Justice Society of America #43
Written by James Robinson
Art by Jesus Merino
1. The epilogue to the JSA and JLA crossover is handled here by Robinson, right before the Mark Guggenheim run begins. In this issue, Green Lantern Alan Scott talks with his son, Obsidian.
2. Obsidian, formerly interesting, is now an absolute angry, whiney cypher. When he’s near Jade, he also now causes the end of times, as well. I’m really, really done with him, so hopefully Guggenheim doesn’t feature him.
3. Alan Scott’s Starheart created a city on the moon for mystical creatures. Sure, why not? DC could use some more random weird shit and there’s storyline potential here. It feels a bit like a Kirby idea, so I can run with it.
4. Holy crap is Robinson bad at dialogue. Nothing here sounds natural and even Alan Scott, essentially DC’s Captain America, sounds like a pretentious jerk.
5. Merino gets to play with the mystic on a grand scale with the emeral city, so the book looks wonderful, which is important since the entire rest of the series is two characters talking.
6. I know the mutants over at Marvel get a lot of heat, but I can follow that. The Starheart just confuses me. Anyone want to break it down?
7. Mordru just randomly signing a treaty is so out of character it’s beyond belief. I like the use of other minor characters, but this is freaking Mordru. He’s a major player and deserves better.
8. There is fantastic imagination in the splash page stories of what could occur if Jade and Obsidian got together. These would have, once upon a time, made awesome Esleworlds stories. But back then, comics were fun.
9. At least Obsidian being gay, and Alan’s previous bad reactions, are handled with respect and class.
10. <b>Rating: 4/10</b> – I keep giving Robinson chances and he keeps failing to deliver. This is better than his JLA in at least the ideas are really good, but I guess I should have just waited for Guggenheim next month.
