Who Should Have Been in the 1940s Justice Society of America?

[MajorHoy]

Back before Crisis on Infinite Earths, there was a clear understanding of who had been a part of the "Golden Age" JSA.
But once Earth-2 / Earth-Two was gone, and the Justice Society of America turned out to be on the same Earth as the heroes of the Justice League of America, changes were made from time-to-time to what was thought to be the "history" of the JSA.

What I want to know from DC at some point is: Who was (or wasn't) a member of the 1940s Justice Society of America?
Questions about certain members include

* Was there a "Wonder Woman" on the team in the 1940s? If so, was it the present-day Diana (which Wonder Woman #750 seemed to be making possible); was it Hippolyta (the John Byrne 1990s retcon); or was it somebody else? (I have a feeling that Roy Thomas' retcon putting Miss America in that role will probably be left out.)

* Was there a "Black Canary" on the team in the 1940s? If so, is she any relation to the present-day Dinah Laurel Lance? When did she join the team? (In the original stories, that didn't happen until 1947, well after the end of WWII.) And did she have any sonic "Canary Cry" powers then? (In comic book stories of the past she did not have any powers, but the more recent animated movie with Wonder Woman and the JSA included a Black Canary with sonic powers during WWII.)

* And one retcon I'm assuming DC is keeping is how active Wildcat was in the Justice Society during the 1940s. (In previously published adventures in All-Star Comics, Wildcat only appeared twice in the group's 55 issue run.)

[Sutekh]

While I'm in the minority here, I suspect, I'd want the JSA to focus on characters specific to that franchise, and not 'versions of Earth 1 heroes.'

So more Dr. Fate and Wildcat and Hourman and Dr. Midnite, and some less seen characters like Firebrand, Amazing Man, Miss America, Sargon, etc.

'Earth 2' versions of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, etc. don't interest me as much, although, some, like Hawkman, aren't getting as much play on 'Earth 1,' so I'm less against them being JSA mainstays... (Indeed, I'd be kind of intrigued by the idea of Hawkman being primarily a JSA character, and Hawkwoman being a Leaguer, since, IMO, they are both more interesting apart.) So, yeah, I'll own up to that bit of hypocrisy.

[MajorHoy]

While I'm in the minority here, I suspect, I'd want the JSA to focus on characters specific to that franchise, and not 'versions of Earth 1 heroes.'

So more Dr. Fate and Wildcat and Hourman and Dr. Midnite, and some less seen characters like Firebrand, Amazing Man, Miss America, Sargon, etc.

'Earth 2' versions of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, etc. don't interest me as much, although, some, like Hawkman, aren't getting as much play on 'Earth 1,' so I'm less against them being JSA mainstays... (Indeed, I'd be kind of intrigued by the idea of Hawkman being primarily a JSA character, and Hawkwoman being a Leaguer, since, IMO, they are both more interesting apart.) So, yeah, I'll own up to that bit of hypocrisy.

I'm not sure if you're confusing the Justice Society of America with the All-Star Squadron.

Firebrand (are you referring to Golden Age Rod Reilly or his sister Danette Reilly who wasn't created until 1981?), Amazing Man (Will Everett first appeared in 1983), and Sargon the Sorcerer were never members of the Justice Society of America.

They did appear in the All-Star Squadron, a super-group that also included all the members of the Justice Society of America at that time as well.

[etrumble]

My preferred 1940s JSA:

1. Doctor Fate
2. Dr. Midnite
3. Wildcat
4. Hourman
5. Atom
6. Johnny Quick
7. Liberty Belle
8. Johnny Thunder
9. Miss America(always liked the character, she fits the time)
10. Star Spangled Kid and Stripesy
11. Starman
12. Mr. Terrific
13. Sandman

Support(occasional hero): Ma Hunkel

Guest Stars: Spectre, Phantom Stranger, any of the heavy hitters you want(GL, Flash, Batman and Robin, WW, Hawks, etc).

May need to race swap to update the team but this is the team I picture when I see 1940s JSA.

[MajorHoy]

My preferred 1940s JSA:

1. Doctor Fate
2. Dr. Midnite
3. Wildcat
4. Hourman
5. Atom
6. Johnny Quick
7. Liberty Belle
8. Johnny Thunder
9. Miss America(always liked the character, she fits the time)
10. Star Spangled Kid and Stripesy
11. Starman
12. Mr. Terrific
13. Sandman

Support(occasional hero): Ma Hunkel

Guest Stars: Spectre, Phantom Stranger, any of the heavy hitters you want(GL, Flash, Batman and Robin, WW, Hawks, etc).

May need to race swap to update the team but this is the team I picture when I see 1940s JSA.

No, you don't need to "race swap to update the team" for a 1940s version of the JSA. That would be drastically changing the team for that time period, so why even bother to call that team "The Justice Society of America"?

Also, Johnny Quick, Liberty Belle, Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy were never members of the JSA in the 1940s. (They were on the All-Star Squadron, but back during the 1940s Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy were members of the Seven Soldiers of Victory, not the JSA.)
As for Mr. Terrific, he only appeared once in a Justice Society of America story back in the Golden Age.

[Robotman]

I would be ok with Wonder Woman being the one who lead the JSA during the Golden Age.

Wonder Woman - leader
GL
The Flash
Hawkman
Wildcat
Starman
Dr. Midnight
Black Canary (maybe it was Dinah's great-grandmother)
Sandman
Dr. Fate
Amazing Man

I don't think the Spectre should be on the team unless he's seriously depowered.

[Timothy Hunter]

Have the 1940s Justice Society have the same roster they did in the comics of that period. If Wonder Woman appears in a story can replace Diana with Hippolyta.

[Jon Clark]

While I'm in the minority here, I suspect, I'd want the JSA to focus on characters specific to that franchise, and not 'versions of Earth 1 heroes.'

So more Dr. Fate and Wildcat and Hourman and Dr. Midnite, and some less seen characters like Firebrand, Amazing Man, Miss America, Sargon, etc.

'Earth 2' versions of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, etc. don't interest me as much, although, some, like Hawkman, aren't getting as much play on 'Earth 1,' so I'm less against them being JSA mainstays... (Indeed, I'd be kind of intrigued by the idea of Hawkman being primarily a JSA character, and Hawkwoman being a Leaguer, since, IMO, they are both more interesting apart.) So, yeah, I'll own up to that bit of hypocrisy.

Considering that the actual JSA stories in the 1940's had Hawkman, Black Canary and even Wonder Woman as members I'd say they had more reason to be there than Miss America or Amazing Man. Even Superman and Batman had appearances as either honorary members or active members in published Golden Age tales.

I can accept removing the Trinity if the story is set where those heroes don't debut until years later. I can see Superman and Batman being rarely present members to give the others focus. But I hate the idea of rewriting the teams history to exclude characters that were there from the original run. Even less fond of giving 1940's characters 2022 views.

[Dr. Poison]

I'd go with:

Amazing Man(if he can be retconned into the All-Star Squadron, why not the JSA?)
Atom
Black Canary(Dinah Sr.)
Dr. Fate
Dr. Mid-nite
Flash
Green Lantern
Hawkman
Hawkgirl
Hourman
Johnny Thunder
Liberty Belle
Mr. Terrific
Red Tornado(Ma Hunkel)
Sandman
Spectre
Starman
Wildcat
Wonder Woman(Diana)

[Sutekh]

I'm not sure if you're confusing the Justice Society of America with the All-Star Squadron.

Firebrand (are you referring to Golden Age Rod Reilly or his sister Danette Reilly who wasn't created until 1981?), Amazing Man (Will Everett first appeared in 1983), and Sargon the Sorcerer were never members of the Justice Society of America.

They did appear in the All-Star Squadron, a super-group that also included all the members of the Justice Society of America at that time as well.

My mistake, I thought you meant in the title who I thought should be in the Justice Society, not who *WAS* in the Justice Society, verbatim. And since you already seem to know this, no further discussion is needed.

[MajorHoy]

My mistake, I thought you meant in the title who I thought should be in the Justice Society, not who *WAS* in the Justice Society, verbatim. And since you already seem to know this, no further discussion is needed.

Well, the problem is, that as a result of Crisis on Infinite Earths, there was no longer a "Golden Age" Wonder Woman as a member of the 1940s JSA, and she had been actively involved for a good part of that group's stories. DC had tried multiple ways of replacing her, even creating the "Golden Age" Fury (Helena Kosmatos, who first appeared in 1987) as the birth-mother of the Infinity Inc. member "Fury" (Hippolyta "Lyta" Trevor, originally the birth-daughter of Golden Age Wonder Woman and first introduced around 1983). But now we have no idea if replacement #1 (Miss America, originally a Quality Comics character), replacement #2 (Diana's mother Hippolyta, who time-traveled back to the 1940s), or replacement #3 (having "present-day" Diana actually travel from Themyscira prior to the 1940s) will be who DC will go forward with as being the Wonder Woman who was with the JSA during the 1940s. (Or will DC do something else besides those three possibilities?)

And with "Black Canary", we have the problem that the "present-day" Dinah in the New 52 stories was presented with no apparent ties whatsoever to any previous character that had also used that name in the past, and after Rebirth I was never aware of Dinah's pre-Flashpoint history / heritage as the daughter of a member of the 1940s JSA being fully defined / restored? Then again, having Dinah Laurel Lance being the birth daughter of a woman who was active in the 1940s becomes more and more of an issue as the years roll on.

As I hoped I had made clear, I want DC to clarify what changes have been made / have to be made to the back story of the JSA over the past 35+ years of stories. I definitely don't feel the past membership of Justice Society of America has to completely revised.

[Digifiend]

Make it so four generations of women have been called Dinah Lance. The great grandmother was on the JSA, the great granddaughter is present day Dinah Laurel Lance, and the only one with the sonic scream.

Wonder Woman should just be Diana - this would facilitate restoring Donna Troy's pre-Crisis origin too. Have modern Steve and Etta be descendants of 1940s namesakes, which would also explain why Etta, originally white, is now black.

[Jon Clark]

I'd stick in the 1940's to largely the original line-up with a few additions like Hawkgirl, Liberty Belle and Johny Quick, the latter only active when Jay isn't.

I'd play up some of the infrequent members like Mister Terrific, Wildcat and the Red Tornado so they'd seem as much a part of the team as the others.

Based on popularity, though it's dropped since New 52, if Diana isn't available in the 40's I'd go with Libby as the Wonder Woman replacement with an earlier debut for Black Canary as my back-up.

And my take would be Dinah Drake as the original non-powered Black Canary and sonic scream Dinah Lance as the modern second Black Canary with no one using the name in-between.

With Wonder Woman I'd have her return to Themiscyra after the war (either 1945 or 1951) with Steve Trevor dying and Donna being an orphan Diana takes back with her. The original chubby white Etta Candy would be in the 1940's while the black government operative would be the original's grand-niece. Steve would be reincarnated when Diana returns to Man's World.

[Nomads1]

If I could make one retcon to the JSA story it'd have been making Hawkgrirl a full-member from the 40's on. As for the 1940's Wonder Woman post-COIE, I was fine with Roy Thomas retconning Miss America (though we saw so little of this) and, as convulted as it was, the Byrne's Hippolyta retcon. Perhaps, having seen more of it, I'm more okay with Hippolyta taking Diana's place.

Peace

[Restingvoice]

if Hippolyta was time traveling might as well make it time traveling Diana, Bruce and Clark