Justice Society of America #19 (DC – Johns / Ross / Eaglesham / Massengill)
“One World, Under Gog” continues! The Justice Society begins to dissolve as Gog vows to bring peace to Earth…in a way that frightens some and thrills others. But with Hawkman around, it’s not going to be a simple debate. Plus, Starman reveals his concerns about the team’s future to Mr. Terrific while Power Girl struggles to come to terms with her greatest desire!
This story arc just seemed to go on and on. To be honest, I guess it’s been the last two arcs, the present “Gog” one and the previous which had Kingdom Come Superman show up. There has been a terrible amount of rehash happening and it is getting kind of stale. But, don’t you know it, just as I am losing interest and ready to drop the book, Geoff Johns pulls out a few aces out of nowhere that promises to keep me enthralled.
The first deals with the schism within the JSA about Gog himself and what he is doing. Do his ends justify his means? What will Gog’s will be? The two opposing sides go fist-to-cuffs in this issue and it’s only that Magog teleports the opposing group away that stopped it from being an all out battle. This will certainly be at the heart the group restructuring within a few issues.
The other big storyline Johns dropped is the fact that Power Girl is not who she thinks she is, or at least no one else from Earth-2 thinks she is herself. It looks like Johns might be tweaking what he put in place with Infinite Crisis. The last nugget in this issue that had me pumped up is when Starman is talking with Mr. Terrific and explains that now that he is sane (Gog cured him), his mission from the future is in jeopardy. The jumbledness that was his insanity kept his mission safe in his brain from any telepaths, but now that is not the case. Regardless of anything else, Johns does do a great job of re-visiting some of his previous storyline (i.e., the Lightning Saga). He has very few throw-aways.
So, now the JSA has to deal with Gog, Magag, Justice Society Infinity (who chased Power Girl back to our Earth) and tie-ins to Final Crisis. There is a lot of wrap-up in only a few issues left of the arc, I hope Johns finishes this well… then the “new” JSA deals with Black Adam.
Issue Grade: B+
