When I started collecting comics, I had a core of four titles I would gravitate to no matter what: Amazing Spider-Man, Uncanny X-Men, Batman, and Superman. It would take me a while to broaden my horizons, eventually branching out into things like Daredevil at Marvel and The Flash at DC. Bit by bit, I would come to accept that the wider universes these characters occupied could be just as "cool" as Gotham City or Prof. Xavier's school.
I'm not sure where these biases come from. Maybe it's because other heroes weren't represented by saturday morning cartoons as aggressively as Batman and Spider-Man, or maybe the more colorful costumes on characters like Captain America seemed "lame" to me.
Speaking of Cap, what sucked me into his world was the whole "man out of time" bit. As my knowledge of history and social studies subjects increased gradually thanks to school and the History channel, I became more and more fascinated with the notion of a hero whose values weren't represented by modern society. I love that source of internal conflict, and the best Cap writers have always known how to capitalize on this.
The history of the world converges with the history of comics in a number of interesting ways, the least of which has to be the era of "Golden Age" heroes. I remember reading about the Justice Society of America (the world's first superteam) in the pages of Wizard or somesuch and becoming enthralled. There was something a little edgier about these masked mystery men of the WWII years, something a little rougher.
In 1999, DC brought the JSA back from literal and figurative limbo in a new JSA series. I remember thinking to myself, "Wow, this is like an entire team of Captain Americas!" Starman scribe James Robinson wrote the inital arc, then passed it on to David Goyer and Geoff Johns for eighty issues or so. This might be my favorite team book ever. Johnny Sorrow, Mordru, Kobra . . . their list of rogues was an impressive one, but what kept me coming back for each new arc was the saga of Black Adam.
Which brings me to today's back issue dive . . .
Following the events of Infinite Crisis, DC ditched the acronym and relaunched the JSA title as Justice Society of America, introducing a new generation of younger heroes looking to scoop up the mantles of their formers. The old timers like Jaw Garrick and Alan Scott led the team and acted as mentors, hoping to prepare them for a future where the Justice League wouldn't be as reliable.
The bad apple of the bunch was Black Adam. An old Captain Marvel villain, Teth Adam was the counterpart to Billy Batson in more ways than one. Billy was a wide-eyed young man who could summon the Wizard's lightning and become Captain Marvel. Teth was a tortured adult who used the same lightning to become Black Adam and with his Superman-level might would bring his home country's regime to its knees and install himself as ruler.
Throughout the first volume of the series, Black Adam gradually formed a splinter group within the JSA. These ere other characters like himself who'd grown tired of coddling villains and wanted to be a little more . . . proactive against the menaces of the world. This caused a rift in the team, with junior member Atom Smasher leaving to join Adam's side.
Fast forward to volume two and the year 2009. The JSA have finally gotten most of their ducks in a row when word of Adam's return hits their doorstep. The team heads to Khandaq (Adam's fictional home country) to sort things out, but this time things are a touch more complicated.
Black Adam's wife Isis had been targeted by his enemies during his absence. Her (possibly rapey) torment at the hands of Felix Faust has sapped away her love for her people and she has a mad on for pretty much the entire human race. Looking to do right by her, even if it means traveling down a vengeful road to oblivion, Adam splits his power with her. They hijack the Rock of Eternity (where the Shazam characters get their mojo) and sets his sights of the destruction of man.
(Yeah, I'm probably missing a few things with that synopsis, but we're talking about the culmination of ten years worth of crisscrossing storylines. Bear with me.)
This conflict marks the end of Geoff Johns's long tenure with the characters, titled "Black Adam & Isis". Joining Johns on his swansong is classic DC artist and Power of Shazam! alumni Jerry Ordway. Ordway has that "classic" style to his character designs and layouts that was beginning to slip away from DC at this point. (Flashpoint and the New 52 were on the horizon.) His art is a throwback, and I can see some younger readers turning their nose up at it.
(Those Alex Ross covers tho . . .)
I, on the other hand, couldn't get enough of the Johns/Ordway team. This book became my palette cleanser, a by-the-numbers superhero book I could rely on to scratch that itch for 80's DC. Sure, Ordway's faces are a little wonky at times, but short of George Perez, I can't think of another artist still working that could encapsulate what I love so much about that era. This book, like several of its main characters, was displaced in time.
Rereading this particular arc now, I realize how entrenched one had to be in not only the JSA but DC continuity at the time to really get the most out of it. Subplots are weaving in and out of nearly every panel, and you can tell Johns is doing as much as possible in three issues to tie up every loose end he can as well as set some dominoes up for the next creative team.
Is this the perfect comic? Heck no. Would I recommend it? Maybe to DC diehards. Is it the conclusion to a personal favorite run? You betcha.
Ordway would go on to do a few more issues of the series until Bill Willingham took over. Being a Fables fan, I was really excited to see what Willingham would do with the team, but I remember not caring for his run as much once it started. Perhaps I, like some of the JSAers, am a little too set in my ways?
Thanks for reading!
Twitter: @ChrisBComics
E-Mail: backissuechris@gmail.com
More stuff about dudes hitting each other: Work/Shoot
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