After years of writing Justice Society of America, Geoff Johns is finally moving on. And Dave Eaglesham, the main artist for the recent relaunch, is heading over to Marvel Comics, where he’ll soon be doing a run on Fantastic Four with Jonathan Hickman. This last issue is their swan song, a final story before they pass the torch on to Bill Willingham and Matt Sturges. The story is simple enough: it’s the story of Stargirl’s birthday and the JSA’s celebration. It’s full of great little character moments, like Wildcat telling his son, the other Wildcat, about Stripesy and the Star-Spangled Kid back in the day, and Starman’s failed birthday presents. These were sadly missing from the previous arc, which was bizarrely under-par compared to a stellar run. That’s why I’m glad that Geoff Johns had this last chance to tell a story with this group he knows so well. The little twist at the end is cute, since which teenager doesn’t dread the idea of having to wear braces for another year?
It seems like forever since Thy Kingdom Come, so it seems like forever since Geoff Johns was actually writing this series well. The last arc was so mediocre that it threw off everything for me about this series. I’m sad to see Black Adam and Isis in such dire straits, but that whole arc should have been handled better. That’s why this one-shot story is so welcome. It’s Geoff Johns at his best. Dave Eaglesham’s art is also a welcome sight, since Jerry Ordway’s work before was not so good. My only complaint is that Eaglesham now draws the Flash (Jay Garrick)’s head and face really oddly. Aside from that and the occasional coloring issue, like people’s shirts and hair changing colors, the art was great. I only ever started reading this series because of Johns, so it’ll be sad to see him go. Nonetheless, from what I have seen and heard, his successors look like they’ve got some good ideas lined up. They’ll have to be good if they want to match what he’s done.
Plot: 8.8 Art: 9.0 Dialogue: 9.0 Overall: 8.8
