{"id":33809,"date":"2025-09-15T16:00:49","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T16:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=33809"},"modified":"2025-09-15T16:00:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T16:00:49","slug":"jsa-vs-kobra-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2025\/09\/15\/jsa-vs-kobra-2\/","title":{"rendered":"JSA vs. Kobra"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Eric S. Trautmann<\/strong>, Don Kramer<\/strong> & Michael Babinski<\/strong>, with Neil Edwards<\/strong> & various (DC Comics)
\nISBN: 978-1-84856-955-3 (TPB)<\/p>\n

This book includes some Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced during less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

After the actual invention of the comic book superhero – for which read Superman<\/strong>\u2019s debut in 1938 – the most significant event in the genre – and indeed industry\u2019s – 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.<\/p>\n

The Justice Society of America<\/strong> was created in the third issue (Winter 1940\/1941) of All-Star Comics<\/strong>, 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 collaborative conference it wasn\u2019t long before the guys – and they were all white guys (except Red Tornado<\/strong> 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…<\/p>\n

And so the Justice Society of America<\/strong> is rightly revered as a landmark in the development of comic books 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<\/strong>. From there it wasn\u2019t long until the original and genuine article returned. There were many attempts to formally revive the team\u2019s fortunes but it wasn\u2019t until 1999, on the back of both a highly successful reboot of the JLA<\/strong> by Grant Morrison & Howard Porter, and a seminal but critically favoured new Starman<\/strong> by Golden Age devotee James Robinson, that the multi-generational team found a concept and fanbase big enough to support them. In 1999, the original super-team returned and have been with us in one form or another ever since. In this anniversary year there have numerous excellent efforts to revamp the original OG, and we\u2019ll be getting to those in the months to come…<\/p>\n

On sale from November 13th<\/sup> 1975 but cover-dated February 1976, Kobra<\/strong> originated in his own short-lived title during a period of desperate experimentation, whilst traditional superhero sales were plummeting and the industry feared its inevitable extinction. Credited to Martin Pasko, Steve Sherman, Jack Kirby & Pablo Marcos, the saga was a radical updating of Alexandre Dumas\u2019 1844 novel Les Fr\u00e8res Corses<\/em><\/strong> – The Corsican Brothers<\/strong>…<\/p>\n

When conjoined twins Jeffrey <\/em>and Jason Burr<\/em> 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 \u201cAge of Chaos\u201d. The peculiar circumstances of their birth meant that Jeffrey and Jason maintained an uncanny psychic connection wherein one would experience the hurts and harms inflicted upon the other. Over the years this led Jason to become the ultimate weapon in a war waged by numerous DC heroes against his serpentine terrorist sibling.<\/p>\n

Eventually Jason was safely murdered by Kobra, but later resurrected as an even greater evil, assuming his brother\u2019s position as head of the World\u2019s most dangerous death-cult. The new Kobra was an utterly dedicated fanatic who wedded the cult\u2019s technological resources to hideous, sacrificial blood-magic and preferred faith-driven disciples to the disaffected proto-thugs employed by his predecessor (for further details you should see Checkmate: Pawn Breaks<\/strong> or wait for me to finally review the new edition or just buy the book and take a chance…)<\/p>\n

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

This terse, tense collection re-presents 6-issue JSA vs. Kobra<\/strong> \u2018Engines of Faith\u2019<\/em> miniseries which, informed by the actions of real-world terrorism of fundamentalist factions around the globe, finally elevated Kobra to the first rank of villains: the deadly herald of the World\u2019s End who plays a lethal game of cat-&-mouse with the Planet\u2019s Smartest Man and some of the most experienced heroes of all time…<\/p>\n

The Serpent Lord begins his campaign of terror in\u00a0\u2018Bad Religion\u2019<\/em>, dispatching suicide bombers to destroy the Justice Society in their own home and thereby 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\u2019s 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<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The sheer scale of the bloodletting and illogical nature of the attacks soon has our heroes fighting amongst themselves as they strive to find some rhyme or reason behind such senseless, murderous assaults… so why then does Persakis abruptly surrender herself to their custody?<\/p>\n

\u2018Strange Days\u2019<\/em> finds the team seething but still unable to fathom the terrorist\u2019s 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<\/strong> begins to discern a pattern to the random madness in \u2018Misdirection\u2019<\/em>…<\/p>\n

Brutal attacks intensify and, although it appears the good guys are slowly gaining the upper hand, Terrific perceives the hidden agenda behind the unceasing ghastly blows against decency and civilisation. \u2018Lightning in a Bottle\u2019<\/em> sees Kobra make his ultimate move and apparently fail, leading to a gathering of champions \u2018Beating the Grass\u2019<\/em> and taking the war to the relentless foe, but even after stunning climax \u2018Shedding Skin\u2019<\/em> the weary heroes cannot be sure if they have won the day or somehow lost the war entirely…<\/p>\n

This is a stunning piece of Fights \u2018n\u2019 Tights fiction: dark, dramatic and intensely compelling. Writer Eric S. Trautmann melded shiny superheroics, 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.<\/p>\n

If you think you\u2019ve grown beyond gaudy mystery men and \u201cgoodies\u201d against \u201cbaddies\u201d this graphic novel is more than likely to make you think again.
\n\u00a9 2009, 2010 DC Comics. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Eric S. Trautmann, Don Kramer & Michael Babinski, with Neil Edwards & various (DC Comics) ISBN: 978-1-84856-955-3 (TPB) This book includes some Discriminatory Content produced during less enlightened times. After the actual invention of the comic book superhero – for which read Superman\u2019s debut in 1938 – the most significant event in the genre … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “JSA vs. Kobra”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,76,91,15,69,28,403,315,107,169,402],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-dc-superhero","category-flash","category-green-arrow","category-hawkman-hawkgirl","category-jsa","category-mr-terrific","category-power-girl","category-science-fiction","category-spy-stories","category-wildcat"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-8Nj","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33809"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33812,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33809\/revisions\/33812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}