JSA Review

[Fireintheskies]

Mike,

I've been enjoying for the most part listening to your show and I finally signed up to the forum. I have to say though, being an avid JSA fan, and hearing your thoughts about the legacy and importance of the JSA on your show, I was disappointed to see you didnt care for the issue you read and more that you were unlikely to give it a second chance. I'll admit that the issue you read, wasn't the best but that said, it was still better then 80% of what either company is putting out right now.

I think the biggest problem that JSA suffered with the issue that you read was that Geoff Johns wasn't able to put his normal level of attention to the book given what's happening with Infinite Crisis. Although I've been enjoying IC for the most part, I think with the number of books he is putting out right now, he can't keep them all top notch while a huge milepost event is taking place.

I can understand your thought about not being able to identify with characters that are so much older like the original Flash and Green Lantern, but as you said on the show...these guys are the ones who inspired everyone else to come and these are only three out of a couple of dozen characters that show up regularly in JSA's pages.

I really think, for the reasons you said on the show, should at least give JSA one more chance...but dont take that second chance from an ongoing issue until after 52 is over. Where you SHOULD give JSA a second chance is from one of the trade paperbacks. Im not the best at recalling the names of the story arcs for the trade paperbacks, but I'd suggest starting with the beginning and checking out some of Robinson and Goyer's run especially where they first face off against Mordru. If you liked what they did with Starman, you should enjoy their run on JSA as well. Its not as mature as Starman was, but they had the same style of action with the same level of twists and turns. If you really want to focus on Johns' work, then I would suggest maybe the trade paperback dealing with reintroducing Hawkman.

Give the book another chance away from a company wide event!

[Missy]

Welcome to the forums. Always great to see new faces (so to speak).

After reading JSA 81 (which is the one I referenced on the show), I was really put-off but did give the book a second chance. Every book has an off issue once in a while, and I figured maybe this was one of those. So when 82 arrived with my DCBS order in February, I read it hoping I was wrong about the series.

Guess what. The latter might have been better than the former, but not by much. However, I chalked this up to it being a direct IC tie-in and the fact that Superman (of any Earth) is far from my favorite character.

That said, JSA is getting one more chance. The Power Girl trade ships in June, and it collects Showcase 97-99, Secret Origins 11 and JSA Classified 1-4. If that book fails to impress, I'm done with the series.

No matter what, however, I will continue to respect what the JSA means to the industry.

[Fireintheskies]

:happy:

Well I'm glad to hear that it DID get a chance. I still wish you'd give it a chance away from the Infinite Crisis crossover, which even the Power Girl trade is fairly connected to. I think the re-introduction of Hawkman was not to be missed, as well as most of the issues where they have dealt with Mordru and/or Obsidian. We also have the fall of Nuklon (a former JSA and JLAer). I like that one in particular because you can see the fall of someone who has Superman's ideals and see the repercussions of what happens when he crosses the line and takes a life in vengeance.

While I enjoy crossovers a great deal, I dont usually think they are the best examples of someone's work within a series, simply because they have a greater responsibility to alter their stories so they are not contradicting what someone else has done. For example, Geoff Johns may have envisioned using Alan Scott Green Lantern in a specific way but because of the needs of the company cross-over, Alan Scott becomes unavailable because he has to fight in another area taking place at the same time.

Like I said, I do understand that its harder to sympathize with the older characters because you may not be able to identify with them the same as you do with other younger characters, however the focus of the series is not specifically a young character or an old character, its about legacy and finding a middle ground between honoring those who have come before you while still being able to do your own thing. I like to think of it more in terms of the Karate Kid where you see the age and culture differences coming together in the story.

You also mentioned in your article not finding the Stargirl's interaction with her father particularly interesting. I dont know if you read the Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E., but I do wonder if you would have felt differently about the story if had read that series, and seen the other subplots with her throughout the JSA run.

At any rate, keep up the good work...I look forward to listening and reading more from Earth-2. I've just gotten into podcasts and such, listen to a number of them while I am at work (on the night shift). I downloaded all the available casts you had of Earth-2 and went through them in about 2-3 nights.