Justice Society of America

The Justice Society of America, or JSA, is a DC Comics  superhero group, the first team of superheroes in comic book history. Conceived by editor Sheldon Mayer and writer  Gardner Fox, the JSA first appeared in  All Star Comics #3 (Winter 1940).

Unlike subsequent "all-star" teams, the JSA was limited to heroes not already featured in their own titles because the publisher wanted to expose their lesser known characters. Hence, Superman and Batman were only honorary members and Flash and Green Lantern's early tenures were brief, ending when each character was awarded his own book. However, a 1944 change in policy allowed them back into the group. Other popular members were Hawkman, the Spectre, Hourman, Doctor Fate and the Atom.

The team was popular throughout the 1940s, but after superheroes fell out of favor their adventures ceased with issue 57 of the title (Feb-Mar 1951), and All Star Comics became All-Star Western. There then followed a gap of 11 years in appearances by JSA members, until the original (Jay Garrick) Flash appeared in The Flash #123 (September 1961).

During the Silver Age, DC reinvented several popular Justice Society members and banded many of them together in the Justice League of America. However, instead of considering the JSA replaced, DC revealed that the team existed on " Earth-Two" and the Justice League on "Earth-One". This allowed for annual, cross-dimensional team-ups of the teams, lasting from 1963 until 1985. It also allowed for new series, such as All-Star Squadron,  Infinity, Inc. and a new All-Star Comics, which featured the JSA, their children, and their heirs. These series explored the issues of aging, generational differences and contrasts between the Golden Age and subsequent eras.

In the 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths maxi-series the series merged all of the company's various realities into one, placing the JSA as  World War II-era predecessors to the company's modern characters. A few unsuccessful and often controversial revivals were attempted, until a new series, titled JSA, was launched in 1999, continuing until July 2006. A new Justice Society of America series was launched in December 2006, to coincide with the new Justice League of America series, also launched in 2006.

All Star Comics (Golden Age)
The JSA first appeared in  DC comics' All Star Comics #3 (Winter 1940), during the Golden Age of comic books. The team initially included  Doctor Fate, Hour-Man (as it was then spelled), the Spectre and the Sandman, Atom, the Flash, Green Lantern and Hawkman. This makes All-Star Comics #3 the first inter-company superhero title as well as the first team-up title. An in-house rule (explicitly laid out on the last page of All Star Comics #5, reprinted on page 206 of All Star Comics Archives vol. 1) required that whenever a member received his or her own title, he or she would leave All Star Comics, becoming an "honorary member" of the JSA. Thus, the Flash was replaced by Johnny Thunder after #6; Green Lantern left shortly thereafter for the same reason. This is also the reason why Superman and Batman were established as already being "honorary" members prior to All Star Comics #3; how these two heroes helped found the JSA before becoming honorary members was not explained until DC Special #29 in 1977. Hawkman is the only member to appear in every JSA adventure in the original run of All Star Comics, a fact invoked sixty years later in the then-current JSA series when Hawkman temporarily takes command of the team. The Atom missed two issues.

All Star Comics is also notable for featuring the first appearance of Wonder Woman in issue #8 (December 1941). Unlike the other characters who had their own titles, she was allowed to appear in the book, but only as the JSA's secretary and did not actively take part in most adventures until much later in the series, although she was excluded from the title due to the rules that had excluded Flash, Green Lantern, Superman and Batman from the title.

The early JSA adventures were written by Gardner Fox and illustrated by a legion of artists including E. E. Hibbard,  Jack Burnley,  Jack Kirby and  Joe Kubert. The first JSA story featured the team's first meeting, a framing sequence for each member telling a story of an individual exploit. In the next issue, the team worked together on a common case, but each story from there on still featured the members individually on a mission involving part of the case, and then banding together in the end to wrap things up.

By All Star Comics #24, a real-world schism between National Comics and All-American Publications — a nominally independent company run by  Charlie Gaines and  Jack Liebowitz — had occurred, which resulted in the Detective Comics, Inc heroes being removed from the title. As a result, Flash and Green Lantern returned to the book. Eight months later, National Comics bought out Charlie Gaines' share of All-American and the two companies merged to form Detective Comics, Inc. However, the JSA roster remained mostly the same for the rest of the series.

All Star Comics and the JSA's Golden Age adventures ended with issue #57, the title becoming All-Star Western, with no superheroes. While Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman continued to have their own adventures, most of the characters lay dormant for several years during the slump in superhero comic books in the early to mid-1950s.

The explanation for the team's disappearance and the inactivity of most of its roster after the early 1950s was first given in  Adventure Comics #466 ("The Defeat of the Justice Society!"; December 1979) by writer Paul Levitz, which explained that most of the Society chose to disband and retire rather than appear in front of the Joint Un-American Activities Committee, which demanded that they unmask themselves (this was later  retconned into the real  House Un-American Activities Committee).

The chairmanship of the Justice Society mostly resided with Hawkman, although initially the Flash and later Green Lantern took their turns at leading the team. For a brief period in 1942 they were known as the Justice Battalion, as they became an extension of the armed forces of the United States of America during World War II. It was later revealed that the reason the JSA didn't invade Europe and end the war was due to the influence of the Spear of Destiny which caused the JSA's most powerful members to fall under the control of its wielder,  Adolf Hitler. It was also revealed in the 1980s that the JSA had a loose affiliation with the All-Star Squadron; the All-Star Squadron's adventures were set in the 1940s, and considered to have happened concurrently with the Justice Society's, an example of "retconning", or retroactive continuity, where new material is inserted into already existent continuity. Both teams were the brainchild of American president Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The headquarters for the JSA was initially a hotel suite in New York City, and after the war, the team settled on a brownstone building in Gotham City and later in  Civic City. For a very brief period, the JSA was provided a satellite headquarters, much like their later day counterparts, the JLA; however, this turned out to be a deathtrap orchestrated by a crooked senator's henchman from Eliminations, Inc. The Gotham City brownstone remained unoccupied until years later, when the team was active again. The current headquarters is a brownstone in the neighborhood of Morningside Heights,  Manhattan, north of  Central Park.

The entire original run of All Star Comics has been collected in hardcover volumes in DC's series of Archive Editions.

Guest appearances in Justice League of America and others (Silver Age)
Having successfully re-introduced several of their Golden Age characters (Flash, Green Lantern, etc.) during the late 1950s, DC tapped industry veteran (and former Justice Society writer) Gardner Fox to pen a new version of the Justice Society, which Fox re-named the Justice League. As Barry Allen (the Silver Age Flash) was to Jay Garrick (the Golden Age Flash), so the Justice League was to the Justice Society: the same team, but with an updated roster and a fresh start.

In Flash (vol. 2) #123 "The Flash of Two Worlds" (September 1961), the Silver Age Flash met his Golden Age counterpart, Jay Garrick, who (along with the rest of the original Justice Society) was said to inhabit an alternate universe. This historic meeting thus became one of the classic DC comics of the Silver Age. Fan letters on the pages of following issues were wildly enthusiastic about the revival of the original Flash, both from older fans who remembered the old JSA tales, and younger fans desperate to learn more of these new heroes. Further meetings occurred in Flash (vol. 2) #129 "Double Danger on Earth" (June 1962) and Flash (vol. 2) #137 "Vengeance of the Immortal Villain" (June 1963). Flash (vol. 2) #129 contains the first mention of the JSA in the Silver Age, and refers directly to their last adventure in All-Star Comics #57, while in Flash (vol. 2) #137 the JSA actually reform.

These stories set the stage for "Crisis on Earth-One" (Justice League of America #21, August 1963) and "Crisis on Earth-Two" (Justice League of America #22, September 1963), a 2-part tale where the Golden Age Justice Society teamed up with the Silver Age Justice League to combat a team of villains from both worlds who had gained a way of travelling between the worlds quickly using vibratory devices made by the Fiddler. The following year Earth-Three was fully introduced (its existence was guessed at in the previous years' tale), with Justice League of America #29, "Crisis on Earth-Three," (August 1964). This Earth featured an evil version of the Justice League known as the Crime Syndicate of America, whose line-up consisted of Superwoman (an evil version of Wonder Woman), Owlman (an evil version of Batman), Ultraman (an evil version of Superman), Johnny Quick (an evil version of the Flash), and Power Ring (an evil version of Green Lantern). These stories became the first of a long series of team-ups of the two supergroups, an annual summer tradition which carried on until 1985. These meetings produced a considerable number of notable events and characters to JSA history, including Black Canary leaving to join the Justice League, the return of the Golden Age team the  Seven Soldiers of Victory, the creation of the Freedom Fighters, (which incorporated several  Quality Comics characters into DC continuity after the characters were purchased by DC Comics), and the introduction of a number of other alternative Earths to house these other teams.

As well as the annual Justice League of America appearances, members of the JSA popped up in other titles over the next few years, the Golden Age Atom in The Atom (vol. 1) #29 and #36, and the Golden Age Green Lantern in several issues of Green Lantern. In addition, a number of the characters appeared in team-up stories in issues of the DC titles Brave and the Bold and Showcase, while the Spectre was given a solo run in the latter which led to his own series.

Almost uniquely in superhero comics at the time, the JSA members during this period were portrayed as middle-aged — and often wiser — versions of their younger, contemporary counterparts. Originally this theme appears to have been introduced simply to acknowledge the back-history of the JSA in DC continuity (another fairly new development for comics), later it was to become a major theme for character development.

Appearances through 1975

 * The Flash (vol. 2) #123, 129, 137, 170, 173, 215
 * Justice League of America (vol. 1) #21-22, 29-30, 37-38, 46-47, 55-56, 64-65, 73-74, 82-83, 91-92, 100-102, 107-108, 113, 123-124
 * Showcase #55-56 (Doctor Fate and Hourman), 60-61, 64 (The Spectre)
 * The Brave and the Bold #61-62 (Starman and Black Canary)
 * The Spectre (vol. 1) #1-10
 * The Atom (vol. 1) #29, 36
 * Green Lantern (vol. 2) #45, 52, 61

Return to All Star Comics (Bronze Age)
The JSA's popularity gradually grew until they regained their own title. All Star Comics #58 (January – February 1976) saw the group return as mentors to a younger set of heroes (briefly called the "Super Squad" until they were integrated into the JSA proper). This run lasted until #74, with a brief run thereafter in Adventure Comics #461-466, but it had three significant developments: It introduced the popular character Power Girl in All Star Comics #58; it chronicled the death of the Golden Age Batman in Adventure Comics #461-462); and, after nearly 40 years, it finally provided the JSA with an origin story in DC Special #29. This run was mainly written by  Gerry Conway and  Paul Levitz, and artists included  Wally Wood,  Joe Staton,  Keith Giffen and  Bob Layton.

The series was noteworthy for depicting the heroes as having aged into their 50s; the artwork gave them graying hair and lined faces. It was highly unusual, then or now, for a comic book to have heroes this old. Most comic books obscure the timelines or periodically relaunch the series to keep the characters youthful. This depiction was a consequence of the fact that the heroes were closely linked to World War II era. This became problematic in the 1980s when the heroes would logically be well into their 60s. The explanation given for this by writer Roy Thomas in  All-Star Squadron Annual #3 was that the team (and several friends) had absorbed energy from the magical villain Ian Karkull during an adventure in the 1940s that stunted their aging process.

Meanwhile, the JSA continued their annual team-ups with the Justice League. Notable events included meeting the Fawcett Comics heroes, including Captain Marvel, the death of Mr. Terrific and an explanation for why Black Canary hadn't aged much despite debuting in the 1940s. A particularly popular JLA/JSA team-up came in #195–197, in which the two teams had to contend with a re-formed Secret Society of Super-Villains, drawn by  George Pérez.

A series taking place in the team's original setting of the wartime 1940s called  All-Star Squadron featured the JSA frequently along with several other Golden Age superheroes. This led to a spin-off, modern day series entitled  Infinity, Inc. which starred the children and heirs of the JSA members. Both series were written by noted JSA fan Roy Thomas and featured art by  Rich Buckler,  Jerry Ordway,  Todd McFarlane and others.

In 1985, DC retconned many details of the  DC Universe in  Crisis on Infinite Earths. Among the changes, the Golden Age Superman, Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman ceased to exist, and the Earth-One/ Earth-Two dichotomy was resolved by merging the Multiverse into a single universe. This posed a variety of problems for the JSA, whose history — especially in the 1980s comics — was strongly tied up in these four characters.

The JLA/JSA team-ups had seemingly ended with the last pre-Crisis teamup occurring in Justice League of America (vol. 1) #244 and Infinity Inc. #19 during the Crisis.

Other appearances

 * Adventure Comics #461-466
 * DC Special #29
 * Justice League of America (vol. 1) #135-137, 147-148, 159-160, 171-172, 183-185, 193 (All-Star Squadron preview), 195-197, 207-209, 219-220, 231-232, 244
 * Wonder Woman (vol. 1) #231-232 (JSA guest-stars; part of a run of Earth-Two Wonder Woman stories set during World War II)
 * All-Star Squadron #1-67, Annuals #1-3
 *  Infinity, Inc. (vol. 1) #1-10, 19, plus various other issues
 * America Vs The Justice Society #1-4 (limited series; recounts the entire history of the JSA prior to 1985)
 * Secret Origins (vol. 3) #1 (Golden Age Superman), #6 (Golden Age Batman), plus various other issues

After Crisis on Infinite Earths
One of Roy Thomas' efforts to resolve the Crisis-created inconsistencies was to introduce some analogues to Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, in a sequel to All-Star Squadron entitled  Young All-Stars.

Meanwhile, DC editoral decided that the time had come to write off the JSA from active continuity. A 1986 one-shot issue called The Last Days of the Justice Society involved most of the JSA battling the forces of evil while merged with the Norse gods in an ever-repeating  Ragnarok-like Limbo (written by Thomas, with art by David Ross and Mike Gustovich). Only Power Girl, the Star-Spangled Kid, the Spectre and Dr. Fate escaped the cataclysm. This was later revealed to be a simulation created by Odin searching for a way to thwart the real Ragnarok.

Thomas also revised the JSA's origin for post-Crisis continuity in  Secret Origins (vol. 3) #31.

Justice Society of America (vols. 1, 2) (1991, 1992–1993)
Fan interest, however, resulted in DC bringing back the JSA in the early 1990s. An eight-issue Justice Society of America limited series telling an untold JSA story set in the 1950s was published in 1991. In the final issues of the four-issue Armageddon: Inferno limited series, the JSA returned to the modern-day DC Universe when Waverider transported the "daemen" of the interdimensional Abraxis to Asgard as a substitute for the JSA in the Ragnarok cycle, allowing the team to return to Earth.

In 1992, the JSA was given an ongoing monthly series titled Justice Society of America, written by Len Strazewski with art by  Mike Parobeck, featuring the original team adjusting to life after returning from Ragnarok. Though Justice Society of America was intended as an ongoing series, and was popular with readers, it was cancelled after only ten issues. Writer Len Strazewski, in an interview explaining the cancellation of this surprise hit series, said, "It was a capricious decision made personally by Mike Carlin because he didn't like Mike's artwork or my writing and believed that senior citizen super-heroes was not what DC should be publishing. He made his opinion clear to me several times after the cancellation." Much more "cartoony" than the more realistic artwork favored at the time, Parobeck's art was a pioneering example of the "animation" style that would become quite popular with  Batman: The Animated Series. Justice Society of America included the first appearance of Jesse Quick, the daughter of All-Star Squadron members Liberty Belle and Johnny Quick.

Not long after, most of the team was incapacitated or killed off in the controversial 1994 crossover series Zero Hour. During the battle between the Justice Society and the villain Extant, the latter removes the chronal energies keeping the Justice Society young. The Atom, Dr. Mid-Nite and Hourman die immediately. Hawkman and Hawkgirl (who were separated from the rest of the Justice Society by being pulled into the timestream) merge into a new Hawkgod being, resulting in their deaths. Dr. Fate dies of the resulting aging shortly after Zero Hour. Green Lantern is kept young due to the mystical effects of the Starheart but loses his ring and subsequently changes his name to Sentinel. The rest of the team is now too physically old to continue fighting crime and retires. Starman retires and passes on the Starman legacies to his sons resulting in one of the new series created following Zero Hour, James Robinson's Starman. The new Starman series brought new attention to the JSA legacy.

JSA (1999–2006)
The JSA had remained inactive for some time shortly after the events of Zero Hour, but the surviving members (Flash, Wildcat, and Alan Scott, now going under the name Sentinel) remained active throughout the DCU, having been placed as reserve JLI members, as evidenced in Justice League Europe #50.

When the JLA series was revived by Grant Morrison in 1997, he had a 4-issue story beginning in JLA (vol. 3) #28-31, in which the JLA and JSA teamed up against the menace of Qwisp, a 5th dimensional entity, much like Mr. Mxyzptlk, who had previously been a nuisance to Aquaman. That was the only time the JLA had actually teamed up with the JSA post-Crisis, until almost 10 years later (see below in next article topic).

The Justice Society as a monthly series was again revived in 1999 in a popular and critically acclaimed series (called simply JSA) which mixed the few remaining original members with younger counterparts. This incarnation of the team focused on the theme of generational legacy and of carrying on the heroic example established by their predecessors. The series was launched by James Robinson and David S. Goyer. Goyer later co-wrote the series with Geoff Johns, who went on write the series solo after Goyer's departure. The series featured the art of Stephen Sadowski, Leonard Kirk and  Don Kramer, among others. It also featured a story by Pulitzer Prize Winner Michael Chabon.

As a result of the events of  Infinite Crisis, some of the surviving Golden Age characters, such as Wildcat and the Flash, are aware of the existence of Earth-Two.

Other appearances

 * The Last Days of the Justice Society Special (1986)
 * Secret Origins (vol. 3) #31
 * The Young All-Stars (various issues)
 * The Golden Age #1-4 (alternate history story based on the All-Star Squadron set-up, written by James Robinson and drawn by Paul Smith)
 * Zero Hour #4-0 (this series was published with numbering in reverse order, reflecting a "countdown")
 * Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #130-133 (1940s adventure by John Byrne, retroactively establishes Queen Hippolyta as the Golden Age Wonder Woman in post-Crisis continuity)
 * Sandman Mystery Theatre #1-70 (solo Sandman series written by Matt Wagner, set in the 1930s and early 1940s; not strictly in regular DCU continuity)
 * Sandman Mystery Theatre Annual #1
 * JLA #28-31 ("Crisis Times Five", first post-Crisis JLA/JSA team-up, introduces Jakeem Thunder)
 *  Justice Society Returns (a story arc that ran through a number of comic books published by DC Comics in 1999, with issues named with various 1940s-era titles, set in the 1940s)
 * JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice (hardcover graphic novel)

One Year Later
After the events of DC's  Infinite Crisis crossover and the World War III event that was chronicled in 52, JSA members Jay Garrick, Alan Scott, and Ted Grant decided to revive the Justice Society.

Justice Society of America (vol. 3) (2006 – present)
On December 6, 2006, a new series was launched with the creative team of Geoff Johns (writer),  Dale Eaglesham (pencils), and  Alex Ross (cover art). According to a pre-release interview in Newsarama, Alex Ross also has the "honorary" title of "creative advisor".

The beginning of the new series shows JSA veterans Flash, Green Lantern and Wildcat choosing members of the new generation of superheroes to train. Continuing a major theme from the previous JSA title, this new series focuses on the team being the caretakers of the superhero legacy from one generation to the next.

This was also to begin the crossovers between the JLA and JSA once again, beginning with "The Lightning Saga" (see below) in JLA (vol. 4) #8-10 and JSA #5-6 (epilogue in issue #7).

Justice Society of America Annual #1 (September 2008; titled JSA Annual #1 in the comic's legal indicia) featured the Justice Society Infinity, a team continuing from an analogous post-Crisis Earth-Two. Most of the current members of the Justice Society Infinity are either original members of Earth-Two's Justice Society, such as the Atom (Al Pratt) and Robin (Atom (Al Pratt)), but it also included characters that are normally associated with Infinity, Inc., such as Jade and Nuklon (Albert Rothstein).