Superman Homepage

Mild Mannered Reviews - JSA Comics

Justice Society of America #19

Scheduled to arrive in stores: October 15, 2008

Cover date: November 2008

"One World Under Gog" - Part 4: "Out of Place"

Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciller: Dale Eaglesham
Inker: Nathan Massengill
Earth-2 Sequence: Jerry Ordway

Reviewed by: Neal Bailey

Click to enlarge

On Earth-2, Power Girl seeks help from Michael Holt.

Mr. Terrific speaks with Starman about how his mission in the 31st century is jeopardized by Starman being sane.

Meanwhile, the JSA study Magog's power levels and try to figure out if he's a good guy or a bad guy.

Superman and Magog talk about the burden that comes with heavy doses of power, and Magog begins to see Gog as his God.

Black Adam sees flowers of the kind Isis would bring to life pointing west.

Gog starts heading for the middle east, and Alan Scott decides to stop him, given that Gog has killed men with guns, and also that heading to the middle east will lead to a disruption of peace on a massive scale.

The JSA squares off into two camps, with Hawkman, Citizen Steel, Damage, Judomaster, Wildcat 2 and Magog for Gog, and the others trying to stop them.

Magog teleports the heroes back to the mansion as the Kingdom Come Superman tries to reason with him, just in time for Power Girl to make contact through Starman and come through dimensions pulling along the heroes of Earth-2 with her, chasing her.

Story - 5: A sympathetic debate where you can't take sides, coupled with an alternate Earth finally getting its due and use, coupled with a villain whose sole goal is peace. It's complex, it's strong, and it's one of the best comics, if not the best comic on the stands despite the massive cast. As I've said before and as has come to pass, Johns is balancing this massive cast even though it seemed impossible. When they square off, you know exactly why each character chooses the side they do, and the fight is thereby that much more emotionally charged.

Johns just added a whole new JSA, and I'm still not worried. Heck, bring in both JLA groups, too. Heh.

From the conceit of Gog to the execution of a plot that is leading to Kingdom Come and perhaps a redemption for its Superman, this is one of the best comic runs I've ever read, still.

Art - 5: Ordway stuck out like a sore thumb, but intentionally, and in a way that emphasizes that they were on Earth-2, which actually served the story in a rad way. The double page splashes, the reveals, every character pops. This continues to be one of the best drawn books out there as well as the best written.

Cover Art (Hawkman [Yellow/Alex Ross]) - 4: Again an otherwise awesome issue is sullied by a strange light source. Still, enough of the original issue comes through that you can enjoy what's going on without having to squint your eyes, so it mostly survives this time.

Cover Art (Hawkman) - 3: Nothing too bad, nothing too great. It's a scene that didn't happen in the issue, but that doesn't hurt it too much. It's hurt by the fact that it's kind of a simple, bread and butter image with nothing stark or crazy about it, as covers are supposed to do to grab you. It's just a plain fight scene between characters that we're so familiar with you have to go the extra mile to make unique. That didn't happen here, though the image is well drawn.

Mild Mannered Reviews

2008

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

January 2008

February 2008

March 2008

April 2008

May 2008

June 2008

July 2008

August 2008

September 2008

October 2008

November 2008

December 2008

Back to the Mild Mannered Reviews contents page.

Check out the Comic Index Lists for the complete list of Superman-related comics published in 2008.

Mild Mannered Reviews - JSA Comics

Justice Society of America #19

Mild Mannered Reviews

2008

DC Super Hero Fairy Tales

Superman Straw Cups

Superman Historical/Non-Fiction Books