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.
After quite a layoff, we are back! This week, we pick up with “JSA” before jumping back over to “Hawkman” next week. It’s good to be back in the saddle!
Written by Geoff JohnsCover by Ethan Van Sciver
Penciled by Sean Phillips, Don Kramer, Tom Mandrake, Jerry Ordway, and Dave Gibbons
Inked by Sean Phillips, Keith Champagne, Tom Mandrake, Wayne Faucher, Prentis Rollins, and James Hodgkins
Colored by Hi-Fi, and John Kalisz
Lettered by Jared K. Fletcher, Rob Leigh, and Ken LopezThe first Hourman, Sand, and Hal Jordon make great sacrifices to save the planet, and the JSA acknowledges that, but they are aware that, even as they fix one problem, an even bigger one is brewing in the timestream.
This era of comics, going back to them, seems so stable and planned out meticulously. Throughout this entire run of issues, collected in the “Lost” trade, we see Per Degaton popping his head in, reminding the reader that time travel shenanigans are on the horizon. He gets a starring role in #59, where he essentially just trolls the JSA by telling them how much he digs watching them die. The issue feels a bit like filler in the moment, but as you see Degaton pop back up, especially on the last page of #67, it more feels just like seeding an idea that will play out down the road. The best part of #59 is the Sean Phillips art, which was a lovely surprise, and really fit the issue nicely.
After that one-issue interlude, we get three stories focused on different JSA members from the past, and the stories get progressively better as we move along. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the Spectre story, ‘Redemption Lost,’ but Hal Jordan as the Spectre doesn’t feel like the same character that was a JSA staple for so long. While Hal has some history with Alan Scott and, to some degree, Jay Garrick, this doesn’t feel as emotionally resonant as the next two stories do, because while the Spectre technically is the focus, it’s not the JSA’s own Spectre.
More importantly, Hal is never treated as a legacy member of the JSA the way that we see Stargirl or the current Doctor Mid-Nite and Mr. Terrific. So even if this story is the JSA attempting to help out a fellow hero, the familial tone, which is mentioned a few times in these issues, is almost totally missing from the Spectre parts of this story, which makes it land with less impact than it probably should. It also doesn’t help that the Spectre is a pretty miserable character to follow, and Geoff Johns doesn’t particularly give Hal or the Spirit of Vengeance much to do besides stew and, eventually, boil over.
It was nice to see Tom Mandrake return to work on the Spectre, however. Mandrake drew the bulk of the titular 90s series (for real, dude drew something like 50 issues of that book!), and so seeing him take some Spectre-specific scenes was a nice touch. His work pairs nicely with Don Kramer, who handles pencils for both this story as well as the following Sand story.
Speaking of that Sand story, this picks up on a thread from the “JSA” #50, where Sand was seemingly killed in a battle against Mordru. Cave Carson and so stop by to help a two-front attack: one to the center of the Earth and one through the dreamworld, each hoping to find Sand and return him to his proper state. It was nice to see Brainwave Jr appear again after being controlled by Mr. Mind in “Black Reign,” and Johns and Kramer use the extended cast nicely. This story resonates because, despite Sand not being himself through 90% of the story, the character was so important to the first 50 issues of the book that his rescue feels dire and urgent.
Continued belowUnlike the Hal story, everyone has a stake in this. Even for folks like Cave Carson, Brainwave Jr, and Rex Tyler who don’t know Sand as well as the others, there is nothing less than urgency from each of them. The restoration of Sand is a big deal to this overall story, and Johns and Kramer give it the gravitas and attention it deserves.
That said, the most emotionally resonant story is the two parter ‘Out of Time,’ which unites the JSA’s three Hourmen (Hourmans?), Rex Tyler, Rick Tyler, and ‘Matthew Tyler,’ the android Hourman from the 853rd Century. This arc is an example of classic Johnsian retroactive continuity done right. Johns finds a way to restore the timeline properly without truly sacrificing any of the three Tylers, though the android is, for now, off the table. It allows Rex to get his happy ending with his wife, Rick a longer run in the JSA, and our lovable android a heroic (sort of) end.
Jerry Ordway pencils this story, and his classic DC style is a perfect fit for the decades spanning familial soap opera that these two issues are. Ordway’s work just screams classic DC, and he manages to wring as much emotion out of this story without resorting to too many maudlin images or over the top theatrics. The Tylers are some of the most interesting folks from this run, and it’s great to see them get a bit of the spotlight.
This batch ends with a tie in to “Identity Crisis,” illustrated by Dave Gibbons. While “Identity Crisis” is still a blight on the era, this issue manages to, more or less, do its best within the constraints of the story. This issue, much like the ‘Redemption Lost’ Spectre story features Doctor Mid-Nite in a prominent role. This version of the character is one of the best in this series, and he and Mr. Terrific have some wonderful interactions across all of these stories, but especially here and in ‘Redemption Lost.’ Their conversations about faith and grief are very interesting and relatable, and give both characters a needed depth.
Overall, these stories act as a bit of a resetting of the status quo after the events of ‘Black Reign,’ and we even get a little return to that with a Black Adam/Atom Smasher sequence. While so much of the past 20 or so issues was about breaking the JSA down, these are really about putting them back together, and that’s a fun place to leave things for a week.
Next week: the carousel of “Hawkman” writers begins! See ya next Friday on our regularly scheduled day. If all goes to plan, we’ll be back every Friday for the rest of the year, bringing us to the end of the JSA from “Crisis on Infinite Earths” to the end of “Dark Nights: Death Metal.”
