DCU Comic Book Reviews

JSA #73

Black Vengeance, Part 1

July 2005

Written by Geoff Johns

Pencils by Don Kramer

Inks by Keith Champagne

Cover by Alex Ross

Synopsis

At the JSA Brownstone, the Justice Society debates whether or not to all ow Al Rothstein (aka Atom Smasher) back into the JSA.  In Midway City, the Crimson Avenger goes after a man who murdered his wife, but she is stopped by the Spectre.  He has recruited the help of Eclipso, who says mystic forces have been corrupted for too long and those who abuse it will pay, including Black Adam.  In Khandaq, Lex Luthor of the Society questions the recruitment tactics of Black Adam, who in turn tells Luthor to stay out of Khandaq.  In Fawcett City, Billy Batson (aka Captain Marvel) is summoned by the wizard Shazam, who says Eclipso has come back.  Shazam suggest Solomon might provide some help to defeat her, but Captain Marvel already knows some people.  At the JSA Brownstone, Black Adam comes to ask Atom Smasher to return to Khandaq.  Later, the JSA comes to tell Atom Smasher their decision, only to find he has left.  Outside the window, Hawkman and Captain Marvel tell the JSA they need to go where Al has gone...to Khandaq.

Review

And thus begins the march towards the new crisis as Johns is able to connect the current Day of Vengeance mini-series (and a little bit of Villains United) into the JSA book without upsetting the current storylines.  Still it is no surprise that the best stuff features Atom Smasher and his current crisis of conscience rather than the several pages devoted to the Spectre and Eclipso.  Worse, for those who haven’t read Day of Vengeance, they will be totally lost in understanding why the Spectre is suddenly keeping company with Eclipso.  But then I suppose that is the whole point:  force someone to pick up that book and spend more money in DCs coffers.  Part of me can’t fault Johns (or DC for that matter) for tying their books together while part of me wishes these big events would go away and not interfere with the book’s current stories.  In this case, I want to see more of the meeting the JSA had to discuss Atom Smasher.  It seemed as if the meeting was just getting started when we were cut to the Spectre scenes. 

It has been some time since the Crimson Avenger has appeared in the JSA (issue #53) which is about a year and a half ago.  The scene really does nothing for the book except as a reason to introduce the Spectre, which could have been done in a different manner.  It just seems like a big waste of time. 

I realize this is probably just me, but I got a good chuckle at the last panel on the next to last page when I saw Hawkgirl peering over the shoulder of Dr. Mid-Nite.  For some reason, the sight of this little woman with these steely eyes and big wings just inches over Mid-Nite’s shoulder made me laugh. 

It is interesting to note that the Flash is missing from the meeting at the beginning.  In Flash, issue #220, Jay got sidetracked by Zoom as he was running in for the meeting.  It is nice to see these small touches of continuity between titles, although with Johns writing both titles, I would hope he knows what all of the characters are doing. 

If I were part of DC, I would instantly make that cover a poster and sell it wherever I could.  That is one fantastic piece of work.

-- Review by MRB 

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