Justice Society of America #30 - DC

I have to say . . when I first heard that Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges would be taking over the writing chores on this book . . I was a bit concerned. I mean . . Bill's an amazing talent, but . . sometimes he's a bit out there. And after reading their collaboration on Jack of Fables, well . . I was just concerned. Don't get me wrong, that's a good book, but . . sometimes it seems like it's been written during a fever-dream. Anyways, it seems like they're taking a more serious approach to this book, and it's stories. I thought this issue was fantastic. Last issue all of the JSA were drawn out by what they thought was 1 lone villain, when actually it was a legion. They're all taken down because of their overconfidence, and the villains were given specific targets . . except for Jay and Stargirl. For some reason they're not allowed to touch her. So when only she and Jay are left, when he runs off is search of help, she takes advantage of this twisted chivalry and starts taking out the villains one at a time. Why not? She's allowed to touch them. Anyways, Jay brings back Fate, but . . of course it's this new guy and he doesn't really know what he's doing. But . . he fakes it. And none of them are prepared . . "None of us were trained to deal with a god-level power like Doctor Fate! I never agreed to this!" The way he fakes it through the whole scene was actually pretty funny. Anyways, I think all of this is to show the rift that's growing in the ranks of the JSA. Magog, and several others, feel that their fights and attacks should be more military in nature . . more structured. They should have a definite protocol or procedure when it comes to a situation like this. And it's definitely beginning to cause a rift in the ranks. Especially when they return to the mansion only to find Mr Terrific on the brink of death. The differences in opinion reach a fevered pitch when Ted and Magog start fighting. Anyways, they've figured out that this attack actually started with the problem with Obsidian. Whoever is behind this had to take him out first so that they would have access to the house. Now they just have to figure out who's behind it all . . and save Michael. Along with how much I enjoyed the story . . I equally enjoyed Jesus Merino's pencils. That was my other concern. I'd really gotten used to Dale Eaglesham's art. Jesus' style is different, but it grows on you real fast. There were some fantastic looking panels in this book. I think the future of this book looks fantastic. I'm just wondering who's going to be on which side of this rift . . and how it's going to affect the team . . overall.