JSA #66

writer: Geoff Johns
artist: Don Kramer
published by DC Comics

Geoff Johns writes great super hero books.
He doesn't do anything revolutionary with the genre. He doesn't tinker with the workings.
He just makes beautiful clockwork stores that work with Swiss precision. He knows the minute details of continuity and weaves it seamlessly into his stories. And dammit, I feel bad knowing I don't have the complete run of JSA books.
This month, all three personages to wear the mantle of Hourman have an interesting conundrum before them. Rex Tyler, the original Hourman, died fighting Extant (originally Hawk from Hawk and Dove, but believe me, it's not worth going into) in the Zero Hour event a couple years back.
His son Rick, the current Hourman, would give his life to save his father's. He figures out a way to travel to the exact moment in the timestream where Hourman must die to save the universe, and figures any Hourman will do.
The android Hourman of the 30th Century transports the JSA and Rex Tyler to this vanishing point in time as well. He'd originally appeared just before Rex died and transported him to an area outside of time, where Rex could interact with the world for one more hour to say goodbye to his son.
This time (major spoiler here) the android takes Rick's idea to heart. Any Hourman WILL do. Including a mechanical one. Oddly, considering that it had been previously hinted at that the android Hourman was created by Rex Tyler, it stands to reason that he'd have to return from the dead. Now things come full circle,
The end of the book cuts back to Khandaq or whatever they're calling the fake DCU Iraq, where Black Adam has taken over and Atom Smasher's helping out. A mysterious time traveller appears (he popped up and grabbed Jakeem Thunder at the beginning of the book) and recruits Atom Smasher to go off and fight Degaton (who I honestly really don't know -- I've never been as big a DC reader as I am today)...and away we go again. Nothing but great, straight-forward sooperheroing.