JSA #22 review

Posted on by martingray1

The ‘Search for the Spectre’ four-parter concludes with a new host being found for the Ghostly Guardian,

I know the clue is right there in the title, but I honestly didn’t see that happening… we’ve had former Green Lantern Hal Jordan take over from Jim Corrigan, and the unfortunately named Gotham detective Crispus Allen also chosen, but neither stuck. So it seemed unlikely DC would have another go. But whaddya know, by the end of this issue there’s a new Spectre at the JSA table.

At the start of the comic, the parcel has been passed to Yolanda Montez, heir to Wildcat Ted Grant. Imbued with the Spirit of Vengeance, she’s made her way from New York to Louisiana’s Belle Reve prison.

And she means it, but Yolanda’s JSA friends arrive, and one steps forward to appeal to her – Obsidian.

Todd Rice talks Yolanda down and her soul manages to expel the recently wandering spirit…

… which immediately attaches itself to the nearest emotional wreck.

In the New York of 1940, Dr Fate, Stargirl, Jakeem Thunder and Kid Eternity continue their quest to find the Spectre’s most successful host, Jim Corrigan. Their mystery men garb is attracting curious looks, but Dr Fate – Khalid Nassour – sorts things out.

And Jakeem has a brainwave as regards finding their target – talk to someone who was around at the time… Johnny Thunder, these days merged with his Magic Thunderbolt, Yz.

The genie explains Corrigan is to die that very night, and while Johnny Thunderbolt and the JSA’s Young All-Stars do reach the scene, they’re too late. The cop dies – and the heroes are flipped right back to where they came in.

Jakeem’s theory is confirmed when they find Corrigan, hours before his murder, in a bar. He’s not thrilled.

Yes, he’s existing in an illusory world of his own creation but Corrigan is happy. While he won’t return to the real world and re-merge with the Spectre spirit, he will share some insight.

Kid Eternity, with her hotline to ghosts, summons the Justice Society of the Afterlife while Stargirl, Dr Fate, Jakeem and Johnny Thunderbolt return to reality, where the Queen Kobra Spectre is causing chaos.

Eternity suggests the most recently killed of the senior Justice Society members does indeed have unfinished business. And he agrees, the decision spurring the spirit to reject Queen Kobra and join someone worthy of the Spirit of Vengeance gig.

OK, objectively, a boxer Spectre looks ridiculous. He also looks great, unique. I doubt Ted as the Spectre will stick any more than anyone else who isn’t Jim Corrigan, but until the latter tires of his ectoplasmic afterlife, this is a fun choice. Ted will be a Spectre like no other, and hopefully at the other end of his tenure he’ll be rewarded with another shot at humanity.

We’ve been banging on about Yolanda not being called to account for murdering a Kobra underlying on this blog for a good while. Well, the same holds true for this issue, but at least Queen Kobra brings it up (and it seems Yolanda killed more thugs than we saw, or at least I remembered) so perhaps something will be done with it by the next JSA writer, current scribe Jeff Lemire departing in a couple of issues.

While most of the older JSA-ers are silent players this time, just doing the crowd shot thing, I’m really rather happy with Lemire’s wrap-up. As well as Ted’s return as a regular and a kind of heaven for Jim Corrigan, there’s a big step forward for Kid Eternity as afterlife helper Mr Keep makes her an offer. Plus, there’s finally an acknowledged Khalid isn’t a kid. And the whole issue is just loads of fun.

Artist Diego Olortegui gives us perhaps his strongest work yet, every page features clear compositions full of strength and style. I particularly enjoyed his 1940 world, there’s plenty of detail and the ‘kid gang’ JSA look terrific. A massive panel featuring the expulsion of Queen Kobra from the Spectre ‘matrix’ is a feast for the eyes, and Johnny Thunderbolt looks good with muscles.

Luis Guerrero’s colours for that sequence and Corrigan’s afterlife bar are splendid too, I can hear a Forties soundtrack for both scenes, while Steve Wands provides his trademark friendly font, with occasional spooky flourishes.

The cover by Pete Woods is decent, not giving away who the new Spectre is, but really, Olortegui and Guerrero should be in charge of the exterior image by now.

I’d judge ‘Search for the Spectre’ a hit overall – how about you?

27 thoughts on “JSA #22 review”

  1. I think the choice of Ted Grant is cool.

    So … SPOILERS …

    Solicitations for JSA #24, Lemire’s final issue, end cryptically with “find out in this last tale of the Justice Society of America!” Now this is part two of his 1950s flashback so it’s possible that is referring to this being an untold final tale following the original team disbanding. But my gut tells me it’s a fancy way of saying last issue of the book. And if that’s the case, oh no! We had a JSA title for a decade-plus, then it went away with the New 52, then we didn’t get a JSA book back for over a decade. Now after two years – three plus if you include Geoff Johns’ often-delayed relaunch – and it’s done? What happens now? I was thinking about this recently and as much as I love the original JSAers, there is a part of me that feels it’s time to put the idea to bed. Maybe retire the remaining originals or just wrap them and the newbies into existing teams/other books as supporting characters. Johns tapped into something back in the late 1990s/early 2000s. And I wonder if, whatever that was, it exists in today’s market. Maybe I’m wrong, or maybe we’ll get yet another relaunch and a new #1. And what does happen with Spectre Wildcat? I think it’s a really cool idea, but also is it really something that is gonna stick? Are we actually going to see boxer Spectre popping up around the DCU? Or is it too much for writers to have to explain to new readers. “Why does he look like a boxer? Oh, that’s Wildcat. Used to be a JSA member who boxed, then was killed, then took Jim Corrigan’s place…” It’s kind of a lot. It seems more like a concept that only works if there is a JSA title for Wildcat Spectre to appear in. Lemire has said he decided he was done with issue #24. So there’s no indication right now that this was a “cancellation.” I’m not sure what sales have been. – Brian

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    1. Isn’t it odd that DC has just left us hanging as to whether the book is gone. I don’t think it’s mentioned in the latest solicitations. As I so often say, get ruddy Jeff Parker on board as writer, he’d ace it.

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      1. Ohhhhhh Jeff Parker would be aces! His run on Aquaman was top notch. In fact, pull in Paul Pelletier as artist and they can do another collab on this series.

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  2. “Like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic”.

    They could do with a make-over while still using the names.

    To make it current, I’d go with a direct decendent of Jim Corrigan”s. Great great grandchild. Trans or non binary. Jaimie Corrigan.

    I’d make the Spectre vastly less powerful. Rather than change reality, it would effect perception. It couldn’t interfere with free will. So no possession. Only one host, who’d need to grant it permission. But ut couldn’t control its host.

    I could see the Spectre offering Jaimie protection. Not much would harm them with the Spectre inside them.

    But being less powerful would make more sense in a team setting.

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      2. The very early Seventies, when Jim was Mr Action and had the very annoying, but very cute, Meg Tempest as a sorta sidekick. Corrigan debuted in Jimmy Olsen 149 if web sources are correct, I’m on a cruise and away from my comics at the moment so can’t check. I’ve had a look via naughty means and he’s in there, but it’s not obviously a first meeting. Later he popped up in the BL book. A new version of the Metropolis Corrigan was in the recent Jimmy Olsen 12-issue series.

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      9. The ten day forecast has one day below 111 or 112 and that’s 108. All we can do is hydrate, stay indoors, and remember that this means we can have Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners out on the patio.

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      11. It’s 26% humidity now and 20% is the cut off for ‘dry heat’ is 20%. Still, you get 107 or 114 degrees out and it’s still Hell on Earth, dry heat or no dry heat.

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  3. So the hero was effectively immortal and shouldn’t have died is the Spectre? Yeah, I’m ready for Lemire to go. I still think an Earth 2 set JSA where it’s that Earth’s Sixties with the Infinity Inc gang plus an aging Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman present is the way to go. To fulfill the need to be part of the greater mosaic to succeed long-term, give them Earth 1 heroes who have a vague quest to find a Macguffin that will save their Earth on that one.

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    1. I can’t keep the business of Ted’s nine lives straight, I thought he’d ran out, then heard he’d automatically gained a second set, I never liked the immortality business.

      Love your notion of a Sixties-set series, that would solve so many problems, and there’s no reason they couldn’t time travel for team-ups with the JLA.

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      1. The way I remember it, the nine lives had to be used up in close succession for him to die. Even if eight were used, give a gap and they’d go back to being nine.

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  4. this issue left me feeling flat like. It also felt rushed. I’m ready for Lemire to leave these guys alone. But, I’m not really sure the right writer is out there.

    -Matthew Lloyd

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  5. Another fun issue. I agree with your assessment that Ted as the Spectre will probably last as long as Hal as the Spectre did (about 5 years real time). Its what they do with him in that time that matters. I felt from the very beginning that Ted’s death wasn’t the final TKO for him.

    As for the next host… I’m not big on the idea of a Corrigan descendent being the heir to the green: that is not a great inheritance. I liked Crispus Allen in the role. Maybe get someone else from outside the hero set? A fresh perspective. What if it was an actual person of faith? Someone who believes in Christ’s compassion and has to reconcile that with now being the Spirit of Vengeance?

    I really liked Lemire addressing the fact that Todd is always the one to break bad. It was getting monotonous. Hopefully other writers will take note of this and stay clear of that cliche from now on.

    I loved the resolution for Kid Eternity. So often we see these drawn-out angst-ridden stories of heroes “finding themselves.” Its refreshing to have a character who is fine with where she is.

    Perhaps my only quibble – and it’s very minor – is the lack of rotation on deceased JSAers that Kid E visits. There are (sadly) more than those five: Black Canary, Mr. Terrific, Starman, Star-Spangled Kid, Johnny Quick… and if you throw in other WWII compatriots, there are literal dozens that could be shown haunting the ghostly brownstone.

    I really hope they choose to find a new creative team and keep the book going. We don’t need another short-lived JSA series only to see it booted up again in a few years – retreading the same tired “Is the JSA still relevant?” initial story arc.

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    1. A person of faith as Spectre host? What a top idea… what’s Father Kraemer doing these days? Mind, the way Amanda Waller has been written of late, she could do with a journey of redemption… at the moment she’d be all about using ectoplasm to blow sinners’ brains out. I think she was shown as a Christian at some point.

      The Kid Eternity scene was great, but I so wanted to know her name!

      Different dead JSAers, that is brilliant.

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Published by martingray1

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