Welcome back to the Society Pages, a column that looks back at the ‘modern’ history of the Justice Society of America. The main thrust of this column is to look at “JSA” and “Justice Society of America,” two ongoing series, written for most of their runs by Geoff Johns.
Today, we’re harkening the return of James Robinson, the writer who shepherded in the return of the JSA back in the late 90s, for a crossover with “Justice League of America.” This crossover is interesting for a few reasons, and helps establish Alan Scott as one of the most important pieces of the DC Universe – right before they rebooted the whole thing.
Written by James RobinsonCover by Mark Bagley
Penciled by Mark Bagley and Jesus Merino
Inked by Rob Hunter, Norm Rapmund, and Jesse Delperdang
Colored by Ulises Arreola and Alan Passalaqua
Lettered by Rob LeighOut of BRIGHTEST DAY comes this tale of the JLA (from issues #44-48) and JSA (from issues #41-42)! With the release of the Starheart, magic goes wild – and new metahumans emerge!
This is a really interesting event that is serving a few different masters, and none of them are the “Justice Society of America” or “JSA All-Stars” ongoing books or their creative team. I don’t necessarily mean that as a slight against the event, it’s just a very a very JSA-heavy event, without any real benefit to the larger, ongoing story. Let’s try to see how this all fits together.
So, these issues are a tie-in to ‘Brightest Day,’ the follow-up to ‘Blackest Night.’ Any book that got the ‘Brightest Day’ banner on top was a title that featured one of the twelve resurrected characters from “Blackest Night” #8: Hawk and Dove, Aquaman, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Deadman, Captain Boomerang, Maxwell Lord, Firestorm, Jade, Osiris, and Martian Manhunter. With Jade joining the JLA, “Justice League of America” was going to be brandished with that banner.
This was about 6 months into James Robinson’s run on the title, and it appeared that his team kept getting ripped away from him. The team that was supposed to be Dick Grayson Batman, Donna Troy, Doctor Light, Hal Jordan, Oliver Queen, Cyborg, the Atom, the Guardian, Mon-El, and Starfire lost evey one of those characters minus Dick and Donna by the time this crossover had begun. Picked up along the way were Congorilla and Mikaal Tomas Starman, but when ‘The Dark Things’ crossover began, that was it for the team.
And so, one of the primary goals of ‘The Dark Things’ is to get the JLA’s ranks a little deeper. Jade joins the team, in part because she has to stay away from Obsidian (more on that later), as does Jesse Quick, who in “JSA: Blackest Night” retired her Liberty Belle persona. They also pick up Supergirl as part of this event.
This allows Robinson to do his own, slightly askew, version of the classic Justice League. He’s got a Kryptonian, a Bat, an Amazon, a speedster, a faux-Green Lantern, and his own version of Blue and Gold. If you’ve read my work for any period of time, you’ll know that I adore this run, and love when the JLA isn’t the ‘Big 7.’ I highly recommend checking it out.
But we don’t spend too much time with that team during this event. Sure, Dick and Mikaal have key parts, and we see Donna and Congo Bill a fair amount, but it’s more about the heroes working together to stop the Starheart, the source of the Scott family power and an early experiment of the Guardians of the Universe. The Starheart has infected both Alan Scott and Obsidian, his son, and its new ‘base’ on the moon is messing with tides and weather systems across Earth, as well as infecting heroes that are powered by the sun, or are elemental or magical.
During this era of DC, it seemed like every single event was a cataclysmic, end of the world-level crisis (lowercase c). In this comic, we see cities destroyed, the Hoover Dam decimated, and general, wanton destruction throughout the world. And while effort is made to show some cleanup, it’s the sort of stuff that can feel a little over the top in the moment.
Continued belowA nice side effect of that, however, is a reminder of the power of the Starheart, and a new level of respect and honor given to Alan Scott. This story was happening directly after “Blackest Night,” when the Green Lantern title was the hottest thing in comics, and Alan was not a part of that. Alan’s power is different, and Robinson goes to great lengths to remind us that it isn’t lesser than Hal’s. At one point, Robinson calls Scott ‘the most powerful human alive.’ I’m not sure that anything like that title had been put on Scott in a few decades, if ever. Robinson wants you to remember just how significant the Golden Age heroes are.
By adding Jade and Jesse Quick to the team, the JLA really becomes a secondary JSA team. Think about it; you’ve got 6 legacy characters, either by title or blood line, and Congorilla. That is far more in line with the modern day understanding of the JSA than the JLA. Robinson is a huge mark for the Golden Age, so I’m not surprised that he’d go that route, but this was also very indicative of DC at the time. Legacy was everywhere, so much so that Dan DiDio and co. wiped 75% of it out with the New 52.
Perhaps the most surprising part of this event, however, is that all of it, save the epilogue in “Justice Society of America,” is drawn by Mark Bagley. Bagley joined “Justice League of America” with Robinson on #38 and draws every issue of the title, along with the two “Justice Society of America” issues that tied in, until #53, save for #49, when his hand must have been falling off from having drawn 12 issues in 10 months. I’m guessing that Robinson and Bagley were able to get a head start on the run, with the amount of planning that DC was putting into “Blackest Night” and “Brightest Day,” and so he likely was able to pace himself moreso than usual. But still, it’s a pretty herculean effort. And really, when was the last time one artist did all the interiors for a crossover event?
And while Bagley’s style isn’t exactly my cup of tea, especially on world-shaking events instead of friendly neighborhood “Ultimate” adventures, he does a fair job with a book full of dozens of characters, big battles, and tender, familial moments. There’s so much ground to cover in these issues that he rarely gets to do anything innovative or weird, but manages to lay out most of the action clearly, and give the readers an understanding of just how immense the power of the Starheart is.
It is because of its immense power that the story ends with Obsidian and Jade having to remain half a mile apart from each other, essentially ‘forever.’ I’m sure if “Flashpoint” didn’t happen and this timeline had continued, a solution would’ve been found, but there’s a really effective sequence where Alan lays out for Todd all the different ways that they could, essentially, destroy the Earth if they wind up reconnecting, as they did in this story. It’s a sad epilogue, but it gives a realistic reason for Jade to join the JLA which, again, is sort of the point of this whole event.
The other piece of the epilogue issue that’s really interesting is that Alan Scott essentially now has a kingdom on the dark side of the Moon, built by the Starheart. Alan has been gathering different magical creatures and societies, all of whom are being drawn there. He’s acting as ambassador for all of this disparate groups, and is, therefore, one of the most powerful political people on the planet. And sure, he’s been a part of Checkmate before, but this feels entirely new for Alan, and it’s a fun new role for him to play.
Next week: more “Brightest Day” business with Osiris, Isis, and Freddie Freeman!
