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.
Much like how last week’s “JSA All-Stars” didn’t really feel inspired/influenced by the issues that split the team, this set of “Justice Society of America” issues feel similarly detached from the status quo set just a few months earlier. That’s not to say that these aren’t enjoyable issues, but it’s just weird that, despite the consistent writer over the past year, the general thesis of the series seems forgotten.
Written by Marc GuggenheimCover by Shane Davis
Illustrated by Scott Kolins and Mike Norton
Colored by Michael Atiyeh
Lettered by Rob LeighThe United States is attacked by a mysterious warrior known as Scythe in these tales from issues #44-49. The Justice Society races to Washington, D.C. to neutralize the threat and winds up in a catastrophe that may redefine justice, society and America.
A few times throughout the recent months, I’ve talked about the bombast of the action sequences and how everything, to the detriment of the storytelling, has felt too destructive. Every time the JSA fights someone, it feels like entire city blocks get leveled. Well, this arc deals specifically with that. There’s a supervillain known Scythe who, while teamed up with Dr. Chaos, who fights the JSA to a near-stalemate over many, many hours. No one seems to pause and realize that they have basically destroyed an entire city. After a bit of grousing about not being ‘on cleanup,’ the team, inspired by Jay Garrick, decides to stick around and rebuild it. This essentially is one six issue arc to set up the final run of the series, but the whole ‘rebuilding’ idea is clever and unusual, and something rarely seen in comics, so the idea sticks out, in a really good way.
There are also a few interesting curveballs thrown to some of the JSAers to be dealt with in that final arc. Mister Terrific is finding his intelligence slipping away, at one point rendered unable to read. Alan Scott essentially has to wear the Starheart around himself to no longer be paralyzed. Lightning uses all of her power, literally, to defeat Scythe, and to save her life, Dr. Fate whisks her soul away, and her body is put in stasis to wait for the soul to return. This being superhero comics, it’s a little hard to believe that any of these will stick for long, but they are all innovative ways to change up the JSA status quo which, at this point, had been more or less the same for 12 years.
The bulk of this run is illustrated by Scott Kolins, and while I’ve always appreciated his work, this doesn’t’ really feel like ‘classic’ Kolins. Part of that is due to colorist Michael Atiyeh’s more digital, painterly style, which adds a richness that borders on oversaturation. The pages don’t pop in the way that Kolins’s work usually does, and the work feels overwrought due to the palette used. Mike Norton illustrates one issue, but his work also suffers from the colorization. That’s not to say that the book looks like trash, or that it doesn’t work; it is just not what you’d want from a JSA title or a Kolins title, and that’s a bit of a bummer.
One interesting touch of this arc is the expanding JSA roster, if not of ‘official members,’ there are a few folks that show up and hang around. Of most note are Blue Devil and Manhunter, two long-standing DC characters that don’t get enough love. I’m especially a big Blue Devil fan, so it was a lot of fun to see him hanging around the Society for a spell. By the end of the arc, it appears that all of the All-Stars are also on board with rebuilding Monument Valley, and with Jay Garrick the new duly elected mayor of the city, you can bet that the Society will be sticking around.
But we’re not there just yet. Although today technically starts October, next Friday starts Magogtober! We’ll be spending a couple of weeks with everyone’s favorite demigod, starting with his 2009 solo series. See ya then!
