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...!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's the Final Countdown! (Again) - Wonder Woman #293

Image
Countdown to Chaos Wonder Woman #293 Cover Date:  July 1982 Released:   8th April 1982 The first thing here to comment on is this is a Wonder Woman comic so it's her show, though all the other female heroes get something to do, more or less. We however start with our last female heroes to join the quest, Starfire, Wonder Girl and Raven from the Teen Titans. Raven has a major case of the premonitions so they fly off to Paradise Island to get some help from the Amazons. And like any good hero burning a message into a panel so the boys know where they have gone! The one thing that really strikes me looked back is just how tiny Starfires costumes is, more or less a sparkly bikini, especially the back which for some reason we see a lot in this issue. I've nothing against skimpy costumes now and again, but with almost everyone being more dressed and the cheesecake on how it's drawn it really stands out here. Anyway Korri and Donna go to help stop the final horseman on another Ea...
Read more

No butts - Infinite Crisis #2

Image
The Survivors Infinite Crisis #2 Cover Date:  January 2006 Released:  9th November 2005 ⋅ Writers:   Geoff Johns  ⋅  Pencilers:  Phil Jimenez   ⋅  ⋅  Inkers:  Many Hands  ⋅     Colourists:  Jeromy Cox / Guy Major  ⋅  ⋅  Letterers:  Nick J. Napolitano  ⋅  Editors:  Jeanine Schaefer /     Eddie Berganza  ⋅ So I'd like to say that this was planned, what with (as of writing) we're halfway through the most recent Crisis, Dark Crisis (of Infinite Earths), but basically the JSA comics heavily rely on this crossover, so we're bringing this one forward! To sum up issue 1 the DC universe is falling into chaos, the Trinity (Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman) are fighting over recent actions, including Wonder Woman killing Maxwell Lord live on television.  Watching from their crystal world the Earth-2 Superman and Superboy-Prime (last seen from Crisis on Infinite...
Read more

Showcase #97 - Power Girl

Image
POWER GIRL* SHOWCASE #97 *The issue's story is unnamed. Published: 15th November 1977 Cover Date: February 1978 Cover Artists: Joe Staton / Joe Orlando Writer: Paul Levitz Penciler: Joe Staton Inker: Joe Orlando Colourist: Jerry Serpe Letterer: Ben Oda Editors:   Joe Orlando Introduction So this is a little bit of a soft reboot, a DC tradition in itself, I wanted a chance to cover some of the original comics (my original content being terrible) as well as look at a wider range of comics. It's a chance to catch some of those comics in a blank spot I have in the mid-90s. But where to start? I've covered her original appearance in All-Star Comic #58 several times already, so we're best than the comics that told Power Girls' origins, only two years after she was first introduced. And as is appropriate to my soft reboot Showcase is also a soft reboot of Power Girl, making her if not softer at least a more rounded character. It's also more relevant than ever, in m...
Read more