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.
Marc Guggenheim works overtime to attempt to wrap up a year’s worth of storylines in just a few issues as “Justice Society of America” comes to its close.
Written by Marc GuggenheimCover by Felipe Massafera
Penciled by George Pérez, Freddie E. Williams II, Howard Chaykin, Tom Derenick, and Jerry Ordway
Inked by Scott Koblish, Freddie E. Williams II, Howard Chaykin, Tom Derenick, Sean Parsons, and Bob McLeod
Colored by Hi-Fi Design, Richard Horie, Tanya Horrie, Jesus Aburtov, and Michael Atiyeh
Lettered by Rob LeighCollecting issues #50-54! As Jay Garrick begins his term as mayor, the other members of the JSA try to settle into their new home, and Mr. Terrific attempts to deal with his shocking loss of intelligence.
It is fitting that we are wrapping up this column just over ten years since this book finished, along with every DC title ahead of the New 52. The specter of that new status quo is hanging all over these five issues, specifically the final four, and the work feels incredibly rushed. The Sword of Damocles is hanging over all of this, and so significant storylines have to be rushed out to ensure that the book doesn’t end on a totally open-ended note.
Issue #50 is an oversized anniversary issue that takes four vignettes by different artists to tell a story that feels both as a celebratory trip through the JSA and, I suppose, a start of its final arc, though that really is only accomplished in the vaguest of terms. The first story, ‘Cornerstone’ is Guggenheim showing how the premier DC heroes of the last 60 years were all inspired by the Golden Age. This is a nice story in the sense of honoring the legacy of the past, but it doesn’t do too much for what is an increasingly shrinking page count. It is unclear whether or not Guggenheim was aware of the book’s wrapping at this point, though it would seem that, perhaps, he’d have used his page count more judiciously if that was the case.
This is especially true of the second and third sections of the book, ‘Infinitum’ and ‘Truth and Justice.’ ‘Infinitum’ gives us a brief glimpse of Infinity Inc and the ISA, but is really there to tell a very basic Per Degaton story that, frankly, doesn’t need to be told. We get enough PD in the final piece, so this just feels like an excuse for Freddie E. Williams to do a few pages which, honestly, I’m not too mad about.
‘Truth and Justice,’ on the other hand, is absolutely unnecessary. Last arc re-introduced Senator Eagin from the JSA’s past who is still out to get them, so a look back at their testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee is just because this is the equivalent of Martha Wayne’s pearls to the JSA. In addition, this is drawn by Howard Chaykin, who phones in this work to an almost laughable degree. I’m not the world’s biggest Chaykin fan, but this is objectively not his best work. The characters are all lumpy potatoes posed in the most boring possible way. This really brought the issue down.
The final piece, ‘Inauguration,’ shows Jay Garrick sworn in as mayor of Monument Park. This leads directly into the final four issues, which sees Jay deal with the stresses of local government and also the discovery of an ancient city under Monument Park that, syke, Senator Eagin was trying to protect the world from, as it holds within it a meta-powers sucking Goliath. This is the main thrust of the final issues, and sees the JSA take down this monster, named D’arken at the cost, it appears, of Alan Scott’s life, but it is pretty clearly a placeholder to tell a future Alan story where he overcomes the Starheart’s capture/destruction/whatever actually happened.
All of this happens very quickly, along with Per Degaton’s warning that Jesse Quick (who was both pregnant and on the Justice League in “Justice League of America” at this time, but neither here) will destroy the world, and Lightning’s resurrection, and Mister Terrific’s regaining of his intellect. The Terrific story makes almost no sense, involves a bizarre suicide and Holt re-learning to read by watching Captain Carrot videos. All of these stories would’ve benefitted from another 3-5 issues, but alas, they never got that.
Tom Derenick and Jerry Ordway share the penciling duties for the final four issues, and mostly do good work. Ordway as fun with the Challengers of the Unknown, where Derenick gets to draw alternate dimensions and Blue Devil, so it’s probably a tie in terms of who had more fun on their issues. Ordway’s classicism always pairs well with the JSA, but some of the designs, specifically the new Green Lantern costume, look a bit weird under his pencil.
And folks, that does it for the Society Pages – at least for now. I have a fun coda planned for early in 2022 and may, eventually, dive into the New 52 era for any JSA characters. But that’s a tale for another day. Thanks for taking this trip with me. See ya in the funny pages.
