Justice Society of America #2 Review/Discussion

[NeathBlue]

It was a disappointing issue, nothing great about it at all… almost felt a filler issue like you sometimes get halfway through a maxi series.
As mentioned by others, this does not feel like a series about the JSA but I’ll stick with it in the hope that eventually it does.

[Factor]

So Zero Hour happened 8 years ago.

I still can’t get over how stupid it is that Batman Year One somehow takes place only 13 years ago..

[Digifiend]

Batman's origin should definitely be more than 13 years ago. The JLA were supposed to be established 15 years ago, and Bruce was already Batman then.

So Zero Hour happened 8 years ago.

Whereas this is too long ago, unless the Young Justice guys (who were roughly 16 in the late 90s) are all in their mid 20s now (which does fit with Jon Kent being 10 before his age up and Lian Harper now being a teenager, but would mean the original and New Teen Titans should now be in their mid 30s and last we heard Dick was in his late 20s). Hell, it would age Stargirl up as well, as she debuted around the same time as the Young Justice team, and both were just a few years after Zero Hour, no more than a year in-universe.

[Dataweaver]

Yeah; while I love what Johns is doing with the 20th century, he's utterly screwing it up with the 21st century. 13 years isn't nearly as bad as 5; but it's still bad: Damian is older than that.

[bat39]

I still can’t get over how stupid it is that Batman Year One somehow takes place only 13 years ago..

Batman's origin should definitely be more than 13 years ago. The JLA were supposed to be established 15 years ago, and Bruce was already Batman then.

Whereas this is too long ago, unless the Young Justice guys (who were roughly 16 in the late 90s) are all in their mid 20s now (which does fit with Jon Kent being 10 before his age up and Lian Harper now being a teenager, but would mean the original and New Teen Titans should now be in their mid 30s and last we heard Dick was in his late 20s). Hell, it would age Stargirl up as well, as she debuted around the same time as the Young Justice team, and both were just a few years after Zero Hour, no more than a year in-universe.

Yeah; while I love what Johns is doing with the 20th century, he's utterly screwing it up with the 21st century. 13 years isn't nearly as bad as 5; but it's still bad: Damian is older than that.

Yeah, the 13 years number just doesn't make sense, and Johns is really digging in his heels with that one. Last issue, it was still possible to squint a bit and assume that the flashback to Catwoman was just a random flashback from early in her career and not a direct reference to Year One. But this issue he's actually used some specific Year One dialogue which is much harder to ignore.

I honestly don't get what the thought process is. Clearly, Johns has no problem with the heroes being old and having legacies - that's the whole point of this series (and of the Rebirth initiative which he spearheaded back in 2016). Literally this issue, we see an aged Selina in action in costume. But for some reason, there's this reluctance to let the present-day Batman be over 40, and its wrecking the timeline.

Incidentially, I have no problem with ZH being 8 years ago. That sounds about right to me, because logically I think Tim and the other YJ characters should be in their early 20's. But of course, that's another bridge DC won't cross...

[king of hybrids]

Isn’t Rip Hunter supposed to be screwing with Batman & family’s timeline on top of what Degaton is doing?

[Johnny]

So the general consensus is that Geoffrey Johns is screwing up? What else is new.

[Dataweaver]

The general consensus is that he got the “X years ago” timeline wrong. But as much as I dislike that, it's not something that ruins the story he's telling; I can easily read “13 years ago” as “20 years ago” and “8 years ago” as ”5 years ago”, or whatever the more suitable number for Zero Hour is, and nothing important changes about the story that Johns is telling. On the other hand, he's hitting it out of the park in terms of what he's doing with the 20th century; and I appreciate the story that he's trying to tell, even if it's taking more time to set things up than I'd like. So no, I wouldn't say that he's screwing up.

[Frontier]

I still can’t get over how stupid it is that Batman Year One somehow takes place only 13 years ago..

I didn't think even the five year New 52 timeline could have such a worthy rival .

[Dataweaver]

I didn't think even the five year New 52 timeline could have such a worthy rival .

It doesn't. As bad as the 13 year timeline is, the 5 year timeline was much worse.

[king of hybrids]

So the general consensus is that Geoffrey Johns is screwing up? What else is new.

We are talking about a guy who should still be blacklisted so yeah

[bat39]

It doesn't. As bad as the 13 year timeline is, the 5 year timeline was much worse.

I dunno. Wih the 5 year timeline at least you knew that it couldn't possibly be the same continuity, and had to come up with explanations like "Damian was artificially aged" (was that ever confirmed on-panel though?)

A 13 year timeline creates the illusion that it 'works' with established continuity, but it actually really doesn't.

[Refrax5]

We are talking about a guy who should still be blacklisted so yeah

What? I have no love for Johns' writing, but why should he be blacklisted exactly?

[HsssH]

I dunno. Wih the 5 year timeline at least you knew that it couldn't possibly be the same continuity, and had to come up with explanations like "Damian was artificially aged" (was that ever confirmed on-panel though?)

I think it wasn't directly stated, but Tomasi gave enough for fans to believe it if they wanted to.

[Dataweaver]

What? I have no love for Johns' writing, but why should he be blacklisted exactly?

Accusations of misogyny and, I think, racism, were leveled at him during the filming of Justice League. To the extent that anyone is ever cleared off such charges, the was; but there are some who still hold a grudge.