DCU Comic Book Reviews

JSA #83

Who's Afraid Of Ghosts?

May 2006

Written by Paul Levitz

Pencils by Rags Morales & Luke Ross (flashbacks)

Inks by Dave Mekis

Cover by George Pérez

Synopsis

One year later… Joan Garrick is in the grocery store when she suddenly sees the ghost of her dead father.  In Keystone City, Jakeem Thunder sees a ghost of his dead aunt.  Elsewhere, Stargirl and Mr. Terrific finish shopping when they come across a car accident.  Mr. Terrific investigates and finds the ghost of his dead wife.  In Gotham, Dr. Mid-nite encounters ghosts of patients he has failed to save.  In Flashbacks, we are told the story of Jim, who was born a bastard of a fancy lord, but thrown to the street at an early age with his mother.  In New York, Alan Scott is discombobulated after he sees visions which he attributes to indigestion.  He joins the other JSA members and after he mentions how spicy chili got him seeing ghosts, he gets weird looks from everyone.  The other JSA members reveal their stories and they wonder who it is.  They get their answer…Jim Craddock (aka Gentleman Ghost) who always reveals himself as warning before you die!

Review

“Several barely coherent explanations later…”

Except for a few brief comments, one would not know a year had passed.  There are really no differences in the JSA, at least as far as one can tell.  There are some missing members such as Dr. Fate (for obvious reasons), but where is Sand or Hourman?  This issue also came out before Infinite Crisis #6, so we now know that Power Girl makes it out alive, but there are no hints to what she may or may not remember about her convoluted history.  I would also like to know why Dr. Mid-nite is in Gotham.  And we know now the speed force is still around or at least Jay Garrick has super speed, which contradicts DC’s policy that there would be only one speedster in the DCU.  Or is there a loophole because Jay received his super speed differently than either Barry or Wally, which of course is different than Bart’s power.  Oh, my head hurts. 

I liked the different artists doing the past and the present portion of the stories.  It gives them a different feel and I think that helps the story.  The most emotional ghost is that of Paula, Mr. Terrific’s dead wife.  For those long time readers of JSA it has an affect since Michael is still dealing with his wife’s death and his own role in her car accident. 

Ultimately, however, I was not overwhelmed with this first part.  It is intriguing, but not the big change that DC was promising with the One year Later titles.  Perhaps I was expecting too much, especially for one of the first issues, but I really felt this was a disappointment.  Essentially this issue left the reader with more questions than there were answers and although that is on par with other one year later titles, this is one of the few to provide anything new that could be discussed.  No new team members or change in the status quo.  This story feels as if it could have taken place before the Crisis.-- MRB

Comic Connection

For more on Jim Craddock and different history of the Gentleman Ghost, check out Hawkman, issues #7 (November 2002), #13 (May 2003), and #14 (June 2003)

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