Jenny Sparks #3 shows its true colors. Under its bold lines and beautiful gradients, it turns out that the Wildstorm character’s return is due to none other than an outdated war. The story’s anachronism is only stressed by Jeff Spokes’s dazzling art. Spokes continues to show his mastery of form, giving each Justice League member their definitive portrayal. In contrast, Tom King’s writing shows its cracks when most of the Justice League is reduced to caricatures with cliched lines.
DC Comics
The issue spends most of its time asking the age-old question, “Should superheroes intervene in multinational wars?” A question that ultimately distracts from the compelling hostage situation and the threat that Captain Atom poses. Later on, the pressing momentum of the previous issue is rendered even more inert when the Justice League enters. The truth is, Superman can’t intervene in real wars because he’s not real. He can, however, save fictional people from fictional war crimes, as seen in stories such as the recent Warworld Saga. And Superman can inspire real people to do real good, something that he fails to do in this issue.
This makes the 9/11 allegory not only untimely and a decade late, but it also doesn’t make much sense. In a time where there are multiple ongoing political issues, this issue retreads on old horror. As to our titular character Jenny, she keeps repeating the same lines about lighting cigarettes and it’s never as charming as the first time. With the series hitting its halfway point, the hostages seem progressively less fleshed out and more resigned to their fate the longer they’re held.
There’s a big action setpiece with the Justice League spread out in diagonal panels. As a climactic midpoint, it looks fantastic but lacks emotional stakes. The colors of each hero stand out from the background, even Batman’s black and gray are never dull, making them heightened beings in a two-dimensional world. Captain Atom stays as a powerful if manic foe, worthy of DC’s A team. But ultimately their victories and defeats are questionable in logic and devoid of consequence.
Jenny Sparks #3 starts to fizzle out and falls apart when read in context as something more than a superhero punch-up. It tries to say something meaningful but needs another jolt to be profound. But whatever it’s doing, it never stops looking good while doing it.
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