The Justice Society of America has a long and revered history in the annals of comicdom's. The JSA were the very first team of super-heroes. All-Star Comics #3 was the first time that a group of mystery-men (as many super-heroes were originally known) met and teamed up against a common enemy. The first story was more of a dinner in which the guys exchanged anecdotes, but they sped off together to assist Franklin Roosevelt in the next issue.
The JSA remained a fixture in All-Star Comics until the book was cancelled with issue #57 (becoming All-Star Western to match the tastes of the times). The team and its members remained in limbo for nearly a decade until super-hero comics once again became the "new rage", with the revamping of The Flash in Showcase #4. Julius Schwartz and Gardner Fox were the men primarily responsible for bringing back the heroes, and it wasn't long until both they and the fans began clamoring for the return of the heroes of the Golden Age. The original Flash met his Silver-Age counterpart for the first time in The Flash #123, and about a year later, the entire Justice Society came out of retirement join the new Scarlet Speedster to battle one of their oldest foes, Vandal Savage. After that, there was basically no stopping the world's first super-team.
The JSA next appeared in Justice League of America, meeting their modern counterparts and beginning an annual meeting of the two groups that would last for over thirty years. The entire Golden Age complement of the group appeared many times over the course of these team-ups, which were also used several times to revive other Golden Age characters (The Seven Soldiers of Victory and the Quality Comics heroes that would become known as the Freedom Fighters are the most known examples).
The JSA itself was never given its own title during this time period. The
Spectre, Doctor Fate and Hourman, and Starman and Black Canary all received appearances in Showcase and The Brave and The Bold, and Wildcat and the Spectre made several appearances with Batman in the latter title as well, but the JSA as a whole was relegated to the yearly JLA team-up. That changed in the mid-seventies, when All-Star Comics was revived. The JSA were the stars of the title again, but the book itself was usually titled "All-Star Comics starring The Super Squad, featuring the Justice Society of America", to
reflect the presence of the three young heroes who were added to the team to ostensibly grab the new readers. This was kind of strange, since two of the young heroes were Golden Age characters themselves (the time-tossed Star-Spangled Kid and the grown-up Robin the Boy Wonder). But I don't think any JSA fan was really complaining. The team moved over to Adventure Comics after
The JSA continued to appear regularly in the pages of Justice League of America, but did get showcased regularly in three other titles. All-Star Squadron, scripted by Golden Age fan Roy Thomas, chronicled the wartime adventures of just about every hero and heroine from DC's Golden Age. Hawkman, Doctor Mid-Nite and the Atom started out as regular members of the All-Stars, and there were several issues and features chronicling the JSA's own adventures during the war. In the present day, the JSA members appeared semi-regularly in Infinity, Inc., a title concerning a team of heroes that were the children of many JSA members. Members of the JSA also were featured fairly prominently in the follow-up to All-Star Squadron, The Young All-Stars (again written by Roy Thomas).
Many members of the JSA played prominent roles in Crisis on Infinite Earths, especially the Golden Age Superman, but this book did have the result of wiping out a lot of the team's history, since there never were Golden Age versions of Superman, Batman and Robin, or Wonder Woman to join in the forties, and the daughter of the Batman, The Huntress, obviously never existed to join the later version of the team. Much of the vacuum left by these characters non-existence were taken up by the introduction of The Young All-Stars (a point of controversy to this day). The modern day Justice Society, was relegated to a fate that many readers considered far worse than death, having to re-enact the Norse battle of Ragnarok over and over for all eternity (as a result of the events in The Last Days of the Justice Society). This basically took the entire team (along with Sandy the Golden Boy and Hawkgirl) out of the DC Universe entirely, thereby squashing any continuity problems and allowing DC to focus on their newer characters.
Unfortunately for DC, comic fandom sent them a much different message and they were forced to recant this situation, using the pages of the otherwise pointless Armageddon: Inferno series to bring the JSA back into the regular DC Universe. Relatively soon after, the JSA finally got their own title with the mini-series we're going to look at here, in 1991. The eight-issue series would spawn a regular JSA title in 1992, but that book only lasted ten issues before it was cancelled due to low sales (even though it was actually cancelled before any real and relevant sales data could have come in on most of the series). We're going to leave the history of the JSA at this point, since the events of Zero Hour still depress the hell out of me.
This mini-series picks up on the JSA before they were forced to disband at the hands of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. There are, at the time of this adventure, six active members of the Justice Society.
THE FLASH
Jay Garrick received his super-speed powers after inhaling the fumes of "hard water" in a college chemistry experiment that had gone wrong. He was the first in a long line of Scarlet Speedsters, and it one of the more easily recognized heroes, due to the winged helmet he has worn throughout his career. He is married to his longtime love, Joan Dale.
BLACK CANARY
Dinah Drake Lance originally strived to be a police officer. She took up the blonde guise of the Black Canary when that avenue failed to live up to her expectations. She runs a florist shop in Gotham City and is married to private investigator Larry Lance.
GREEN LANTERN
Alan Scott was the only survivor of a bad train wreck, due to the influence of a magical green lantern that was in his possession. He fashioned a ring and became Gotham City's first avenger of wrongs, The Green Lantern. He is immune to the effects of most metallic objects, and the things that his ring can create are only limited by his imagination. He is, however, vulnerable to attack by anything made of wood. Alan Scott currently is the vice president of the Gotham Broadcasting Company.
HAWKMAN
Carter Hall is the reincarnation of the ancient Egyptian Prince Khufu. He uses ancient weapons, a pair of wings and an Nth Metal Belt to battle the forces of evil. Carter works as an archaeologist, and is married to Shiera Saunders, his reincarnated love and oft-times partner, Hawkgirl.
STARMAN
Ted Knight is a theoretical and practical scientist and creator of the Gravity Rod (and later Cosmic Rod) that draws energy directly from the stars, which he uses to fight crime in the guise of Starman. Ted is currently the director of the Mount Pride Observatory, which he helped design. At the start of this adventure, he is an inactive member of the JSA.
Doctor Mid-Nite (Charles McNider) and The Atom (Al Pratt) are also still active members of the Justice Society, but do not appear in this particular adventure.
Part 1 Featuring The Flash
An old raving man disrupts Ted Knight's first press conference and hands him a strange star chart. That night when Ted uses the observatory to check the chart, the stars literally come to life and attack him, leaving him wheelchair-bound. A week later, The Flash answers a phone call from Ted, who enlists his aid in finding out who or what is behind the destruction of a string of power stations all over the country. Ted sends his friend to Boulder Dam; a favor, which The Flash doesn't know, is at the bequest of a shadowy figure that has Ted under his control. Upon arriving at the Boulder Dam power station, a giant energy being forms there, in the form of a muscular bearded man with a large spiked club (Orion the Hunter?). The Flash manages to capture the creature and temporarily drain off its power with the machinery and cables at the power plant, but it soon changes into a giant dog with a spiked collar and frees itself. The Flash is knocked out in his final attempt to drain the dog's energy, and the power station is taken out, shutting down the power grid all over the country.
Part 2 Featuring Black Canary
Black Canary stops a trio of looters taking advantage of the nationwide blackout in Gotham City, and then responds to a burglary call at the Gotham City Museum of Natural History. There she discovers a trio of thieves trying to make off with the Crown of Cheops. She stops the three burglars, but is then confronted with the menace of longtime JSA and Green Lantern foe, Solomon Grundy. Meanwhile, the shadowy mastermind holding Ted Knight prisoner uses Ted's own Gravity Rod to create another giant energy being, Sagittarius the Archer. Grundy eventually knocks Black Canary unconscious, and the thieves opt to take her with them. In the mean time, Sagittarius is facing off against the Green Lantern in the skies above Gotham ...
Part 3 Featuring Green Lantern
Alan Scott was trying to get a broadcast out on GBC about the intermittent power failures when another one hit the TV station, one that was apparently caused by the giant glowing form of Sagittarius. Alan changes into Green Lantern and battles the creature in the skies above Gotham, a fight that attracts the attention of Solomon Grundy in the alleyway below. As Green Lantern is beginning to gain the upper hand, the energy being transforms into a giant eagle. At the same time, Grundy tosses a wooden phone booth into Green Lantern, rendering him unconscious (though his ring causes him to merely float down to the ground). The eagle picks up both Green Lantern and Black Canary before Solomon Grundy can kill them and flies off.
Part 4 Featuring Hawkman
Carter Hall is on a spelunking trip with his friend Will Wildeagle in the American West (near an underground nuclear testing site) while the power outages are occurring throughout the country. They came across some interesting cave drawings that Carter found to be similar to ones he photographed in Egypt, a fact that he attributes to a racial memory of an event or events in the distant past. While discussing the matter, the area Carter and Will are in is hit with a massive quake and another giant energy being appears, this one being based on the constellation of Andromeda. Carter heads back to Will's museum and changes into his Hawkman attire, borrowing some of the ancient weapons there. He then assists an army platoon already engaging the creature, finding it somewhat vulnerable to attack with his wooden shield. The creature then transforms itself into a huge flying horse and takes off with several nuclear bombs in its mouth. Hawkman tries to pursue the Pegasus but is rendered unconscious by an energy blast and falls, being saved only by the timely arrival of The Flash.
Part 5 Featuring The Flash and Hawkman
While Hawkman is being treated for minor injuries, The Flash creates a device capable of tracking the giant energy being. He, Hawkman, and Will Wildeagle set off in pursuit into New Mexico. The shadowy figure in control of Ted Knight and his Cosmic Rod is revealed to be Vandal Savage, the Immortal Villain and long-time enemy of the JSA. He has constructed a pyramid affair around the Mount Pride Observatory that the Andromeda creature is using to collect the energy of the nuclear bombs as she destroys them. The Flash and Hawkman attack the creature, which is soon joined by the dog/giant that fought the Flash earlier. Our heroes discover that the beings' only weakness is contact with each other (which temporarily drains their energy), so the two men manage to get them to fall over each other, which causes them to dissipate. Enraged, Vandal Savage takes to the sky with the Gravity Rod and defeats both heroes. Will manages to shoot and disable the Gravity Rod, but is soon beset by the massive hands of Solomon Grundy.
Part 6 Featuring Green Lantern and Black Canary
Black Canary awakens to find herself, Green Lantern, and a load of stolen museum artifacts in the clutches of a giant glowing flying bird at about a thousand feet up. Green Lantern's partner, Doiby Dickles, uses a biplane to get the Power Battery to Green Lantern, who then manages to extricate all of them from the situation fairly easily. He applies a Power Ring'ed parachute to the artifacts, which land right where the crooks that stole them can pick them up. Our three heroes continue to battle the eagle and then follow it to New Mexico, to the Mount Pride Observatory. Green Lantern and Black Canary watch Will Wildeagle disable the Gravity Rod Vandal Savage was using, and see him captured by Solomon Grundy. They arrive just as Hawkman and The Flash regain their senses, and all four are ready to face off against Savage and Grundy.
Part 7
Solomon Grundy immediately jumps into the fray, going after Green Lantern, while Savage desperately tries to repair the Gravity Rod. Inside the observatory, Ted Knight reminisces about his decision to quit being a super-hero and devote himself to science after the war. Grundy is knocked unconscious and he and Savage narrowly evade capture by the JSA, as Savage's thugs get the pair inside the Observatory and behind a powerful force field. He forces Ted Knight to repair the Gravity Rod and vests himself in the museum artifacts that his thugs recovered, once again assuming the guise of Cheops (a claim Hawkman disputed). He used the Gravity Rod and the artifacts to once again summon the Living Constellations to go forth cripple civilization (consuming the fires that drive the Modern World – electricity, radio & television, and atomic power). This time the Constellations took the forms of Bombers' center fielder Tony Frommaggio, Chief Wild Bear from the TV show "Broken Lance", and Suzy from the sitcom "Love That Suzy".
Part 8
Vandal Savage became enraged upon seeing his "corrupted" Living Constellations, and he and they attack the JSA. He transforms them back into their proper forms, and as he is about to resume his attack on our heroes, Ted Knight flies out of the Observatory, using a "new and improved" version of his Gravity Rod. He destroyed Savage's weapon and he and Green Lantern managed to force the Constellations into the Observatory/Pyramid, which dispersed them. Savage and Grundy were similarly dispersed, and Will Wildeagle helped corral up all of Savage's thugs. Afterwards, Ted decides that he'd like to rejoin the JSA as Starman. As our story closes, the JSA happens to hear a telecast about the upcoming hearings of Joseph McCarthy.
This was an excellent mini-series on almost every count. It is a very fast paced story, with some of the greatest JSA'ers facing off against two of their most powerful archenemies. This is one of the premier JSA teams ... even without Dr. Mid-Nite and the Atom. These are the "big guns" as it were (considering the relatively short stays of the Spectre and Doctor Fate in the original Golden Age stories) and they live up to their fanfare.
The story was structured like an old issue of All-Star Comics, with each character having a chapter and then a team-up at the end. You've got characters here that are obviously outclassed (Black Canary vs. Solomon Grundy, one-on-one?) but yet manage to hold their own and are pretty confident in the face of any situation. There's not a whole lot of the angst and soul-searching that permeates modern stories, proving you don't necessarily need it for good characterization. We also got some great art from Grant Miehm, Tom Artis, Rick Burchett and the late Mike Parobeck.
I think the story is a good reflection on both a simpler time and a time that was in the midst of rapid change. We really haven't seen much of the 1950's era in comics recently, particular in the JSA history (other than the story that forced them into retirement, and some later stories in Starman), so this was a welcome change. Most stories of the JSA's past end up focusing on the war years or the retelling of modern tales in the post-Crisis universe. Personally, I think that era was covered pretty much as well as we need it covered in Roy Thomas's All-Star Squadron and The Young All-Stars. We are only now just getting glimmers of the JSA's activities (and truly, the activities of all the heroes in the DC Universe) during the fifties (and even most of the sixties, considering all the retroactive continuity that is being put into place). The burgeoning industries of television and nuclear weapons were two of the major innovations of that era, and they are definitely in the forefront in this story...both as a theme and as comic relief.
While I don't think that this limited series, or the brief regular series in 1992 had a lot of impact on the current popularity of the JSA and its new book, I think that it was very important in keeping the characters in the public's (read that as fandom's) eye. The hardcore JSA fans will always be happy with almost whatever comes out (naturally, I realize that Zero Hour is the notable exception to that case), but I hope this book helped open the team and The Golden Age to a new generation of readers.
All images and logos ©2003 DC Comics, Inc. All text and html ©2003 Richard Meyer
DISCLAIMER: Batman/Wildcat, The Brave and The Bold, The Crimson Avenger, Devil Dinosaur, The Heckler, Justice Society of America, Mr. Mystic, Ragman, Slam Bradley, Slapstick, Video Jack, The Vigilante, The Wanderers, The Whip, and all other characters and comic books mentioned in this site are the property of DC Comics, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group respectively. They are used here without permission. This page is created with the utmost respect for the characters and their creators, for the purpose of entertaining comic book fans and drawing more attention to these singular works.