Rating:  ** 1/2*

We pick up from where we left off with last month’s issue with the Justice Society of America (JSA) all defeated except Stargirl and The Flash Jay Garrick.  For whatever reason, Stargirl must not be harmed.  The group of miscellaneous stand ready to take out Jay Garrick when he runs away.  He runs to go get help in the form of the new Dr. Fate.  A while back there were a series of one-shots called the Helmet of Fate as well as the mini-series Countdown to Mystery that saw the return of an all new Dr. Fate.  This Dr. Fate is a legacy character named Kent V Nelson and he is the grandnephew of the original Dr. Fate, Kent Nelson.  This was all new to me as I wasn’t aware that a new Dr. Fate was chosen.  This Dr. Fate is able to fool the villains into thinking he’s the real deal as far being able to use his powers as well as his predecessor’s. 

Fate, Stargirl, and Flash hold off the villains long enough as it gives the other JSAers enough time to recover and regroup.  The villains see that the tide has turned on them and run off.  Magog wants to run after them.  Wildcat wants to retreat as Liberty Belle is hurt and they can’t seem to contact Mister Terrific.  Power Girl agrees with Magog, but appeases Wildcat and splits the team up with some heading back to headquarters, while others head after the villains.  Magog is portrayed as being more aggressive here.  He’s looking at this from a military perspective and wants to stomp out the enemy for good.  Something doesn’t seem right with him.

The group that head back to the headquarters with Wildcat find Mister Terrific down and close to death.  Doctor Midnite begins to operate on him to try and save his life.  We know from the last issue that the All-American Kid became possessed and stabbed Mister Terrific.  He doesn’t remember what happened. 

Tensions rise among the team as they watch the operation.  Wildcat blames Magog, saying they should have gotten there sooner.  Magog is frustrated saying that someone is trying to take them down from both the inside and the outside.  Magog starts to talk about a new way of doing things and that maybe it’s time for the “new blood” to take the lead.  This causes a fight to break out between Magog and Wildcat and we end there.

This was the second issue of the new new creative team of Sturges, Willingham, and Merino.  I can’t put my finger on why this issue didn’t do it for me.  The artwork was weak and the story didn’t really do much for me.  I’m not sure if the behavior of Magog is out of character or somehow part of the story.  Either way I was turned off. 

I know there is talk of splitting this team up into two and I think that’s maybe a good thing.  I’m not crazy about all of these characters running around.  With so many characters around, there isn’t enough time to get some personal stories for the individual characters.  I don’t feel connected to the characters as much as I did under Johns’ run. 

It’s still early in this run for this creative team.  I’ll see where this story goes, but if I don’t like the stories I’ll be moving on.