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WAITING
FOR TOMMY: GEOFF JOHNS
By
Richard Johnston
RICHARD:
It might have slipped me by. Okay, tell us more about that
high note. The JSA/Hawkman Black Reign crossover?
GEOFF:
BLACK REIGN is weekly starting in JSA #56, then Hawkman #23,
JSA #57, Hawkman #24, JSA #58 and Hawkman #25 -- again, our
last issue of Hawkman. Rags, Michael and I wanted to depart
Hawkman on a high. We've been building up to BLACK REIGN in
JSA and as Hawkman's roll grew and evolved, it became clear
this was really a story about Hawkman searching for answers
and facing someone, Black Adam, who was once very much himself.
And with Hawkman's history with Black Adam, they fought side-by-side
in Ancient Egypt, it makes that point even clearer.
Essentially,
BLACK ADAM, the dark child of the Marvel Family, believes
justice is not being done properly in this world. Adam's wife
and two sons were murdered back in the 15th Dynasty when Adam
was still seen as a hero throughout the world. After their
death, Adam vowed to never let anyone going through that kind
of pain again. He sought out those he believed to be criminals
and executed them. This didn't sit well with the Wizard Shazam,
and he was labeled corrupt and exiled for thousands of years
-- until recently, when he was finally freed. Adam's been
trying to re-establish himself as a hero by working with the
JSA, but he's since been fed up by their lack of finality.
Black Adam has been recruiting others to help him in his quest.
Atom Smasher, the godson of the original Atom, who himself
killed Extant to save his mother's life. Brainwave, the son
of the deceased JSA villain by the same name. Brainwave strove
to be a hero rather than a villain, though he's gone through
mental ups and downs. Northwind, the godson of Hawkman. A
half-human, half-bird creature from a lost city in the mountains
of Greenland. Alexander Montez, the former JSA museum curator
who has taken control of the power of Eclipso and the black
diamond that imprisons him. And Nemesis, a genetically enhanced
super-soldier from the Council of Manhunter fame. Their first
actions as a team -- they hunted down and murdered Kobra in
JSA #51.
They're
setting their sights on a higher goal now. Black Adam's homeland
of Kahndaq. Their intentions appear good, their methods debatable.
To the JSA, these young men and women under Black Adam's control
are their responsibility.
But with
Black Reign, things are never what they seem. Traitors, hidden
allies and enemies, motivations blurred and distorted by emotions
and inner voices, and several twists and turns. It's a story
about the search for true heroes and true justice, a story
about the JSA doing their best to be those iconic heroes.
And in my mind, it's the best JSA story we've done to date.
Among all the action, we've really managed to spotlight characters
throughout -- Doctor Mid-Nite, Flash, Green Lantern, Stargirl,
Atom Smasher, Captain Marvel, they all play a vital roll in
this story. Actually, Doctor Mid-Nite plays perhaps my favorite
roll he's had in the book since day one.
It's
absolutely beautiful. Rags and Michael have pulled out the
stops and Don Kramer and Keith Champagne have put an amazing
amount of detail and realism into their work on JSA. I'm also
thrilled that it's coming out weekly. It's been tough on everyone
working on it, but in the end, we're getting a major JSA story
in under two months.
There
will also, of course, be a handful of events that will carry
on out into the next year of JSA. In JSA #59, immediately
following, a few of the members have had enough for awhile.
We'll be really focusing JSA down to a core group of characters
over the next year. And we've got our plans laid out for the
next several storylines.
Cool?
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