JSA #33: House of Cards
In what is to be the inevitable splitting of JSA’s massive roster, at the heart of this story is the team’s reluctance to be just as scrupulous and jaded from its more modern counterparts like JLA. JSA has always been the title where this WWII-esque family atmosphere always had a Leave it to Beaver lesson at the end of every arc. There are certainly chapters where the title went into darker territory but the brownstone scenes were always something out of a friendly black and white sitcom. Even one of its former members serves as a mother to all the members baking apple pie.
Willingham (Fables) douses that warmth with a traitor who exposed the Society’s wholesome trust and goody nature. Its in this desperate time where Mr. Terrific’s life hangs in the balance where the Society finds itself crossing lines and questioning each other to find the mole. In the end, the mole/traitor is really insignificant and not 1/1000 as important as the damage done to the Brownstone, team’s trust, confidence, and ultimately its identity.
While the true mastermind behind it all has yet to stand revealed, this is Willingham’s JSA’s dissembled executed smarter and with multi-levels of design as opposed to Bendis’ shock factor that never captured the importance of the Avengers to the Marvel Universe.
Rating: Buy it. The best is yet to come with Willingham as he is finally in position to write his own story and place his stamp on this title.