I'm always sceptical about demands for more JSA stories.
They've never struck me as a particularly interesting bunch.
But here they are, given another shot at winning over the
audience. And this time it's arch-revisionist James Robinson
writing, together with somebody called David Goyer who I've
frankly never heard of.
Reassuringly, it's pretty good. Not perfect by any means, but
pretty good. The creators have obviously realised that they
can't just play the team as if they were an older JLA. JLA's
success is based on the big name characters, and thanks to
the deletion of most of those characters from wartime
continuity, JSA can no longer wheel out the icons in the way
it once could.
Rather, the plan seems to be to play up the idea of superhero
dynasties, a theme Robinson apparently also explored in
Starman (I wouldn't know - I bought one issue, didn't like it,
and never came back). The cast is a mixture of descendents
and successors of wartime heroes together with the
superannuated originals. Hence we have the original Wildcat
and Green Lantern thrown in with the current Starman and
Star-Spangled Kid.
The opening storyline seems to revolve a series of attacks
on other Golden Age characters or their modern equivalents,
and the search for expendable yet recognisable cannon fodder
leads to a surprisingly swift exit for the current version
of Fate and poor old Kid Eternity. More bizarre by far is
the appearance of Scarab, whose series was by all accounts
the sort of thing DC would prefer to forget about. The
creators presumably either have some wonderful spin on the
Scarab idea, capable of reviving this widely despised hero,
or they're looking for more cannon fodder.
Albeit that I'm far from familiar with this area of DC
continuity, I did enjoy the way this community of heroes was
established. On the other hand, I have to wonder whether the
creators are assuming an unrealistic level of knowledge of
DC continuity - we're apparently meant to recognise Scarab,
for example, and you don't get much more obscure than him.
The artwork is generally good, with some nice clean fight
scenes. Bright colours, pleasant on the eye. Reminds me
strangely of Alan Davis at times, although the more I look
at it, the less I can see why I think that.
The flaws of this story are mainly in the details. A
lengthy introduction of the cast is done in the form of two
characters talking to one another throughout the eulogy at a
close friend's funeral, which seems spectacularly wrong.
The inclusion of the Star-Spangled Kid also seems odd, as
she has no apparent reason to attend this funeral, and her
presence doesn't add much (beyond a couple of one-liners).
A promising start, considering that these aren't characters
I have ever felt any great affinity for. If nothing else,
I'm convinced to stick around to see how the first storyline
turns out.
