Justice Society of America 80-Page Giants by Jesus Merino, Jesse Delperdang, Freddie Williams II, Scott Hampton, Victor Ibàñez, et al.

Alongside Justice Society of America vol. 3, DC published three "80-Page Giants," collections of seven ten-page stories (the other ten pages are ads). I have a lot of time for the 80-page giant format (see entry #11 in this series below, for example); usually these kind of collections will have a couple stories by big name writers and artist to anchor them, and then work by newer writers and artists to develop talent. I think the format works particularly well here, as a companion to an ongoing series, as it lets the creators spotlight characters from the main series in different situations, with a variety of voices and styles.

The first has a framing narrative, set between Jerry Ordway's and Bill Willingham's runs on the parent title. In the frame, the JSA brownstone becomes subject to dream logic, as characters move through time and appear and disappear at random. I kind of suspect this was picked to smooth over discontinuities between stories, but I didn't care because I thought it worked really well. It has a good dreamlike feeling to it, as characters disappear between page transitions and the logic is a bit hard to follow but also not totally random.

from Justice Society of America 80-Page Giant #1
(script by Zander Cannon, art by Scott Hampton)

Not all of the stories are great, of course, but I found enough to be worth reading. I liked "Heart of Steel" (Felicia D. Henderson, Renato Guedes, and José Wilson Magalhaes), which gives some much-needed pathos to Citizen Steel, "Mother's Little Secret" (Jerry Ordway), which explores the history of the new Wildcat, and "Spin Cycle" (Jen Van Meter, Jesus Merino, and Jesse Delperdang), which is a cute meeting between Cyclone and Power Girl while doing laundry. Particularly nightmarish is "Damage" (Zander Cannon and Scott Hampton), a bizarre story about Doctor Mid-Nite surgically removing people from Damage's insides, which I can't imagine working in any other format; good use of the frame, and a great collision of writing and art.

The other two collections have no frame; they're just collections of seven stories apiece. Typically, a few stories take place at the "now" of when the issue was released, and then a few must take place earlier on in the run of Justice Society vol. 3 based on what characters are present. These I liked for their spotlights on characters who may have been present in the main title, but were often unfocused on as it jerked from big event to big event. For example, one of my complaints about the parent title would be how Obsidian was either demoted to a disembodied presence or turned into an egg or going nuts again, so I appreciated "...the Not-So-Secret Origin of Obsidian!" (Marc Andreyko, Mike Norton, and Bill Sienkiewicz), which gave some unity to his disparate appearances and connected to what was being done with the character in Manhunter at the same time.

Liberty Belle/Jesse Quick quickly established herself as a favorite in Justice Society vol. 3 even though I felt like she didn't actually get much to do, so I enjoyed "Unstoppable" (Robert T. Jeschonek and Victor Ibàñez) where she takes on abusers, and "Guiding the Gifted" (Drew Ford, Andy Smith, and Keith Champagne), where she protects a kid with new powers. They both had a good domestic focus, but also a clear indication of how she doesn't take any crap. (Should I expand this ever-lengthening project to track down her appearances in Titans?) And again, there was a good Citizen Steel story in "The Tin Man" (Matthew Cody and Tim Seeley), where he falls in love with a patient he can never touch. I never really liked Steel much in the main series, so I was grateful for the positive focus these issues gave him.

from Justice Society of America 80-Page Giant 2011 #1
(script by Adam Beechen, art by Howard Chaykin)

I also appreciated this series following up on dropped plot points from the main one; for example, during James Robinson's run, Green Lantern became the guardian of a magic city on the moon, but Marc Guggenheim did little with this; here, we get "City of Light & Magic" (Matt Kindt and Victor Ibàñez), which actually looks into this. There's also one historical story, "Duty, Honor, Country" (Adam Beechen and Howard Chaykin), which is told from the perspective of the guy designated to serve papers to the Justice Society for their congressional hearing back in the 1950s. A neat angle on a story the comics have revisited a lot.

Overall, I was often disappointed with how Justice Society vol. 3 was jerked from big event to big event, eschewing the character focus that makes team books so appealing to me. These three anthologies did a lot to rectify that, and I was glad I incorporated them into my reading experience. Alas, the stories are not collected so far as I know, and the issues are not available on DC Universe Infinite, so if you want to follow my lead, you'll need to track them down on the secondary market.

Justice Society of America 80-Page Giant (Jan. 2010), Justice Society of America 80-Page Giant 2010 (Dec. 2010), and Justice Society of American 80-Page Giant 2011 (Aug. 2011) were each originally published in one issue. The stories were written by James Robinson, Felicia D. Henderson, Kevin Grevioux, Jerry Ordway, Jen Van Meter, Zander Cannon, Lilah Sturges, Marc Andreyko, Robert T. Jeschonek, Justin Peniston, Christina Weir & Nunzio DeFilippis, Jason Starr, Freddie Williams II, Brandon Jerwa, Steve Niles, B. Clay Moore, Matt Kindt, Matthew Cody, Drew Ford, Ivan Brandon, and Adam Beechen. They were pencilled by Neil Edwards, Renato Guedes, Roberto Castro, Jerry Ordway, Jesus Merino, Scott Hampton, Freddie Williams II, Mike Norton, Victor Ibàñez, Tonci Zonjic, Jesse Delperdang, Leandro Fernandez, Mateus Santolouco, Josh Adams, Tim Seeley, Andy Smith, Nic Klein, and Howard Chaykin, and they were inked by Wayne Faucher, José Wilson Magalhaes, John Floyd, Jerry Ordway, Jesse Delperdang, Scott Hampton, Freddie Williams II, Bill Sienkiewicz, Victor Ibàñez, Tonci Zonjic, Jesus Merino, Leandro Fernandez, Mateus Santolouco, Bob McLeod, Tim Seeley, Keith Champagne, Nic Klein, and Howard Chaykin. Colors were provided by Mike Thomas, David Curiel, Allan Passalaqua, Danny Vozzo, the Hories, Zac Atkinson, Tonci Zonjic, Alex Bleyaert, Chris Beckett, Mateus Santolouco, Thomas Chu, Nic Klein, and Jesus Aburtov, and letters by Rob Leigh, John J. Hill, and Swands. The stories were edited by Chris Conroy, Rachel Gluckstern, Mike Carlin, and Joey Cavalieri.

This post is forty-fifth in an ever-expanding series about the Justice Society and Earth-Two. The next installment is a supplement covering a reading order for Justice Society of America volume 3. Previous installments are listed below:

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Gotham, Part XXIV: Batman: Night Cries

Comic hardcover, n.pag.
Published 1992
Borrowed from the library
Read October 2015

Batman: Night Cries

Writer/Co-plotter: Archie Goodwin
Artist/Co-plotter: Scott Hampton
Letterer: Tracey Hampton-Munsey

Year Seven, Autumn*
I love Jim Gordon.

He's probably my favorite Batman supporting character, and I suppose that to anyone who knows me and my tastes, this is completely predictable. A man of the law, with no special powers, doing what he can to help in an unkind, unforgiving world, bit by bit. I like him a lot, but he's been a peripheral presence in most of these Batman tales I've been reading, bar Batman: Year One and a flash-forward in The Man Who Laughs. Night Cries features him shortly after his appointment to police commissioner, during an attempt to reconcile with his wife Barbara. (His niece/daughter Barbara is nowhere to be seen, but I think maybe she might be in college right now, living on campus.)

Night Cries shows that the fight Jim Gordon fights is not just against demons external, but internal ones as well. He's under a lot of stress here, trying to navigate the politics required of him by his new position while still wanting to be a beat cop and solve every crime himself, while not neglecting his family-- and also while dealing with his history of abuse. Night Cries reveals that Gordon was abused as a child, and that this has lingering effects. We saw his angry outbursts in Year One, which he channels for good, but here we see the darker side of Gordon, the one which he has to fight to keep in check, and which have a marked effect on his family, even if he's able to stop himself from hitting them.

A brave man. (click to enlarge that beautiful art)

Night Cries is a story about abuse; this moving story about Gordon is weaved together with one about Batman investigating a new serial killer in Gotham, one who seems to have their own issues with abuse. This is affecting in a different way, mostly for the sheer tragedy it evokes. The graphic novel opens with a meditation on the hearing of bats, cited to a 1990 book called A Guide to Wildlife. I didn't get it at first-- it just seemed kind of pretentious-- but upon finishing the book and seeing it repeated, I realized how awful its meaning. Batman fights crime, his whole reason for being is that having been touched by crime, Bruce Wayne devoted himself to (not unambitiously) the elimination of all crime. But at the end of the novel, as he stands and watches over Gotham, Batman realizes that there are crimes he just can't hear. There are children who need him... and he'll never know about it.

It's a sobering moment reflecting on a very real phenomenon, and in lesser hands, I think this book could be terrible. But in Archie Goodwin and Scott Hampton's hands, it's anything but. This book's seriousness and moodiness is such a contrast to what we just saw last week in The Cat and the Bat, yet it still works in its own way. It's a slow read, in a good way: they invite you to linger over the pages, to slowly absorb yourself in this sad, dark world, one which is our world. This superhero story is no fantasy, Batman can't swoop in and save the children here anymore than he can in ours. There are other ways child abuse has to be fought, and while it is, it will continue to have it pernicious effects on families long after the abusers are gone. As Gordon's story here shows, sometimes there are just no easy answers.

Or answers at all.

In Two Weeks: The 1960s arrive in Strange Apparitions!

* At this point, we're vaulting through Batman's early days! After  seven stories set in Year One, and eight in Year Two, we're down to just one or possibly two per year. I suppose, though, that a lot of gaps are to be expected once all the juicy basics are established.

Faster than a DC Bullet: Lucifer, Part II: Devil in the Gateway

Lucifer: Devil in the Gateway

Writer: Mike Carey
Artists: Scott Hampton, Chris Weston, James Hodgkins, Warren Pleece, Dean Ormston
Colorist: Daniel Vozzo
Letterers: Todd Klein, Ellie de Ville

Comic trade paperback, 158 pages. Published 2001 (content: 1999-2000). Borrowed from the library. Read December 2011.

Since we last saw Lucifer in Murder Mysteries, mulling over the injustice of the Lord, some 13 billion years have passed. More than that if Murder Mysteries takes place before the creation of the universe, which it probably does. Since then, Lucifer has rebelled against the Lord, been consigned to Hell, given up Hell (its dominion passing into the hands of a pair of angels), and set up in a piano bar in L.A. because, you know, what else would you do? His former consort, Mazikeen, works there with him.

And he'd probably be there, enjoying himself just fine, if Amendiel, an angel himself, didn't pop into Lucifer's bar, Lux, from the Silver City to ask Lucifer to undertake a mission that the Lord can't be seen to directly intervene in. In "The Morningstar Option," someone's granting wishes, or something. It's all very vague and cosmological. Lucifer recruits a human girl who tied into the phenomenon and strikes out to put a stop to it. The story actually reminded me a lot of "The Thessaliad" in The Sandman Presents: Taller Tales in that Lucifer, like Thessaly, knows the ways these kinds of stories work, and therefore undertakes the story in line with the way it should go.

In the second story here, "A Six-Card Spread," Lucifer heads off the Germany to get another former angel to read some cards for him. Of course, there's trouble afoot, what with a bunch of racist thugs running around and the cards themselves gaining intelligence. And Lucifer's not the only person after them... (Who would have guessed that?)

In both good and bad ways, these remind me of the early Sandman stories. There are big, neat ideas being played with. But there's also a protagonist for whom no problem ever seems to exist. As in the Sandman stories, I found myself focusing on the minor mortal characters, because they had lives and problems and such. Lucifer only has smugness, and that works much of the time... but not all of it. I found "The Morningstar Option" more interesting, but "A Six-Card Spread" got bogged down in all the mythology of the cards, which I didn't find very interesting. Part of the problem (again, like early Sandman) is that the story often doesn't seem to operate by rules the reader is aware of. Lucifer and all the myriad demons do things when they need to, and that is that.

The villains of "The Morningstar Option" bothered me, in that they were gods from before our universe or something... but that didn't really matter. They could have been wish-granting Star Trek space aliens for all the difference it made to the story being told. Just saying "gods" didn't do a whole lot to make the story different.

The book ends with a short story, "Born with the Dead," about a girl whose dead grandmothers give her advice, which comes in handy when her best friend is murdered. I liked it a lot, probably for the same reason I liked a lot of the Sandman fill-in stories-- it had a protagonist I could identify with. Lucifer's here, but it's a small bit at the end.

Last time I read a Mike Carey take on a Sandman spin-off, I got the excellent The Furies. So far, this isn't bad, but it's no rival either.

Faster than a DC Bullet: The Sandman Spin-Offs, Part VII: Destiny: A Chronicle of Deaths Foretold

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2000 (contents: 1997)
Borrowed from the library
Read July 2011

Destiny: A Chronicle of Deaths Foretold

Writer: Alisa Kwitney
Artists: Kent Williams, Michael Zulli, Scott Hampton, Rebecca Guay
Color Artist: Sherilyn Van Valkenburgh
Letterer: Todd Klein

As with WitchCraft and the Triple Goddess, I doubt anyone was clamoring for a Destiny spin-off, but he is one of the Endless, and he's the easiest for DC to do as it will with, for he predates Neil Gaiman. Curiously, this book follows the same format as WitchCraft: there's a frame story by one artist, and then three substories, each illustrated by a different artist, ranging through time. Our story opens in the far future year of 2009, when bubonic plague has devastated the Earth and a strange man, one John Ryder, shows up at the house of Ruth Knight, one of five survivors in a rural village. He brings with him The Book of Destiny, an 1899 publication reconstructing the meaning of the Destiny Scroll, a page torn from the Book of Destiny. It connects the four comings of bubonic plague to Destiny of the Endless and the mysterious John Ryder himself.

I liked this a lot at first. The art in the frame story (I don't know which of the four artists was responsible, unfortunately) is angular and moody, perfect for this postapocalyptic world, and Kwitney's writing is powerful enough to match. The relationship between Ruth and John is very well done, too-- it's complicated, as each wants something out of each other. The first flashback story is great, too, about the wife of the emperor at the fall of Byzantium and her illegitimate child (who turns out to be John Ryder), who becomes the pawn of Destiny, carrying the plague. But after this, the flashback stories get muddy. What is John Ryder trying to accomplish in 1348 or 1665? It's not quite clear. And thematically, I never figured out what the book was trying to do, either. It wants to be about destiny and Destiny, but there's a lot about plagues in it, and that never really links together. I guess those who die of the plague are destined to die? But so what-- according to the mythos here, everyone has an inescapable destiny, so the plague stuff feels like too much. And as for that ending... I just didn't get it.

Despite my comment at the beginning, I think there's definitely possibility in a story about Destiny, as in all the Endless. The inescapability of Fate has been the basis of many a tale. Destiny looks cool, sounds cool, and even gets in a good joke here, to my surprise. But this story isn't it; it never coheres into saying or doing anything in particular.