It’s a tale of two Wildcats as the Ragnarok storyline goes on and on… I guess that’s Ragnarok for you.
The original Wildcat, Ted Grant, shows fighting ability isn’t the only reason he’s been such an asset to the Justice Society of America since the beginning. He doesn’t have a magic lantern, wings or a hotline to God, but he does have wisdom and heart. Young Dr Fate Khalid Nasser is having a bit of a wobble as the demonic horde summoned by the Injustice Society of America continues its attack on the original Dr Fate’s tower. He’s losing it, he tells Ted.
Back in Keystone City, someone who does lose it is legacy Wildcat Yolanda Montez, who’s looking for best friend Dr Midnite, Beth Chapel, following her kidnap by the ISA. What she and other members find fills her with despair…
… and rage.
Back at the tower, Ted faces the newly arrived ISA as they resume their attempts to steal the Helmet of Nabu from Dr Fate for leader Wotan. He fights like hell to stop them reaching Khalid as he magically shores up the tower’s defences. Gas-gun wielding villain The Fog manages to slow Ted down with a blast of poison.
One Wildcat down, the other likely going down for killing a crook. And Dr Midnite still missing, definitely tortured, possibly murdered. I’d be surprised were JSA writer Jeff Lemire not to take one of these characters from the series, in the interests of fair play drama. I’d happily lose Yolanda, she’s not made for a team – sure, hotheads such as Hawkeye and fellow archer Green Arrow have thrived in the Avengers and JLA respectively, but they get angry only occasionally, in battle, where Yolanda is simmering all the time, poised to strike with her claws.
One good thing about Ted being at death’s door is that it shows at least one writer at DC remembers Khalid is a medical student. Also this issue, we get a little mystery with Jesse Chambers, aka Jesse Quick and husband Rick Tyler, the second Hourman.
I look forward to finding out more. Jesse needs a break, her storylines have tended to centre on some angst or another, a notable exception being the shortlived strip she shared with Rick in later issues of the long-gone JSA All-Stars book.
We still don’t know what the ISA’s ultimate plan is, and Lemire remains rubbish at naming villains as they show up – I think that’s Lady Kobra making Wildcat kebab – but I’ve no complaints about this issue elsewise. There’s physical action and character interaction aplenty, and it all looks fantastic courtesy of the crisp, dynamic illustrations of scene-shifting artists Diego Olortegui and Joey Vazquez. Emotions are dialled up just a wee bit for the purposes of drama, with the compositions doing a similar job – note how Yolanda’s claws break the panel border as she strikes out at the unlucky henchman. One of my other favourite visual moments is an opening flashback of Ted’s attempts to teach Khalid some basic hand-to-hand combat.
Art by Olortegui and Guerrero
Two characters, perfectly captured, and beautifully coloured by the ever-excellent Luis Guerrero, and lettered by the splendid Steve Wands.
Cully Hamner’s cover illo is a little misleading – we don’t get a bonfire of the hero props – but it was likely done many months ago for the sake of advertising, and the story changed. An exciting blurb or word balloon would help matters enormously. The cover is striking, regardless, and does nod to events in the Ragnarok story.
I know not everyone has been on board with this series, but I think it’s really getting its act together. A strong conclusion to the current storyline, a downtime issue to show us just who the characters are away from the JSA, and I’d be thoroughly happy.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
I’m wondering is Psycho Pirate is somehow involved. There have been lots of discussion (especially this issue) about different characters reaction being off. There’s the scene above with Jesse and Rick. There’s another with Todd smiling weirdly (although that could be because he’s a villain). Many of the JSAers emotions seem to have been ramped up or wonky and I feel like it’s a deliberate choice. We shall see.
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Oh, I wrote a whole paragraph about how Jesse’s super-speed was perhaps allowing her to shake off Psycho Pirate programming before noticing PP wasn’t in the current ISA… I tend to get him and Johnny Sorrow mixed up. But it does make sense.
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At first I was just very happy to have a regular monthly Justice Society book back and a fresh voice on this team after Johns has basically been in control on-and-off for roughly a quarter century. I haven’t read a ton of Lemire’s work but know he is held in high regard so was hopeful. I think it’s a solid and entertaining title. Better than average. I have read Lemire’s first arc is 12 issues, with a WWII flashback in a month or two from now further expanding on the storyline, and I do wonder a bit about whether that was the best choice. I’m kind of eager six issues in to get this wrapped up and move on to new storylines. It’s got an epic feel BUT also could maybe move a bit faster? But, again, I don’t want to take this book’s existence for granted. We had NO monthly JSA for over a decade, then got a good return by Johns but it was sooooooo delayed. So I’m happy it exists and plan to keep reading! – Brian
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I agree this storyline is dragging on too long. Twelve issues of the team at each other’s throats. Ugh. The supposed-to-be-happily-married couple getting a panel of reproachment is a start but come on. We read X-Men for the angst. JSA is supposed to be about family and hope even as they fight for their lives. Speaking of which, I’d hoped Alan would be the one killed off (though I would have preferred no one dying) because I don’t like the alterations to him and he’s overshadowed in how his power is used by even Jo Mullen but Wildcat’s an okay choice. It’s not like I believe he’ll stay dead past this series which I don’t see earning an issue thirteen.
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What can I say, I agree on all points. Twelve issues is far too long for an opening story, three issues tops for me.
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Does Wildcat still have his magical 9 lives?
Is his son still in continuity?
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Tom has been mentioned elsewhere and here there is no mention of the nine lives. Not unexpected since Lemire doesn’t bother with background details. It will be a handy way to bring him back since I recall some writer established it resets to nine lives between uses.
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Great answers!
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Great questions!
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I wouldn’t say there’s no mention of Wildcat’s 9 lives: As Lady Kobra drives a sword through him, she literally says “You’re finally out of lives, Wildcat.”
Whether she’s right about that or not remains to be seen.
I have hope that this book is about to get a little less scattershot, now that the heavy hitters are back from Fate’s Tower or the magic dimension or wherever it was they were. A (mostly) reunited team might give us more unity to the storyline, and hopefully less jumping around. These stories have been very busy, going back and forth between subsets of the team, and by starting in media res and not being clear about the stakes or the goals of any of the parts of the storyline, I think Lemire’s been dropping the ball a bit. But things have been improving in these most recent issues, and I hope the upswing continues.
As for Yolanda, I haven’t minded her combative attitude — her best friend has been missing throughout the entire series, so we haven’t seen her in a non-stress moment yet. But she crossed a line here, and there need to be consequences.
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I never liked the nine lives bit, Wildcat as a magic hero seems off… and coming back from the dead eight times, that is huge! I can just about take son Tom being furry and fanged, as he’s a different generation and new, but Ted touched by enchantment? Weird.
Does this seem more like TV Yolanda and Beth than the originals in age and build to you?
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I’m with you on the nine lives bit, taken literally. Although I think of it as less “coming back from the dead” and more “escaping certain death” — which makes him less mystical, and more just lucky… like a cat.
As for Yolanda and Beth, they seem older than they were in Stargirl, but they seem to have the closeness of that relationship grafted onto them now. I think it’s a decent way of handling things — particularly for two characters that were pretty much benched for 30 years. Gotta give them someone to anchor to!
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Oh, now I want to go back and see how Wildcat’s nine lives were introduced and handled by Geoff Johns.
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I *think* it was just luck, and not explicit resurrections. But it’s been ages since I’ve read those, so I could be wrong.
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Actually, come to think of it, I think Johnny Sorrow might have killed him at one point. But who knows?
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I’ve just checked JLA #31, the first time it came up, and he does die in that – his heart bursts in the Qwisp storyline. I found this on the DC Database site:
‘Due to a mystical event in 1945, Ted has nine lives. Should he die, he will be resurrected. He originally believed he had only nine resurrections total, with a few of them spent, but has learned that his power has a cycle, wherein his spent lives reset to a full nine. He must be killed nine times in a short period of time in order to stay dead.’
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Oh, jeez — he just keeps on getting up after getting killed? It’s a neat idea, but I don’t like it for Wildcat.
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