FINALLY - A Current DC We Can ALL Enjoy

[PedigreeMan]

Ian,

 

So I finally received my copy of JSA #1 today and while I enjoyed it, it didn't make me jump out of my seat at any point. My first DC comics purchase in a long time and while I love the Green Lantern (old and new) and I can wait for the return of Hal Jordan, I'm still checking for a pulse on this series. How does the Crisis arc everyone is talking about stack up compared to JSA in your mind?

 

Identity Crisis is a very very modern style comic.

JSA Strange Adventures is very retro, and that's why it so appeals to me.

 

I still want to know what your problem with DC: New Frontiers is? That series blows JSA Strange Adventures out of the water....

 

Alan

[Ian_Levine]

I still want to know what your problem with DC: New Frontiers is? That series blows JSA Strange Adventures out of the water....

 

 

I started reading it and found it very heavy going.

[PedigreeMan]

I still want to know what your problem with DC: New Frontiers is? That series blows JSA Strange Adventures out of the water....

 

 

I started reading it and found it very heavy going.

 

Ah. I can actually see that. The story is heavily laced with '50s politics, American style. Interesting....

 

Along those same lines, I'm curious as to what you thought of All-Star Squadron from the '80s. Or the 1970s All Star Comics relaunch, even.

 

Alan

[Ian_Levine]

Along those same lines, I'm curious as to what you thought of All-Star Squadron from the '80s. Or the 1970s All Star Comics relaunch, even.

 

Alan

 

The All Star relaunch was made all the more wonderful because it started out with number 58, carrying on the tradition.

 

It went downhill, but at the time we were all thrilled with its existence. It wasn't often that DC gave us something so in touch with the fans dreams.

Then All Star Squadron deteriorated into a kiddie comic with very little link to the REAL JSA.

 

I do love the current JSA now, probably the most of any regualr DC title, but still preferred the sheer nostalgia and the original style of the characters of JSA Strage Adventures.

 

But the current JSA is much closer to my taste than the current issues of JLA, which are so far removed in style fro the old Justice League of America comics, that it's hard to think of them in the same breath.

[PedigreeMan]

Then All Star Squadron deteriorated into a kiddie comic with very little link to the REAL JSA.

 

What, you mean Robotman, Liberty Belle, Johnny Quick, Firebrand's sister, and the Shining Knight weren't part of the JSA?!? But, but ... er, never mind.

 

I do love the current JSA now, probably the most of any regualr DC title, but still preferred the sheer nostalgia and the original style of the characters of JSA Strage Adventures.

 

I agree on your first point; Geoff Johns oftentimes seems to be channelling those old GA writers. The quality of a title really takes a hit once he leaves. Witness the current Hawkman series: it's practically unreadable.

 

As for JSA Strange Adventures, I'm surprised you can get past the "extended storytelling" that Anderson's employing. That technique just screams "modern comic" to me, and is something that's really hampering my ability to get into a nostalgic mood with this book.

 

But to each their own, I guess.

 

I forget ... you liked the '90s Starman, right? I seem to recall you praising James Robinson at one time or another.

 

Alan

[Zonker]

Along those same lines, I'm curious as to what you thought of All-Star Squadron from the '80s. Or the 1970s All Star Comics relaunch, even.

 

Alan

 

The All Star relaunch was made all the more wonderful because it started out with number 58, carrying on the tradition.

 

It went downhill, but at the time we were all thrilled with its existence. It wasn't often that DC gave us something so in touch with the fans dreams.

Then All Star Squadron deteriorated into a kiddie comic with very little link to the REAL JSA.

 

I do love the current JSA now, probably the most of any regualr DC title, but still preferred the sheer nostalgia and the original style of the characters of JSA Strage Adventures.

 

But the current JSA is much closer to my taste than the current issues of JLA, which are so far removed in style fro the old Justice League of America comics, that it's hard to think of them in the same breath.

 

In my opinion, both All-Star and All-Star Squadron suffered from trying to turn the team into the Not-JSA. Presumably this was in order to not dilute attention away from the then-current Justice League. So in All-Star you had the silly "Super-Squad" sub-title, and in the Squadron you had the 3rd stringers in the spotlight.

 

BUT... there were some really high points in both series. In All-Star the Wally Wood issues, after they made the kids full-fledged JSA members and after Ric Estrada stopped doing the pencils were very very sweet. If Woody had been able to stay on the book it would be remembered as a 1970s DC high point by now. In All-Star Squadron, it was the Jerry Ordway issues right before the intro of Infinity Inc. Infinity Inc was another Not-JSA experiment that I wish they had not bothered with. Much better to have kept Jerry Ordway drawing untold and re-told WWII JSA stories IMHO.

 

One of the few good things about todays market of umpteen Batman, X-Men, Spider-Man, Superman titles is no one cares about JSA being confused with JLA, (they probably welcome it!) so Geoff Johns is free to explore the rich cross-generational themes in JSA without having to turn the Justice Society into something unrecognizable.