Atom Smashed - JSA #75

 

Black Vengeance, Part III

JSA #75
Cover Date: September 2005
Released: 7th July 2005

⋅ Writers: Geoff Johns ⋅ Colourists: John Kalisz ⋅
⋅ Pencilers: Don Kramer / Leonard Kirk / Stephen Sadowski
⋅ Inkers: Keith Champagne / Michael Bair ⋅ Letterers: Rob Leigh ⋅ 
⋅ Editors: Peter Tomasi / Harvey Richards ⋅ 

This is not a Power Girl Story!

I know I've been saying this a lot, but all team books occasionally take time out to focus on a single character. And as is common it often seems to happen when the character is on the way out, and this issue it's poor Atom Smashers time.

We get flashes of his past from a young kid deciding to do good, joining the JSA and eventually being offered a chance to help Black Adam, all done in a suitable sepia tone. Finally, he grows to giant size, well beyond his normal limits, and takes on the, also suitable gigantic Spectre. In the end, Atom Smasher chooses to sacrifice his life so that Spectre will stop looking for vengeance here, who accepts the sacrifice by grabbing his (suitable giant) heart. It's all suitable dramatic and a nice send-off for the character, though not having the emotional attachment to him I don't have a strong feeling either way.

What's nice is that Black Adam genuinely seems to have cared for Atom Smasher, it was at all a villain's scheme, trying to restart his heart with a shazam lightning bolt. It's all in vain and after the JSA scare Black Adam off and take away the body he shed a tear for the fallen hero.

Whilst this is going on, to leap back a little bit, Eclipso attacks Hawk Woman, who was rescuing a (currently) blind Pee Gee. She just calmly stabs Eclipso in the eye with an arrow before Black Adam catches Eclipso out of the air and snaps Eclipso's neck. All this dramatic fighting is a little ruined by the choice to have the helmet of Hawk Woman having massive anime eyes, including pupils. It's all in vain anyhow as Eclipso teleports away to carry on the story in the rest of her own storyline.

As competently told as it is I'm generally not a fan of the last great story for a dying character. Doubly so as it's not a character I have a strong connection with, I'm sure if this was an Atom Smash blog I'd have a stronger feeling, either good or bad, for his passing. Really the only reason I'm here is for the subplot about Power Girl's powers going wonky, which is really only a tiny part of the story.

Thankfully the next issue we'll cover will get into that...!

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