Superman- JSA Legacies Project Special #JSApril
What is JSApril?
The Justice Society of America made their debut in All-Star Comics #3 in 85 years ago. In celebration, the folks over at Fire and Water Podcasting Network have assembled bloggers, podcasters, and many more creators to honor the world’s first superhero team. Find the full list of participants and more over at Fire and Water Network’s webpage and I truly encourage you all to check out some of the amazing things people have been creating.
For JSApril, I have decided to contribute my art skills to honor the team that means a lot to me. Alongside the X-Men, the Justice Society is my favorite superhero team. The main things I love about the team is that they are a family. As much as they may bicker and squabble, at the end of the day they love and respect each other. While I typically post an original JSA member alongside their notable legacy character, today I am going to post the first of a few special pieces celebrating those JSA members without notable legacy characters in the Justice Society.
Since today is Superman Day, its as good time as any to celebrate the first Superhero ever- Superman!
Superman (Earth-2)
While Superman was technically a member of the JSA in All-Star Comics #3, he rarely was seen on the page with the JSA. In large part due to the rule that characters with their own title would not be on the JSA. That said, in Earth-2 continuity, Superman (born Kal-L) was a member of the Justice Society. Superman of Earth-2 is very similar to his mainstream counterpart but typically presented as an older version of Superman. His most notable stories came in the Mr. and Mrs. Superman features of the Superman Family comic series, Crisis on Infinite Earths, and Infinite Crisis. Superman of Earth-2’s role in both Crisis is one of the most compelling things I find about the character. In Crisis, Kal-L is a major player, even landing the killing blow on the Anti-monitor. Kal-L and his wife Lois departure for the pocket universe at the end of Crisis is one of my favorite comic scenes ever.
Infinite Crisis undoes that tender ending and casts Kal-L as a backwards looking fool. He does redeem himself in the final fight against Superboy Prime, but I do wish Geoff Johns kept Kal-L and company in their happy ending. Oh well there’s no such thing as a happy ending in comics.
The Process
For these special characters, I wanted to use the full canvas instead of just splitting it into two like the norm. This started pretty well. I’ve draw a lot of Superman #1 homages over the years. The ellipse cut out was a bit more of a challenge as I don’t have a stencil or a free moving curve tool. The lettering was me hand-lettering without a ruler. Hindsight, I should have use the ruler, but lessons learned.
Closing Thoughts
Kal-L was originally a way to explain why Golden Age Superman was different from the then-current Silver Age Superman. I loved his original ending in Crisis and I do wish they kept him and Lois happy. The ending did an amazing job bringing close the elements of Superman that wasn’t going to make it Post-Crisis with both Kal-L and Superboy-Prime going away. It was editorially mandated but DAMN IT Marv Wolfman and George Pérez killed it.
Join me next time as we return to our original programing with a look at the Miraclo wonder Hour Man and his legacy.
Social Media
You can follow along with JSApril all of the other creators on social media with #JSApril. You can always find me here or over on Bluesky and I contribute weekly to The Beat. If you are new here be sure to check out out the archives. Personally, I’m quiet proud of my History of Heroes Reborn posts. You can see my other JSApril posts here.
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