JSA / Justice Society of America Appreciation Thread 2022 version

[MajorHoy]

I'm sure this has been done and done and done...but who would you like to see work on a JSA title? Chip Zdarsky, Cullen Bunn, Josh Williamson or Jeremy Adams would all be great choices for writer, but I would love to see Mike McKone on pencils.

How about letting Len Strazewski write it?

[signalman112]

The Charming art of Fred Hembeck.

HembeckJSA.jpg

[Mulett]

I checked out from DC Comics a few years ago. I was finding the continuity really hard to follow. But I’d dip back in if Earth-2 and Power Girl were back in the comics again. Is there any sign of them? Ta.

[John Venus]

I checked out from DC Comics a few years ago. I was finding the continuity really hard to follow. But I’d dip back in if Earth-2 and Power Girl were back in the comics again. Is there any sign of them? Ta.

Peeg is in One Star Squadron although not every body is a fan of her depiction there.

Continuity is very loose in DC at this point. At best, consider picking a title like you're picking a different fanfic on ff.net with some of those fan fics being loosely connected to each other and mostly contradictory.

[John Venus]

I'm sure this has been done and done and done...but who would you like to see work on a JSA title? Chip Zdarsky, Cullen Bunn, Josh Williamson or Jeremy Adams would all be great choices for writer, but I would love to see Mike McKone on pencils.

I would suggest Robert Vendetti for the main title with Dale Eaglesman as the artist.

Then I would suggest doing solo minis and one shots for individual JSA members akin to 'Sandman Mystery Theatre'.

Amazing Man by John Ridley and Oliver Coipel

Black Canary by Becky Cloonan and Doc Shaner

Flash (Jay Garrick) by Jeremy Adams and Brandon Peterson

Spectre by Ram V and Brian Stelfreeze

[Digifiend]

Peeg is in One Star Squadron although not every body is a fan of her depiction there.

Continuity is very loose in DC at this point. At best, consider picking a title like you're picking a different fanfic on ff.net with some of those fan fics being loosely connected to each other and mostly contradictory.

Yeah, just when does Nightwing and Teen Titans Academy take place in relation to each other? And Detective Comics as well come to think of it, since Dick and Babs are both involved there.

And back to the JSA, doesn't One-Star Squadron contradict the Infinite Frontier mini? Power Girl's meant to be with the rest of the Justice Society according to the latter.

[MajorHoy]

I checked out from DC Comics a few years ago. I was finding the continuity really hard to follow. But I’d dip back in if Earth-2 and Power Girl were back in the comics again. Is there any sign of them? Ta.

Do you mean the pre-CoIE version of "Earth-2" or the post-Flashpoint series Earth 2?

(The fact that you had the dash in "Earth-2" might mean the older, pre-CoIE version, but best not to automatically assume anything by that.)

[ducklord]

The Charming art of Fred Hembeck.

HembeckJSA.jpg

I'm always interested in the thought processes when coming up with group shots like this...

"Let's see, I'll put the newer members up front, but make sure the big guns like Flash, GL, Superman, and Batman are framing the shot on the sides. Hawkman and Wonder Woman will look nice going up the middle... okay, Johnny Thunder and the Thunderbolt can fill out some white space on top... don't forget Mr. Terrific... should I include either of the Red Tornadoes? Nahhh... aw crap, I've got an empty spot! Oh well, I'll just throw in Obsidian."

[Robanker]

Yeah, just when does Nightwing and Teen Titans Academy take place in relation to each other? And Detective Comics as well come to think of it, since Dick and Babs are both involved there.

And back to the JSA, doesn't One-Star Squadron contradict the Infinite Frontier mini? Power Girl's meant to be with the rest of the Justice Society according to the latter.

The Power Girl in One-Star Squadron is really just PG in name only. She's generally just a yuppie who is following a business tycoon's self-help book so she can climb the corporate ladder even at the cost of her friends along the way. Small nitpick, she refers to herself in her civilian identity as Kara rather than Karen as well. Not a huge dealbreaker (it is her given name as opposed to chosen), but it just further points to the idea that Russell really didn't understand the character from the start and instead read somewhere that she was simply "Supergirl from Earth-2 who ran a software company" and went with it from there.


Furthermore, yeah, this loose editing style is quickly showing it's less about writers having more freedom and more about characters becoming increasingly shallow as very little about them or their characterizations is taken into consideration when these stories are being written. It's causing me to become much more selective of what I'm going to buy in the future because just expecting a character to resemble themselves is becoming a rarity.


I bought the book hoping to get Russell's A-game, as he's pretty good at times, but this felt like he was going through the motions and just plugging people into a story.

[Digifiend]

I'm always interested in the thought processes when coming up with group shots like this...

"Let's see, I'll put the newer members up front, but make sure the big guns like Flash, GL, Superman, and Batman are framing the shot on the sides. Hawkman and Wonder Woman will look nice going up the middle... okay, Johnny Thunder and the Thunderbolt can fill out some white space on top... don't forget Mr. Terrific... should I include either of the Red Tornadoes? Nahhh... aw crap, I've got an empty spot! Oh well, I'll just throw in Obsidian."

Yeah, that is odd. Obsidian is there, yet his sister Jade is absent. They're usually either both on a roster or just she is.

[CaptCleghorn]

Nothing about Fred Hembeck's work says serious. The pic centers around the expressions on the faces of Dick, Kara, and Helena. The actual overall roster list is of little importance.

[achilles]

Nothing about Fred Hembeck's work says serious. The pic centers around the expressions on the faces of Dick, Kara, and Helena. The actual overall roster list is of little importance.

I don't know, I loved the eyes. It looked like they were all on some incredibly powerful drugs, or perhaps doing something less wholesome than that...

[ducklord]

Nothing about Fred Hembeck's work says serious. The pic centers around the expressions on the faces of Dick, Kara, and Helena. The actual overall roster list is of little importance.

I totally get the Hembeck vibe, believe me - I even have a couple of Hembeck compilations somewhere in the garage. And I’m not nitpicking for the sake of nitpicking, although I admittedly indulge from time to time.

I just thought it was funny, in a pin-up that lovingly gathers all of the pre-Crisis JSAers* in a nicely-arranged grouping, that Obsidian is just sort of casually thrown in there. Not Jade or Nuklon, or an of the other non-JSA Infinitors... just Obsidian.

* Plus-or-minus the Red Tornadoes, whose membership is quibbleable.

[MajorHoy]

. . . I just thought it was funny, in a pin-up that lovingly gathers all of the pre-Crisis JSAers* . . . .

* Plus-or-minus the Red Tornadoes, whose membership is quibbleable.

Why "quibbleable"?

Red Tornado II (John) was clearly a Justice Society of America member for several years until he apparently died at the end of Justice League of America #102, only to have actually been stranded on Earth-1 where he became a member of the Justice League of America.

[ducklord]

Why "quibbleable"?

Red Tornado II (John) was clearly a Justice Society of America member for several years until he apparently died at the end of Justice League of America #102, only to have actually been stranded on Earth-1 where he became a member of the Justice League of America.

Y'know, as soon as I typed "quibbleable" I said to myself, "self, SOMEBODY'S going to come down on you like a ton of bricks for that."

And you're right, of course. Pre-Crisis, Reddy II was totes a member of the JSA in good standing for a good long stretch (albeit only in the few appearances afforded the JSA during those relatively fallow years before All-Star Comics was fired up again).

Curiously, I'm not sure if Reddy's JSA membership was ever established in a post-Crisis re-telling, but that's neither here nor there.

As for Ma Hunkel, she was most definitely NOT a member pre-Crisis (although she was invited). Every time her name was mentioned, it seemed like it was only to emphasize that she wasn't a member.

Post-Crisis, although she was not an official member, as time wore on she seemed be moving closer and closer to "grandmothered in" status which is really as it should be, in my opinion. She was invited, she had moxie, and they let Al Pratt in, who was little more than an tiny teenager with anger control issues. But I digress.

So yeah, the Red Tornadoes membership, pre-Crisis, isn't really quibbleable. In fact RTII should really be in that picture instead of Obsidian