JSA #14 review

Posted on by martingray1

It’s summer 1940, and on the streets of Keystone City, super-speedster The Flash, Jay Garrick, stops speeders and finds a surprise consignment.

Realising the guns were heading for Gotham City, Jay sets out for the address he sees. Meanwhile, under Gotham, a murder investigation finds Green Lantern Alan Scott and Spectre Jim Corrigan uneasy partners.

The victim had been designing tunnels for a company named Starco, and suspicions and dreams have led Hourman Rex Tyler and Sandman Wesley Dodds to the firm’s Gotham HQ after hours.

While Atom Al Pratt’s spying on a group of US Nazi sympathisers is interrupted by an unfamiliar figure. Well, to him anyway.

And in Peru. Hawkgirl Shiera Sanders and Hawkman Carter Hall are on the trail of bad guys.

So, there’s no Justice Society of America as yet, but there are heroes, and little by little they’re meeting each other, getting to know their peers. There are no Marvel-style fights taking the place of introductions but there are plenty of spicy exchanges. Actually, we could do with a fight or two between heroes and villains, but as last time, what fighting there is happens off panel. Is this an instruction from writer Jeff Lemire or a decision by artist Gavin Guidry?

What we do get is the before and after as Hawkgirl frees herself from goons working with Sportsmaster and Satana aka the Tiger Girl.

Has she killed the goons?

It’s fun to see Queen Hippolyta turn up in Wonder Woman mode, and being amusingly haughty to the sexist Atom. I don’t know if the John Byrne business of her having travelled to the Second World War from the present day stands in this week’s continuity, or whether she’s left Paradise Island circa 1940. I couldn’t find an answer in the New History of the DC Universe. Anyone have any idea?

The occasional bits of Forties slang are great, and I like seeing an old All-Star Squadron foe pop up here. What I’m less keen on is the number of massive panels and splash pages. One page has two heroes being horrified by a room containing nothing beyond the usual bad guy stuff.

We do, though, get a lovely almost-full page image of Hippolyta leaping towards us from Guidry, and there are some decent facial expressions. I do think the artist would benefit from a good-old-fashioned inker so talented colourist Luis Guerrero doesn’t have to do all the shading with tones – blacks have their place.

The storytelling is mostly clear – we aren’t shown the name ‘Gotham’ on the envelope that sends Jay to Gotham. Come on people!

Veteran letterer Steve Wands does his usual excellent job, complete with his trademark big ‘O’s.

The book ends with more heroes entering the picture, and it has me excited for next issue as some haven’t previously been associated with the JSA. I doubt they’ll become founders in this revised origin, but it’ll be interesting to find out why they’ve shown up.

Dave Johnson’s cover is a jolly wee number, I particularly like the Spectre reaching out for the DC cover furniture.

So, an entertaining issue. A little too breezy in terms of pacing, I’d prefer more story, but it had me smiling throughout.

17 thoughts on “JSA #14 review”

  1. So Mart, do you think they’re eschewing the spear of destiny origin entirely or do you think this is leading to that?

    for those keeping score, I bought it they did not read it. I have heard a couple reviews, though.

    -Matthew Lloyd

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      1. I had no idea who Satanna was and the guess doesn’t feel right to me. What else is new with Lemire being the Anti-Shooter? Huntress wasn’t even a pre-corrupted hero at this point but that’s a minor quibble since there’s been at least eighty continuities since then. I do agree that the original Special and Thomas doing his finiscky nitpicking as well as adapting it post-Crisis especially has less weight than either of the JLA pre-Crisis origins had.

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  3. Been really enjoying this so far. I know some long-time fans feel like Lemire is just ignoring the past/continuity. But other than the 1970s one-shot about the JSA coming together (rewritting by Roy Thomas in the 1980s “Secret Origins” issue), has there ever really been an actual “year one” JSA origin story of this nature? And there’s nothing to say that this doesn’t eventually lead up to/conclude with Lemire’s version of that 1970s issue’s events. And even if it doesn’t, is that story REALLY as canon or as well-known as Superman’s or Batman’s origins or even the JLA’s initial meeting in the Silver Age? Is it really an untouchable classic? I’ve read it and it’s fine but I don’t feel super attached. And also it’s 2025, not the 1980s when Roy Thomas could entertain legions of old school fans by adhering so closely to Golden Age stories/dates. I love the JSA but don’t ask me about which character was created/debuted when and how that lines up with real world events in WWII, etc. etc. etc. I think Lemire needs to be cut some slack to just tell a good story and do some new things while still honoring these characters. – Brian

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    1. An ‘untouchable classic’? I love it, but no. The DC Special JSA origin was changed about a decade later by, yes, Roy Thomas to tell the post-Crisis origin ie no Batman or Superman. So if we get a third version, the world won’t end. If we get something entirely new, well, I enjoy novelty, and the originals are still out there. I’m a Legion fan, I can take reboots.

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  4. I skimmed your review, since I won’t be able to read this issue till next week. But I’m really excited for it… and very curious about the other heroes and villain that show up! (Gotta remember to not check back here for comments until after next Wednesday…)

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  5. There were some really good moments in this issue. I also enjoyed seeing that All-Star Squadron character that you mentioned since that series is dear to my heart. Alan seemed a little brusque w/ Jay, but I think I’m just used to them being old buddies and acting like it. I’m very interested in the ending as it seems Lemire may be pulling on one of those plot strings that was mentioned in the most recent Geoff Johns run.

    Super Captain

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  7. I enjoyed this issue… but I agree with you that it’d be good to see some action. The closest we get here is Flash’s page-1 punching of a gunman in a moving car. After that, it’s one whispered conversation after another, and the one action scene — Hawkgirl vs her captors — is completely elided, to the point where I can’t even imagine how it went. How’d she get out of the net?

    Plus: GIVE US CAPTIONS, DC! Gavin Guidry’s art is attractive, but it’s also super open — there’s plenty of space to give us contextual information. The scene where GL is at the crime scene and Jim Corrigan shows up has the caption “GOTHAM CITY” atop probably 3 square inches of hardwood floor. Use some of that space! At least to say “GOTHAM CITY. THE APARTMENT OF GORDON [LASTNAME].” We never get the murder victim’s name in this issue, and when I checked for what it was last issue, we never got his last name then! Lemire, and editor Ander Marino, can do better. (And at least last issue, they *did* do better, a little bit. We got “Gotham’s East End” instead of just Gotham City, and we were told where in Peru the Hawks were, instead of just “Peru.” It’s not difficult, and it’s not even intrusive.)

    As an old All-Star Squadron fan, it was weird seeing that supervillain so early in DC history, but I can roll with it. It was nice to see the last-page guest stars, too, though I hope they (or most of them) don’t play a large part in the story. Let the JSAers shine without them.

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    1. That’s an excellent point about the lack of decent captions. It’s so weird that still, today, writers seem to want us to think we’re watching films rather than reading comics. Comics have so much unique grammar that shouldn’t be ignored, not least because meatier reads mean better value.

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Published by martingray1

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