Comic Info
Comic Name: Justice Society of America (Volume 2)
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Geoff Johns/Alex Ross
Artist: Dale Eaglesham/Fernando Pasarin/Alex Ross
# of Issues: 6
Release Date: 2008
Justice Society of America (2) #8
Reprints Justice Society of America (2) #7-12 (September 2007-March 2008). Someone is killing people claiming to be gods and an attempt to stop it leads the Justice Society to release an older, wiser Superman from a parallel world. As Superman tells of the destruction of his world, the Justice Society works to recruit new members and expand on the idea that the Justice Society must honor its past to move forward. As Mr. America is called in to investigate the Heartbreak Slayer, the JSA is about to discover a greater danger that they never even expected.
Written by Geoff Johns and plotted by Johns and Alex Ross, Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come—Part 1 is a DC Comics superteam collection. The comic is a sequel to Mark Waid and Alex Ross’s critically acclaimed Kingdom Come and features some flashback sequences by Ross. Following the events of Justice League of America: The Lightning Saga, the collection features art by Dale Eaglesham and Fernando Pasarin. The issues in the collection were also a part of JSA—Volume 3.
The Justice Society has always held a soft spot for me. I like the idea of the “family” JSA which feels much more akin to the Super Friends that first introduced me to many of the DC characters (though not many of the ones in the JSA). The idea of the JSA crossing over with the darkness of Kingdom Come is both potentially interesting and dangerous since you don’t want to see the “family” destroyed.
Justice Society of America (2) #12
This collection is largely set-up for the bigger Thy Kingdom Come storyline. It ties up a few loose ends and sets up a new batch of recruits for the JSA. DC’s collection of the JSA has been a bit odd up to this point since Justice League of America trumps Justice Society of America and the previous collection was actually a Justice League collection. It is too bad that the issues were just collected as a giant collection (or at least the back half of this book) to make the Thy Kingdom Come a little less divided.
That being said, I do like the set-up. The JSA seems to be loaded with tragic characters that powers are almost ironic. Power Girl is powerless to change her situation, Superman was unable to save Kingdom Come, and Citizen Steel can literally feel nothing due to his powers which make him a slow, hulking monster who can unintentionally hurt. The true danger of Thy Kingdom Come is Gog who cameos a bit in the volume (in shadows), but is set to be the baddy…but you don’t really know how he is tied Magog of Kingdom Come due to revisions in the DC Multiverse. His character had made appearances before, but DC continued to alter his origin.
Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come—Part 1 feels like the start of an epic that the JSA deserves due to their long and epic history. The issues in the collection still have the great Alex Ross covers which show the heroes at their most heroic and makes the story inside pop. Justice Society of America: They Kingdom Come—Part 1 is followed by Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come—Part 2.
Related Links:
Justice Society of America: The Next Age
Justice Society of America: Black Adam and Isis
