Justice Society of America #15
Written by Geoff Johns
Pencils by Dale Eaglesham
Inks by Prentis Rollins
Colors by Alex Sinclair
Letters by Rob Leigh
Covers by Alex Ross(1), Eaglesham and Rollins(2)
DC Comics
Cover price: $2.99; Available now

I think that sometimes there is not only an issue with jumping onto a comic half way through a run, but also a problem with jumping onto reviews halfway through a comic’s run. You don’t necessarily grasp what it is the reviewer is focusing on, until several months in, when he or she has had the chance to take you through several issues of a comic.

I fear that this is the way I will be starting my comic book reviews here at Geeks of Doom, though of course without any real recourse. But let me just say this for the record, in an attempt to bring you up to speed: one of the greatest comics being written at the moment is Justice Society of America.

My father would tell you that the JSA is simply one of the best comics of all time, and having allowed my sensibilities to mature over the past few years of reading comics, I would subsequently have to agree. While the Justice League of America has the big names, and my favorite superhero (Batman), the JSA has more history, and more”¦ depth, then the JLA could hope for.

Now, simple math will back me up on this, seeing as the JSA got an additional two decades over the JLA in terms of material to pick from.

But I think it is more than that, and the sheer wealth of numbers populating the current Society is proof of what I’m talking about. The JSA is more than just a team who gather together occasionally to fight giant space starfish or maniacal robots or zombies; they’re a society — a group of people who are friends.

Whereas, in the Justice League you have to rely upon the uneasy relationship between Bruce and Clark, and the great friendships of Barry and Hal, and Olly and Carter, the JSA is made up of people who are friends with everyone else. You definitely can’t say that about the JLA, mores the pity!

So, along a vast and circuitous route, that brings me to issue #15 of the latest Justice Society of America series of comics. Written by the wonderful Geoff Johns, who seems to be single-handedly running the DC Universe, and beautifully penciled by Dale Eaglesham, and with a magnificent cover by my favorite artist, Alex Ross, this issue continues the “Thy Kingdom Come” storyline that has been JSA these past few months.

If you aren’t aware, in 1996 the inimitable Alex Ross wrote and drew the four-issue limited series Kingdom Come, which, set in an alternate DCU and well into the future, depicted a less than rosy future for many of our favorite superheroes. At the end of issue #9 of this current run of JSA, some 11 years later, we find that the Superman from Kingdom Come has been brought into the current DCU, and subsequently joins the JSA.

The main villain of Kingdom Come is Magog, a villain who styles himself after someone named Gog, who was supposed to have been a villain (or superhero, I can’t remember) during what is now our timeline of events. So naturally, the JSA has created that villain, Gog, or at least what we are lead to believe is Gog.

To get into it any further would confuse further, so I will halt now, and just deal with this issue.

Last issue we saw Gog attack the JSA in their HQ, and a battle that can only be described as epic broke out. It continued well in to issue 15, and gives a vast majority of the current roster of JSA members a chance to thump Gog.

There are too many aspects of this issue that I just love, so I’ll only pick out my favorite: Liberty Belle. The daughter of Golden Age heroes Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle, Jesse Chambers, aka, the new Liberty Belle, has inherited her parents’ powers, so she is both super-powerful and super-quick. She is one of my favorite characters at the moment, and there is a great panel where she just goes to town on Gog.

The comic continues though, people are probably dead, those we thought were dead aren’t, and those we thought were evil may not be as evil as we first thought; or are they? Huh? Either way, this is definitely an issue you have to pick up! It gets 5 out of 5 for me on every level.

One last thing, and something that I rather enjoy, occurs on the last page of this issue, and is the “Coming this Year in Justice Society of America” four-panel teaser. I won’t ruin anything, but there is a very obvious Alex Ross panel and an obvious return for Power Girl to”¦