The new Injustice Society of America ambushed the JSA, determined to steal some of their magical talismans. Heroes were hurt, others retreated to the extradimensional Tower of Fate where they’ve been under siege from demons summoned by the wizard Wotan. JSA-ers who weren’t present for the assault gathered in the brownstone to puzzle over what the heck has happened.
In Hell, Hawkman finally has hope of escape after being trussed up by the Demons Three thanks to a new player, a spirit who, although she doesn’t remember who she was, calls herself Kid Eternity.
Dr Midnite fights back against the deadly Scandal Savage.
At the JSA Brownstone, as they check on the stricken Jakeem Thunder, the light dawns for Jade and Sand.
And the Injustice Society of America plot their next move.
So, the Ragnarok storyline is in high gear, with the various fronts of battle equally entertaining. Writer Jeff Lemire has things moving at a frantic pace but the story strands remain clear. I enjoyed seeing a little bickering between the bad guys, and they’re even namechecked, which makes a change. It is a tad frustrating that five issues in we still don’t know what the villains’ plan is – Wotan finally announces commencement of his scheme at the end of this chapter, but details there are none.
There’s more great art from Diego Olortegui, including a fascinating spread – beautifully coloured by Luis Guerrero – showing a problem facing Obsidian and Jakeem now they’ve escaped from the villains.
And points for capturing the body language of Wildcat as seen on TV’s Stargirl.
And the final three pages, wow! I’m not always a fan of spread and splash-heavy comics, but Olortegui makes them far more than regular panels, but bigger.
Steve Wands provides a nice variety of fonts, adding to the overall visual feast. Curly Hamner’s cover is half decent, let down by a very wonky Dr Fate – mind, that costume is pretty awful at the best of times.
So, next issue is the sixth, often an end point for a continued storyline. I don’t know if that’s the case here, but if so it’s going to have to be double sized to satisfactorily sew up the story.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
THIS COMMENT IS FROM MURRAY, THE SYSTEM WAS BEING BLOCKED BY WOTAN…
.. I believe Lemire has said the first storyline will stretch over the first twelve issues. I’m cool with that. He’s taking his time BUT he’s also telling lots of story each issue. We’re getting character moments and we’re advancing the various plots each issue.
I’m also cool with the little chapter/title cards. They’re kind of a neat little way to identify the setting but also the vibe and characters for the chunk of story which follows.
I wish that the creative team would come up with equally creative ways to introduce the characters. I think back to when Bendis was working at DC and all the clever little ways he found to recap previous issues and point us towards important character bits in his splash pages. I’d love to see something similar here. Gimme a little mini Who’s Who page. Or sassy headshots. Just something to remind me who some of these characters are and what motivates them.
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Thanks, Martin! Do we have any clues as to the identity of the new Kid Eternity? I figure she’s got to be someone, yeah?
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Not a thing! I’d love it were she revealed to be some longlost DC type, Tana Moon, perhaps.
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A JSA at each other’s throats continues to be unpleasant to me. I’ve had the book since it came out and finally made myself read it today. Besides wishing the splash pages had been used to further story as normal pages, I also got to wondering when Scandal Savage devolved from basically an antihero to outright villain. I don’t think I can take twelve issues of this, especially since he’s killing off a JSAer soon.
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do we know who is being killed off?
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‘JSA #7
Written by JEFF LEMIRE
Art by RAFAEL DE LATORRE
Cover by JORGE FORNÉS
Variant covers by SWEENEY BOO and JERRY ORDWAY
1:25 Variant cover by TODD NAUCK
$3.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 5/7/25
The Justice Society and the rest of the hero community mourn the loss of one of
their own. But as the dirt settles, the JSA needs to find a way forward to stop the
Injustice Society’s plans, or the world is doomed!’
It also shows variant covers but the main cover isn’t shown. There’s just a black rectangle with the word ‘redacted’ on it. There’s very few cast members I won’t drop the book over them being killed off.
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I wonder if we missed Scandal making a heel turn… I’ve a vague feeling she was in some Batman comic last year, with a sister.
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I agree, Scandal being with this team is a mystery to me. I’ve no objection to her being a bad guy — she’s pretty amoral in the best of times — but I want to know why. (I’d also like to know where her wives are, but that’s beyond the scope of this book, I’m sure.)
I’m down with the JSA bickering like kids — that’s really accurate to how they were portrayed in the 70s comics of my formative comics fan years. (Some of the bickering was exacerbated by the Psycho Pirate, but the conflicts were genuine.)
It’s been a while since I read the early issues of this series; it’s probably time for a reread before issue 6 comes out, just to reground myself on why there are 3 different versions of Obsidian in this comic. (Two, I understand and remember. Three, I’m a little hazy on. Is the one with Jakeem the mental adventures of the comatose one with Beth?)
Anyway, I’m still enjoying/mystified by this book — it was the first thing I read when I brought 3 weeks worth of comics home from the shop today.
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I’m so sorry Rob, I can cast no light on the Obsidian question, appropriately enough – I was asking the same question a review or two back!
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