JSA #21 review

Posted on by martingray1

Behind this peppy cover by Pete Woods is the Search for the Spectre Part 3 of 4, so it’s time for things to really ramp up before the big finale.

We are getting a big finale, aren’t we? Because things don’t really ramp up here. Half the book is a continuation of the dangerous game we might call Pass the Spectre. Last month the Spirit of Vengeance, bereft of a host and so out of control, ‘auditioned’ various Justice Society members and finally landed on Obsidian, who surely has darkness in his soul. This month, his twin sister Jade fights back.

The rest of the book sees us with the younger members of the team, on a quest to find the Spectre’s most successful partner, dead detective Jim Corrigan. Instead they’ve found New God Metron, collector of knowledge, who wants to show the kids the beginnings of the Spectre. A fallen angel named Aztar who was sent to Hell after siding with Lucifer in the war on Heaven, he begged God for Forgiveness.

Metron then immerses Stargirl, Dr Fate, Jakeem Thunder and the new Kid Eternity in more recent events. Darkseid, god of evil, coveted the Spectre’s power and wished to bond with him. But as seen in the DC All In Special, the Ghostly Guardian (well, on a good day) resists, instead putting Darkseid in the picture as to his place in creation, sparking the Absolute Universe. The last they see of Jim Corrigan, he’s chained up in a cell somewhere. Maybe the Moon.

But the Young All-Stars will see Corrigan again, as Metron takes them to Gotham in the early Forties for the rest of the Spectre’s origin.

Back in… forward to 2026, we see the Wrath of God has entered a JSA-er who might just be a great match.

I’m intrigued as to what the Spectre’s mission to Belle Reve might be – is s/he looking for Jim Corrigan’s onetime spiritual advisor Fr Richard Craemer, who used to work at the prison for the worst of the worst? Are they searching for another Louisiana resident, the Alec Holland Swamp Thing? Then again, neither of these would inspire ‘vengeance’. So it must be someone locked up… but who?

The young ‘uns look pretty perturbed to be in a wartime setting. Will they run into any of the Lost Children? Probably not, given how much time this story has left to run, but at least they should soak up some of the atmosphere that made the likes of the Flash, Green Lantern and Wildcat the heroes they are.

The reprise of the war between Heaven and Hell was a bit of a yawn for this Olde Time reader – we’ve seen it in previous Spectre series, Sandman, Hellblazer, Swamp Thing, Eclipso (probably), ‘Mazing Man (kidding!)… I really can’t imagine this current story needing so much detail. I’m with Jakeem.

Ditto the big chunk of script from the DC All-In Special. While the Spectre-swapping was reminiscent of last issue, at least we got some different details, and the art by illustrator Diego Olortegui and colourist Luis Guerrero is lovely.

Heck, it’s lovely throughout. The bad angels all being dressed as proto-Spectres is a tad weird, I’m used to them being either traditionally angelic, or vampiric as in 1997’s Spectre #60. It makes Aztar being ‘transfigured’ into the Spectre a tad puzzling – he appears exactly the same, just neater. But the scene does look good.

And the spread callback to the DC All In Special is even better.

The scene with Obsidian and Jade is excellent, the type of characterisation I’d love to see more of. I really don’t enjoy the current comics culture in which everyone is a superhero, all the time. Anyone for a Day in the Life issue answering such questions as: Does Stargirl,still go to college? Is Khalid still in the medicine game? How are Alan and Molly getting along?

Writer Jeff Lemire does a decent job with the scenes, there’s a nice rhythm to the issue and the dialogue – laid down by letterer Pete Woods – is fine. And again, there are things I enjoyed this time. But the entirety doesn’t feel fresh enough. Hopefully the conclusion next time will blow me away.

46 thoughts on “JSA #21 review”

  1. I am looking forward to seeing the young all stars! I’m assuming that Yolanda is looking for Eclipso(I’m assuming Jean is still Eclipso and in Belle Reve) since Eclipso killed her.

    I am curious when Jade is talking about that Todd protected her when no one else was there… they did not grow up together(unless that has been retconned)

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  3. Good review. I’ve liked a handful of issues of this series so far.

    My big gripe about the Spectre is the whole vengeance thing. I’d much rather prefer a spirit of justice. It’s not the “Vengeance Society”. 😉

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  5. Is it too much to hope Yolanda’s merger with Spectre will reference her killing that Kobra soldier in cold blood in the first arc? If Lemire misses that opportunity that will be a shame. – Brian

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    1. A splendid point. It probably is too much to hope for, but them again, given how much she’d embracing the new look, her savage ways really should come up.

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  6. I think the last time.a JSA book was about the core JSA was the 90s run. The early 2000s Johns run became too much of a Shazam/Black Adam book and the Johns run before this one was about how many characters could he fit in the book and not move the team forward at all.

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  7. Unrelated to this issue’s story, I wish we had a better understanding of the distinction between the magic power Jade and Allan wield as opposed to the artificially harvested power the Green Lanterns of the Corps use. Allan and Jade both have the power to wield the power of the magic green light without use of a ring or lantern, although Allan seems to prefer to use the ring, perhaps because that is how he originally used it and like most boomers he holds on to old ways of doing things (not a negative judgement) and it speaks to that power being more flexible that that of the corps, which I would love to see explored. Could a person be born with a mutation that would allow them to manipulate the magic spectrum like Jade was without the connection to Allan?

    Good review. I have a similar sense that the writers here seem to stretch the story a bit, perhaps in an effort to add character moments, which I do love, but which can become a problem when the story wants to progress the way this one does.

    This is a good series, IMO, but it has little issues.

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    2. Am I right in thinking that the powers became internalised when he became Sentinel? Do we know that in the current continuity if that’s still the case? Even if it is, I think decades of focusing via a titchy ring would cause anyone to stick with that, whether Boomer* – Greatest Generation, actually – or what?

      I’d like to see Jade tap into the plant powers inherited from her mother, more.

      * I’m a Baby Boomer, things have changed an awful lot since I started in journalism, and I’m still here, learning the new stuff – if I vanished tomorrow and a fresh kid was brought in, they’d pick up the technical side quickly but couldn’t match the sheer knowledge I have and speed with which I can do the job… experience of the industry is pretty useful.

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      1. It is never universal. Some gen-z people have no idea what http is, some boomers can out tech any of us. It’s just a generalized thing, especially here in the USA where I am.

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      3. There will always be people that dopey. I know. I work retail and convenience stores and fast food before that.

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      5. I’m not 100% sure but I recall him saying he went back to a ring as focus because it was second nature but at no point I’m aware of was it no longer internalized power.

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      6. Martin, I work or have worked with people who were almost pathologically afraid of tech. They didn’t know how to set up their phones or how to set up an app they needed for work.

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      7. Oh dear, that’s a shame. But this is why I’m against a cashless society. Something like four million people in the UK don’t even have a bank account, so how are they meant to pay for things electronically?

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  8. I guess my milage varies, as I liked this issue. The art is great. And while some of the issue is a recap of Jim Corrigan, things still move forward and it helps anyone who isn’t like us and remembers every comic book ever.

    My take on the look of the angels fighting: Human eyes couldn’t handle seeing the Silver City and the war. So Metron gave them a version they could comprehend. They all look like Spectres or Zauriels to make the teams easy to understand.

    Is Spectrecat going after anyone in particular in Belle Reve or just that “hive of scum and villainy” on principle? Could she be hunting for Amanda Waller – the one who sent the Shadow Fighters to their deaths at Eclipso’s hands? Still, better to focus Aztar there than on innocents in NYC, right?

    Finally: yes! More slice of life stories, please! I’m particularly curious about Sand & Jade since the latest issue of Green Lantern saw Kyle & Jenny starting to rekindle things. Not to mention family life at the Garrick’s now that their daughter is back. And how Rick is doing post-divorce. And…

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    1. Marvellous idea about the perception of angels and demons, let’s go with that.

      I’m amazed things have been so quiet on the Waller front, I could imagine her coming back with this storyline. A callback to the old Eclipso series would be great.

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  9. Lemire has announced he is leaving after issue 24. I’m a little surprised but not shocked. Several months back he had outlined his plans, including the flashback to the origin, the current Spectre story, and a storyline set in the 1950s. I had been wondering if he had anything mapped out past those since nothing had been announced. Now the question is will the title continue under a different writer or is this it for now?

    I haven’t read 21 yet but really enjoyed issue 20. I do think that anyone working on the “JSA” will, fairly or not, wind up always compared to Geoff Johns (not forgetting David Goyer’s and James Robinson’s co-writing contributions as well). I love these characters, but I imagine it must be a challenge to write this team and find new stories to tell about characters known for fighting in World War II or for being inspired by World War II era mystery men and women. Maybe that’s why two of Lemire’s ultimately 4 story arcs will have found up being based on the past. I don’t want to say it was “easy” for Johns, but he kinda got there first, right? So everything he did was fresh and exciting – the originals trying to remain relevant and stay true to their values; re-introducing old villains; creating or fleshing out legacy characters.

    I’ve overall enjoyed Lemire’s run and am glad we got it. It took me a while to warm up to, but at this point I wouldn’t have minded him staying for another arc or two. I hope the book continues in some way because I like the fact there is a regular “JSA” title back on the shelves, but can’t say I’ll continue with it. Will have to see. Perhaps it’s time to just re-read those old late 1990s/early 2000s issues for my fix.

    -Brian

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    1. I’d rather continuity had the JSA book set in the Sixties or Seventies with the Infinity Inc and other young heroes first appearing then. My grandfather fought in WW2 and my nieces and nephews are the age most the young heroes are so any DC would want to keep in present day could just be moved down a generation and the heroes it makes sense to not age could still be around too. I guess that’d be basically Green Lantern and Spectre. One hundred and twenty year old (minimum!) characters has to break suspension of disbelief for more than just me. Eliminating them after Flashpoint let that really sink in. Heck, I’d even revive the original Earth 2 and back the original Bruce and Clark, still setting it in a year that the way they look would be when they had aged to that point naturally.

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    2. I’d have been OK with Lemire hanging around awhile, I could only see his stories getting stronger, and a Starman-style occasional Times Past in between the big modern-day pieces would’ve been great. Hopefully someone is pencilled in to take over and be a bit more Geoff Johns ie loads of character interaction.

      But no Black Adam.

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    1. It could go either way? It’s not like it looks like he’ll leave things untenable like Johns’ mini.

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  12. I’m bummed he’s leaving. Unless it means more Black Hammer. Then I understand.

    I do hope they choose to replace him rather than cancel and start over. My only requirement for who comes next: It needs to be a passion project and not (just) a paycheck. Not that I think that will be a problem at the current DC. It feels like all the series coming out right now are created by people who are bursting with good stories about the characters. I’m struggling to think of any “placeholder” creative teams. Even if a series isn’t your cup of tea, they are still being crafted rather than churned out.

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      1. Just not the Gail SImone churning out Uncanny X-Men, Kelly Thompson, orthe hacks that did the Supergirl back up in Action or the writer of Power Girl.

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  13. Lemire recently posted:

    “First off, I did an AMA over at The League of Comic Geeks last week and revealed that Issue #24 would mark the end of my run as writer of JSA for DC Comics.

    Despite what what a few articles have said, I did not “quit” the book. Quitting implies leaving before something is finished, or leaving on bad terms, and neither is the case here. It was always my plan to do two full years on JSA and then assess where my workload was at. And, DC and my editors, were all very aware of this plan long ago.

    It was a dream come true for me to write JSA. They are probably my favourite DC characters and I tried to do right by them. I loved working with Diego Orletugui, Gavin Guidry, and the whole creative team over the last two years and hope we added a nice chapter to the JSA’s long legacy.

    Issue 22 will be the end of the “Search For The Spectre” arc and then I’ll finish off my run with a special two-part “Times Past” story set in the 1950’s that tells of a Secret Society, a hidden mission by some key JSA members during the Cold War. These two issues will be drawn my the incomparable TEDDY KRISTIANSEN, who illustrates Black Hammer: Spiral City (for which he was just nominated for an Eisner!) and is also illustrating our forthcoming Mr. Oblivion series if graphic novels for Harper Collins.

    I am not sure yet what DC’s plans are for the JSA beyond my run.”

    -Brian

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    1. Thanks for sharing that, Brian. It’s a bit of a worry if he really doesn’t know what’s coming once he leaves the comic. Perhaps he’s just being discreet, waiting for DC to announce things.

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  14. Haven’t read this issue (or the review) yet, so I’m just commenting on the news of Lemire’s departure. I’m really hoping they bring in a new writer. I think if DC or Marvel wants books to have longevity, they have to jettison the idea of rebooting a book with every new creative team. Just get a new writer and carry on — hopefully with the same artist for a little while.

    Jeremy Adams would be a good pick, though he’s stretched pretty thin these days. Speaking of stretched thin, Mark Waid would be a treat — the JSA is one team he’s never really touched for an extended period of time…and it’s steeped in DC history. Of DC’s current writers, Christopher Cantwell and Stephanie Williams seem like two other good choices to me, and Al Ewing would also be cool. Jeff Parker or Greg Pak would also be great choices.

    Wouldn’t mind James Robinson taking another shot at the group, too.

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    1. I’ll take Waid or Robertson as my preferred choices there. My least favourite would be Al Ewing, he has a tendency to get carried away into the overly esoteric – I’m not ready for a Prog Rock JSA.

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Published by martingray1

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