Justice Society of America #6 variant cover, via DC Comics.
Justice Society of America #6 — Geoff Johns, Writer; Marco Santucci, Artist; Ivan Plascencia, Colorist
Ray — 9.5/10
Ray: After the first arc dealt with heavy delays, this kick-off to the second storyline gets a new artist and a major direction shift. In many ways, it doesn’t really follow up from the first arc but from one of my favorite comics of the last few years — Stargirl: The Lost Children, also by Johns. When Courtney and Emiko escaped the Childminder’s island, they did so with a large group of teen heroes from the 1940s — all of whom were lost in time and escaped from continuity. Now, with a massive population boom and all of them lost in a new generation, it’s up to the JSA to find places for them. This leads to some very emotional moments — such as Jay Garrick’s reunion with his daughter Judy, who still has both her parents alive. For others, it’s a lot thornier. Salem, Doctor Fate’s sidekick, finds herself working with Khalid instead of Kent and is clearly full of bitterness. And others have no one to go home to at all.
The return. Via DC Comics.
The one thing that concerns me about this book is that it’s made some major changes to DC continuity, but it also seems to largely be off in its own corner of the DCU. Case in point — Helena Wayne is now part of this timeline, having gotten stuck there after altering her father’s timeline to save his life and erasing her future. Bruce has bought her a place in New York and is encouraging her to work with the JSA, but it’s clear he’s not entirely comfortable with the situation. Will this be reflected anywhere else? I’m not sure. It also introduces major new characters into the worlds of Steel and Mr. Terrific. But I’d much rather have a book that’s overly ambitious rather than not ambitious enough, and the ending tees up a fascinating future for the Justice Society. This is sort of a breather issue in that there’s no big battle, but it’s funny given that this might be the most packed comic I’ve read in a while.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
