Even Heroes Have Drama at Funerals in JSA #7 (Review)

JSA has a lot riding on its shoulders. The Justice Society is very much a storied team, and fans have loved them since the 1999 reboot of the team. The newest series is named after that legendary reboot, and luckily has been able to fill that title’s boots. JSA has revolved around the Injustice Society’s latest attack on the team, and it has already had a major casualty — Wildcat sacrificed his life to save Doctor Fate in JSA #6. That leads up to the latest issue. JSA #7 is the funeral for Wildcat, a poignant event that is ripe with drama. This issue is another win for the title, a high drama quiet moment after the insane battles of the book so far.

Jeff Lemire is a writer whose indie work has always revolved around emotion. Royal City is about a broken family, the events that broke them, and how they came back. Descender/Ascender is all about family, and the associated problems with it. Lemire knows his way around team dynamics and JSA #7 is a perfect example of that. Funerals are emotional events; sometimes that’s a good thing and other times, not so great. The funeral for Wildcat is definitely one of the latter. After a great speech from Jay Garrick about his friend, readers get dropped into the messy morass of the JSA at this moment, and it’s all perfectly rendered. Lemire has been steadily breaking the Justice Society throughout this run, and this issue shatters them even more, with Yolanda Montez, Wildcat II, trying to give up the mantle, the once perfect Hourman II/Jessie Quick marriage falling even further apart, Jade and Sandman trying to figure out who the traitor on the team is, and a contentious conversation with Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Mister Terrific.

Too many times in the past, the Justice Society has been portrayed as the perfect team, one that always gets along for the most part. Lemire smashing the team up is a big change and it’s so far worked very well. There is a lot of meat to this story, and it’s presented wonderfully. Lemire is expertly breaking down the team, and it will be a joy to see him build them back up.

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Guest artist Rafael De Latorre has some big shoes to fill in this issue. Regular artist Diego Olortegui has been impressing since 2023’s The Flash: Jay Garrick, and fans have gotten used to his pencils on JSA. Luckily, De Latorre sticks the landing. This is a quiet issue, with very little action, depending mostly on the character drama to entertain. De Latorre is able to sell the emotion of each scene perfectly. His character acting is top notch, and that’s very important for the story that Lemire wrote for this issue. De Latorre’s style is close to Olortegui’s, and this allows the book to keep a continuity of artistic style that keeps the change of artists from being too jarring.

The colors by Luis Guerrero do a lot of heavy lifting for the art as well; Guerrero knows how to use lighting to set the emotional tone of a scene. De Latorre and Guerrero are able to take a quiet, drama-filled issue, and make it sing. Every artist wants to draw the big fights, but the true test of a comic artist are issues like this. De Latorre and Guerrero pass that test with this issue’s art.

JSA #7 is yet another triumph for this series. Lemire has set out to break one of the most beloved teams in comics, and has been doing an expert job of it. Lemire is showing that he has the goods with JSA. De Latorre and Guerrero do an excellent job with his issue. They don’t get any big action scenes like the book had in the first six issues, instead having to render a drama-filled comic. They knock it out of the park, really selling the emotion of the issue. JSA #7 keeps the hit coming.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Published by DC Comics

Released on May 7, 2025

Written by Jeff Lemire

Art by Rafael De Latorre

Colors by Luis Guerrero

Letters by Steve Wands

JSA #6 is on sale now.