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Nearly any comic collector who has spent time at online
forums has no doubt found themselves entangled in some sort of
debate over continuity and the effect it has on the comic book
industry. My own personal feeling toward this is that continuity
is important in some instances but that most comics, especially
those with histories running over half a century, need to look
forward in their goals. At the same time, its important for
companies to look back and nod towards what has come
before. As Ive thought back towards my past 20 years as a
collector. I struggled hard to come up with a term for what
keeps me coming back to the shop week after week and only
one word seemed to fit the bill: tradition.
Although less prevalent in comics today than they were in the
past, there were certain traditional elements that tended to show
up in stories which didnt detract for a reader who had no
foreknowledge of the situation but could grow to appreciate it.
Some examples that immediately spring to mind are leadership
elections in the Legion of Super Heroes, red kryptonite stories in
Superman, or a massive shift in the Avengers line-up. To me
these stories and others could make me feel like a part of
something that my uncles were a part of before me and so on.
Of all traditional types of stories, the one that had the
greatest influence on me as a reader was the annual Justice
Society of America/Justice League of America team-ups. The
Justice League was still going strong when I began reading their
exploits around 1980. The Superfriends/Big Gun type
characters like Superman and Wonder Woman were active
members while less known characters such as Red Tornado,
Zatanna and Firestorm fleshed out the team. At this point, I
knew that most of the major DC heroes had been around for a
very long time, but had no idea that the Superman or Hawkman
who lived when my parents were kids was still alive and well,
just on another planet. The fact that these Golden Age heroes
were still active, just on a different planet Earth was the coolest
thing to me and never went over my head!
Pinning down what attracted me so much to the crossovers
between the two teams is difficult to narrow down, but is helped
some when looking back at the first JLA/JSA crossover I read,
the Crisis in Limbo series from 1981. Super villains from Earth
1 and Earth 2 had teamed up as the Secret Society of Super
Villains and agreed to pick off the members of both super teams.
Five members from each of the Justice groups are picked off
one by one thanks to the villains and are shot into limbo. Thanks
to some squabbling among the villains, the heroes break out of
limbo and through a supreme effort of teamwork prove they are
the greatest heroes of two worlds. Pretty cheesy by modern
standards, but at the time I was still young enough to believe that
the heroes really were in severe trouble and to be cheering for
months every time I saw the heroes saving the day.
Over the next few years, I was a pretty avid JLA reader but
there was always that little something extra that seemed to come
out for the JSA crossovers. How cool was it to find out that not
only was Per Degaton now the dictator of the WWII era Earth
2, but Earth Prime (otherwise known as the real world we live
in) had been devastated by a nuclear attack. To stop Per
Degaton it took the combined efforts of the JSA, JLA and the
All-Star Squadron to stop him. This five issue crossover also
featured the Crime Syndicate of Earth 3 who were recently
revived in the popular Grant Morrison penned JLA: Earth 2
graphic novel.
Some of the other crossovers that spring to mind brought
forth developments such as the truth about Black Canary and
her mother, rescuing the Seven Soldiers of Victory who were
scattered across time and a murder mystery where one of the
heroes murdered Mr. Terrific! Many characters who werent
directly affiliated with either the JLA or JSA would show up to
lend a hand on occasion including the Legion of Super Heroes,
the Freedom Fighters, the Marvel Family, the All Star-Squadron
and others. With the crossovers running as an annual tradition
for 22 years this brief recollection doesnt even begin to include
the majority of stories involved. With such a lasting duration
these crossovers really set a precedent for crossovers that are
still occurring in comic books today.
The eventual downfall of the annual crossovers sprung from
the Crisis on Infinite Earths, DCs attempt at cleaning up
continuity which is still being sorted out over 15 years later.
Because the idea of multiple earths existing was thrown out the
window, the Justice Society could no longer exist concurrently
with the Justice League. Although the JSA was revealed to be
still somewhat active through modern times they were quickly
sent off to fight in Valhalla so as not to confuse fans as to why
these old guys calling themselves Green Lantern and Flash were
running around. Most of the crossovers that took place in the
past still occurred in continuity with a semi-active JSA teaming
with their successors in special situations. As far as the powers
that be were concerned, the Justice Society was a dead issue at
this point and it was time to move forward with the DC Universe.
Last year Grant Morrisons JLA title featured the first
crossover with the Justice Society to take place in over a
decade and served as a lead in to the new JSA series which is
going strong. With both teams existing in a universe at the same
time, it is once again possible for the annual tradition to begin
once again and with some of the nostalgia movement going on, I
can see this as becoming a very big thing again. If the creative
teams of the two books were to work together on a story that
would be fairly significant in nature, they could tell the story
between the two titles and still have 10 or 11 months to tell
stories the rest of the year.
From what I understand, there were tentative plans for a
JLA/JSA crossover to take place in the near future which would
introduce the new Hawkman to the DC universe. Due to
scheduling problems, the story will be taking place only in the
JSA title and wont feature the JLA, though. This near miss is
enough to make my heart sink but at the same time, the hope is
still out there that a crossover will work out down the line. By
planning to introduce an important character, it tells me that the
powers that be have the right idea as to where they should go
with this if they proceed in the future. Maybe if they cant fit a
crossover into the monthly title then maybe they could work it
into the annuals.
In the future, I plan to cover traditions both in matters of
what occurs in fiction and in reality in the comic industry. If
there are any sort of traditions youd like to see discussed here
please e-mail me and let me know, or just drop me a line to let
me know what you think of the column in general.
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