Justice Society of America #38 Review (Spoilers)

There have been many good time travel and alternate universe stories written throughout the history of comics.  This is not one of them.

The setting is Earth after the entire world has been taken over by a Neo Nazi Fourth Reich. Of course, readers know that this is going to be reversed at the end of the storyline, so there’s no reason to care about the characters who die or get injured.  We all know the Magic Reset Button is going to be pushed sooner or later.

Not only that, but the logic for how everything went to hell is laughable, even by comic book standards. I was instantly reminded of JLA: Act of God. (Although that might have more to do with the fact that Linkara is reviewing it currently.)

Heroes losing their powers through the powers of inane plot device? Check. Both technology and magic being effected in the exact same way, regardless of what previous continuity says? Check.  Blue Devil somehow loses his powers, even though he is a demon because of a deal with the devil!  The fact that Willingham wrote 16 issues of Shadowpact gives him no excuse for this stupid plot element.

Not only that, but this is Justice Society of America, and yet we don't see a single member of the JSA until halfway through the book!  Of the characters who are starring in the book, only one (Mr. Terrific) is featured prominently, while any others that appear are just there as background props.

Oh, and the idea of the Fourth Reich operating concentration camps in present day? I don’t care what various stories about dystopian futures say. There is no way there are enough people on Earth supporting such a regime for it to work.  With no super powers for anyone, the Fourth Reich is vastly outnumbered and outgunned. There is no logical reason why people couldn’t have fought back and won against them. Easily.

I give this comic a 2/5, and only because the art's decent.  And it's still extremely generous.