7 Great DC Stories That Defined The Justice Society of America

The Justice Society of America is the first major superteam. If you like any superhero team comic, you owe a debt of gratitude to Gardner Fox and the Justice Society. Early Justice Society stories were quite different from the superhero team stories that we have today; each issue was a multi-chapter story, with each chapter focusing on a few different characters. However, those early stories paved the way for the Justice League, the Avengers, the Legion of Superheroes, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Teen Titans, and any other superteam you can name. The Justice Society’s creation also planted the seed that would become the multiverse and paved the way for the first villain team as well. I love the Justice Society of America, and have spent years reading as many of their amazing stories as I can.

Over the decades, there have been some wonderful Justice Society of America stories, whether they be the old yearly Justice League stories, the old Golden Age classics, and the modern books that showed people why the JSA is the greatest superteam of all time. The history of the team has given readers some brilliant tales, and today, we’ll be looking into some of their best stories. These seven chapters in the history of the Justice Society of America will astound you, proving that they are the best of the best.

7) Justice Society of America (Vol. 3) #1-12

Flashpoint changed the structure of the DC Multiverse, and one of the victims of that change was the Justice Society. While we got Earth-2 and World’s Finest starring the characters of the Justice Society, we didn’t get the team that we had grown to love over their prior six decades of existence. Even after the end of the New 52, we didn’t get the return of the Justice Society until 2023 (despite getting many teases). Writer Geoff Johns, who helped make the JSA a force in the comic industry again throughout the ’00s returned with The New Golden Age #1, and that led into Justice Society of America (Vol. 3) #1-12, with artists Mikel Janin, Jerry Ordway, Marco Santucci, and Todd Nauck.

This maxi-series saw Huntress, the daughter of Batman and Catwoman from the future, coming back in time to stop the destruction of the Justice Society at the hands of Per Degaton, the time-traveling Nazi. From there, the book follows Huntress as she recruits villains who she knows would be redeemed in the future, all while a hidden enemy prepares to strike at the team from within. The final issue of the series focuses on Stargirl, whom Johns based on his dearly departed sister, and her finally graduating from high school. This series is an awesome Justice Society story, bringing the team back into the modern day and showing just how formidable the team is. This is peak Justice Society, and it was the perfect reintroduction (also, get all of “The New Golden Age” books — Stargirl: The Lost Children, Jay Garrick: The Flash, Wesley Dodds: The Sandman, Alan Scott: The Green Lantern, and the latest volume of JSA; they’re all amazing) to the team.

6) The Last Days of the Justice Society of America

Crisis on Infinite Earths created an all-new DC Universe, and there were a lot of things that needed to change to make the whole idea work. The Justice Society was considered one of the problems with the new universe, and so it was decided that they would be written out for the foreseeable future. The Last Days of the Justice Society of America Special #1, by Roy Thomas, Dann Thomas, and Mike Gustovich, was the mechanism that the publisher used to get rid of them.

The Justice Society has to stop the demon Surtur from destroying the world, and end up in a pocket dimension where they would continually battle against Surtur and his demon army to keep them from overrunning the Earth. Roy Thomas, best known for his work at Marvel, was the main architect of the Justice Society-related books of the late ’70s and early ’80s, and he did a remarkable job closing out his time with the heroes of Earth-Two with this excellent comic. The art is the standard “house style” of the time, but it works for this story. This was the last Justice Society story anyone got until the early ’90s, and it remains on the coolest Justice Society stories ever.

5) DC Special #29

DC Special #29 gave the Justice Society an updated origin in 1977 with “The Untold Origin of the Justice Society”, by Paul Levitz and Joe Staton. This pre-Crisis classic dealt with Hitler getting the Spear of Destiny (if you don’t know, the Spear of Destiny is the spear that pierced Jesus’s side after the crucifixion; in the DC Multiverse it gives whoever has it the ability to control superhumans). Hitler then used the Spear to summon the Valkyries, and decided to launch an attack on Washington DC, with the Valkyries paving the way for a modified long-range bomber to destroy the White House.

The various heroes of the day end up teaming up in the US capital after learning about the attack, battling the Valkyries in a desperate effort to save the White House. This story is a classic, giving readers an interesting, action-packed saga. Since this was set on Earth-Two, readers get to see Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman alongside the Justice Society, battling against the Nazis. Levitz and Staton are two of DC’s best creators, and this story shows off why. It’s pretty hard to find nowadays (I somehow found a reprint at a Books-a-Million in the ’00s), but it’s definitely worth the effort to hunt down.

4) The Golden Age

DC in the ’90s was on fire. Unlike Marvel and Image, they put a lot of emphasis on the writing, and it led to some amazing stories. One of the best of this era is The Golden Age, by James Robinson and Paul Smith. This Elseworlds classic took place after World War II, as the various heroes of the day do their best to deal with a new world. However, old enemies have their own plan, no less than the destruction of the United States and the beginning of the Fourth Reich.

The Golden Age isn’t technically a Justice Society story — when it was reprinted after the success of JSA, it had JSA added to the title — as it deals with the entire Golden Age superhero community, but characters like Alan Scott, Hourman, Johnny Thunder, Starman, and the Atom all play a big role in the story. It also shines a light on the lesser-known heroes of the day, with characters like Manhunter, Cheetah I, Captain Triumph, Tarantula, and Liberty Belle all playing crucial roles in the story. The Golden Age‘s success helped make DC see that their Golden Age heroes could be popular with the right creators, and would lead down the road to books like Starman and JSA. Robinson’s love of Golden Age DC is on display on every page, and Smith’s artwork is gorgeous. The final battle of the book is one of the best fights in comics, and this book’s twists and turns will keep you hooked from the first page to the last.

3) “Black Reign”

JSA is an amazing team book, bringing the Justice Society to a whole new generation of readers in the late ’90s and early ’00s. There are lots of excellent stories from the series’ run, but a favorite of many fans is “Black Reign”, a crossover between JSA and Hawkman. Black Adam had joined the JSA as a probationary member, but his violent ways made him the black sheep of the team. Adam decides that the JSA isn’t doing enough to save his home country of Kahndaq, so Adam recruits Atom Smasher, Northwind, Brainwave II, Alexander Montez (who had the power of Eclipso, using ritual tattoos to keep his own mind), and Nemesis to attack the brutal dictatorship that controlled the Arab nation.

The Justice Society, wanting to stall an international incident, decided to stop Adam and his group, leading to one of the team’s most desperate hours. “Black Reign”, by Geoff Johns, Don Kramer, and Rags Morales, is a high point of JSA, as the Justice Society deals with an enemy that is actually morally right but going about it in the wrong way. There are so many little twists to the story, taking it places that readers never would have guessed. This is peak Justice Society, with great writing and killer art.

2) “Princes of Darkness”

“Princes of Darkness” is the kind of story that would be a linewide crossover nowadays, and it’s the best story in JSA. Running through JSA #46-51, by Geoff Johns, David S. Goyer, Sal Valluto, and Leonard Kirk, the story is the culmination of the book’s entire run up to this point. Mordru is able to take control of the Helmet of Fate, and attacks the team, with Eclipso and Obsidian joining Mordru to throw the world into eternal darkness. The Justice Society is forced to recruit every hero they can to defeat the villainous trio, and what follows is an action-packed epic that shows off why the Justice Society is the greatest team in DC history. This is Goyer’s last story arc co-writing with Johns, and the duo pulls out all the stops for this wild ride.

1) “Thy Kingdom Come”

Kingdom Come is a DC classic, a story that reminded readers of the ’90s that DC could still put out amazing superhero stories without being influenced by the tropes of the day. In the post-Infinite Crisis days of the ’00s, Geoff Johns and Alex Ross decided to give the story a prequel/sequel called “Thy Kingdom Come”, which ran through Justice Society of America (Vol. 3) #9-22, as well as Justice Society of America Annual (Vol. 3) #1 and Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special: Superman, Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special: Magog, and Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special: The Kingdom, with artists Dale Eaglesham, Alex Ross, Fernando Pasarin, and Jerry Ordway.

This story reveals the origin of Magog, brings the Kingdom Come Superman to Earth-1, and teases the return of the pre-Crisis Earth-Two. It’s an epic story, one that gives readers the big moments they want, as well as the character-based storytelling that made Johns’s time writing the team such a blast. While it’s no longer canon — Kingdom Come Mark Waid would write his own prequel in Batman/Superman: World’s Finest a couple of years ago — it’s an awesome story that scratches that Kingdom Come itch. It’s been out of print for a while, but copies of the three collected editions that the story spans can be found.

What are your favorite Justice Society stories? Sound off in the comments below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

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