Justice a little bit more - JSA #74

 

Black Vengeance, Part II of III

JSA #74

Cover Date: August 2005

Released: 2nd June 2005

So The Spectre has gone crazy and is trying to destroy all magic in the world. And to underline this we open with him attacking two characters I honestly didn't expect to see after the end of Infinity Inc, Hector Hall, who has kinda sorta given up being Doctor Fate, and Lyta who is just sort of hanging around these days. We don't however see what happens to them as we cut to where the main part of the story is taking place Kahndaq, which is being attacked by giant Kaiju Spectre.

In a quiet bit we get Power Girl being pretty protective of Star Girl, that aunty character I liked from the end of her time on Infinity Inc (almost). It seems poor Courtney is taking Atom Smashers "betrayal" pretty hard, and there seems to be some beef with her and Captain Marvel (or Shazam, whatever). Which he try's to explain and Kara firmly tells him to just leave it for now. We also get a neat little comment from Mr Terrific about Spectre being "god" vengeance, as he's canonically a confirmed atheist, a comment called back later when Black Adam comments that its not "his" god.

We then get the rest of the issue which is a massive fight scene. Now if you've followed me for a bit you know I have a dislike of fight scene's, preferring the drama of comic book heroes instead. But this fight is the reason we're here so I guess we should at least give it some attention at least!

All of the JSA get there chance to shine, as does Atom Smasher and Black Adam, Atom Smasher is still acting the hero and carries guilt over whatever happened to the original Atom. The people of the Kahndaq show loyalty to Black Adam attacking the JSA at inopportune moments and scuppers some of there plans. The current Johnny (Jakeem) Thunder is apparently banished by The Spectre, fate unknown at this moment in time. And finally Eclipso turns up and grabs Star Girl, who was talking to Atom Smasher about what was going on, revealing something to do with Atom Smashers brother. Oh and The Spectre get thought along with everything else going on.

And finally Power Girl! The reason I picked her as the place to start is because this is where her powers begin to glitch, something that leads in the storied that for me begin to define this era of Power Girl. Basically she involved in a short fight with Black Adam that she seems to loose when he grabs her by the neck. At that moment she gets the glowing red eyes of anger, shooting him down with the beams. Unfortunately for her however, her still glowing red eyes seem to have made her temporary blind. It may not seem much in an comic packed with lots of other big events and actions, but they do take time to point out what is happening.

And whilst I might not be a big fan of massive super hero fights, which is why Infinite Crisis is the perfect point to pop in, the fight has lots of character beats and moments to keep me going. Some characters are obviously going to be under used, poor Northwind get a mention and a panel and that it, but there's enough good stuff here to keep me entertained.