BLACK ADAM versus JUSTICE SOCIETY

Thunderstruck (DC)
Where: JSA #27 When: October 2001
Why: Geoff Johns How: Rags Morales

The Story So Far...
In ancient times Teth-Adam was considered a champion, but the Black Marvel has a long road to walk if he's to undo centuries of damage and restore his reputation as a hero.

Submitting himself to the Justice Society of America, Black Adam begins probationary tenure with the heroic ensemble -- but not everyone is convinced he should be there.

As Captain Marvel pays a visit to vouch for his predecessor, tensions are boiling over with Atom Smasher, who believes Black Adam will inevitably turn on the group like every other villain who attempts to reform.

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Black Adam 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Mr. Terrific 5 (Professor)
Speed: Captain Marvel 5 (Super-Human)
Stamina: Black Adam 6 (Generator)
Agility: Sand 7 (Unlimited)
Fighting: Black Adam 7 (Living Weapon)
Energy: Stargirl 6 (Mass Destruction)
Total: Black Adam 34 (Super)

Black Adam is the ancient champion of Shazam, who gains the stamina of Shu, the swiftness of Heru, the strength of Amon, the power of Aten, and the courage of Mehen, when he speaks the wizard's name and receives his magic lightning!

The Justice Society are: Sand, Mister Terrific, Wildcat, Hawkgirl, Doctor Mid-Nite, Star-Spangled Kid, and Atom Smasher, with Captain Marvel.

The JSA have Black Adam outnumbered, but they don't particularly have him out-gunned. The Black Marvel has gone toe-to-toe with Superman and only Atom Smasher gets close to matching his incredible strength!

The enlarging strongman is generally in a lower class than Black Adam, but we saw him handle himself relatively well when Atom Smasher led the Suicide Squad against the Black Marvel Family, many years later, in 52 #34.

Fortunately for the JSA: Captain Marvel has come calling! With his own godly gifts supplied by SHAZAM, he's every bit Black Adam's equal, enduring his own battles with Superman, and besting the likes of the Seven Deadly Enemies of Man, an all-star Monster Society of Evil, and Neron corrupted Justice League.

Black Adam had the help of Brainwave when he defeated Captain Marvel some years later in Hawkman #24. This time the dynamics are very different, and it's Captain Marvel who has the entire JSA to back him up! Will it be enough?

The Tape: Justice Society & Captain Marvel Ranking: Black Adam (#22)

What Went Down...

Black Adam has Atom Smasher by the throat as Captain Marvel makes his entrance into the JSA brownstone.

"I heard you were seeking salvation, Black Adam. That you were looking to prove to the world that you've changed your ways. I came to vouch for you[,] but a bit of advice -- Don't choke potential teammates."

The Black Marvel releases his grip, blaming his impulse on the temper of the mortal Theo Adam. He apologises to his teammate, who preemptively responds in kind -- delivering a giant-sized uppercut he'll be sorry for later!

Adam explodes through the glass ceiling as he's launched into the night sky!

Atom Smasher knows he's made a bigger mess of things as Captain Marvel takes flight to pursue his fellow. He meets an enraged Black Adam in mid-flight -- cutting off his furious path back to the JSA brownstone.

The powers of SHAZAM collide in spectacular fashion as the strength of Hercules meets the might of Amon-Ra!

The Captain maneuvers himself to wrap a mighty bicep around Black Adam's throat and hold him back. He compels his comrade to reject the influence of Theo, but the anger incited by Atom Smasher's insult is great!

The Justice Society arrive on the scene just in time to see Black Adam power through Captain Marvel's hold and torpedo dive Atom Smasher!

Team chairman, Sand, draws his sleep gun and orders Atom Smasher to subdue the probate, with Hawkgirl looming in support holding a spear.

Atom Smasher leans in to Black Adam and pins an arm over his shoulder, while shoving Captain Marvel out of the way.

In the ensuing chaos, Black Adam's out reaching hand grabs Sand's gun and crushes it -- unleashing a bursting cloud of sleep gas that stuns Atom Smasher and Hawkgirl!

Wildcat darts around the room, questioning Black Adam's loyalties, as Doctor Mid-Nite looms behind the peril. The query appears to snap Adam out of his rage and pause him in introspection, but the zipping of two of Terrific's T-Spheres around his face renew his aggravation.

Sand commends the tactical potential for beaming holograms directly into Adam's eyes, but Mister Terrific finds himself unable to command his T-Spheres to execute the strategem!

He can only speculate the lightning storm and rain raging overhead is disrupting communication channels. It leaves his T-Spheres autonomously whirring around Adam as he bats Wildcat and Mid-Nite away with each hand.

With imminent threats dealt with, Adam sets his scornful sights on Sand and Mister Terrific.

Slamming his hands together -- Black Adam unleashes a shockwave that launches Sand and Terrific flying through the air!

While Stargirl spurs Captain Marvel to rejoin the fray -- Adam looms over Sand, cast in shadow by the lightning cracking behind him.

Whatever the Black Marvel's intentions for the Chairman may've been, they go unfulfilled as a spiked mace smashes into the ground at his feet, and Hawkman descends from the storming skies to declare: "This fight is over."

The Hammer...

The authoritative word of Hawkman helps bring Black Adam out of his rampage, but the intervention of the former-chairman only creates further divisions as he appears to undermine the leadership of Sand.

Inter-personal dynamics are criss-crossed all over this battle, with Hawkman returning from a night's flight after witnessing Sand kissing Hawkgirl, and Black Adam's admission to the JSA creating tensions with Atom Smasher, and his well meaning old rival Captain Marvel.

Atom Smasher echoes the expectations of readers who'd doubt the long-term viability of Black Adam as a hero, but the twist in their relationship comes when Atom Smasher actually sees things Adam's way, joining him in his attack on Kobra, and subsequent conquest of Khandaq.

To the uninitiated: JSA might've seemed like an attempt to capitalize on the late-nineties magic of JLA, but the 1999 collaboration between David Goyer and Geoff Johns had so much more to offer, laying the groundwork for significant foundational storylines that continued under Johns throughout the next decade!

Black Adam arguably became a minor sensation with his nineties revamp in Power of Shazam, and lingering appearances in various nineties DC Comics events -- but it was his return in JSA that began the ascent to breakout superstar!

Stories running through JSA, 52, and a Black Adam mini-series, minted the once obscure Captain Marvel villain into a full-fledged icon destined for the big screen, but for a while there, JSA was also the best place to find Captain Marvel himself.

DC seemed to effectively lose confidence in Captain Marvel as a viable property throughout the 2000s, leaving JSA to carry the flag in the ensemble series after Power of SHAZAM was cancelled in early '99. It was then in issues like JSA #27, and the Black Reign crossover of Hawkman #24, that fans could again see the two Marvels renew their seemingly settled rivalry.

Issues like these highlight the absurdity of emerging reports that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson blocked Captain Marvel from appearing with the Justice Society on the big screen, but there's a lot more to the JSA than was seen in the movies.

Once everyone has calmed down, the team decides to resolve their leadership issues with a vote, which installs Mister Terrific as the new Chairman.

An exciting new role for the genius successor to Terry Sloane's legacy of fairplay, which at least sidelines any issues brewing between Sand and the returned Hawkman, but comes at a time when his trademark T-Spheres have been infiltrated by a similar device controlled by Roulette!

The infiltration was the real reason Terrific's devices weren't responding during today's featured fight! The mistress of competition sent her drone to whisk the team away for more adventures in the next issue.

I very much intend to take a closer look at that adventure some time in the future. There are a few different sessions with Roulette that are surely right up our combat-loving alley, and I look back upon this period of DC Comics, and its revival of classics like JSA and Hawkman with great fondness. A time when Geoff Johns mastered intuitively fusing the old with the new alongside artists like Rags Morales.

As for today's contest: Although Hawkman brought proceedings to a relatively peaceful conclusion, you can clearly see that Black Adam had the best of the Justice Society. A majority of the team was subdued. A win's a win.

If you'd like to see more from the characters featured in today's entry you can follow links throughout this post, or dive into the Secret Archive for a complete index of featured fights in order of publisher, series, and issue number.

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Winner: Black Adam
#19 (+3) Black Adam
#40 (--) Captain Marvel
#51 (-3) Hawkgirl
#369 (-186) Wildcat
#429 (-48) Atom Smasher
#430 (-23) Sand
#653 (-108) Mister Terrific (Michael Holt)
#654 (-110) Doctor Mid-Nite (Pieter Cross)
#27 (--) Hawkman [+1 assist]
#100 (+3) Stargirl [+1 assist]

SUICIDE SQUAD versus BLACK ADAM

Suicidal Tendencies (DC)
Where: 52 #34 When: February 2007
Why: Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka & Mark Waid How: Keith Giffen, Joe Bennett & Ruy José

The Story So Far...
Black Adam's violent conquest and reign over the nation of Kahndaq has earned the ancient marvel many new enemies.

Though softened by the formation of his own Black Marvel Family; Adam's brutal public execution of would-be eco-terrorist, Terra-Man, has renewed concern and anxiety from modern world powers who do not trust or agree with his unwavering old-world brand of justice.

Amanda Waller spearheads a secret black-ops mission to sanction Black Adam during his visit to the US. Recruiting Adam's former revolutionary ally, Atom Smasher, Waller deploys the Suicide Squad to San Francisco to stage an ambush when the Black Marvels reunite with prospective Teen Titan - Osiris.

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Black Adam 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Draw 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Black Adam 5 (Super-Human)
Stamina: Black Adam 6 (Generator)
Agility: Black Adam 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Black Adam 7 (Living Weapon)
Energy: Isis 6 (Mass Destruction)
Total: Black Adam 34 (Super)

The Suicide Squad are: Plastique, Electrocutioner, Captain Boomerang, Count Vertigo, Persuader, and Atom Smasher.

A rag tag mix of new recruits and Suicide Squad regulars, but the ace in the hole is Atom Smasher. He has unique insights into their intended targets having left the Justice Society to bring Kobra to justice, and participated in the Kahndaq coup.

The Black Marvel Family are: Black Adam, Isis, Osiris, and Sobek.

Black Adam lends some of his power to Osiris in a similar fashion to Captain Marvel Jr, while Isis gains her super-human strength and influence over the natural world by wielding the magical might of the Amulet of Isis.

When Black Adam left the JSA to conquer Kahndaq he had to go through Captain Marvel, and we've also seen him challenge the likes of Superman, Superboy-Prime, and The Freedom Fighters. The Black Marvel Family is therefore well equipped to defend against most threats -- including the Suicide Squad.

Atom Smasher's familiarity and connection with Black Adam offers some hope for diplomatic resolution, but we don't review a lot of polite conversations!

The armored Persuader has gone mano-a-mano with Superman and might be able to use his Atomic Axe to knock the Marvels around, while Count Vertigo and his powers of disorientation throw them off, and make counter-attack difficult -- tactics that worked when the Squad faced Peacemaker and Major Force.

Captain Boomerang can be relied upon to hit a target if properly equipped, adding bursts of super-speed to his father's old tricks. Plastique and Electrocutioner bring their own firepower, but it remains to be seen if explosions or electricity are enough to rattle the Black Marvels! Let's get into it!

The Tape: Black Marvel Family Ranking: Black Adam (#27)

What Went Down...

Black Adam & Isis meet an ebullient Osiris carrying Sobek over the forest near Titans Tower. Their reunion is soon interrupted by a massive explosion sparked below by Electrocutioner and Plastique -- distraction for Atom Smasher!

The giant-sized Atom Smasher emerges from the forest and snatches Black Adam out of the sky while the other Black Marvels are spilled by the explosion.

The Smasher lives up to his name -- slamming Black Adam into the ground!

Black Adam punches Atom Smasher's hand away, also deflecting the insistence that he should hand himself over to a foreign US government.

Adam gains the space necessary to fly directly at Atom Smasher and deliver a knock-out blow that topples the towering figure, taking out Captain Boomerang in the woods below as his giant head hits the ground.

Adam hovers menacingly over Plastique and Electrocutioner with concern for his protege, but Osiris scrambles to his feet to plead for their lives. They repay his act of mercy with another explosion!

Isis can sense the impact of the fighting on the surrounding trees, but Persuader is unmoved by the environmental impact of his radioactive axe.

Before Isis can rectify the situation -- a sudden wave of disorientation overwhelms her. Count Vertigo makes his presence felt and sends her precious world spinning.

Persuader shoos his Suicide Squad teammate, closing in to deliver a deep gash into Isis' arm with his ultra-sharp Atomic Axe!

Osiris uses his Titans communicator to call for help as Electrocutioner is sent hurtling past him, and Isis receives yet another cut from the Atomic Axe, this time to her face!

The screams of his sister sharpen his focus as Persuader decides to disobey orders and close in for the kill. Osiris ensures the axe-man won't be successful!

The young Marvel launches himself like a flying missile and careens straight through Presuader -- cutting the axe-man's body in two!

Osiris comes to a skidding stop in the mud with Persuader's entrails still hanging from his arm.

Count Vertigo and Sobek watch in stunned disbelief as Osiris realises what has happened and falls to his hands and knees.

A downpour mixes his tears with rain as Isis comes to console him, and Black Adam directs them to a timely exit.

The Hammer...

Another bloody display of what happens when the powers of Shazam are used without caution and restraint. The violent episode pauses the players who are still conscious, allowing the Marvels to leave unopposed.

The graphic conclusion of Osiris flying through Persuader makes it almost feel like DC taking something back from Quality's cult 80s UK Kid Miracleman (aka; Kid Marvelman), but this type of extreme violence was becoming broadly commonplace at the publisher in the mid-2000s.

When Black Adam left the JSA in 2003, we saw him rip the heart from Kobra's chest, beginning a violent march that would also see him casually poke his fingers through Psycho-Pirate's head, and tear Terra-Man in two in 52 #3.

On the surface it's a lot of extreme action, but these were the actions that built a sense of anxiety & distrust about Black Adam in the public and political spheres of the DCU. The entirety of 52 is ratcheting up the tension, offering at least some examination of the consequence of choosing the brutal path.

Violence inevitably begets violence, and things will only get worse for the Black Marvel Family. The erstwhile Sobek will reveal himself as Yurrd, Horseman of Famine, who devours Osiris, and participates in an attack by the new Monster Society which will end with the death of Isis, as well.

This saga of Black Adam's journey from villain, to anti-hero, to anti-villain, and back, made him one of the most dynamic characters to track through the 2000s, and it's no surprise he's taken flight as the next live-action DC movie property. We were already talking about Dwayne Johnson's casting back in 2007!

As time marches on I have mixed feelings about the cult fandom that exploded around Black Adam, and characters like him. It's difficult to imagine redeeming a villain who resorted to the mass murder of millions, especially in these times, and as the 'Superman gone bad' concept becomes increasingly prevalent -- sometimes received without any irony -- it begins to lose its appeal.

Marvel Comics may've attached the mantra of 'with great power must come great responsibility' to Spider-Man, but it's a principle that remains fundamentally at the heart of the super-hero concept, and I appreciate stories like todays as reminders of that important principle, and as cautionary tale.

I also appreciate 52. I find myself reflecting on its effortless episodic flow, and interesting cast of somewhat disparately featured DC characters, and enjoy it all a great deal. Something I haven't found from DC Comics over the last decade.

The appearance of the Suicide Squad may be in service to the Black Adam chapters of 52, but I also enjoy that Osiris' reckless act marries well with the meta of the Squad concept. It was a mild shame to casually wipe a C-grade Superman villain from the board, but Persuader was already something of a legacy villain, so maybe the potential was still there to recover.

Atom Smasher's admission to the team feels like a deft move, as well. A nice way to continue his journey, similar in flourish to Bronze Tiger or Vixen's time with the group. Voluntary service in the name of redemption and doing good.

Once upon a time Black Adam had a similarly brief team-up with the Squad. That might be something interesting to explore sometime in the future. In the meantime, lets commit this one to the record and roll on to future endeavors!

This is officially the 700th fight featured on Secret Wars on Infinite Earths!

You can find them all by diving into the Secret Archive for a complete index of battles in order of publisher, series, and issue number. Or -- just follow links throughout posts to discover more from your favourite characters or concepts!

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Winner(s): Osiris & Black Adam (w/ Sobek & Isis)
#22 (+5) Black Adam
#218 (new) Osiris [+1 kill]
#494 (+16) Isis [+1 assist]
#654 (+54) Sobek (Yurrd) [+1 assist]
#373 (-167) Atom Smasher
#637 (-85) Plastique
#638 (-84) Captain Boomerang (Owen Mercer)
#971 (new) Electrocutioner (Lester Buchinsky)
#972 (new) Persuader (Cole Parker)
#360 (+9) Count Vertigo [+1 assist]

QUICK FIX DOUBLE FEATURE: Harsh Vintage Justice
HAWKMAN versus MATTER MASTER
Black Reign: Part Two (DC)
Where: Hawkman #23 When: Early March 2004
Why: Geoff Johns How: Rags Morales

Quick Fix...
Lately we've been talking a bit about harsh justice, and it's application to the superhero world, and this entry gives us the opportunity to take a look at that theory in practise.

It's a particularly interesting topic, given all the different angles. Generally speaking, the sacred cows [like Wonder Woman] are protected from the moral ambiguity of lethal justice, yet, oft times it's these vintage characters that are more likely to be identified with harsh enforcement reflective of the war-torn times they were created in.

The debate rages on between the two schools of thought. For many the definition of a superhero is to be above the moral ambiguity average humans, soldiers, or heroes are regularly faced with. It means not being forced to pull the trigger to save innocent lives, instead using the fantastic to end danger.
We recently discussed a similar argument of whether or not Captain America ever used lethal force during his times in the frontline of the Second World War [Captain America #405].

The morally ambiguous hero got a bit of a tarnished reputation, passing through the eighties and nineties with the baggage of excess, and poor interpretation. The posterboy becomes characters like The Punisher, who more overtly straddle the line of what's right and wrong with a stonecold attitude toward life and death. For the most part these characters do good, eliminating the evils that evade justice by conventional law, but there is always that underlying negative of what we know in reality of the vigilante.

It's almost a funny sort of thing, that "vigilante" takes on such a distinctly different feel across the major spectrum of superhero comic books. Never would any of us truly look twice at a Batman, or Captain America, no matter how rebellious they may be to an administration of excessive order. Yet, in the real world, I struggle to think of many examples of positive vigilante activity.

Sure, there's those cases of a liquor store clerk fighting back, or even a community under siege taking action to patrol the streets, but those stories are either short lived, or mild mannered deterents for relatively simple problems.
What I associate with broad coverage of vigilantes is men and/or women who kick back at personal injustice, flagrantly ignoring what is universally just, and often running the risk of making a greivous error, or crossing an invisible line.

It's a line that seems to seperate the golden arches of true superheroes, and the guys who undermine what that means in a fictionalized society. Characters who in some ways reflect that real-world vigilante scenario, and face that kind of scrutiny, but ultimately have the roll of protagonist, and live decades beyond those characters that would briefly hound them.

What about the other characters, though? Wonder Woman inevitably finds herself reset to a mould more appropriate for a family, cartoon viewing audience; but what about those characters who can drift closer to the line, longer?

Hawkman represents just such an example. A character, who from his beginnings in the early 1940s, he has held memberships with both the Justice Society and Justice League, but has still grown into one of the many violent characters of today's comics landscape. Few stories highlighted Hawkman's violent nature than Black Reign, where he wages his forces against Black Adam in a battle that pits them against one another, but also shows the destructive similarities.

In his new home of St. Roch, the villain called Matter Master seeks a means of retribution against a foe who has defeated him time and again. Using his matter manipulating wand to take a gala of the wealthy hostage, he eagerly awaits the arrival of his alien-winged rival.

Hawkman bursts into the arena through large glass windows, only to have the shards of glass hurled at him as a weapon by the villainous Master. Tiny slithers of glass bury themselves in Hawkman's only partially armoured body, but do little to slow his wrath.

The Matter Master elaborately announces the abilities granted by his matter manipulating wand, delighting in the battle that will ensue. He is a steady contrast to the stoic Hawkman, whose demeanour is of one no longer willing to indulge the fancys of colourfully dressed criminals.

Possessing both fixed mace and battle axe, he hurls the latter in the direction of the Matter Master. The blade slices through the Master's arm with ease, burying itself in the wall adjacent.

Having successfully seperated the villain from his weapon, the silent Hawkman pulls his axe from the wall and coldly remarks, "Fight's over."

Harsh justice is something, I think, Hawkman wears very well, and Geoff Johns does well to reinvigorate the character with everything that makes him familiar, but with a confident new edge. This story steers Hawkman toward another character we're about to talk about, bouncing off one of the past lives established as part of the streamlining reveal that both Hawkman and Hawkgirl are caught in a perpetual cycle of resurrection.

I wouldn't be confident in saying where the line lies for Hawkman, but as a character so thoroughly connected to the various houses of the DC heirarchy, I think it's great to have this interpretation of justice among them. It might never be the prevailing argument, but in a medium often gagging on it's own tail, it's characters of diverse opinions on issues important to the fictionali world that will always be a saving grace.

The Fix:5.5 The Issue: 5
Winner: Hawkman

[Without a doubt one of the greatest crossovers of recent times, all crucial to the reinvention of not only the Justice Society of America, but more importantly, Hawkman. Hawkfans should definitely track down the trade of these issues, and maybe anyone else looking to get their feet wet, particularly post 52/World War III.]

---

BLACK ADAM versus KOBRA
Prince of Darkness Coda: Justice Eternity (DC)
Where: JSA #51 When: October 2003
Why: David Goyer & Geoff Johns How: Leonard Kirk

Quick Fix...
This quite naturally leads us to cross that invisible line that seperates the right from the wrong, and the justified from the murderers.

In Black Reign it was Hawkman that, in many ways, walked away the bad guy. Teth-Adam, having invaded his homeland of Khandaq, is revered as a hero by the Khandaqi people, while Hawkman is decryed by both the liberated, and the Justice Society themselves, who were led by the usurping Chairman into a joyless bloodbath.

Even so, it is Black Adam who has more traditionally walked the path of villain, recast in that role during a genocidal rampage coming out of the pages of 52.

We can make no bones about sponsoring Black Adam throughout 2007.
It's arguably this moral ambiguity that has propelled Black Adam to the status of the most enjoyable of rising stars to be pushed by DC all year. Dealing with a role as ruler of a nation, Adam has been the slate for reflecting the responsibility and potential carnage incurred by a superpower unchecked.

Like many great villains, Adam is essentially a well intending individual, marred by his regular association with death and bloodshed. The descent into madness began long before 52, starting in the pages of JSA where, having broken away from the group that agreed to take him in, Adam is leading a small group of soldier against those who have escaped justice as they see it.

One such example is the terrorist cult leader, Kobra.
Having launched attacks across the globe, Kobra was responsible for the death of the mother of one of Black Adam's pliant recruits, Atom Smasher.

Both left the Society over Kobra's subsequent trial and escape, disillusioned by the JSA's archaic notions of legality. With the aid of Brainwave, the group of super-militants track Kobra to his hidden lair in the Himalayas, where they exact the only suitable punishment for a mass murdering menace such as he: death.

With Brainwave confirming claims of a network of explosives beneath New York are false, Adam plunges his fist through Kobra's chest, ripping his heart out.
With that, justice is served, and the cult of Kobra is left to legend, or methods supernatural.

Much like Hawkman, Geoff Johns earns his stripes as a major comics writer perfecting his skills with the reinvigoration of classic properties. These events have been referenced many times [Hawkman #24] on the site, already described in this very entry for their role as the first action in the spiral that has led to today, where Black Adam is a mass murderer himself, and a broken man.

I've seen relatively recently a Hawkman referring casually to killing a villain, and in much the same way, I would express some disappointment for how frivilously the characters have been allowed to cross that invisible line. For Hawkman, it is obviously a scenario rarely fulfilled, but for Black Adam, it has again been a fullblown devolution into villainy.

Putting a character to blows with the Justice League is almost always going to cast them as villain, but when the motives involve genocide, it's hard to argue.
Perhaps it's the inevitability of so-called "harsh justice" that these characters slip into ill-defined rampages, or off-the-cuff murders, but I've got to wonder.

Just like iconic superheroes define themselves in fiction as characters capable of handing out justice without the cost of human life, so too can't we suggest that super warriors can live by the sword, without impaling their sanity upon it?

In a world where law enforcement still hands down sentences of death, and where wars are waged over just causts, is it so inevitable that those that battle these evils become them? Or is there a school of thought to say controlled lethality is a requirement of an efficient system of justice? Does their come a time when a cheek must demand a cheek in turn, or is simply invite corruption as another symptom of decadence and war?

Can anyone begrudge a police officer that draws a weapon in confirmed self-defense, or is the threat of an error of judgment too great and too common?

Maybe someone like Hawkman, or even Wonder Woman, will be the character to eventually answer the question: Can a hero kill responsibly?

The Fix: 5 The Issue: 4.5
Winner: Black Adam & Atom Smash (w/ Brainwave)

[This issue marks the end of David Goyer's tenure on the relaunched JSA title. In the main feature, the story features a big ol' magical throwdown between Mordru and Dr. Fate, which will inevitably turn up in a future entry of the Infinite Wars.]