Crisis on Infinite Earths changed everything. With the DC Universe now just enjoying the presence and characters of one Earth – after all the multiversal Earths were merged into a singular New Earth – there was a huge amount of history and continuity which had to be explored. A huge question which arose with such a change linked to the Justice Society of America – what was their role in this new world? Originally, the Justice Society lived on Earth-2, stuck seemingly forever in the 1940s and 1950s. Meanwhile on Earth-1, the Justice League of America protected the world. On occasions, the two teams would work together to defeat many a threat, but with everything now on one Earth and the Justice League being younger and quicker than their aged forebearers, the Justice Society appeared to be an out-of-date concept no longer with a clear purpose. It’s why in 1986 – only a few months after the publication of Crisis on Infinite Earths 12 – DC decided to end the Justice Society of America.
The Last Days of The Justice Society of America was published in July 1986, written by All-Star Squadron and JSA-geek Roy Thomas, with art by David Ross and Mike Gustovich. A one-off special, DC reprinted the graphic novel six years ago in paperback form, which also includes various Secret Origins issues from the mid-to-late eighties focusing on JSA heroes.
Created in 1940 during a time of world war, the Justice Society of America united heroes from DC’s various titles. In their first tale in All-Star Comics 3, the JSA consisted of Johnny Thunder and his Thunderbolt, the Flash, Hawkman, the Spectre, Hourman, Red Tornado, the Sandman, Doctor Fate, the Atom, and Green Lantern. Over the years, others joined, including the Earth-2 Superman and Batman, along with Robin. The 1950s was a time when superhero comic books were losing popularity – after all, with the United States victorious in 1945 and the following years, why celebrate fictional heroes when you have real ones? This only went so far, and by the end of the decade, the Silver Age had begun and new incarnations of the Flash and Green Lantern emerged. In 1960, the Justice League of America was co-created by Gardner Fox – who had twenty years prior co-created the JSA. Although it would not be until 1981 when the Justice Society heroes received their own exclusive title, DC continued their tales in the Silver and Bronze Ages. Alongside meeting the JLA once every year, they would star in stories in Adventure Comics. But in 1981, Roy Thomas launched All-Star Squadron. Set on Earth-2, it was effectively a coalition including every hero in the DC Universe, teaming together to fight for democracy in World War Two. Roy Thomas had been an instrumental youth at Marvel, but at DC he and his love of history were in their elements. With Crisis on Infinite Earths and the Justice League becoming the dominant heroes on New Earth, it was down to Thomas to give these grand old fighters the send-off they deserved. After forty-six years of fighting supervillains and saving the world from Adolf Hitler, does the Justice Society bow out with applause?
Although the Justice Society of America survived the Second World War, Thomas believes it’s fitting to return to that era to tell the last story of these mighty heroes. It begins with a flashback. On 12th April 1945, the allies are advancing towards Berlin. But deep within his bunker, Fuhrer Adolf Hitler is convinced that the war will now be won by the Nazis. With the news of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death known to the world, Hitler believes in an old prophecy that the war will be over by the end of the month and that he shall be victorious. Although obviously much of this content is fictional, Thomas captures the desperate and paranoic mood of Hitler well. This is a man who cares not for the German people an inch, but seemingly for world domination. Thomas writes a brilliant prelude by setting up Hitler to be the ultimate villain for the JSA’s last story – it is a fitting choice – but then we are thrown nearly four decades into the future.
On New Earth, the Justice Society existed in the 1940s and early-1950s, before they were forced into hiding after the Un-American Activities Committee of the US House of Representatives asked the heroes to reveal their faces to the world. It was a time of McCarthyism and paranoia in the United States, and it was a step-too far for the JSA. They vanished, but then returned years later, sharing the stage with the Justice League. But after Crisis on Infinite Earths, it seems that the road for the JSA is nearing its end. With the deaths of Robin and Huntress in the crisis - and in previous years the deaths of Batman, Catwoman, Mr Terrific, Superman, and Wonder Woman - the JSAers are gathered into a graveyard to pay their respects to the dead. We have the original members of the team, but alongside them we also have Wildcat, Hawkgirl, Power Girl, and the Star-Spangled Kid. Already, with now only one Earth present in the DC Universe, your mind may flood with questions which simply cannot be answered. There was, on Earth-2, a Superman and a Batman. While they both died – one in Crisis on Infinite Earths and the other in Adventure Comics – do they exist in the past of New Earth? If so, then that must mean that there have been two Supermen and two Batmen. If that’s not the case, then do the JSA heroes remember these Earth-2 versions because they were originally from that now-defunct Earth? Does that mean that everyone else in the DC Universe is unaware of such duplicates. This is just one of hundreds of questions which you could raise, but frankly, it isn’t worth it. The Multiverse caused confusion for writers and creators, and that was part of the reason it was destroyed in 1986. But in actuality, destroying it actually made the DC Universe far more complex and harder to chronicle in an understandable order. Regardless, it’s not worth getting into. What you can enjoy is the emotional power of this scene. These aged heroes have strived for justice for decades, and the tragedy is that they are growing old in an era where the New Teen Titans and the oncoming Justice League International are younger and more modern. It’s a heartbreakingly strong scene where – unanimously – the heroes vote to disband the JSA after forty-six years of service. But before that can happen, there is one last battle for the heroes to fight in.
Enter the Spectre. His absence thus far has been puzzling – after all he was an original member of the team. An immortal creature of vengeance, you know something serious is going on when the Spectre appears screaming of the apocalypse before collapsing. Doctor Fate looks into his mind, and we witness an alternative timeline – one which is very quickly becoming reality itself. On the day of Roosevelt’s funeral, the bright blue sky was torn open as Hitler unveiled and used his Spear of Destiny. On the orders of the new President Harry S. Truman, the JSA go to Berlin to defeat Hitler once and for all. Although you are aware that this is an alternative reality, it doesn’t take away just how powerful and shocking these pages can be. This isn’t just because of a deepened feeling of doom present, but also because we witness some of our favourite heroes die. And strangely, their deaths at the hands of Nazi soldiers – sometimes conscripted children – and their bullets is even more powerful than, say, a hero being killed by a villain’s superpower. First, it’s Starman. Then, the Flash, Wildcat, Mr Terrific, Hourman, and many others. But in the end, their casualties in war are overshadowed by the end of the world. Out of the sky comes hellish fireballs. Within seconds, the Earth is obliterated at the hands of Adolf Hitler, leaving only the Spectre alive. This explains how he comes to the future to seek the help of the JSA. Again, although it’s clear that these scenes are from some kind of alternative reality, there is a huge weight present. These heroes unite together and there is a comradery spirit. United they stand, divided they fall. Roy Thomas supplies us with a taste of the potential fates of the Justice Society, thereby raising the stakes for their dramatic final tale.
And that is when – at the half-way point – the story begins to lose its way terribly. With the same crack in the sky as in 1945 present now in 1986, the JSA travel through, and Thomas treats us to some awful technobabble. Thomas tries desperately hard to get readers to understand the differing timelines and how the events of 1945 haven’t quite caught up with the present yet. Thomas’s explanations of the science of time-travel are not really necessary, especially when we’re forced to read pages and pages of it. Do all of these details to do with pseudo-science and timelines really matter? It feels like Roy Thomas is trying to answer questions which very few readers would bother to ask, mainly because they know that the answers would be tedious and not useful in any way. Essentially, Thomas is trying ever so hard to complicate a plot which can simply be summed up as: the heroes go back in time to stop the threat which will destroy the world and its future.
Sadly, this trend of confusion becomes one of irrelevance. When returning to 1945, the heroes don’t go straight for Hitler and fight the Nazis using more tactical decisions, learning from the failings of that potential past. Instead, the heroes fly into the crack in the sky. This was created by the Spear of Destiny, and inside live demons, gods, and mythological creatures bringing about the apocalypse which will soon destroy the Earth. You have Odin, Thor, and a few others in this dimension about to destroy the planet. This dimension is Ragnarök, a place of unending battles. What should have happened was that the JSA should have gone straight for Hitler, and it would have made for an impactful and powerful fight. With the Spear of Destiny too, perhaps some casualties would have made for an impressive end for the JSA, delivering the final blow to fascism. Instead, the JSA have to fight godly creatures who are so dull and have no personality of their own. And more offensively, Thomas loses nearly everything he cultivates so brilliantly earlier. During these tiresome fight scenes, you almost forget that the world is ending, and that Hitler is involved with all of this. Some of the heroes do die during the fights, but they are killed in such flat and generic ways that is feels so disappointing. Upon defeating these demons, Hitler’s Spear of Destiny loses its power, and the hellish fireballs cannot reign down on Earth. So sure, the JSA are victorious in the end, but it could have been delivered so with more impact with the fightback more relatable and interesting. After a first half of drama and sadness, the JSA are transformed into a generic bunch of heroes fighting against a regular collection of enemies who simply breath fire for a living.
But now comes the final insult, the final punch to the stomach. With the godly beings unable to destroy the Earth with the JSA in their path, Hitler’s final days end as expected. He dies on 30th April 1945, only a few days before victory is declared in Europe. But with the war over, this doesn’t give the Justice Society the retirement they so hugely deserve. Instead, after defeating the demons and saving the day, the JSA and their dying members are resurrected (predictably) to fight against the same gods once again. Effectively, Ragnarök is stuck in a loop – the unending battle between the heroes and the villains will go on forever. And the JSA is stuck, seemingly for good here. If we easily ignore Roy Thomas’s metaphor that the Justice Society will always fight against injustice and their fight on Ragnarök is meant to represent that, this is possibly the worst way to conclude nearly half-a-century of history going back to All-Star Comics 3. This was meant to be their finest hour, their final battle saving the world. What is the point of this endless fight? All it does is humiliate a team who deserved a proper and glorious send-off. There is no glory or sense of pride here. Instead, the JSA go on – fighting a pointless fight.
Sure, their legacy continues in two notable ways. Doctor Fate manages to free Power Girl and Star-Spangled Kid from that awful fate, and also Infinity Inc are still around in the new Earth. But this compensation is minute compared to the ending Roy Thomas writes for such titanic characters. Without the Justice Society and their characters, DC Comics would never enjoy the success it has today. Roy Thomas does leave the story open-ended in some ways – for example, the JSA aren’t killed, so their inevitable return was always possible. But as an ending to the JSA, Thomas writes at first what seems to be such a dramatic and worthy plot for such outstanding heroes, but then it collapses. It’s impossible to overstate a fall of such magnitude – how a story can be transformed into such mediocrity and then end so terribly, it is such a shame.
According to Wikipedia, The Last Days of the Justice Society of America is a sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths. That is perhaps an overstatement, but for the JSA, it certainly aims to continue and conclude their story. For such a dramatic tale like that one, the awesome art of the late George Perez was simply outstanding. Here, even though the stakes may be lower, that is no excuse for such average and mediocre artwork. David Ross and Mike Gustovich have not gone on to become great household names of the medium. They convey Thomas’s writing with such blandness and a total lack of action or drama. It simply looks flat. Some of the scenes where the heroes die in that alternate reality are shown with no shock or energy, and it feels like moments are spoilt due to that. Aspects of the art do appear to echo some of the rigidness of the forties, but considering this was published in 1986, surely artists could do much better. By all means keep the appearance of the heroes the same and recreate that visual feel of the decade, but don’t emulate the simply and flat storytelling approach of many Golden Age tales. Gustovich’s inks simply fulfil their task but fail to dazzle. Whatever you may think of Thomas’s quality of writing and plotting, the art barely registers in this reader’s mind.
VERDICT
Overall, The Last Days of The Justice Society of America could have been a classic. It could have provided readers with a flawless end to such brilliant heroes. Instead, that alternate reality of loss and emotional power gives way to bland fighting and then lastly a fate for the JSA that is frankly terrible. I cannot think of a more embarrassing and terribly thought-out fate which can top something of this miserable quality. Of course, we know that this didn’t spell the end of the JSA, but that is no excuse for this. In a decade where comic books were transformed by numerous stories enjoying a myriad of moods, The Last Days of The Justice Society of America could stand as one of DC’s worst books of the eighties.
Next Week: Batman: Darkest Night of the Man-Bat (Batman 536-543). Written by Doug Moench with art by Kelley Jones and John Beatty.
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