JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #1 - August 1992

Home Again!

Credits: Len Strazewski (writer), Mike Parobeck (penciler), Mike Machlan (inker), Bob Pinaha (letterer), Glenn Whitmore (colorist)

Summary: A mystery man sends a colossal monster to attack the Justice Society at their public retirement party. The monster is stopped by Superman, much to the JSA’s disappointment. Following the battle, Sandman suffers a stroke. Several months later, Flash and Green Lantern respond to news reports of the New Order’s assault on a nuclear plant. They easily defeat the modern foes and are inspired to come out of retirement.

Irrelevant Continuity: So why are the JSA spry fifty-somethings instead of aging seventy-somethings? As Clark Kent helpfully explains to Lois Lane, “They were rejuvenated in a magical dimension…some of it must have stuck!” A footnote points to Armageddon Inferno #4, which honestly sounds like a made-up name for an early ‘90s crossover. Later on, the Flash remarks that some of the rejuvenation is wearing off, but he still feels “a bit younger than what the calendar says, though.”

I Love the ‘90s: I’m predicting no shortage of pop culture references to the early ‘90s, given that generational shifts and modern culture shock are bound to be recurring themes in the title. This issue opens with a mulleted child remarking to his grandfather that trading cards are worth a lot of money now. We also have a reference to the “ninja reptiles” heroes must face these days, a villain named after Saddam Hussein's favorite weapon, and not one but two instances of Green Lantern exclaiming “NOT!”

Total N00B: I’ve been reading comics for around twenty-five years now, and this is my first encounter with Johnny Thunder, who only appears in the background of this issue as a normal looking schmoe in a Jimmy Olsen suit. A helpful text piece by Mark Waid in the back describes him as “not the brightest man who ever lived…Johnny could nonetheless hold his own…by calling out the magic command ‘Cei-U’…and summoning to his side the mighty genie known as Thunderbolt.” So…he’s a dummy with genie powers? Was he the JSA’s wacky sidekick back in the day?

Review: So, DC’s Justice Society of America #1, released the same month as the debut issues of Image titles like Shadowhawk. There’s no spine-shattering here, but one old guy has a stroke while his friends are bummed that some young hipster, Superman, is upstaging them. There’s definitely a culture clash going on here, but the creative team is trying to face the issue head-on.

Instead of just tossing in a few cutsey references to early ‘90s fads, Strazewski and Parobeck take things a bit further by pitting the JSA against a thinly veiled parody of Marvel’s X-Force -- an x-tremist pro-mutant organization called the New Order. Their leader, Cain, is a Parobeckized rendition of the Liefeld-era Cable (the only real difference is an eye-patch, which he apparently doesn’t need), and he’s surrounded by a stable of throwaways that could’ve easily stood in the background of any Mutant Liberation Front group shot. Some of the villains are straight out of the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe, like an unnamed Feral parody (apparently he or she’s a dog, so that makes it totally different). His or her teammate Scud is an amalgam of Scalphunter and Harpoon of the Marauders, and one member named Ammo has a gun-arm reminiscent of the Daredevil/Punisher villain Bushwacker. Bushwacker was originally introduced as an ally of the Marauders, plus Ammo just so happens to be the name of another villain created by Ann Nocenti and John Romita, Jr. while on Daredevil. I have a hard time believing that any of these were coincidences.

Knowing now that the early ‘90s style has largely been dismissed as a joke, while Mike Parobeck’s art has retroactively been declared the high-water mark for superhero cartooning makes this issue an odd artifact. Not that the creators knew that they were eventually going to win some imaginary credibility award, but they are clearly aware that they’re swimming against the mainstream tide and perhaps vainly attempting to keep a classical hero style alive.

Having Mike Parobeck do a Rob Liefeld parody undoubtedly adds some novelty to the issue, but it’s a testament to his artistic skills that the New Order characters still look as if they belong in this world. Everything Parobeck draws in the issue is clean, attractive, and instantly comprehensible. Parobeck originally entered comics as something of a John Byrne clone, so it’s fitting to see him joined by one of Byrne’s best inkers, Mike Machlan, for the series. I don’t know how I would’ve responded to this comic at age 12, but since I wasn’t totally brainwashed by the fads of the era, I’d like to think I would’ve recognized the obvious talent that’s on display here. I was fully onboard with the debut of Batman: The Animated Series a few months after the release of the book (and I think it’s important to remember that Parobeck hit on this style of cartooning independent of Bruce Timm’s work on the cartoon), so I know I wasn’t a complete moron back then.