DC Comics reviews 12/26/23 – Green Arrow #7, Titans Beast World #3

Justice Society of America #8

The future of the Justice Society would be a lot more stable if Geoff Johns wasn’t a short-timer with DC as he commits full-time to the Ghost Machine brand. Easily the most concerning aspect of Johns’ pending departure is DC doesn’t have a lot of viable replacements to serve as his JSA successor if Jeremy Adams and Robert Venditti aren’t in the running.

This issue focuses on yet another new character — Ruby Sokov, the daughter of the Red Lantern, who might have been having a closeted affair with Alan Scott. Johns typically doesn’t leave scripts this mysteriously so it read odd how vague this was written. Red Lantern and Ruby are both new characters to this iteration of the DC Universe and if Johns isn’t committed to developing them they’re not going to fare well in other writers’ hands.

Huntress is pulling for Ruby to be part of the team, but her logic doesn’t check out as Ruby kills at least 12 people in this issue alone. Ruby’s debut does not suggest she could or should be a hero let alone a member of the JSA.

Mikel Janin’s art wasn’t as consistently crisp as his norm either. Some of the pages were soft and lacking on detail. Jordie Bellaire’s colors were easily the most stable aspect of the issue particularly in showcasing Ruby’s powers.

This was a down issue for the book and with Johns not long for the title, this could be more than the norm in the future than the exception.

Rating: 7 out of 10