Justice Society of America #4

But Why Tho?

Justice Society Of America #4 is a feat of love and respect, but also a fantastic adventure that dips its toes into character insights for heroes and villains. And, they found a clever way to diversify the cast without having to force a new character in. Surprise. DC already had them, they just needed someone to put them back into service. This is a hot book, y’all. Treat them like war bonds and buy them up.

Lyles Movie Files

Give Geoff Johns four issues to write a story and he’s just about guaranteed to hook readers and have them clamoring for more. This marks the fourth issue of this iteration of Justice Society. Huntress is no longer shifting through different timelines and is instead in the modern (?) time period with the current JSA. This version of the JSA hasn’t been explored much at all, but Johns is excellent at quickly creating a team dynamic and establishing bonds and relationships in a limited amount of time. Per Degaton’s threat level is massive, but Huntress is proving a wild card he can’t predict. As he’s done in other series, Johns teases a number of potential future events that could come into play in a subsequent issue of JSA. Mikel Janin handles most of the artwork with some contributions from Jerry Ordway, in a fantastic nod to one of the definitive “modern” Golden Age artists. Janin’s artwork is outstanding as he’s one of the smoothest and detailed of DC’s regular artists. Jordie Bellaire handling the colors is almost unfair as it all but ensures this is one of the best-looking titles DC has right now with Bellaire’s mastery of the ideal color combinations. This has leaped to another can’t miss DC title thanks to all the options at Johns and Janin’s disposal and their willingness to go against expectations and tackle a fresh new take on the JSA.

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Whether the JSA’s able to trap the villain that threatens not only them individually but the team as a whole. Justice Society of America #4 moved us closer to this ending and left us with a jaw dropping moment. I look forward to seeing how this story arc ends. See you next time!

You Don't Read Comics

The bulk of the issue seems to play out in the combat between Degaton and the JSA. Janín has been granted a great deal of real estate in the issue to deliver the impact of a single fight, and it REALLY works. Johns has a deft enough handle on the pacing to allow Janín the space he needs to hit that combat with impressive impact. All of the drama falls in line behind that combat quite well.

Geek Dad

This series has dealt with massive delays—so massive that the companion series, Stargirl: The Lost Children, has already finished despite starting later! This is a weird dynamic, and you can see some remnants of the places where the books were supposed to intersect. That will play in more in the second arc, but this arc is more concerned with another young hero—Huntress, Batman and Catwoman’s daughter from the future. She’s here to prevent Per Degaton from killing the Justice Society one team at a time, and she’s discovered she has one unique advantage—because she’s out of time, the time-hopping Nazi can’t see what she’s about to do and pre-empt her moves. That makes her the only one who is able to counter him and send him running as he attacks the current team—but as a vision from Madame Xanadu indicates, that may not be enough to achieve her mission. This comic has a large cast, and it keeps surprising us. There’s a fascinating segment involving Beth Chapel and Yolanda Montez as they desperately try to keep themselves alive amid a mysterious illness that’s targeting them—maybe because they were brought back from the dead? Then there’s Per Degaton and his partner in crime—an older, grizzled Per Degaton who is affected by everything his younger self does, in a surprising segment penned by guest artist Jerry Ordway. The issue also hints at Courtney playing a bigger role in the series going forward, but the only thing holding it back is that its main character, Huntress, still seems to be a bit of a blank slate. Maybe this is because this is the third Huntress and the second Helena Wayne we’ve been seeing in the comics in recent months. There’s a ton of great stuff in this book, and the second arc may find its focus even more strongly.

Graham Crackers Comics

After reading the 4th issue, there is an interesting tertiary plot point that has caught my attention. See, in 1965, writer Gardner Fox came up with a nifty story idea. By replacing the classic characters of Kal-El, Bruce Wayne, Barry Allen, etc. with villainous replacements at key points in their pasts, the villain would create his own version of the Justice League. Somewhere, in his time travel, Per Degaton must have stubbled across issues #37 & 38 and decided to try the plan on the JSA. I’m on-board with that. With the time travel bouncing basicaly ending, we are in the more present day. And with mystical messages courtasy of Madame Xanadu, replacing the old DC Rip Hunter chalkboard messages revealing future plot points it appears the future is bright with story ideas. Let’s hope Geoff Johns can keep the DC spoilers away from this title and that we will still need flashback pages by the great Jerry Ordway! Not that Mikel Janin is doing anything wrong. We’ve finally hit that issue where the action battle have to slow down and some story and backround need to be brought up.

The Comicbook Dispatch

Justice Society of America #4 was a strong read filled with some rather dynamic twists, inspiring story beats, and thrilling action. However, with the extra long distance between issue to issue, fans will be better off reviewing the content from issue three before diving into this one. Additionally, if you’re expecting more background on Degaton’s plan, how he’s going about everything, and why he’s doing it in this manner, you won’t find that here this week. Sure, his intentions are clear but we need more from his angle to be invested in his character just like we are with Helena Wayne. Speaking of Helena, that’s a huge highlight of Justice Society of America #4. Readers will clamor for more from the character. Johns writes her in such a familiar way that fans will instantly be able to connect to both Batman and Catwoman at the same time. Plus, this “present” version of the JSA is a great mix of young and old hats that blend the team together well for long-time comic readers as well as the newbs test-driving the team for the first time. Sure, I wish Johns revealed a bit more, however, the excitement and action provided enough of a mask in this issue to keep fans connected through to the end. Nevertheless, without more detail and reasoning from Degaton soon, fans may begin to lose sight of the purpose and ultimately the point of the series. With all that said, I still strongly recommend giving Justice Society of America #4 a look as well as the series.

Comics Nexus by Inside Pulse

An action-packed and emotions marbled issue on story and art. That cliffhanger is something else. An issue worth the wait.

Weird Science DC Comics

The Justice Society of America #4 brings clarity to the chaos with an explanation of Degaton's plan that establishes the threat and stakes in a big way. The writing is technically solid, and the art is great, but the details of Degaton's plan don't quite pay off the build-up.

DC Comics News

Justice Society of America #4 is a solid issue that moves things forward with an interesting discovery by Helena. The tease of the friendship to come between her and Power Girl is welcome as it promises what we know from the past will now come to pass in the future.

Get Your Comic On

Another fantastic issue from the Justice Society of America creative team. Things are really starting to get complicated and I’m desperate to see where it goes next…

AIPT

The New Golden Age of DC Comics continues, and we finally get to see Degaton go up against this modern version of the Justice Society of America. Last issue, we were left with a cliffhanger as Degaton arrived to kill off this team, and this series has been building up that confrontation. Many pages have been devoted to Degaton’s slaughter of these heroes, and from the preview, you can see it doesn’t stop. How wild is it to see that image of the original JSA broken and defeated at their first meeting? Luckily the art and action continue as Geoff Johns teams with Mikel Janin and Jerry Ordway to give us this new installment. (...) While it was a fast issue, it did help to push the characters forward and drop some new plot lines for future stories. I appreciate those new ideas, but would prefer a more vital conclusion to previous plot lines as it would help make things feel complete. There are so many “spinning plates” that it is hard to remember everything happening. The shared spotlight did help and is much needed – this is a society of heroes, after all. Hopefully, after the next issue, Huntress’s story can conclude, the team can get more of a focus, and maybe some of those Watchmen elements can be revisited and resolved.

Major Spoilers

The underlying problems of Justice Society of America #4 continue to be a lack of central focus, a main character who is a complete cypher, and more foreshadowing than the story framework can actually support, paired with excellent comic book drawings and sort of okay coloring. As a long-time reader who loves these characters and has waited more than a decade for the JSA to return after the Flashpoint retcon, I’d love to say this is the triumphant return to greatness. Instead, it’s a cautionary tale of why a single creator should not be given exclusive control over particular characters, as even the most hardcore fans can probably give this a pass.

Henchman-4-Hire

The art is perfect and the writing is strong, but nothing much is happening storywise to really drive this series or this issue specifically. There’s a face off, the bad guy retreats for a bit, and then various characters suss out some facts in the aftermath. I don’t really feel like anything is connecting in an emotional way. I liked the end, when Huntress sneaks away to go visit her dad in this timeline, but that’s probably only because Mikel Janin draws an awesome Batman. He draws a great everybody, of course, but Batman is always fun. All of the character work is pretty strong. I like seeing these characters interact. But the bigger picture story isn’t doing anything for me, especially not in this issue. Not a lot happens to further an already sparse bigger picture narrative, even if the character writing and artwork remain very strong.

Batman-News

I cannot tell who this book is for other than Geoff Johns.

ComicBook.com

Justice Society of America #4 frames the upcoming climactic confrontation with Per Degaton in the wake of another showdown between himself and a past Justice Society. The opening action sequence lacks much cleverness in dispatching powerhouses like Green Lantern and Flash, but sets up a weakness for the villain before sending both him and Huntress back to their roots. Ensuing conversations primarily serve to deliver exposition and explain the exact nature and stakes of the battle to come; characters are largely interchangeable in these exchanges given how little space any individual has received in the story thus far. Even Huntress and Per Degaton exist primarily as focus points to follow the action without developing motivations more complex than "not wanting your dad/Batman to die" or "defeat the Justice Society because that's what Nazis do." It's competently conveyed and depicted with some flourishes of style, albeit alongside splashes and spreads that underwhelm, although none of that is terribly exciting.