In this comic book review of JSA #18, the final pieces of the JSA’s origins come to light.
JSA #18
Written by JEFF LEMIRE
Art by GAVIN GUIDRY
Cover by DAVE JOHNSON
Variant cover by MATT TAYLOR
$4.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $5.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 4/1/26
This review contains spoilers
JSA #18 picks up right where the 1940 storyline left off: with the explosives going off. Green Lantern immediately shields the team from falling debris, and they quickly figure out a plan to prevent as much loss of life as possible. One group heads for the east tunnels, another for the west, and the three most flight-capable head off to deal with Ultra-Humanite.
As Flash and his team reach their destination, it’s already starting to crumble…but The Spectre has shown up and is keeping it stable while Flash disarms the nearby explosives.
Green Lantern, Hawkman, and Hawkgirl catch up to Ultra-Humanite’s flight, only to be met with attacks by both him and Cyclotron. Which is when Doctor Fate steps in, providing some much-needed support.
The third team fights through fascists and a blockade, Atom going to deal with the explosives.
With Flash’s group, they also meet with some of those that’d worked for Ultra-Humanite, Spectre managing to stop them with some good-old-fashioned psychological warfare before becoming Corrigan again. Flash has dealt with the explosives.
With that threat dealt with, the fight with Ultra-Humanite comes to the ground. Lantern’s ready to get revenge for his attack of his mind, Ultra-Humanite (in his gorilla form) seems to have the upper hand…and then the other two teams arrive to finally defeat him.
From there, they go about establishing a team name, deciding on their HQ, getting that iconic photo that’s in the brownstone…
Back in the present, the idea is brought up to make this brownstone into a school for young heroes, including Kid Eternity. But as she’s mentioned, Green Lantern is a bit bothered by something…just where in the hell IS Kid Eternity, anyway?
When she’s shown, Spectre’s taken over, setting up the next storyline.
Well, JSA #18 was a satisfying end to the story of the JSA’s origins. Above all else, we get that moment where they put aside all differences, all sense of ego, to ensure the explosives are dealt with. Literally the only bit of argument at all to come up at that point is that, no, Flash is not fast enough to deal with the east and west tunnels both, so it’d be best to have a team to deal with it. But otherwise? The planning is immediate and effective, and it shows precisely why the JSA are heroes.
I’m liking how the artwork is handled here. We’ve got some nice compositional stuff going on with the action sequences. There’s an good use of blur in one scene, showing just how effectively Hippolyta’s bracelets can deflect bullets.And her telling Sandman that things are only too late when they’re dead? A perfect encapsulation of the Amazonian mindset.
With how many characters are involved on the side of the heroes at one time, I think everyone was used well. One of my favorite examples: Everett using his powers to punch a hole through the blockade, and Atom using his small size to an advantage to go through that opening. With other members of the original JSA, they’d have found a way through, sure. But they wouldn’t have done it in that exact way. Chasing down the plane with Ultra-Humanite? It could only really be done by the two members with functional wings and the one with the Green Lantern ring.
And in Green Lantern’s case, there’s a personal element to it. Ultra-Humanite had killed people he knew (one of which was a good friend of his).
The whole thing was fast-paced without feeling rushed, and it tops off the origin of the JSA quite well.
As for the part at the end…a very juicy setup for what’s to come. Does make me curious about the Spectre between the 1940s and now. I get the feeling that Spectre had been chained for so long because Corrigan hadn’t been able to handle working with him. When they separate back in the day, Flash offers his support. In the present, Spectre mentions that vengeance is coming. So now, I’m curious as to how things will go.
Final Thoughts
JSA #18 wraps up the titular team’s origin story with a healthy dose of action. It’s a wonderfully action-packed conclusion to the formation of the JSA, and ends with a delightfully ominous teaser.
