When Dan DiDio said that the Justice Society of America was going to sit out for a while, many probably thought that meant a year or two. We’ve learned that at Fan Expo Canada, it was confirmed by DC that the JSA would indeed return and they will bring with them one of the biggest bits of comic book history – the Multiverse.
According to reports, The JSA will be from Earth-2, thus keeping their adventures in line with the relaunched DC 52 that debuts this week. Best of all, James Robinson and Nicola Scott will head up the project.
While I fell out of reading the JSA on a regular basis, the actual return of the Multiverse and setting stories in those worlds has me interested. Ever since the Multiverse was reintroduced during 52, I was hoping they would examine those stories sooner rather than later. By actually setting the Golden Age heroes on Earth-2 it gives me a bit more hope that we might see other Earths appear before too long, and it might just put the current relaunch into perspective.
Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing the JSA stories set during World War II, but from the teaser art that is making its way around the Internet, it looks like we are going to get more of the same stories set in present time. And because the stories are taking place on Earth-2 the rumors of Alan Scott’s death appear to be greatly exaggerated.
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WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Welcome back, Earth-2 my old friend!!!
This is great news. Whether it’s set on present day Earth-2 or in WW II I’m on board. Hopefully Robinson can recapture some of his old magic with a series where he presumably have the freedom to tell his own stories outside of whatever the event of the week is in the main DCU.
While I agree with the notion that the “event-of-the-month” style is overplayed to death, I also don’t really like it when a comic book writers makes his characters exist in a vacuum despite the implication of a shared world. For example, if Alabama floods, I hear about it up here in Canada. If Metropolis is attacked by aliens, Batman doesn’t hear about it until Superman gives him a phone call? Crossovers are good at addressing the notion (and reinforcing the illusion) that all these imaginary characters have some common ground to stand on. When authors take it upon themselves to do things to a book that cut it off from the other books… Well, if you want to create your own universe, don’t write for “shared continuity” characters. Just my opinion, but it -is- a collaborative medium dealing sometimes with characters who’ve existed for decades & have been written by dozens of people, not one based on individual effort. When other people have ‘played by the rules’ of Superman for years, for example, how does it turn out when somebody breaks those rules and ‘tells his own stories’ about Red/Blue Electric Superman? They may or may not have been good stories, but they’ve been largely ignored by everybody writing Supes since. :D
Ok, first bit of DC Relaunch news that actually excited me… in a good way…
As long as they get Alan Scott out of the green trashcan and back into his classic gear.
Hear, hear, that thing’s even uglier than the Iron Spider getup.
The news that the Multiverse may actually get utilized excites me, the news that James Robinson is writing the JSA does not.
I’m not really that familiar with the past work of James Robinson beyond “Cry For … Something.” Based on -that-, I have to agree with Jimmy. I _LOVE_ the Geoff Johns-influenced JSA-reborn (almost as much as I like the JLI, which is saying something), and hope that Robinson keeps all his angsty-justicey stuff elsewhere. :)
I hope they go back to the way it was at the beginning of this last run, where the JSA is more of a commune of heroes than some kind of paramilitary operation. I like the idea that it was a place for troubled teen heroes to get mentoring from the over the hill heroes. The DC answer to Professor X’s joint, and the solution to the problem posed in Kingdom Come.
Then it seemed like they abandoned that idea after the Gog storyline and just went for Justice League lite, which, I mean, what’s the point. If you want that just get Justice League.
And just forget about Magog. I don’t know who thinks he’s cool, but he’s the place where storylines go to die.
SO ALL THE CRISIS EVENTS OVER THE YEARS JUST THROW THEM OUT WITH THE BABY AND THE BATH WATER. SCREW DC AND HOW THEY HAVE MESSED ALL THIS UP.
who says?
Sure. Why not?
If the intent of the editors is to have all the “current” heroes “reset” to being younger and earlier in their careers than the post Final Crisis (which was basically a continuation of the Silver Age following Crisis on Infiinite Earths) then any references to heroes from the Golden Age would have to be moved to Earth-2 or another “reality” to maintain them. It would be interesting if the effects of “Flashpoint” affect the other versions of the “multiverse” and we find out later that the Silver Age/pre-flashpoint Universe is still alive and well on another of the 52 versions, such as Earth-50 since the Wildstorm characters are now part of the Earth-0 “continuity”.
While I would prefer the “relaunch” to keep Earth-2 the way it was in the JSA annual from 2008 (“Justice Society Infinity”)
Sorry, hit “enter” too soon…
…I could understand where DC would continue the JSA in the form it was at the end of the current series but on Earth-2.
I’m so glad JSA is coming back. Before all the “Gog” stuff it was one of my favourite books. I don’t really care much about all the continuity from the various crisis events. They are good stories (mostly), but I don’t really care if they all jive or if they all line up with re-launch titles. I just don’t want to have to make a map with push-pins and yarn to show prove that all the continuity works.
Alan Scott and Jay Garrick are really the embodiment of the kind of continuity that matters. A present reminder of past eras. JSA all the way.
So it’s Earthy-2, and “classic” JSA, but with the new Stargirl, Jesse Quick, etc etc etc. It can’t be set ‘in the past’, given the lack of Star-Spangled Kid. It won’t really be set “in the present”, because we know that when DC gets tired of multiverses they just kinda go away. (Remember how Countdown to Final Crisis set up a bunch of these ‘alternate earths’ to play with? And nobody ever really ran with it?). It’s basically an elseworlds? But with connections to the Earth-1verse? I’m…. probably just being difficult, but it sounds like the same JSA but with 100% more gimmick. I _liked_ the “same ol’ JSA”, so that is not a big problem… It’s this “DC New Era” art that doesn’t groove with me.
I’m with you to a point on the art. Perhaps it’s the Superman Beyond #0 with Sal and Co. that makes me think that. Of course, I compare most artists to Perez during the “Titans” years and this “retro” story that’s coming out and being printed as a teaser in this week’s release makes me remember how much I liked it (even with Danny Chase…why did it have to include Danny Chase?).
Finally, something about this ridiculous reboot that excites me! JSA at home on Earth-2! Somebody give Alan Scott his old threads and I’ll be thrilled.
I wonder if they will ignore the Earth-2 Supes and Bats. I guess they will to make life easier, though that would bring me way, way down.
But it’s not “The JSA From Earth-2”. Michael Holt, Courtney Whitmore & Pieter Cross are Earth-1 babies. There’s no Wildcat or Starman (Stargirl kinda counts, but she’s also half Star-Spangled Kid) or Spectre or Sandman. Where’s The Huntress or Power Girl, if you want “2nd Gen. JSA”? A Justice Society of America without HAWKMAN??? (I’m actually thankful for that last bit ^_^). It’s “Recent Legacy-heroes Earth-1 JSA With A Whole Planet To Themselves Until DCEditorial Decides What Else Shares Earth-2 Now.” I’ll still be reading it (and probably enjoying it), but I’m just not going to fool myself into thinking that this is some awesome throwback to What Used To Be when only 2 of the original members (3 if you count Nabu in Dr. Fate’s helmet) are present.
All you said is true, but couldn’t the Earth-1 babies just as likely to be the legacy versions of the original Earth-2 heroes?
Eh, I’m lookin’ for hope here.
Love the original JSA, but not a fan of revisiting the Earth-2 shtick. Would have preferred them to be WW2 heroes on Earth Zero
fellas this is just returning things to the way they were with the big summer jsa jla crossover,besides with the jla and jsa on the same earth dc had to keep retconning what happened between ww2 and superman due to the passage of time. I mean it was cool when it was 20 or 30 years in between thats a generation but nowadays we are talking about 60 70 maybe 100 years in between talk about unrealistic