JSA: The Golden Age (Justice Society of America) [Paperback]

James Robinson (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 1, 2005 | Series: Justice Society of America

Written by James Robinson Art and cover by Paul Smith A new edition of the classic collection reprinting the classic miniseries by James Robinson (STARMAN) and Paul Smith (Uncanny X-Men)! Don't miss this unique look at the classic heroes of the JSA in a tale pits them against the greatest evil of their time.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Clearly influenced by Alan Moore's Watchmen, this reissue depicts DC's superheroes from the 1940s hanging up their capes following the end of WWII. Whereas Moore's superheroes were forced into retirement, here the heroes succumb to disillusionment, personality flaws and even madness. Robinson unpersuasively projects the dark pessimism of 1990s superhero comics onto the idealistic, committed heroes of half a century before. One of these "mystery men," Tex Thompson, alias the Americommando, enters politics and initiates a government project that uses atomic power to create Dynaman, a "superman" who becomes a living weapon against the Soviets. Beneath their patriotic rhetoric, Thompson and Dynaman conspire to become dictators. But Robinson never explains why the "greatest generation" that just defeated fascism abroad would embrace a homegrown version. By revealing that Thompson's and Dynaman's identities have been usurped by impostors, Robinson shies away from demonstrating how an American superhero could morph into a neo-Nazi übermensch. Smith's realistic artwork and mastery of gesture and facial expression bring out all the dramatic potential in Robinson's scenario. But Darwyn Cooke's recent The New Frontier paints a more convincing postwar portrait of DC's superheroes. (June)
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Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics; New edition edition (June 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401207111
• ISBN-13: 978-1401207113
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 0.3 x 10.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #793,217 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely golden June 28, 2002

By D. Sippel

Format:Paperback

I'm a huge mark for Golden Age heroes. The major problem with the comic books of yesteryear is that the heroes were two dimensional, completely lacking in personality. They were all upstanding, usually rich, and basically boring, when not in costume. If it wasn't for the creative gimmicks and colorful costumes, the men and women behind the masks were interchangeable. James Robinson's updating of these classic Golden Agers is insightful and refreshing. He takes these legends and creates distinctive, and relatively believable, personal backgrounds for each of them. Yet he does this without diminishing the fun and nostalgia of those earlier tales. While congratulating Robinson, I feel inclined to point out the influence of Alan Moore's Watchmen. While Watchmen may have set the standard for alternate takes on the traditional DC/Marvel universes, Robinson and Smith's work here easily lives up to that lofty standard.

Paul Smith does a great job on the art, subtly employing updated pencilling techniques along with a very distinctive golden age era style. The colors in this book are also great, obviously far superior to the comic books of decades past. My only problem with the art lies with the lack of differentiation between some of the alter egos of these costumes heroes. Since most of these guys basically had the same blonde hair, chiseled features, erect postures, and well tailored suits back in the day, sometimes it's difficult to tell them apart, at least in the early chapters. As you read on, Robinson adds humanistic touches of doubts, addictions, regrets and redemption to enrich the characters well beyond their original incarnations.

This collection covers a complete story arc, which is great, but I must admit that I would love to read more tales of the Golden Age from James Robinson and Paul Smith. James Robinson is easily one of the top 5 to 10 comic book writers out there. Check out his popular, and critically acclaimed, Starman (another update of a Golden Ager) series if you don't believe me.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Gods in the Sky August 30, 2000

By "apricotjones"

Format:Paperback

With GOLDEN AGE, writer James Robinson mesmerizes the reader with some very simple, very haunting images of superheroes who have lost their reason to wage metahuman battles and have been forced from the skies, by a public that no longer requires them. The superheroes are then forced to face their own fragile humanity, or lack of same. What they find in themselves is more frightening than the massive conspiracy that these self-absorbed beings have ignored, until it is almost too late. The primary fascination in GA is Robinson's ability to show how scary it really is to be a metahuman, a being with powers paranormal, or scientifically-enhanced, or merely the result of severe physical training. This is the case with the several most intriguing character threads, notably the paranoid delusional Manhunter, traumatized by a horror witnessed in the war pertinent to the conspiracy emerging within the government; the tragic brutality of Robotman, a living brain trapped inside a robot body, with that brain no longer able to cope with its inhuman state and the justification for murder; the severely disturbed Hourman, seeking the proper Miraclo formula for his enhanced strength, coming to grips with his addiction; and Hawkman, an Eygptologist who believes himself to be the literal reincarnation of a mythical god of a dead culture. Dealing with their various psychosis, and the escalating threat of metahuman registration and control by the Red Menace-seeking US Goverment, the heroes are barely able to perceive the danger around them. They are swallowed in pits of despair and desperation for lost glory; when finally the heroes, motivated by their own weaknesses and desires, ascend to battle the common threat, they gladly race toward death with heroic grandeur, freed of their cloaks of humanness. It is this ascension that the heroes go to find redemption, in one of the truly awesome displays of sacrifice I've ever seen in a story, in any medium. Without a doubt, GOLDEN AGE is one the best, most literate stories from a superior writer Robinson, with powerful art by Paul Smith. A must-read.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Careful, intelligent, respectful, and beautifully done July 30, 2005

By Jay Dickson VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

This is one of the finest miniseries DC has done in years--it's debts to Alan Moore's and Dave Gibbons's WATCHMEN are clear, but it's also a work all of its own. Except for a few minor errors (the Black Canary is addressed as "Diana" not "Dinah"; the Sportsmaster is apparently killed at the end when we know he goes on to live for decades later), this work actually could fit perfectly with the previous work done on the JSA and the DC Universe and their continuity. The story involves several members of the Justice Society of America (the Atom, Green Lantern, Hourman), several members of Roy Thomas's All-Star Squadron (Liberty Belle, Johnny Quick) and several obscure 40s DC/National heroes (the Tarantula, Miss America, Manhunter) after the Second World War. A minor hero, Mr. America, has been credited with the deaths overseas of Adolf Hitler and several other Nazi supervillains; based on this fame, he runs successfully for Senate and starts an anti-Red Menace program involving the recruiting of superhumans, while most of the other heroes languish in misery, either forgotten by the public or involved in HUAC hearings. The ending is very dramatic and worth the slow unravelling of narrative surprises, and the art of Paul Smith has never been more beautifully employed than here. Most remarkable is James Robinson's surprising evocation of genuine patriotism: the courageous heroine Miss America, Joan Dale, makes a speech at the climax of the story that it is almost impossible not to feel moved after reading, as corny as that may sound. This is really DC at its finest.