REVIEW: ‘Justice Society Of America,’ Issue #2

Justice Society Of America #2 from DC continues the Huntress’s descent across time to find the JSA. Geoff Johns scripts this issue, with Mikel Janin, Scott Kolins, and Jerry Ordway on art. Jordie Bellaire and John Kalisz dole out remarkable colors, while Rob Leigh is a wizard on letters. We know this is a story initially about the Huntress, the heroine from the near future, and her search for the JSA. We left her back in 1940, and here we find her waking up a stranger in a strange land.

For starters, Janin’s artwork is gorgeous. Huntress and the JSA are regal and elegant; even Johnny Thunder looks like an upright guy and not a snotty, annoying kid. We get the right feel for the team, especially Doctor Fate. But then, the time back and forth we’ve seen since The New Golden Age #1 kicks into high gear. We’re back and forth, past, present, and future. I love this. It gives us glimpses into Huntress’ life in the future. Here, we get to know her as a precocious child, her time before the costume. New bits of unknown JSA lore are formed, even tossing in the new young characters the Society mentored. This is great – new JSA riches.

But I also hate it. So much back and forth is annoying now two, technically three, issues in. I feel like I’m reading twelve issues all at once, but not one of them fulfills the title’s mission statement. While we get the old Justice Society, and for that, I’m grateful, where’s the version in the present day that just returned during Dark Crisis? This is a trend of late. Heroes return in a story, but when their title comes out later, whoosh! They’re missing in action. We get flashbacks of them. So, the structure of the first arc in this new series is as grating as it is a fine glimpse into the Huntress and the Justice Society. I’ve developed a love/hate relationship with this title I’ve waited years for.

Overall, if you love the JSA, you’ll love this issue. It gives a lot of information, though again, it does so at the expense of giving readers what they’ve longed for. This issue gives us some good Doctor Fate moments, a highly undervalued hero, as well as more glimpses into other heroes with little to no JSA foundation. Johns is writing this very well, but I wish he’d get off the temporal hair-splitting. I can’t say enough about the entire art team. This issue has a high-quality batch of artists that make the Golden Age and beyond glorious. I look forward to the modern iteration coming to the fore so we can dig into what they’re up to and how they’ll contend with Degaton.

Justice Society Of America #2 is as amazing as it is erratic. Janin, Kolins, and Ordway are killing it with the artwork, as are Bellaire and Kalisz on colors. Everyone appears stately, even Johnny Thunder (comics have long had him just looking silly or comedic). Leigh’s lettering is perfect in position and pace. But the continual back-and-forth time jaunts have already grown tiresome. This new era of starting a series with the main characters not present, for they need to be ‘found,’ is also a nuisance.

Justice Society Of America #2 is available wherever comic books are sold.