Justice Society Of America #9 DC Comics By Geoff Johns, Dale Eaglesham & Ruy Jose. Price:£1.80
The Random Eye stares into the cruel void again… Every experience I’ve had of Geoff Johns penned comics has been bad. He’s either been making sweet love to continuity so hard Rascally Roy Thomas appears a blushing virgin in comparison, or he’s been splashing guts’n’gore everywhere mistakenly believing this makes things edgy and serious. Or combining the two. I’ve not liked any of it, maybe you did. I did, however, like this comic. Kind of. Hey, I’m tough, but I’m fair.
In this issue the JSA hang out with a fire crew to raise money for a new fire engine, Citizen Steel makes pancakes (but not with his scandalous dingus), Wildcat engages Wildcat Jnr in an exhibition fight, there is a fire in a paint factory that leads daffily to the return of…<SPOILER deleted>! I liked all that. It had a nice fun old-school innocent vibe, all the characters had a little moment, there was silliness, conflict, a bit of goofy drama (“Five Alarm Fire at a paint factory!”), and an intriguing (if telegraphed) cliffhanger (Is that…? Krypton’s Moons! But..but…how!)
It’s just…for me Johns’ writing veers from okay to mediocre so wildly.The opening Power Girl monologue is so bland and unengaging that I swear my brain stopped processing it before it ended. Don’t even get me started on anthropomorphic man-cat, but I’ve no reason to blame this cackheaded concept on Johns. I’ve never encountered the new Starman but Johns’ dialogue for him made me hate him in a matter of nano-seconds. Maybe that’s because he doesn’t get much space, but then no one does. There are 12 JSA-ers in this 22 page comic. Some of the character moments fell flat, some worked, and I’m going to have to give John’s kudos for any of them working.
And, it is of course a stroke of genius to make Power Girl the JSA leader. You provide an empowering female role-model sop to the fan-girl contingent and you get to put her on nearly every page which gives the fanboys material for their moments of <ahem> solitary contemplation. (After all, how many fanboys d’yathink noticed the wonky perspective on PG’s face on the Ross cover? Or that she even had a face? Yeah.)
Most importantly for me though, here we can see a writer enjoying his work, one who understands the genre he’s working in and actually likes it. That’s pretty rare. I think I actually enjoyed the fact Johns was having a ball himself more than I enjoyed the comic . He’s also managed to write a team comic that managed to have some action and forward plot momentum amongst all the talky-talky. In fact, I’m going to give Johns this round. Johns:-1. Preconceived Notions: 0.
Eaglesham and Jose provide solid art that is never spectacular, the anatomy is sometimes off, but they do a really, really good job on the Chariddee bout scene, and the storytelling is clear throughout. So, yeah, decent stuff. I particularly like their PG though. She has a male bodybuilder’s torso and arms but with big fun bags and lady legs; which provides me with more material for my ongoing thesis: Closets and Comics: What Fanboys Won’t Admit.
Verdict: So, colour me surprised, JSA #9 – it’s pretty good.
