Friday, April 08, 2022

Fifty-cents for an Alan Davis cover? OK! But the interior wasn't bad either. From 2001, JSA #20, "Injustice Be Done, conclusion: Godspeed" Written by David Goyer and Geoff Johns, pencils by Stephen Sadowski, inks by Michael Bair. 

This felt a lot like the conclusion of a Morrison/Porter JLA serial; as the Spectre has just gotten reduced to a giant hooded skeleton by the King of Tears, an extradimensional entity currently powering Johnny Sorrow. I had to double-check, but Sorrow was a new villain with an old-school feel that made him perfect for the JSA. While the Spectre recovers (and I believe he was Hal Jordan at the time, based on Canary thinking he sounded familiar) he can't do anything to the King of Tears, as it was soulless and conscience-free. Black Adam thinks they're sunk then, but Hawkgirl challenges him by calling him Teth-Adam. Rookie Stargirl has noticed Kendra acting weirder and weirder, as she seems to be increasingly remembering past lives stuff.
While the captured, and tortured, Sand distracts Johnny Sorrow; Mr. Terrific has a plan: have Jay run the speed of light and punch stuff. Jay's not that fast, but what if he stole Black Adam's speed of Heru? Great, but then Jay would get sucked into the speed force; but what if he used the link to Black Adam to find his way back? Seems a lot of if's, but bad stuff was happening, so no choice. Jay says goodbye to his wife Joan, who seems to have a picture of a child they lost.
Dr. Mid-Nite distracts Sorrow at the crucial moment, with a video capture of Sorrow's "fatal countenance," and Jay punches the King of Tears out of this plane of existance, snapping reality back to normal. While the Spectre visits, and saves, the injured Alan Scott; Jay begins to decelerate, then trips running across water, and wakes up in a desert...in ancient Egypt, with Nabu and Teth-Adam wondering what's up with him! Some years back, we saw the Legion's Ultra Boy in the same boat, zapped by the "chronal howitzer" into the past. The Fantastic Four and West Coast Avengers are probably punching Rama-Tut nearby, too...and probably Hawkman, since this had been building up to his return, teased in the next issue box.
Also this issue: an ad for Playstation 1-era game Incredible Crisis, a memorably weird sounding game that may have been weirder than I would've guessed. Featuring music from Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, which sounds great!

1 comment:

  1. Do NOT remember the game but I do this issue. Love that whole entire storyline. And yes Mr. Sorrow really was & is the perfect JSA villain for the team. Love his design & power set as you can really do a lot with him. Did see that he was briefly a member of the Suicide Squad for some weird ass reason, despite no real explanation why.

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