Justice Society of America #47

           I really like this series, especially the recent issues. The whole terror wins idea has been brilliant, it had intellectual value, a tone of character development, and it was a very good read. The entire series in general has been great. It made number four in my top five ongoing series of 2010. Not only was that based on the terror wins arc, but the winds of war arc was also fantastic. Overall I've been very happy with this series.
          In this issue Man Hunter (while stopping a robbery) sees something about the JSA on TV. People were debating whether Super-Heroes are good for the world, or bad. Then she sees the Flash make a statement about how bad the crime is in monument point. Dr. Midnight goes to see Alan Scott, but he's not there any more. Then Flash brings him to Lightning and tells him that Dr. Fate took her soul and is protecting it, but her body is dead. Dr. Chaos then tells Mr. Terrific to release Scythe, and that he knows his IQ is dropping. Then Dr. Midnight and Wild Cat confront Dr. Chaos who says that he has a device that will kill a certain number of randomly selected people. But the Flash runs and takes the device, but then Scythe comes in and the comic ends.
         I have one problem with this issue, for some reason whenever I read a JSA comic they always find a way to get rid of Dr. Fate. This thing with Lightning gets him out of the picture so that Guggenheim can focus on Mr. Terrific and the Flash like he usually does. Guggenheim is a good writer, but I would like it if he took some risks and wrote some stories that had Dr. Fate as the lead. He's an incredibly interesting character that always seems to get shoved aside. I do see how Guggenheim could have Dr. Fate in this new soul place and so the main characters are him and lightning, but judging just on the covers of upcoming issues it looks like Guggenheim is going to stick with Green Lantern.
       I enjoyed the rest of this issue thoroughly. Dr. Chaos is a great villain, and so is Scythe, and the way Dr. Chaos interacts with other members of the JSA is great. I even like Mr. Terrific's loss in IQ, otherwise this would be a short and boring series, he would trace Dr. Chaos and put him in prison and then we would all move on to the next arc, but because he is becoming "dumber" the arc is much better. It prolongs parts of it, and adds other parts.
      This was another great issue, but the series would be much improved if Dr. Fate was in it more, opposed to his usual one page appearances, followed by people talking about where he went and why.





Grade: 9/10
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Justice Society of America #44

          I know I haven't reviewed a Justice Society of America for a while, but that's because I skipped the whole "Star Heart" thing. If you look back on my archive of reviews you will see Justice League of America #45 which I absolutely hated. Coincidently it was the lead up to the whole Star Heart event, so I skipped the whole arc. However, before that arc, there was an arc about the Fourth Reich, and I loved that story line, so that's why I didn't just drop the Justice Society all together.
       In this issue Jay Garrick announces that he will retire soon because he had just been elected mayor in his town. But Alan Scott won't let him. Mean while Mr. Terrific keeps taking IQ tests and his score is gradually falling. Then the entire JSA  is called into battle because some super powered terrorist breaks out of a CIA prison in Afghanistan. Green Lantern goes to arrest the man/thing but the terrorist ends up knocking him down. Thats when everything breaks. Dr. Fate puts Green Lantern in a hospital, and the rest of the team beats the terrorist, but in doing that they destroyed the city, and then we find Green Lantern is paralyzed from the hips down.
        I'm just going to say right out front that this is a great issue and I would conceder it a must buy. The writing and story were both great, and the art was "iffy" at first but then improve ten fold. I really loved the idea of the terrorist winning. It pretty much took 9/11 and threw it into a comic book. Now something like that could have easily been overdone or underdone, but Marc Guggenheim did it perfectly, so that you can see the resemblance, and still have it be a good story. I'm not really a fan of the fact that Mr. Terrific's intelligence is going down, because that would just ruin the character, and this is one of those moment where I'm just waiting for them to fix it. It's kind of like a "made you look" kind of thing. It happens more than I would like. Besides that my only other complaint is not using more of the JSA members, like Dr. Midnight. Especially him, because I really think that having a medical person around during the time where Alan Scott gets paralyzed would have been better. Actually that's what I thought was going to happen because Dr. Midnight is even on the cover of the comic. I'm very exited for the rest of this arc, especially because the end of this issue leads to so many more opportunities. Now the world is going to turn against the JSA and even though I've seen that before, combining that with the terrorist winning and you have a really good arc.
            Like I said before this is a MUST BUY.






Grade: 9.5/10
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Justice Society of America #39

                This story arch has been great, I  loved it. It has been sad, happy, secretive ect. All the good things that a comic nerd could ever hope for. In this issue it shows how the "no power" shield thing, gets pulled back every so often so that the "Super Nazis" can take over the rest of the world. One day the R.E.B.L.E.S and several members of the Green Lantern corps (including Kilowog) tried to attack when the shield was down, it was immediately put back up and they all fell to earth, dead. That makes Mr. Terrific angry and all the locked up superheroes rise up, some teams go on escape duty. They all die. Some go to shut down the shield generator, Mt. Terrific gets their. When he is at the controls he suddenly stress' out and I think he forgets the sequence. Then it flashes back to Mr. Terrific in a hospital bead, and Dr. Midnight saying that he is dead. TO BE CONTINUED.
             Again I love this story arch, but it has been going on for way to long, just end. If it doesn't end next month expect a rant on my blog. I did like this comic a lot, but I really wanted it to be the concluding issue. Although I suppose that they are trying to get it so that they can continue the series, with more than one character, so that's good. Also this is the only monthly issue of a Superhero comic that has made me sad. Just watching all the heroes fall down dead is just plain sad. But that is another thing that makes this arch so great.

Grade: 9/10
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Justice Society of America #38

           This entire story arc has been amazing, and I read this at the same time that I read Captain America's the Two Americas, so it's been a whole blast of patriotism here in the USA. In this issue there is more blood shed and conspiracy to end the reign of the fourth reich. Mr. Terrific is posing as Nazi sympathizer and is planing the down fall of the fourth reich. As the Führer (Karnevil) comes and the world celebrates, there is a party which consists of the Führer and many old defeated superheroes watching and the execution of Batman and the Joker. I have only been legitimately sad because of comics on four occasions. When Alfred killed himself in Batman the Dark Night Returns, When Captain Marvel dies in Batman the Dark Night Strikes Again, when Rorschach dies in Watchmen, and when Batman and the Joker died in this issue. Not only that but the Jaime Reyes picks a fight with Mr. Terrific so that the Nazis would be forced to defend him and sympathize with him more, and the shoot Reyes right in the head.
          This story arc has been great, I love every part of it. The way Bill Willingham illustrates the concentration camps, with out it being devastatingly real (MAUS, Schindler's list ) is very well done, and incorporating Superheroes into it makes the reading effective as I watch helplessly as my heroes get picked off one by one for just plainly evil reasons. I also like how he voices each character, how he makes it that if you met each character you would think they would sound exactly like they do in the comics. The "campy" heroes are not as "campy" as usual but that is really good. I hope Willingham stays on the Justice Society of America for a long time and does many great story arcs like this one. I thought this was going to be the concluding issue for this story arc, and I was kind of disappointed when I found that it wasn't but this issue was so good that I'm glad it wasn't.

Grade: 9/10
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Action Comics #888

            Alright, Nightwing is stuck in the phantom zone, Jax-Ur (Vohc)  has released a copy of Rao, and the world is fighting the fake god. In this issue the JSA and Wonder Woman are fighting Rao, while Flame bird is taking on Vohc. After a while of mindless brain bashing, you see Nightwing in the Phantom Zone, he dresses himself in robes, which are amazingly cool, and I had really hoped that Nightwing would become his own hero in and  that would be his costume, but instead he finds Nightwing bonds with him, and becomes totally bad a*s. My description of the synopsis does not do it justice, it is amazing, I loved this comic. It could just be because I am a complete sap for Alan Scott, and Jay Garrick, but this story was just good. I was slightly disappointed about two things, one is that Nightwing changed his uniform from his robes, and two is that when the JSA first came out Dr. Fate was there, and he was never featured again in the comic, and Dr. Fate fighting a "God" would be so awesome, but I didn't even notice this until I finished the comic, so I would still recommend the comic.


Grade: A-
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Justice Society of America #37 The Winds of War

                    As Mr. Terrific continues his memoirs, you see the story of how the world has been taken over by the Fourth Reich. The earths former protectors conspiring in the corner of a concentration camp. It does go back to a flash back in the middle of the comic, but that part wasn't as good. In the flashback it was Wildcat fighting the Hunter, Mr. Terrific fighting Doctor Demon and Captain Swastika, Mr. America and lightning fighting White Dragon, and finally Jay Garrick fighting the Shadow of War. The,  Fourth Reich finally put an end to the JSA's retaliation when the Shadow of War unleashes the ultimate weapon, a bomb that can take away the most powerful hero's powers. Obsidian in bomb form. After removing the JSA's powers, the comic goes back to the concentration camp. This is where we see, Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, and other broken heroes, who all plan an escape plan, or something like that.
                        I like this comic, its like a superhero version of MAUS, just not quite as graphic, this is not that great as part of the Justice Society series, but I think it will make a great TPB. I want to see how DC is going to keep the series going, now that all of the beloved heroes are old and broken, some even dead. It will be interesting and I really want to see what happens.


Grade: B
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Justice Society of America: Blackest Night

The Justice Society of America faces it's biggest challenge when former (and deceased) members of the Justice Society return and cause mayhem. Allot of the story is a personal vendetta with Power Girl and Lois Lane of Earth 2. Usually I would not like this but they played it just the right amount and just the right amount of time. Featured in these three issues was another personal vendetta which I would have liked to see more of. Between The Liberty Bell and her father Johnny Quick. Some Black Lanterns when they arose told their previous loved ones that they love them. Johnny Quick did this too. They all turned against them. (Example: Lois Lane turned against Power Girl.) Johnny Quick never did turn against his daughter, which I thought was confusing. Even the reincarnated Mr. Terrific was evil. But Johnny Quick Died (again) telling his daughter that he loved her. Their were four major sections of the story.

1) Power Girl/Lois Lane

2) Johnny Quick/Liberty Bell

3) Fighting in the streets

4) Mr. Terrific, Dr. Fate, Dr. Midnight, Green Lantern/Sentinel and the Star Spangled kid making a bomb to defeat all the black Lanterns at once.

I know in a previous post, I said there was rarely any art in a comic that I would call better than average. This is one of those occasions. The way they drew the Black Lanterns was absolutely perfect, and on the cover the artist did something that made it all look very clean and nice. Which allot of artists can't do.

Grade: A

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Justice Society of America #36 War & Remembrance

This was one of the best comics I have ever read, I know I have said this allot and I know saying that is cliche, but it is true. It had the death of Alan Scott which I have never seen before, and it had the Rage of Jay Garrick which was beyond cool. The entire comic is a flash back of Mr. Terrific while he's writing his memoirs before his execution. Its main plot was an attack by several Nazi super villains including: Captain Nazi, Count Swastika, and Count Berlin

The comics art was the same as most comics. There is standard art, good art, and different art. This like most comics was standard. I did think that the comic was one of the best I have ever read and strongly suggest it to all.

Grade: A

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