JSA in the 90s – Justice Society of America (Aug 1992)

We kick off our coverage of JSA in the 90s with Michael Bailey and The Irredeemable Shag discussing JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #1 (Aug 1992) by Len Strazewski, Mike Parobeck, and Mike Machlan! We cover the launch of the series, as well as the cancellation, then dive into the story — The JSA have returned from limbo and plan to retire, but is there still a need for the JSA in this darker age? Plus, we wrap up with YOUR listener feedback!

 

 

 

 

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34 responses to “JSA in the 90s – Justice Society of America (Aug 1992)”

  1. I’m glad to know I’m not the only nerd obsessed with keeping copious notes on their favorite comicbook series. I did the same thing with my beloved All-Star Squadron. I ended up with over 10 pages. Unfortunately, I had to downsize my lifestyle several years ago when I needed to move into a smaller place and that was one of the unneccesities that needed to go.

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  3. I’m really enjoying revisiting the JSA from a time when my reading took a dip: I had just graduated from college and was still working part time in a mall. I had a lot of time on my hands, but very little money. But I still managed to pick up an issue or two of this series. I remember thinking at the time that there might have been something going on “between the panels” with Wildcat and the Atom which was never followed up in later series. It will be interesting to see, after reading *every* issue, if I still feel that way 30 years later.

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  4. Late to the game, I first discovered the JSA in the 1971 summer JLA/JSA team-up, the one that had the E-2 “Twins” teaming up – Superman, Flash, GL, Atom, Hawkman, and even the Robins of two earths meeting. Even at 8 years old, I had no problem understanding the Two Earths idea, though it would be a while before I understood that these guest stars were precursors to the original, as DC began reprinting Golden Age stories in various E. Nelson Bridwell-edited titles, were the historian of DC explained these heroes to me in text pages that I devoured. I was ready in 1972, for another summer super-team up when Len Wein threw me so many curveballs, with New (to me) JSAers and a few Soldiers of Victory, one of whom wormed into my head to create a way for Shagg to be unable to say the words “Prairie Justice: A Grag Sanders Vigilante” podcast like a normal person.

    The JSA have always been my go-to, and even when I took my periodic hiatuses from comics reading, it was always Earth-2 that drew me back: the All-Star Squadron in 1981, this Parobeck production, the 1999 miniseries and the eventual Robinson-Johns series in 2000. Sadly, the new series has not fired me up, and as Shagg and Michael related, is not written for me and my generation, and neither should it be. Pandering to aging and dwindling numbers is a bad business model. But that’s okay. In many cases, I have the original comics, trades and omnibi, digital comics and really so many ways for me to re-read and re-live that magic that made my imagination work so well.

    I have great memories of this Parobeck series, and the mini-series set in the 1950s that preceded it. There was much to love in this Post-Crisis revival, and so many tangents that could have worked had more been done, such as the return of Johnny Quick and the introduction of Jesse. There was even a storyline for Johnny Thunder, that unfortunately was forgotten. While it’s easy to cuss Mike Carlin, he wasn’t wrong. While this revival did refocus many characters, such as Ted Knight, Jay and Allan for important things to come — the truth is that the Justice Society is a historic and very much a milestone of the Golden Age. And by the turn of the century, it was time for the next generations. I personally would welcome a series with the Second World War or Post-War era as a setting, something that could tie up and let us see the allies in the All-Star Squadron in their vital prime, as young men and women with powers and ablities they are still learning and dealing with in their use, and against a vital and omnipresent set of villains. Now, let’s see, what in the Second World War could serve as such villains, in a way that is too sadly relevant today? Hmmm. Can’t think of that……

    This was a fantastic show, and thanks for making me pull out my binders of 30 year old comics out again. Best to you, Michael Bailey, and your guest, Shagg.

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    1. I agree with you on a book continuing WW 2 and the AllStar Squadron . Let Roy Thomas write it Jerry Ordway could draw it. I recently discovered the AllStar Squadron run . I glad I did it’s awesome . If we could go back to that art and stories I’d would buy it in a heart beat . If it doesn’t happen I can always continue the story in my imagination.

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      1. I would definitely love an All-Star Squadron book. The recent Alan Scott and Wesley Dodds series showed that period settings can work. I’m just not sure Roy Thomas is the person to do it. There is no doubt of his love for the characters. His problem though, is the very one Shag and Michael were discussing in the show. He doesn’t seem to want to let go of the past. I would much rather have Robinson or Waid or somebody with an equal love of legacy write it. But with a modern twist that still honors the concept.

        And hey, since we have all those “Lost Children” introduced in Johns run, can we put them back where they belong. Unless Johns surprises us all and does that in his last issue. It never made sense to me that the Time Masters couldn’t insert them back into the time stream nanoseconds after they were taken.

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    2. Insightful comments, Gord! On a less mature note, I kind of want Shag to record a promo for an extrEEME Prairie Justice podcast episode, with special guest appearance by Darkseid. But I also don’t want to hear his vocal cords snap.

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  5. Great show guys . Brings back a lot of great memories. I remember going to my local comic shop back in the day and seeing nothing but fake comic book fans. Most of the people that were buying boat loads of comics . Nothing but speculators . I remember picking up my Image Comics pulls along with my X-Men titles , Captain America , Amazing Spiderman along with some Marvel UK titles. Every once in awhile the owner would add books to my weekly buys. I was buying Batman the animated series . He added Black Canary , And couple JSA books. I loved the team . Flash was really cool, along with some of the other characters. But then my comic shop closed down. So I had to find a new place to buy my books . The shop sometimes would get all of my pulls sometimes not. Never got me the JSA series . So I didn’t get anymore . Kinda forgot about the title and then that shop closed down. So i stopped buying comics. Many years later I started to get into the Invaders . Then I started to listen to some podcasts I was trying something different . DC comics Who’s Who , Back to the Binds , The Black Canary , And Secret Origins, Allstar Squadron podcasts . Along the way I bought the All-Star companions . Because these podcasts I started buying All-Star Squadron I have the whole run. Now I’m buying the Infinite Inc, and Young Allstars. I even bought the rest of JSA series your talking about right now. I’m totally in grossed in these characters. Thank you.

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  6. Thank you Shagg , Michael Bailey, Ryan Daly and many others these character have become my new joy . I was a Marvel Zombie for many years. These characters have opened a whole new world for me.

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  7. We are so back! (File under: soon to be dated pop culture references).
    I love this issue so much, even though I haven’t read it in 30 years (I sold my issues to a Parobeck fan decades ago). I had completely forgotten the cover, mistaking it for the house ad illustration. And it’s so much better as an action cover, and now I can get the FF reference.
    Totally worth the deep dive. Here for the Society Pages journey!

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  8. Great show, guys….a little on the loooong side, but entertaining! 🙂
    I have recently re-read this series so I could be ready to listen to this podcast. And I have a few comments to make back to your discussion points.

    I have to disagree about the greatness of the cover. I really wish DC had used a “rushing to the camera” type of cover instead of this (they ended up using one for #10). And although I noticed the similarity between this cover and Fantastic Four #1, I really wish the monster had been smaller and the JSAers had been more prominent.

    In fact, my main take-away from this issue was that DC was totally UNDERSELLING the JSA. I was disappointed that Superman showed up, and that the JSA never actually fought the monster (as you pointed out). This is not what the stars of the book are supposed to do! I can imagine new fans reading this story and thinking, “these guys are has-beens. I don’t want to read about them.” Now, I agree that there is a fine line between portraying your main characters as too old to do any good or just as elderly… but I think the writer went too over the line this time. The JSA should have saved the day, not had Superman show up and make them all look unimportant.

    Therefore, I MUCH preferred the second half of the story, where Jay and Alan clearly showed that they knew what they were doing. THIS is what I wanted to see throughout. It’s a shame the focus was not on the team for the entire issue.

    That being said, I agree with Shag that the moment when the JSAers are re-introduced to the loving crowd is super-duper awesome. I love this so much!

    At the time this series came out I was still living in Japan (where I taught English for 14 years). I was only getting books like Justice League and Legion of Super-Heroes. As soon as I saw the house ads for this series I subscribed, and I got the wall poster that went with all paid subscriptions. (I think I must still have that poster somewhere.) I didn’t read very many other comics then, so I have never read a Cable book to this day. It was interesting to hear that this issue’s bad guys are Marvel knock-offs. That fact went totally over my head.

    Thanks for a great way to spend 2 hours! 🙂

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  9. Happy international silent movie I’m typing this on September 29th .
    Another wonder full episode I heard the sleepers awaken mention graphic audio did full drama of all three books I’ve heard them they are wonderful kinda like the big finish Doctor who audios . Also graphic audio has also done audio dramas of several other dc and marvel books even some Archie books I figured I should mention it since you might want to get the volume that focuses on Allen Scott so can have a audio file of him saying his green lantern oath . Have a great day .

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  10. The most recent series definitely hasn’t been my favorite, but it has been good to have the JSA back in some form. This most recent resurrection of these characters did bring us the Jay Garrick, Wesley Dodds, and Alan Scott minis and the Stargirl and the Lost Children mini which I adore. Alan and Jay have always been favorites. The former has been my favorite GL and I think much of it goes back to the JSA Golden Age page where he is identified as the “big guy” of the JSA. And Jay’s inclusion, along with Max Mercury, Impulse, and the rest of the “Flash Famiy”, was one of my favorite aspects of The Flash title in the 90s.

    It was fun to see Superman fanboy a little over the JSA in this issue. And the image of The Sandman being held up by Johnny Thunder was quite touching.

    On a personal note, thank you for giving me something fun and interesting to focus on today for a couple of hours instead of worrying about the devastation of my WNC hometown due to Hurricane/Tropical Storm Helene. Great job, Shagg and Michael Bailey. Looking forward to additional episodes.

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  11. Shag: Great episode! You and Michael have such a fun, easy chemistry, which made the episode extra fun.

    I had forgotten (or purposely removed from my memory) that the JSA returned in Armageddon Inferno. I’m glad you provided the timeline because I don’t ever plan on rereading that mini (who am I kidding? I’m rereading it now).

    Very excited for the show! Parobeck is an unsung legend of comic artists and deserves a proper spotlight.

    Sean

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    1. I picked up Armageddon: Inferno when it first came out, and I don’t regret it.

      Controversial statement out of the way, I hasten to add that it’s not that I can defend much anything about the story itself. I picked it up because I’d seen in the ads that Firestorm was going to feature in it (the Elemental version was out in the far reaches of space at this time, and so we were in the middle of a drought), and while I was certainly excited not only to see Firestorm, but the CLASSIC Raymond/Stein version… it was only for a couple of panels. That was it. Definitely a disappointment. A bait-and-switch, even. (War of the Gods pulled me in for similar reasons, and with similar results)

      And so it was that, while picking up the rest of the series in a vain effort to see more of Firestorm, I happened upon the return of the Justice Society, who I was also eager to see return to the then-modern comic shelves. As Shag and Michael said, the series has value to me for that, if ONLY for that, reason.

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  12. Still listening guys, but loving the heck out of the conversation.

    It occurs to me now that this comic is kind of addressing some of the same ideas that Kingdom Come will also tackle in a few years. Where does the older generation of heroes fit in? You even have a Cable analog, like Magog in KC. Of course this has more fun with it, obviously, but its interesting to see Strazewski and Parobeck were ahead of the curve.

    The costume tweaks were interesting. Hawkgirl has adopted the Silver Age helmet that she never wore in actual published stories, but now probably did wear as the retconned Hawkgirl of those JLA stories that the Earth-One Shayera once participated in. My head now hurts.

    The discussion about getting out of the way for younger readers would have made me get all blustery just a few years ago, but you’re right. Heck, I’m personally not the biggest fan of revealing Alan Scott is gay. I have no problem with there being gay super heroes, and there being diverse representation in comics, but I don’t necessarily think it fits MY personal idea of the character as previously established. But I can see the potential of exploring a closeted gay hero living through the 1940s, and why that appeals to a lot of readers, many younger than myself. I understand the recently wrapped Alan mini-series was well-written, and I probably will give it a shot some day. There are no doubt a lot of new Alan Scott fans who would look at the old comics I love and miss that aspect of the character they can relate to, or empathize with in some way.

    So yeah, growth and change is good. And I feel just by realizing that, and the fact that I’m not the primary audience DC is aiming for nowadays, I’ve grown a little too!

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    1. Finished up the episode and again, great coverage fellas. I appreciated the numbers breakdown and theories on the title’s demise. Has anyone point-blank asked Mike Carlin if he canceled this series, or suggested it? In my mind, the JSA series was canceled shortly before Zero Hour, but the last JSA issue hit nearly a year and a half before Zero Hour started! So the wholesale slaughter of the JSA in that series may not be quite as connected to this series, despite the characters still wearing their tweaked costumes from the Parobeck run.

      But man, was I all in on this series! This is one of the last comic series I really recall collecting on the newsstand…which is why I missed buying issue #10. For a while I thought it just never shipped, and DC pulled a Sonic Disruptors on it! Then I saw it listed somewhere, and knew I had to track it down. I think I first noticed Mike Parobeck’s art on the Flash 50th Anniversary Special where he drew the wraparound story that introduced future Flash John Fox. I was instantly taken with his deceptively clean but incredibly dynamic art. I still kick myself that I won an original piece of art from the ongoing contest in The Batman Adventures…but somehow never received it!

      I do however own that same JSA poster everyone else seems to have. We could wallpaper the offices of FW HQ…if we had one!

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  13. Well, I’m impressed. Paul and Shawn often do 2 hour long episodes of Batman Family Reunion, but they have up to 5 stories from 60 pages or more to cover. You only had one 22-page story.

    Kidding aside, this was a great episode. I remember hearing (and maybe even reading) about Roy Thomas being the “Earth-2 editor” when he started All-Star Squadron. I don’t know when all the decisions were made for Crisis, but I wonder if that took the wind out of his sails. Earth-2 only had 4 more years, and after Crisis he couldn’t use certain characters.

    “Legacy” has always been a staple of the JSA. Here we have it right from the start with Jesse.

    Looking forward to the rest of the series!

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    2. Last night recorded the second issue coverage for JSA IN THE 90s, and with all the necessary preamble from the first episode behind us, the recording was only about half as long! Out later this month!

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      1. But wait the recording might be short but if we manage to keep posting feedback we can still force another 2hrs of goodness 🙂

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  14. Great job, gentlemen. Regarding Shag’s handwritten notes about the JSA’s membership—I’m extremely impressed, but if I could speak to your younger self, I would absolutely beg you to develop some new hobbies, man.

    I meant to send my own JSA origin story last month. Like many, it was a JLA/JSA team-up—though in my case, it was the banana-pants two-parter in JLA #219–#220, where the Thunderbolt turns heel and Black Canary discovers she’s her own daughter. I was crazy in love with it at the time—probably because I was eight years ago, and because Chuck Patton’s art was beyond excellent—though I think even then I was a smidge creeped out by it. That led me to All-Star Squadron, which opened the world of Earth-2 up to me, and endless source of fascination to young superhero-obsessed Noah. I stayed on through America vs. the JSA, Crisis, TLDOTJSA, and then into the ’90s with this very series, which I adored every bit of.

    One geeky story I feel the need to share: About 15 years ago, my best friend and I were listening to the fantastic “The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society” (the Kinks’ best album), which includes a great song titled “Johnny Thunder.” I commented to my friend that I would put that song on a JSA-themed mixtape, and he challenged me to literally do so. So I did: The exact track listing is lost in the mists of time, but I recall that in addition to the Kinks song, it included “Enter Sandman” by Metallica, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” by the Rolling Stones, “A Simple Twist of Fate” by Bob Dylan, “Rockin’ Robin” by Bobby Day, “Starman” by David Bowie, and some real reaches (I found an old jazz tune called “Terrific Stomp”).

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  15. Break out the prune juice and turn down the music, the Justice Society is back! Great show, Shag and Michael. I’m a big fan of the JSA from when I first discovered them as a kid in the JLA/JSA crossovers. I was always fascinated by the Earth 2 Flash and Green Lantern, and how different they were than the ones I knew. This series went under my radar but I’ve saved it to the library on the DC Infinite app and I’m loving it. The Mike Parobeck, and Mike Machlan art is incredible. It reminds me so much of Darwin Cooke. And the giant creature that erupted from underground instantly reminded me of a classic Jack Kirby monster design. This whole book is beautiful just to look at.

    By the way, I was sincerely worried those pics of your old notes were just going to repeat “All work and no play makes Shag a dull boy.”

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  16. I very much get the feeling that this run is something of a soft reboot, sidelining some of the previous continuity to focus on the OG team. It would explain why a certain someone who was on the team in the 70s, and saw them off to Ragnarok, didn’t bother to show up for there retirement show!

    That said of all the old JSA characters Jay and Alan are probably my favourite, maybe Wildcat on one of his good days, so it’s kinda nice that’s the back half of the issues show they having fun and just being superheroes. I even give them a pass for the whole “I’m too old for all this!”, which I’m sure was good in the 90s, but from my (older) 21st-century eyes feels a little hackneyed and played out. Maybe that is just a sign of how many older characters keep coming out of retirement in this day and age! 😀

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  17. I really enjoyed this episode. I was curious as to why the Fates never showed up in the JSA during this time. It was somewhat contemporary to when Kent and Inza were restored to their youthful selves. (I think it was anyway….checks Mikes Amazing World….hmmmm…. No! My bad! it came out just the very next month after Doctor Fate ended!) I get the reasoning regarding Doctor Fate’s Power levels for keeping them out of being part of the team, but Imwould have like to see the Nelsons interact with their old friends.
    Aside from that, I had to chuckle at Shagg’s joke about Michael Bailey keeping Josh Brolin from taking any more roles in the MCU.
    Maybe Josh could follow his in his father’s footsteps and put in an appearance in the Batman Universe.
    James Brolin appeared as an armored car driver in the 60’s Batman series episode “The Cat and the Fiddle”
    (Catwoman tries to flirt with him but realizes he’s already married with a son)

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  18. Great first issue and great first episode! It was great seeing the reverence people had for the Justice Society that they’d pack a stadium to see their favorite heroes take the field. Even better was Clark’s child-like wonder seeing the heroes together again. He may have powers far beyond those of mortal men, but in that moment, he was a kid in awe. There’s something so wholesome about that.

    I agree that the green on Starman’s cowl actually looks good. It’s different, but it still reads as Starman. I also don’t mind Hawkman’s design. It’s probably the straps exaggerated, but it always looked to me like he was wearing a yellow tank top…and it works. I’ve always associated this look with Mike Parobeck.

    Finally, I love the scene with Alan and Jay in a diner having a cup of coffee and donuts and catching up. It seems like something two very old friends would do. I can relate as I still spend time with my high school group. We’re now in our early forties, but we meet up when we can, catch up, and discuss old times. I hope when we get to Alan and Jay’s age, we can still do that. It’s simple, but it does wonders for the soul.

    Great episode and I can’t wait to see what else you have in store for us. I can’t wait for you to get to the reveal of the mummy guy, as Parobeck’s design for this particular character is one of my all time favorites.

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  19. Am so grateful for DC Universe Infinite. I was only able to get a few of these 90’s issues (including this issue) back in the day, not because I wasn’t interested in following the rest, but because I was just getting into college when this came out in 1992 (It was hard enough to pick up the Transformers: Generation Two comic that started a year later, given the lack of nearby comic shops where I went to college). I hadn’t realized that THIS was Jesse Chambers’ first appearance until I did a read-through of the whole series on the app in preparation for this podcast!

    I look forward to following along with you guys.

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  20. Awesome episode Shag! Look at me, not just a creepy podcast lurker and professional podcast mooch, I’m actually leaving feedback! The 10 issue JSA series of the 90s, what can I say? Um, how about PAROBECK! I was at the incredibly impressionable age of 9 when this first issue came out, BUT, I found it along with the other 9 issues in 25¢ bins (remember those) and HAD to own them…all becuz of Mr Mike Parobeck, who was illustrating my favorite comic book series of my childhood (possibly also adulthood, more on that on another day) THE BATMAN ADVENTURES.

    Thinking back, I think the order of events for me discovering the JSA and the Golden Age DC characters started with this series due to the familiarity of the art. THEN grabbing some of those 100-Page Super Spectaculars from the 70s that had GA reprints in them (Wildcat and Dr Midnite are my favorites), and THEN being gobsmacked by the cover of All-Star Squadron #1 I found at a flea market all around this same time…so many heroes on one cover, and then that’s the rabbit hole I went down and pretty much stayed down.

    It’s funny, as a kid of the 80s growing up in the 90s, for my obsessive collecting habits of all things superhero comic, it really started with Batman the Animated Series and then the tie in comic. I’ve never looked back! As with all you do, I look forward to more episodes chronicling this series and giving me another reason to re-read this one.

    And as a side note, yes I was 9-10 years old reading these comics about senior citizens in tights and loved every issue. So either Mike Carlin is wrong or I’m just a squirrelly weirdo. No need to answer that…

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  21. Fantastic first episode, and probably the most appropriate first guest to have. Thanks for the fun listen.

    I’m doing something I never did with the JLI podcast – I’m going to read each issue along with you. Really looking forward to this, as I haven’t read this series since its first run.

    My JSA origin story: Started with Crisis on Earth-Prime. Which lead me to pick up back issues of All-Star Comics at cons, including #58. Both immediately cemented a love for Earth-2.

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  22. As much as we are all taking the mick about how long this episode lasted, it didn’t drag at all when listening to it. The enthusiasm of both Shag and Mike flowed out of the speakers and certainly only fanned my own affection for the team and this series. That’s the JSA team to be clear don’t want this to get weird between me and the podcasters!

    In the things I learned today category, the cross over of the talent on this book and the 8 part mini series the year before and the Impact Line wasn’t something I’d put together before. Looking back now it’s clear that there was a link in editorial control of talent. I’m not sure if the JSA was always meant to finish early or not – did it really fall under the wing of Mike Carlin or did he just kick up a stink after they used Superman in the first issue ? But I does look and feel like DC trying to tap into the same energy of the Impact Line – only this time trying to get it on to a US Newsstand (I recall seeing some Impact Comics on a newsstand in the UK). The aesthetic of Mike Parobeck’s art sure might catch the eye of a B:TAS fan. But I tend to agree that it’s possibly a case of two common enemies teaming up to thwart the book – Mike Carlin and lower sales.

    There is also perhaps another angle on this in that Justice Society Of America was a FUN book. Which when we are months away from Death of Superman and Exxxxxtreme Grimdark – DC might not have had much faith in this book as they possibly believed that older readers (those of us about to embark on Higher Education) weren’t interested in the same fun experiences we had with say the JLI era. As we were maybe expect to age out of comics younger readers were either pointed to the remains of the Impact Line or the Animated Batman book – while the Teenage readers were about to get all the grimdark they could handle. DC were wrong with this of course and it’s clear that the Fun adventure lines are the ones everyone remembers fondly while the Extreme era books are mostly forgotten or at least tried to be forgotten.

    All in with this of course is that Zero Hour is coming soon (ish) and I honestly think DC just didn’t know what to do with the JSA at this point as they still hadn’t figured out why they were popular and how they should properly fit into the DCU at the time. So they just wished them away – again sort of. But that’s a future discussion on the Pod I’m sure.

    Never the less what we did get this wonderfully fun and joyful series of old men kicking butt and as a late middle aged man I agree we too should be out there dispensing justice by kicking butt. And if we manage to get some nice images of Hawkwoman and Black Canary – hey that’s perfectly fine!

    I’ll be looking forward to the next episode!

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  23. Just dropping in to say this was a great episode. Michael Bailey was a perfect guest and your joy for these characters just radiated and your camaraderie was very appealing. I had forgotten that Superman was such a prominent character in the story, but it does make sense that he would be juxtaposed with the JSA and the fact he was fanboying added a nice layer to the story. Mike Parobeck’s art is great, of course. Very much looking forward to the next episode!

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  24. Yeah, I have a plastic container with handwritten index cards where I tried to organize synopses of all my DC Comics in chronological order based mostly on the Zero Hour timeline. For the best that I abandoned that, especially as everything and nothing counts today.

    As I believe I’ve mentioned before but shall repeat, I was the kid Mike Carlin was targeting. I wanted cool sexy people with bladed weapons. I did not want old men in pirate shirts with receding hairlines mocking the Chromium Age badasses I favored. My younger half-brother might have bought this issue, as he had the mini-series that preceded it, and most of the Impact! books in the middle. Say, someone should cover Who’s Who in Impact! someday, but I’m my holding my breath that will ever happen. Anyway, lil’ bro did not stick with this title, assuming he bought it in the first place. He was also moving into his FireBloodSkull period.

    I didn’t understand the modest hype around Mike Parobeck around this time, but I now find his work hugely appealing. Just not on Cocoon With Capes. Len Strazewski was in his mid-thirties writing this, so I’m not sure he had any real insights into aging, so this felt more like an opportunity to do Silver-Agey, mild mannered, conservative comics. These sorts of corny, overly earnest Hallmark Heroes really did put me off from DC Comics, until they started breaking and killing their icons. “Titans Hunt” had anticipated this trend, and brought me into buying some darker DC Comics. That same month’s issue of Deathstroke, the Terminator also featured a Cable analogue getting pwned by a DC (anti-)hero, so something was in the water. Other DC’s I got this month were Batman: Shadow of the Bat #3 and The Sandman #40, so JSA just wasn’t meeting me where I was at.

    Pakita listened with me while on the road, and took exception to the “ceding to the next generation” sentiment. Gentlemen, there is no next generation. The kids being exposed to “comic book material” are doing so through live action, animation, and video games. Even manga has faded internationally in recent years, almost totally absent on the subway during my trip to Japan a few years back, and with manga sections shrinking in bookstores. Sequential comic art will always have value, but it’s simply not a mainstream entertainment concern outside of outright children’s fare like Dav Pilkey and Raina Telgemeier. I’m all for outreach and accessibility, and there’s a solid channel for that, but monthly floppies are “ours.” The last of the periodical readers– Generation X, elder Millennials, the odd Z-stragglers– we’re it. The last comics readers are getting to JSAge. Cater to us until we can’t spare a portion of our Social Security for physical comics.

    Now the requisite Diabolu Frank Entitled Cad telling you how to do your own show section. I realize that JSA in the 90s is the literal replacement for Shag’s JLI podcast on the schedule, but all the direct carryover elements are… weird. It’s like you broke up with one girlfriend, but keep treating the new one exactly the same way. “What do you mean you don’t love pumpkin spice? It’s my girlfriend’s favorite, and you are currently cast in that role.” Please spare me the cognitive dissonance and get around to finding a few more concept-appropriate audio cues for different segments. The JSA don’t have teleportation tubes, so maybe just say goodnight to the guest and send to commercial in an old time radio manner? Those zany JLI cues just don’t fit here, and it feels like the JSA doesn’t rate the same effort JLI got.

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  25. Sheesh! 33 comments. No time to read all of those, so if I repeat what anybody else said, big apologies.

    Great first episode about one of my favorite series. Period. I have re-read this all-too-short JSA volume lots of times. Oddly, it being cancelled may have helped me with that. Sometimes I’m in the mood for a good re-read, but want something I can finish in a day or two. 10 issues is an ideal size, and it’s a magical comic, so it’s a double-win!

    Parobeck’s art is charming, deceptively simple and cartoony, expressive, hilarious, subtle, emotional, and just great. I immediately became a fan from this series. While his style doesn’t resemble golden age artwork, it makes me feel like a kid again, looking like modern comics targeting young readers, while having a style and story-telling that’s very sophisticated and meant for all ages readers. Put another way, it feels like reading a Saturday morning cartoon. I get the comparisons to Bruce Timm, but I would also point out other artists with similar approaches like Alex Toth, Ramona Fradon, Darwyn Cooke, and Doc Shaner. These creators capture pure comics, and Parobeck was right there in that group.

    And there’s something telling that Strazewski’s story and characterization of older heroes worked struck a chord when I was in my 20s, and it only gets better now in my 50s. The focus on Jay and Alan was a great starting point, and it just gets better as the other heroes get their focus, bringing their own concerns, challenges, and determination to make a difference. Plus giving the humorous moments, like Jay’s exaggerated “Oh no!” That cracks me up EVERY TIME!

    I also love that this is the first JSA series set in present day that’s fully within the post-Crisis continuity. Last Days of the JSA was them still remembering Earth-2, but now, we’re seeing them actually integrated into the single timeline and truly being the predecessors of the JLA and being the foundation for a legacy of hero teams. So this series now starts to explore what it’s like for these heroes to exist in the post-Crisis history and present. Briefly sure, but it’s a fun start.

    Well, that’s more than enough for now. Great to hear Michael Bailey as always, and thank you Shagg for covering this outstanding series. All-stars all around!

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