JSA #19 is a welcome transition out of the past and into the present of the Justice Society. It’s full of quiet, personal moments like the welcome return of Stargirl, and unmitigated danger as the Spectre eyes a new body to inhabit and inflict his vengeance on an unsuspecting world. It’s equal parts sweet and menacing as the team is still reeling from their losses at the end of the first arc, “Ragnarok“.
As far as arc kickoff issues go, it’s pretty standard fare. There’s a quick explanation of the new status quo, licking of wounds, unbridled optimism of momentary peace interrupted by calamity. Y’know, the usual.
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While it’s six issues after the Ragnarok story that kicked off the volume, it really takes place in its aftermath. Seeing heroes in their prime for the last six issues was enough to make you forget the cost of that arc, and how much this team has lost in general.
My favorite part of this issue is how it highlights the deep bench of the team. One page we’re dealing with Kid Eternity (technically, I think, the third Kid Eternity all-time) and the next we’re seeing the ghosts of JSA past. Shortly after we get Mr. Terrific on the Justice League Watchtower, Detective Chimp, and a handful of other legacy characters with both direct and indirect connections to the heroes that inspired them. This issue is always reinforcing the idea that the DC Universe sprouts from the Justice Society root, it’s always moving forward through their memory.
And that memory is threatened by the Spectre, who aims to come back in a big way through Kid Eternity. “You all played the hero — but you have all sinned, and you will be punished”, the Spectre says while possessing the Kid. It turns out they’re the perfect vessel for the Spectre because they’re “empty and without a sense of self”.
This feels like a great, ripe theme for JSA to explore: the past literally cannibalizing the future. The vengeance of some all-powerful, all-knowing force of the universe deciding who is good enough to keep existing, and who deserves divine punishment.
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What makes that exploration extra-fertile is the fact that this is probably the thinnest the roster has been in terms of the JSA old guard. It’s really just Jay and Alan representing the Golden Age. Obsidian, Jade, Wildcat (Yolanda), and Stargirl may be old favorites but they’re still portrayed as relatively young heroes by comparison.
Jeff Lemire writes quick, snappy scenes that do a good job of catching you up on the broad strokes of the previous 18 JSA issues. There’s not a lot of depth for the slightly less interesting moments, and there’s not a lot of room for characterization in those moments either. That said, they never feel like exposition dumps, but they don’t feel the most natural either. This feels like a comic-book-ass comic book. The point of the scenes is to catch you up quickly right before it hits the fan.
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The art is kinetic but a little rough around the edges. Diego Olortegui gives a great sense of movement and some fun, heroic poses as people jump into action, but a few panels here and there feel awkwardly static, with heavy lines that weigh the characters down. It’s only in the slow, conversational panels which are rare in this book, but they did jump out from what I would consider pretty high quality action.
After spending the last six issues recounting their origins, JSA #19 shifts the focus to the present of the Justice Society and the return of their most powerful member. Quiet, personal moments don’t have the most room to breathe, but they’re welcome respites from what promises to be an explosive story arc as the past decides what about the present is worth preserving, and which parts deserve punishment.
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