With the recent release of Mark Waid’s History of the DC Universe, we get a brand-new established timeline of the lives and stories of their superheroes. However, with every reboot comes the desire to see more of the past, more of the JSA through a modern lens as the characters are redefined with better-written backstories and personalities. I have even seen confusion from the fandom, as History also established Hippolyta as Wonder Woman during World War 2, even though this is not a new retcon.
In the latest story arc of Jeff Lemire’s JSA, we get to see a bit more elaboration on the things that were established in History. We finally get to see a retelling of the Justice Society of America’s first team-up.
I will start off by saying that, despite being 13 issues in, this arc is a great jumping-on point for people who are interested in the JSA or Golden Age. I personally only started reading the teams comics recently with Geoff Johns’ recent run, but this new arc is a complete blank slate. Despite its large lineup of 12 characters, each character is given a great introduction and dynamic. For instance, we get a lot of interaction between Allen Pratt, the Atom, who has this massive inferiority complex due to his small stature, which results in some pretty comical moments as he works alongside a literal god.
The book is mostly a love letter to Golden Age storytelling, as we have Gardner Fox’s approach to storytelling of dividing a team into smaller groups with everyone doing their own thing, only to regroup at the end of the story. It plays out as a sort of conspiracy that unfolds as more superheroes get involved. In the process, we get something that wasn’t a thing during the Golden Age, and that is a sense of relatable humanity. Green Lantern Alan Scott gets some great moments as he tries to solve the mystery of his friend’s death with Jim Corrigan, the Spectre. We have quick back-and-forth between them, where it feels like a reluctant team-up because of a lack of trust between them.
The comic also features cameos from Madame Xanadu, Golden Age Blue Beatle Dan Garrett, Zatarra, and Dr. Ocult. This is an interesting retcon, as Xanadu wasn’t introduced until the Silver Age and has never had links with the JSA, while Dan Garrett wasn’t even a DC character during the Silver Age. It is also a bizarre choice as we see them all with Dr. Fate, but I don’t recall Blue Beetle being a magic-based hero like all the others in the group. Not that it matters since it is a super brief cameo and has no dialogue.
Looking back, as much as I enjoyed the story, the team was probably too antagonistic with each other. We spend most of the arc with no one trusting each other aside from those who have already teamed up previously. Even Green Lantern Allen Scott is pretty reserved, which is well earned considering what happened in his recent mini-series. However, I think this can be forgiven by Wonder Woman’s terrific quote: “An enemy of a fascist is an ally”. It seems like the team is only working together as things get worse. It helps that Johnny Thunderbolt and The Flash seem to be the optimistic ones in this team, keeping everyone grounded. This is a pretty good use of Johnny, since in the Golden Age, he was mostly just a comic relief character whose stupid powers would just work when the plot said so.
You also have Ultra-Humanite, a Golden Age Superman villain as the main antagonist to this arc. I really like how he was used as the body-swapping villain with mind powers; it is a genuine twist that I didn’t see coming. His mind powers and gorilla body make him a terrific opponent for the 11 Society members to take on.
This arc really left me wanting to see more of the Justice Society in the Golden Age. For instance, we don’t really get an explanation for why Hippolyta was running around as Wonder Woman, or even her reason for her involvement in the story. There is also the retcon of Amazing Man being a founding member. This arc provided him with a great new backstory, and I’d love to see more of him. Unfortunately, this flashback was just a temporary arc as the series will shift to modern day and focus on an academy for the previously time-displaced members of the JSA (even though that did not work out too well for the Titans).
This is still a terrific read for anyone who wants to get into the JSA, but unfortunately, as of the next arc, I’m not too sure if it could be a jumping-on point as we get more stories from the oversized present-day JSA. If all else fails, this is a great stand-alone “origin” story arc.
