A Crisis of Chronology: The JSA

Before the Justice League, before the Avengers, America’s favorite superhero team was the Justice Society of America. Partially consisting of heroes whose legacies still shine bright today, such as Green Lantern or the Flash, and partially consisting of those who are not quite as well known anymore, the JSA was a team of the Golden Age characters of yesteryear, caped combatants who spent their time fighting crime and punching Nazis. If punching Nazis doesn’t make you want to follow the jump and find out more about their history, I don’t know what will.

Sandman Mystery Theatre
Chronicling the adventures of Wesley Dodds, the first costumed superhero, Sandman Mystery Theatre by Matt Wagner is set before the formation of the JSA, and introduces the reader to many of the lesser known Golden Age characters. Mystery Theatre‘s actual place in continuity is very unsure, seeing as writers tend to pick and choose bits from it to use, but the noir-esque tale by the great Wagner is too good to pass by simply because of that. Unfortunately, the whole series has yet to be completely collected in trade paperbacks, but hopefully it won’t be much longer before this entire great series is available.

The Justice Society Returns
I’m sure many would debate with me on this point, but I feel the formation of the original Justice Society isn’t really that important to read about. Instead, I find it best to jump into the action to see what the JSA is really all about, and The Justice Society Returns is a great way to do this. Published in 1999, The Justice Society Returns consisted of 9 “revival” issues of titles from the 1940’s that formed one cohesive story, with each issue done by a different creative team. Each issue focuses on a particular character, and serves as a great way to learn about each of the different members of the JSA (and it contains the promised Nazi-punching). However, for those who enjoy the original Golden Age stories, I also highly recommend picking up the All Star Comics Archives so you can read the original thing. The Justice Society Returns is collected in a single trade paperback while all 57 issues of All Star Comics are collected across 11 archives.

The Golden Age
Yes, I am aware that James Robinson’s The Golden Age is out of continuity, but, much like Sandman Mystery Theatre, it’s still another great way to learn about the Golden Age characters, as well as their troubles after the war. As others have with Mystery Theatre, Robinson chose some elements of The Golden Age to make canonical when he later wrote Starman, and it’s hard enough to find early in-continuity JSA stories anyways. Pick it up for the great writing, and just remember that anything that contradicts it in later readings is the “true” history.

Starman
Prepared for a time jump of a few decades (in-continuity, of course). With each of these lists, I always recommend one story as the debatable “best” of the bunch. In the case of the JSA-related list, James Robinson’s Starman is both the best and the most likely to make you want to read more about the group. Check out my earlier recommendation for the book and be swayed.

Doctor Mid-Nite
Another story by Matt Wagner, the three-issue Doctor Mid-Nite miniseries chronicles the origin of the third Doctor Mid-Nite, Pieter Cross. The original, Charles McNider (yes, it is a silly name), ended his crime-fighting career in Zero Hour when (Spoiler)he was killed by Extant. However, I doubt that I would ever seriously recommend Zero Hour (even for the sake of continuity), so go ahead and get the summary off of Wikipedia and save a few bucks. Again, this is Matt Wagner we are talking about, so you can believe me when I say that the mini’s writing is of excellent quality (though it might be a bit difficult to find in trade).

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JLA: Crisis Times Five
This story from Grant Morrison’s JLA was the first canonical team up of the JSA and the JLA, and the only post-Crisis tale that has been collected in trade as well as being set before the new volume of JSA. An entertaining story that focuses on new JSA member Jakeem Thunder, Crisis Times Five is collected in the first half of the fifth trade of Morrison’s JLA, entitled Justice For All.

Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.
One of Geoff Johns’ first breakthrough series, Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. spins out of Robinson’s Starman to introduce Courtney Whitmore, first known as the Star Spangled Kid before eventually “graduating” to the title of Stargirl. Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. is a very fun read, and along with Starman it serves as a great lead into the JSA series that had long been awaited. Collected in two trades, read the first one before starting JSA and the second after the first JSA trade.

JSA
After two series that didn’t take off in the early 90’s, the JSA gained a new series in 1999 that soon became one of DC’s most popular. Granted, with Johns, Goyer and Robinson working together, it’s hard to imagine how the book could do poorly. The 87-issue (or 12 trade paperback) series crossed over with two of DC’s most famous (or infamous) events, Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis, and in some cases the tie-ins were better than the main book (I will leave it to you to guess which event that was). If you have a good idea of DC Universe history, or at least concerning these events, you shouldn’t need to read them as you read JSA, though it couldn’t hurt to brush up your knowledge. Ok, maybe it could hurt a little bit. Regardless, the first volume of JSA is an essential for any DC fan, so long as you don’t mind collecting a lengthy series. Don’t forget JSA: All Stars, a miniseries that told both a current story and multiple flash back tales, including one that is incredibly well drawn by Tim Sale. All Stars is set in between trades six and seven of JSA.

Power Girl
Kara Zor-L’s history is one that has been extremely convoluted, but if you’re a fan of the character you can’t go wrong with the JSA: Classified arc that clarifies her true backstory. Also collected in the same trade is the original Secret Origins issue focusing on her from the 80’s, which should probably be read before JSA (again, if you’re interested in Power Girl). It’s a big continuity mess, but that was what Infinite Crisis was all about. If you are rereading Infinite Crisis as you follow the list, read the Power Girl mini after Infinite Crisis #2 and before trade twelve of JSA.

52 and World War III
The weekly series 52 will often show up in any DC continuity line-ups due to its incredible influence on the universe, but the otherwise passable World War III mini is particularly important to the reformation of the JSA. Notice I said particularly important, but not particularly good. Unless you’re nuts about continuity (like me), I say skip this one and just read a summary somewhere, as you will know enough about the war simply from reading 52.

Justice Society of America
Our departure point is the new volume of Justice Society of America, again penned by Geoff Johns. Further ensuring that this will probably be the most non-continuity heavy reading list I give, I recommend reading Kingdom Come at least once before this. Not to spoil anything, but it will definitely be important to read before the story arc “Thy Kingdom Come”. Fancy that. The level of quality in the newer Justice Society of America has been just as high as the previous volume of JSA, though many unfairly dropped the book upon Johns’ departure. Johns’ run on the new Justice Society is collected in four trades/hardcovers.

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Justice Society of America is still ongoing, and has split into two teams on two separate books (the other being All Stars). As mentioned before, some people have dropped the book following Johns’ departure, but if you actually read this whole list I’m sure your commitment to the team is more than a commitment to a single writer. Plus, the current JSA arc has more Nazi punching in it. What’s not to love?

As usual, the final list is: