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.
This week, we close the book on “JSA All-Stars.”
Written by Lilah SturgesCover by Freddie E. Williams II
Penciled by Howard Porter and Freddie E. Williams II
Inked by Art Thibert and Freddie E. Williams II
Colored by Richard Horie and Tanya Horie
Lettered by Pat BrousseauWho – or what – are The Puzzlemen? And what is the significance of the ancient artifacts stolen from museums around the world? Put the puzzle together, and The All-Stars are up against a threat that endangers all of humanity in these stories from issues #14-18.
While the split that led to two separate JSA titles felt important and significant in the moment, a year from that decision, and the books are nearly indistinguishable from each other in terms of tone. I said it once before, but it bears repeating now. The only real difference between the two titles at this point is the cast, and these final seven issues do a relatively good job of focusing on members of the team that simply wouldn’t get the focus if the crew hadn’t been split in half.
Issues #11-12 are both Cyclone-heavy issues. Maxine is one of the most prominent ‘new’ characters in the JSA’s final incarnation, and a character that has scarcely been seen since “Flashpoint.” Here, she’s at the heart of a mystery that involves clones of herself, and the issues are fun, if a little thematically slight. One of the best parts about the modern-day JSA is that it balances world-destroying battles with the struggles of learning how to be a hero, and Cyclone’s story is a good example of the book doing the latter. For so much of this run, the team has been about Stargirl, Sand, Power Girl, and Atom Smasher, four of the cornerstones of modern JSA stories. And so, from that perspective, it is really nice to see Maxine get her own spotlight.
Her issues are drawn by Howard Porter, and while I typically like what Porter brings to superhero stories, this is not his finest work. His Cyclone looks great, but this book has become so defined by Freddie Williams’s work, which is more bombastic and exaggerated that Porter’s looks almost too restrained. This is clearly a case of the book’s tone being so tied into one artist’s work instead of a poor job by the fill-in.
The second of three arcs in this collection involves, of all characters, Roxy, the AI. She plays prominently in both this and the third arc, but this one is very much her story. She gets a visit from the Hourman of the 853rd century in a nice moment that may or not be a timeloop, and it is always nice to see Matthew again. This story involves the Puzzlemen, a group of villains grabbing various historical objects in order to, you guessed it, control the world. They’re working with Arthur Pemberton, the nephew of the original Star-Spangled Kid, Sylvester Pemberton. He’s both evil and trying to save his daughter, who has been in a coma. Eventually, Roxy essentially loads her programming into Lorna’s body, and Roxy uses Lorna’s body as her puppet.
It’s a really disturbing situation, and Sturges never shies away from the fucked up ethics of it or Roxy not quite understanding why it is a big deal. To her, no one was using the body, so why shouldn’t she? It’s easy to see her point, even if it is a horrible thing for a human to imagine. This arc winds up not being all that interesting outside of the Roxy/Hourman stuff, as you can tell the book is in a holding pattern until it gets wrapped up.
And wrapped up it gets in the final two-issue arc with a sad multiversal tale that leads to a huge chunk of upstate New York getting destroyed. Again, I’m beating the same drum here, but this era really leaned into making things as devastating and horrific as possible, as evidenced by destroying a 500 mile radius. Now, the story makes very clear that the heroes of Earth evacuated everyone in nine minutes, which is a little silly, but works for superhero logic.
Continued belowThe story wraps up with Roxy getting a robotic body, which sets her up for a whole new status quo that, sadly never gets off the ground due to “Flashpoint” and the New 52.
Unfortunately, much of the “JSA All-Stars” back-half suffers from a lack of mission. While it’s been nice to spend time with these characters, after Magog splits, there’s almost nothing here that couldn’t have been done in the ‘main’ book. Giving the book a little more of a focus and drive would’ve been a really good thing to keep the book feeling fresh. But that said, Lilah Sturges had a good beat on these characters, and told a story that allowed each of them to get a little more time in the spotlight.
Next week: we close the book on “Justice Society of America” and this column…for now.
