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Officially, the first squad of superheroes ever to run in comics is the Justice Society of America. First appearing in "The First Meeting of the Justice Society of America" by Gardner Fox and Everett E. Hibbard in 1940's All-Star Comics #3, the team Alan Scott's Green Lantern, Jay Garrick's Flash, Hawkman, Doctor Fate, Spectre, the Atom, and the Sandman made up the team's starting line-up. Their origin tale would not surface until Paul Levitz and Joe Staton's DC Special #29, when the heroes initially gather to stop Adolf Hitler upon acquiring the Spear of Destiny then choose to stay a team.
Their popularity peaked during the Golden Era of DC Comics, but DC decided it was time for a change when the general popularity of superhero comics started to wain. DC would produce parallels for some of the JSA members at the start of the Silver Age: Barry Allen for The Flash and Hal Jordan for the Green Lantern, then assembling them into a new super-team: the Justice League of America. With them in canon, existing on Earth-Two, the later disappearance of the JSA would be explained away with Earth-One belonging to the JLA.
All things considered, particularly considering their position as the original super-team in comic book history, one could question why the Justice Society of America isn't already the top team of DC, particularly during its new DCU period. During their big status-quotational event, Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, the JSA was little used. The JSA has been appropriated in popularity and importance for decades by the JLA; now that the Justice League is stepping back, the Titans have been selected to spearhead the DC Universe instead of the JSA.
Readers of today are quite different from those who originally came across the JSA in the 1940s, and as such, they aren't as engaged in their exploits or ideas.
DC started resurrecting the Justice Society of America once more in 2022, this time for an endeavor best summed as the New Golden Age. This project was started to permanently alter DC's official continuity as well as to update several JSA heroes throughout several series. The show put under that umbrella attained exactly that, even reinterpreting the justification for include some members. Alan Scott: The Green Lantern, for example, revealed that J. Edgar Hoover threatened to publicly expose the title character if he didn't cooperate, therefore forcing Scott to join the team.
Based on Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #6, a real bond would develop from Scott's involvement and the JSA members would finally back Scott in countering Hoover's threats. That is only one instance, though, of how the New Golden Age initiative both updated the JSA for contemporary viewers and effectively added to DC's larger legacy. A major factor contributing to the declining popularity of the JSA is, as will be covered later, their characterizations and values are so anchored in a bygone age. Changing them now will help to increase the lifetime of maybe DC's most valuable super-team.
Move over, Justice League, the Justice Society of America might have made a case to be elevated on the DC super-team pedestal. DC Comics has been highlighting them through three miniseries—Justice Society of America, Jay Garrick: The Flash, and most recently, Alan Scott: The Green Lantern—over the past year or two, in a sort of Golden Age initiative project.
It is clearer than ever who is the better team between the Justice Society of America and the Justice League with Tim Sheridan and Cian Tormey's ending of Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #6. The JSA's popularity was always limited by its historical context, but all three of these miniseries made great effort to modernize the JSA for DC readers of today.
Now that the Justice Society of America has been shaped to match the DC Universe, where do they go from here, particularly following the end of their present self-titled continuous series? Giving the JSA, as a team, a clear responsibility inside the DCU that distinguishes them from the Titans would be the wisest course of action given the Titans already heading the DCU. As a team of current/former criminals, the Suicide Squad's mission is also to probe secret operations. Their existence is justified as it is in a manner the Titans cannot.
They just differ; they don't necessarily have to be a bigger or better squad than the Titans.
By doing this, these publications rebranded the JSA to be just as potent as - if not more than - the Justice League.
The JSA is always in the background for the same reason the JLA replaced them years past: the JSA became old news. This is a fact that has even been gently admitted within this New Golden Age. Huntress notes in 2022's Justice Society of America #1 by Geoff Johns and Mikel Janín that "the legacies of the JSA haven't been taken up as quickly as they have in the past." Remembering the time passed since the JSA originally established almost a century ago, Huntress notes Readers of today are quite different from those who originally came across the JSA in the 1940s, and as such, they aren't as engaged in their exploits or ideas.
The New Golden Age exists to spin a team developed 84 years ago into contemporary ethics, politics, and conflicts. Although this project has managed to do just that without compromising the fundamental basis of whoever any of these great characters are, it is a big job on paper.
The Justice Society of America requires a unique position that sets them apart from other DC Universe heroes. Maybe once their continuous series ends, that role will be evident. But when that series concludes, it could provide a clearer goal as to what kind of missions the JSA can do different from what the Titans are doing. They only differ; they do not necessarily have to be a better or larger squad than the Titans. On the other hand, the New Golden Age project has effectively positioned the Justice Society of America in a more prominent light than the JLA is currently.
Currently on sale from DC Comics, Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #6
Originally created in the 1940s, the DC Comics superhero team The Justice Society of America combined several heroes across DC Comics' continuity. New members have been cycled in and out of the team over the decades and in contemporary JSA relaunches; heroes such Stargirl, Cyclone, Wildcat, and Atom Smasher have joined the ranks.