JSA vs. Kobra


By Eric S. Trautmann, Don Kramer & Michael Babinski, with Neil Edwards (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-955-3
After the actual invention of the comicbook superhero – for which read the launch of Superman in 1938 – the most significant event in the genre, and indeed industry’s, progress was the combination of individual attention-getters into a group. Thus what seems blindingly obvious to us with the benefit of four-colour hindsight was proven – a number of popular characters could multiply readership by combining forces and readerships. Plus of course, a whole bunch of superheroes is a lot cooler than just one – or even one and a sidekick.

The Justice Society of America was created in the third issue (Winter 1940/1941) of All-Star Comics, an anthology title featuring established characters from various All-American Comics publications. The magic was instigated by the simple expedient of having the assorted heroes gather around a table and tell each other their latest adventure. From this low key collaboration it wasn’t long before the guys – and they were all guys (except Red Tornado who merely pretended to be one) – regularly joined forces to defeat the greatest villains – and social ills of their generation. Within months the concept had spread far and wide…

And so the Justice Society of America is rightly revered as a true landmark in the development of comicbooks and, when Julius Schwartz revived the superhero genre in the late 1950s, the game-changing moment came with the inevitable teaming of the reconfigured mystery men into a Justice League of America.

From there it wasn’t long until the original and genuine article returned. Since then there have been many attempts to formally revive the team’s fortunes but it wasn’t until 1999, on the back of both the highly successful rebooting of the JLA by Grant Morrison & Howard Porter and the seminal but critically favoured new Starman by Golden Age devotee James Robinson, that the multi-generational team found a concept and fan-base big enough to support them. In 1999 the original super-team returned and have been with us in one form or another ever since.

Kobra originated in February 1976 in his own short-lived title, during a period of desperate experimentation whilst super-hero tales were plummeting and the industry feared its inevitable extinction. Credited to Martin Pasko, Steve Sherman, Jack Kirby and Pablo Marcos, the saga is a radical updating of Alexandre Dumas’ seminal 1844 novel Les Frères Corses – “The Corsican Brothers”.

When conjoined twins Jeffrey and Jason Burr were surgically separated soon after birth, Jeffrey was abducted by disciples of the Cult of Kobra and raised to be their Dark Messiah: a deadly warrior, scientist and strategist dedicated to bringing about the end of civilisation and initiating a cleansing “Age of Chaos”. The peculiar circumstances of their birth meant that Jeffrey and his brother Jason maintained an uncanny connection wherein one would experience the hurts and harms inflicted upon the other, leading Jason to become the ultimate weapon in the war waged by numerous DC heroes against his serpentine terrorist sibling over the years.

Eventually Jason was safely murdered by Kobra, but later resurrected as an even greater evil, assuming his brother’s position as head of the World’s most dangerous death-cult. The new Kobra is an utterly dedicated fanatic who married the cult’s technological resources to hideous, sacrificial blood-magic and preferred faith-driven disciples to the disaffected proto-thugs employed by his predecessor (for further details see Checkmate: Pawn Breaks)…

The JSA battled the first Kobra many times (most notably in JSA: Darkness Falls and JSA: Savage Times) but were utterly unprepared for the sheer horrors in store when they swung into action against the inheritor of the Snake cult…

This terse, tense collection re-presents the six-issue JSA vs. Kobra ‘Engines of Faith’ miniseries and, informed by the real-world terrorism of fundamentalist factions around the globe, finally elevates Kobra to the first rank of villains as the deadly herald of the World’s End plays a lethal game of cat-and-mouse with the Planet’s Smartest Man and some of the most experienced heroes of all time…

The Serpent Lord begins his campaign of terror in ‘Bad Religion’ by dispatching suicide bombers to destroy the Justice Society in their own home; confronting logic and superpowers with pure faith and high-tech explosives. Caught off-guard by foes actually happy to die if they can strike a blow against their master’s enemies, the JSA are further wrong-footed by seemingly random attacks against civilians and institutions, all orchestrated by field commander and fanatical bride of death Ariadne Persakis.

The sheer scale of the bloodletting and illogical nature of the attacks soon have the heroes fighting amongst themselves as they strive to find some rhyme or reason behind the murderous assaults… so why then does Persakis surrender herself to their custody?

‘Strange Days’ finds the team seething but still unable to fathom the terrorist’s game plan until Ariadne breaks free of Checkmate custody. Apparently the covert international spy-force has been hopelessly infiltrated and compromised. The senseless death-toll mounts exponentially and as, the team narrowly thwart an assault on a giant particle accelerator that could split the Earth in two, masked genius Mr. Terrific begins to discern a pattern to the random madness in ‘Misdirection’…

The brutal attacks intensify and, although it appears the heroes are slowly gaining the upper hand, Terrific perceives the hidden agenda behind the unceasing ghastly blows against decency and civilisation. ‘Lightning in a Bottle’ finds Kobra making his ultimate move and apparently failing, leading to a gathering of champions ‘Beating the Grass’ and taking the war to the relentless foe, but even after the stunning climax of ‘Shedding Skin’ the weary heroes cannot be sure if they have won the day or somehow lost the war entirely…

This is a stunning piece of Fights ‘n’ Tights fiction: dark, dramatic and intensely compelling. Writer Eric S. Trautmann has melded shiny super-heroics, grim realpolitik and genuine cultural zeitgeists into a splendidly mature costumed drama and the effective underplayed art of Don Kramer, Neil Edwards and inker Michael Babinski is chillingly effective at capturing the tone as well as the events.

If you’ve grown beyond gaudy mystery men and “goodies” against “baddies” this graphic novel is more than likely to make you think again…

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