Now here's a mess of a cover. It shows Gog and the JSA having a ruckus in front of a Big Purple Head (write your own gag here), but I had to work to make it out. It's due to painter Alex Ross' colouring, mainly, a mass of pink hues. It's also the composition, with everyone bar Kingdom Come Superman having their head turned away from us. Apart from the BPH, but he's pretty much obscured by the reddish logo. I would have bought the alternative cover with Dale Eaglesham's more attractive offering, but it's a third more expensive at my shop so the heck with that!So, can you judge this book by its cover? Happily not. The art inside, by Eaglesham (bar a page one KC flashback, showing Ross in his green period) is lovely, amply conveying the JSA's battle against the madman Gog. The story reads pretty, with lots of characterful dialogue showing how the team tackle the bad guy. What it doesn't tell us, though, is just how he can remain standing in the face of wholly half the team. Cos as far as I can see, his powers consist of energy blasting and speechifying. And yet the combined power of a Superman, Green Lantern and many, many more fails to faze him. Sure, he takes some blows, loses some flesh, but only the BPH that finally puts Gog down.
Bonkers. Really, I know how team books work - characters who in their own strips can take down gods must struggle a tad so the lesser-powered members can have their moment in the sun. But really, this fight has been going on since last issue. Even if Gog were stronger than the heroes combined, their ingenuity should have won through.
I feared we may lose a member or two this time out, but so far as I can see, everyone survived, even the newbies. That's excellent, as I want to get to know them. But I'd love to see them as part of a 'Good Fight' (this issue's clever title) against a goodly number of interesting foes, rather than co-plotter Ross's Mary Sue character.
Artistic moment of the issue? Eaglesham's double page spread showing a massive moment in the conflict.
Best dialogue? Sandman, saying of the BPH: 'It's thousands of years old, but it's not from our world. It's from ANOTHER!'
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