What Private Griefs…
Cover Date: September 1986
Released: 19th June 1986
When I was talking about Aftershock, issue #11 of Crisis I mentioned how I thought there should be an issue(s) about people coming to terms with what had happened to them and all they lost. This issue here is exactly what I was talking about, a breather issue dealing with the “death” of the JSA.
Not much happens in the issue, the various members of Infinity Inc tell the friends and family of the JSA about what happened to them. Everyone has different, and suitable, reactions to the news. Though being a superhero universe no one reacts to them being somewhere else. Though in places it can get a little complex as we’ve skipped a good year’s worth of subplots between here and issue twelve.
Rather than sum up the comics, which really is X gets told about Y and has a reaction to the new, for once I’m going to focus on the two pages dealing with Power Girl processing what happened to her recently.
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| Maximum Capeage |
Whilst the other Infintors, which will never sound weird to me, go to the West Coast to spread the news Power Girl and Star-Spangled Kid stay in Gotham. A quick aside here about the art, whilst I might not be a fan of full-on 90s Todd McFarlane here his 80s art is gorgeous with some nice flourishes to give it real character. Each page has along its edges the heroes whose losses are affecting them, it is never explained or pointed out but it’s a nice touch. Telling Power Girl isn’t any of the JSAers instead it’s Superman, Robin and of cause Huntress, all those that originally came from the now gone Earth-2.
The conversation between the two is more about how they’re dealing with everything, rather than who they’ve lost through Crisis and Ragnarok. Star-Spangled Kid finally admits his worry about Infinity inc breaking up is more about his own fears before he and Power Girl enjoys a tender moment together. It’s a quiet touching scene that shows some maturity in the two characters, compared to when they (Power Girl mostly) were originally written. That said…
The idea that Star-Spangled Kid has been after Power Girl romantically, whilst not completely out of nowhere, is still a little out of nowhere. Ironically it’s because Infinity Inc has focused so much on him, and Power Girl has slowly faded into the (occasional) background none of this has been set up since he followed the girls out of the JSA to help the kids. Now comic book romances have been built on less, and everyone is someone’s OTP, but personally, I don’t buy that this is a thing. Though I’ll be fair my attention has been more on Power Girl here, who here seems disinterested in the whole thing.
A nice quiet respectful send-off of the JSA, especially compared to the bombast of the Last Days, seems a suitable way to end (for now) their era. Technically this is all Post-Crisis, but it feels like such a neat way to end the era it’s probably better left here.
Talking of one quick sidetrack to go and we’ll be in the shiny new Post-Crisis era!