JSA: The Golden Age (Elseworlds)

Reader Reviews
With GOLDEN AGE, writer James Robinson mesmerizes the reader with some very simple, very haunting images of superheroes who have lost their reason to wage metahuman battles and have been forced from the skies, by a public that no longer requires them. The superheroes are then forced to face their own fragile humanity, or lack of same. What they find in themselves is more frightening than the massive conspiracy that these self-absorbed beings have ignored, until it is almost too late. The primary fascination in GA is Robinson's ability to show how scary it really is to be a metahuman, a being with powers paranormal, or scientifically-enhanced, or merely the result of severe physical training. This is the case with the several most intriguing character threads, notably the paranoid delusional Manhunter, traumatized by a horror witnessed in the war pertinent to the conspiracy emerging within the government; the tragic brutality of Robotman, a living brain trapped inside a robot body, with that brain no longer able to cope with its inhuman state and the justification for murder; the severely disturbed Hourman, seeking the proper Miraclo formula for his enhanced strength, coming to grips with his addiction; and Hawkman, an Eygptologist who believes himself to be the literal reincarnation of a mythical god of a dead culture. Dealing with their various psychosis, and the escalating threat of metahuman registration and control by the Red Menace-seeking US Goverment, the heroes are barely able to perceive the danger around them. They are swallowed in pits of despair and desperation for lost glory; when finally the heroes, motivated by their own weaknesses and desires, ascend to battle the common threat, they gladly race toward death with heroic grandeur, freed of their cloaks of humanness. It is this ascension that the heroes go to find redemption, in one of the truly awesome displays of sacrifice I've ever seen in a story, in any medium. Without a doubt, GOLDEN AGE is one the best, most literate stories from a superior writer Robinson, with powerful art by Paul Smith. A must-read.


Back To Top