Sunday, September 16, 2012

Back Issue Review: JSA Classified #21-22

Don’t let me give you the wrong idea; not all the pre-nu52 books are winners. As I expand my collection of DC books (going in the wrong chronological direction), I’m sure to dig up some stinkers too. This two-parter isn’t very good, but at least it is pretty.

This takes place during the dubious era where Thanagar has been destroyed, and the Hawk-people have all relocated to Rann. Rann now looks like a big desert, with lots of rocks and hillsides, with no interesting flora or fauna. I’m not sure what led to the decision to destroy two different alien locales in the DCU, but that’s the status quo.

To make matters worse, Hawkman is now serving as a peacekeeper on Rann, where his unique look can’t really be as big a deal. He spends these two issues battling Starfire’s sister Blackfire, one of the big bads of this storyline. Her plot is actually resolved here, which is funny for a few reasons. First of all, I was reading a lot of the books that this story spun out of, and I never realized I didn’t finish it. I guess I must not have cared too much! Second, how funny is it that all these limiteds had to get wrapped up in two random issues of JSA Classified? Weird!

Walter Simonson writes and draws these two issues. So of course, they are full of dynamic pencils and great action. I would have liked a bit more diverse a setting, as too many panels consist of rocks, but Simonson does make the outcroppings look interesting. Maybe this was a story Simonson has been waiting to tell, but it sure feels like a last-minute wrap-up to an Infinite Crisis-era mess.

Average

1 comment:

Devin said...

Didn't this story also crossover into Hawkgirl or something?

Too bad I sold my comics or I could go look.

A year or two later they added to this story with the Hawkman Special that told us "Everything you know is wrong!!" But then Geoff Johns told us on the internet to ignore it because everything we knew was actually right. Or something.