"During the days of World War II, a group of costumed mystery men gathered to form the first and greatest super-hero team of all time: THE JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA! Now, fighting side-by-side with the surviving original members, a new generation of heroes has been born, promising to uphold the legacy their predecessors created--while inspiring today's heroes the world over. The J.S.A. lives again!"

The end of the 1999-2006 JSA ongoing was not the end of the JSA. A few months after that title's cancellation, it was reborn as Justice Society of America (the third comic of that title from DC). Geoff Johns returned as writer to launch the new comic, alongside artists like Ruy José, Fernando Pasarin, Rodney Ramos, and Dew Geraci. The new Justice Society embraced the "legacy" stylings of its predecessor very explicitly; the JSA was reformed in order to find and mentor new heroes, especially new heroes with some kind of Golden Age link. While original-era members like the Flash, Green Lantern, and Wildcat stayed on, as did preexisting legacy members like Stargirl, Power Girl, and Hourman, they were also joined by a mix of preexisting legacy characters that hadn't already been JSA members like Liberty Belle, Damage, and the Starman of the Legion, and totally new legacy characters like a new Mr. America, a new Amazing-Man, Cyclone (carrying on the legacy of the original Red Tornado), and even a guy who is descended from President Franklin D. Roosevelt (not a member of the JSA but arguably its founder).

This seems like a good premise, but it's difficult to tell, and to the extent that I can tell, it didn't work for me under Johns. Geoff Johns writes (or cowrites) most of the series's first twenty-six issues, plus some specials and annuals. One big problem is that there are simply too many characters, and the series never stops adding new ones; it just gets exhausting, and you never get to know any of the new characters because new new ones are constantly being added. I like the idea of mentoring, but we rarely get to see it in action in a meaningful way.

The other problem is that Johns's run is mostly in service of a couple big events after the opening arc, which prevents us from actually seeing the status quo in action. The opening arc (issues #1-4) is typical Geoff Johns, in all the worst ways: not much meaningful character stuff, lots of gratuitous violence, just unpleasant to read. Lots of references to old comics without understanding what actually made those old comics enjoyable to read. I would have very happily found out what, for example, Len Strazewski (writer of volumes 1 and 2 of Justice Society) might have done with such a premise, for example.

Once this comes to an end we plunge into The Lightning Saga (issues #5-6), a crossover with Justice League of America which is pretty bad: basically the JSA and JLA wander around aimlessly for five issues while the Legion of Super-Heroes carries out an overcomplicated plan that they don't explain for any readily apparent reason. We then get a small breather, which contains one of the two good issues of Johns's run, #8, where we see what married couple Liberty Belle and Hourman (their whole romance happened between JSA and this book unless I missed something) get up on a day-to-day basis.

But after this the comic becomes virtually unreadable, as it becomes tied up in a storyline of eighteen issues! No idea is worth taking over a comic book for eighteen issues, and this one certainly isn't. The basic premise is a decent idea: a sequel to Kingdom Come. The book posits that the events of Kingdom Come (which I have read, but evidently did not write up on this blog) came about because they took place in a world with no JSA to mentor the new heroes. The Superman of Kingdom Come arrives on the JSA's Earth and in the JSA's time, and has to watch as what happens on his Earth happens all over again... can the JSA head it off? A cracker of a premise, but it totally falls flat in execution.

There are two main problems. One is that instead of a gradual moral deterioration of heroes, what we mostly get is a big giant being (supposedly a god) being discovered in Africa and walking around doing nice things. There's no sense of threat, and of course he turns out to be bad, and of course he gets stomped down. Using the myth of Gog and Magog tries to make this apocalyptic, but it does not come across as high-stakes at all.

The other is that the JSA divides into two groups over this: ones who support Gog, and ones more skeptical of him. This is repeated from the Black Adam story in JSA, and moreover, Johns repeats one of that story's principal weaknesses: the only characters who support Gog are new characters who are clearly in the wrong. Wow, we have Green Lantern, the Flash, and Stargirl on one side... and the new Wildcat, the new Amazing-Man, Citizen Steel, and Mr. America on the other? Gosh, who could be the group who is in the right? It's all so obvious and dull. Its main saving grace is a one-issue special written and illustrated by Alex Ross about the Kingdom Come Superman; on the other hand, a brief story about Power Girl going to Earth-Two and meeting the pre-Crisis Infinity, Inc. is terrible despite Infinity, Inc. penciller Jerry Ordway on art.

Johns's other good story is a cute Stargirl tale (#26) about her birthday party. If he wrote more stuff like this, and less stuff like Thy Kingdom Come, I would have enjoyed his run a lot more.

Once Johns leaves, the series never settles into a new regular writer for very long. We get runs by Jerry Ordway (#27-28), Bill Willingham and Lilah Sturges (#29-33), Bill Willingham alone (#34-40), James Robinson (#41-43), and Marc Guggenheim (#44-54), taking us right up to Flashpoint and the obliteration of the JSA from DC history. (Well, until whenever they bring it back... they probably already have.) Ordway's story is decent, but for me the only one of these to actually be successful was Willingham's.

In its phase being cowritten with Sturges, it's dragged down by having to set up a very stupid split of the JSA into two different ongoings. This comes right after a story about the JSA almost splitting, so it feels repetitive, and it all seems vaguely misogynist, in that no sooner does the JSA get its first female leader in Power Girl than it falls apart. (Meanwhile, over in JLA, it also got its first female leader in Black Canary, and it also falls apart!) But aside from that (obviously editorially imposed), Willingham's run is quite fun. Good character focus, good jokes, clever storytelling. If only it had lasted longer; I particularly enjoyed his two-part Doctor Fate story, and I liked how he actually made something of the relationship between Green Lantern and Obsidian, which most JSA writers have mangled and/or ignored. Unfortunately, he left the book rather than have to write a JLA crossover... and indeed, James Robinson's JLA/JSA crossover The Dark Things is so uninteresting I can't even be arsed to explain why. (But why does Liberty Belle revert to her Jesse Quick identity?)

There's some potential in Guggenheim's run, but unfortunately 1) it sees yet another status quo change, with the JSA moving yet again (they previously moved from New York to Happy Harbor in Willingham's run), to Monument Point, a DC suburb, and 2) things start changing a lot, with the members who left during the split returning with no explanation, and a bunch of random new people joining the team, like the Blue Devil. Plus, the story clearly got wrapped up quickly to make way for thew New 52, and it doesn't really follow up on anything set up by Willingham or Robinson. (Also why does the original Liberty Belle suddenly show up?)

And that was it! Then the "New 52" came along, and the new continuity—where Superman the first superhero had debuted five years ago—had no place for the JSA. DC erased one of its most distinctive features. But that's not it for me, I have a few more things to read before I'm finally done with the Justice Society...

This post is forty-fourth in an ever-expanding series about the Justice Society and Earth-Two. The next installment covers the Justice Society of America 80-Page Giants. Previous installments are listed below:

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Crisis!, Part XXV: Infinite Crisis Companion

Comic trade paperback, 165 pages
Published 2006 (contents: 2006)
Borrowed from the library
Read June 2014

Infinite Crisis Companion

Writers: Bill Willingham, Dave Gibbons, Greg Rucka, Gail Simone

Pencillers: Justiniano, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Jesus Saiz, Dale Eaglesham, Phil Jimenez
Inkers: Walden Wong, Wayne Faucher, Marc Campos, Oclair Albert, Michael Bair, Jesus Saiz, Art Thibert, Drew Geraci, Andy Lanning
Colorists: Chris Chuckry, Nathan Eyring, John Kalisz, Rob Schwager, Guy Major, Jeromy Cox
Letterers: Pat Brosseau, Jared K. Fletcher, Rob Leigh

This is a weird book, and by itself, it doesn't really work. It has a followup to each of the Countdown to Infinite Crisis miniseries (Day of Vengeance, Rann-Thanagar War, The OMAC Project, and Villains United), showing what its characters were doing during Infinite Crisis itself. These could have been tacked on to the ends of each Countdown trade, or even better, included in Infinite Crisis itself as they comprise somewhat important parts of its story, showing how the Spectre is brought under control, how the space heroes fight the rift in the Polaris Galaxy, and most importantly, what the heck was going on with that worldwide prison break. By themselves, they're just kinda weird little stories that don't mean anything. Or rather, parts of stories.

In "The Ninth Age of Magic," a group of over thirty magic users draws the Seven Deadly Sins out of Gotham after the explosion of the Rock of Eternity. It's pretty perfunctory: one by one a member of Shadowpact finds and confronts a Sin. Its real interest is in the gaps it plugs, not in it as a story. "Hands of Fate" has a similar problem: adding all the heroes recruited by Wonder Girl to the already-overcrowded space hero group doesn't make these people more interesting. Alan Scott's daughter Jade, who hadn't even been in the story before, is killed off for some reason.

Thankfully, the last two stories are the best. "The Lazarus Protocol" is the least "essential" to Infinite Crisis: Sasha Bordeaux leads a group to finally defeat Brother Eye after it crashes to Earth, but reading Infinite Crisis, you would just assume it was destroyed in the crash itself. But it brings Sasha's story (begun in The OMAC Project) to a nice conclusion, as she learns how to be her own person-- and a hero-- outside the confines of Checkmate, making it the best and most pointful story in the book.

Finally, there's "A Hero Dies But One": the Secret Six try to find their place in the world and Oracle and the Martian Manhunter draw together every hero they can to combat the global prison break. It's not a hugely complicated story, but it is fun. Simone, as always, has a talent for groups and a talent for humor.

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Crisis!, Part XVII: Day of Vengenace

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2005
Borrowed from the library
Read March 2014

Day of Vengeance

Writers: Judd Winick, Bill Willingham

Pencillers: Ian Churchill, Justiniano, Ron Wagner
Inkers: Norm Rapmund, Walden Wong, Livesay, Dexter Vines
Colorists: Beth Sotelo, Chris Chuckry
Letterers: Richard Starkings, Pat Brosseau

This is the first of the "Countdown to Infinite Crisis" collections, chronologically speaking, collecting two storylines, "Lightning Strikes Twice" and the eponymous "Day of Vengeance." It opens with a two-page overview of "The Nature of Magic," which tries to organize what is known about DC's magical universe, from sources as disparate as Green Lantern, the Fourth World, Neil Gaiman's Sandman, Captain Marvel, Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld, and even Lucifer. I'm not sure it needs to be done, nor that this all actually adds up to anything, but I guess I applaud them for trying.

"Lightning Strikes Twice" is a Superman story, involving the attempt of Eclipso (who I recall from 1992's crossover event Eclipso: The Darkness Within, of which I read the Justice League Europe and Green Arrow chapters) to possess a new host, ideally Superman-- meanwhile Captain Marvel tries to help out despite the increasing difficulties of his mentor, the wizard Shazam. There's probably a good story to be written about Superman's struggle with anger, but this isn't it. It's a perfunctory, typical superhero possession story, and I didn't find that writer Judd Winick nor artists Ian Churchill and Norm Rapmund did anything interesting with it.

Part of this story picks up ramifications from Green Lantern: Rebirth, which I haven't read, but I know that Hal Jordan ceases to be the host of the Spectre; the Spectre turns up at the end of "Lightning Strikes Twice" without a host, aimless and guideless. This causes Eclipso to get an idea, and in "Day of Vengeance," it has persuaded the Spectre that all magic is contrary to God's Law and must be destroyed. With the Spectre on a rampage, it's up to an impromptu team of magic users to stop it, most of which I had never heard of: Blue Devil (I remember him from Crisis on Infinite Earths), Enchantress (nope), Nightmaster (nope again), Nightshade (still nope), Detective Chimp (I know the name, but nothing else), and Ragman (certainly not).

It makes for a decent superhero story: group of disparate heroes have to work together, discovering they have purpose in the process. It's not very interesting (an ongoing about this team picked up from Day of Vengeance, but I won't be reading it), but it's interesting enough. Each character narrates a different issue in turn, and some of these were more successful than others; obviously Detective Chimp is the best narrator, whereas many of the other characters could have been anyone. Captain Marvel plays a big role again, but I was very surprised to see Birds of Prey's Black Alice pop up here; I hadn't known she'd had any impact outside of her own book.

When this story does succeed (aside from all scenes featuring Detective Chimp), it's when it gives you the feeling of scale of what it would mean for the Spectre to be on a rampage against magic through every dimension. When Ragman and Enchantress are in a mystical forest early on, there's this great, unexpected page turn when you see the Spectre fighting Blackbrian Thorn, and the combatants just tower over our heroes. It's moments like this that make a magic-based story distinct from every other superhero story (seriously, most magic blasts could be heat rays for all it matters), and there's not quite enough of them in "Day of Vengeance," but where do they turn up (there's another good one where the Enchantress taps the universe's magic users for power to help Captain Marvel) they really sell this as something different, something bigger.

Now, what does all this have to do with the brewing Infinite Crisis? To be honest, I have little idea and I'm not hooked enough to care yet, either. But ever onwards we plunge.

Faster than a DC Bullet: The Houses of Mystery and Secrets, Part XVI: House of Mystery: Desolation

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2012 (contents: 2011)
Borrowed from the library
Read February 2014

House of Mystery: Desolation

Writer: Matthew Sturges

Penciller: Luca Rossi
Inker: José Marzán, Jr.
Colorists: Lee Loughridge, Dave Stewart, Eva de la Cruz
Letterer: Todd Klein
Short Story Writers: Bill Wilingham, Steven T. Seagle
Short Story Artists: Darwyn Cooke, Aaron Campbell, David Lapham, Peter Snejbjerg, Annie Wu, Tony Akins, Teddy Kristiansen, Inaki Miranda

One feels like the final volume of a series should start laying on some answers, but Desolation just piles on the complications, and boring ones at that. Why this whole divergence with Lotus Blossom? Why add a whole mess of sorcerer characters only for them to do nothing? Why ruin the character of Goldie that way?

Eh, who cares. House of Mystery was a great vehicle for stories, but its own story was never particularly interesting, and this volume confirms that. The best part is the final issue, where three travelers tell the tale of the House, but even that seems a little tame and lackluster.

Faster than a DC Bullet: The Houses of Mystery and Secrets, Part XIII: House of Mystery: Under New Management

Comic trade paperback, 127 pages
Published 2011 (contents: 2010)
Borrowed from the library
Read January 2014

House of Mystery: Under New Management

Writer: Matthew Sturges

Artists: Luca Rossi, José Marzán, Jr.
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Letterer: Todd Klein
Short Story Writers: Bill Willingham, David Justus, Paul Levitz, Alisa Kwitney
Short Story Artists: Sergio Aragonés, Farel Dalrymple, Sam Kieth, John Bolton

The beginning of this volume establishes the new status quo for House of Mystery: the House is continuing to serve as a bar, now located in the Stormfront Itinerant Bazaar (a.k.a. "Goblin Market"), and it's jointly managed by Cain, its caretaker of old, and Fig Keele. Now, quite why Cain and Fig can/are doing this is something I still don't get, but at least the what is a lot more comprehensible these days. Also, the addition of Cain to the main cast means the presence of Abel-- huzzah! (I always liked him more.)

This volume has a more discrete plot than previous ones: Fig's heretofore unknown brother Strawberry makes his way to the House. Heretofore unknown even to her. It's a good mix of clever and disturbing, and there are some interesting wrinkles in this plotline. We're also starting to get a glimpse of the scale of Fig's powers. Things move a bit too slowly as always, though.

The short stories are still good value for money: Sergio Aragonés returns to the series he helped define back in the 1970s, and how could you not like "Fig and Strawberry's Adventure in the Cloud Kingdom"? I was particularly charmed by Matthew Sturges and John Bolton's "Romantic Comedy (With Corpses)," an ironically-narrated indie romance film about vampires.

The best part of this book, though, is its final issue, a standalone called "Exquisite Corpse." The whole thing is illustrated by the inimitable Luca Rossi and José Marzán, Jr., but it's written in five different parts by five different writers-- Bill Willingham, Dave Justus, Paul Levitz, Alisa Kwitney, and Matthew Sturges-- in what I assume was the exquisite corpse style. It's funny and inventive and increasingly absurd, and includes some welcome cameos by old Dreaming favorites; one of the best parts of the series as a whole.

Faster than a DC Bullet: The Houses of Mystery and Secrets, Part XII: House of Mystery: The Beauty of Decay

Comic trade paperback, 160 pages
Published 2010 (contents: 2009-10)
Borrowed from the library
Read January 2014

House of Mystery: The Beauty of Decay

Writer: Matthew Sturges

Artists: Luca Rossi, Werther Dell'Edera, José Marzán, Jr., Andrew Pepoy, Joe Rubinstein
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Letterer: Todd Klein
Short Story Writers: Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Peter Milligan, Chris Roberson, Matt Wagner
Short Story Artists: Richard Corben, Al Davison, Jeff Lemire, Antonio Fuso, Michael Wm. Kaluta, Mark Buckingham, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Michael Allred, Amy Reeder Hadley, Kevin Nowlan, Stefano Landini, Richard Friend
Short Story Colorists: Dave McCaig, Laura Allred, Guy Major
Short Story Letterers: Sal Cipriano, Jared K. Fletcher

About a month (for me) passed between this and the previous volume of House of Mystery, and I was pretty confused. I can't imagine what it was like to read these collections as they came out! Sturges takes very little effort to remind us who the characters are, where they came from, what they want, or anything really. In this volume, the status quo changes a lot... but I hadn't even gotten used to the last one! Now the House is in an abandoned city or something? And there's ghosts? And the Administrator, the Conception, and Cain all have competing plans? And Fig's dad is still up to no good? But somehow Fig strikes a deal? I don't know; the metaplot here is vague and uninteresting. Either it can't be followed, or I just don't care to follow it.

A lot of good interspersed short stories, though: "The Hounds of Titus Roan" is pretty harrowing, while it's nice to get some background on poet. And, fantasically, the cockroach Brutus seen in his youthful prime two volumes back has already passed into legend and song:

"That was some story. Do you think it's true?"
"That there was a day weeks and weeks ago when garbage was scarce? Naw. That's just one of Grandpa's silly stories."

"Spellbound," about the dangers of reading, was probably my favorite: lush Michael Wm. Kaluta artwork.

The best part of this volume is the Halloween-themed story in the back, set at an earlier point in the series history, before the House was launched into the Space Between. Fig finds a creepy mask in the House, and we see the mask on many earlier Halloween nights: discarded by Merv Pumpkinhead in the Dreaming, ruining the life of John Constantine's friend, hiding a sadistic killer from a zombie, derailing the life of a child that Madame Xanadu must save. They're nice, creepy snippets of other series, other worlds, with good art and distinctive voices. If only the House of Mystery had maintained this fruitful status quo for longer.

Plus, you know, Merv-- still the third-best Sandman character.

Faster than a DC Bullet: The Houses of Mystery and Secrets, Part XI: House of Mystery: The Space Between

Comic trade paperback, 121 pages
Published 2010 (contents: 2009)
Borrowed from the library
Read December 2013

House of Mystery: The Space Between

Writer: Matthew Sturges

Artists: Luca Rossi, José Marzán, Jr.
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Letterer: Todd Klein
Short Story Writers: Bill Willingham, Chris Roberson
Short Story Artists: Jim Fern, Grazia Lobaccaro, Stefano Landini, Ralph Reese, Sergio Aragonés, Eric Powell, Neal Adams, Josh Adams, Gilbert Hernandez, David Hahn

In this volume, the House of Mystery ends up in the Space Between, and there's a dragon, and... well... I'm not really sure. Everyone talks a lot, but did the plot even advance? Only if adding more (meaningless) mysteries counts as advancement. The frame story grows a little frustrating in this volume, especially when characters in the bar pop up out of nowhere. (Maybe they were there before, but Sturges and Rossi didn't make them noticeable if so.) I do continue to like Rossi's art a lot-- simple lines, but very expressive, I think.

The best part of The Space Between is that it collects House of Mystery #13, containing three stories based on the number 13, spooky standalones with twist endings-- very much in the vein of the old House of Mystery comics of the 1960s and '70s. There's even a maze drawn by good old Sergio Aragonés!

Faster than a DC Bullet: The Houses of Mystery and Secrets, Part X: House of Mystery: Love Stories for Dead People

Comic trade paperback, 119 pages
Published 2009 (contents: 2008-09)
Borrowed from the library
Read December 2013

House of Mystery: Love Stories for Dead People

Writer: Matthew Sturges

Artist: Luca Rossi
Inker: José Marzán, Jr.
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Letterer: Todd Klein
Short Story Writer: Bill Willingham
Short Story Artists: Tony Akins, Andrew Pepoy, David Petersen, Henry Flint, Bernie Wrightson, Kyle Baker
Short Story Colorist: Alex Wald

More House of Mystery means more frame story and more short stories. This volume uses its short stories to fill in the backstories of the other residents of the House of Mystery, trapped along with Fig Keele and its mysterious bartender. We find out the history of Ann the pirate, as well as Cressida, whose loves are always fated to be killed by supernatural horrors (or be supernatural horrors), so she has grown callous and cold. And we get a flashback to Abel sneaking into the House after Cain lost it. Huzzah for Goldie!

Meanwhile, the frame story advances as Fig's father appears and Fig discovers the fate of a previous resident of the House. The story feels like it's moving more than in the first volume, which is good.

There's also some largely unrelated short stories, such as the beautifully drawn war between cats and birds. My favorite part, though, is a small inset panel in the middle of the scene where Cressida seduces Poet, showing two insects on the floor, watching a third:

"Oh, Brutus-- see how gracefully he carries that morsel."
"Mark my words, young lady. He will one day be known as a great hero to our peoples!"

It's a perfectly timed, humorous reminder that we're all the heroes of our own stories.

Faster than a DC Bullet: The Houses of Mystery and Secrets, Part IX: House of Mystery: Room & Boredom

Comic trade paperback, 123 pages
Published 2008
Borrowed from the library
Read December 2013

House of Mystery: Room & Boredom

Writers: Matthew Sturges & Bill Willingham

Artist: Luca Rossi
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Letterer: Todd Klein
Short Story Artists: Ross Campbell, Jill Thompson, Zachary Baldus, Steve Rolston, Sean Murphy
Short Story Colorist: Dave McCaig

The modern House of Mystery is a little more cohesive than the one of old; each issue includes two parts. The first is the next installment in an ongoing tale by Matthew Sturges, while the second is a story told by the character in that tale by Bill Willigham, nestled within.

This is indeed the House of Mystery that used to belong to Cain and reside next to a cemetery within the Dreaming, but exactly where it is now is one of the ongoing mysteries; all we know for certain is that Cain has lost his house. The House of Mystery now serves as a bar where various people pop in and out and tell stories in exchange for drink, only there are five people or so who can never leave-- they're trapped there, running the bar. Architecture student Fig Keele is the newest of these, and she serves as our viewpoint character, trying to figure out how she ended up in a house she dreams about every night.

This early on, there's not a lot of story yet, mostly a number of mysteries, so I look forward to seeing how things unfold. Fig is a good protagonist, seemingly innocent, but clearly with some mysteries and depths of her own. I love that she used to be the protagonist of a YA adventure series; it's very "Dreaming" yet not a thing Gaiman actually did in The Sandman. The art of Luca Rossi is fantastic-- scratchy yet simple, and he's a dab hand with both facial expressions and supernatural horrors. It's not the lush, decadent pencils of past House of Mystery artists, but it really works here. And, of course, no story colored by Lee Loughridge could ever be anything less than brilliant.

The stories nestled within are good fun, too. Willigham uses some good tricks with narration that doesn't reflect the horror of the actual story, especially in the tale of a southern belle's marriage to a giant fly in "The Hollows" (art by Sean Murphy). My favorite was probably "Familiar" (art by Steve Rolston), about a princess exiled to our dimension who decides to abandon her responsibilities and just have consequences-free sex. This way of included tales from others is reminiscent of the early issues of The House of Mystery where Cain would relate tales of old residents of the House, but gives the concept a nice new spin.

Not a lot happens in this volume, but I'm interested in seeing where it goes next.

Faster than a DC Bullet: The Sandman Spin-Offs, Part XIX: Thessaly: Witch for Hire

Comic trade paperback, 95 pages
Published 2005 (contents: 2005)
Borrowed from the library
Read September 2012

The Sandman Presents: Thessaly: Witch for Hire

Written by Bill Willingham

Illustrated by Sean McManus
Colored by Pamela Rambo

Lettered by Nick J. Napolitano, Rob Leigh, Phil Balsman

Thessaly: Witch for Hire is a sequel to Willigham's own "The Thessaliad," a story in The Sandman Presents: Taller Tales. Looking back, I found that story okay: some great ideas but "the characterization was a little too straightforward" is what I wrote at the time. Well, Witch for Hire is a completely disappointing story. The plot is basically a straight line: Thessaly finds out she's going to die, Thessaly follows a number of fruitless lines to solve the problem, Thessaly wins anyway. Sure, Willigham makes an ironic joke about it by ending the third chapter with "NEXT: No More Talking Heads. It's All Monsters From Here On Out," but it's not the lack of monsters that's the problem, it's the lack of impactful incident. The last chapter is no better for having a giant flaming demon stomping through it.

Thessaly was cool in A Game of You because she seemed like a shy, withdrawn, plain girl, but she was actually a completely ruthless murderer (she pulls the skin off a guy's skull, hangs it on the wall with a nail, and reanimates it to get the information she needs!), and Willingham and McManus completely fail to get that. Their Thessaly is pushed around, unassertive, and spends all her time showing off her pouting lips, big butt, and midriff. Can you picture this woman having a relationship with Dream himself? I sure can't.

Faster than a DC Bullet: The Sandman Spin-Offs, Part XIV: Taller Tales

Comic trade paperback, 216 pages
Published 2003 (contents: 2000-02)
Borrowed from the library
Read August 2011

The Sandman Presents: Taller Tales

Writer: Bill Willingham
Artists: Mark Buckingham, Zander Cannon, Duncan Fegredo, Peter Gross, Niko Henrichon, Adam Hughes, Phil Jimenez, Michael Kaluta, Marc Laming, Jason Little, Shawn McManus, Linda Medley, Albert Monteys, Kevin Nowlan, Andrew Pepoys, Paul Pope, John Stokes, Daniel Torres, Bill Willingham
Colorists: Lee Loughridge, Daniel Vozzo
Letterers: John Costanza, Todd Klein

This collection brings together a disparate set of stories by Bill Willingham, who I guess is kind of a big deal because he wrote Fables or something? I don't know, I never read it. (Should I?) As Willingham himself points out, all of the stories here are about the telling of stories, but that's appropriate; this is the Dreaming, after all.

First off is "Merv Pumpkinhead, Agent of D.R.E.A.M. I've said it before, but Merv, the Dreaming's janitor, is my second-favorite Sandman character, and this story is every bit as good as you'd expect a James Bond story featuring a man with a pumpkinhead to be, dirty sex jokes and all. The idea of a world-level threat doesn't feel very Sandmanesque, but on the other hand, I thought the car that could move out of people's dreams and even become a matchbox car when need was awesome. (But why is Matthew the Raven, my favorite character, now white?)

"The Further Adventures of Danny Nod, Heroic Library Assistant" is all right. The premise is okay-- it doesn't really do anything new or interesting with the idea of wandering into different stories-- but the art sells it, as each couple pages is illustrated by someone else, Danny himself remaining the only visual constant in the story. There are fun bits. Nice to see Goldie again. (But didn't he leave the Dreaming?) "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Dreams... But Were Afraid to Ask" takes a similar point, with a bunch of two-page vignettes all illustrated by different teams. My favorite stories were the ones explaining why dreams can be sexual (it's because Merv is a bit of a sleaze) and whether dreams have dreams (they do and it's weird).

The bulk of the book is "The Thessaliad," about Thessaly, the last of the Thessalian witches, who featured in the Sandman story "A Game of You." There's some great ideas here, such as the fact that if Thessaly just reenacts the tropes of a quest story, she'll automatically end up wherever she wants to be, and I liked the interplay with her "fetch," but sometimes the characterization was a little too straightforward, and the difficulties a little too easily escaped. The end sets up some mysteries; I hope these are solved somewhere. (There's a lot of comments about Lucifer being up to something; I guess this is a reference to the concurrent Lucifer spin-off?)