In this review of JSA #1, the classic team returns under new leadership. But as the team try to find missing teammates, they realize they’re not as cohesive a team as they should.
JSA #1
Writer: JEFF LEMIRE
Art and Main Cover: DIEGO OLORTEGUI
Variant Covers: CULLY HAMNER, TRAVIS MERCER, JEFF LEMIRE, SWEENEY BOO, JOHN K SNYDER III
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: November 6, 2024
Synopsis
JSA #1 begins as two Kobra agents are on the run, being chased by Obsidian. Obsidian, Wildcat II, and Jesse Quick (Johnny Quick II) want to know what Kobra is up to, and Obsidian is about to try and use torture to get that information when Jade, Sand (Sandman II), and Hourman II show up to stop them. Jade and Obsidian argue, we see Jesse and Hourman, once a happy couple, are having a spat, and the team is in chaos. This is further evident when they return to HQ, but keep bickering.
For those of us (like me), who weren’t following recent events in DC Comics, Sand kindly catches us up. Apparently, some mysterious bad guy had previously abducted all of the most powerful members of the Justice Society – Flash I, Green Lantern I, Wildcat I, Hawkman, Hawkgirl (because of reincarnation and so many retcons, it’s really hard to say what numbering to put on these two characters), and Dr. Fate…I’m gonna say Dr. Fate V. A lot of people have worn the Helm of Nabu by now.
The only person who might know what happened to the missing heroes is Jakeem Thunder (“Johnny” Thunder II – unless you count Joni Thunder as “Johnny” Thunder II, but Joni was never a member of the JSA), but he’s comatose and Dr. Mid-Nite II (I’ve no idea what happened to Dr. Mid-Nite III) can’t figure out what happened to make him this way or how to revive him.
Jade is asked to call in the team’s reserve members, including Mr. Terrific II, supposedly the ‘Reed Richards’ of DC Earth, who you’d think might think up some cure Dr. Mid-Nite II missed, but for a flimsy reason she refuses.
We learn about mid-issue what happened to the missing heroes – they have been transported back to Ragnarok – a temporal loop of endless demon attacks the entire JSA had been trapped in before. This time Dr. Fate’s tower is there with them and they think there’s a way out hidden somewhere in the tower that, for some reason we might know if we’d read the beginning of this story and not started with issue #1, Jakeem knew about but Dr. Fate V doesn’t. Flash is searching what seem to be infinite levels of the tower while the other heroes hold off the demons, but the demons are starting to break through.
Meanwhile, and at the very end of the comic book, we get a cliffhanger ending with the mystery villains revealed – including spoilers I’d rather not share!
Analysis
If you’re new to the Justice Society and don’t know what makes them different from the Justice League – the Justice League has 64 years of publication history compared to the Justice Society’s 84 (though not consistently published throughout those years), but every time DC Comics reboots their comics, we have to pretend that the new versions of Superman, Batman, etc. are starting the Justice League for the “first” time all over again. But with the Justice Society, their 1940 origin is hard-baked into the team’s history and doesn’t get changed in reboots.
Instead of returning with the same heroes every time, the JSA returns with all – or nowadays just some – of the original members, plus legacy members – characters who have appeared to take up the mantel of 1940s heroes DC Comics has killed off over the years. So if you were confused by all the roman numerals above, that’s why. It might seem confusing to a new reader, but that rich history is why many of us are such fans of the Justice Society.
The Justice Society of America has enjoyed a lot of stellar runs of issues during its 80+ year history, but a good contender for the best one was the 10-issue run from 1992-1993 by Len Strazewski and Mike Parobeck. This is not my review of that, so I’ll sum up in a word – that run was fun. Was this issue fun? Not really…watching heroes bicker may be realistic, but it’s not fun.
It’s definitely not fun watching the Jesse Quick-Hourman II relationship breaking up – and when are DC writers going to stop putting poor Jesse through the wringer and let her go back to being the happy person she was when we first met her? It wasn’t fun watching a Kobra goon shoot the other Kobra goon in the head, while being forced to pretend Jesse wasn’t fast enough to have stopped that.
This trend of issue #1s coming in, in the middle of stories that have started elsewhere, is getting annoying. This wasn’t even a case of an issue #0 I missed and after reading this story I still have no idea what issues of what title(s) I would have to go back to read to get what I missed.
What did I like about JSA #1? It is great seeing the Justice Society just being given an ongoing title again. As I already alluded to with that 10-issue run, DC has had a long habit of canceling their titles.
Jade is chairperson of the team for the first time and I think that is a great thing. Her father, Green Lantern I (I would call Jade Green Lantern II, but her brother Obsidian would have equal title to that too) had been chairman in the distant past, and the chairperson has often been a founding member. I think Sand is the only legacy hero I can recall being chairperson before. Jade has been around since 1983, but she’s often been relegated to supporting cast and never treated as a leader before.
Although Jade makes some puzzling decisions as leader, I am hoping that she is onto the villain hiding in their midst (this is one of the spoilers I’m trying to avoid) and just trying to throw him off. In fact, maybe the whole Jesse-Hourman spat is being faked so Jesse can pretend to throw in with the villain. These reveals would make me feel a lot better about this issue if they happen soon.
Ragnarok was a big part of JSA continuity right before that Strazewski-Parobeck run I keep mentioning, so I appreciate that JSA history is playing a big part of this first storyline.
I feel like there are lot of parallels in JSA #1 to The Avengers, another favorite superhero team of mine. Jade being brought to the forefront by making her the leader reminds me of when Roger Stern made the Wasp chairperson of The Avengers. The story being drawn out by one critically important team member in a coma reminds me of when The Avengers initially lost to Count Nefaria because no one could figure out why The Vision was in a coma.
Once I got used to how much he loves drawing contour lines on people’s faces, particularly their noses, I really enjoyed the art of Diego Olortegui (apparently he’s already done work for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and BOOM!, but this was my first time seeing his work).
It’s a shakier start than many past returns of the Justice Society, but JSA #1 is promising enough that I’ll stick around and see what happens next!
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