Book of Doom: JSA Annual #1

I stopped reading Justice Society of America a few months ago as this Kingdom Come storyline was starting but just seeming to spin its wheels. I had some room left in my quota this week, though, so I decided to grab this.

I snuck a peak at the last issue of JSA, in which Gog has apparently been curing and assisting everyone. He identifies Power Girl as being lost, so he sends her home. So this issue opens with Power Girl returning to Earth-2 and getting reacquainted with everyone.

Geoff Johns made some interesting choices that I’m going to have to think about more to really decide how I feel about them. One of those is that everyone on Earth-2 knows about the Crisis and seems to understand it on a cosmic level. Superman, Powergirl and Lois left to go battle when “the skies turned red” and never returned. So the premise here appears to be that when 52 universes were restored, not only were these universes ones that existed before the Crisis, but they were restored back to the point of the Crisis. So the Crisis happened, but then apparently everything was fine the next day.

Selfishly I like this, because I’ve always liked the JSA, and I really liked the Justice Society stuff from the ’70s, which is where this seems to draw most of its continuity. I love the idea that they just started fleshing out the missing years of this continuity that had basically been stalled since the ’40s. Critically, though, considering what a huge deal it was that one or two people remembered the Crisis just a few years ago, I don’t like how the past few years have seen nearly every character referring to this reality-altering and history-rewriting event like it was a classic Super Bowl or something.

Another big choice Johns made with this story is in having characters acknowledge that New Earth and Earth-1 are not the same thing. New Earth may have characters that were based on characters from Earth-1 and Earth-2 (and others), but it is not made up of those actual beings. This topic came up a lot several years ago when we were all getting excited for Infinite Crisis, and basically the same logical conclusion was reached, but it’s nice to see it in print.

The obvious next step from that acknowledgment is of course that Earth-1 should still exist too — in its pre-Crisis state. There doesn’t really seem to be any point having New Earth, Earth-1 and Earth-2, so I’m wondering if this isn’t all a setup for some more earths to get wiped out down the road.

All of this speculation could very easily be wiped out by the ending of the issue, in which someone claiming to be the “real” Power Girl shows up and starts beating up the Power Girl we know. It seems to me there are three likely explanations for this:

1. This isn’t really Earth-2. Gog sent her someone else, and the artificiality of it will be some kind of hint as to how Gog’s gifts aren’t as they seem.
2. That person in Power Girl’s old costume isn’t really Power Girl.
3. This really is Earth-2, that person in Power Girl’s old costume really is Power Girl, but our Power Girl is once again a lost soul. Earlier in the issue, Red Robin explains to Kara that Jay Garrick and Alan Scott are still there on Earth-2, so their counterparts on New Earth — though they seem to be originally from Earth-2 — are different people. It stands to reason that if Kara is from New Earth, even post-Crisis, that there is a corresponding “real” Kara back on Earth-2.

I think I’d like #3 to be reality, but I’m guessing it’s more likely that it’s #1 or #2. Either way, Geoff Johns makes confusing continuity enjoyable like no one else, and Jerry Ordway’s “old school” style was the perfect choice for an Earth-2 story. This was enough to get me to come back to reading JSA on a monthly basis.

Fin Fang Doom:
Power Girl has a confusing origin. First she was Superman’s cousin on Earth-2, then there was something to do with Atlantis, then she became Earth-2 Superman’s cousin again even though Earth-2 didn’t exist anymore. Now it appears as though she might not even be from Earth-2, because there’s another Power Girl on Earth-2 who isn’t the same Power Girl from New Earth. But then again, this Earth-2 might not be the same Earth-2 that Power Girl is from (New Earth’s Power Girl, not new Earth-2’s Power Girl). Hold on a second, I think I need to lie down for a second…

All right, now where was I? Ah yes, Earth-2.

Unless I’ve successfully been able to block Countdown from my mind without even realizing, this is the first time post-52 that readers have returned to Earth-2. And apparently, Earth-2 sucks. There’s no Superman because he’s been missing since Crisis on Infinite Earths. There’s no Batman since Bruce Wayne died, and Dick Grayson’s running around in the stupidest looking costume ever. There’s no Wonder Woman although there’s no mention of whether she also went missing in COIE or is just hanging out on Paradise Island. Plus, Wildcat and Doctor Midnite are chicks in stupid costumes, and some flying porcupine dude is on the Justice Society. Yeesh.

But while Earth-2 sucks, it is home for Power Girl…or is it? Because even though Power Girl grew up on Earth-2 (which keep in mind, may or may not be the same Earth-2 she’s on now), now she feels like her home is New Earth. She hasn’t seen anyone on Earh-2 for years, and she’s forged new and tight relationships with the people of New Earth. Oh, and there’s the other Power Girl that shows up, accuses our Power Girl of murdering Earth-2 Superman and punches her into a water tower. That’s not exactly “homey.”

This kind of story is a really good use of the Annual format. The story ties into the main arc in the regular series, but it’s not essential to understanding exactly what’s going on. The only thing readers really NEED to know is that Power Girl’s being hunted down by the members of Earth-2’s Justice Society, but this issue provides a nice context for those who care about that sort of thing.

Doom DeLuise:
I would be interested in hearing thoughts on this issue from somebody who doesn’t regularly read Justice Society of America proper. I mean, I always enjoy picking up annuals of issues I don’t normally read, just to get a fun little standalone story, but this story isn’t really a standalone at all, and if I were not a regular and happened to pick this up through my love of annuals, I’d probably be fairly confused or bored.

But, since I regularly read JSA, I have to say that this was a super fun issue and a great use of the annual format. What do you do when you have a loose end spiral out of your main storyline? Tie it up in the annual, of course! Brilliant.

I was reading an interview with Geoff Johns recently, and he was asked how he approaches writing comics, what he focuses on, etc. He said that he tries to find a human element to his characters to anchor the whole thing to.

Now, what was one of the most disappointing things about Countdown and the multiverse hopping that took place within its pages? Each of the characters the Challengers ran into during the course of that series were bland, uninspired, and you never really got that emotional, human anchor. The only character they even attempted that with was Ray Palmer, and it worked for the briefest of moments, before they threw him into a really dumb storyline.

So, really, that’s my biggest comment on the success of this issue. Taking place on Earth-2, Johns successfully anchors the story to Huntress, Batman’s daughter, and boy, is it great.

I mean, it seems so simple, that concept, but I can’t tell you how many times it’s completely overlooked for stupid, plot-driven nonsense. That shit’s almost become DC’s trademark lately.

Kudos to comics that don’t suck.