7 comments on “Tape #4: The Justice Society of America”

1. Martin Gray says:

   April 23, 2025 at 1:58 pm

   Congratulations on another great episode, it’s always fun to hear the good Captain.

   I enjoyed the Earth 2 history, and yes, Martian Manhunter was always on Earth One – but let’s not forget another Captain, Adam Blake, Captain Comet, the tightiest, whiteiest of superheroes.

   It always bothered me, too, that Earth One people called themselves Earth One, when that was the second planet in terms of getting superheroes, but don’t forget, Earth Two was discovered by Barry Allen of Earth One, so he had naming rights.

   Yes, Power Girl was presented as older than Supergirl, and no, Superman’s Babysitter doesn’t come into it – the bit about Kara Zor-El being older than Kal-El, but taking longer to get to Earth was a product of the 2000s. I hate it, it’s so reductive to have Kara sent to Earth not because she was worth saving in herself, but to look after the future Superman.

   Now, you were asking why we never saw the raised-to-Olympus Wonder Woman post-Crisis. In-canon-wise, that’s explained in the Legend of Wonder Woman mini-series by Trina Robbins and Kurt Busiek. Mostly it’s a Golden Age-style flashback tale but the final pages see Aphrodite explain to Hippolyte – who began the series mourning her just-killed daughter – that a reality wave means Diana never existed. She’s been holding it back from Paradise Island but soon it would wipe everyone out, and new versions of the Amazons would rise. Hippolyta and her sisters were made into constellations, able to remember the old reality. Now, it’s not stated that Diana has vanished from Olympus but it seems fair to assume the current Olympians were being rewritten too.

   So, I think we can assume that Olympian Diana was gone, so wasn’t available to meet post-Crisis Diana when she was killed and ascended to godhood in the John Byrne run.

   Reply
   1. Captain Entropy says:

      April 26, 2025 at 9:38 am

      Thanks, Martin!

      Reply
2. Symbol Pending says:

   April 25, 2025 at 2:34 am

   Martin is, as usual, correct about Power Girl’s age, and I have receipts! In Showcase #98 (March 1978), Kara (a lovely name if I can butter up a host :D) is talking about how she travelled to Earth in a Bioship that projected a fake Krypton. During the tale, she says how she aged twenty years in the pod, and sixty years real time, as seen in this lovely full-page spread https://i.imgur.com/SJbxHGZ.png

   And as an actual fan of the Infinity Inc comics, it was eight issues with the Crisis banner, though there’s also #30 after the JSA get Ragnoroked, and a personal favourite #27 where Fury has a breakdown from coming from an earth that no longer exists.

   Oh and that Bryne issue where he tries to fix Superboy being in the Legion through Time Trapper shenanigans, that was my personal first taste of the Crisis and the Post Crisis universe in general!

   Reply
3. Captain Entropy says:

   April 26, 2025 at 9:44 am

   This was a blast to do, and I hope Doug, DC Dave, and all the listeners enjoyed it as much as I did. Thanks again for having me on the show, guys!

   I do feel I have to make one additional point, however: Doug, you are funny. I don’t care what Dave and your family tell you. I laughed out loud at your jokes while listening and should have done so on the show. I think I was distracted by trying to keep up with the rapid fire banter, but I thought you were funny at the time. Dave is funny too, of course, but he isn’t always beating himself up about it.

   I look forward to talking with you both again and even seeing you both in person (presumably at Publix)! It’s ironic that the one I’ve met in meatspace is not the one who lives within an hour and a half.

   Reply
4. Anj says:

   April 27, 2025 at 7:35 am

   Great show and wonderful look at the JSA in Crisis. Obviously their team is the most impacted by the eventual ending of the Crisis. But throughout this comic, they are leaders, teachers, mentors.

   It is hard to reconcile the age of Power Girl and Supergirl at this point. I think PG remains older but by just a couple of years. Sure, Supergirl feels like she is 15 in her first appearance and PG feels like 24 in hers. But by this time, SG has grown up in her own comic, graduating college and being an established hero. I think that 10ish year gap has decreased considerably.

   If I had to think which JSAers increased in prominence after the Crisis, I think Jay Garrick gets the biggest bump. With Barry dead and Wally ascending, Jay becomes the mentor. His role in the eventual Wally Flash book is huge. Perhaps after Jay, Dr. Fate gets a big bump, becoming a primary magic-wielder in the DCU. That is probably made easier with him not having a E1 counterpart.

   Thanks for the #JSApril entry!

   Reply
5. The Irredeemable Shag says:

   July 20, 2025 at 11:07 pm

   Hey Dave and Doug! I’m woefully behind on my podcast listening, but had some recent road trips that provided me the opportunity to catch up on some.

   Tape 4 with Captain Entropy was an absolute delight! I’m always thrilled to hear folks discuss the JSA, so this was a special treat. Thank you for the excellent insight and discussion. JSApril was lucky to have your show as a participant!

   Keep up the great work and can’t wait for additional episodes!

   Reply
6. Bucky749 says:

   September 7, 2025 at 2:13 pm

   As I’m doing a event of my in September brave and bold month and we my brother decided the whole flash family is in and I’ve already covered golden ages flash issue 1 and sliver age flash 123 . I feel I need to pull a page from the doctor book . And I do mean doctor who . A time travel . Most excellent show . And party on dudes . My brother is big fan of the bill and Ted movies .
   My favorite JSA members are the sliver age atom , Johnny thunder , Dr midnight, the golden age flash and hawk man .
   Did you know hawk man taught several JSA members to talk to birds including the al prat .
   And Johnny thunder was once a member of the navy .

   Reply