That’s how you start a team
The first collection of the new Justice Society of America came out this week, and a review copy sent over from DC gave me the push I’ve been needing to finally check out this book.
To be honest, it’s really the push I needed to check out the team. For whatever reason, I’ve just never had any interest in the JSA. I carry very little affection or nostalgia for old comics, mostly because I wasn’t alive when they came out and most of those books are just terrible. This is all to say that I carried a lot of baggage into this reading.
I’ll spare you the suspense: I liked this book. A lot, actually. It did just about everything right as far as the introductory issue, and things kept pumping along from there. That’s a pretty strong contrast to that other J-A book DC publishes. A while back, I gave a probably overly forgiving review to JLA: The Tornado’s Path, which served as the jump start to that book. Comparing that now with the JSA offers a great example for how to write comics, and how to become the bane of fanboys.
Move fast
We’ve heard all the jokes already about Brad Meltzer spending 28 (or so) issues of the big three sitting around, sorting through possible JLA members. In the first issue of JSA, Geoff Johns has his team completely set and joined together, and he also carries on a whole sub plot that turns a complete arc, from hero seeking revenge to hero’s death. Whizz-bang is what that is.
Introduce the cast
It’s sort of a cheap and easy ploy, but it was nice that JSA started with quick bios of the characters, making it easy to leave exposition out of the story and still keep newbies like myself up to speed. Somehow, even working with a much more familiar cast, Meltzer managed to throw in so many vague references that even seasoned DCers were left scratching their… uh… whatever DC readers scratch.
Have a clear threat
From the first issue of JSA, we’re all aware that some butthole is organizing the deaths of old heroes in pretty brutal fashion. It’s something that strikes deeply at all the current JSAers and, while still shrouded, gives them a definitive challenge. In Tornado’s Path, we had a mysterious villain who was doing some mysterious thing that wasn’t really relevant in any way to anyone other than “Reddy.” The other heroes pretty much had to be shoe-horned in.
It’s a TEAM book
Even after several issues of putting the band together, JLA never managed to feel like a true team. Aside from the Amazo fight there was no sense of cohesion, and that scene had to be monologued to get the point across. In JSA, we get a whole bunch of people who only somewhat are familiar, so their fighting is disjointed. But what pulls together are their personalities. It’s clear they’re fighting together, even if it’s a bit sloppy.
So, that’s the score: JSA – many, JLA – substantially less. Or something like that.
Now I just have to decide if I’m going to keep reading JSA. From all I’ve heard, everything going on in the book now ties pretty tightly to the stupidity leading up to Final Crisis. I couldn’t care less about that, but I like these characters. Any JSA readers out there with a suggestion?
I’m not sure who would’ve said that the book ties tightly with the stupidity leading up to Final Crisis. Since the introductory arc, there has been the Lightning Saga tie-in and then the lead-up to the Kingdom Come sequel. Maybe that stuff counts as the lead-up to Final Crisis, but then again, I guess everything technically does.
The good thing about JSA is that, even when it’s just a fill-in issue, it’s still a pretty good read.
Let’s just say Lightning Saga and the return of Kingdom Come are not really things I look forward to.
Well, I guess the Final Crisis stuff depends on whether or not Kingdom Come Superman and/or the return of Wally West are going to play a role in the Event to End All Events.
Either way, it’s a really decent book. I’m really enjoying it, and I would even check out The Lightning Saga, if only for the JSA chapters, since they’re generally the best.
-M