There have been quite a few great Elseworlds stories from DC Comics over the years. Gotham by Gaslight, Kingdom Come and Superman: Red Son are among the best of the bunch. However, not every Elseworlds story was received positively. Case and point: JLA: Act of God - a comic so bizarre, it’s hard to explain.
In 2001, Doug Moench and Dave Ross wrote and illustrated a very unique Elseworlds story. JLA: Act of God told the tale of what would happen if superheroes were suddenly depowered. How would they react? Would they remain heroic? The book posed a ton of interesting questions. But, the answers provided within didn’t make much sense at all.
In the book, an event called the “Black Light” briefly stops all technology on Earth, while somehow stripping heroes of all their powers. Aquaman starts to drown in the ocean, the Flash can’t stop a speeding bullet from killing a cop, Superman feels human pain, J’Onn J’Onzz gets stuck in his Martian form and Steel gets injured falling from the sky. It’s not all bad, as Metamorpho is reverted to his human form and non-superpowered characters such as Batman, Booster Gold, and Green Arrow are largely unaffected.
The story unfolds with the former superpowered heroes struggling to move on without their abilities. Superman becomes depressed and is dumped by Lois Lane. Supergirl becomes a cop. Kyle Rayner’s Green Lantern struggles to move on. The other depowered heroes train with Batman to form a new non-powered group called the Phoenix Group. Up until this point, the comic has something to say and isn’t a complete trainwreck - unfortunately, that doesn’t last.
The logic goes out of the window when Superman immediately hooks up with Wonder Woman but leaves her when she finds God. Choosing Diana to be the character to find religion when she is a God herself is just hilarious. Superman becomes an alcoholic and is homeless before becoming a lumberjack. He eventually comes back to Diana to stop her from slitting her wrists. The whole Superman/Wonder Woman plot is easily the most egregious aspect of the comic. They get a happy ending with a superpowered kid, but the journey to get to that point is just utter nonsense.
The book also doesn’t justify why some superheroes lost their abilities - but it’s never explained why they did in the first place. Will they ever come back? Who knows? What the book does say, however, is that Batman is always right. It made sense to showcase Batman since he’s one of the biggest Justice League members without powers, but he’s pretty much impervious to anything bad happening to his life as his superteam falls apart. Meanwhile, the depowered heroes are mostly all depressed and (in some cases) suicidal.
JLA: Act of God is a book best not read. While the intentions from Moench were probably well placed, the execution makes the three-issue series one of the biggest misses in comics history. DC Comics probably would like to forget the comic ever came out to begin with.
