The second part of "Princes of Darkness" is simply packed with the kind of thing that JSA readers have grown to love in this book. A big cast, terrific use of DC's golden age heroes, big explosive super-hero action and some world-shaking threats put this story on the same level as Stern's Avengers or Levitz's Legion, a classic run on beloved characters. The downside is that the continuity is pretty thick, and with so much going on the risks of losing the casual reader are certainly there. Quite honestly, though, JSA isn't really for the casual reader or the new reader, it's for the long-time super-hero fan who wants a straightforward super-hero tale without the irony and self-loathing but with the same scale and more sophisticated characterization that characterizes new super-hero books.
My partner in crime here at Fourth Rail had a much different take on this book this week, finding the continuity and numerous characters to be a bit overwhelming. While I can certainly see that point of view, I do think there's a big upside to the enormous cast and use of continuity, and that's an epic feel that too many super-hero team books lack these days. While many books are self-conscious about being super-hero books, doing away with the codenames, costumes and heroic ideals, and others are old school, with stilted dialogue and simplistic plots, JSA offers the best of both worlds. This is not a book that is embarrassed to be about super-heroes, but nor is it a book mired ten or twenty years in the past in style.
This issue is full of pure super-hero fun, whether it's the golden age Flash going to town on Eclipso or Power Girl's relentless pounding of big bad guy Mordru. Though Johns and Goyer have built up their trinity of villains into something truly terrifying, they haven't painted the heroes as powerless in the face of this evil. The long-term ramifications of the heroes getting their licks in might not be much, but it does provide a sense that the heroes have a determination and ability that makes them a threat even to such powerful foes.
A lot of subplots are being moved along in the pages of "Princes of Darkness," and that is great fun for regular readers even as it does make the book a little impenetrable to new readers. I loved seeing the beginning of the payoff of Alex Montez's quest for vengeance, or a long-awaited moment between Star Spangled Kid and Captain Marvel, or the surprise cast of characters who greet Dr. Fate at the end of the book. And it was terrific to see Dove in action again. Johns and Goyer have tied up a couple unfortunate mistakes of the 90s in this issue, quietly restoring Eclipso to one black diamond instead of hundreds and returning Dove to life, even if they can't quite salvage Hawk in the same way. Of course, these elements of the story are less likely to be of interest to those who have no particular attachment to these characters, but I don't necessarily think it's fair to expect the book to be everything to everyone.
It looks like the art chores on "Princes of Darkness" will be traded off between new team Sal Velluto & Bob Almond and regular team Leonard Kirk and Keith Champagne, and if you've got to have more than one art team, you're definitely better off if both are very strong creators. While I would give the nod to Velluto and Almond in terms of personal taste, there's certainly nothing lacking in the work of Kirk and Champagne, who do some particularly great work with the Power Girl-Mordru slugfest and Flash's use of superspeed against Eclipso.
