DCU Comic Book Reviews

JSA KINGDOM COME:  THE KINGDOM

The Kingdom

January 2009

Written by Geoff Johns and Alex Ross

Pencils by Fernando Pasarin

Inks by Mick Gray, Jack Purcell, Norm Rapmund

Covers by Alex Ross & Dale Eaglesham

Synopsis

[continued from JSA Kingdom Come:  Magog]

Near Khandaq, Gog commands they will rest on the sixth day since his resurrection.  He tells everyone they can rest and pray with him or go out and spread the word of Gog to the world.  Elsewhere, Sandman and Dr. Mid-Nite realize that Gog’s miraculous gifts come with some unexpected consequences.  In New York, Damage appears on television to spread the word of Gog.  Watching, Stargirl decides to stop him.  In Ohio, Citizen Steel fervently wants his wish, to feel again, to come true and he’ll do anything Gog tells him to get it.  In Metropolis, Starman lands a job as a grave digger.  Over Washington DC, Earth-22 Superman requests that Wonder Woman refrain from violence and remain peaceful.  She tells him that sometimes, despite all efforts, sometimes violence is the only answer.  Meanwhile, Stargirl finds Damage and takes him to see Atom Smasher, who tries to convince him that he hasn’t changed despite what Gog did to his face.  Damage refuses to listen and the two come to blows.  The other JSA members arrive to deal with Damage, but Magog also appears and returns Damage to Khandaq.  There, Gog tells the assembled JSA to get on their knees.  They must worship him.  [continued in Justice Society of America #21] 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Geoff Johns is a good enough writer that he is able to turn a fairly obvious plot point, that Gog is not the benevolent God they thought he was, and still make it work effectively when that realization is finally shown.  That is because at the core of his writing, Johns understands it is the characters that matter the most, not the plot or the twists.  So, to see the JSA members at the end, staring at Gog, realizing what he is saying, you feel what they are feeling,.  It is good stuff, part of an amazing story.  I think large parts of this, what, nearly 2-year story, has been a lot of filler, but now that we are getting to the end, Johns has found the right pace.  And it shows here, with all of the pieces put into motion for the finale.  It is going to be good…

I do want to quibble with the Damage and Atom Smasher scene, if only because I don’t think Johns effectively was able to convey what the problem was with Damage.  I think what Johns is trying to get across is that Damage has defined himself based on his looks, whether it is depressed Damage because he is ugly or the happy Damage because he is beautiful.  The point Atom Smasher was trying to make is that you can’t let things like that dictate who you are going to be, but rather be who you are going to be regardless.  I think.  There is a lot of yelling and screaming, but not much really gets said.  It is one of those scenes in which the characters talk, but don’t actually say what they should be saying. 

And this was a “special” for what reason?  Why wasn’t this part of the normal Justice Society of America book?  The first two specials made sense to be specials since they essentially focused on one specific character, providing a little more in depth to KC Superman and Magog.  The stories were part of the main narrative, but a good portion of each issue were devoted to flashbacks and events outside the story.  But not this issue.  It featured almost all of the JSA characters and was more heavily invested in the main story, leading up to a major cliffhanger that will be addressed in the next issue of Justice Society of America.    

I don’t know what to think about the Starman sequence.  I realize that Geoff Johns is also the writer of the Green Lantern series, which is gearing up for the Blackest Night story.  That story is supposedly about the resurrection of the dead to become Black Lantenrs.  So, is Starman’s role as grave digger a set-up for that particular story, with Starman providing some kind of link or whatever to the dead corpses, or is there something in the Kingdom story that I am missing.  I hope Starman is connected to Gog and not Green Lantern. 

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