DCU Comic Book Reviews

JUSTICE SOCIETY of AMERICA ANNUAL #2

Walking Papers

April 2010

Written by Keith Giffen and Matthew Sturges

Pencils by Tom Derenick

Inks by Rodney Ramos

Cover by Freddie Williams II

Synopsis

The JSA All-Stars respond to a priority alert signal of riot at Haven Security Prison.  When they get there, the place is quiet.  Then there is an explosion and Magog appears.  The All-Stars think he is part of the riot.  He tells them to butt out.  Just then, the criminals appear, seemingly out of nowhere.  The fight ensues.  The Justice Society then arrives to help out.  Elsewhere, the warden of Haven, sets the destruct bomb to hide the evidence of Flashpoint using Haven as its cover.  Meanwhile, Power Girl attempts to get information from Magog on what is going on, believing he instigated the riot.  He tells her that Haven is a front.  She doesn’t believe him.  He shows her, literally tossing her inside Flashpoint’s hideout.  Power Girl gets the word out to the rest of the team.  However, Alan Scott doesn’t get the message.  The warden tells Alan that Magog orchestrated the prison break.  Alan confronts Magog.  Just then, the Warden is about to get away when he is stopped by Chelsea.  The bomb explodes, destroying Haven.  In the aftermath, Magog walks away.  Power Girl tells him he is out of the All-Stars and the Justice Society. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This was frustrating to read for a variety of reasons.  The first is that it is way too long for what it needs to accomplish.  I am guessing the page count was assigned based on the fact that this story was placed into an annual, which needs to be longer than a normal issue.  While I actually like the fact that the storylines from Magog and JSA All-Stars and (to a lesser degree) Justice Society of America kinda merged into this issue, I am not sure the story presented was worth the increased number of pages.  I think the story could’ve been shortened without losing any of its impact.  To pad it out and make it longer the fight scenes continue on and on and on and on to the point where it begins to get a little boring and you start to wish the writers would get back to the main plot.  I mean did we really need Citizen Steel and Dr. Fate discussing their powers.  And what was the deal with the crazy Mind Czar and the jetpack? The second is the way the characters all gang up on Magog and assume the worst.  It makes for odd moments as everyone jumps to conclusions rather than waiting to see what he has to say.  It is also weird because there doesn’t seem to be anything in previous studies to suggest that Magog would willingly help criminals break out of jail.  I can see potentially killing someone or bending the law to get what he wanted, but the warden claims Magog was part of the break in and Alan Scott believes him.  It just doesn’t quite add up.  Magog may be less than the ideal hero, but he hasn’t been show to actively help villains.  I don’t know, it was weird to read, almost as if the writers were forcing the situation just so Magog could be removed from the JSA 

It is interesting to note that Magog knocks Maxine silly on one page and then about two pages later we see Maxine up and about to help fight the bad guys.  Must not have been that bad of a punch.

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