Justice Society of America: The Next Age

justice society of america the next age trade paperback alex ross art
7.5 Overall Score
Story: 7/10
Art: 7/10

Solid comic book

Rather short collection

Comic Info

Comic Name:  Justice Society of America (Volume 2)

Publisher:  DC Comics

Writer:  Geoff Johns

Artist:  Dale Eaglesham

# of Issues:  4

Release Date:  2007

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Justice Society of America (2) #1

Reprints Justice Society of America (2) #1-4 (February 2007-May 2007).  After the wake of World War III, a new Justice Society is needed.  Now, as the Justice Society assembles a new team made up of family members of former Justice Society members, a series of killings begin targeting descendants of the heroes…bent on wiping out their bloodline!  With a rookie team, the Justice Society must work quick to save their loved ones and find out the person behind the attacks.

Written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Dale Eaglesham, Justice Society of America:  The Next Age spun out of the World War III mini-series that tied in to the 52 series.  The comic featured painted covers by Alex Ross and served as a relaunch of the JSA series which ended with JSA 12:  Ghost Stories.

I love the JSA, and I love “historic” comics.  As stated in the first issue, the Justice Society is about family and the family aspect of this series provides a lot of weight and fun to a series that is a pretty standard team comic book.

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Justice Society of America (2) #3

I’ve always felt sorry for the Justice Society because they just can’t seem to get a break.  Despite being “the first” super team, the Justice League has always overshadowed them in the modern age and their books often struggle for sales.  I have always liked books like All-Star Squadron, Infinity, Inc., and JSA and over at Marvel comics like The Invaders and Agents of Atlas which dig deep into comic history to find unusual characters.  This volume does that and has some good (Cyclone is kind of fun) and bad (Wildcat’s son Tom is really lame and very 1990s).

I will say the most unusual choice in the series is the decision to include the Legion of Super-Heroes’ Starman which brings in ties to the Starman series which ran in the 1990s as well (it talked about the fate of Starman in the stories).  Starman’s inclusion allows for fun future storylines and smartly brings in the 52 series…though most of 52 and DC’s other big events were crossed out by the Flashpoint relaunch.

The Justice Society just has a lot of history behind it.  Geoff Johns does a good job pulling from the history of the stories to make an enjoyable rounded book.  Though the collection is a little short (Justice Society of America #1 is a double sized issue), it is still a nice start to the series.  The Justice Society launched into a crossover with the Justice League of America comic which was collected as Justice League of America:  The Lightning SagaJustice Society of America:  The Next Age was followed by Justice Society of America:  Thy Kingdom Come—Volume 1 which collected the next stand-alone story arc beginning with Justice Society of America (2) #7.

Related Links:

Justice Society of America:  Black Adam and Isis

Justice Society of America:  The Bad Seed

Justice Society of America:  Supertown

Author: JPRoscoe View all posts by
Follow me on Twitter/Instagram/Letterboxd @JPRoscoe76! Loves all things pop-culture especially if it has a bit of a counter-culture twist. Plays video games (basically from the start when a neighbor brought home an Atari 2600), comic loving (for almost 30 years), and a true critic of movies. Enjoys the art house but also isn't afraid to let in one or two popular movies at the same time.

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