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Review: JSA All-Stars TPB
JSA All-Stars TPB
Written by Geoff Johns, David Goyer, James Robinson and Various
Art by Sal Velluto, Phil Winslade & Various
Published by DC Comics. $14.95 USD
In 1999, DC set about revamping the Justice Society of America, as they had found good success with Grant Morrison's run on Justice League. So as sort of a bloated tribute to the structure of old JSA stories in the pages of All-Star Comics of the '40s, wherein a problem was introduced to the team, the team went off on solo or team-up adventures, then reconvened for a battle royale, DC published two bookend All-Star Comics issues and a number of tie-in issues in the middle, with the names of old comics of theirs like Smash and Whiz and Sensation. This was all under the umbrella name of The Justice Society Returns, and I was pretty excited about it, as James Robinson was cowriting it and I'd liked his Starman series.
But guess what? This isn't that series. This JSA All-Stars is from 2003 and although some of the same talents are involved, it's pretty much going to the well at this point, sort of a cynical cash-in with a bloated story that could have been told in the regular JSA book. Actually, though, no one really needed to see the team up against the third-rate villain, Legacy, whose only memorable characteristic was long fingernails shaped like cocktail forks.
As with the Justice Society Returns series, each issue would feature backup stories with the original Golden Age JSA heroes, as written and drawn by top talents, this time around Howard Chaykin, Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale, Michael Chabon & Michael Lark, James Robinson & Tony Harris, Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso, and Darwyn Cooke.
Alas, none of it is all that good. Not only is the bookend story mediocre, but the stand-alone issues are a very corny gimmick. Rather than each hero having to, say, find a piece of some important artifact, each one merely has to deal with their personal issues, since Legacy is able to exploit any flaw in their psyche. So we get Stargirl), Hawkgirl, Dr. Midnite, Mr. Terrific and Dr. Fate all handling problems mainly with talking or very quick fights. Stargirl puts her issue with her criminal dad to bed by throwing him in jail; Hawkgirl overcomes her suicidal thoughts and lack of identity by giving a little neice a ride in the sky. Essentially these are "B" plots to action-packed superhero stories, but given more length, and thus less impact. Writer Johns is generally more suited to darkening characters and so he has more fun with the tortures of Legacy than the touchy-feely emotional healing stuff. The backup stories are better, just because it would be hard for artists like Chaykin, Sale, Cooke, Harris, Lark and Risso not to blow Velluto, Winslade, Stephen Sadowski, Adam De Kraker and Barry Kitson away. Still, it's not like writers Loeb, Cooke, Chaykin and Azzarello brought their A game. They each only have six pages to work with, so the constraints pretty much force them to write simple tales, although in their defense they work pretty well due to being set in Golden Age times where stories were simpler, anyway. Sale draws a terrific Hawkman but the gist of the story is that he's late for dinner because of having to fight crime, and so Shiera is angry at him. Pure Loeb corn. Azzarello seems to fall in love with his oft-tortured prose ("With just my ears, I saw the light...") but at least it's nice to have a story here where the hero makes a mistake. Robinson's story of Golden Age Starman Ted Knight working for the FBI is a little thin but with some decent dialogue (until it gets high-handed at the end) and some atmospheric noir visuals from Harris. The highlight is the final backup, where Pulitzer-winner Chabon shows how to write an offbeat short story; a winner of humor, sadness and triumph starring not Mr. Terrific but his not-so-terrific brother. And along with the rest of the backup tale artists, Lark is a natural fit for a '40s story.
Overall this book is a bore, aside from the decent-to-very-good backup stories, though even the best aren't essential.
Written by Geoff Johns, David Goyer, James Robinson and Various
Art by Sal Velluto, Phil Winslade & Various
Published by DC Comics. $14.95 USD
In 1999, DC set about revamping the Justice Society of America, as they had found good success with Grant Morrison's run on Justice League. So as sort of a bloated tribute to the structure of old JSA stories in the pages of All-Star Comics of the '40s, wherein a problem was introduced to the team, the team went off on solo or team-up adventures, then reconvened for a battle royale, DC published two bookend All-Star Comics issues and a number of tie-in issues in the middle, with the names of old comics of theirs like Smash and Whiz and Sensation. This was all under the umbrella name of The Justice Society Returns, and I was pretty excited about it, as James Robinson was cowriting it and I'd liked his Starman series.
But guess what? This isn't that series. This JSA All-Stars is from 2003 and although some of the same talents are involved, it's pretty much going to the well at this point, sort of a cynical cash-in with a bloated story that could have been told in the regular JSA book. Actually, though, no one really needed to see the team up against the third-rate villain, Legacy, whose only memorable characteristic was long fingernails shaped like cocktail forks.
As with the Justice Society Returns series, each issue would feature backup stories with the original Golden Age JSA heroes, as written and drawn by top talents, this time around Howard Chaykin, Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale, Michael Chabon & Michael Lark, James Robinson & Tony Harris, Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso, and Darwyn Cooke.
Alas, none of it is all that good. Not only is the bookend story mediocre, but the stand-alone issues are a very corny gimmick. Rather than each hero having to, say, find a piece of some important artifact, each one merely has to deal with their personal issues, since Legacy is able to exploit any flaw in their psyche. So we get Stargirl), Hawkgirl, Dr. Midnite, Mr. Terrific and Dr. Fate all handling problems mainly with talking or very quick fights. Stargirl puts her issue with her criminal dad to bed by throwing him in jail; Hawkgirl overcomes her suicidal thoughts and lack of identity by giving a little neice a ride in the sky. Essentially these are "B" plots to action-packed superhero stories, but given more length, and thus less impact. Writer Johns is generally more suited to darkening characters and so he has more fun with the tortures of Legacy than the touchy-feely emotional healing stuff. The backup stories are better, just because it would be hard for artists like Chaykin, Sale, Cooke, Harris, Lark and Risso not to blow Velluto, Winslade, Stephen Sadowski, Adam De Kraker and Barry Kitson away. Still, it's not like writers Loeb, Cooke, Chaykin and Azzarello brought their A game. They each only have six pages to work with, so the constraints pretty much force them to write simple tales, although in their defense they work pretty well due to being set in Golden Age times where stories were simpler, anyway. Sale draws a terrific Hawkman but the gist of the story is that he's late for dinner because of having to fight crime, and so Shiera is angry at him. Pure Loeb corn. Azzarello seems to fall in love with his oft-tortured prose ("With just my ears, I saw the light...") but at least it's nice to have a story here where the hero makes a mistake. Robinson's story of Golden Age Starman Ted Knight working for the FBI is a little thin but with some decent dialogue (until it gets high-handed at the end) and some atmospheric noir visuals from Harris. The highlight is the final backup, where Pulitzer-winner Chabon shows how to write an offbeat short story; a winner of humor, sadness and triumph starring not Mr. Terrific but his not-so-terrific brother. And along with the rest of the backup tale artists, Lark is a natural fit for a '40s story.
Overall this book is a bore, aside from the decent-to-very-good backup stories, though even the best aren't essential.
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