By: Marc Guggenheim (writer), Mike Norton (artist), Mike Atiyeh (colorist)
The Story: The disorder in Monument Point spirals further out of control as the Justice Society tries to contain the aftermath of Scythe’s attack. With the mayor’s life at stake, the team’s great social experiment seems already on the verge of collapse.
The Review: One of the trademarks that most endears the Justice Society of America to readers is the sense of family among all the legacy heroes. This team takes pride in its history and ideals. Their battles do less to show off their formidability as fighters and more to display their teamwork and heroic values. For those reasons, even with the Justice League as the premier team in the DCU, the Justice Society gets treated with the most reverence.
The current fragmented state of the team comes across as very uncomfortable and a little artificial. There was some practical value to splitting up the ever-inflating cast into two titles, but ultimately the move damaged both. With most of the older heroes staying on in Justice Society, and the younger, newer ones moving on to JSA All-Stars, the sense of legacy degraded. What you ended up with was a team of antiquated old-fogeys and another of next-gen wannabes.
That’s also why the current storyline, of the Justice Society’s attempt to rebuild a ruined city into an actual society based on patriotism, just doesn’t sell. It’s essentially a team led by old white men (with the exception of token black guy Mr. Terrific) trying to return some good ol’ American values to urban sprawl. By itself, this story has a lot of doubtful ambitions.
Had Marc Guggenheim generated some debate or at least information on how this “society” is going to work, the issue would have been used well. He instead glosses over these logistics in favor of re-emphasizing the strife currently plaguing even the longtime friends and partners on the team. This gives them the most unflattering characterizations, from Alan Scott’s bitter ramblings on his paralysis, to Jay Garrick’s prickly, even crusty attitude (“This is France after WWII,” he says in reference to the disorder around the devastated city). And now there are no younger heroes to offer some freshness to these grim outlooks—certainly not after the end of the issue.
Reading through the issue feels like a visit to an elderly, cantankerous great-uncle. You sort of just sit patiently through his repetitive tirades on how the world is going to ruin and how things were like back in his day, then you say goodbye with pointed politeness. With the exception of some melodramatic twists at the end, nothing in the story really moves forward, and even the twists leave you feeling unaffected and dispassionate. Mostly it’s just characters saying the same things about what’s already happened over and over. Taken individually, each scene plays credibly, but there’s no unifying thread throughout, nor any sense that the story is heading someplace bigger.
Mike Norton does his best to artistically sell the story, but his solid work is compromised by being given very little to work with. Mostly, he’s relegated to filling panel after panel with red electric blurs as Jay Garrick runs around, accomplishing…something, apparently. Mike Attiyeh provides appropriate colors, emphasizing the dark state of the city, illuminated briefly by the powers of our heroes.
Conclusion: With the team halved, the very tone of the series feels half-hearted as they embark on one of their most proactive missions yet. Without the familiar sense of unity and idealism that’s the trademark of the Justice Society, the team now feels like more of the same heroics, only more elderly.
Grade: C
-MQ Nguyen
Some Musings: – These ID captions aren’t doing anything for me: “Amazing fighter,” “Wields explosive-tipped whips,” “Ultrasonic vision. Blind.” But the killer has got to be, simply, “Speed.” Well, heck—I can claim that.
– Actually a team of heroes with disabilities would be pretty interesting. That’s a poorly-received miniseries just waiting to happen.
Grade
Conclusion