book and his longtime love of those characters and his return to DC. He has also indicated that he is really taking more time and really giving it his all to try and get this book right, and that the cast is a big one and not just the initial characters in this first issue/or that appeared in marketing. Plus it’s just nice to have an ongoing (and hopefully on time) monthly JSA book again after 13 years and, although I enjoyed Johns’ dozens of stories, nice to have a different voice taking over as well. – Brian

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    1. Well, you sent me to find an interview and he seems very enthusiastic about everybody arguing! Darn, sounds like that’s not a single story-based thing.

      Check out Jeff Lemire’s Superboy, Justice League Unlimited and Animal Man, they were all great.

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  6. I liked it a lot better than I thought I would. I wasn’t a fan of the few issues of Sweet Tooth or Justice League Canada by Lemire that I read, so I was hesitant to pick this up. The in-fighting on the team really put me off until the twist at the end, which now has me very intrigued. I do think the Jesse Quick/Hourman argument is ridiculous and forced though.

    As for the members of the Injustice Society, starting from the bottom and going clockwise:

    Johnny Sorrow, The Fog, Red Lantern (Ruby), Solomon Grundy, Wotan, Lady Kobra, Doctor Elemental, Gentleman Ghost, then a guy in black and white I don’t recognize, and finally Scandal Savage.

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    1. Sorry, I’ve only just found this, WordPress sent it into spam, initially. Thanks for the roster ID. I did like Justice League Canada/United, bar changing Adam and Alana Strange for no good reason.

      I still haven’t tried Sweet Tooth, I’m not sure it’s ’me’.

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  7. I love the JSA and I will stick with the series but something feels off. No mention of any of the lost children, new members like Harlequin or Huntress(unless I missed it). Solomon, Ruby and Gentleman Ghost on the IJL? Didn’t Mordru bring Gentleman Ghost back to life?

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    1. Until we get a better in story explanation, I’m just going with an obvious reason for that. Huntress the Seventeenth or So was the driving force between baddies and semi-baddies being recruited, with slight resistance even from her allies. With her banished to alternate future timeline, those barely welcome would have been quickly gone.

      Also, I’d like to mention I’ve long had a way Huntress could have gone back to her original time theorized. It was self-defense since the OG Guardians of the Galaxy at Marvel could not logically ever return to their home time since they’s made it impossible with what was done to Vance Astro’s tween self and my brain needed an explanation. What she needed to do was go further back in time to before her arrival when the diverging futures still included her own and then travel forward to it from there. I’ve never mentioned this theory before but thought putting it even in one blogger’s comment section might slowly get other’s considering it as well. Can’t hurt to try anyways.

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  8. I’ve been cool on Lemire in the past… but I really loved this book! An arguing JSA is *exactly* how I first encountered them in the 70s, between tensions between the old guard and the “super squad,” and then it all getting exacerbated by the Psycho Pirate! So yeah, JSAers arguing with each other was old home week for me.

    As for the group at the end… I’m hoping it’s Scandal Savage, just because we’ve pretty much always seen her be a “bad” person on a good team. Let’s see her be bad! But I’m not sure it’s her.

    I’m even less sure the guy to her right is Shadow Thief. Ian Karkull has much of the same MO, *and* he has more of a connection to the Justice Society. Shadow Thief was more of a Thanagar-era Hawk villain.

    Ah, well, we’ll see. But let me just say: when that traitor was revealed, it made me so happy!

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    1. I agree about the traitor. I disagree about Karkull though. I refreshed my memory of him visually and only covered in darkness does he resemble Shadow Thief. That costume looks like an update on Shadow Thief’s look.

      And I finally noticed Red Lantern is the second daughter of a Golden Age ring bearer (one of them a continuity insert) to be born with skin color matching their father’s rings?

      Also, does anyone else find Johnny Sorrow one of the most incompetent overpowered adversaries ever?

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      1. Oh, Johnny Sorrow is indeed rubbish, and yes, he has a massive list of powers. I love his name, though… Johnny Anything usually works.

        I expect extended colour spectrum exposure has swimmers glowing green, red or whatever in the dark.

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    2. That’s the 2019 Shadow Thief design, complete with pocket blob. Sadly! The classic look was fine.

      Am I misremembering, in my head Scandal Savage was the halfway decent person among a team of utter scumbags?

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      1. Generally, yes. But I figure in a title like Secret Six, decent is relative.

        That said, I thought she was a professional assassin before the stories started, and it looks like I was imagining that.

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      4. I remember Scandal as the ‘noble’ villain trope. Didn’t she really have no moral compass? She only seemed heroic since Simone wisely paired her off against even worst people.

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Published by martingray1

Journalist, comic reviewer, theatre critic, film lover, biscuit fan, cat indulger