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 wrap up ‘Thy Kingdom Come,’ and answer some big multiversal questions in the process.
Written by Geoff Johns, Alex Ross, and Peter TomasiCover by Alex Ross
Penciled by Dale Eaglesham, Jerry Ordway, Alex Ross, and Fernando Pasarin
Inked by Mick Gray, Kris Justice, Nathan Massengill, Jerry Ordway, Bob Wiacek, Alex Ross, Fernando Pasarin, Jack Purcell, and Norm Rapmund
Colored by Hi-Fi Design and Alex Sinclair
Lettered by Rob LeighPicking up where PART TWO left off, The Justice Society begins to dissolve as Gog vows to bring peace to Earth in a way that frightens some and thrills others. Torn between Gog’s desire to help the world and the moral cost it comes with, it’s old guard vs. new as the line that was drawn is crossed.
With last week’s slew of cures and ‘miracles,’ volume 3 of ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ pumps the brakes on Gog’s greatness and gives the JSA real choices to make. There is a faction, led by Hawkman, and featuring most of the new recruits – Damage, Amazing Man, David Reid, the younger Wildcat, Citizen Steel – that believe that Gog is saving the world, and should be supported and defended blindly. The elder statesmen of the JSA worry more about the ramifications of what Gog’s cures may actually be, and the cost of taking agency out of people’s lives in the name of the miraculous.
For instance, Doctor Mid-Nite realizes that his vision being restored helps him in superficial or convenient ways, but greatly impacts his abilities as both a doctor and a hero. Sand can no longer have his nightmares, which lead him to crimes he can prevent, and the loss of a small boy’s life shakes him terribly. There are costs to the heroes being made ‘whole’ again.
During one of Gog’s attempts to end war on the African continent, David Reid is killed during the fracas. Gog resurrects him as Magog, and Kingdom Come Superman (KCS)’s worst nightmares start to become reality. Magog’s loyalty to Gog is not questioned, even when it is pointed out to him how much of his humanity has been sacrificed in order to continue to live.
Dale Eaglesham returns to illustrate most of these stories, with Fernando Pasarin helping out with some of the one-shots later, and Alex Ross taking a fair amount of the back half of this volume. Eaglesham is inked by a slew of folks here, with the most interesting being Jerry Ordway, who is able to help make the Earth-2 scenes feel more classic. Ordway pencils segments, too, but the flow of the issues aren’t disjointed due to all the cooks in the kitchen. The work still flows nicely, and the storytelling never suffers.
The only JSAers who have real reason to want Gog to stick around for selfish reasons are Damage and Citizen Steel. Damage, with his newly healed face, acts like an egocentric prick who talks about how hot he is all the time. I understand the reasons for Johns doing something like this, but after Damage has been a different kind of prick for this entire run, it was nice seeing him come to terms with his life a bit, and not being an one note character. Now, he just has a different note he’s singing.
Steel’s story is more interesting, because in his transformation into his heroic persona, he lost the ability to feel anything. He’s essentially indestructible, and can’t feel the touch of his loved ones anymore. After a lifetime of medical numbness, Nate is ready to feel something, anything, again.
Meanwhile, back on Earth-2, Power Girl seeks out Michael Holt, knowing his genius status and hoping that he can help her get back to her ‘home’ on Earth-Prime. Through Michael’s help and Starman’s uniform, which is a map of the Multiverse, a cadre of JSAers make the jump over to Earth-2, where they encounter alternate versions of themselves and long lost family members.
Continued belowBut it is here that we start to get some of the answers that have been plaguing the multiverse like, most relevantly here, why there are two Power Girls from Earth-2. According to Starman, now sane thanks to Magog, when the Multiverse was reborn, each universe began to restore itself, and so, since Power Girl was on Earth-Prime, Earth-2 essentially made a new one. This means that Earth-2 Superman, who ate it at the end of “Infinite Crisis,” may still return one day.
There are a series of one-shots that bridge “Justice Society of America” #20-21, and they all push the story forward in different ways. The least plot dependent, but most beautiful of these, is “Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special: Superman” #1, which is an Alex Ross joint, with color assists from Alex Sinclair. Here, Superman tries to understand his plight a little more by seeking out this Earth’s Norman McKay. Ross does a nice job with this issue, even if it just exists for him to be able to draw Superman a bunch.
“Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special: Magog” #1 is one of many comics where Peter Tomasi sucks off the military and waves off things like collateral damage and Just War theory as nothing. It’s amazing to me that people who write stories about gods that can save folks from hardships have no problem making complex issues like war so dumbed down and sloppy when presented with better options right in front of them. It would be one thing if the ‘moral’ of this was to show that war is hell and that the eradication of this, Gog’s goal, is worth giving up personal liberties for, but Tomasi does nothing of the sort. This is a trash comic.
Thankfully, there is a Starman secret origin backup by Johns and Scott Kolins, which adds a little more context to the mysterious character, and sets up his ‘purpose’ for being in the 21st century, even if that purpose is still unclear.
“Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special: The Kingdom” #1 is the only one of these one-shots that is essential reading for this event, but also does some work for the future of the series, as it uses Damage to bring Atom Smasher back into the fold, as Stargirl recruits him to attempt to talk some sense into Grant. While Atom Smasher doesn’t rejoin the team officially, it seems as if he’s more apt to show up again now.
But what makes this essential is the revelation that Gog is creating a parasitic relationship with the Earth, and will destroy the Earth when/if he leaves. He also tells the heroes to worship him in order to be spared destruction and to keep their ‘cures.’ The JSA balks at this for a few reasons, but they mostly come down to the desire for personal freedom and not wanting to be beholden to anyone or anything. I wish that Johns had given them more time to discuss this idea. While I’m never in favor of conditional help, I can see how some might’ve seen Gog’s offer as a fair one, aside from Grant just wanting his ‘hot’ face to stay. But even Magog, a creation of Gog, doesn’t buy this, nor does Nate, who has been begging Gog to ‘fix’ him, but ultimately refuses the offer.
This leads to a massive fight with Gog that leads, pretty awesomely, to Gog being placed into the Source Wall, with the rest of the ‘Third World’ gods (not third world as in the Earth classification, but in contrast to the Fourth World of Kirby, etc). KCS is also convinced that his world may not have ended, and he can maybe stop its destruction. He asks Starman to send him back there. We see that he arrives ‘back’ in the moment right after the bomb goes in “Kingdom Come,” and Ross and Johns try their best to make this connect and make sense, but it only half does that. The disappointment of his failing to stop the bomb makes total sense, but after seeing what Earth-Prime is, it doesn’t really track that he would then try attempt to destroy the UN.
Continued belowThat said, Ross illustrates a lovely epilogue to “Kingdom Come,” where we see KCS 10, 20, 100, 500, and 1000 years into the future, with just a single image for each, aside from 1000, when we see the Legion of Super-Heroes and a, finally, old man Superman smiling beneath them.
With Gog’s help rescinded, Damage is distraught, until Judomaster plants a lip lock on his ‘terrible’ face. Nate is relieved that they won, and seems to be ok with his plight. One of the mysteries left in the wake is that David is still Magog somehow. Not that he was asking for his resurrection to be undone, but he’s curious as to why he is still in this form.
Overall, this event was a really fun one, that had a lot of classic DC elements, an impressively natural “Kingdom Come” integration, and some seeds for future stories, both with Starman and the slow integration of Black Adam and Atom Smasher back into the title. That should all come to a head in ‘Black Adam and Isis,’ which we’ll tackle next week.
