Superman in the Justice Society of America

I, for one, am thrilled that the Kingdom Come Superman has become a part of the JSA. I recently finished issues 10 and 11 and it seems like the old days. The JSA has an older, wiser, graying-around-the-temples Superman.

It's like back when I was reading the annual JLA/JSA crossovers, the revived All-Star Comics of the 70s, and the original Infinity Inc. Things seem right with the world when the JSA has a Superman. This might be as close as we get to having a Golden Age Superman around.

The Eaglesham/Jose art team are certainly doing him justice. This is exactly how a mature man of steel ought to be drawn. And they're doing a great job with Power Girl too--another Kryptonian survivor, albeit of another Krypton.

Will Power Girl and the Kingdom Come Superman manage to be like family? Can it be that this Superman's earth has really been destroyed? What a double tragedy losing both his planet or origin and his adopted planet. Power Girl can certainly relate having survived the loss of her Krypton as well as her adopted earth, the original Earth-Two. The Kingdom Come Superman reminds her of her own late Kryptonian cousin.

So what is the future for these two? We did learn in the final issues of 52 that there is an Earth 2 in the new multiverse, similar to the pre-crisis Earth-Two. And this new Earth 2's Superman and Power Girl are missing.

The newer Earth 2 is similar to the original, even with its own JSA whose roster includes Robin and the Huntress. In Justice Society of America #11, while on the cosmic treadmill, the two Flashes caught a glimpse of Robin and the Huntress. Was this Dick Grayson and Helena Wayne? Could Power Girl and the Kingdom Come Superman possibly find their place on the new Earth 2? I wonder.

Comments

[Mark Engblom]

Great post, Doc! I, too, love the Golden Age Superman, and often felt that same "presence" when I was reading Kingdom Come, and I'm quite happy to see that version of Superman make the jump to the mainstream DCU. It's still not entirely clear what Geoff Johns has in mind for KC Supes, but I agree, he's certainly a worthy "replacement" for the departed Earth-2 Superman (who died a really pathetic death, I must say).

I just love the "gravitas" of the character, which speaks well of his maturity, experience, and pathos.

[Dr. Retro]

Mark,

Thanks for commenting. I agree with your comments completely regarding the KC Man of Steel. Your last sentence sums it up well.

I also agree about the death of the Golden Age Superman. In Infinite Crisis, when he looked on with his Lois and Superboy Prime at what the "DC Universe" had become, I was lamenting right along with these homeless heroes, but with hopes that with the "dark" ages of the 90s behind us, comics might become fun again. And they are to some extent, but IMO DC still has a ways to go.