Warning: Spoilers for JSA #1THE Justice Society of America has just begun its bold new era, as JSA #1 revitalizes the classic team by doing the unthinkable and dividing it. The DC team’s books tend to focus more on supernatural threats than personal relationship issues, but this engaging debut puts the focus back on the characters, pitting them against each other. The Justice Society is at its lowest level, and as a result, it has never been better.
As part of DC’s ambitious All In initiative, JSA #1 by Jeff Lemire, Diego Olortegui, Luis Guerrero and Steve Wands has finally arrived in stores after months of anticipation. This first issue picks up where the Justice Society was left off after the catastrophic events of Absolute power. In a surprising twist, the original team members are off the grid, so their younger allies are left to fend for themselves. Drama arises as the very fabric of the JSA is torn apart and the conflicts they face are exactly what they needed to regain their former glory.
JSA #1 does justice to DC’s original team of heroes by restoring your emotional core in a grounded story, anchored by Lemire’s character-focused script and Olortegui’s elegant style that leads this team from the old school into the modern era.
JSA #1 Does DC’s Classic Superhero Team Justice – Splitting Them After a Critical Loss
The remaining heroes of the Justice Society face a civil war
At the beginning of JSA #1, the Justice Society is in trouble. The older generation – Flash, Green Lantern, Wildcat and more – disappeared under mysterious circumstances, leaving the team’s younger heroes to carry the torch in their absence. This slow-paced issue focuses on picking up the pieces rather than the usual high-octane fight scenes. Rather than dwell on the action of the initial battle against Kobra’s men – which is impressively depicted with dynamic art by Olortegui – Lemire takes a step back and makes this issue’s main fight a battle of wills between different characters.
Green Lantern’s children, Jade and Obsidian, create a rift in the team as they butt heads. Jade, as the new president of the JSA, intends to uphold the team’s traditional values in honor of those who came before. Obsidian, on the other hand, wants revenge on Kobra and sees his reservation as submission. While heroes like Wildcat and Jesse Quick agree with Obsidian’s extremes, others like Doctor Mid-Nite align more with Jade.
This debate rages throughout the entire edition, showing how these younger heroes fight on their own. Their disagreements give them complexity, and Lemire stirs up discord galore as the remaining members of the JSA split into separate factions.
JSA #1 Restores the team’s roots as a dysfunctional family
The Justice Society prioritizes family, but they don’t always get along
Since its debut in 1940 All Star Comics #3 by Gardner Fox and Everett E. Hibbard, the Justice Society of America has long been a staple of the DC Universe. They were the team that started it all and thus laid the foundation for every other team that followed them – from the Justice League to the Titans. THE The Justice Society stands out from its peers due to the team’s status as a family first and a second from the team. Also, like any family, they don’t always get along. The team’s best approaches keep this foundation in mind, though some neglect the JSA’s roots in favor of overall storytelling.
Destroying the JSA is the only way to rebuild it.
In recent years, Justice Society has moved further away from its familiar structure, with multiverse-spanning narratives that pull its characters in multiple directions. As exciting as these epic sagas can be, they have the caveat of becoming complicated over time. The team can become so overloaded with characters that none of them have room to be developed beyond the powers they contribute, thus depriving the narrative of the emotional weight that makes it important. Breaking the JSA is the only way to build it againand this is the task that Lemire and Olortegui set out to accomplish in this first issue.
The Justice Society team’s sprawling history leaves plenty of room for big emotional drama
Like watching a soap opera…
The team that’s been together since the beginning of DC Comics is torn apart here, and it’s a bold but necessary choice to bring the Justice Society to life. Where other superhero narratives stray from the ordinary in favor of the extraordinary, it’s a testament to JSA The #1 creative team that finds the extraordinary within the ordinary. Conflicting ideals aren’t the only obstacles the Justice Society faces in this reboot, as some problems run much deeper. Jade and Sandman have unresolved tension that she tunes out to focus on pressing matters, and they’re not the only romantic pair at odds with each other.
Jesse Quick and Hourman face a martial contest as they take opposite sides in Jade and Obsidian’s “war.” The struggle they face is realistic, as Jesse coldly compares who Hourman has become to the man she fell in love with. It’s a devastating moment that anyone in a long-term relationship can relate to, and so it shows the result of Lemire and Olortegui’s grounded approach to telling superhero stories. Jesse and Rick’s relationship facing turmoil immediately fuels reader investment them as characters and allows readers to see themselves in them, proving that soap opera drama and cape comics are a perfect pair.
Like the X-Men, JSA #1 Grounds Superhero Team in Soap Opera Drama
JSA Variant Cover #1 by Travis Mercer
JSA #1 takes a page out of the X-Men book with its approach to weaving a strong team narrative. Marvel’s X-Men team may be full of powerful mutants, but what attracts readers are the interpersonal conflicts that complicate their dynamics. When characters don’t disagree with each other and are always on agreeable terms, they become vehicles for moving a story forward rather than individuals with rich inner worlds, so X-Men stories keep things interesting with messy love triangles.
Lemire reinvents JSA with a similar writing philosophy, making the superhuman more human, sowing seeds of discord between characters. Readers flock to comics for heroism and fast-paced battles, but ultimately they stay for the characters, and the JSA characters make this story work.
JSA #1 Pass the baton to the next generation of DC heroes (but can they work together?)
His biggest battle approaches with the return of the Injustice Society
The original JSA lineup is out of commission for now, so the fate of the DC Universe lies with the next generation. Jade’s leadership could be what brings her superhero teammates together – or what permanently destroys them. Dark forces await the team, with the rise of the Injustice Society being teased at the end of this first issue.
The remaining heroes will need to overcome their differences and come together if they want to protect the team’s legacy now that they are what’s left of it. Epic battles are coming for the Justice Society of Americaand Lemire and Olortegui’s emotionally focused debut promises a bright future for the classic DC team.
JSA #1 is now available from DC Comics.