JSA #39-51 Review

Savage times [#39-44 + JLA/JSA Secret Files + Virtue & Vice OGN]

• JSA #39 - "Power Crush" = This was hilarious. D-Bomb is a walking meme and ended up functioning as a wonderful foil to Power Girl. The last page convo with Star and Kendra was great, and the internal monologue of D-Bomb kept it all fun.
• JSA #40 - "...Do No Harm" = I will not lie to you, the last page reveal came out of nowhere. I get that Atom-Smasher and Black Adam have had their bro-bonding moment, but I did not understand where the animosity towards Marvel came from. The issue itself was okay, the Marvel narration was good and I always love more Stargirl, but I was hoping for more Pieter. The Shadower villain was OP as hell, but he folded immediately after being confronted with the power of the storytelling climax. The kids standing up for themselves was great, but I can't help but wonder what the heck would have happened if he stuck to his plan? The JSA would have been useless as mess. Also, I just found out the golden age lore dump was all made for this issue, and the Shadower and Shadower II never appear again. Kind of disappointing.
• JLA/JSA - Secret Files & Origins - "The Day Before" = This special was great, the Batman/Terrific sequence was awesome. I love seeing the post-crisis reconciliations for Golden and Silver age events into one unified New Earth continuity. The conversation between two of the smartest men on the planet is obviously going to be a lot of fun. The hockey game scene was also wonderful, Plastic Man is just such a joy to read, and it's especially fun to see how each writer tackles his dialogue. The Power Girl/Courtney/Diana scene was terrible, and aged very badly. Good stuff, but at the end of the day this is going to be enhanced by the actual Virtue & Vice book.
• JLA/JSA - Virtue & Vice (One-shot/Graphic Novel) = Great graphic novel! Loved the return of Johnny Sorrow and Despero, as well as the crazy pulls like Bedlam, Typhon lord of chaos, and freaking Surtur! The geography of the story was so much fun, and I loved the splinter groups that formed when stuff went down. The scene stealers were Canary, Mid-Nite, and Ollie; the relationship (now love-triangle) between Dinah and Pieter was one of my favorite things during the first 30 issues of JSA. With the return of Ollie, it makes sense that they are an ultimate pair, but shafting my boy Pieter was cruel. He's a total chad, while Ollie is our lovable douche. We hit a couple tropes: Captain Atom nuked, Hourman's time vision, Supes with no sunlight, and Despero wearing the American flag as a cape. Mid-Nite and Batman's fight/moment was really great. I'm excited for the next cross-over!
• JSA #41 - "The Unborn Hour" = Unborn hour was interesting. What got me the most confused was the Hector Hall sequence. In the first JSA arc, the team brought back Doctor Fate using a newborn Hector Hall as the host who aged up in seconds to full maturity (weird right?). He found his wife Lyta, but somehow Mordru had cast her under a sort of sleep spell. The strangest thing however, was the fact that Lyta was actually the one who gave birth to Hector's baby form during the first arc! This and the Gemworld stuff were surprisingly interesting since I normally don't care about Amethyst and the crystal people or whatever. I recognized Flaw from the latest season of YJ, but I am unfamiliar with Cutter. The Black Barax stuff was super cool since they used him on the cover of #34 and during the Sand dream sequence in that issue. His design and giant cube ship is dope, and the set up with Terry Sloan on the cliffhanger was dope. Black Adam and Marvel's banter is great, and this makes me more excited for the upcoming confrontation with Atom-Smasher and the characters shown in last issue's final page.
• JSA #42 - "Paradox Play" = I feel like I've been reading so much Kendra stuff lately, and I'm not complaining! She's been in JSA, Hawkman, and recent Obsidian Age arc of JLA. Her personality and no-nonsense attitude is so much fun that it makes sense as to why everyone wants to use her. Michael Holt has been a goated character, and his dynamic with Terry Sloan was fantastic. The cover did a great job of subverting expectations, and Terry's gambit with Black Barax was so good that it even had me doubting it for a second. I wonder how this interaction will lead to Terry Sloan's fall and the eventual rise of Roulette. Seeing the Freedom Fighters was so awesome (never seen a male firebrand before) and the cliffhanger with Savage + some king of ancient Metamorpho elemental was cool. This ancient Egypt continuity is bonkers, as it seems there are time travelers visiting them every day. As for the Fate stuff, the Lords of Order/Chaos lore was super dope, and the story of Fate's amulet is converging with some of the information we just got in Hawkman #9 (I desperately need to find a way to reconcile the reading order!). I can't help but wonder if Mordru has been manipulating Hector the entire time, as well as who his chaos energy spirit originally possessed in Gemworld.
• JSA #43 - "Yesterday's War" = The more I read JSA & Hawkman, the more stressed I get about how to put together this reading order. I love the ancient DCU lore, the various incarnations of characters in Egypt is my kind of subversion. Johns and Goyer nail these character moments, with Teth-Adam and Marvel easily the standout. Johns is actively pushing the veil with the Hawkgirl stuff in both the Hawk and JSA books, and I'm excited to see how this ends up concluding. The Fate stuff was good, I don't care for the host/familiar because Gemworld is lame as hell, but the fact that Cutter ended up being Child blows for Hector. This man has suffered to the highest degree, and now the machinations of the Chaos Lords are going to royally screw him. Something that I have loved about this mini arc is the inclusion of a bit of poetry on the credits page; it really elevates the book to a more erudite vibe.
• JSA #44 - "The Tears of Ra" = I really liked this one. Echoes of Hal and Sinestro between Marvel and Black Adam (even though this happens a decade before that moment). The sequence in the afterlife was fantastic, and the execution of Ahk-Ton was extremely in-character for Teth. The chrysalis vault stuff is wild; but if you approach this with a "the past is being rewritten = future memories are rewritten" mindset instead of the "whatever happened, happened", then this will make a lot more sense. Terrific and Kendra going back to save Marvel is creating a new future. They did not exist in chrysalis pods preserved until the present until they had that conversation with Nabu. Adam didn't remember to wake them up until he actually sealed them in the new past. Retcons being made in the actual narrative! As for the final reveal, I have completely lost track of what's going on. Here are the facts as we know them: A woman was found in the sea off the coast of Vancouver, she was pregnant. The child was born, she remained comatose, that child was destined to be the next Doctor Fate. This child was the reincarnation of Hector Hall, former Silver Scarab and Sandman. He searched for his missing wife, Lyta Hall, and also found her in Vancouver, discovering that she was the woman who gave birth to him. In order to awaken her, the Helm ordered Hall to go to Gemworld to find answers. He met Flaw and Cutter, the original creator of the Amulet of Fate, who brought him to the corpse of the mortal host of the chaos lord Mordru, Prince Wrynn. Hall took his head, and after leaving Cutter was revealed to be a disguised Chaos lord known as Child. Everything ended up being a ruse, Hector never found Lyta, and the woman was actually Dawn freaking Granger. How is she not dead post-Armageddon 2001? How did Mordru engineer all of this? Did he manipulate the helm to send Hector to Gemworld? Were Flaw and Child in league with Mordru the entire time?

Princes of Darkness [#45-51]

• JSA #45 - "Peacemakers" = That was incredible. The Dove sequence was fantastic, and I love that they are bringing everything full circle, taking elements from Justice Be Done (Mordru + Fate) and Hunt For Extant (Kobra, Bones, Hawk/Dove, Atom-Smasher). The reveal of Mordru as the cause behind Armageddon 2001 and Zero Hour is kind of crazy if you think about it, and the fact that he wrested control from Hector is also great. Hector was a newbie in relation to dealing with Fate's power, so I wonder how Mordru escaped from the prison and took out the spirits of Kent and Inza as well as convincing Nabu to let him take hold? Kobra is a fantastic villain, and the discussion of if heroes should murder is dealt with in an extremely solid and competent way. The Teth-Adam and Atom-Smasher dynamic intensifies while Terrific is actually brought to a stalemate for once. The most surprising things were the Alex Montez subplot and the cameo appearance of Crimson Avenger (yay they didn't forget that subplot!). The Alex Montez stuff is interesting, because Yolanda was killed by Eclipso during some kind of 90's event (the same issue Beth Chapel Midnighter got offed as well). Him getting some kind of Heart of Darkness injection from Bruce Gordon (the OG host of Eclipso) is wild, and I'm sure they'll bring in Eclipso and Obsidian for an event called "Princes of Darkness".
• JSA #46 - Princes of Darkness, Part I : "Into The Valley" = Very interesting opening. The recap with the Legionnaire-phone was cool, but kind of spoiled the Obsidian reveal (but he's on the cover so...). Mordru is supposed to be OP, but I have the same issue with this as the first chapter of the Injustice Be Done arc, where the Society (specifically Sentinel) gets soloed by the big bad beyond repair. At least Mordru and Obsidian are established bad mofos, so it's not as jarring. Sand turning into the classic Sand Creature was cool, and Mordru's mercilessness was great (especially when he muted Jakeem). I was a lot more into the Dawn/Pieter sequence, with the revelations about Hector and Mordru being very fascinating. The retcons regarding Zero Hour are messy to say the least, but the connection between Hawk/Dove + Order/Chaos + Fate/Mordru works extremely well. Mordru is currently possessing the host body now, with Hector trading places and now trapped in the amulet? The concealment spell on Dove is weird because if he knew where she was, they why was he searching for her during Justice Be Done? The Eclipso stuff is cool too, but I'm still wondering if Alex and Bruce had sinister intentions since the letter from last issue showed he didn't want Eclipso to gain power again. This one seems to be Bruce Gordon, but we still don't know what happened to Alex.
• JSA #47 - Princes of Darkness, Part II : "Eclipse" = This was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the balance of the pacing in this chapter: the first half was a conclusion to the brawl with some fantastic action, while the second half functioned well in advancing the plot as well as upping the stakes. Eclipso and Dove crashing through the walls of the brownstone is just so fun to me. Power Girl getting to slap around Mordru was also satisfying. Very formidable entourage for the villains, and I hadn't even realized that Mordru retained the power of the Star-Heart until he used it in the eclipse incantation at the end. If the Shadowlands are equivalent to the Chaos Beyond Hell, then it's very interesting to think that the Wizard's power cannot reach the outer membranes of creation (as I write this I remember that the Multiverse did not exist at this point, so New Earth is probably just sitting at the center of the Orrery). Alex Montez set up was good, and if he's pumped up with heart of darkness juice, will he be the answer to taking down Eclipso? Where are Al and Teth-Adam? I loved the last page reveal of the Fate pantheon, and they even included Kid Eternity + Jared Stevens Fate!
• JSA #48 - Princes of Darkness, Part III : "Enlightenment" = Possibly the best chapter yet? Spotlight on Courtney & Billy + Hector and the Fates! This was so good. Courtney and Billy have a fantastic chemistry, and the anecdotes Goyer and Johns bring in work so well to allow the personalities to grow. The Alan-Thorn history lesson was really good and really sad, but the pathos is so intriguing and engaging. As for the final page, love to see my man Shade, but this is bait at its finest. The Fate sequence was brilliant; I got confused on Mordru's hosts, but after rereading bit it all makes sense. Mordru's first host was Wrynn, but he freed himself and took over Arion's body, using it to fight the JSA in the first arc (that's why he's a red-head!). As of now, Mordru is not possessing Hector's body, but is in the Arion body while Hector is in the Amulet. The interactions with the Fate family were so fantastic, but it makes me sad that they were never really there. The emotional moment shared between Nabu and Hector was fantastic (and I loved the images of Hector's time as Sandman, as well as Morpheus himself in the background of that sequence.)
• JSA #49 - Princes of Darkness, Part IV : "Army of Darkness" = Very much a transition issue setting stuff up for the finale. The opening with Airwave circulating through the heroes was great, and I think it's so cool that the reserves are all made up of former members of the All-Star Squadron! They remembered Nemesis from the annuals! Pieter and Michael are a dynamic duo at this point and I love Terrifitech so much. The set-up of Mordru taking Arion's body connected to Power Girl's retconned origins as the granddaughter of Arion is masterful set-up. Inclusion of Doctor Occult was awesome, and the continued dynamic between Shade and now Stargirl is just great. Wildcat's hard-light armor was dope, and I wonder how this Alex Mont-Eclipso is going to go down.
• JSA #50 - Princes of Darkness, Part V : "The Last Light" = This was fun! Some of the stuff might have been a little deus ex machina for my tastes, but it was still good. Eclipso got wrapped up quick, and Sand got saved once Mordru was inhibited before the final sequence. It was hilarious how in-out the Gemworld stuff was; Karen shattering Flaw and Kendra KOing the Child was gold. The Power Girl revelations are intriguing, if she is from E-2 then how would Arion have known her mother? The Jakeem stuff caught me off guard, he looks like he's applying to be an extra on the Borg cube-ship. He needs his hair asap. The Alan vs Obsidian stuff was really well done, but I wonder how they will evolve this from Darkness Falls. This seemed like a culmination of that (and I really loved that arc), and I'm assuming they go forward with his rehabilitation. Sand holding the Earth together was dope, but there's no way they're taking my boy out like that. Kobra got dealt with super fast, Mordru's plan fell apart pretty quick in these last two issues, and I wonder if he has a couple tricks up his sleeve. Let's see this Chaos vs Order showdown! Justice for Hector!
• JSA #51 - Princes of Darkness, Part VI : "Coda: Justice Eternity" = I am at a loss for words! Geoff Johns did Doomsday Clock 15 years earlier, in the pages of Infinite Crisis and this fantastic event. Although it sags during some of the transition issues, this is easily the best arc JSA has done so far. Issues 45, 48, and 51 were absolutely the standouts; Johns and Goyer have made this team into something that will truly be remembered forever. The final sequence with Hector's mic drop was brilliant, the themes set up will be enhanced and retouched across all of Johns' body of work. Even the epilogue acted as an integral aspect of the team going forward: Al and Teth have crossed the Rubicon, but I can't say I didn't get at least a little satisfaction from Kobra's death.