DCU Comic Book Reviews

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #3

The New Age, Chapter 3

April 2007

Written by Geoff Johns

Pencils by Dale Eaglesham

Inks by Art Thibert

Covers by Alex Ross & Dale Eaglesham

Synopsis

At the JSA headquarters, Maxine Hunkel finds a costume and picks her code name:  Cyclone.  In Ohio, the Fourth Reich are killing the Heywood family, the descendants of Commander Steel.  Hawkman attempts to stop them, but gets bashed by a statue for his troubles.  The only Heywood to live is Nate, the crippled football hero.  In the fight, he is able to wound Reichsmark, who is covered in the same steel substance as Nate’s grandfather.  Some of that metal covers Nate, who is screaming in pain.  Hawkman takes Nate to the JSA headquarters for Dr. Mid-Nite to look at him.  Later, Sandman arrives to tell the team that someone is attempting to kill the families of the JSA, including Liberty Belle’s mom and Stargirl’s stepfather.  The team splits up to save them.  In Brooklyn, Wildcat is talking to his son Tommy when suddenly Vandal Savage appears, knocking Wildcat unconscious.  Savage reveals he is the mastermind behind the attacks and now he is going to kill Wildcat and his son.  Tommy realizes he must fight.  He then transforms into a literal Wildcat and jumps at Savage. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

There is a little middle of the middle-issue syndrome in this issue, but strangely enough it didn’t bother me as much as it might with any other story.  I think the real key to this issue is in the pacing, as Johns intercuts a lot of different scenes with each other, sending characters to various parts of the world, and it all works smoothly.  The beginning with the Heywood family is brutal, but it sets off a series of events that Johns and Eaglesham craftily fit into a few pages without it feeling crammed while still managing to working out a few splash pages.  When we get to the end scene with Wildcat and son, it is with a sense of urgency and foreboding that something bad is going to happen and this before Vandal Savage appears on the scene. 

Another reason why I like this series it that I enjoy the characters so much.  Each issue Johns manages to spotlight the vast majority of the characters enough, either from a single page with Cyclone and Stargirl debating her code name or the page with Dr. Mid-Nite and Mr. Terrific discussing the case or a panel or two of Liberty Belle and Hourman making googly eyes at each other.  Plus, Johns and Eaglesham effectively reintroduced Sandman to the team; his arrival was fantastic. 

It has been a long time since I read Kingdom Come and even then I read when my knowledge of the DC Universe is as extensive as it is now.  I am going to have to pull it out and read it again since it is becoming obvious that Johns, with Ross’ help, is slowly turning the JSA into a pre-cursor of the Kingdom Come universe.  First there is Thom Kaller as Starman from the last issue and then we get the Wildcat in this issue, both of whom were in Kingdom Come.  When you realize that we are seeing other references to Kingdom Come scattered throughout the DCU (such as Offspring in 52 and Batman’s son in Batman) you begin to wonder where this all might be leading. 

I loved the splash page of the JSA heading off to battle.  It is slightly marred by Power Girl’s speech balloon of “Split up” but otherwise it is worthy of a pin-up or a poster.