Justice Society of America: Annual #2

I guess you really can fill a super-sized comic with the old "confused heroes fight each other" cliche. The bulk of this book consists of the All-Stars and the JSA chasing Magog around Haven as the super-scientist criminal residents pop in and out of the action. This picks up from the Haven-storyline featured in the Magog title over the past few months. The warden of Haven actually called in the Justice-cavalry when Magog got to close to him, and we get the payoff here. Power Girl narrates a fair amount of the pages, and she's nowhere near as fun as the character featured in her solo title. She does eventually figure out that Magog is telling the truth, but by then Magog has battled most of both teams.

I'm not sure where the continuing story goes from here, since it seemed the warden was caught in the blast he set to self-destruct the prison. A few prisoners escaped too, including one guy whose name I can't even remember yet, but that makes sense because he's defining himself by his need to establish a name and rep for himself. Maybe next time you'll be memorable enough, buddy! The parts featuring that scientist, and in fact, most of the super-brain villains seem like Matt Sturges' contribution to the issue. Keith Giffen probably did most of the plot and Magog's grumblings. The issue is decent, but I do hope there is more payoff for Magog in his own title.

Tom Derenick's art is scratchy, but that seems to be his style these days. He still draws everyone too bulky, but his women are looking a bit less like pinups, and his storytelling has improved too.

Fair