In this column, our resident ‘comics guy’ Fred Azeredo expounds on a single comic book issue every month. Not necessarily the biggest, not necessarily the best, just one he thinks is worth discussing! See if you agree!
Is it too soon to start mining 2000s nostalgia? Evidently, DC doesn’t think so. The fanservice-fest Convergence in 2015 already featured such hallmarks of the aughts as Renee Montoya’s Question and Booster Gold. In 2018, Scott Snyder’s Rebirth Justice League lineup clearly evoked the 2001 Justice League cartoon with its inclusion of John Stewart and Hawkgirl. Now, in the 2020s, Mark Waid is shooting back into prominence after redefining the Post-Crisis DCU with Kingdom Come and Superman: Birthright, Hal Jordan is returning to the Geoff Johns era status quo by reclaiming his GL mantle and facing Sinestro again, and even Cassandra Cain is returning as Batgirl for the first time since Flashpoint. The culmination of this 2000s nostalgia wave is surely this month’s JSA #1, marking the team’s first ongoing in over a decade.
For the record, none of this is a bad thing. Like many others, I’m a big fan of DC’s Post-Crisis era (roughly 1986-2011, though the sweet spot is really the last 10 years). Some of my all-time favourite runs are from this era, including Grant Morrison’s Batman and Greg Rucka’s Wonder Woman. This was also the golden age of Geoff Johns: the man managed to reinvent Green Lantern, the Flash, and the Justice Society of America in a single decade. JSA #1 is nothing if not a loving tribute to Johns’ take on the Society and its expansive cast of characters. Everyone’s here: Jade! Obsidian! Sand! Johnny Sorrow! This debut covers so much ground that we barely get to check back in with all of them, but what we do get is juicy: festering resentment, romantic drama, and other superhero soap staples. Johns’ Justice Society always felt more like a stormy friend group (or a dysfunctional family) than a team of co-workers like the Justice League. Jeff Lemire, channelling his excellent Black Hammer, nails that vibe here.
One thing this issue isn’t is newcomer-friendly; Lemire clearly assumes a familiarity with the 2000s series’ character dynamics at the very least. For instance, Hourman II and Jesse Quick’s marriage is only subtly hinted at before they plunge into full-on marital strife. As a nostalgia exercise, that makes sense, but titles like Marvel’s Ultimate Invasion have shown that it’s possible to tell stories that deliver in the retro-fanservice department without alienating curious newcomers. That’s a balance JSA has yet to master, but no one can deny it fulfills its central promise: the JSA is back, baby. And it’s been far too long.