JSA, Book 12: Ghost Stories [Paperback]

Paul Levitz (Author), Rags Morales (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 3, 2007

During World War II, a group of costumed mystery men formed the first super-team. Today, the Justice Society of America lives again, as the surviving original members fight alongside a new generation of heroes.

Near the end of INFINITE CRISIS, Power Girl learns of a Golden Age adventure in which Batman and Superman battled the Gentleman Ghost. One year later, the members of the JSA are haunted by ghosts of their departed loved ones. As it becomes clear the two incidents are connected, the JSA becomes the target of the Gentleman Ghost and his undead army. How will the JSA end this supernatural slaughter, when the only being who knows how to stop it is the ghost of Batman?

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (January 3, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401211968
• ISBN-13: 978-1401211967
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 0.2 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #169,631 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Paul Levitz was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1956, and entered the comics industry in 1971 as editor/publisher of The Comic Reader, the first mass-circulation fanzine devoted to comics news. He continued to publish TCR for three years, winning two consecutive annual Comic Art Fan Awards for Best Fanzine. His other fan activities included editing the program books for several of Phil Seuling's legendary New York Comic Art Conventions,. He received Comic-con International's Inkpot Award in 2002, the prestigious Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award in 2008, and the Comics industry Appreciation Award from ComicsPro (the trade association of comic shop retailers) in 2010. Levitz also serves on the board of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Levitz is primarily known for his work for DC Comics, where he has written most of their classic characters including the Justice Society, Superman in both comics and the newspaper strip, and an acclaimed run on The Legion of Super-Heroes, a series he's recently returned to write. Readers of The Buyers' Guide voted his Legion: The Great Darkness Saga one of the 20 best comic stories of the last century, and visitors to the site comicbookresources.com selected the same story as #11 of the Top 100 Comic Book Stories of All Time. DC Comics has just issued a new hardcover edition of Legion: The Great Darkness Saga, which made the New York Times' Graphic Books Bestseller List.

Cumulatively, Levitz has written over 300 stories with sales of over 25 million copies, and translations into over 20 languages. As a DC staffer from 1973, Levitz was an assistant editor, the company's youngest editor ever, and in a series of business capacities, became Executive Vice President & Publisher in 1989 and then served as President & Publisher from 2002-2009. He continues as a Contributing Editor, but is now concentrating on his writing.

His current writing projects include Taschen's 75 YEARS OF DC COMICS: THE ART OF MODERN MYTHMAKING, which the LA Times praised for "its colossal ambitions, insights and collected rarities" and the NY Times called "richly conceived history."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GHOSTLY THREAT FROM THE PAST, January 22, 2007

By 

Tim Janson (Michigan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: JSA, Book 12: Ghost Stories (Paperback)

The latest JSA trade paperback collects issues 82 - 87 as the JSA is literally haunted by a threat from their long past. The Gentleman Ghost made his first appearance in Flash Comics #88 in 1947 and was primarily a foe of Hawkman. Originally he was a mere criminal who used various tricks to make himself appear to be a ghost but his origin was later changed to make him a true ghost. James Craddock was an English highwayman who preyed on nobles in the 1800's.

Ghost Stories begins in the early 1950's after the JSA has disbanded and the Gentleman Ghost is on a crime spree, stealing famous jewels and outmaneuvering Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Cut to the present day as the various members of the new JSA all start experiencing hauntings from deceased friends and family members. The Gentleman Ghost has a legion of ghosts to hinder the JSA leaving them to call on their own other-worldly assistance, and I'm not referring to the Spectre, you'll just have to be surprised like I was.

It seems that the Ghost can only be truly defeated by one who is an heir to the throne of England, but who could that possibly be??? The story cuts back and forth from the present to the 1800's as we see just how the young boy James Craddock grew into a highwayman and was cursed to live as a spirit. It may have been a bit too much time to spend on what is a fairly minor character, but it was done well.

Paul Levitz wrote the story and I am always appreciative of writers who can take characters who have been around for a long time and make them interesting and fresh. DC has eight decades worth of characters just lying around waiting to be explored. Why create new villains when a good writer can breathe new life into an old one. And it sure was good to see good ol' Ma Hunkel again...

George Pereze handles the art on the first chapter while Rags Morales and Jerry Ordway finish up on the remaining issues. Obviously, anything that Perez does will be first-rate but Morales and Ordway finish the book seamlessly.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Better than Mixed Signal but lots of room for improvement, March 1, 2007

By 

E. David Swan (South Euclid, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: JSA, Book 12: Ghost Stories (Paperback)

Ghost Stories starts off well with a nice retro story from the 1950's featuring Superman and Batman taking on The Gentleman Ghost. I loved how relaxed the story was compared to the heavy action that the JSA has been dealing with lately lately. It seems as if the Society is being asked to rescue the universe every single book. In the last book they managed to save both our universe AND the fifth dimension. Whew. Fast forwarding to the present finds the Gentleman Ghost using the spirits of deceased with some tangential relationship to members of the JSA. For instance Mr. Terrific sees the spirit of his dead wife (which makes me why she would bother helping the Gentleman Ghost). Interspersed in the story is the origin story of the Gentleman Ghost when he was still among the living.

I liked the concept of using a third tier and fairly obscure villain as the protagonist, not that I care about the Gentleman Ghost, but it was a refreshing change of pace. My first problem was with Paul Levitz scripting particularly in the flashbacks scenes. The olde English dialogue seemed really hokey plus the origin story was kind of unsatisfying. Apparently when the Gentleman Ghost was alive as a young lad named Jim Craddock an old gypsy woman told him he would become the greatest of all highwaymen (roadside bandit) but would die from hanging. Only the death of his greatest foes would bring him back to life so he sets out to kill the JSA. It's kind of odd considering he's been around since the 40's and never once mentioned this prediction. Also, he was generally considered a Hawkman or Batman villain and the Earth 2 Batman is already dead. Yet here he is obsessing over Stargirl and Jakeem Thunder who he probably never even met before. The ending was jarringly abrupt and unfortunately involved my LEAST favorite JSA member, Wildcat.

I have to give Paul Levitz credit for toning down the story although it did get a little wild at the end with dozens and dozens of ghosts battling it out. The art was good but the concept of the story was more intriguing than its actual execution. At least I found it an improvement over Mixed Signals so there's hope. Despite being an improvement it still isn't four star fare so I'm giving it the same score.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Who Doesn't Love Perez and Ordway?, February 3, 2007

By 

Scott William Foley (Illinois) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: JSA, Book 12: Ghost Stories (Paperback)

What can I say? I love the characters utilized in JSA. Sure, Ghost Stories isn't as great as some of the other collected editions of this series, but it's a nice read and it's fun to have Paul Levitz writing the final arc before Geoff Johns restarts the title as Justice Society of America. Best of all, we get to see the classic artwork of George Perez and Jerry Ordway, as well as fan-favorite Rags Morales.

This edition gives us a bit of an insight in the Gentleman Ghost, and while I'd never really felt the urge to learn more about this villain, I didn't mind it. There was some confusion as this arc takes place during DC's One Year Later event, so we don't know some of what they're referring to. Such things are being revealed in the 52 storyline taking place even as I type.

Anyway, I read comics for enjoyment and so I'm willing to set little frustrations like that aside and simply take pleasure in Ghost Stories for what it is. It's always pleasurable to see art by Perez as well as Ordway.

~Scott William Foley, author of Souls Triumphant