Few superhero teams have such a rich history as the Justice Society of America, and few know that history as well as Roy Thomas. The legendary comics scribe who brought the Golden Age of comics to the Bronze Age wrote a detailed and definitive version of it in the four-issue America vs. the Justice Society. Walk with us, BACK ISSUE readers, as we stroll through the hallowed halls of the JSA headquarters in Civic City and discuss the making of this miniseries that would change the lives of every character involved. Hurry… Hourman says time will run out soon. As the DC Universe heroes of Earth-One were preparing for a crisis, their counterparts on Earth-Two, whom said crisis would eventually affect, had their hands full with their own series of events. They began with a shocking revelation from beyond the grave. Batman, whose death was chronicled in Paul Levitz and Joe Staton’s “Only Legends Live Forever” classic in Adventure Comics #461–462, in his diary accused the Justice Society of America of treason. That allegation is the core of America vs. the Justice Society. Roy Thomas was kind enough to speak with BACK ISSUE about the 1985 miniseries. – James Heath Lantz
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James Heath Lantz
JAMES HEATH LANTZ: Can you tell the folks reading who may not be familiar with the comic what America vs. the Justice Society is, and how it came to be? ROY THOMAS: Yes, definitely. Of course, I’d already been doing a lot of reading on World War II, especially the home front, from when I was doing The Invaders and even before. But then, I’d read a fair amount of medieval history before Arak, too, just without any definite aim in mind. LANTZ: You mentioned in our discussions of Arak: Son of Thunder [in issue #121] that you and your wife Dann did a bunch of research to make it as historically accurate as possible. Was this also the case with America vs. the Justice Society? THOMAS: As accurate as possible, since once you would inject superpowered beings into history, that history will be irretrievably changed. Probably a real All-Star Squadron, Dragon King, etc., would have made history a lot more different—even if the JSA missed Pearl Harbor—by early 1942 than I allowed. Consider those alternate-history versions of World War II in prose fiction, which generally veer off considerably from real history soon after a few new elements are introduced. I felt I wanted to keep the history as close to accurate as I could. roy thomas LANTZ: In fact, I often wondered what it would be like if superheroes IMDb.com. like the JSA existed during wartime. You satisfied that curiosity in a way without going the grim-and-gritty route of Watchmen or other comics that came after America vs. the Justice Society.
Grave Allegations Accusations made in the late Batman’s diary placed DC’s original super-team in peril; detail from America vs. the Justice Society #1 (Jan. 1985). Cover by Jerry Ordway. TM & © DC Comics.
1980s DC Miniseries Issue • BACK ISSUE • 37
