Welcome back to the Society Pages, a column that looks back at the ‘modern’ history of the Justice Society of America. The main thrust of this column is to look at “JSA” and “Justice Society of America,” two ongoing series, written for most of their runs by Geoff Johns.
After an unplanned week off, we look back at a Black Adam miniseries that is very important to this “Justice Society of America” arc which, also, is the last arc of Geoff Johns’s run with these characters. It’s a momentous occasion, so let’s get to it.
Written by Peter TomasiCover by Alex Ross
Pencilled by Doug Mahnke
Inked by Christian Alamay and Norm Rapmund
Colored by Nathan Eyring
Lettered by Nick J. Napolitano and Rob LeighCollecting the 6-issue miniseries springing from the pages of 52! With the power of the gods stripped from him, Teth-Adam is on a quest to find both the magical word that will restore him as Black Adam and the one thing that always kept his heart from turning completely black with rage: his deceased wife.
Due to an internet-less vacation, this column is a week late, and it’s a good thing that it is, as it gave me a chance to read a mini that I had missed in this process, “Black Adam: The Dark Age.” If not for this miniseries, the ‘Black Adam and Isis’ arc would’ve made far less sense than it did. The mini also confirmed something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately: maybe Peter Tomasi wasn’t all he was cracked up to be?
This miniseries, if anything, is clunky and weird. There are some really good parts to it, but there are also some bizarre missteps. This story essentially spins out of “52,” and sets up Black Adam for when we meet him in “Countdown,” which is important for getting the various Marvel family into place for where they’ll be in ‘Black Adam and Isis.’
This story is all about Black Adam trying to resurrect Isis after her death in “52,” as well as establishing the current Black Adam status quo, which had been muddied by “52.” Black Adam is a character that Geoff Johns had done a lot with in the pages of both “JSA” and “52,” and the character has gone from villain to semi-hero and back to villain under his pen. But Tomasi has less variance in his writing; here, Adam is a single minded warrior, who only occasionally does something that is to the benefit of anyone other than himself.
In that way, the character is as relatable as he’s ever been. We’ve all suffered loss and heartache, and the desperation that Adam feels to get Isis back, especially as he came so close in the first couple of issues, is familiar. That said, Tomasi doesn’t do him any favors in the writing. It’s real hard to feel for a guy who kills and eats (!) his follower, and that’s just the most extreme example of Adam not giving a single shit about anyone but himself or Isis throughout this.
The weirdest part of the series is how this is not the only time that Tomasi has written a story with a character carrying around a bag full of bones in it. There’s a particularly bad ‘Rebirth’ era issue of “Superman” where Tomasi has Superman find the remains of a soldier, and drop their bones off at their family’s door with no real explanation.
Doug Mahnke draws the entire 6-issue miniseries, and he is able to capture the mania of Adam really effectively. Mahnke is never the most subtle or subdued artist, and so when you need a dude to draw a crazed demigod, you can’t do much better. His Adam is never quite out of control, but is always on the verge. His eyes are a swirling sea of madness, but much of the time the rest of his face is calm, or at least in control.
The only time that Adam seems moved to do anything outside of his self-interest is when he saves the veterinarian and her assistant that patched him up after he was shot with, quite literally, a magic bullet. Adam could’ve just left them to die, but in this moment, Tomasi gives him a little of the nobility and care for innocents that seemed to go out the window during “52” and “World War III.”
Continued belowThe most important takeaway from this series is that Felix Faust tricks Adam, using the skeleton of Ralph Dibny, to boot, to convince Adam that the resurrection of Isis did not work. That’s false, however, and the appearance of Isis flowers in ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ begin to show Adam that his love is alive.
Written by Geoff Johns, Jerry Ordway, and Lilah SturgesCover by Alex Ross
Penciled by Jerry Ordway, Fernando Pasarin, Dale Eaglesham, and Peter Snejbjerg
Inked by Bob Wiacek, Jerry Ordway, Fernando Pasarin, Nathan Massengill, and Peter Snejbjerg
Colored by Hi-Fi Design
Lettered by Rob LeighThe world’s first super-team reunites to fight their old foe Black Adam and his super-powered “family” in this collection, of stories from issues #23-28, including Geoff Johns’ final tales for the series. The new Justice Society regroups just in time to face one of their greatest and most personal enemies: Black Adam! And in a special standalone issue, Geoff Johns presents a day-in-the-life story of the JSA titled “Black Adam Ruined My Birthday” in which the team celebrates the birthday of one of their own – Stargirl!
The final four issues of Geoff Johns’s “Justice Society of America” are, bizarrely, almost more about other series than this one. The first three issues, co-written by Jerry Ordway, are truly the finale to “The Power of Shazam” ongoing, as well as providing closure from “52” and “Countdown,” and the final issue is almost as much of a “Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.” epilogue than a “Justice Society of America” one.
It’s a good thing for me that four of those five series are among my favorites of this era of DC (can you guess which one is not?). “Justice Society of America” manages to take some of the worst of that worst series, “Countdown,” and sort of makes it work here. Yes, Black Mary and Black Billy (ram-ba-lam) are still annoying and look dumb, but Johns and Jerry Ordway, who co-writes and pencils these issues, do their best to make the characters make sense and not be total trainwrecks.
Johns is able to use these issues to finally put to bed the Black Adam/Adam Smasher storyline, as well as somewhat redeem Adam, who urges Isis to not kill innocents indiscriminately. These issues really show the closeness of Adam and Albert, and how Albert is constantly trying to get both the JSA and Adam and stand down and find compromise. While the story beats of ‘Black Adam and Isis’ are very much about tying up the loose ends from “The Power of Shazam,” the meta-narrative is all about getting Black Adam back to a place where, when someone else eventually picks him up, he’ll be back to ‘normal’ a bit.
In fact, that’s sort of Johns’s M.O. through all of this. This is why Atom Smasher returns to the team, and the Wildcat, Green Lantern, and the Flash decide that the team doesn’t need to get smaller, but stay the same size. Johns is being a good citizen and leaving the pieces more or less in neutral positions, to allow the next team(s) to do what they want. It means that the end of the run doesn’t have the same impact as some of the earlier parts, but the run is able to end on emotionally resonant notes.
There is a brief backup in #25 that was part of the ‘Origins and Omens’ month, which saw some teases at future events around the team, and is written by Lilah Sturges, who would co-write the series with Bill Willingham with #29. This is fine, but there isn’t a ton to say about the story itself.
The last Johns issue is a birthday party for Stargirl which, again, picks up on so many “Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.” elements, including the first appearance of her Courtney’s mom and stepbrother in Rao knows how long. This, again, is Johns putting his favorite characters in good positions before he abandons ship. There’s some weirdness here, like the continued flirtation between teenaged Courtney and large-ass adult Albert, but for the most part, this issue is about elevating Stargirl to a leadership-ish position in the JSA, with the ‘kids’ of the team talking about how much she’s taught them. It’s a sweet ending.
And while Johns’s run may be over, our journey isn’t. We’ll be back next week with a brief two-issue “Justice Society of America” story and a Hawkman event before diving fully into the Willingham/Sturges era.
