“Kill me? How … when you’re so busy dying.” So speaketh the new Fury! And … really… I guess this is James Robinson’s homage to Jack Kirby’s Fourth World material? Because this issue also re-introduces the evil New God (and former scourge of Earth 2) Steppenwolf (think Vandal Savage in purple and silver armor) and a futuristic city that looks a lot like Kirby’s Supertown. There’s a pretty perfunctory fight with some guys in cut-rate Iron Man outfits, Fury shows up, everyone spouts a bit of bombastic dialogue (see above), and – again rather unsurprisingly – Steppenwolf ends up as king of the city. Perhaps the only part of the book that made me sit and take notice was the revelation of Fury’s parentage. While it’s not a wholly unexpected revelation – it is a nice, subtle tribute to an old Earth-2 Infinity Inc. character – who’s been forgotten for far too long. Of course, that’s not enough for me to really dig this issue. The art is passable, but neither Fury nor Steppenwolf’s designs are particularly memorable. After nine issues, we still don’t have a team together, and this issue didn’t move things any closer in that direction. As much as I like the JSA and Robinson, this book has officially hit the bubble – if the upcoming Doctor Fate arc doesn’t turn things around for me, I’m out.