For years, DC has been teasing that the Justice Society of America would make a big return to comics after having been thoroughly wiped away by the New 52. They’ve popped up in some comics in the recent past, but have primarily lived on through expanded media for the last few years: the CW featured two versions of the team in Legends of Tomorrow and more recently, a teen incarnation on Stargirl. October’s Black Adam movie will offer the team its biggest push by far, bringing the team to life so Dwayne Johnson can form a tenuous alliance with the group before wiping the floor with them. That makes it the perfect time for DC’s original superteam to return to their original medium.
Announced during DC’s solicitations for this November, Justice Society of America #1 by Geoff Johns and Mikel Janín will bring in a new incarnation of the team. That team, which showed up in the recent third issue of Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, will face a new enemy that’s said to have “invaded the entire history of the JSA,” and the Time Masters, led by Rip Hunter, have a part to play in the story as well.
In a statement to DC, Johns said that the JSA roster would feature “familiar faces” like like Alan Scott’s Green Lantern and Jay Garrick’s Flash, along with long-lost heroes like Yolanda Montez as Wildcat and Beth Chapel’s Doctor Midnight. (Both Montez and Chapel are currently on the Stargirl version of the JSA). He further teased that a new hero would join the team’s roster, and that hero would be inheriting a legacy mantle from the Golden Age of comics. Presumably, the hero in question is Huntress: she’s featured on the cover, and her Earth-Two version, Helena Wayne, has been a frequent member of the JSA.
Johns is putting all his eggs into the nostalgia basket—when is he not—as he’s also writing a Stargirl miniseries drawn by Todd Nuack. In The Lost Children, Stargirl and Red Arrow (Emiko Queen) will search for teen heroes from DC’s Golden Age and gone missing, possibly taken by a villain called the Childminder.
“There’s nothing I get more gratitude from than continuing the legacy of my sister with Stargirl,” wrote Johns, who created the character of his late sister, Courtney. “And to do it with Todd is a blessing as we introduce DC’s secret Golden Age of teenage heroes in a fun mini-event.”
Both titles will headline what’s been deemed a “New Golden Age,” in reference to the era of American comics from 1938-1956 that introduced several comic book heroes we know today, including Batman, Superman, Captain America, and Wonder Woman. According to Johns, the plan is for these and future titles to “celebrate and expand the history (and far future) of heroism in the DC Universe” and focus on more obscure heroes from the company’s past, which will eventually include the Legion of Super-Heroes. “It’s the story of where superheroes came from, where they’re going and why they’re always needed.”
DC’s “New Golden Age” will start with the titular one-shot on November 8, featuring art from Steve Lieber, Jerry Ordway, and Diego Olortegui. On November 15, Stargirl: The Lost Children #1 will release, followed by Justice Society of America #1 on November 22.
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