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Shotgun Reviews presents:
The
Team Concept, Part 1:
The JSA
by: Troy Brownfield
The word
"team" gets thrown around far too casually anymore. We have
athletic teams, academic teams and so on. Every time you do
a project at the office, you belong to a team. People always
say, "We're a team." The actual definition of team is "a group
organized to work together". In the literal sense, those previous
designations would be correct.
Still,
there's something intangible and almost magickal about a team
that really works. Think about the way that John Stockton
seamlessly threads a pass to Karl Malone; the other players
may be on a team, but those two are a team. Maybe we seek
to build teams because our society encourages companionship
over isolation. Maybe we seek to build them because we are
aware of our weaknesses and want to find others that complement
us. And maybe there's just something innately powerful about
a group of people surveying an accomplished task and being
able to survey it together.
Whatever
the team concept means in the end, the two best examples of
it in comics are the Justice Society of America and the Justice
League of America from DC Comics. Arising out of very particular
times, yet still popular today, these two groups represent
a modern-day interpretation of the heroic pantheons of old.
These two landmark groups have inspired dozens after them.
I will examine several of these groups, beginning with the
JSA, following with the JLA, the Avengers, The Defenders,
The X-Men and ending with The Authority.
The Justice
Society saw its beginnings in All-Star Comics. War was overtaking
the world, and the popular imagination of America had been
captured by a pair of heroes that were only a couple of years
old. Superman and Batman were driving comic book sales to
unprecedented levels. As a matter of course, other heroes
were created as well. It wasn't long before the JSA was born.
On one
level, the idea of the JSA was a promotional tool. Superman
and Batman were not founding members; rather, the team was
being used to push the profile of the other characters. However,
I tend to think that something was brewing on a subconscious
level. The JSA was assembled to defeat threats that were larger
than any one member. This fictional imperative mirrored the
real life assemblage of Allies gathered to drive back the
Axis menace. There is a message deeper in those early stories,
one that runs deeper than "Buy war bonds!" Somehow, the writers
and artists understood that to make the world a better place,
it's going to take people of diverse skills and backgrounds
all coming together as one unit. As one society.
Looking
at the membership of the JSA, you can easily identify where
many of the super-hero team clichés began. There was a flier
(Hawkman), a speedster (The Flash), the strongman (Hourman
or the Atom), the masked mystery man (The Sandman), the masked
mystery man with a secret (Dr. Mid-Nite, who was blind), the
somewhat frightening mystical character (Dr. Fate or the Spectre),
the capable heroine (Wonder Woman or Black Canary) and the
hero with the amazing weapon from either science (Starman)
or sorcery (Green Lantern or Johnny Thunder). Each one fulfilled
a function. The team members might split up for certain cases,
but they would always reassemble for the victory. And though
their powers and abilities may have reflected the gods of
Greece and Rome, the idea that there was a need for everyone's
skills was one of the hearts of the American war effort.
The JSA
comic eventually dwindled down in sales after the war until
the feature was canceled. I like to think that it was an inward
naiveté that killed the title; people didn't understand that
teams of heroes really would be needed to save the world.
On every level.
Recently,
the JSA has returned, and I think comics is better for it.
They're the oldest team, and deserving of respect. The very
name recalls a simpler time when there was one large menace
threatening the world instead of more diffuse dangers that
are harder to name. Even though their return has the makings
of a long and successful series, there is another super-team
that really owned the '90s (despite the fact that they were
created in the '60s), and they were the direct descendant
of the JSA.
In Part
2, I'll examine the impact of the JLA from their first
appearance to the present.
Troy
Brownfield works for a publishing company in Indianapolis.
He wishes that Kenner would use some of that Star Wars money
and crank out some comic shop-direct JSA figures. He really
wants an Hourman figure, and gets really irritated when the
lack of mass market Golden Age collectibles comes up. He's
going to have a glass of chocolate milk now. Thank you.
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