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.
To start out our summer season, I’m going back to a 2003 miniseries that I totally missed during the spring season. I blame the lack of Comic Book Database, which was my resource for making sure I was getting all the miscellany, for the mishap. Anyway, this was a really fun miniseries, so let’s dig in!
Written by Geoff Johns, David S. Goyer, Jeph Loeb, Darwyn Cooke, James Robinson, Brian Azzarrello, Howard Chaykin, Michael ChabonCover by John Cassaday
Penciled by Sal Veluto, Phil Winslade, Tim Sale, Barry Kitson, Darwyn Cooke, Mike McKone, Tony Harris, Adam DeKraker, Howard Chaykin, Stephen Sadowski, Eduardo Risso, Dave Ross, Michael Lark
Inked by Bob Almond, Phil Winslade, Tim Sale, Barry Kitson, Darwyn Cooke, Wayne Faucher, Tony Harris, Prentis Rollins, Wade Van Grawbadger, Howard Chaykin, Eduardo Risso, Anibel Rodriguez, Michael Lark
Colored by John Kalisz, Mark Chiarello, and Tony Harris
Lettered by Ken Lopez, Richard Starkins, Patricia Prentice, Darwyn Cooke, Michael LarkJustice Society heroes Hawkman, Flash, Green Lantern and Wildcat are tested by the mysterious entity known as Legacy.
In many ways, but especially in the covers, this feels like a sequel of sorts to the “Justice Society Returns” miniseries that came out before “JSA” was launched by David S. Goyer and James Robinson. However, instead of telling new Golden Age tales, the main story here involves the legacy characters of the JSA, in order to avoid the villain’s emotional grasp (that villain’s name? Legacy, natch), having to ‘heal’ their emotional scars before the battle. So, issues 2-7 focus on one character each, giving them a story focused on their greatest lingering issue, along with a backup of their namesake/inspiration.
Geoff Johns either writes or co-writes every main story in the series, and is joined by artists Sal Veluto, Phil Winslade, Barry Kitson, Mike McKone, Adam DeKraker, Stephen Sadowski, and Dave Ross. Veluto handles the bookend stories, and his work is expressive but, at times, a little too rubbery for my tastes. Certain characters, like Alan Scott, wind up looking like melted claymation figurines by Veluto’s pencil. Kitson handles the Dr. Fate story, and is probably the most visually interesting story, both in terms of what he’s asked to draw, and also by the panel layouts and character work.
Johns also gets to reunite with his “Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.” partner McKone for a story that very much feels like both an epilogue for that series and a start of something new for Courtney. In fact, none of these stories really falls flat on its face, which is somewhat miraculous. I’m not sure how many of these will necessarily stick with me a month or two down the road, but that’s true of so many comics I read every week.
But the real joy for these issues comes in the form of the backups in issues #2-7. Here, DC uses some of its most high profile talent to tell some Golden Age-set tales. Darwyn Cooke tells a fun Dr. Fate story in #3, which is, of course, a visual treat par excellence. Cook is such an iconic artist, and his work here is both understated and bold. Other backups include a Hawkman story by Jeph Loen and Tim Sale, a Ted Knight Starman story by the reunited “Starman” team of James Robinson and Tony Harris, and a Doctor Mid-Nite story by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso. None of these stories are very long, nor are they exactly groundbreaking, but paired with the emotionally resonant main features, these stories sing in really lovely ways.
The longest of the backups is a story written by Michael Chabon, fresh of his The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, a fictionalized tale of superhero creators. Chabon is paired with Michael Lark for a Terry Sloane/Mister Terrific tale. The story is really more about Sloane’s brother Ned, and his Billy Carter/Roger Clinton status in Terry’s life. I love Chabon’s writing, but this is far from his best work, in comics or elsewhere. It’s fine, but he gets almost as large a font as the title of the book on the cover, so you’d expect a more substantial tale from him.
Overall, this is a fun miniseries that allows Johns to tell some more personal stories for these characters that likely wouldn’t get told in the pages of “JSA,” and since they didn’t have solo titles at this time, this was a nice way to tell these stories without having to shoehorn it in elsewhere.
Next week: the start of “Justice Society of America,” some gruesome child murders (for real), and Dale Eaglesham’s ascendance to one of Johns’s most trusted collaborators.
