Writer – Len Strazewski
Artist – Tom Artis
Inker – Frank M. Laughlin
Colours – Tom Ziuko
Letters – Janice Chiang

Carter Hall is checking out some cave paintings as the power flickers on and off. He finds them quite interesting, and avid readers will note that they pertain to the events currently taking place, more accurately, to the celestial beings who are presently harvesting as much power as they can. Soon enough, Hall gives a bit of a history lesson on them and on racial memory to his friend William Wildeagle when they are suddenly come upon by one of those very same celestial creatures, namely the constellation Andromeda. This, of course, means that an appearance by Hall’s alter-ego Hawkman cannot be far behind, and writer Len Strazewski does not disappoint. Hawkman sports his familiar gear, with the older headpiece sans wings, and instead of the familiar mace, he borrows a spear and shield from a Native American display. Surprisingly, Hawkman can beat Andromeda back; the wood from the spear and shield is actually more than effective against her, where almost everything else has failed against these beings. That said, the hero can only do so much, and it is not long before he finds himself on the losing side of things. The battle is fraught with tension, and it is a violent one. Artist Tom Artis illustrates it superbly, and things move along at a fairly brisk pace, there being no time to hardly breathe for Hawkman as the being from the stars is seemingly able to feed off of everything and while he might have found a possible weakness against her, he is only one man. With all of that action, the book slows down a notch during the last couple of pages, one reason being that Andromeda has gotten away, and Hawkman is essentially defeated. It also features the return of The Flash, who was last seen in the first issue of this series, knocked unconscious or worse. Strazewski obviously has a plan for what happens going forward, as Flash and Hawkman will be teaming up in the next issue, but will they be enough to defeat the creatures and ultimately Vandal Savage? It still remains to be seen what happens with the rest of the JSA, as nobody else was featured in this particular book, including the villains who have appeared previously, not to mention Starman. Seeing the beaten hero rise up and get a bit of courage to fight back at some point should make for a great moment when it happens. All in all, another solid issue that was a lot of fun.

3.5 out of 5

Find more posts and podcasts celebrating the JSA right here:

https://fireandwaterpodcast.com/podcast/jsapril/