Justice Society of America # 13 Review
Authors: Geoff Johns & Alex Ross
Art: Fernando Pasarin & Alex Ross
Inker: Richard Friend
Colors: Alex Sinclair
Thy Kingdom Come continues to rock the JSA with issue 13. The team is still tracking the “Heartbreak Slayer”, the mysterious serial killer offing super-villains. While Jakeem brings up a great point about the team status, Kingdom Come Superman runs into New Earth Superman which is depicted by that cover. Speaking of that cover, it makes me wish that Alex Ross was working on another monthly project with the DC heroes again.
Jakeem is not happy with the JSA at this moment. He wants a room to himself and the team seems to be growing too big for their living quarters. Which is something is something he brings up and I’m sure most readers agree with him. The rest of them is trying to figure out what the “Heartbreak Slayer” aka Gog’s secret is. It is through an emotional conversation that KC Supes and NE Supes have that we learn that Gog is Magog’s predecessor. Both eventually run into Hercules who is being attacked by Gog. NE Supes gets clobbered by Hercules while KC Supes stands there and takes a punch to the face from Hercules without blinking. This again brings up the theory that the older Superman gets, the more powerful he becomes because of all the years he continues to soak up solar radiation. Yellow sun baby…it does wonders for Kryptonians without the worry of skin cancer.
I love when Jakeem Thunder comments about how there are way too many members on the team. I think most readers feel what he is saying. I just wish that this book was double sized format or came out weekly. With so many characters and so few pages I find myself missing the other characters that don’t appear in each issue. I know they'll all get their featured issues, but everyone has their favorites, and it seems like several months can go by without even a mention of them, for example Jakeem. I don’t know if I can validate that as a complaint, because I enjoy the characters so much. There are not many writers who do characterizations and character interactions half as well as Geoff Johns. Pasarin does a commendable job as a fill-in artist keeping a similar style to Eaglesham. Even though this issue didn’t feature any in your face fights and the pacing seems a little slow, it still was brilliantly scripted and that is what makes Johns stand above the rest as a fabulous writer. A
yeah, their roster is just getting wayyyyy to big. it's more like justice army of america nowadays.
I loved how the cover harkened back to the days of the old "roll call" images on JLA/JSA crossovers.
Good issue, though, I kinda echo the "too many characters" thought.
Cyclone....seriously...I am assuming Johns put her in there for a good reason but, Geoff needs to get on with it already cause otherwise the character just feels like a waste of space. Alan Scott aka the "magic" Green Lantern I feel the same way about as well.