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Jenny Sparks #1-7
Jenny Sparks
The wild storm begins! What could five strangers have to do with the fate of the world? Find outas Captain Atom goes rogue, threatening to destroy the planet he once swore to protect. Canany hero stop him? Well, it may take the most unconventional of them all…Jenny Sparks, the onewoman tasked with keeping ALL the heroes in line, no matter the cost.The Spirit of the 20th Century returns for the 21st in this action-packed trade collectingJenny Sparks #1-7 by Eisner Award-winning writer Tom King (Wonder Woman, of Tomorrow) and artist Jeff Spokes
216 pages, Paperback
First published May 27, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
September 2, 2025
Tom King drags us through 9/11, the financial crisis, Trumpism, and the COVID-19 pandemic, to mock the hollowness of our admiration of superheroes. As he has often done in the past, he achieves his goal at the expense of a B-list superhero, Captain Atom in this instance.
Captain Atom has gone over the edge and taken five (only five?!?!) people hostage to demand that everyone in the world acknowledge him as God. Jenny Sparks has been authorized as the watchman who watches the watchmen, so she's on the scene to see the Justice League fail and carry on the battle -- if you can call a string of snarky conversations a battle -- against a man who can kill anyone with a gesture.
King mashes together pieces from Alan Moore's Swamp Thing and Neil Gaiman's Sandman with his own Heroes in Crisis to create a cynical and drawn out storyline that isn't as clever as he thinks and left me feeling like the sixth hostage. I've never been a big fan of Jenny Sparks, so that probably contributed to my boredom.
King can be a little hit or miss for me, especially when he looses his negativity, but I'll definitely pick up his books every time.
FOR REFERENCE:
Contains material originally published in single magazine form as Jenny Sparks (2024) #1-7.
Captain Atom has gone over the edge and taken five (only five?!?!) people hostage to demand that everyone in the world acknowledge him as God. Jenny Sparks has been authorized as the watchman who watches the watchmen, so she's on the scene to see the Justice League fail and carry on the battle -- if you can call a string of snarky conversations a battle -- against a man who can kill anyone with a gesture.
King mashes together pieces from Alan Moore's Swamp Thing and Neil Gaiman's Sandman with his own Heroes in Crisis to create a cynical and drawn out storyline that isn't as clever as he thinks and left me feeling like the sixth hostage. I've never been a big fan of Jenny Sparks, so that probably contributed to my boredom.
King can be a little hit or miss for me, especially when he looses his negativity, but I'll definitely pick up his books every time.
FOR REFERENCE:
Contains material originally published in single magazine form as Jenny Sparks (2024) #1-7.
March 30, 2025
4.5*
I imagine that those who find King's writing tics irritating won't like Jenny Sparks. Trauma, silent panels and repetition galore in this mini-series, you've been warned. I admit, I'm a sucker for these when they're well done, and that's often - not always, but often enough - the case with King.
So Jenny Sparks has to deal with a crisis of the highest order involving Captain Atom gone postal and a bunch of civilians.
Everything rests on Jenny's shoulders of course, so well written you could swear King was English. Her biting irony sweeps away everything in its path and makes the title a real treat, but the secondary characters still manage to make their mark.
The pace is - very - slow, there's little action and it's all dialogue and extraordinary storytelling that uses the comic book medium to its full potential that make the difference.
Jeff Spokes is the artist. The truth? I'd never heard of him until now. And yet the guy is a killer! The drawing is excellent, with very natural poses and lots of nuanced expressions.
I imagine that those who find King's writing tics irritating won't like Jenny Sparks. Trauma, silent panels and repetition galore in this mini-series, you've been warned. I admit, I'm a sucker for these when they're well done, and that's often - not always, but often enough - the case with King.
So Jenny Sparks has to deal with a crisis of the highest order involving Captain Atom gone postal and a bunch of civilians.
Everything rests on Jenny's shoulders of course, so well written you could swear King was English. Her biting irony sweeps away everything in its path and makes the title a real treat, but the secondary characters still manage to make their mark.
The pace is - very - slow, there's little action and it's all dialogue and extraordinary storytelling that uses the comic book medium to its full potential that make the difference.
Jeff Spokes is the artist. The truth? I'd never heard of him until now. And yet the guy is a killer! The drawing is excellent, with very natural poses and lots of nuanced expressions.
June 5, 2025
Jenny Sparks returns, experiencing the 21st century despite being the spirit of the 20th. When Captain Atom goes rogue, the Justice League call her in for assistance - but how do you stop a man with the powers of a god?
Tom King's 'taking a character apart and putting them together again' thing comes in handy here, but it's more of a study of Captain Atom than Jenny herself, I think. She has some cool stuff to do (other than just yell for a cigarette and swear), but it's the quieter moments of this book that shine more than the bigger ones. The ultimate conclusion is poignant, but there's definitely a sense, at least for me, that this was meant to be more of a Captain Atom book and Jenny's just kind of along for the ride.
Jeff Spokes is the closest thing to interior Adam Hughes art I've seen in a very long time, and as far as I'm aware there weren't many delays on these issues coming out in single form, so that bodes well. The character acting is great, the level of detail's solid, and the colours pop each and every page. This alone adds an extra star to the rating.
Beautiful art, a half-decent story. Not King's best work, but easy on the eyes at least.
Tom King's 'taking a character apart and putting them together again' thing comes in handy here, but it's more of a study of Captain Atom than Jenny herself, I think. She has some cool stuff to do (other than just yell for a cigarette and swear), but it's the quieter moments of this book that shine more than the bigger ones. The ultimate conclusion is poignant, but there's definitely a sense, at least for me, that this was meant to be more of a Captain Atom book and Jenny's just kind of along for the ride.
Jeff Spokes is the closest thing to interior Adam Hughes art I've seen in a very long time, and as far as I'm aware there weren't many delays on these issues coming out in single form, so that bodes well. The character acting is great, the level of detail's solid, and the colours pop each and every page. This alone adds an extra star to the rating.
Beautiful art, a half-decent story. Not King's best work, but easy on the eyes at least.
March 25, 2025
Tom King's "Jenny Sparks" is a high octane hard hitting resurrection of the classic Wildstorm character. OG fans will not be disappointed, the Spirit of the Twentieth Century is back and she is as foul mouthed, iconoclastic and fierce as ever. Expect the same white hot intensity for social justice as before, some well earned cynical world weariness, more than a few well placed jabs at self righteous capes and an unusual but absolutely terrifying villain.
Note: I read this in single issues and will amend my review as needed once the trade comes out.
Note: I read this in single issues and will amend my review as needed once the trade comes out.
August 25, 2025
3.2 stars
I’m a big fan of Tom King’s writing but this was the first story of his I didn’t really enjoy (although the ending was nice). The reason for this was that he fell into a Garth Ennis-like ‘aren’t superheroes stupid’ hole with this one. Like Ennis always does, King did this by turning the superheroes in the story into morons. It’s tiresome, frankly.
Look, guys, the vast majority of superhero fans know full well superheroes wouldn’t work in the real world and that the concept is a bit silly. We don’t need you to tell us, as if we’re going to be shocked by the ‘revelation’. We are well aware. The genre is a harmless bit of escapist fun.
The artwork was really very good, though, hence the relatively high overall rating.
I’m a big fan of Tom King’s writing but this was the first story of his I didn’t really enjoy (although the ending was nice). The reason for this was that he fell into a Garth Ennis-like ‘aren’t superheroes stupid’ hole with this one. Like Ennis always does, King did this by turning the superheroes in the story into morons. It’s tiresome, frankly.
Look, guys, the vast majority of superhero fans know full well superheroes wouldn’t work in the real world and that the concept is a bit silly. We don’t need you to tell us, as if we’re going to be shocked by the ‘revelation’. We are well aware. The genre is a harmless bit of escapist fun.
The artwork was really very good, though, hence the relatively high overall rating.
March 19, 2025
9/11?
Caught up on all the single issues and it was an enjoyable read. Interested to see how this will hold up on a reread. Strong 3.5
Caught up on all the single issues and it was an enjoyable read. Interested to see how this will hold up on a reread. Strong 3.5
September 24, 2025
2 stars for the old Jenny Sparks this is a whisper of. Man, it is not easy being a DC completist when it means squinting through Tom King's tiresome bleeped expletives and virtually unmoving "plots."
January 28, 2025
a new take on the jenny sparks we all loved once.
September 25, 2025
This that good Tom King shit I crave. This book conceptually had so much that could have snagged and held it back, and yet King uses all of what its got to his advantage and pulls it of in spite of all of its potentially eye rolling qualities. It most certainly won't be for everyone, but I had a good time with it.
June 14, 2025
with art that jumps from beautiful to stilted and stuff, and a story that jumps all over time like he's being paid by the time change, nothing feels as super important, deep, or consequential as it tries to be.
Read
June 30, 2025If you’re going to have a flashback every other page or so, how about coloring them different?!
June 13, 2025
"I am who I always was. Just a girl searching for the light."
I read this comic expecting to hate it.
Even though it is a female-led superhero comic, it appeared too gritty and edgelord (edgelady?) to me. Plus I had never heard of the superheroine of this one beforehand. But I decided to give it a go anyway, and then move on with my life, never thinking about it again.
'Jenny Sparks: Be Better' did start out frustrating, confusing and boring to me, as I'd predicted. The key words here are 'start out'. I started it thinking it was yet another typical gritty realism style of superhero comic, done far too many times and just as often failing at it. I wasn't into it, and I didn't care about any of the characters.
But then I was into it, and I did care. The further I read, the more I realised and understood what Tom King was trying to accomplish. In my opinion, he mostly succeeded.
By the end of the journey, the test of endurance, I was left breathless and speechless.
'Jenny Sparks: Be Better' might be a modern superhero comic masterpiece.
It's like an updated 'Watchmen'.
Benefitting from how it's a lot shorter and in fact easier to digest than 'Watchmen'. Not mention more accessible, fresh, and progressive. It has intersectional feminism, and it deconstructs toxic masculinity!
Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself.
*Ahem*
I won't give away too much detail. I won't dare to spoil anything. Nothing crucial, anyway. But holy &&@@*$$%*!, Batman! 'Jenny Sparks' is a very relevant superhero comic that isn't really about superheroes. It's about people, and, as the volume's subtitle straight-up states, their capacity to be better. Do better. If they just try. To do what's right. Always. Throughout history. No matter what horrible, *&&*%!*£ up !%&@£ that humanity pulls, in each century, each generation.
It is like if the heroes in the DC universe were transplanted in the real world. It references real life wars, tragedies, recessions, and politics. It holds no punches in its commentary on what's been happening in the world for the past several years (pre-2024... and good !&^@&%*! I'm depressed again), and how we as a species have truly $£@!*! ourselves up. We have learned nothing. We have not improved ourselves. We have wasted everything. We have let apathy, inertia, boredom, not caring about anything, and reactionary politics destroy us as a society.
But maybe as individuals we can improve? Try to make others' lives better, as well as our own? To achieve something good? To be selfless, and care, and act on it? To actually be happy?
I'm not entirely sure if this was Tom King's intention, but he seems to be saying that superheroes in reality would not, in fact, make it better; that the world would be more or less the same, and that superheroes are, in the grand scheme of things, £%^$!@ing useless. Not if they don't attempt to change the status quo.
Well, maybe it's lucky for us then that Jenny Sparks is no superhero. Or, she is perhaps the most unconventional superhero I have ever seen. No costume, no flash and bang (except with her lightning powers), no pretension, no ego, no @$*%@s given, she's a semi-immortal woman who has lived and seen far too much, and it is extremely hard for her not to be cynical. In that, the reader sympathises with the extremely coarse and rough woman.
Jenny Sparks, the Spirit of the 20th Century, has learned much in her long life, too. Perhaps she will save the day - save the world - perhaps she won't. But she will do it her way, without the need for any costumed vigilantes and "gods". Without the ineffectual "Justice" League.
Superpowered people, who in real life would be exploited, taken advantage of, abused, ignored, forgotten, traumatised, and/or burnt out, might end up becoming more of a danger to society and humanity than its saviour...
Jenny Sparks did not seem to be a heroine I would like, despite her being a British (like moi!) antiheroine in a DC comic. She smokes - and I mean she's always smoking, it's her gimmick - and she's borderline suicidal (that she can't die is more of a tragedy than a second chance kind of epiphany for her), and she swears on nearly every page and panel she's in. Quite hilariously, DC censors every swearword in the volume, despite its 17+ rating, and there is a lot of cursing, so it can get annoying and irksome. Just look at how I've been doing it in this review so far, to prove my point, and even then I'm restraining myself.
*Ahem*, anyway:
But hey, I'll forever praise unconventionality in heroines. I appreciate and admire how honest, carefree (in her personal life, that is), and snarky Jenny is. She really does not give a $£@* what anyone thinks of her. She's over a hundred and twenty years old, why would she care about being "unlikeable"? She's fed up with everything, she's cynical as all $!"&@, but she isn't heartless. In fact, she cares deeply. She knows what's what and where's where, and she won't allow herself or anyone else to go too far off the deep end - when it comes to surviving a "civilised" society. Both self-destruction and the deconstruction of others (deliberate or not) are a slippery slope. And they can be connected.
Jenny legitimately tells it like it is, and is not afraid to mouth off any superhero. She's not afraid to tell them off, to challenge any of them on how they do things.
Keeping heroes in check and making sure they don't fall from grace and lose their way and become monsters is pretty much Jenny Sparks' job in the DCU. She's like the world's most knowledgeable, yet reluctant and weary therapist. A wise, deadpan, cranky woman with a cigarette, who can make lightning with a snap of her fingers.
She wants everyone to be better, for !%*&'s sake. That's her immortal life's purpose, no matter how fruitless it proves to be, again and again.
British, chain-smoking, foulmouthed, dressed like a Spice Girl, and too human to be described as a thunder goddess - Jenny Sparks is a very unique antiheroine.
'Jenny Sparks: Be Better' - what a comic for our times. The crassness, the blatancy, the shocks (in more than one sense), the violence, the depression, the rage, the intensity, the political, economical and social critiques. It is an edgelordian superhero comic with brains and a point, and a catharsis the end. It holds nothing back. It is a wakeup call for us all. It is a common sense relief from the insanity.
It is brutally true to life, yet hopeful.
It takes a while to get invested in, and it is a slow-burner, but it is worth it. It contains Tom King's trademark wordy and bordering-on pretentious dialogue, where people talk like they know they're in a story and so try to be as impressive and obvious in their speeches as possible. But it's not so bad here.
Plus, Tom King has been busy lately, hasn't he? Uncommonly so. He's been hired to write for comics everywhere now. Nothing against him personally, but why is this white guy with a mixed bag writing career suddenly, seemingly writing every comic? He's on 'Trinity: Daughter of Wonder Woman' at the moment, WTF? Why? Seriously, it's like he never sleeps.
Although, I like 'Helen of Wyndhorn'.
*Ahem*, anyway :
'Jenny Sparks', for a comic meant to introduce readers of 2024 to the titular character, who was originally created in 1996 for the 'Stormwatch' comic series by WildStorm, in the DCU, it doesn't really explain how Jenny became immortal, nor why she looks young despite first dying when she was ninety-nine years old. Is it to do with her lightning powers? How does that work? What's that about? Is she really supposed to be Charles Darwin's great-granddaughter?
Oh well, who gives a @$£!%?
'Jenny Sparks: Be Better' contains poignant LBGTQ+ themes, and pop culture as well as historical analysis themes, to boot. It is epic.
I shall, finally, sign off here.
As Jenny Sparks would say: Bloody hell, she don't half talk a lot of bollocks, does she? What a writing windbag! Fuck! (You got a light?)
(I love everyone. I love you all. Take care of yourselves. Bye.)
Final Score: 4/5
I read this comic expecting to hate it.
Even though it is a female-led superhero comic, it appeared too gritty and edgelord (edgelady?) to me. Plus I had never heard of the superheroine of this one beforehand. But I decided to give it a go anyway, and then move on with my life, never thinking about it again.
'Jenny Sparks: Be Better' did start out frustrating, confusing and boring to me, as I'd predicted. The key words here are 'start out'. I started it thinking it was yet another typical gritty realism style of superhero comic, done far too many times and just as often failing at it. I wasn't into it, and I didn't care about any of the characters.
But then I was into it, and I did care. The further I read, the more I realised and understood what Tom King was trying to accomplish. In my opinion, he mostly succeeded.
By the end of the journey, the test of endurance, I was left breathless and speechless.
'Jenny Sparks: Be Better' might be a modern superhero comic masterpiece.
It's like an updated 'Watchmen'.
Benefitting from how it's a lot shorter and in fact easier to digest than 'Watchmen'. Not mention more accessible, fresh, and progressive. It has intersectional feminism, and it deconstructs toxic masculinity!
Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself.
*Ahem*
I won't give away too much detail. I won't dare to spoil anything. Nothing crucial, anyway. But holy &&@@*$$%*!, Batman! 'Jenny Sparks' is a very relevant superhero comic that isn't really about superheroes. It's about people, and, as the volume's subtitle straight-up states, their capacity to be better. Do better. If they just try. To do what's right. Always. Throughout history. No matter what horrible, *&&*%!*£ up !%&@£ that humanity pulls, in each century, each generation.
It is like if the heroes in the DC universe were transplanted in the real world. It references real life wars, tragedies, recessions, and politics. It holds no punches in its commentary on what's been happening in the world for the past several years (pre-2024... and good !&^@&%*! I'm depressed again), and how we as a species have truly $£@!*! ourselves up. We have learned nothing. We have not improved ourselves. We have wasted everything. We have let apathy, inertia, boredom, not caring about anything, and reactionary politics destroy us as a society.
But maybe as individuals we can improve? Try to make others' lives better, as well as our own? To achieve something good? To be selfless, and care, and act on it? To actually be happy?
I'm not entirely sure if this was Tom King's intention, but he seems to be saying that superheroes in reality would not, in fact, make it better; that the world would be more or less the same, and that superheroes are, in the grand scheme of things, £%^$!@ing useless. Not if they don't attempt to change the status quo.
Well, maybe it's lucky for us then that Jenny Sparks is no superhero. Or, she is perhaps the most unconventional superhero I have ever seen. No costume, no flash and bang (except with her lightning powers), no pretension, no ego, no @$*%@s given, she's a semi-immortal woman who has lived and seen far too much, and it is extremely hard for her not to be cynical. In that, the reader sympathises with the extremely coarse and rough woman.
Jenny Sparks, the Spirit of the 20th Century, has learned much in her long life, too. Perhaps she will save the day - save the world - perhaps she won't. But she will do it her way, without the need for any costumed vigilantes and "gods". Without the ineffectual "Justice" League.
Superpowered people, who in real life would be exploited, taken advantage of, abused, ignored, forgotten, traumatised, and/or burnt out, might end up becoming more of a danger to society and humanity than its saviour...
Jenny Sparks did not seem to be a heroine I would like, despite her being a British (like moi!) antiheroine in a DC comic. She smokes - and I mean she's always smoking, it's her gimmick - and she's borderline suicidal (that she can't die is more of a tragedy than a second chance kind of epiphany for her), and she swears on nearly every page and panel she's in. Quite hilariously, DC censors every swearword in the volume, despite its 17+ rating, and there is a lot of cursing, so it can get annoying and irksome. Just look at how I've been doing it in this review so far, to prove my point, and even then I'm restraining myself.
*Ahem*, anyway:
But hey, I'll forever praise unconventionality in heroines. I appreciate and admire how honest, carefree (in her personal life, that is), and snarky Jenny is. She really does not give a $£@* what anyone thinks of her. She's over a hundred and twenty years old, why would she care about being "unlikeable"? She's fed up with everything, she's cynical as all $!"&@, but she isn't heartless. In fact, she cares deeply. She knows what's what and where's where, and she won't allow herself or anyone else to go too far off the deep end - when it comes to surviving a "civilised" society. Both self-destruction and the deconstruction of others (deliberate or not) are a slippery slope. And they can be connected.
Jenny legitimately tells it like it is, and is not afraid to mouth off any superhero. She's not afraid to tell them off, to challenge any of them on how they do things.
Keeping heroes in check and making sure they don't fall from grace and lose their way and become monsters is pretty much Jenny Sparks' job in the DCU. She's like the world's most knowledgeable, yet reluctant and weary therapist. A wise, deadpan, cranky woman with a cigarette, who can make lightning with a snap of her fingers.
She wants everyone to be better, for !%*&'s sake. That's her immortal life's purpose, no matter how fruitless it proves to be, again and again.
British, chain-smoking, foulmouthed, dressed like a Spice Girl, and too human to be described as a thunder goddess - Jenny Sparks is a very unique antiheroine.
'Jenny Sparks: Be Better' - what a comic for our times. The crassness, the blatancy, the shocks (in more than one sense), the violence, the depression, the rage, the intensity, the political, economical and social critiques. It is an edgelordian superhero comic with brains and a point, and a catharsis the end. It holds nothing back. It is a wakeup call for us all. It is a common sense relief from the insanity.
It is brutally true to life, yet hopeful.
It takes a while to get invested in, and it is a slow-burner, but it is worth it. It contains Tom King's trademark wordy and bordering-on pretentious dialogue, where people talk like they know they're in a story and so try to be as impressive and obvious in their speeches as possible. But it's not so bad here.
Plus, Tom King has been busy lately, hasn't he? Uncommonly so. He's been hired to write for comics everywhere now. Nothing against him personally, but why is this white guy with a mixed bag writing career suddenly, seemingly writing every comic? He's on 'Trinity: Daughter of Wonder Woman' at the moment, WTF? Why? Seriously, it's like he never sleeps.
Although, I like 'Helen of Wyndhorn'.
*Ahem*, anyway :
'Jenny Sparks', for a comic meant to introduce readers of 2024 to the titular character, who was originally created in 1996 for the 'Stormwatch' comic series by WildStorm, in the DCU, it doesn't really explain how Jenny became immortal, nor why she looks young despite first dying when she was ninety-nine years old. Is it to do with her lightning powers? How does that work? What's that about? Is she really supposed to be Charles Darwin's great-granddaughter?
Oh well, who gives a @$£!%?
'Jenny Sparks: Be Better' contains poignant LBGTQ+ themes, and pop culture as well as historical analysis themes, to boot. It is epic.
I shall, finally, sign off here.
As Jenny Sparks would say: Bloody hell, she don't half talk a lot of bollocks, does she? What a writing windbag! Fuck! (You got a light?)
(I love everyone. I love you all. Take care of yourselves. Bye.)
Final Score: 4/5
March 29, 2025
Not my cup of tea. Tom King has a theme that he returns to again and again: post traumatic stress, the kind experienced by people in the military or spy agencies. My take is that he’s working through some of his own issues. I am getting tired of it in superhero comics. King has used this in Mister Miracle, Strange Adventures, and now Jenny Sparks. Although Jenny isn’t the one with these problems. It’s the antagonist, Captain Atom, who wants to worshipped as a god, and has taken hostages in an LA bar. Seven issues, where Captain Atom has these hostages and the Justice League is ineffective. Enter, Jenny Sparks, a character I do really like, but I think it could as well have been John Constantine in this story. King does have an interesting thing about Captain Atom, exploring his God like powers, which is similar to Dr Manhattan from the Watchmen (Manhattan was extrapolated from Captain Atom in Alan Moore’s conception). But ultimately I could see the final story play out from the first chapter, and it was boring. I got tired of King’s usual gimmick of flashbacks every two pages. I do like King’s stuff like The Human Target or Gotham City Year One.
March 3, 2025
As base & bereft as King's *Rorschach* is, it has a creativity & unexpectedness wholly absent from his *Jenny Sparks*, which travesties both Moore's & Gibbons's *Watchmen* & Ellis's & Hitch's *Authority*. Hard to believe this is the same writer as *Gotham Y1* or *Human Target*
June 7, 2025
This is the brilliant thing King does. Take a C level character, make it literally, make it philosophical…and make it the most relevant thing that it can be!
June 20, 2025
There was a Justice League piss-take team called The Authority at the end of the ‘90s created by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch. Both The Authority and Ellis have been cancelled, in different meanings of the word, since then (Hitch is still knocking around) and one of the founding members of that team was Jenny Sparks, the Spirit of the 20th Century.
One of the least interesting characters in the group, she nevertheless featured in a pretty decent one and done spin-off by Mark Millar and Frank Quitely, back when that pair took over The Authority after Ellis/Hitch moved on to bigger and better things. And that was the last I thought about the character.
The Authority has been brought back in different iterations since then - New 52 Stormwatch (the earlier sort-of version of The Authority) and The Wild Storm - with varying success but no lasting impression or big enough sales to keep it in print for long. Jenny may have been in those titles but I don’t remember.
Anyhoodles, Tom “Brings Back Obscure Characters And Does Crap Comics About Them” King has brought back Jenny Sparks in this rather crap comic with artist Jeff Spokes. He pits her against an even more unknown character, Captain Atom. The Captain is missing a few electrons because he’s decided that he’s God, taken several hostages in a bar, and will destroy creation. Somehow, Jenny Sparks - an immortal with electricity powers - will be able to defeat a being even the Justice League - yes, including Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and SUPERMAN - can’t.
I’ve read a lot of DC Comics and don’t think I’ve ever read a single Captain Atom - not that there’s all that many of them out there. Maybe that general lack of knowledge in the average comics reader informed the choice of Atom as villain. Because it doesn’t seem likely that he would be able to withstand simultaneous attacks from so many god-powered characters like Superman and Wonder Woman, but he does, and maybe he is just that more powerful than everyone. Maybe that’s why he’s not all that popular a character - he’s way too overpowered?
What actually did happen to The Authority - why is Jenny on her own? No idea. If she’s the Spirit of the 20th Century, why is she alive in the 21st - and if she is, shouldn’t she be a baby/child in the flashbacks to the early ‘00s? No idea. What about her relatively unimpressive power profile makes her best suited to being a cop for superheroes? No idea. Hmm. This general lack of explanation is partly why the comic is garbage.
The main reason is that the story is so bleeding boring. The characters sit in one location and natter on. And on. And on. Occasionally there’s a fight scene. Then more nattering. On. And on. And neither Jenny nor Atom are interesting speakers. Meanwhile we have lofty flashbacks to the significant events of the 21st century thus far - 9/11, the Iraq/Afghanistan war, the ‘08 crash, Bin Laden’s assassination, Trump, and COVID - to no real effect besides “America’s done some bad stuff and been through some shit”. Deep.
In King’s hands, Jenny herself just isn’t a compelling lead. She smokes constantly, she’s cynical, she has a potty mouth - therefore she’s kewl! … No, she’s a gassed-up mid who can’t carry her own book. At least not one written by late-career Tom King.
Oh and speaking of potty mouth - DC Black Label. Remember what that was supposed to be? A line of comics meant for adults. Where you could show excessive violence and gore, nudity, adult situations, Batman’s peen, and print swear words, all without censorship. So why publish Jenny Sparks under the DC Black Label if you’re going to replace swear words with grawlix on every @#%$ing page?! It’s not @#%$ing funny, it’s so @#%$ing annoying and only becomes more @#%$ing annoying as the book goes on! @#%$ you DC for being utter pansies about swears in your “grown-up” line of comics.
Jeff Spokes’ art isn’t bad. A little too static for my taste but certainly not bad. And the style of the comic is good - you can tell that Tom King knows how to write a good comic because the presentation and tone is all there on the page; he’s written some great comics in his career - but King used to deliver great content along with the style and that’s entirely missing nowadays in his work.
Now, all you get is a lot of boring blather. A lot of boring action. Unmemorable, disjointed scene after scene. Seven issues of instantly-forgettable nothing. I’m not even sure how Jenny Sparks bested Captain Atom at the end. Or even if she did! That’s how fucking (that’s how it’s done “Black Label”) awful the story is.
It’s genuinely astonishing to me how everything King’s written outside of Batman is so underwhelming-to-poor. Jamie S. Rich, his editor on Batman, must’ve done a shit load of heavy lifting to get his scripts into the top tier Batman comics they became. That’s the only explanation I can see for this discrepancy.
And so it goes with Jenny Sparks - a spark-less, lifeless, DOA comic not worth your time. The Spirit of the 20th Century, like The Authority, is a thing best left in the past because it simply doesn’t work in more modern times.
One of the least interesting characters in the group, she nevertheless featured in a pretty decent one and done spin-off by Mark Millar and Frank Quitely, back when that pair took over The Authority after Ellis/Hitch moved on to bigger and better things. And that was the last I thought about the character.
The Authority has been brought back in different iterations since then - New 52 Stormwatch (the earlier sort-of version of The Authority) and The Wild Storm - with varying success but no lasting impression or big enough sales to keep it in print for long. Jenny may have been in those titles but I don’t remember.
Anyhoodles, Tom “Brings Back Obscure Characters And Does Crap Comics About Them” King has brought back Jenny Sparks in this rather crap comic with artist Jeff Spokes. He pits her against an even more unknown character, Captain Atom. The Captain is missing a few electrons because he’s decided that he’s God, taken several hostages in a bar, and will destroy creation. Somehow, Jenny Sparks - an immortal with electricity powers - will be able to defeat a being even the Justice League - yes, including Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and SUPERMAN - can’t.
I’ve read a lot of DC Comics and don’t think I’ve ever read a single Captain Atom - not that there’s all that many of them out there. Maybe that general lack of knowledge in the average comics reader informed the choice of Atom as villain. Because it doesn’t seem likely that he would be able to withstand simultaneous attacks from so many god-powered characters like Superman and Wonder Woman, but he does, and maybe he is just that more powerful than everyone. Maybe that’s why he’s not all that popular a character - he’s way too overpowered?
What actually did happen to The Authority - why is Jenny on her own? No idea. If she’s the Spirit of the 20th Century, why is she alive in the 21st - and if she is, shouldn’t she be a baby/child in the flashbacks to the early ‘00s? No idea. What about her relatively unimpressive power profile makes her best suited to being a cop for superheroes? No idea. Hmm. This general lack of explanation is partly why the comic is garbage.
The main reason is that the story is so bleeding boring. The characters sit in one location and natter on. And on. And on. Occasionally there’s a fight scene. Then more nattering. On. And on. And neither Jenny nor Atom are interesting speakers. Meanwhile we have lofty flashbacks to the significant events of the 21st century thus far - 9/11, the Iraq/Afghanistan war, the ‘08 crash, Bin Laden’s assassination, Trump, and COVID - to no real effect besides “America’s done some bad stuff and been through some shit”. Deep.
In King’s hands, Jenny herself just isn’t a compelling lead. She smokes constantly, she’s cynical, she has a potty mouth - therefore she’s kewl! … No, she’s a gassed-up mid who can’t carry her own book. At least not one written by late-career Tom King.
Oh and speaking of potty mouth - DC Black Label. Remember what that was supposed to be? A line of comics meant for adults. Where you could show excessive violence and gore, nudity, adult situations, Batman’s peen, and print swear words, all without censorship. So why publish Jenny Sparks under the DC Black Label if you’re going to replace swear words with grawlix on every @#%$ing page?! It’s not @#%$ing funny, it’s so @#%$ing annoying and only becomes more @#%$ing annoying as the book goes on! @#%$ you DC for being utter pansies about swears in your “grown-up” line of comics.
Jeff Spokes’ art isn’t bad. A little too static for my taste but certainly not bad. And the style of the comic is good - you can tell that Tom King knows how to write a good comic because the presentation and tone is all there on the page; he’s written some great comics in his career - but King used to deliver great content along with the style and that’s entirely missing nowadays in his work.
Now, all you get is a lot of boring blather. A lot of boring action. Unmemorable, disjointed scene after scene. Seven issues of instantly-forgettable nothing. I’m not even sure how Jenny Sparks bested Captain Atom at the end. Or even if she did! That’s how fucking (that’s how it’s done “Black Label”) awful the story is.
It’s genuinely astonishing to me how everything King’s written outside of Batman is so underwhelming-to-poor. Jamie S. Rich, his editor on Batman, must’ve done a shit load of heavy lifting to get his scripts into the top tier Batman comics they became. That’s the only explanation I can see for this discrepancy.
And so it goes with Jenny Sparks - a spark-less, lifeless, DOA comic not worth your time. The Spirit of the 20th Century, like The Authority, is a thing best left in the past because it simply doesn’t work in more modern times.
October 11, 2025
Jenny Sparks' ugly, beautiful, petty, sacrosanct nihilism is the best (cleanest) summation of the 21st century's dispensation of situational ethics. Humanity is killing itself. What privileges of ego lie in wait when one's external precedents (heroism) and internal ambitions (victimhood) merge?
JENNY SPARKS is the kind of comic book one usually reads about in the footnotes of academic papers or non-fiction literature on the role of comics narration in an evolving cultural milieu. It's the kind of book whose narrow focus, limited cast, and decadent dialogue is best read in a single sitting. And it's the kind of book that's difficult to recommend in good faith, due to the eternally unanswerable question of, "Will they get it?"
Sparks is an immortal Brit whose abilities include harnessing lightning, her biting wit, and a credulous disdain for humankind's ongoing inability to learn its lesson (i.e., being 124-years-old, she tends to bear witness regardless of her intentions). This combination of traits may not seem like much, but Sparks' fierce denialism of the virtues of being a superhero means that superheroes only turn to her when they absolutely need her. And goodness, do they hate it when they need her. Because when the hero community needs Jenny Sparks, it means a lot of bad things are coming down the pike.
In JENNY SPARKS, Captain Atom is in the middle of a psychotic break. He's reached the farthest logical extent of his physical powers (e.g., manually annihilating and reconstituting the atomic structure of the world around him), and folks are universally convinced the guy needs to be stopped before he destroys everyone and everything. And that's where Sparks comes in.
Whether Sparks kills the man or merely incapacitates him enough to haul him back to the hospital is not entirely irrelevant; more importantly, the book focuses on Sparks' ability to cajole, talk around, and maneuver into the mind of a man whose nascent godhood is a threat. There's plenty of physical fighting in this comic book. But Sparks' specialty lies beyond crushing foes with lightning. Sparks' specialty rests in her ability to expose people's indulgences, eviscerate their vulnerabilities, and humor their piousness for that crisp, dreamy moment before it all comes crashing down.
Captain Atom, in the present case, is one such superhero in need of a reality check. The problem, however, is that it's difficult to get a man to refocus on reality when the man, himself, is capable of rewriting the laws of physics. A man scarred by his service in the American war in Vietnam and the subsequent socio-political undercurrents that swept him under its backlash, Captain Atom is a duteous fellow whose sense of patriotism and sense of betrayal are deeply intertwined.
JENNY SPARKS takes place, largely, in a single downtown bar. The bar's occupants include a handful of urbanites with their own assortment of domestic issues, many of which reflect or refract the world's multipolar and multicultural shifts over the past half-century. The fact that Captain Atom may well use these individuals as hostages until the world acknowledges his increased madness as godhood is not coincidental. The world has changed. The world continues to change. Who will change with it?
Comics fans have previously encountered conversations on the salience of superheroes whose sanity and morality clashed with their mortality in characters such as Sentry (Robert Reynolds), Mar-Vell, and others. Captain Atom's instability is similarly ripe for exploration. The book's creative team wisely chose Sparks as the investigator for this destroyer of atoms because the woman's listless jawing, indifference to violence, and disgust for truths that go nowhere make her part-executioner and part-therapist. Which role will Jenny Sparks inhabit when the time comes?
The writing is sharp, but almost overly so. The book's pacing is very particular, and readers unaccustomed to more academically-minded comics may not grasp the title's deliberate, idiosyncratic pauses or repetitions (e.g., cutting between multiple scenes/locations; dramatically shifting the visual perspective of a tightly wound conversation). Much like how the story takes a circuitous route to expose readers to the world through Sparks' eyes (e.g., market crashes, elections, terrorist events, pandemics), so also, one finds, the story requires patience to view the world through the eyes of Captain Atom (and his hostages). JENNY SPARKS is about perspective.
The challenge, of course, is that readers must embed with Sparks' distaste for the corruptive institutions that push humans forward (without ever truly enriching them), while at the same time convincing themselves that Sparks is intelligent and resilient enough to defeat a man with the power to remake the fabric of the universe. Sparks isn't fearless, she's just pissed off. She's defiant, yes, but not because humans don't deserve better; Sparks is defiant because she knows humanity will probably never earn it for itself.
JENNY SPARKS is the kind of comic book one usually reads about in the footnotes of academic papers or non-fiction literature on the role of comics narration in an evolving cultural milieu. It's the kind of book whose narrow focus, limited cast, and decadent dialogue is best read in a single sitting. And it's the kind of book that's difficult to recommend in good faith, due to the eternally unanswerable question of, "Will they get it?"
Sparks is an immortal Brit whose abilities include harnessing lightning, her biting wit, and a credulous disdain for humankind's ongoing inability to learn its lesson (i.e., being 124-years-old, she tends to bear witness regardless of her intentions). This combination of traits may not seem like much, but Sparks' fierce denialism of the virtues of being a superhero means that superheroes only turn to her when they absolutely need her. And goodness, do they hate it when they need her. Because when the hero community needs Jenny Sparks, it means a lot of bad things are coming down the pike.
In JENNY SPARKS, Captain Atom is in the middle of a psychotic break. He's reached the farthest logical extent of his physical powers (e.g., manually annihilating and reconstituting the atomic structure of the world around him), and folks are universally convinced the guy needs to be stopped before he destroys everyone and everything. And that's where Sparks comes in.
Whether Sparks kills the man or merely incapacitates him enough to haul him back to the hospital is not entirely irrelevant; more importantly, the book focuses on Sparks' ability to cajole, talk around, and maneuver into the mind of a man whose nascent godhood is a threat. There's plenty of physical fighting in this comic book. But Sparks' specialty lies beyond crushing foes with lightning. Sparks' specialty rests in her ability to expose people's indulgences, eviscerate their vulnerabilities, and humor their piousness for that crisp, dreamy moment before it all comes crashing down.
Captain Atom, in the present case, is one such superhero in need of a reality check. The problem, however, is that it's difficult to get a man to refocus on reality when the man, himself, is capable of rewriting the laws of physics. A man scarred by his service in the American war in Vietnam and the subsequent socio-political undercurrents that swept him under its backlash, Captain Atom is a duteous fellow whose sense of patriotism and sense of betrayal are deeply intertwined.
JENNY SPARKS takes place, largely, in a single downtown bar. The bar's occupants include a handful of urbanites with their own assortment of domestic issues, many of which reflect or refract the world's multipolar and multicultural shifts over the past half-century. The fact that Captain Atom may well use these individuals as hostages until the world acknowledges his increased madness as godhood is not coincidental. The world has changed. The world continues to change. Who will change with it?
Comics fans have previously encountered conversations on the salience of superheroes whose sanity and morality clashed with their mortality in characters such as Sentry (Robert Reynolds), Mar-Vell, and others. Captain Atom's instability is similarly ripe for exploration. The book's creative team wisely chose Sparks as the investigator for this destroyer of atoms because the woman's listless jawing, indifference to violence, and disgust for truths that go nowhere make her part-executioner and part-therapist. Which role will Jenny Sparks inhabit when the time comes?
The writing is sharp, but almost overly so. The book's pacing is very particular, and readers unaccustomed to more academically-minded comics may not grasp the title's deliberate, idiosyncratic pauses or repetitions (e.g., cutting between multiple scenes/locations; dramatically shifting the visual perspective of a tightly wound conversation). Much like how the story takes a circuitous route to expose readers to the world through Sparks' eyes (e.g., market crashes, elections, terrorist events, pandemics), so also, one finds, the story requires patience to view the world through the eyes of Captain Atom (and his hostages). JENNY SPARKS is about perspective.
The challenge, of course, is that readers must embed with Sparks' distaste for the corruptive institutions that push humans forward (without ever truly enriching them), while at the same time convincing themselves that Sparks is intelligent and resilient enough to defeat a man with the power to remake the fabric of the universe. Sparks isn't fearless, she's just pissed off. She's defiant, yes, but not because humans don't deserve better; Sparks is defiant because she knows humanity will probably never earn it for itself.
February 24, 2025
En realidad serían dos estrellas y media. La verdad es que no soy muy fan de Tom King. En su momento disfruté mucho de su miniserie de Vision para Marvel (que fue lo que catapultó su carrera), pero cuando hice una relectura la verdad es que ya no me gustó tanto. Y su trabajo en DC a mi no me ha convencido demasiado. Creo que es un escritor pretencioso que busca "dejar su huella indeleble" en lo que toca (y en algunos casos lo ha logrado, como con Batman donde mató a Alfred y este sigue en ese estado). Sin embargo en las historias que ha publicado fuera de continuidad siento que su trabajo es aún peor. Creo que su intención es llevar al límite a los personajes hasta hacerlos irreconocibles. Y, para mi, eso es muy molesto. Ahora, debo decir que, otra vez, para mi, en este caso la situación era peor. He leído muy poco de "The Authority" y lo que todos consideran una obra maestra (lo de Warren Ellis y Bryan Hitch) honestamente jamás me ha llamado la atención. No soy fan de estas historias "realistas" y violentas de finales del siglo pasado y principios de este y teniendo tantas cosas que leer y tan poco tiempo la verdad es que jamás ha pasado ni por mi cabeza hacerlo. Así que, pues sabía muy poco (digamos que nada) de este personaje. Entonces, si no me gusta mucho Tom King y aquí no había algún personaje que me interesa ¿cual fue la razón por la cual tomé esta mini-serie? Ni yo mismo lo se.
De todas las que ha escrito Tom King para Black Label esta es la peor de todas. En ella vemos no nada mas a Jenny Sparks (la protagonista, obvio) sino a otro grupo de héroes de DC en particular Superman y Batman enfrentándose a una amenaza mayor, Captain Atom. Aunque tampoco soy fan de Captain Atom (bueno, en verdad que hacía leyendo esto) honestamente sentí que la manera en que Tom King ha tratado a muchos de los héroes clásicos no ha sido la adecuada. Si se orinó horriblemente en Ice en su mini-serie de Human Target, aquí hasta defecó en el personaje. Y es que la verdad me choca que los vuelvan locos y megalómanos nada mas porque si. Me parece que, habiendo tantas historias interesantes que se podrían escribir de estos personajes, el cambiar tanto su status quo es cansado. A lo largo de los siete números (si, en algún punto agregaron un número mas) jamás nos interesamos en conocer mas de Jenny Sparks. Solo sabemos que es nieta de Charles Darwin y que supuestamente tiene 125 años aunque también insisten en que murió en 1999. Jamás se explica como revivió, a no ser el hecho de que al parecer no puede morir su otro poder tiene que ver con los rayos y obvio jamás se explica la razón por la cual Batman y Superman deja que ella los trate como si fueran héroes de tercera y porque decidieron que ella fuera una especie de policía para los súper héroes.
Honestamente, lo único bueno de la misma fue el arte. Siento que como en su momento pasó con Jeph Loeb, DC lo está cobijando con dibujantes muy buenos y aquí no es la excepción. Jeff Spokes lo hace bastante bien. Pero fuera de eso la verdad es que para mi fue una mini-serie que no podría decir cansada (la leí en dos noches pero mas por falta de tiempo, lo pude haber hecho en una) pero si desgastante, donde el personaje principal para ser "edgy" y "real" fuma y dice malas palabras todo el tiempo. Si la intención de DC (que lo dudo) era que uno se acercara a encarnaciones previas de este personaje, en mi caso no lo logró.
De todas las que ha escrito Tom King para Black Label esta es la peor de todas. En ella vemos no nada mas a Jenny Sparks (la protagonista, obvio) sino a otro grupo de héroes de DC en particular Superman y Batman enfrentándose a una amenaza mayor, Captain Atom. Aunque tampoco soy fan de Captain Atom (bueno, en verdad que hacía leyendo esto) honestamente sentí que la manera en que Tom King ha tratado a muchos de los héroes clásicos no ha sido la adecuada. Si se orinó horriblemente en Ice en su mini-serie de Human Target, aquí hasta defecó en el personaje. Y es que la verdad me choca que los vuelvan locos y megalómanos nada mas porque si. Me parece que, habiendo tantas historias interesantes que se podrían escribir de estos personajes, el cambiar tanto su status quo es cansado. A lo largo de los siete números (si, en algún punto agregaron un número mas) jamás nos interesamos en conocer mas de Jenny Sparks. Solo sabemos que es nieta de Charles Darwin y que supuestamente tiene 125 años aunque también insisten en que murió en 1999. Jamás se explica como revivió, a no ser el hecho de que al parecer no puede morir su otro poder tiene que ver con los rayos y obvio jamás se explica la razón por la cual Batman y Superman deja que ella los trate como si fueran héroes de tercera y porque decidieron que ella fuera una especie de policía para los súper héroes.
Honestamente, lo único bueno de la misma fue el arte. Siento que como en su momento pasó con Jeph Loeb, DC lo está cobijando con dibujantes muy buenos y aquí no es la excepción. Jeff Spokes lo hace bastante bien. Pero fuera de eso la verdad es que para mi fue una mini-serie que no podría decir cansada (la leí en dos noches pero mas por falta de tiempo, lo pude haber hecho en una) pero si desgastante, donde el personaje principal para ser "edgy" y "real" fuma y dice malas palabras todo el tiempo. Si la intención de DC (que lo dudo) era que uno se acercara a encarnaciones previas de este personaje, en mi caso no lo logró.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 26, 2025
It may be lazy and reductive to call Tom King's writing a near-equal mix of Alan Moore and Brian Bendis, but it's also not entirely inaccurate. And this has arguably never been more the case than in King's latest limited series, Jenny Sparks. While it's hard not to notice how almost the entire comic is told through "widescreen" panels that pays homage to the character's Authority roots, it's a book that is very much informed most by Moore's willingness to play with form (in this case the book's non-linear storytelling) and subtext, along with a certain... cuteness and idiosyncrasy in the dialogue and characterization that is clearly influenced more by Bendis than Ellis - even if Jenny's cynicism is very much in keeping with Ellis' characterization of the character. Though, certainly, the Moore influence wins over in his very Dr-Manhattan-like depiction of Captain Atom (who was, of course, the direct inspiration for Dr Manhattan in Watchmen).
Which is all to say that if you don't generally vibe with King's writing, I can't imagine you not despising this book. It is the most Tom Kingy book to come along in a while. So much so, that even I, an avid Tom King fan, found it a bit too cute for its own good at times. And, if you really break it down, the actual plot here is extremely simple and can easily be accused of being decompressed (hello again, Mr Bendis) - even if I think it easily gets away with it as this is clearly a character- and theme-driven book.
I do, however, take issue with what one of the other reviewers said about the book: that it's just King indulging in his favourite subject - PTSD - yet again. That's clearly not the main theme underlying this story. What it is, is an exploration of Jenny Sparks as "the spirit of the 20th century" and how her still existing in the 21st century plays into how this century has so far been an extension of the last - and possibly just a darker reflection of it. King's apparent claim that the general forward momentum of Western society that defined the mid to late 90s was, in retrospect, a much less appropriate fit for anti-heroes like the Authority than the 2020s - and indeed the entire 21st century has been. More importantly, it's especially heartbreaking to notice so much of the hope of the '90s squandered on a quarter century that has seen some progress, yes, but in other respects has either regressed society to the worst times of the 20th century or invented all new horrible things with which we might destroy ourselves.
It's genuinely thought-provoking, if at times quite bleak, stuff, but it's also a very entertaining read (though, as always with much of King's work is better when read as being out-of-continuity or even as an Elseworlds title) with some wonderful, Adam-Hughes-like art by Jeff Spokes. It's neither King's most accessible work nor his very best, but it is a nice reminder of King's status as a superhero writer who understands their potential for allegory and as a comics writer that takes the medium itself very seriously.
Which is all to say that if you don't generally vibe with King's writing, I can't imagine you not despising this book. It is the most Tom Kingy book to come along in a while. So much so, that even I, an avid Tom King fan, found it a bit too cute for its own good at times. And, if you really break it down, the actual plot here is extremely simple and can easily be accused of being decompressed (hello again, Mr Bendis) - even if I think it easily gets away with it as this is clearly a character- and theme-driven book.
I do, however, take issue with what one of the other reviewers said about the book: that it's just King indulging in his favourite subject - PTSD - yet again. That's clearly not the main theme underlying this story. What it is, is an exploration of Jenny Sparks as "the spirit of the 20th century" and how her still existing in the 21st century plays into how this century has so far been an extension of the last - and possibly just a darker reflection of it. King's apparent claim that the general forward momentum of Western society that defined the mid to late 90s was, in retrospect, a much less appropriate fit for anti-heroes like the Authority than the 2020s - and indeed the entire 21st century has been. More importantly, it's especially heartbreaking to notice so much of the hope of the '90s squandered on a quarter century that has seen some progress, yes, but in other respects has either regressed society to the worst times of the 20th century or invented all new horrible things with which we might destroy ourselves.
It's genuinely thought-provoking, if at times quite bleak, stuff, but it's also a very entertaining read (though, as always with much of King's work is better when read as being out-of-continuity or even as an Elseworlds title) with some wonderful, Adam-Hughes-like art by Jeff Spokes. It's neither King's most accessible work nor his very best, but it is a nice reminder of King's status as a superhero writer who understands their potential for allegory and as a comics writer that takes the medium itself very seriously.
Read
April 6, 2025Jenny Sparks is a tough one. This book is a Tom King book through and through with a compelling conceit: some believed the fall of the USSR heralded an "end of history" with US hegemony, but 9/11 and the ensuing chaos of the twenty-first century quickly dispelled that notion. King decided to comment on all of this using Jenny Sparks, who embodies the twentieth century and wishes she could have passed away at that century's close. If you have no interest in reading King comment on current events, avoid this book. However, I was intrigued and impressed by how candidly DC allowed King to cover topics from the 2008 financial crisis to the 2020 pandemic.
Beyond its political edge, Jenny Sparks is stylistically aggressive in a way that will delight some (as it generally did for me) and frustrate others (as it occasionally did for me). The storytelling heavily employs repetition - both in dialogue and visuals - with frequent use of the nine panel grid and extremely thin horizontal panels. Artist Jeff Spokes (with whom I was unfamiliar beforehand) deftly pulls off this approach with a keen sense of how to direct the reader's eye. His linework is crisp and detailed. His color pallettes are pleasing and contribute to the precise storytelling.
Sparks herself could likewise grate on readers. She is cynical, sarcastic, and constantly asking for a light to smoke cigarettes. She swears with every other word and takes the piss out of Superman, Batman, and other heroes. Readers have to detect a lot of what she means fron subtext, but King and Spokes put in the work to peel back the layers of what makes her tick. As someone who is likewise very cynical, I got a kick out of Sparks and found her tragic but hopeful. Despite the fact that this book falls under the adult-oriented DC Black Label, it oddly uses typical comic book @$#$* symbols to swear rather than the words themselves. I wonder if this was a choice or a limitation - King has fun with the device by having Sparks curse so much at times that her dialogue consists entirely of those silly symbols.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and its unapologetic storytelling. I think readers will either love it or hate it, and I fall into the former camp. I wouldn't recommend it without heavy qualifiers though.
Beyond its political edge, Jenny Sparks is stylistically aggressive in a way that will delight some (as it generally did for me) and frustrate others (as it occasionally did for me). The storytelling heavily employs repetition - both in dialogue and visuals - with frequent use of the nine panel grid and extremely thin horizontal panels. Artist Jeff Spokes (with whom I was unfamiliar beforehand) deftly pulls off this approach with a keen sense of how to direct the reader's eye. His linework is crisp and detailed. His color pallettes are pleasing and contribute to the precise storytelling.
Sparks herself could likewise grate on readers. She is cynical, sarcastic, and constantly asking for a light to smoke cigarettes. She swears with every other word and takes the piss out of Superman, Batman, and other heroes. Readers have to detect a lot of what she means fron subtext, but King and Spokes put in the work to peel back the layers of what makes her tick. As someone who is likewise very cynical, I got a kick out of Sparks and found her tragic but hopeful. Despite the fact that this book falls under the adult-oriented DC Black Label, it oddly uses typical comic book @$#$* symbols to swear rather than the words themselves. I wonder if this was a choice or a limitation - King has fun with the device by having Sparks curse so much at times that her dialogue consists entirely of those silly symbols.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and its unapologetic storytelling. I think readers will either love it or hate it, and I fall into the former camp. I wouldn't recommend it without heavy qualifiers though.
October 8, 2025
Unfortunately, this was mid. Look, I think Tom King's comics are MASSIVELY overhated by people (and also immediately dismissed bc of his time in the CIA? like bro are you just now finding out that sometimes good art is made by people who are perhaps not the best?) and while King is hit or miss for me, I generally like the Tom King-isms he employs. I like the exploration of trauma, which is why I was so let down by Heroes in Crisis throwing that away to be a generic murder mystery. I like his use of paneling, which was done phenomenally in Mister Miracle. And while I'm not super well-versed in StormWatch or the Authority, I do like what I've seen of Jenny Sparks. I just found this one to be pretty dull and not super interesting, and Jenny always felt like a bit of a cliche. I never bought the reasoning as for why Captain Atom went bad, and I also didn't think it was adequately explained as to why Jenny Sparks, the SPIRIT OF THE 20TH CENTURY, was in the 21st century when her WHOLE THING as a Century Baby is that she is only alive for her century. I get the intended commentary but it falls apart since Jenny Crisis AND Jenny Quantum both are there as Century Babies for the 21st century, and the reason given seems to be "Jenny Sparks came back bc 9/11" which. dude.
Could have been much better if it had been set during the 20th century or maybe been some sort of multiversal or time-travel story with Crisis and Quantum there too.
Could have been much better if it had been set during the 20th century or maybe been some sort of multiversal or time-travel story with Crisis and Quantum there too.
October 10, 2025
En la reintrodución del Universo Wildstorm al canon DCita actual, por supuesto que debería existir cabida para el Espíritu del S. XX(I)... De hecho, el nuevo comic OUTSIDERS buscaba un curioso legado al personaje... Pero evidentemente, lo seguro es volver a poner a Jenny Sparks en el candelero... ¿Y cómo lo haría Tom King, autor designado en el sello Black Label?... Pues entrado el meridiano de la miniserie se descubre un reciente evento histórico que sigue conmocionando nuestra realidad... Pero el conjunto está totalmente encaminado en aprovechar la dinámica hiper anti heroíca del personaje de Jenny Sparks con la recién y devastadora personalidad de dios amoral del Capitán Atomo. El personaje que fue reconvertido por Alan Moore a Dr. Manhattan en Watchmen aquí recoge la siembre argumental de esa variante... Y es que esta Jenny Sparks prácticamente se siente un spin-off de Watchmen. Aunque Superman y otros héroes harán acto de presencia, la propuesta pasa por un sinfín de auto cuestionamientos de la moralidad del género sueper comic book y existencialismos varios donde hasta es complicado seguirle el juego a la cínica Jenny en su intento de acercarse al arquetipo más "pijamero" de su profesión.
June 18, 2025
1.5 stars
King has written enough great comics that I keep reading him despite really not liking many of his recent releases, but this is now five big misses in the last six of his I’ve read (Helen of Wyndhorn being the one highlight).
These issues are stuffed with so many of his bad habits. Maybe the most difficult to overlook is a self-serious political message that invokes an obligatory greatest hits reel of post-2000 US history (9/11, 2008 crash, bin Laden assassination, Trump’s first election, covid-19) in order to vaguely gesture at the most obvious milquetoast commentary possible. I don’t mind his personal politics, but he just has nothing insightful to say about any of it. Beyond that there’s also a convoluted story framework that confuses hyperactive nonlinearity for sophistication, emotionally muted characters talking about trauma (and generally lots of people monologuing at each other instead of having conversations), needlessly inserted literary quotes, and of course so much #$% censored %$& cursing. Seriously, it’s a Black Label book; just type “fuck” and “shit” or else don’t, but please don’t fill this many pages full of this stupid punctuation.
King has written enough great comics that I keep reading him despite really not liking many of his recent releases, but this is now five big misses in the last six of his I’ve read (Helen of Wyndhorn being the one highlight).
These issues are stuffed with so many of his bad habits. Maybe the most difficult to overlook is a self-serious political message that invokes an obligatory greatest hits reel of post-2000 US history (9/11, 2008 crash, bin Laden assassination, Trump’s first election, covid-19) in order to vaguely gesture at the most obvious milquetoast commentary possible. I don’t mind his personal politics, but he just has nothing insightful to say about any of it. Beyond that there’s also a convoluted story framework that confuses hyperactive nonlinearity for sophistication, emotionally muted characters talking about trauma (and generally lots of people monologuing at each other instead of having conversations), needlessly inserted literary quotes, and of course so much #$% censored %$& cursing. Seriously, it’s a Black Label book; just type “fuck” and “shit” or else don’t, but please don’t fill this many pages full of this stupid punctuation.
July 10, 2025
What have they done to Jenny? Honestly, this story feels like it could have been told with John Constantine and made almost no difference. Making Captain Atom the antagonist requires a lot of work to justify, and I never really bought it. How he got from earlier iterations to this creature just didn't work for me, and his use didn't really justify it (nor did it justify the face-off with the Justice League - I understand power elasticity is needed, but this stretched credulity until it broke).
I think what really bothers me about this is that every character is acting out of character. Tom King is a great writer, but this is not showing off his abilities, and it feels like he crowbarred a story he wanted to tell into a setting that wasn't suited.
Personally, as much as I loved Jenny Sparks, isn't she supposed to be Jenny Quantum now? Or was that continuity jettisoned somewhere along the way? If it was done so just for this, it was definitely an unwarranted loss.
I think what really bothers me about this is that every character is acting out of character. Tom King is a great writer, but this is not showing off his abilities, and it feels like he crowbarred a story he wanted to tell into a setting that wasn't suited.
Personally, as much as I loved Jenny Sparks, isn't she supposed to be Jenny Quantum now? Or was that continuity jettisoned somewhere along the way? If it was done so just for this, it was definitely an unwarranted loss.
February 26, 2025
I know I keep rating King's work high, but for me he is earning these reviews (and yes I know I need to read his original not just work for hire writing).
Not only does he find a way, it comes in the last issue, to resurrect Jenny that almost makes sense, he does with Captain Atom what Alan Moore should have done with Dr. Manhattan.
Captain Atom is one scary mother f.....
Yeah, maybe King expands Atom's power and ability to control atoms to an over the top degree. He has taken a bar and its patrons hostage. So the JLA sends in Jenny to talk him down. Maybe not the best idea to send a foul mouthed, cynical spirit of the 20th century to talk down a man with severe delusions of godhood.
For all intents and purposes this series, excluding some interludes with the JLA, is a conversation between Captain Atom and Jenny Sparks. And, at least for me, it works.
Not only does he find a way, it comes in the last issue, to resurrect Jenny that almost makes sense, he does with Captain Atom what Alan Moore should have done with Dr. Manhattan.
Captain Atom is one scary mother f.....
Yeah, maybe King expands Atom's power and ability to control atoms to an over the top degree. He has taken a bar and its patrons hostage. So the JLA sends in Jenny to talk him down. Maybe not the best idea to send a foul mouthed, cynical spirit of the 20th century to talk down a man with severe delusions of godhood.
For all intents and purposes this series, excluding some interludes with the JLA, is a conversation between Captain Atom and Jenny Sparks. And, at least for me, it works.
February 6, 2025
The thing about this character is that she came from the wondrous and deeply weird imagination
of Warren Ellis.
Created for the original Wildstorm universe in the way back.
Jenny Sparks was part of the final arc on Storm Watch before it morphed
into The Authority which was entirely created by Ellis.
Jenny is the spirit of the 20th century.
The power to control electricity she is also forever 25 and perpetually pissy.
DC bought the rights to the defunct Wildstorm characters and have infrequently tried to introduce them into the DCU proper. Never really pulling it off.
So I will try these new series but I much prefer to just re read the greats.
of Warren Ellis.
Created for the original Wildstorm universe in the way back.
Jenny Sparks was part of the final arc on Storm Watch before it morphed
into The Authority which was entirely created by Ellis.
Jenny is the spirit of the 20th century.
The power to control electricity she is also forever 25 and perpetually pissy.
DC bought the rights to the defunct Wildstorm characters and have infrequently tried to introduce them into the DCU proper. Never really pulling it off.
So I will try these new series but I much prefer to just re read the greats.
May 2, 2025
Black Label's reboot(?) of Jenny Spark and the character/idea that Warren Ellis produced for 'The Authority'...
This version? Spirit of the 20th century, but we're clearly beyond the end of her holding that title. Seeminingly immortal, Jenny looks...stuck. Batman and Superman come to her and ask for her help in bringing in a mentally unhinged Captain Atom (this version wants to be God?)
What follows is the usual Tom King story. Your mileage may vary. Parts of it was fun. Parts of it were repetititve.
=======
Bonus: Was one of the hostages Jenny Crisis and I missed it? Century Babies, represent!
Bonus Bonus: This universe has no Authority either? Boo!
This version? Spirit of the 20th century, but we're clearly beyond the end of her holding that title. Seeminingly immortal, Jenny looks...stuck. Batman and Superman come to her and ask for her help in bringing in a mentally unhinged Captain Atom (this version wants to be God?)
What follows is the usual Tom King story. Your mileage may vary. Parts of it was fun. Parts of it were repetititve.
=======
Bonus: Was one of the hostages Jenny Crisis and I missed it? Century Babies, represent!
Bonus Bonus: This universe has no Authority either? Boo!
July 7, 2025
Has all the hallmarks of a tom king book. Started slow to see what the premise was with this introduction of random civilians. Then having no context for why Captain Atom is doing this and what role Jenny Sparks has in the dc universe. But each issue after the first one tackling a US world event was a cool motif.
The Covid scene between Superman and sparks was funny but at the same time encapsulates what the authority was about. Another highlight was the diner scene with Batman Superman and sparks talking.
The ending for king books are always hit or miss. This was a satisfying ending that gave a good reason for why they made a solo book about her.
The Covid scene between Superman and sparks was funny but at the same time encapsulates what the authority was about. Another highlight was the diner scene with Batman Superman and sparks talking.
The ending for king books are always hit or miss. This was a satisfying ending that gave a good reason for why they made a solo book about her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 4, 2025
The art is strong throughout. Unfortunately, this isn't one of King's best stories. Really dull, in fact. Jenny Sparks (who most people will probably say, "Who?" about) has to deal with Captain Atom, who suddenly goes crazy and starts exhibiting powers on the level of the Watchmen's Doctor Manhattan. Yet this is set in one location (a bar) and consists of lots and lots of talking and time jumps, some indicated and some not (which gets confusing at times). It just doesn't add up to much of anything by the end.
September 12, 2025
4.5 stars. I really liked this book, and it's a good attempt at slotting Jenny Sparks into the DCU (although, Black Label, so whatever out-of-continuity universe it is). King demonstrates a great, meta- approach with the story as, it is in truth, a conversation between Sparks and Dr Manhattan-original-inspiration-character, Captain Atom. And it really is Dr Manhattan because Atom's all-powerful and effectively God, like Manhattan. So King's story picks up on themes present in Watchmen and The Infinity Gauntlet - a character who is God.
And Jenny converses with him - how do you beat God when he goes tropo? It touches on the metaphysical, psychological and, inevitably, religious. Good discussions with things to say, in this discussion with a meta-Dr Manhattan sub-in. All the while having access to Jenny Sparks, the unique and interesting character that she is. It's a good and fluid read over the seven issues collected here.
And Jenny converses with him - how do you beat God when he goes tropo? It touches on the metaphysical, psychological and, inevitably, religious. Good discussions with things to say, in this discussion with a meta-Dr Manhattan sub-in. All the while having access to Jenny Sparks, the unique and interesting character that she is. It's a good and fluid read over the seven issues collected here.
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