Exiled in Geeksville

DC announced today at the FanExpo Canada Convention in Toronto that the original superhero team, the Justice Society of America will be returning in a new comic series, written by James Robinson (Starman, The Golden Age, Justice League of America) and art by Nicola Scott (Teen Titans, Birds of Prey, Secret Six).

The first appearance of the JSA in 1941, in All Star Comics #3

This is great news to folks like me. I was just opining over the poor treatment of these characters in the wrap of the now defunct DCU. If you hadn’t been following the recent exploits of JSA, issue #54 (the last), which came out last week, featured the death of original Green Lantern, Alan Scott , and the maiming and impaling of Ted Grant, a/k/a the original Wildcat.

A bigger part of this announcement is that this series will take place on DC’s parallel Earth – Earth 2. No word yet if it will be set in the present, or in the past, during the World War II era that the characters originally appear in, or who will be a member of the team. Will the line be the classic one? Or a modern lineup featuring the descendants of the original team? Will Earth 2 have had it’s own Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman? Will new team members like Stargirl, Cyclone, and Mr. America have a place on the team? We’ll have to wait to find out.

Could the new JSA series mark the return of ROBINSON's most loved character, Jack Knight a/k/a Starman

Robinson is well known for his work with these classic characters, which have been featured in some of his best work. The Elseworlds series The Golden Age, set the standard of modern stories featuring classic characters, and many elements of this “imaginary, what if” story, would go on to be incorporated in his phenomenal Starman series. He has also been known for his very layered approach and long form style of storytelling, and use of minor characters, with whom he can create elaborate backstories.

How this effects existing books already centered on recent JSA’ers like Mr. Terrific and Savage Hawkman, who will be part of DC’s main continuity on what probably be referred to as Earth 1 has not be discussed, but as Hawkman is a confirmed member of the upcoming Justice League, it can be assumed that Hawkman is set on Earth 1.

Robinson’s 12 issue Shade series (based on the Golden Age villain and Starman recurring character) which begins in October take place on Earth 2? DC just announced that issue #8 of the upcoming series will feature art by fan favorite Jill Thompson(Scary Godmother, Magic Trixie, Sandman.) The special standalone issue — set in Paris in the early 1900s — is something Robinson wrote specifically for Thompson

Thanks to J.T. Krul for tweeting this news so I could find out and write this, as I am not in Canada.