Justice Society of America #1 Discussion/Spoilers

[Rakzo]

Geoff Johns continues his reinvention of the Golden Age by doing what he does best: Retcons.

Yes, yes, Johns can sometimes be a bit infamous about such topic but this time it makes a lot of sense considering the changes in the timeline and how it affects the ongoing story. We open with the Huntress investigating a new case that is bound to destroy the JSA from its roots and introducing a few known and new characters that are connected to the team's history. At first glance is kinda predictable from Johns to include a team consisting mostly of villains but still is fun to see people like Solomon Grundy or Icicle interacting with Helena and Power Girl, the characterization is pretty spot-on and manages to create an engaging dynamic between the cast.

... For as little it lasts since all predictability vanishes halfway and the writer basically decides to create yet another direction for the team, one that involves the classic JSA villain Per Degaton and I must say that Johns depicts him as a much more powerful threat than ever before by executing his time traveling abilities in pretty creative ways and of course, sets-up the next mission for Huntress and what the title will be all about.

Mikel Janin handles the art and is beautiful all-around with expressive characters and a clean style that depicts every scene powerfully.

As far as opening chapters go, this gets the job done solidly and makes me curious about what's going to happen next. Fine read.

[Will Evans]

Since World war 2 ended, has Per Degaton ever had any motive besides screwing over the JSA?

Seems like he never goes after civilians or money or whatever. It’s just screwing over the heroes who beat him way back when, and the people associated with them

[sifighter]

I think John’s does a great job establishing that the future and the JSA’s history as a whole is playing a part in this issue with it basically all being under threat from Per Degaton.

I think this issue also plays with the 13 characters. Johns plays it 100% straight that these are characters who have always been here even though they got introduced two weeks ago or so, talking about the Red Lantern, and Salem having a beef with Khalid and so on.

Also surprised to see Kyle Knight, I mean I knew he existed because of Robinson’s celebrated Starman run but I genuinely thought dc couldn’t use those characters because of whatever their deal with Robinson was.

[sifighter]

Since World war 2 ended, has Per Degaton ever had any motive besides screwing over the JSA?

Seems like he never goes after civilians or money or whatever. It’s just screwing I’ve the heroes who beat him way back when, and the people associated with them

Not just screwing them over, sometimes he just time travels to when members of the team are having bad days and he just enjoys the suffering. I remember that issue where Shazam dumped Stargirl for fear of the JSA’s opinion.

[Filbert]

Since World war 2 ended, has Per Degaton ever had any motive besides screwing over the JSA?

Seems like he never goes after civilians or money or whatever. It’s just screwing over the heroes who beat him way back when, and the people associated with them

That's a non-sequitur, since Per Degaton was created in 1947.
I would say the cut-off is COIE, once Roy Thomas realized that he had killed off Earth-2 Per Degaton in America vs. The JSA, which didn't happen post-Crisis.

[Digifiend]

Not just screwing them over, sometimes he just time travels to when members of the team are having bad days and he just enjoys the suffering. I remember that issue where Shazam dumped Stargirl for fear of the JSA’s opinion.

Billy should've just revealed his secret identity to the team. The whole issue with the Captain Marvel and Stargirl relationship was that Cap was mistaken for an adult, and of course Courtney's still at school. In reality, Billy is the same age as Court. Had Jay and Alan known that, they wouldn't have had an issue with it - they'd probably just insist that Billy only go out with her in his mortal teenage form, and not his adult powered form.

Incidentally, such a thing wouldn't happen now, as Billy's identity was outed (at least to the superhero community) in Teen Titans Academy due to power failure (he demorphed mid-flight and had to be caught by Jon Kent!)

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I loved all the new legacy characters and would read a spinoff on them.

The time jumps are tricky but manageable.

[Factor]

As I mentioned on another thread, I wish we had seen more of the actual JSA. It was a decent read, but I didn’t think it would all be about Huntress.
That said, I’m excited about Johns’s plans for the most part, even if some of the retcons are nonsensical (Batman’s compressed timeline) or just pointless (moving PG’s 70s backstory to the main Earth).
I hope the series generates enough buzz to keep JSA going for a long time.

[Will Evans]

Funny how future Helena Wayne as Huntress is now a legacy of Helena Bertinelli Huntress’s mantle.

[Factor]

Funny how future Helena Wayne as Huntress is now a legacy of Helena Bertinelli Huntress’s mantle.

Yes, that’s one of the messy things about the new retcon. The child of Batman and Catwoman for some reason ends up copying the name and style of an unrelated third hero.
The only way it makes any sense is if an older Helena Bertinelli trained her, but even that ends up making Bertinelli seem more important to Helena Wayne than her own parents if she makes such an impact on her chosen identity.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I'd change Harlequin's name to Jester or Knave of Hearts. It's a minor nitpick but it would help avoid confusion with Harley Quinn.

[Will Evans]

I'd change Harlequin's name to Jester or Knave of Hearts. It's a minor nitpick but it would help avoid confusion with Harley Quinn.

It’s to compliment the Teen Titan character Joker’s Daughter

Harlequin’s Son = Joker’s Daughter
Michael Mayne = Duela Dent

[Refrax5]

I'm surprised at the positive reactions. I thought this was terrible. It was all of Johns' usual heavy handed foreshadowing, bad dialogue and thin characterization, but it was also just boring. After all this time, we don't even get the actual JSA in the first issue. Just more Bat-family stuff, as if DC doesn't have enough of that.

Also weird that we're meeting a Red Lantern legacy character before meeting Red Lantern himself. The whole thing just felt very uninspired, messy and bland.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Not really digging how this is yet another Bat-book. I know that guarantees a certain number of sales, but I am frankly sick to death of that entire franchise.

[Mantis-Ray]

Not really digging how this is yet another Bat-book. I know that guarantees a certain number of sales, but I am frankly sick to death of that entire franchise.

Can we wait a couple issues before calling it a Batbook just cause it stars Huntress?

Its not like Huntress ever gets much play anyway.