Reviewer: Tim Stevens
Story Title: My Heroes
Written by: Geoff Johns
Penciled by: Dale Eaglesham
Inked by: Art Thibert
Colored by: John Kalisz
Lettered by: Rob Leigh
Editor: Stephen Wacker
Publisher: DC Comics
Geoff Johns is back in the saddle of JSA (for what shall be the last time in at least six more months) after a somewhat successful fill-in arc by former inker Keith Champagne. That’s good news. What’s great news is that Johns story falls fully on the shoulders of the JSA’s youngest member, Stargirl. For those who do not know, Johns created the character when he broke into the industry on Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. and based Courtney, in part, on his sister. It should therefore come as no surprise that when Johns writes from Stargirl’s perspective, those stories usually stand out as being high quality.
From a voice perspective, this story is no exception. Johns has Stargirl down pat. She sounds a bit old for her age, but that makes sense what with having been abandoned by her father and all she has gone through as a superhero. I have no complaints with her narration.
My problems concern the story of #81. It, essentially, is all driving towards giving the ending of the story deeper resonance. However, it just never gets there. So instead of an ending that smacks you in the gut and makes your eyes well up, it is more likely to leave you scratching your head. The objective correlative just is not there. When the Shade delivers his bad news to Courtney, it feels tacked on and makes the reason for the narrative feel false. If all this talk of parents and children was just setting us up for this…well, it was all just so artificial. Thus, what could have been a strong, if obvious, drop-in issue is undercut by trying to reach for a sentimental ending.
On the art side of things, I always enjoyed seeing Eaglesham pencil anything. I think he has a great style. That being said, I’m not sure he was the right choice for this issue. His work tends to have a dirtiness to it that just does not fit the tone of JSA. He does rein it in some in the beginning and does a nice job of depicting Courtney’s home life, but the moment he gets into JSA action, everyone gains stubble. For a fill-in, it’s fine, but long term, Eaglesham would be ill-fitting.
Finally, for those of you who are phobic about the amount of crossovers and tie-ins at DC these days, this book is refreshingly Infinite Crisis free. There is a passing mention of the fate of the Freedom Fighters (as seen in Infinite Crisis #1) but otherwise, the book is wholly independent of OMACS, Superboy, Deathstroke, or Donna Troy.
