Justice Society of America #4 Spoilers/Discussion

[sifighter]

We are back, my favorite team of old guard and new are back and hopefully on schedule now.

Anyway lets do a recap because of the delay, *ahem*: Per Degaton has been killing the JSA throughout time but he didn’t count on Helena Wayne with the Flashpoint Beyond snow globe. After her team gets killed she gets shot through the timeline and ended up in WW2 era and then the present day where she met Khalid Nassour and the Justice League Dark. The Dark team took the globe to madam xandu to check it out while Khalid brought Helena to present day JSA when Degaton appears to murder them all.

And thus we get in this issue a fight, some teases of things to come, and some reveals. If you wanted more present day JSA we get that. If you wanted to know why it is that Degaton is working backwards we get an explanation for that as well. Apparently he is working via a magic reality altering spell that requires him to work backwards and kill JSA or at least Dr. Fates in sequence. And if you had some questions about Beth and Yolanda’s resurrection we get a little more on that, though it may not be a good thing depending on where Johns takes this latest reveal.

I would probably say that this arc has been a lot of teases of future storylines to come that aren’t Watchmen and Joker related. I’m personally all for it as a JSA fan and only hope that this series goes on long enough to tell the story.

Although the ending will likely bother people, that can’t be helped because a certain someone shows up to be warned of the future. But given their ties to the story and characters already established it’d make no sense if they didn’t appear.

[Digifiend]

Actually, it would make sense if Batman didn't show up - because Helena's a walking spoiler for him. That's why she was supposed to stay out of Gotham. She does realise that she could potentially erase herself? Jay probably won't be happy. If someone on the team knows the dangers of time travel, it's a Flash.

[D.Z]

She already altered time. I never expected her future to stay and it will be consigned to hypertime.

[Will Evans]

How old would Jack Knight’s son be in the present right now?

[sifighter]

How old would Jack Knight’s son be in the present right now?

A small child? His son was a baby after the series/blackest night so I imagine at least a few years passed.

[thwhtGuardian]

This is still moving at a glacially slow pace but atleast we got some answers as to what is going on. At the point where we are in the plot this feels like we should have been at the end of a second issue not the end of the fourth.

[j9ac9k]

This is still moving at a glacially slow pace but atleast we got some answers as to what is going on. At the point where we are in the plot this feels like we should have been at the end of a second issue not the end of the fourth.

Agreed - this is slow. Janin draws some great pictures, but they spend way too many frames to cover the dialogue, and not all of it is necessary. Maybe this is a meta narrative and Degaton is drawing out his inevitable defeat by having things move so slowly. Or maybe Johns is still thinking he's writing for tv rather than comics.

[MajorHoy]

Agreed - this is slow. Janin draws some great pictures, but they spend way too many frames to cover the dialogue, and not all of it is necessary. Maybe this is a meta narrative and Degaton is drawing out his inevitable defeat by having things move so slowly. Or maybe Johns is still thinking he's writing for tv rather than comics.

Or maybe Johns is still figuring out his story . . .

[clonegeek]

Or maybe Johns is still figuring out his story . . .

This story is decommpressed to hell, everything that has happened in the last 4 issues could have happened in about 2

[MajorHoy]

Still wondering how we went from this in issue #3:


to the last page on issue #4.

Was there something I missed that showed Helena's decision process, or some obvious comment made to her that I missed?

[TheCasualReader]

Was there something I missed that showed Helena's decision process, or some obvious comment made to her that I missed?

I just went and checked my #4 and there's nothing to explain why she changed her mind.

By the way, talk about lying covers.

[Digifiend]

I think she didn't change her mind - she lied, and always intended to go see him by herself.

[MajorHoy]

I think she didn't change her mind - she lied, and always intended to go see him by herself.

Or maybe Warner Bros./Discovery had him rewrite the story so it would have more Batman in it . . .

[achilles]

Or maybe Warner Bros./Discovery had him rewrite the story so it would have more Batman in it . . .

And more cowbells.

[NeathBlue]

Or maybe Warner Bros./Discovery had him rewrite the story so it would have more Batman in it . . .

I think you were probably right when you said Johns is still figuring it all out…
Do we know yet if this is a maxi series or will it be an ongoing, does Johns even know at this point?
I wouldn’t be surprised that he’s already changed the ending for this arc (assuming it’s an ongoing) at least once and he doesn’t yet know what original JSA members will be in it going forward and what age they’ll be.
Delays made me lose interest in Doomsday Clock, hopefully Johns or whoever is responsible for these delays gets their act together because this one is threatening to go the same way.