At the end of last issue I was left with a big feeling of, "wait, what the hell?" Gog killed the guy who was beating the snot out of the JSA, emerged out of the earth looking like Darksied's giant Greek cousin or something, says "I come in peace," and give the most scary evil grin you could imagine coming from someone saying, "I come in peace." Was that sarcasm? And by the end of this issue it's clear it wasn't sarcasm and I'm left with the feeling that Gog's going to be a much bigger problem for the Justice Society than he ever could have been if he merely decided to destroy the earth or something like that.

So, the question is, does he really come in peace? Well, birds seem to like him, I'll give him that. And he did heal an entire African village. But those horns, that grin, those glowing eyes, the fact that he's 100 feet tall--it's all a little off-putting. What I like about this, for lack of a better term, adversary, besides for his ambiguity, is that he's not a generic cosmic good. He has a voice and a personality. When he emerges out of the earth, he doesn't seem to be too interested in the JSA. He seems more interested it looking around. He's not much of a speachifier. A great deal of his panels are wordless. Gog checking out the birds. Gog looking at the sky. Gog smiling at Mr. Terrific. And he looks genuinely happy, even though Eaglesham manages to keep him looking like he might be the devil. But my favorite thing about Gog is that after the JSA ask him who he is, he starts to explain, but then he kind of spaces out and then wanders off. Awesome? Yes!

Turns out he wanted to go heal dying African Villagers (he speaks the native dialect of that area). He doesn't act like the JSA is anymore interesting or important than the African Villagers, but when they catch up to him, he does eventually explain what his deal is. He claims to be a God who refused to choose a side in the war that destroyed the Third World. He disassociates himself from the man the JSA were previously referring to as Gog, saying basically he was just some guy who lucked into the powers of a God and went mad. He even absolves himself of the man's murder, saying that he merely withdrew the power that was keeping him from dying of disease. Do I buy that? Not really.

Gog says that war is not his way. Which immediately made me wonder, what is his way, and what if it's worse than war? There are no fights in this issue. Which made it feel all the more tense. Questions of God and belief are brought up and you can feel a divide beginning to subtly open up within the Justice Society. There are believers and non believers. The suspicious and the tentatively accepting. The most outspoken is of the suspicious is Grant, aka Damage, who wears a mask to cover is horribly scarred face. Gog takes note of how upset Grant is, and apologizes if he has somehow offended grant. Eaglesham's art really stands out here as you see the kneeling Gog still towering over Grant, and Grant, tiny in this panel, but his posture is incredibly expressive. He is standing arrow straight  and looking up into Gog's face. All he can ask is why Gog is smiling so much. Gog says he is happy to be alive. He asks Grant, "Are you?" From what we know of Grant, this is clearly an important question. But Gog doesn't make him answer. He reaches a massive finger over to the more vulnerable looking Grant, and he tells him that he will be.

Grant's face is healed. The panel of him after he takes off his mask takes up three quarters of a page. Grant looks emotional and highly uncertain. This is a superhero comic so we can reasonably expect that Gog will eventually become more clearly a villain, but for now, this issue makes me realize that there is nothing more dangerous to a superhero than ambiguity. And in giving us an ambiguous God, Johns is promising a truly epic story arc. I could not be more excited.