Jeff Lemire, stop wasting my time; if you want me to go to the movies, take me to one.

I have certainly made fun of the Justice Society's Golden Age adventures; they have many features one can deride! But that is not at all my purpose today.

Here we have the first page (not counting the splash page) of a randomly chosen Golden Age JSA story (All-Star Comics #57, 1951, "The Mystery of the Vanishing Detectives").

On this page, we are introduced to four famous detectives (model on fictional detectives from real-world crime novels) as the arrive in Civic City for a convention where they will meet up with their pals, the JSA, who, will present them with a mock mystery to solve (something they have also done at previous meetings) and Wonder Woman prepares them by blindfolding them as the mock crime is about to be acted out on stage in front of the audience. 

That's just the first page.  From which we can already deduce that they will be unraveling this mystery; they will, we can assume, EACH contribute some deductions to the process, so that all appeared learned and able.  We can also deduce that at some point after that, the detectives themselves will vanishing, result in a mystery that the JSA will have to solve. As usual, they will probably each make a unique contribution to searching for the missing detectives.

If we DO take a look at the splash page, 

it becomes clear that the disappearance of the detectiveS is just part of a larger, worldwide scheme being perpetrated by the super-villainous The Key (who you probably thought was just a JLA villain).  

So, that's quite a lot we have learned from the splash page and first page of this JSA story.

Now.

Here's the opening "splash panel" and first page of this month's issue of Justice Society:

"Is this the end?"
Well, it sure doesn't look like the start of much.

Is anyone detective enough to deduce what point I'm trying to make...?

JSA #1 (again)

As mad as I was (am) about Geoff Johns' embarrassingly self-indulgent and anticlimactic end to his run on Justice Society of America (really more of a saunter than a run), I am still quite intrigued by the forthcoming "JSA" series by Jeff Lemire (a name I recognize but have no pre-exiting opinions of).  

I know only that he wrote "Sweet Tooth" and saved Green Arrow from Ann Nocenti, so I'm just going to picture him as an adult Golden Age Speedy, since he had to save Ollie.

The Justice LEAGUE is easy to write.

Although writing FOR the Justice League can certainly be a challenge.

All you have to do is put DC's six most iconic heroes (plus one more that DC is trying to pretend is iconic) at a table and boom there's the Justice League. The Justice League has always been about simply seeing DC's biggest heroes interact and work together.

The Justice Society is a more complicated manner.  You have to balance past and present, tradition with modernity, legacy with innovation.  And unlike the JLA, the JSA is not and never has been composed of pre-sold commodities.  It's not a "super-group" of icons, it's an ensemble piece. It's a many-bodied problem, more akin to the Legion of Super-Heroes, where the whole must be greater than the sum of the parts in order to justify its existence.  This is something that Lemire seems to understand, based on a recent interview:

“For me, it was about taking everything I love from past runs — whether it’s Infinity Inc., All-Star Squadron, or Geoff Johns’ era — and making it important again while keeping it accessible and modern,” he explains. The challenge, then, is making the JSA resonate with today’s readers while honoring its long history.

“I stopped thinking of them as superhero team books and started thinking of them more as ensemble dramas,” he explained, focusing on developing characters over time rather than trying to feature everyone in every issue.

"For fans wondering what sets the JSA apart from the Justice League, Lemire offers a clear answer: it’s all about legacy and generational storytelling.

"The JSA is unique in that its members span multiple generations, giving the team a rich sense of history that other superhero groups lack. For Lemire, the heart of the JSA lies in two characters: Jay Garrick and Alan Scott. Jay, the original Flash, serves as the team’s heart, while Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern, acts as its head and leader."

Now, I have read the first issue.  I cannot think of a less interesting threat for the JSA to be dealing with than Kobra;

I still can't believe that trite, pedestrian cult leader Kobra (with his ridiculous twin brother trope) was inspired by DR. EFFING PHIBES, which was Vincent Price at his most batshit, but such is Jack Kirby.

and I can't think of anything more off-the-rack than the children of JSA leader Alan Scott's children, Dark Hard-Nose Obsidian in conflict with Bright Idealistic Jade, over the direction of the JSA;

Do you think DC even remembers Todd is gay?  I remember. Often.

but...

we learn already in the first issue that neither one of the two conflicts that we see are actually TRUE, don't we?  And that the really threat, the real source of both conflict is...

Okay. THAT's a different story.  One I am ready to follow....