Justice Society of America: Kingdom Come Special: Superman #1

Oy, DC, what’s with those mile-long titles?!

Anyway, this comic marks a first for former Lubbock resident Alex Ross, who gets credited with illustrating and writing this. The plot focuses on the Kingdom Come Superman, who’s gotten trapped on Earth-1. He’s still haunted by memories of his time on his old Earth. He’s nervous because he thinks he sees the tragedy of his own world being recreated on the new one, what with the birth of Magog. He thinks he’s discovered the disaster that killed off the Daily Planet on his world, but luckily, it’s just a garden-variety trap (and an uncommonly unsuccessful one, too). He has a chat with our world’s version of Norman McCay. And he also has a chat with our version of Lois Lane about how his wife back home really died. And he worries that he’s cursed — Krypton was destroyed and his version of Earth was apparently destroyed, so is this Earth doomed as well, just from his presence?

Verdict: Thumbs up. The story is fine — not pure genius, but a good, solid story. The artwork is interesting for all the right reasons. We get some of Ross’s legendarily awesome paintings, but we also get treated to his somewhat more traditional pencils. He even inks his own work. And painted or pencilled, Ross still draws the best dadgummed Superman ever.

Secret Six #3

The Secret Six (well, right now, they’re the Secret Five, plus Tarantula, who’s more of a hostage) are on the run, trying to locate the mysterious card Tarantula stole. And they’re being stalked by supervillains, including Bolt and Cheetah, who want to steal the card and kill them all as messily as possible. And the insanely creepy Junior is still lurking out there.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Junior is really, really insanely creepy. Nicola Scott’s artwork is gorgeous and fun. And the secret of the card is pretty sweet — no wonder everyone’s so desperate to get it…

Final Crisis: Resist

The global superspy organization Checkmate is in dire straits — many of their agents, including Mr. Terrific, Sascha Bordeaux, Fire, and former JLA sidekick/teleporter Snapper Carr, are working to secure their Antarctic facility from Darkseid’s forces, when they’re unexpectedly taken down from the inside, leaving only Mr. Terrific, Snapper Carr, the Thinker, and Talen Khalid uncorrupted by the Anti-Life Equation. Snapper’s now the only person able to leave the facility, as he teleports around the world gathering intelligence and striking minor blows for the resistance. Snapper runs into Cheetah, the Wonder Woman villain, a few times — she’s also free from Anti-Life’s influence — and he finally brings her into the Antarctic hideout after he gets his Cat Scratch Fever on with her. Still, after Snapper catches a virus that shuts off his teleportational powers, they’re all trapped in a locked-down base with no way out… unless Mr. Terrific can persuade an old enemy to join the fight.

Verdict: Thumbs up. This is one of the few “Final Crisis” books I’ve seen so far that really makes things look hopeless — we at least see a few characters, namely Fire, Ice, the Titans, and Gorilla Grodd, who’ve been enslaved by Darkseid. So far, I haven’t seen a lot of that in the other books. Also, this story has a lot of really cool espionage elements — appropriate, since Checkmate is an espionage organization.

Justice Society of America #20

The Earth-2 Justice Society invades Earth-1, with their version of Power Girl in an insane rage to get at our local version of PG. There follows a great deal of fighting, for little real benefit.

Verdict: Thumbs down. Listen, the “Gog” storyline has been going on way, way long enough without adding a mostly-pointless diversion right in the middle.

Justice Society of America #19

Power Girl is still stuck on Earth-2 and has enlisted the aid of that universe’s Mr. Terrific — just a university professor — in getting back home. David Reid is adjusting very well to becoming the massively powerful Magog, and Gog himself plans to roam the world, changing it into what he thinks is good, even if that means killing everyone who he decides is evil. Half of the JSA wants to stop him — half wants to help him. And of course, that means everyone’s going to fight.

Verdict: A big fat meh. It’s not badly done, but it’s completely pedestrian and dull. And the storyline has been going on for far, far too long.

Captain Britain and MI-13 #6

Something nasty is going on in Birmingham, as demonic forces are granting everyone the illusion of their greatest desires being fulfilled. Captain Britain a bit foolishly charges right in to try to fix everything. Spitfire has somehow survived getting a stake driven through her heart by Blade, and now the two of them are brawling throughout the crisis. Faiza Hussain, Pete Wisdom, and the Black Knight rescue Captain Midlands. Of course, the demonic powers behind all this have more tricks up their sleeves, and a few bargaining chips to try to tip everything to their advantage.

Verdict: I’m going to give it a slim thumbs up. The action is pretty good, the threat is convincingly portrayed, but this comic has been a bit nonstop from its beginning, and I’d like a chance to get to know some of the characters as people, not just as people stuck in big fights.

Justice Society of America #18

Well, he’s right there on the cover, isn’t he, so it’s not like this is a big spoiler — Magog, from the “Kingdom Come” series, has his big origin in this issue. Who is he? That’s a spoiler for a bit further down in this paragraph, so be warned, a’ight? Anyway, Gog has discovered that humans make war on each other, and he’s not happy about that at all. The JSA try to disarm the bad guys and keep them from taking hostages or killing anyone else, but Gog takes the villains out of the picture without killing them — he turns them into trees. Of course, that pretty much kills their consciousness and minds, so there’s not much difference, is there? Elsewhere, Citizen Steel is desperate to get his Gog-granted cure, Damage is enjoying his newly-repaired face, Hawkman is bloodthirstier than normal, and Power Girl is trying to find some allies in the weirdly hostile Earth-2. Oh, and David Reid, FDR’s grandson, gets hit with a rocket shell and killed. But with Gog around, that’s hardly likely to be permanent — and Gog likes improving people, too, maybe with a few cyber-enhancements and metal horns…

Verdict: I’m gonna thumbs-down it. This is getting stretched out more and more and more, and it’s way past time to start wrapping this up. I’m also not thrilled with taking a perfectly good character like David Reid and revamping him into the Kingdom Come Magog.

Fantastic Four: True Story #2

The Fantastic Four manage to save Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret, from Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility,” from hordes of demons, but the team learns that, here in the world of fiction, their own imaginations can alter the characters — Johnny accidentally starts Marianne talking in computer-jargon l33t-speak — and the fictional characters’ imaginations can alter them, too! Ben Grimm manages to save everyone, but the Dashwoods start re-imagining him as a heroic soldier of their own time period. So the FF, realizing they need some more allies, go visiting “Ivanhoe,” “Kubla Khan,” “Last of the Mohicans,” and “Frankenstein.” But the demons have other stories they can dig through, too, looking for their own villainous allies…

Verdict: Thumbs up. A bit confusing here and there, but I’m enjoying the ride so far.

Justice Society of America Annual #1

In the last regular issue of “Justice Society of America,” Gog, in the process of fulfilling a number of wishes for the Justice Society, sent Power Girl home — to her original home on Earth-2. Kara gets reacquainted with all the retro heroes, and the Huntress makes plans to kill the Joker. And Power Girl discovers something very unwelcome about Earth-2.

Verdict: Thumbs down. Sorry, but I just never got into Earth-2’s heroes, and there’s really not much here but fanboy nostalgia. I did get a kick out of the elderly and decrepit — but still dangerous — version of the Joker. But that wasn’t enough to make it a win for me.

Green Lantern #33

We continue our re-telling of Hal Jordan’s origin. Sinestro — at this point in his history, still a Green Lantern — knocks out loony telepath Hector Hammond, then he and Hal go hunting the alien demon Atrocitus, who’s after a kid named William Hand — the future supervillain Black Hand.

Verdict: Another thumbs down. It’s just not coming across as very interesting.

She-Hulk #31

It appears I’ve missed a few issues of this. The Skrull Invasion is beginning, and Shulkie and Jazinda are tracking a Skrull called the Talisman, a religious figure whose well-being will determine how the invasion will go. If they can take him out quickly enough, the entire Skrull army will give up the invasion and flee for their home. They run into X-Factor, now re-imagined as a bunch of private eyes. They’re after completely different targets, but She-Hulk gets into a fight with the X-Factor kids that even she admits is an incredibly stupid and pointless thing to do. Jazinda, meanwhile, catches up with who she claims is the Talisman — namely, Longshot. Jazinda gets knocked out by Darwin, a rapidly evolving mutant, but Darwin later spontaneously evolves a power that forces Skrulls to reveal themselves. And as it turns out, yep, Longshot’s a Skrull.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Sure, I missed a few issues, but I was still enjoying what I was reading, so I approve.

Justice Society of America #17

Gog is roaming Africa, working miracles, making the desert fertile, and winning hundreds of devoted followers. The Justice Society and the Justice League are watching him warily, but even members of the JSA are considering him a global savior. He’s healed Damage’s face, cures Dr. Mid-Nite’s blindness, restores Starman’s sanity, and returns Power Girl to her original home on Earth-2. But we all know he’s really a bad guy, right?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Raising the stakes nicely, setting up some confrontations for the future. But I gotta say, it’s a real slow-moving issue.

Number of the Beast #7

The Paladins and the Authority fight with each other, while the government scrambles a bunch of super-soldiers cloned from the mega-powerful hero/villain named the High. Of course, the two teams eventually realize that they’re on the same side and retreat to the Authority’s extra-dimensional Carrier, but the High clones have figured out how to follow them.

Verdict: Thumbs down. I’ve been enjoying this series, but this was a fairly pointless issue. I hope things pick up for the grand finale.

 

Justice Society of America #16

The one, true Gog has risen from the jungle — a couple hundred feet tall, purple skin, glowing eyes, and he barely even notices the Justice Society staring up at him in shock. When he finally deigns to speak to the JSA’ers, he tells them he’s a god from the Third World — not Earth’s more poverty-stricken nations, but the world that preceded the Fourth World of the New Gods. He says he was cast down to earth millennia ago for refusing to participate in a war and has spent all these centuries in stasis. Now, he says with a nearly-constant but very creepy smile, he wants to do good. And he does end up traveling to a nearby village and healing everyone there of a plague. But Damage isn’t buying Gog’s act, and when he calls Gog out, Gog works a miracle for him. Meanwhile, Black Adam has his powers back, and he’s on the trail of his lost bride Isis.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Lots of cool stuff here — Gog can’t hear Mr. Terrific’s voice because Terrific is an atheist; Citizen Steel, even thousands of miles from the kids in his family, ends up getting surrounded by adoring kids in the African village, which is a nice little wink toward what seems to be one of his major personality traits; we also get some exceptional Alex Ross artwork scattered here and there. But the star of the show is definitely Gog. Sure, we all know he’ll wind up being a villain. No one that tall with a smile that creepy could possibly be a good guy. But I love the way they’re setting him up.

 

The War that Time Forgot #2

More dinosaur fun with our group of timelost soldiers. Turns out there are two distinct groups of warriors on the island — one with a bunch of modern soldiers (if “modern” includes characters from the Revolutionary War) with a more barbaric group opposing them from the ancient world. The old-timers, including a couple of Greeks, a Roman centurion, and a Viking prince, capture Col. Jape, the base commander, and take him to their colosseum to fight a raptor. First, they take him before their ruler — holy cow, it’s the G.I. Robot! Kewl! Elsewhere, the modern soldiers meet a woman from the future, capture a Japanese Zero pilot, and go hunting for Jape, who is in the midst of getting a lesson in how to fight an angry dinosaur from one of the Greek warriors.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Dude! The G.I. Robot!

 

Justice League of America #21

I’m amazed this one came out as well as it did. The first seven pages of this one are Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman sitting around talking, just summing up the current state of things in the JLA. Wheee, exciting! The rest of it is a couple of extremely minor supervillains fighting a couple of really minor superheroes. The Human Flame, a pudgy guy who had one appearance fighting the Martian Manhunter a few decades ago, tries to rob a bank, fights Red Arrow and Hawkgirl pretty unsuccessfully, then gets rescued by Libra, another supervillain who had just one appearance in a JLA comic back in the ’60s. Libra takes the Human Flame before a whole trainload of supervillains and offers him anything he wants. And the Flame says he wants to be able to kill the Martian Manhunter. If you wanna see what happens from there, you have to read “Final Crisis.”

Verdict: I think I’m actually going to give it a thumbs up. The Big Three sitting around and talking gets really, really boring, but I didn’t mind the stuff with the Human Flame that much. Of course, it’s all leading to Grant Morrison killing J’onn J’onzz in the first issue of “Final Crisis,” which is going to really suck. But this issue wasn’t that bad.

 

Justice Society of America #15

Basically, the entire issue is a fight scene with the Justice Society trying to beat up Gog. No, really, that’s it. A few highlights include Obsidian fighting Gog from the inside, Lightning’s spiffy new battlecry, and Citizen Steel effortlessly withstanding Gog’s punches.

Verdict: Thumbs up. This isn’t particularly subtle storytelling, but it’s a good brawl, so we’ll call it a win.

 

Justice Society of America #14

The JSA starts working to hunt down Gog. Sand tracks him to the jungle, while the rest of the Society (there’s a great little scene showing how much they’ve outgrown their iconic meeting table) plans out their attack. Unfortunately, Gog surprises everyone by bringing the fight directly into the JSA’s brownstone. And he’s a lot more than they can handle.

Verdict: Thumbs up. There are lots of nice little moments. Like I said before, the scene with everyone sitting around the meeting table in lawn chairs and stools and recliners is actually pretty funny and gives a good sense of how large the team has grown. Sand gets his first lines in a year or more, and he has a great little scene all of his own. Gog makes a nice, dramatic entrance, and the fight against him is suitably knock-down-drag-out. It ain’t over by the end of the issue either, and the “Next Issue” blurb promises worse stuff to come. Can’t wait for the next issue.

 

Groo: Hell on Earth #4

Groo the Wanderer, promoted to Groo the General of an entire army, finally tracks down a war he can fight in. Oh boy, fighting! Of course, he has no strategy and cuts down as many of his own men as he does the enemy, but what’s important is he finally gets to fight! Meanwhile, the Sage continues to wander, trying to find some way to stave off multiple environmental disasters. Is there a way to stop the pointless war and to start mending the land?

Verdict: Thumbs up. The allegory is about as subtle as Groo’s fighting style, but the jokes are funny — often very funny — and the solutions to the problems of the war and the environment are elegant and smart.

Justice Society of America #13

While the JSA’s new members are moving into the team’s headquarters, the new Mr. America and the rest of the Justice Society are tracking a serial killer called the Heartbreak Slayer who targets people who claim to be gods and tears out their hearts. Mr. America has found out his name: Gog. Sound familiar? The Kingdom Come Superman fought a bad guy named Magog, and in the regular DCU, a villain named Gog tried to poison Superman with Kryptonite. Kingdom Come Supes goes to talk with Regular DCU Supes (Ya know what? There’s at least one too many Supermen in this comic), and they end up preventing Gog from killing the Greek demigod (and occasional nemesis of Wonder Woman) Hercules. Herc puts up a fight, and by the time they’ve got him knocked out, Gog has managed to teleport away.

Verdict: Thumbs up, with some concerns. Like I said, there are way too many Supermen running around this joint, which is probably a symptom of the Too-Many-Characters-itis that this comic already suffers from. On the other hand, I love Jakeem Thunder’s introduction to Lightning and her dad, Black Lightning. I also enjoyed Kingdom Come Superman’s reaction to seeing Lois Lane — his version of Lois was killed by the Joker years ago, and he just about loses it.

In other words, the characterizations in this book are great, if only there weren’t so many characters that we never had time to get to know any of the characters…