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"Between a Rock and Hard Place (Part III) - Family Feuds": As the bulk of the JSA battles Isis and Adam, Black Mary forces her brother to say her superhero name, threatening to kill Stargirl unless he does. Billy agrees and is transformed into "Black Billy", an corrupted version of himself. The

Quote1 Many of you have heard the rumors, You've heard of us wanting to downsize this team. We wanted to make a judgment call on who stays and who goes. I wanted you all to hear it from us - we want you to stay. Every single one of you. Because we were the ones who made a mistake. We were the ones who forgot - you don't give up on family. Quote2
Green Lantern

Justice Society of America (Volume 3) #25 is an issue of the series Justice Society of America (Volume 3) with a cover date of May, 2009.

Synopsis for "Between a Rock and Hard Place (Part III) - Family Feuds"

As the bulk of the JSA battles Isis and Adam, Black Mary forces her brother to say her superhero name, threatening to kill Stargirl unless he does. Billy agrees and is transformed into "Black Billy", an corrupted version of himself. The Rock of Eternity breaks open and the Justice Society spill out into the streets of Shiruta, Kahndaq, where the locals mistakenly believe that Adam and Isis have returned to help lead their country once more... until Isis unleashes a horrible wave of pestilence that kills several of them.

Meanwhile, the late Mr. Batson, Mary and Billy's father, leads Jay Garrick through time and space to the Rock of Finality, a mirror image of the Rock of Eternity, in which the Seven Sacred Virtues of Man are interred. It is here that the wizard Shazam has been imprisoned in a statue ever since his death at the hands of the Spectre[1], and thus Mr. Batson has enlisted Garrick's help to free the wizard.

In Kahndaq, Black Adam pleads with Isis to spare the people of Kahndaq, but realizes that she's too far gone. Atom Smasher tries one more time to reason with Adam, to convince him to relinquish his powers to spare the other Black Marvels the damnation that he himself will face. Garrick and Batson appear with the statue of Shazam and tell Adam to return his lighting to the wizard, who they believe will purify Isis, Billy and Mary.

Reluctantly, Adam agrees and gives up his power, resurrecting the wizard. Shazam, however, is not the least bit gratefui. In fact, he's enraged. He permanently strips Billy, Mary, and Isis of their powers, and then turns the now-mortal Teth Adam and Adrianna Tomaz to stone. Billy Batson pleads for the wizard to restore Teth and Adrianna so that they can face mortal justice, but the only favor Shazam will grant him is returning Stargirl to Earth. Afterwards, the wizard departs to find the last Marvel, Freddie Freeman.

Two days later, Billy and Mary Batson are homeless and wandering the streets of Fawcett City. The Rock of Eternity has been sealed up forever, so that not even Dr. Fate or Zatanna can find it.

Meanwhile, in New York, Alan Scott, Ted Grant and Jay Garrick have made their final decision on who gets to stay in the Justice Society after the rift created by Magog. They declare that everyone who enlisted before Gog's arrival gets to stay, the only exceptions being Amazing Man, Hawkman and Starman, who all resigned to follow their own projects. The three chairmen also decide to reinstate Atom Smasher, deciding that he has performed sufficient penance to forgive his involvement in the liberation of Kahndaq.

Back in Kahndaq, the occupant of the Rock of Finality appears at the statues of Teth and Adrianna, and gloats that the wizard Shazam has finally given him his own champions to play with...

Appearing in "Between a Rock and Hard Place (Part III) - Family Feuds"

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Notes

  • Issue shipped on April 8th, 2009.

Trivia

  • The Seven Sacred Virtues of Man were referenced previously in 52 Vol 1 16. There, however, Captain Marvel claims the virtues are Faith, Hope, Courage, Kindness, Humility, Patience and Love, whereas Justice Society of America #23 replaces the last five with Charity, Fortitude, Justice, Providence and Temperance.
  • The Rock of Finality is first mentioned in 52 Vol 1 43.


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