Kneel Before This Man of Steel! JSA: The Unholy Three

Elseworlds. A Jolley Roger Production. Sequel to The Liberty File.

Clark Kent reveals his true identity. As he murders Shiera Sanders. What's mind-blowing is that he turns out to be Zod! Not Kal-El. As a reckless youth on Krypton, he is about to be sentenced to The Phantom Zone, when an American scientific wormhole project draws him to Earth. Realizing his potential, he is placed with Jonathan and Martha Kent and, as he put it, indoctrinated.

Not sure if this is a continuity error or a plot hole, but in The Liberty File, it appeared as if Hitler had a Superman. Not just J'onn J'onzz drawn through a similar means as Zod was drawn to the Allies. Perhaps that was a red herring. It is an interesting turn of events. Hitler tries to use an Übermensch in world domination. The Martian Manhunter turns out to be more altruistic. The United States attempts something similar, and the tables seem to turn - the Übermensch attempts world domination! It's somewhat unclear it Zod is working alone, or if he was working with The Parasite and Steelwolf. The work seems to be similar. Zod is killing meta-human agents!

It isn't until Bruce and Rex connect with another agent, Wesley Dodds, The Sandman, and Alan Scott, The Green Lantern, that "Kent" tips his hand.

The Trigger turns out to be in Chernobyl. Realizing that Kent, The Super-Man has gone rogue, Bruce makes an emergency call: The Atom, The Hawk (Hawkman), The Huntress, Mercury (The Flash), The Tornado (The Red Tornado) and The Star (Starman). Each one relinquishes their cover to answer the summons.

What follows is a glorious, spectacular blowout mother-of-all slugfests! The Atom and Hawkman are early casualties.

Dan Jolley brings the goods as far as story. Tony Harris, Ray Snyder and JD Mettler bring all the blood and guts and gore in the art. From Zod's subtle murder of Shiera at the top, to Alan Scott, Al Pratt, Carter Hall and all the injuries that pile up with Theo Knight, Wes, Helena, Jay and the rest. It seems that superhero Ragnarok involves all the capes and cowls mounting against Kryptonians.

JSA: The Unholy Three earns four stars. 

The Dark Reflection JSA: The Unholy Three 1 Review

Elseworlds. A Jolley Roger Production. Sequel to The Liberty File.

1948. Supposed to be eight years after the events of The Liberty File. Those events were placed in 1942. That would make The Unholy Three six years instead of eight.

Dan Jolley and Tony Harris double-down in this story. They open with Sandy Hawkins being tortured by The Parasite, who is a KGB interrogator. The Parasite is teamed with Steelwolf. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne is living the dream as The Bat back in Gotham City. He's captured Harvey Dent, who's been working with Pamela Isley and Anton Arcane. Dent is now a horrific genetic mutation, half-man, half-creature. Some kind of insectoid creature. A darker image of Two-Face. Returning to Wayne Manor, Bruce is confronted by Army General Maitland and Clark Kent. The General wants The Bat, The Clock and the Super-Man to track down "The Trigger" that The Parasite and Steelwolf are after. The trio head off to Berlin, where Parasite murders Johnny Thunder.

Bruce sends Clark off for documentation while The Bat and The Clock head off for clues. Kent encounters Shiera Sanders. Later, in costume, he catches with them and together they bring down The Parasite, who seems to have turned on his partner.

Once again Dan Jolley has crafted a dark mirror image of familiar faces. This is, once again, a mature readers story. There's a flashback sequence that explains just how unreasonably bitter and angry Terry Sloane is toward Bruce Wayne. It's chilling. Tony Harris and Ray Snyder provide the smoke and shadows, with JD Mettler providing the dark tones. Ken Lopez once again breaks it all up with fine lettering.

The Cold War is as dark a place as the World War, with the same question being, Who can you trust?

JSA: The Unholy Three 1 earns four stars.