JSA All-Stars (2003 Series) #8

December 2, 2003

Quick Rating: Fair
Title: And Justice For All

The younger members of the Justice Society, having faced their inner demons, reunite to combat the demon named Legacy.

Writer: Geoff Johns
Pencils: Sal Velluto
Inks: Bob Almond
Colors: John Kalisz
Letters: Ken Lopez
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Cover Art: John Cassaday, Mark Lewis & David Baron
Publisher: DC Comics

I think the format of this miniseries hurt this conclusion more than anything else. In the first issue Legacy kidnapped the older members of the JSA and the Spectre sent the remaining members on a quest to settle with the demons in their own lives. We then got six very good single-issue stories about these younger members, along with six spectacular back-up stories about their golden age counterparts.

During these six issues, the framing plot with Legacy was almost never mentioned, and it was easy to forget why the heroes were going on these quests. Almost any of these stories would have worked just as well as a fill-in issue of JSA or a back-up story in that title without any editing, and by the time we got back to the main story in this conclusion, we get jarred a bit to remember that this is a story that has taken place over eight months for us, but one day for the JSA. Sand is even still around (having been taken out of commission in JSA #50, which was a far more recent release than JSA All-Stars #1).

The battle with Legacy is a fairly standard one, although fine for what it is. It’s just not as spectacular as I’d hoped, or especially as I’ve come to expect from a writer as good as Johns. It’s interesting to note that the original co-writer for this series, David Goyer, didn’t stick around for this last issue.

The middle six issues of this miniseries were all brilliant. I have to admit, though, I kind of wish DC had just published those six solo stories as a mini of their own or as a series of one-shots, because they would have worked much better that way.

Rating: 6/10

JSA All-Stars (2003 Series) #7

November 2, 2003

Quick Rating: Great
Title: Fair Enough & The Strange Case of Mr. Terrific and Doctor Nil

Today’s Mr. Terrific finds a painful secret from his past. In a second feature, the brother of the original Mr. Terrific tries to live in his sibling’s shadow.

Writer: David Goyer, Geoff Johns & Michael Chabon
Pencils: Dave Ross & Michael Lark
Inks: Anibal Rodriguez & Michael Lark
Colors: John Kalisz
Letters: Ken Lopez & Michael Lark
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Cover Art: John Cassaday, Mark Lewis & David Baron
Publisher: DC Comics

JSA All-Stars has been, for the most part, a chance to dig a little into the lesser-developed members of the Justice Society. Until now, the backup features starring the original versions of the characters have been, for the most part, nice, but not a feature.

That changes in this extra-large issue featuring an expanded backup by Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Chabon The main story, about today’s Mr. Terrific, is just as good as the other features have been, letting us in on secrets that I imagine will be picked up on in the regular JSA title. This time, though, it’s the backup that shines.

Chabon, who I’ve been a fan of since his novel Wonder Boys and who permanently became a favorite of mine with the prize-winning novel about the Golden Age of comics, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, takes us back to the days of Terry Sloan, the first Mr. Terrific. Chabon shows us what it is like to live in the shadow of, as Ned Sloan himself says, “the world’s most competent human.” The story reads like an old-fashioned potboiler, a detective novel with pictures. Gotham Central artist Michael Lark is the perfect choice for this story, with a style that’s not polished like a lot of today’s artists, but is gritty enough to tell this story exactly how it should be told.

I am looking forward to next month’s conclusion to this miniseries, but this issue, more than that, just whet my appetite for Chabon’s own comic book, The Escapist, coming up from Dark Horse.

Rating: 9/10