Friday, October 3, 2025

Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the JSA's "Next Generation" (All-Star Comics #58, cover date February, 1976)

All-Star Comics #58 CoverIn previous entries referencing the Justice Society of America, I've discussed how the group, which originated in the few years before World War II, fell out of favor in the years immediately after the war, but had started to make return appearances a decade or so later, especially alongside the Justice League of America. These "Crisis" appearances became an annual tradition for many years. However, it wasn't until 1975 that the industry's first super-hero team made a comeback in a comic book devoted specifically to them. In fact, All-Star Comics, the book which originally featured the JSA, itself was brought out of cancellation, with the first "next generation" issue of All-Star Comics being given issue number 58, as that would have been the next issue All-Star Comics in 1951 if DC hadn't decided to rename the whole book as "All-Star Western" (removing the JSA in favor of Western stories) with #58 at the time. 

Panel from All-Star Comics #58One of the things that made post-WWII appearances of the JSA unique from the JLA was that the JSA had been demonstrated as aging. They remained anchored to WWII while their JLA counterparts were considered the "modern" heroes of the time. Even back in 1975, this meant that the JSA was considered to be a group of older heroes, which may explain why the first new issue of All-Star Comics in nearly 25 years also featured the first appearance of the first "next generation" hero associated with them: Power Girl.

Panel from All-Star Comics #59Although I don't know his specific plans, I have every expectation that Dr. Anj of Comic Box Commentary will be doing a much more elaborate feature celebrating Power Girl's 50th anniversary than I can manage, and so I'm happy to refer readers over there for more in-depth discussion on her. That said, here are the basics: Power Girl was the Earth-2 equivalent of Supergirl. Kara Zor-L (as opposed to "Kara Zor-El") arrived on her Earth many years after her cousin Superman. But that's where the similarities end. Writer Gerry Conway (best known to me as the co-creator of Firestorm) created Power Girl to be far more strong-willed and independent than Supergirl, thus allowing for a different set of character relationships (dare I say, "conflicts"?) and story possibilities to explore.

Panel from All-Star Comics #59Power Girl joined up with Earth-2's version of Robin (grown up and no longer operating as Batman's sidekick) and the Star-Spangled Kid (still a comparatively young man thanks to some time travel shenanigans) to form what became known as the "Super Squad," which headlined even more prominently than the JSA itself at the start of All-Star Comics' revived run (silly name notwithstanding), and so the "next generation" of JSA heroes got a lot of story time devoted to them. 

This was, of course, just the beginning. In the years to come, other new characters, often the children of existing JSA characters, would be added to the ranks, many of which continue to feature in DC publications to this day. It would still be a few decades before the JSA became DC's super-team most known for having a "legacy," but the seeds were planted here. The "Super Squad" may not have been the most creative name, but it ensured that, even as DC's own editorial staff continued to struggle with how to feature the oldest heroes in their stable, the JSA would nonetheless have relevance for many years to come. Long live the JSA!


Comic book fans will already understand that cover dates typically run a couple of months ahead of when books are actually on sale. All-Star Comics #58 hit the stands on October 9, 1975, according to Mike's Amazing World of Comics, hence my decision to celebrate the 50th anniversary at this time.

For more discussion of the JSA, check out the latest episode of the DC Secret Files Podcast, on which I was a guest. It can be found at https://rolledspine.wordpress.com/2025/09/28/dc-secret-files-podcast-vol-vi-dc-universe-legacies-2/.

No comments:

Post a Comment