JSA #37

Stealing Thunder Part 5 of 5: Crossing Over

David Goyer & Geoff Johns Writers
Leonard Kirk Penciller
Keith Champagne Inker
John Kalisz Colors
Heroic Age Separations
Ken Lopez Letterer
Stephen Wacker Associate Editor
Peter Tomasi Editor

Our cover shows Sentinel, Jay Garrick, Captain Marvel and the Star-Spangled Kid mournfully looking on as Jakeem Thunder tries to save the dying Johnny Thunder. It is an interesting image, but not one that appeals to me emotionally. Perhaps it would mean more had I been reading JSA, but as it is, I'm not too worried about whether Johnny Thunder will live or die. I mean, he is probably in his late 80s by this point, at least.

We pick up where last issue left off, with Captain Marvel having stabbed the Ultra-Humanite with a lightning rod to release the Thunderbolt genie. This caused a big explosion, and at the bottom of a crater lies Johnny Thunder's dying body. Mr. Terrific asks the Flash to find the Ultra-Humanite's brain, and Wally, Jay, Jesse and Bart very quickly locate the villain's hideout.

But instead of sticking around to help, our favorite speedsters apparently just go home after this. Sand follows their directions to the Ultra-Humanite, who is just a brain in a jar, surrounded by equipment that seems to be creating white gorillas for him. Icicle shows up, intent on killing the villain. As Sand tries to stop him, the Crimson Avenger arrives and shoots the brain. But this "shocking" turn may be undone by what happens next.

Johnny Thunder dies in Jakeem's arms, just like on the cover, but Jakeem is able to preserve Johnny's soul by combining it with the Thunderbolt genie. So now Jakeem's genie, which lives in his pen and responds to the magic words, "So cool," looks and acts like Johnny. After a bit of rule-explaining, Jakeem makes a wish to undo all the wishes the Ultra-Humanite made. This wish works perfectly and brings everything back to normal.


And that's it. Once again, I really don't have a whole lot to say about this story, especially since Impulse once again only appeared in one panel. This story was a fairly interesting alternate reality scenario that virtually involved every DC character imaginable. Of course, the problem with using so many characters is that you get a lot of characters like Impulse, who barely make an appearance in one panel each issue. I also felt this story did a poor job of explaining why certain heroes remained free in the Ultra-Humanite-controlled world, while most of them were captured. And the whole scene of Ultra-Humanite's death was rendered completely pointless, as all of reality was rewritten soon after. It also strikes me odd at how this story came out at the same time of World Without Young Justice, which shared so many similarities.

Next time, we'll wrap ups Bart's reign with near-unlimited magic powers in Impulse #87.