[ScansDaily]Because Willingham and Sturges hate women and minorities!!! [/ScansDaily] Probably because it seems to be his group (based on the main JSA book) and he has military training. Freddie Williams' art is so good in that preview, he's fast becoming someone whose book I'll buy based on name alone

I haven't read JSA since Willingham and Sturges took it over, but I understand that Magog's been King Badass MsLeaderguy over in that book too. Some have speculated that it's due to Willingham's status as a hardline conservative Republican. As Sturges and Willingham have been friends for a long time, maybe Sturges shares similar political views, and has therefore cast Magog, a former military man, as the leader, due to personal bias? It's possible that Sturges is setting up a power struggle between Magog and Power Girl which will eventually come to a head, but Power Girl's really sporting a, "Tee-hee, I'm just a girl!" attitude in that preview.

Does everyone know that Magog is supposed to kill Joker and set off a near-apocalypse in a potential future? I can't remember if Kingdom Come Superman pointed that out or not.

I get that Willingham is conservative so he might be more pro military than other writers (which I think is sgood because for too long military=bad in comics), but Magog's basically being the mouthpiece for a bit more common sense in comics. It's like "why doesn't the JSA, with war veterans on it, actually function with something more than just letting everyone walk in when they're a legacy?" Jay Garrick is getting more love than anyone on the book when you look at the last 4 issues. And while it might not show up in the DCU, I get the hint that a PG/Magog relationship might appear since Willingham/Sturges took over. Giffen seems to be writing some good stuff on his solo title. He's the bad ass who is actually a decent guy, and trying not to be what people think he will be ala Kingdom Come. JSA isn't great, as some clunky dialogue and some weak, weak villains are made to be a credible threat, but it's a lot better than it has been since the relaunch, IMO.

Common sense can really take the fun out of comics.

JSA All-Stars preview. Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Damage is looking pretty spry for a dead guy. Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Damage is dead? Jeez, where did that happen? I love that character, but have really cut back on my DC books. He was alive in the last issue of JSA.

When the team lets in new members and one of them stabs Mr. Terrific and kills him, that's cause for concern. I don't even trust Mr. America. And also when they fought about 20 villains everyone had no idea what to do, no one was taking the point and the new Dr. Fate came in and saved the day. And another thing S_D harped on was that Obsidian was turned into an egg in the first few pages of W/S's run, meaning "oh noez he hates teh gayz." Damn are they quick to fire with the persecution button. Edit: And Hensler, it happened in BN#4.

Edit: And Hensler, it happened in BN#4. Well fuck.

And another thing S_D harped on was that Obsidian was turned into an egg in the first few pages of W/S's run, meaning "oh noez he hates teh gayz." Damn are they quick to fire with the persecution button. To be fair, Obsidian was taken from Andreyko's Manhunter book, where he was given a pretty prominent role and a bunch of character development, and then placed in JSA, where he was literally a two dimensional shadow on the wall, and then an egg, for the entirety of the series. While I'm not quick to level any animus against the creative teams on the book, it is more than a little odd that the gay guy and the atheist get the short shrift under a writer that's very conservative.

W/S (this will henceforth be their abbreviation, or we can call them WildStorm) have said they like Obsidian and will do something with him in the series. With Mr. Terrific, I think they'll do something more along the lines of making him no longer be undetectable to machines as opposed to making him find God after a near death experience. And I never read Manhunter, so I didn't know that about Obsidian. But hell, it seems no one griped when it was Johns who made him wallpaper.

Also, Magog was literally written to be everything that was wrong with 90s comics. The fact that he now has a prominent role is either a case of the author missing the point completely, or so incredibly meta it is ridiculous. Seriously, fuck Magog. Edit: Wow, they managed to fuck over everything that could possibly interesting about that team.

When the team lets in new members and one of them stabs Mr. Terrific and kills him, that's cause for concern. I don't even trust Mr. America. And also when they fought about 20 villains everyone had no idea what to do, no one was taking the point and the new Dr. Fate came in and saved the day. You can't take those events as proof that making Magog the leader off an offshoot team is a good direction for the JSA brand when those events were written specifically to justify the change. Under a different writer, Mr. Terrific wouldn't have been stabbed and the team would have, right off the bat, figured out that all they had to do to beat those 20 villains was switch opponents. Hell, Stargirl could've taken them all out since nobody wanted to attack her. Ultimately, common sense in comics is malleable. Whether or not a military approach is needed on a superhero team is dependent on the world the team is operating in, and that's wholly subject to the whims of the writer. Given that, the question of whether the classic approach or the military approach is best is ultimately just a question of what makes for better stories.

A valid point. And judging from the new team, it seems to be primarily the younger members, which might make it something more than legacy heroes and more a minor league hero team to build up new recruits, which would make sense since Teen Titans is pointless.

Yeah, I just realized that Teen Titans is now even more pointless because of this book.

I would also like to point out that no super hero team is a military organization, and they do things that the military don't. So, it's kind of ridiculous to say his experience is more valuable than say, Power Girl, who has been doing the heroing thing for quite awhile.

It's the idea that you have military members and don't incorporate things that would make the team work better. Yeah Wildcat's a boxer and the girrty old timer, but how about doing something with it instead of it being a Geoff Johns/Alex Ross "isn't the past great!" moment. I'm not saying the JSA should be a division of the army, but having a system in place that goes beyond what is basically Mr. Terrific --> old guys --> nothing is something worth exploring.

Look, Power Girl never thought to divide the JSA into a red team and a blue team. I don't think she even know what blue means. Anyway, a different approach to leadership isn't automatically unwelcome, but Magog's the last character it should be coming from since nobody has any reason to respect him, he was only a Lance Corporal in the military, and KC Superman probably told someone at some point that Magog sets off a metahuman war.

Edit: And Hensler, it happened in BN#4. Well fuck. It's Blackest Night. Everyone's dying.

Basically, everyone is written to suck to make Magog look good.

I would also like to point out that no super hero team is a military organization, and they do things that the military don't. So, it's kind of ridiculous to say his experience is more valuable than say, Power Girl, who has been doing the heroing thing for quite awhile. The Ultimates were basically a military team. They had a chain o' command, military objectives, conventional armed forces back-up, military technology etc.

I would also like to point out that no super hero team is a military organization, and they do things that the military don't. So, it's kind of ridiculous to say his experience is more valuable than say, Power Girl, who has been doing the heroing thing for quite awhile. The Ultimates were basically a military team. They had a chain o' command, military objectives, conventional armed forces back-up, military technology etc. SHIELD was/is military, so all of Fury's stuff should have reflected that.

Ok, fine, I'll be more specific. No team that Magog has ever been on, and probably ever seen is a military organization, and they do things the military doesn't. So, it's kind of ridiculous to say his experience is more valuable than say, Power Girl, who has been doing the heroing thing for quite awhile.

Magog doesn't actually have the military experience to competently lead any team, much less a team composed of superheroes either, unless he's some kind of strategic genius all of a sudden. If you want a military team done right, you need Amanda Waller or Sarge Steel or something. Uncle Sam or Father Time could probably do it too.

Ok, fine, I'll be more specific. No team that Magog has ever been on, and probably ever seen is a military organization, and they do things the military doesn't. So, it's kind of ridiculous to say his experience is more valuable than say, Power Girl, who has been doing the heroing thing for quite awhile. Yeah, that's probably correct. That said, his reasoning is still valid, in that it's a bit absurd how the JSA is run. It operates more like some sort of fraternity of people who happen to be superpowered than a crime-fighting team. That doesn't make it bad - it's clearly established all over the place that they aren't even TRYING to stop crime as a whole - but it does mean it's legitimate to complain about admission processes and whatnot. The proactive/responsive thing is kind of something different.

I don't think that complaints would have been considered legitimate prior to this current run. Granted a rigorous vetting process was never shown on-screen, but the team did display a great deal of familiarity with prospective team members upon offering them membership. It wasn't at all like those other teams where heroes would happen to be in the same city when a threat struck, unite to fight that threat, and then decide to call themselves The Champions. Obviously security flaws have been a problem as of late, but those are clearly just plot devices rather than the exposure of underlying flaws.