- November 9, 2022
The New Golden Age #1 Review
Written by: Geoff Johns
Art by: Diego Olortegui with Jip Mayer and Scott Hanna, Jerry Ordway, Steve Lieber, Todd Nauck, Scott Kolins, Viktor Bogdanovic, Brandon Peterson, Gary Frank
Coloring by: Nick Filardi, John Kalisz, Matt Herms, Jordan Boyd, Brad Anderson
Lettering by: Rob Leigh
Editing by: Marquis Draper, Andrew Marino, Katie Kubert
I should love the New Golden Age but it has a lot of problems. It’s about Helena Wayne, my favorite Huntress and one of my favorite members of the Batman family. I’ve dreamed of DC bringing her back into the main continuity for years. So why isn’t it working for me?
The Geoff Johns Problem
The problem is that it’s all wrapped up in the Watchmen characters, Doomsday Clock, and Geoff Johns, who hasn’t been the writer he used to be since he got outed as a jerk. I love Doomsday Clock, I’m one of the few people that do, but even I have to admit the Watchmen crossover should have been one and done, at least for a few decades. Now, it feels as cheap as ever, like drama for the sake of drama. It gets in the way of the return of the Justice Society that people have been clamoring for. This is one of the best superhero teams ever, who haven’t had a book in years, and it still feels like they’re not important.
Geoff Johns’s voice feels bland here, which makes sense since he’s written for the team on two separate occasions. The plot doesn’t feel like the JSA, with its murder mystery, but what’s new doesn’t work. A murder mystery works by being focused and asking intriguing questions. This book has too many murders across too many timelines to focus on anything, and it has already shown us the killer. While we don’t know who he is, having seen his face, I don’t care anymore. He doesn’t have a distinctive design, his characterization isn’t interesting past the first page, and he doesn’t kill anyone who matters. It’s only alternate versions of characters we know. It’s like Johns forgot the basics of a murder mystery. We should have someone new take control of the JSA.
What’s Up With the Art?
And the art is insane too, not in a good way. No one draws anything poorly, each panel is well constructed. The problem is that the New Golden Age has ten different artists, literally. Every other page is drawn by someone else, and it’s distracting. The different art styles don’t flow well, and they never stay long enough to be welcome, let alone wear out their welcome.
Don’t Buy the New Golden Age
If the New Golden Age is supposed to get people excited for the new Justice Society mini, it doesn’t succeed for me. I didn’t buy this as I won’t support Geoff Johns, and even if I didn’t have a problem with him as a person, this book is just straight-up not good.
With online reading apps I’ve managed to read several books by problematic authors so they won’t get my money. Usually I get even more disappointed in them because they could be writing good stuff if they weren’t jerks. I can safely say, I don’t feel bad. These artists get other work, and the writer who wrote the Justice Society before, didn’t write the New Golden Age.