Writer – Len Strazewski
Artist – Grant Miehm
Colours – Tom Ziuko
Letters – Janice Chiang

In this second issue of the 1991 Justice Society of America revival series, Black Canary takes center stage, doing what she does best. What is that, some might ask? Why she only stops crime like the best of superheroes do, and once done, moves on to the next mission, knowing that evil does not stop to take a break. So after stopping some street thugs, she heads to the museum where something big is going down. She knows that it will be serious when she finds one of the guards with their neck broken, and it is not long before she runs into the thieves who are trying to steal the Crown of Cheops. While she does her best to take out the gang of criminals, the proceedings get a little more dire with the arrival of Solomon Grundy, a villain who is just a touch more powerful than she is. Writer Len Strazewski then cuts to a different place, the observatory where Ted Knight is being held. Here, readers see the hero still held captive by a mystery man, bullied and humiliated and being told that the Flash has been taken care of, most likely permanently. Additionally the mystery villain uses Ted Knight’s cosmic rod to summon another being from the stars, the archer Sagittarius. Strazewski writes a very fun tale, and this time around, he is joined by Grant Miehm, whose artwork is a little different from Rick Burchett’s but still quite good and packed with energy. That translates into excitement, and the action in the book continues on until the last page, where Black Canary lies defeated at the hands of Solomon Grundy while Green Lantern is revealed as he faces off against the celestial Sagittarius. Much like the previous issue, this was a fun outing that may not have featured the Justice Society in full, but has been doing the work of reintroducing some of its cast to a new audience. Some might decry that Strasewski is only featuring one character at a time, yet he continues to further the story with his mystery villain, and readers now know that he is building towards something with the aid of certain artifacts. Even more so, it seems to have something to do with the stars, given the Crown of Cheops and its link to astrology and the celestial beings that he has called down from the heavens. Where it all leads still remains to be seen, as does the fate of the Flash and Black Canary, but given that this is a title that features heroes and that good guys usually come out on top, one has to know that they will most likely be okay. A very entertaining work thus far, with another cliffhanger to make one want to come back for more.

4 out of 5