JSA 1: Justice Be Done

Comic Info

JSA #2

Reprints JSA:  Secret Files and Origins #1 and JSA #1-5 (August 1999-December 1999).  Wesley Dodd is dead, and with the Sandman’s death comes a warning…someone is seeking Fate.  Wesley’s old sidekick Sand and the former members and allies of the Justice Society of America find themselves pulled into a race against time to locate the new Doctor Fate before Mordru finds him first.  The Earth needs heroes and a new JSA must rise!

Written by James Robinson and David S. Goyer, JSA Volume 1:  Justice Be Done is a DC Comics Justice Society team comic book.  Starting in the one-shot JSA:  Secret Files and Origins #1 (August 1999), the collection features art by Scott Benefiel, Stephen Sadowski, and Derec Aucoin.  Issues in the collection were also collected as JSA Omnibus—Volume 1 and JSA by Geoff Johns—Book 1.

One of the things that DC has that Marvel doesn’t have is a longer history with more players.  DC was experimenting in team books composed of its biggest heroes in the Golden Age of comics when Marvel still had a more limit heroes and teams.  As Marvel brought in its Golden Age heroes, past teams were expanded and explored more, but DC had the opportunity to create a family and heritage of their teams that Marvel just couldn’t do.  While DC had the confusing Multiverse and then collapsed it in Crisis on Infinite Earths to streamline its past, it didn’t feel like the post-Crisis DC ever really utilized the JSA to its best potential…until this volume.

JSA #4

With JLA’s success, JSA seemed like a natural.  Unfortunately, the JSA always seemed a bit stodgy and trying to justify members that were active since World War II didn’t always work.  Robinson and Goyer managed to infuse enough of the original feel of the JSA into a new team that wasn’t as formal.  The new JSA feels like something really new while honoring the old.

The characters of JSA outweigh the plot.  The basic idea of this collection is to reestablish Doctor Fate who was a primary member of the Justice Society.  Having never been a big Dr. Fate fan, it was good to see Infinity Inc.’s Silver Scarab take his place and in addition to that other characters from the “family team” Infinity Inc. also resurface.  The comic also smartly adds Robinson’s then popular Starman (though Robinson had plans for the character) and helped introduce the newly created Star-Spangled Girl.  The pieces all have a lot to explore.

JSA kicks off strong in this volume and was quickly handed off to Geoff Johns who was just starting to make waves at DC.  Team books are rather tricky, and JSA seems like one of the better handled team books.  If you are a fan of comics that are steeped in history and reward longtime readers, JSA is definitely a title to follow.  JSA 1:  Justice Be Done was followed by JSA 2:  Darkness Falls.