DC Comics Review: Justice Society of America #31

Rating: *** 1/2*

A big improvement from the previous issue.  Our story continues with the aftermath of a rogue group of B-level super villains attacking the Justice Society of America.  The group was designed by a still unseen leader who hired specific super-villains capable of matching up against each member of the JSA .  Also, the All-American Kid was taken over by a mysterious force that made him stab Mr. Terrific.  Angered by the situation at hand, Magog and WildCat go at each other and we start from there.

The fight is broken up by the new Dr. Fate and he informs the team that blood is needed to save Mr. Terrific’s life.  Everyone is to donate as Fate will change everyone’s blood to match that of Terrific’s blood.  The All-American kid is interrogated by several JSAers.  The kid swears that he didn’t do it even though a video shows him doing it. 

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DC Comics Review: Justice Society of America #29

Rating: ***

I have given Geoff Johns a lot of praise in numerous posts over the past few months.  So I won’t go into that here.  I mentioned before how I was disappointed that he’d be leaving the Justice Society of America and hoped that the new writers would do well because I love these characters.  After a two-issue guest stint by Jerry Ordway, the new writing team of Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges begins here in issue #29.  Jesus Merino is the new artist for the title and begins his run here as well.  I liked his work here.  It’s strong and it reminds me a bit of the work that was done by the previous artist, Dale Eaglesham.  Willingham and Sturges do a good job, but they didn’t knock my socks off with their first issue in control.

The two writers are best known for their critically acclaimed work on the Vertigo title Jack of Fables a spin-off of the Vertigo title Fables which is also written by Willingham.  I’ve never read these titles, so this is the first time I’ve been introduced to their work.  The story here was okay.  It revolves around two things that may be connected somehow by the end of the story arc.  Flash discovers a black orb in the JSA headquarters.  It’s a mysterious orb and the team doesn’t know what it is or where it came from.  After some investigating, the team discovers that the orb is in fact their teammate Obsidian.  Somehow his body has transformed into this orb and Mister. Terrific takes it upon himself to investigate why this has happened.

A smaller side plot is also intertwined between the two major events that occur in this issue.  In this issue we see two new junior members join the team.  One is a sidekick to the current Mister America.  Evidently the Golden Age Mister America had a sidekick called the All-American Kid.  I did some research and I didn’t find a reference to the character on Wikipedia so this might be a retcon.  The original Kid was killed during World War II and the new one is the great-nephew to the original.  The second is a young boy named King Chimera.  He is the son of a Golden Age character named King Standish.  A little known character who didn’t show up immediately after a Google search.  He’s arrogant and has the power to create illusions.

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