Jenny Sparks #6: Everyone Has A Limit

Jenny Sparks #6 picks up with Jenny returning to the bar to confront Captain Atom after the events of the last issue saw Jenny reach some sort of compromise with the self-divining hero. Jenny Sparks #6 follows the pattern of the previous issues, switching back and forth between present day and an event in the past that showcases how little the world has changed between the 20th and 21st centuries. This time, the issue flashes back to the not so distant past of 2020 with the Covid-19 pandemic. Interestingly enough, not many mainstream comics have heavily discussed the pandemic, with Jenny Sparks #6 opting to compare it to the pandemic from 1918.

One of the interesting ideas that writer Tom King discusses here is how little the world has changed internally despite how much it has changed on the outside. Jenny has an excellent monologue where she talks about how she and her family did not even know there was a pandemic in 1918 until they read it in a newspaper well after it began. Comparing that to today, Jenny points out the obvious, but rarely discussed concept that even with today’s technology and instant availability to news, the world still fell victim to the same thing nearly a century later.

This concept also intertwines with the ongoing discussion of Jenny’s deep distrust of the mainstream superhero community. Back when The Authority was being published, the idea was always that Jenny and her team acted with violence and killed their enemies because they did not see the other superheroes as effective. That core concept is still discussed here but more so theoretically against real world events. With the Covid-19 pandemic, Jenny grows furious with Superman’s inability to do anything, despite understanding that he cannot just “punch a virus.” Although the idea of looking at real world events with DC superheroes involved proves to be problematic in a logistical sense, King does an excellent job of riding that fine line in order to keep the discussion around the relevance of superheroes.

In the modern day, Jenny clearly grows tired of the slow game, opting to boldface argue with Captain Atom directly. This turns into more of an ideological fight than a physical one, with Jenny deciphering that Captain Atom is only acting the way that he is because he feels that in his divinity, he can save humanity. Jenny retorts this by proving that his examples of divinity have yet to help a single person before she explodes with anger at the idea of yet another superhero wasting their potential. This all highlights the core foundation of what this series is about, furthering the ideological discussion that makes it all so interesting.