Justice Society of America has been one of the most consistently well written series produced by DC over the first 26 issues of its run.  With uber-scribe Geoff Johns leaving the series as of last issue, readers have reason to take pause and worry if their favorite series is going to sink into banality, and just plain go bad like Justice League of America has.  It’s okay to breathe again though as the very able Jerry Ordway has stepped in, and it appears that JSA isn’t going to miss a beat over the next few issues. A re-evaluation will be in order again though when Bill Willingham takes over with issue # 30.  The Fables scribe has done a good job over at Vertigo with that series so his stint on JSA should be good, but for now let’s look at the start of Ordway’s brief run.  

This issue, Obsidian, Alan Scott aka The Original Green Lantern’s son, engulfs the JSA’s brownstone in his darkness shield in order to keep out a malicious and vengeance filled entity from beyond the grave from seriously attacking, with the intent to kill, Green Lantern, Ted Grant aka Wildcat and Jay Garrick aka The Original Flash.  It turns out that the entity entreating entrance to the brownstone is the spirit of Kung, Assassin of a Thousand Claws, who was a Japanese assassin with the power to “take the form” of any animal he wanted.  Kung was alive and active during World War II and died in the atomic blast over Hiroshima at the end of the war.  He and several of the spirits of others who died in the blast want revenge.  With Alan, Jay and Ted being the most prominent of America’s “mystery men” operating at the time on behalf of the Allies, his targeting of them needs little explanation.  After spiriting the JSA’ers away, none other than The (long missing from the pages of JSA) Spectre shows up to assist in the oncoming confrontation with Kung.

Seeing The Spectre, albeit briefly, twice in DC books recently, here in JSA and over in Vertigo’s Madame Xanadu, is a real treat.  Easily one of the best, and really almost only, good storylines from the Final Crisis arc, was The Spectre’s series Final Crisis: Revelations.  Granted, it can be a little difficult to use The Spectre often and consistently as a protagonist or part of a group dynamic given the fact that he’s pretty much all powerful, and creating conflict can be a little difficult with such a character, but if done right some pretty good stories can be told using him.  Even though original host (and contemporary of Alan, Jay and Ted) Jim Corrigan is long gone on to his well-deserved eternal rest, having The Spectre pop up and lend an hand to his old teammates in the JSA now and again can also prove to be a real treat.

Ordway not only scripts this start of a new story arc, which appears to hold much promise, he pencils it as well, and as always, does a solid job capturing the characters and action very well.  He manages to pack a good deal of detail into each panel while, also as always, keeping a solid grasp on accurate anatomy and excellent facial expressions.

Overall, the now Johns-less Justice Society of America, looks to be in good hands for the time being with a writer and penciller in Ordway who can definitely draw, and knows how to handle a team book where each character gets the proper amount of time, and hopefully continued, development, both of which have been the standard for JSA thus far.