Them Reviews - Justice Society of America #15

Big time action issue as Gog and the JSA continue to mix it up and Thy Kingdom Come comes to its conclusion. *Sigh* I just don't know. The issue was a quicky fight issue with the JSA and Gog beating the shit out of each other. Well, eventually it ends with them on some island where Gog is destroyed by this giant head before it's revlead that the real Gog inhabits this Island thus setting the stage for the next JSA story arc. And I still don't care. I mean the cliffhanger was cool? But we already knew this guy they were fighting was just paving the way for the Gog of the Third World. I don't know, this is a series intended for collection in a hardcover or softcover reprint and that's what kills me. If they actually appraoched this series as a monthly seriel I think it would be a lot better. The art is good. Technically. Eaglesham does a well enough job, I mean all the people look like people, but he approaches each panel as a static object and nothing really flows from one panel to the next. There is no sense of motion on the page. Probably the best example of a comic where the action on the page flows smoothly and gives the illusion of motion is Jason Pearson's Body Bags. You would think it was done as a story board for a movie. From one shot to the next, everything moves smoothly. Eaglesham is like a classic car. Sure, it looks nice. Has this classic feel. Clunky as hell and a rough ride. Eaglesham draws people fantastically. They look like they could exist in reality but a too realistic style seems to suck the tension and excitement out of the book. You would almost think Eaglesham is simply trying to ape Alex Ross's style without having to bust out the canvas and paints. Comes close, actually, at least in the sense that some of the panels start to get overcrowded with too many characters on the page and risks becoming a convoluted mess. But I'm probably ragging on this book way too much. The issue was okay. It was a step up from the last issue, for certain. There were some cool moments, like Obsidian temporarily possessing Gog. There is a moment between Stargirl and Lightning that was pretty funny, with Stargirl encouraging Lighting to take her frustrations out on Gog and giving the best battle cry since the Tick said "Spooooooon!" Still, it was hard to feel like this book wasn't just going through the motions and setting up the next tale to be collected in the next hardcover.