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JSA (1999)
JSA, Vol. 4: Fair Play
Just like crime, gambling doesn't pay... especially when you're gambling at The House!
Roulette runs the most dangerous gambling den on Earth — a club where costumed adventurers are lured to fight for their lives while super-villains bet on the outcome. Now she's turned her sights on the JSA, and she's got more than a professional interest in seeing the team destroyed!
Will the JSA's survival come down to a roll of the dice?
Collecting: JSA 26-31 & material from JSA: Secret Files 2
Roulette runs the most dangerous gambling den on Earth — a club where costumed adventurers are lured to fight for their lives while super-villains bet on the outcome. Now she's turned her sights on the JSA, and she's got more than a professional interest in seeing the team destroyed!
Will the JSA's survival come down to a roll of the dice?
Collecting: JSA 26-31 & material from JSA: Secret Files 2
176 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2003
172 people want to read
About the author
Geoff Johns
2,705 books2,414 followersGeoff Johns originally hails from Detroit, Michigan. He attended Michigan State University, where he earned a degree in Media Arts and Film. He moved to Los Angeles in the late 1990s in search of work within the film industry. Through perseverance, Geoff ended up as the assistant to Richard Donner, working on Conspiracy Theory and Lethal Weapon 4. During that time, he also began his comics career writing Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. and JSA (co-written with David S. Goyer) for DC Comics. He worked with Richard Donner for four years, leaving the company to pursue writing full-time.
His first comics assignments led to a critically acclaimed five-year run on the The Flash. Since then, he has quickly become one of the most popular and prolific comics writers today, working on such titles including a highly successful re-imagining of Green Lantern, Action Comics (co-written with Richard Donner), Teen Titans, Justice Society of America, Infinite Crisis and the experimental breakout hit series 52 for DC with Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid. Geoff received the Wizard Fan Award for Breakout Talent of 2002 and Writer of the Year for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 as well as the CBG Writer of the Year 2003 thru 2005, 2007 and CBG Best Comic Book Series for JSA 2001 thru 2005. Geoff also developed BLADE: THE SERIES with David S. Goyer, as well as penned the acclaimed “Legion” episode of SMALLVILLE. He also served as staff writer for the fourth season of ROBOT CHICKEN.
Geoff recently became a New York Times Bestselling author with the graphic novel Superman: Brainiac with art by Gary Frank.
His first comics assignments led to a critically acclaimed five-year run on the The Flash. Since then, he has quickly become one of the most popular and prolific comics writers today, working on such titles including a highly successful re-imagining of Green Lantern, Action Comics (co-written with Richard Donner), Teen Titans, Justice Society of America, Infinite Crisis and the experimental breakout hit series 52 for DC with Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid. Geoff received the Wizard Fan Award for Breakout Talent of 2002 and Writer of the Year for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 as well as the CBG Writer of the Year 2003 thru 2005, 2007 and CBG Best Comic Book Series for JSA 2001 thru 2005. Geoff also developed BLADE: THE SERIES with David S. Goyer, as well as penned the acclaimed “Legion” episode of SMALLVILLE. He also served as staff writer for the fourth season of ROBOT CHICKEN.
Geoff recently became a New York Times Bestselling author with the graphic novel Superman: Brainiac with art by Gary Frank.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
September 20, 2020
The JSA gets kidnapped and thrown into the games of an underground casino for supervillains. They are forced to fight one another while Flash's Rogues and other supervillains bet on them. I love how many absurd, cheesy and obscure DC villains show up in the background of this. This is one of those classic tropes that's borrowed from other places that I love. I remember this happening on Star Trek more than once.
October 2, 2022
Reread: 02/10/2022
This was a wild one and I love how fast paced it is. We get to see the internal conflicts within the JSA and then Roulette capturing them for her games and well it makes for fun battles particularly with Hawkman and Sand and the drama there and the stuff b/w Atom-smasher and Black adam too and I love the way these characters sort of go against each other and how by the end you see new dynamics and also loved that cameo by Shazam! Loads of action and team-building by Johns here and definitely on second read its so much better and the Secret files tie-in also sort of hints at whats to come!
________________________________________________________________
This volume was pretty okay and mostly features the face off between JSA and Roulette and we see her ties to a former JSA members and some face offs like Black adam and Atom smasher and also Hawkman fighting Man bat and some internal conflicts of Hawkgirl and a love triangle and its a pretty sub par story but skippable tbh and the art is okayish at the most but the last volume was weird, incoming Batman and nothing much happens of substance. Good spotlight on Mr Terrific I guess. But skippable volume.
This was a wild one and I love how fast paced it is. We get to see the internal conflicts within the JSA and then Roulette capturing them for her games and well it makes for fun battles particularly with Hawkman and Sand and the drama there and the stuff b/w Atom-smasher and Black adam too and I love the way these characters sort of go against each other and how by the end you see new dynamics and also loved that cameo by Shazam! Loads of action and team-building by Johns here and definitely on second read its so much better and the Secret files tie-in also sort of hints at whats to come!
________________________________________________________________
This volume was pretty okay and mostly features the face off between JSA and Roulette and we see her ties to a former JSA members and some face offs like Black adam and Atom smasher and also Hawkman fighting Man bat and some internal conflicts of Hawkgirl and a love triangle and its a pretty sub par story but skippable tbh and the art is okayish at the most but the last volume was weird, incoming Batman and nothing much happens of substance. Good spotlight on Mr Terrific I guess. But skippable volume.
June 8, 2015
Re-read in 2015.
Here Johns turns to the classic (and overused) superhero trope of "mysterious-villain-teleports-our-unsuspecting-heroes-to-an-unknown-place-to-fight-to-the-death." So most of the JSA winds up in an underground "Fight Club" where super villains watch superheroes fight each other to the death. Naturally, there are lots of fights (both mental and physical) to entertain a reader and give the large cast of characters a chance to strut their stuff.
For me the most entertaining part of the story was the interpersonal stuff going on. Hawkman showing up has really upset things within the team. Sand, the leader, is now wondering if he will continue to be in charge. Hawkgirl isn't falling into Hawkman's arms like he anticipated, which is causing issues. And then there is the growing dislike between Black Adam and Atom Smasher; a powder keg that is clearly jsut about to explode.
I liked this story, but Johns hasn't really hit his stride with the JSA yet. There are still weak points in the story and character interaction that annoyed me, but it was still an entertaining read.
Here Johns turns to the classic (and overused) superhero trope of "mysterious-villain-teleports-our-unsuspecting-heroes-to-an-unknown-place-to-fight-to-the-death." So most of the JSA winds up in an underground "Fight Club" where super villains watch superheroes fight each other to the death. Naturally, there are lots of fights (both mental and physical) to entertain a reader and give the large cast of characters a chance to strut their stuff.
For me the most entertaining part of the story was the interpersonal stuff going on. Hawkman showing up has really upset things within the team. Sand, the leader, is now wondering if he will continue to be in charge. Hawkgirl isn't falling into Hawkman's arms like he anticipated, which is causing issues. And then there is the growing dislike between Black Adam and Atom Smasher; a powder keg that is clearly jsut about to explode.
I liked this story, but Johns hasn't really hit his stride with the JSA yet. There are still weak points in the story and character interaction that annoyed me, but it was still an entertaining read.
June 30, 2015
My first official JSA graphic novel. I admit I avoided these for a while because I thought they were all set in the early 20th century, and I am turned off by that dated 50s morality feel. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that this takes place in the modern period, where time has passed, and only the long-lived (or immortal) JSA members are still active and alive in the organization.
I was not blown away by this, but since I liked it more than I expected, I gave it three stars. They have some interesting team members with cool powers. It's surprisingly multicultural, which is a bonus. They take on some intense missions, and are actually kidnapped into Roulette's modern day gladiatorial games, which are highly lethal, to say the least. I liked the character's ingenuity and use of their strengths and team work to get out of those situation. Loved the Batman cameo (big surprise).
I liked some characters more than others. I didn't care for the young fellow whose name I forgot. He was a petulant brat.
Not a title I'd reach for first, but I'm willing to read more.
I was not blown away by this, but since I liked it more than I expected, I gave it three stars. They have some interesting team members with cool powers. It's surprisingly multicultural, which is a bonus. They take on some intense missions, and are actually kidnapped into Roulette's modern day gladiatorial games, which are highly lethal, to say the least. I liked the character's ingenuity and use of their strengths and team work to get out of those situation. Loved the Batman cameo (big surprise).
I liked some characters more than others. I didn't care for the young fellow whose name I forgot. He was a petulant brat.
Not a title I'd reach for first, but I'm willing to read more.
September 21, 2020
In the last incarnation of Geoff Johns' JSA (expanded back out to Justice Society of America), he reached his peak with the team on the extended "Thy Kingdom Come" arc (extrapolated from the seminal Mark Waid/Alex Ross Kingdom Come, as the title suggests). Still, he'd been working on the team for years.
In the fourth volume of the original version, Fair Play, you can find most of the elements already there. This is roughly two years into the run. Hawkman has just returned, a dramatic development that led to a spin-off from the series (also written by Johns). His presence is screwing up the balance of the team. Sand, who is probably the best character Johns never quite got right, feels threatened more than anyone, because until Hawkman showed up he was the unquestioned team leader. To complicate matters, there's also the matter of Hawkgirl between them. The complicated history and romance between Hawkman and Hawkgirl is probably something Johns best explored (along with Peter Tomasi) years later in the pages of Brightest Day.
Black Adam is also here. JSA is in fact the starting point of the great Black Adam revival, although the best storytelling can be found in 52, which Johns co-wrote with Waid, Grant Morrison, and Greg Rucka, as well as the Dark Age mini-series. The character is struggling to prove that he's not a villain anymore, a little like what Robinson did with The Shade in the pages of Starman.
Of, and that reminds me. These stories follow the series coming into a new phase. Originally Starman's Jack Knight (and Robinson) were a part of the action, as well as a new Hourman conceived by Morrison in the pages of JLA. Another character from that series, Jakeem Thunder, receives about as much new work as Stargirl, a character Johns created in his first DC series (Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.).
A lot of what you can find in this collection seems to come from the legacy of the then-recently concluded Starman, which happily includes a few issues with artist Peter Snejbjerg. He's got the best art in the collection. There's also Rags Morales, still a few years away from his Identity Crisis breakthrough (or Action Comics collaboration with Morrison), and it seems evident that he hasn't quite reached his best work yet.
One last character certainly worth referencing is Mr. Terrific, one of the most distinctive heroes introduced by Johns, a legacy character who is also a totally new creation (I think he deserves a new name, too, maybe even Fair Play). He got his first ongoing series only with the New 52 relaunch a few years ago, which didn't last very long, possibly because like Sand he's not as easy to distinguish in or outside of a group as you'd think. His own series emphasized an element I hadn't previously known about before, a classic tragic origin, which apparently was even featured here in JSA. What I mean to say is, Michael Holt is someone who would immensely benefit from a concerted, solo focus, starting at the beginning. And again, probably a new name.
All this being said, the stories in this collection probably wouldn't be the greatest selling point. They're very much in medias res, in the middle of things, and while you get a sense of where these characters have been and maybe where they're going, the best work is the character work. The crises are ham-fisted, even the villain who's introduced specifically as a foe for Mr. Terrific (although curiously she waits forever to make this clear, and even then the payoff is not in this collection).
That's why I said that Johns gets better in the later stories. He figures out the specific idea of legacy represented by the Justice Society, more or less making the whole team a lot like the Legion of Super-Heroes. Here he's still working on the template. The Black Adam saga heats up in a major way later on, and that was one of the hallmarks of the run, but again, his best stories are still elsewhere, just like Johns.
In the fourth volume of the original version, Fair Play, you can find most of the elements already there. This is roughly two years into the run. Hawkman has just returned, a dramatic development that led to a spin-off from the series (also written by Johns). His presence is screwing up the balance of the team. Sand, who is probably the best character Johns never quite got right, feels threatened more than anyone, because until Hawkman showed up he was the unquestioned team leader. To complicate matters, there's also the matter of Hawkgirl between them. The complicated history and romance between Hawkman and Hawkgirl is probably something Johns best explored (along with Peter Tomasi) years later in the pages of Brightest Day.
Black Adam is also here. JSA is in fact the starting point of the great Black Adam revival, although the best storytelling can be found in 52, which Johns co-wrote with Waid, Grant Morrison, and Greg Rucka, as well as the Dark Age mini-series. The character is struggling to prove that he's not a villain anymore, a little like what Robinson did with The Shade in the pages of Starman.
Of, and that reminds me. These stories follow the series coming into a new phase. Originally Starman's Jack Knight (and Robinson) were a part of the action, as well as a new Hourman conceived by Morrison in the pages of JLA. Another character from that series, Jakeem Thunder, receives about as much new work as Stargirl, a character Johns created in his first DC series (Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.).
A lot of what you can find in this collection seems to come from the legacy of the then-recently concluded Starman, which happily includes a few issues with artist Peter Snejbjerg. He's got the best art in the collection. There's also Rags Morales, still a few years away from his Identity Crisis breakthrough (or Action Comics collaboration with Morrison), and it seems evident that he hasn't quite reached his best work yet.
One last character certainly worth referencing is Mr. Terrific, one of the most distinctive heroes introduced by Johns, a legacy character who is also a totally new creation (I think he deserves a new name, too, maybe even Fair Play). He got his first ongoing series only with the New 52 relaunch a few years ago, which didn't last very long, possibly because like Sand he's not as easy to distinguish in or outside of a group as you'd think. His own series emphasized an element I hadn't previously known about before, a classic tragic origin, which apparently was even featured here in JSA. What I mean to say is, Michael Holt is someone who would immensely benefit from a concerted, solo focus, starting at the beginning. And again, probably a new name.
All this being said, the stories in this collection probably wouldn't be the greatest selling point. They're very much in medias res, in the middle of things, and while you get a sense of where these characters have been and maybe where they're going, the best work is the character work. The crises are ham-fisted, even the villain who's introduced specifically as a foe for Mr. Terrific (although curiously she waits forever to make this clear, and even then the payoff is not in this collection).
That's why I said that Johns gets better in the later stories. He figures out the specific idea of legacy represented by the Justice Society, more or less making the whole team a lot like the Legion of Super-Heroes. Here he's still working on the template. The Black Adam saga heats up in a major way later on, and that was one of the hallmarks of the run, but again, his best stories are still elsewhere, just like Johns.
May 17, 2009
I was running low on reading material this weekend, so I decided to raid my son's stash. I thought this one was kind of over the top, even for a comic. I didn't know who most of the characters in this thing were, so maybe that's why I couldn't get into it. Also, I thought it was Justice League when I first picked it up. Turned out it was Justice Society. Never heard of 'em.
The Star-Spangled Kid? She came complete with a red white and blue outfit, and bursts of energy (in the form of stars) shot out of her hands.
Mr Terrific? Let me say that one again. Mr. Terrific. I guess he was terrific. Enough said.
Jakeem Thunder? Jakeem had a pen (yes, a writing pen), and when he clicked it something that looked like a genie would pop out and do his bidding. Ok...
I pride myself on being able to suspend disbelief with the best of them, but this one was even a bit much for me.
In all fairness, Batman did make and appearance at the end. Sorry if I have offended any hard-core JSA fans out there.
The Star-Spangled Kid? She came complete with a red white and blue outfit, and bursts of energy (in the form of stars) shot out of her hands.
Mr Terrific? Let me say that one again. Mr. Terrific. I guess he was terrific. Enough said.
Jakeem Thunder? Jakeem had a pen (yes, a writing pen), and when he clicked it something that looked like a genie would pop out and do his bidding. Ok...
I pride myself on being able to suspend disbelief with the best of them, but this one was even a bit much for me.
In all fairness, Batman did make and appearance at the end. Sorry if I have offended any hard-core JSA fans out there.
April 23, 2013
Much of this is typical JSA: fun interplay of characters and big-picture exciting adventure. The one-offs that head the volume and the "House" arc that runs through it both epitomize that [7/10]. Two one-offs are a step above: the Jakeem and Star against Grundy story and the Batman story [8/10], both of which present Johns storytelling at its best.
April 30, 2025
cute courtney and jakeem sibling moments bc courtney is such an older sister + i enjoyed every issue !!! which makes it a 5 (more like 4.75) 👅
December 2, 2024
Contains: JSA 26-31 & JSA Secret files no. 2
As opposed to the roughly five issue arcs of the previous volume, this one focuses on shorter stories, 1 or 2 issues long. They lay a lot of groundwork for future epics in the series, and are a lot of fun in their own right.
We see the fallout of Hawkman’s return (particularly as it affects Hawkgirl, who is weirded out by their reincarnation love story, and understandably so), we see Atom Smasher and Black Adam arm wrestle, the return of Captain Marvel (am I allowed to call him that?) to the team, and a whole lot of in-fighting. Mr. Terrific becomes the chairman of the JSA (what a great character he is), and the team gets whisked off to a casino for villains where they’re all set up to fight each other to the death.
A one-shot story features Star-Spangled Kid and Jakeem Thunder, the team’s junior members, work together to take down Solomon Grundy, highlighting how fun any combination of these characters can be.
Finally, the JSA teams up with Batman, showing they’re not too shabby at solving mysteries themselves, and earning some grudging respect from Bats.
Another great volume, and another example of why these are some of the best superhero comics out there.
As opposed to the roughly five issue arcs of the previous volume, this one focuses on shorter stories, 1 or 2 issues long. They lay a lot of groundwork for future epics in the series, and are a lot of fun in their own right.
We see the fallout of Hawkman’s return (particularly as it affects Hawkgirl, who is weirded out by their reincarnation love story, and understandably so), we see Atom Smasher and Black Adam arm wrestle, the return of Captain Marvel (am I allowed to call him that?) to the team, and a whole lot of in-fighting. Mr. Terrific becomes the chairman of the JSA (what a great character he is), and the team gets whisked off to a casino for villains where they’re all set up to fight each other to the death.
A one-shot story features Star-Spangled Kid and Jakeem Thunder, the team’s junior members, work together to take down Solomon Grundy, highlighting how fun any combination of these characters can be.
Finally, the JSA teams up with Batman, showing they’re not too shabby at solving mysteries themselves, and earning some grudging respect from Bats.
Another great volume, and another example of why these are some of the best superhero comics out there.
June 17, 2021
Relationships mature, artists come and go, and the team morphs with some leaving and some new people coming in. I like Roulette better when she's Arcade and over at Marvel, but the hero-vs.-hero setup allows for character development between Black Adam & Atom Smasher, which is much less tiresome than the testosterone haze previously surrounding them. Solomon Grundy, Batman, the original Johnny Thunder, and solid story telling abide here.
June 30, 2019
Decent storyline, EXCELLENT plotting, and Mr. Johns refrained from killing even ONE measly main character!
March 5, 2025
The team dynamics start to finally pay off and the interpersonal drama between the characters is mostly well-written. I would make an exception for Stargirl and Jakeem Thunder - their squabbling dynamic seemed cute because I thought he was 12 years old at the absolute most? But the flirtatious moment they had in #29 left me really disturbed. Something else that bothers me a lot is Hawkman's continued obsessive stalking, if I was Kendra I would get a restraining order.
Save for a Last Laugh tie-in, the plot revolves around some of the members being kidnapped and forced to fight each other. The approach that's chosen to help us suspend our disbelief is simply to not explain anything. Where did enough supervillains to fill a stadium come from? We don't know. How would they be prevented from turning on each other if their bets went south? We don't know. Where did they all go once the JSA members escaped? No clue. Do the JSA guys try to dismantle this underground fighting ring that relies on kidnapping to get competitors? No, it's never mentioned again. So you can get a smooth reading experience, but you better not start asking questions.
Save for a Last Laugh tie-in, the plot revolves around some of the members being kidnapped and forced to fight each other. The approach that's chosen to help us suspend our disbelief is simply to not explain anything. Where did enough supervillains to fill a stadium come from? We don't know. How would they be prevented from turning on each other if their bets went south? We don't know. Where did they all go once the JSA members escaped? No clue. Do the JSA guys try to dismantle this underground fighting ring that relies on kidnapping to get competitors? No, it's never mentioned again. So you can get a smooth reading experience, but you better not start asking questions.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 20, 2022
Que hacer con un Black Adam que desea ser integrante de la JSA? Para ayudar o no llega el Capitan Marvel a dar su opinión. Tras eso son llevados al dominio de Ruleta que enfrenta a los diferentes miembros del grupo entre si en mortales competencias.
Geoff y Goyer siguen en buen nivel con Sadowski y Morales en la parte gráfica.
Sobre el final se vienen cambios, una integrante se va y otra poderosa adición llega.
Geoff y Goyer siguen en buen nivel con Sadowski y Morales en la parte gráfica.
Sobre el final se vienen cambios, una integrante se va y otra poderosa adición llega.
July 7, 2012
I loved Geoff Johns' Justice Society of America run that followed Infinite Crisis and was cancelled with the New 52. At least, I loved Johns's run. And I'd never been a fan of these characters before. I had heard wonderful things about the JSA comic that had preceded the last incarnation of the Justice Society, but had never read any of the comics so this was my first volume.
I have to admit I was a little disappointed. Geoff is one of my favorites, and his Teen Titans, his Justice League now with the New 52, his Flash run, were all fantastic. Green Lantern was hit or miss for me, but I guess I'm just not into Hal Jordan and space cops. Unfortunately, while I loved Justice Society, JSA (at least this volume as a stand alone--it's the only one I can find at the library here in CO Springs) feels more like Green Lantern for me than the other titles. That is, it's enjoyable, it's good, but it's not the greatness I generally have come to expect from a Geoff Johns book. Perhaps if I can hunt down the earlier trades I would like this one better? I don't know.
I have to admit I was a little disappointed. Geoff is one of my favorites, and his Teen Titans, his Justice League now with the New 52, his Flash run, were all fantastic. Green Lantern was hit or miss for me, but I guess I'm just not into Hal Jordan and space cops. Unfortunately, while I loved Justice Society, JSA (at least this volume as a stand alone--it's the only one I can find at the library here in CO Springs) feels more like Green Lantern for me than the other titles. That is, it's enjoyable, it's good, but it's not the greatness I generally have come to expect from a Geoff Johns book. Perhaps if I can hunt down the earlier trades I would like this one better? I don't know.
January 16, 2010
The boss of an underground 'Fight Club' that pits various beings with super powers against each other needs a great stunt to bring in the crowds and she decides that kidnapping the JSA and pitting them against each other is just the ticket.
Great fights are used to spotlight the various tensions among the team and give the large cast a chance to show their stuff.
My only problems is that a bunch of second tier characters are killed casually just to show how mean the bad guys are. That, nine times out of ten, feels like a cheap stunt and lazy writing. In this story, it's one of the nine times.
Also the hints about Roullete being connected to a member of the original JSA feels tacked on and is never dealt with very well. After this story, not much is done with her and she becomes a flat and uninteresting criminal mastermind.
Great fights are used to spotlight the various tensions among the team and give the large cast a chance to show their stuff.
My only problems is that a bunch of second tier characters are killed casually just to show how mean the bad guys are. That, nine times out of ten, feels like a cheap stunt and lazy writing. In this story, it's one of the nine times.
Also the hints about Roullete being connected to a member of the original JSA feels tacked on and is never dealt with very well. After this story, not much is done with her and she becomes a flat and uninteresting criminal mastermind.
October 7, 2013
Tras el anterior, era lógico un bajón.
Este FAir play tiene poco interesante. Aparte del hecho de elegir un nuevo Chairman para el grupo, la fascintante figura de Mister Terrific. Lo demás pasa muy desapercibido. Especialmente ese número, fatalmente dibujado en el que los protagonistas son los "KIDS" Jakeem Thunder y Star Spangled Kid, luchando ellos solos con Solomon Grundy...
Da la impresión que quería ir forjando las aventuras siguientes y no poner todavía toda la carne en el asador. Muy gratuita la aparición del Capitan Marvel para pegar un par de golpes a Black Adam, mejor la idea de Héctor y su cambio de personalidad a raíz de adoptar el manto de Nabú en el DR FATE...
Regular, pero con ideas de potencial.
Este FAir play tiene poco interesante. Aparte del hecho de elegir un nuevo Chairman para el grupo, la fascintante figura de Mister Terrific. Lo demás pasa muy desapercibido. Especialmente ese número, fatalmente dibujado en el que los protagonistas son los "KIDS" Jakeem Thunder y Star Spangled Kid, luchando ellos solos con Solomon Grundy...
Da la impresión que quería ir forjando las aventuras siguientes y no poner todavía toda la carne en el asador. Muy gratuita la aparición del Capitan Marvel para pegar un par de golpes a Black Adam, mejor la idea de Héctor y su cambio de personalidad a raíz de adoptar el manto de Nabú en el DR FATE...
Regular, pero con ideas de potencial.
August 27, 2007
Geoff Johns takes over the writing duties full time, and does a great job with these characters. The first issue has a nice formal structure, with the scene shifting every two pages. Johns builds up the antagonism between Black Adam and Atomsmasher quite well. When most of the team gets abducted and sent to "The House," an underground den of super-powered gambling, those two teammates have to fight. Similarly, Hawkman and Sand, who are both courting Hawkgirl, also are pitted against each other.
The non-House story with Star-Spangled Girl and Jakeem Thunder teaming up against Solomon Grundy is a nice side story.
The non-House story with Star-Spangled Girl and Jakeem Thunder teaming up against Solomon Grundy is a nice side story.
April 14, 2021
This is the set of stories that introduced Roulette to the JSA. She pops up in the broader DCU and even makes it into the Justice League cartoon. The reader also gets a visit by Batman and the original Johnny Thunder is reintroduced as well.
The standout tale though is the Halloween episode that has Stargirl and Jakeem Thunder taking on Solomon Grundy by themselves. This was a great issue that explored how a couple of kids deal with taking on a couple of 60 year legacies. It was also a perfect blend of action and humor that was finally returning to comics after the "gritty" 90s.
This is also a great intro to the JSA overall for new readers.
Find it! Buy it! READ IT!
The standout tale though is the Halloween episode that has Stargirl and Jakeem Thunder taking on Solomon Grundy by themselves. This was a great issue that explored how a couple of kids deal with taking on a couple of 60 year legacies. It was also a perfect blend of action and humor that was finally returning to comics after the "gritty" 90s.
This is also a great intro to the JSA overall for new readers.
Find it! Buy it! READ IT!
June 16, 2015
This was heading for a solid 2 stars. Not badly drawn, some decent character stuff, but just kinda dull.
But then there was an utterly charming issue featuring the Star Spangled Kid and Jakeem Thunder going toe to toe with Solomon Grundy that had me smiling from beginning to end.
And then in the final issue, as the team came together, overcoming their differences to become a fully functioning kick ass superhero team, I realised I was really rooting for them.
So this book must have done something right!
But then there was an utterly charming issue featuring the Star Spangled Kid and Jakeem Thunder going toe to toe with Solomon Grundy that had me smiling from beginning to end.
And then in the final issue, as the team came together, overcoming their differences to become a fully functioning kick ass superhero team, I realised I was really rooting for them.
So this book must have done something right!
December 27, 2012
Geoff Johns follows up the Sinestro Corps War with an amazing look at the beginning of Hal Jordan's career as Green Lantern and the end of the life of Hal's predecessor, Abin Sur. Seeing the beginnings of villains such as Sinestro, Hector Hammond, and Black Hand was great and conecting it all in some way to the Blackest Night is exciting. I look forward to each and every new trade. Great stuff!
March 25, 2008
A little light on action, but a surprisingly good introduction to the characters. Not especially original, but who doesn't enjoy seeing heroes pitted against each other in weird gladiator battles to the death? Some excellent melodrama with Hawkgirl and Hawkman.
October 6, 2013
Four volumes in and this series just seems to get better and better. There were multiple artists this time, and that was a bit distracting, but the plus side is the debut of Rags Morales on the bulk of the art.
January 5, 2016
Another pretty good story. With Hawkman fresh off his return in the previous volume as the rest of the JSA reorganizing in the face of his return along with several others. Al Pratt/Atom and the guest appearances of several other characters. Still its an okay read.
C
C
February 10, 2016
I love the golden age superheroes from DC and the new JSA brings these original heroes back into the modern age along with their legacy namesakes. Well above average art and plot keep these 70 year old comic characters interesting and entertaining. Very recommended
March 30, 2016
JSA "Fair Play" is a fun installment in the JSA series. The JSA not only face off with a new, but mysteriously familiar villain, they also face off against each other. "Fair Play" is a good read and it is a joy to see the character's relational dynamics.
March 23, 2015
Fun in so many ways.
This is the reason I like comics.
Good story telling.
This is the reason I like comics.
Good story telling.
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