Justice Society of America #41

DC Comics
Justice Society of America #41
By Hervé St-Louis
August 15, 2010 - 11:38

DC Comics
Writer(s): James Robinson
Penciller(s): Mark Bagley
Inker(s): Norm Rapmund
Colourist(s): Allen Passalaqua
Letterer(s): Rob Leigh
Cover Artist(s): Mark Bagley, Jesus Merino, Nei Rufino, George Pérez, Frank Harry
$2.99 US

Stabbed to death by the Starheart who stole the gem on his chest, Starman relays his last moment through Miss Martian and the Justice League describing the moon headquarter of the entity that has possessed the Golden Age Green Lantern Alan Scott. Time is running out and the Justice League may not be able to save Starman in time.

This issue continues the previous story in Justice League of America #46. In fact, the whole Justice League team has taken over the book this issue. I’ve seen this happen a few times, but here it’s a powerful takeover. Was it necessary? Couldn’t the regular teamwork in unison with the Justice League crew while showing a purely Justice Society perspective on this story? The message sent here, is that the established paced and storytelling in Justice Society is less important than what has to happen in Justice League. The Justice Society as a series is nothing but second fiddle to the Justice League, when the crew from the “premier” book can just take over for a story that will probably not matter in a few months.

Meanwhile, the story does not introduce the Justice Society as well as it could to Justice League readers that signed on to continue reading the story. Here Robinson takes some risks with the characters of the Justice Society introducing subplots that may or may not fit in what the regular team had in mind for this series. For example, he gives a flirtatious sequence between Mr. America and Lightning, Black Lightning’s daughter. She’s underage, but that seem to have been forgotten by Robinson.

Bagley’s work does create a unified look for the entire story that often does not happen in a crossover. Because his work is action-oriented, it reads well.

Rating: 7/10