JSA # 86 - Mobile Edition

DC Comics
JSA # 86
By Koppy McFad
June 10, 2006 - 01:33

DC Comics
Writer(s): Paul Levitz
Penciller(s): Rags Morales, Jerry Ordway
Inker(s): Luke Ross
Cover Artist(s): George Perez

We learn more about the background of the Gentleman Ghost even as the Ghost launches various harassment attacks against the JSA. There is a sense of sadness in the inevitability of the Ghost's fate and the JSA's memories of comrades and family members that they have lost. However, there is also a lack of a sense of danger as it becomes clear that the Ghost, for all his stylishness, can't really pose a threat to people like Alan Scott and J.J. Thunder. The art is well-done and makes the characters look very good but like the story, it is also lacking in excitement. There is also an odd feeling that this plot was originally intended for another comic but was rejigged just to make it fit into the JSA. The Gentleman Ghost repeatedly says he is going after the people he hates most, yet his arch-foe, Hawkman, is nowhere in sight. Frankly, this story is clearly being drawn out just to accomodate the big CRISIS event. It would have made a nice three-parter in the pages of HAWKMAN.