After several decades, the Justice Society were
rewarded with their own title in 1976-78. The numbering continued from where DC
left off in the 1940s but this Justice Society isn’t what is once was. It’s
been 30 years and the JSA has gotten a little wiser and a lot older. Most of
their teammates have gone on to bigger and better things. Black Canary, for
instance, decided to live on Earth Prime after a cross-dimensional episode with
the Justice League of America.
The Society gets back together after encountering a
trio of up-and-coming super heroes struggling to battle a global crisis. Seeing
a chance to get back in the game, the JSA decides to mentor these new heroes,
which include a grown up Robin, the out-of-his-own-time Star Spangled Kid, and
Power Girl- Earth 2’s version of
Supergirl, only older and much more buxom.
The premise as a training ground for heroes is
training is brilliant and DC will continue the formula for decades with more
Justice Society titles published after the Crisis on Infinite Earths from 1985.
My biggest problem isn’t with the comics themselves- it’s the reprint’s cover! The
cover touts Robin as being a major player in this series, as well as Superman.
Yet, with the exception of about 8 panels in the next to last issue collected
here, the Man Wonder only appears in the first 2-part story. As for Superman,
he doesn’t pop up until the last third of the volume. I understand the editors
at DC had their reasons for using these characters sparsely. Just don’t hype me
on their paltry contributors as main reasons to buy this book.
As for the quality of the comics- it’s about par for
the course. The art is typical 1970s DC Comics second-tier stuff. This isn’t
Dick Giordano or Neal Adams. But it’s not bad either. The stories are very good
and the plots are well thought out. The biggest problem is the dialogue. The
generation gap between the old Justice Society members and the Young All-Stars
is directly proportional to the gap both DC and Marvel have had to overcome as
generations of readers got older and a new wave of readers came on scene. But I
like to think that some of the corny “granddad” speak was intentional as two
generations of super heroes worked together as one.
There’s a second volume and I wouldn’t mind getting
my hands on it. I inherited this book from my late friend Todd. He loved the
Justice Society and I enjoyed pouring over the same pages he did. However,
volume 2 isn’t a priority at this time. It’s a good read but it’s hasn’t lit a
fire under me to finish the series anytime soon.
Worth Consuming.
Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.
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