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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DC Comics Review: Justice Society of America #27

This month’s issue of the “Justice Society of America” (JSA) is the first issue of the post-Geoff Johns era. Comic book veteran Jerry Ordway is writing and penciling a two-part story prior to the new writing team of Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges come on board in July. Many fans of this title were sad to hear the news of Geoff Johns exit and I’ve been hesitant to continue collecting this title as many times when a popular writer leaves a book, the quality of that title drops. Geoff Johns work on “Teen Titans” was great and that book hasn’t been the same since he left.

I’ve just finished reading this month’s issue and I’m happy to say that at least with what Ordway has done with this here, the quality of writing for this book has not gone down. The story finds founding JSA members Green Lantern (Alan Scott), Flash (Jay Garrick), and Wildcat along with fellow member Liberty Belle trapped within the JSA headquarters at the hands of Alan Scott’s son Obsidian.  Has Obsidian gone insane once again or is truly doing this to protect the members of the JSA.

Lets find out…

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