JSA, volume 1 #53 - Blinded

 DECEMBER 2003

15th OCTOBER 2003

JSA, Volume 1 #53
BLINDED

We start out with a recap of how consumed by vengeance Jill Carlyle purchased the cursed pistols that led to her becoming the new Crimson Avenger. We can tell it's a flashback because it's black and white!

We then cut back to a wounded Power Girl and an apparently dead Wildcat. Luckily, he hacks back to consciousness, which costs him another of his apparent nine lives. Power Girl tries to talk Crimson Avenger down, but we get more of the vengeance stuff, and Power Girl gets shot again, whilst Ted was smart enough to dodge the last few shots.

In a strange turn of events, whilst Crimson Avenger monologues, so we tell she's a bad guy, Wildcat helps a wounded Power Girl get away, and we get confirmation that Kara is heavier than she looks! I believe at this point it is traditional to make allusions to the weight of twin puppies, but I like to think I'm classier than that!

For the curious, she's 5'7" (1.7m) and 160lbs (73kg), the top end of an average woman of her height; her puppies would be about 4lbs (1.8kg) or an average male Chihuahua. Don't tell me that this blog isn't educational! For reference, classic Supergirl is only 123 lbs (modern Supergirl is only 5'5" [1.65m]).

Now, back to the plot!

Chased by Crimson, doing her best horror killer impression, she again mentions Charles Durham, the man that Wildcat apparently set up to get killed, setting all this off.

Remembering that this is a team book, we cut back to a very nice little scene where Dr Mid-Nite (Pieter Cross) is looking at Mister Terrific's (Michael Holt) broken leg. Pieter points out that Michael could have easily done it himself, but Terrific counters that he appreciates passion for a subject over just pure book learning.

We follow up with a similar scene between Kara and Ted (Power Girl & Wildcat) where he explains his nine lives apparently an infernal sorcer had souls riding on a boxer called Elmo putting down Ted (and offering a bride for him to take a dive) Zatara saved Ted from becoming a were-cat (a fate that befalls his son).  We even have time to deflate any haters-to-lovers moment, with Pee Gee threatening to break his arm if he tries anyone on!

Another cut away to Jessie struggling to deal with the loss of her speed powers. Alan comes in and is frankly pretty rude to her. I assume it's meant to be tough love, but it's so nasty my brain keeps thinking we're going to find he's being influenced by Psycho Pirate (or Johnny Sorrow for modern JSA readers, whose statue we ironically saw last issue).

We get another few pages of Crimson taking down Ted again, until Power Girl, who's still trying to talk her down, catches one of the bullets and throws it back, managing to wound Jill. Taking this pause, Ted talks up, telling them that he did set up Charles, a far from innocent person, much to the disgust of Kara. He surrenders himself to her judgment, which causes the Crismon Avenger to choose to take her out rather than carry out this vengeance. And even then, Ted tried to stop her.

We cut to Power Girl on an operating table, battered but going to make a full recovery, the bullets pulled from her body (because that's how it's always done). Jay (Flash) tells us that Ted is beaten up about what he did, and Mid-Nite says that everyone makes calls that they later regret. Jay also tells Mid-Nite what a good job he's done!

We then have Power Girl admit that she's not really got anything outside of the JSA. We get moments of self-doubt like this every now and then from Kara, generally times when she's dumped her secret identity. And every time it comes up people seem surprised about it, as if everyone just remembers the bad ass woman she generally portrays herself as! 

Personally, it's those moments that convince me that there's something beyond those couple of puppies!

We still have a few pages to go as Crimson Avenger returns, and it's revealed that she was stabbed to death and is still stuck in this cycle of vengeance. And finally, finally, we get to see a random redheaded warrior woman, Nemesis, as it happens, break into an underground chamber to stop the villainous Council (run by her father). Only to find that they've all been killed by Black Adam, who recruits her to join his team. An obvious setup for the next arc of the JSA!

To end this, I've got to say these two comics come before what are probably the classics of the run, the Thanksgiving (Virtue, Vice & Pumpkin Pie) and Christmas (Be Good for Goodness' Sake) comics. Though those are comics for another time...