Its no secret that the “Thy Kingdom Come” arc in JSA was dragging for me, and I was thinking of trade-waiting on JSA. However the Gog storyline has really turned that around for me.
I’m enjoying the idea of a God from the Third World having survived, and its a nice counterpoint to the fuss being made over the death of the New Gods of the Fourth World, and their rebirth as the Fifth World Gods over in Final Crisis. I’m also enjoying the idea that this is actually a benevolent deity. Ok, its probably going to go wrong at somepoint, but for now I’m enjoying how this series played against the expectations that the JSA would have a huge fight on their hands, and instead Gog is actually improving the lives of people around the world.
And we now know how Power Girl ends up on Earth-2, as Gog starts helping out the members of the JSA, including sending Power Girl “home”. (Interestingly, its mentioned that the portal was temporal in nature – perhaps explaining why the Annual has the golden age Earth-2 depicted, rather than the “52″ Earth-2?).
Another Geoff Johns title that’s turned around for me (ironically on his last issue) is Booster Gold. Again, I’d mentioned before how I just wan’t as into the Blue and Gold plot as I’d have liked to be, but I really enjoyed this epilogue issue. Batman’s talk with Booster was a great character defining moment, and the photos from The Killing Joke being used was a big surprise (as was the fact that Batman knew all along that Booster would grow into being a proper hero).
Rip allowing Booster a win was a great moment as well, as he manages to save Booster’s sister from her death (back in Booster’s first series), which is also nice as, having recently read that series, I did feel that we never got a chance to really know the character before she was killed. That and the reveal of Rip’s true identity has given this series a nice setup as a “family” book, moreso than other DC family books, such as The Flash. While Jeff and Geoff may be moving on, I hope we get an announcement soon as to the new creative team and permanent future of the title.
And that final page. Ted survived? Or someone else grabbed the Black Beetle scarab? Certainly it suggests that Ted managed to cheat death afterall.
My last Geoff Johns title this week was the second part of the Brainiac storyline in Action Comics.
This part continues from the strong part 1, as Kara tells Clark that everything he knew about Brainiac was wrong. Up until now, he’s only faced probes that Brainiac’s sent out, copies of his own program. She knows this as no-one has ever faced Brainiac himself. Clark heads out to try and find Brainiac, to see if he can recover the lost city of Kandor, as he releases it represents the chance for he and Kara to be around other Kryptonians. He finds Brainiac in the middle of attacking another planet, but it doesn’t go well.
What I probably love most about this reinvention of Brainiac, is how creepy they’re making him. Gary Frank’s art is adding a really alien air to Brainiac and his ship which is incredibly effective. I’m really enjoying this plot, and can’t wait for part 3.
Its also nice to see Supergirl interacting with Clark. I picked up her solo book for a while, but really the character was just awful, and I was really questioning why they’d brought her back to such a fan fare, when it was obvious they didn’t have a clue what to do with her. Geoff Johns has now spoken of the plan to bring her book more closely in with the other Superman titles, and if it means that she’ll be characterised more as we see here, then I think it’ll help a lot.
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