We chat with the artist about the JSA and why they belong in the same universe as Justice League Unlimited.
Welcome to Creator Corner, our recurring interview series in which we chat with the coolest and most thought-provoking creators in the industry. In this entry, we're conversing with Jeff Lemire about JSA. Listen to the unedited audio HERE.
Not sure if you've picked up on this, but Comic Book Couples Counseling has gone all-in on DC's All In initiative. Honestly, we haven't been this excited about a line-wide retooling since The New 52, and that's so damn exciting. Comics are out here being COMICS, and that's primarily due to the incredible rosters the publisher has assembled for their titles. Jeff Lemire and Diego Olortegui on JSA? You don't have to twist our arms. We're nabbing this book.
It's been too long since we've had a Justice League of America book on the stands at the same time as a Justice Society of America book. Can the market withstand it? We shall see, but Jeff Lemire is determined to deliver something in JSA that you can't get in Justice League Unlimited: internal, generational conflict. As children and grandchildren of military folks, we understand how conflict resolution philosophies have drastically altered in the last eighty or so years. This tension vibrates throughout JSA's first issue and sparks tremendous curiosity about what's ahead for these Golden Age heroes.
Jeff Lemire is also writing the upcoming Absolute Flash comic. Of course, we had to pry into his plans for Wally West and discuss what that book offers him that JSA does not. He can't say much about the future, but some juicy teases are below.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
Jeff Lemire: JSA vs. JLA
Brad: During a time when the Justice League is going Unlimited, what's the purpose of having the Justice Society of America?
Jeff Lemire: Yeah. Well, I mean, the Justice League and the Justice Society to me are very different. The League is very much a proactive team. Whereas, the Society isn't so much a superhero team as it is this family, and this legacy of multiple generations of heroes living together, learning from each other. It's not all about action, going on missions, and protecting the DC Universe, but it's about showing a younger generation how to do it. So, they each definitely have their own purpose. I know what Mark and Dan will do in JLU is very different from what we're doing in JSA.
To me, the DC Universe has always been at its best when those two teams, the JLA and JSA, are both really strong. And it's been a while since we've had that. I guess pre-New 52. Things haven't lined up for quite a while to have both those teams going simultaneously.
Brad: Your first issue establishes that this book will be about a family with all the joys and problems that come with that.
Jeff Lemire: I mean, there are some really cool family dynamics going on in the book. The book's heart for me is this relationship between Jade and Obsidian, brother and sister, who are also the children of Alan Scott, the Green Lantern. So you have that at the center of the book right away. And then you also have Jesse Quick and Hour Man who are married.
You have all these different dynamics within the team to play with that are fun. Writing a superhero team book can sometimes be very challenging, as it requires giving each character enough story and getting deep into them. And as I explored the family dynamics within the group, it dawned on me that I should treat this less like a superhero team book and more like an ensemble drama. Certain issues might focus on one or two characters only.
It was giving up this need to have all the characters in every issue. Once you do that, it frees you up to really go deep into the different dynamics, different relationships within the team. I feel that's what also makes it unique from something like the Justice League, where we can get into that kind of stuff, as well as the interpersonal drama and dynamics of the team.
Jeff Lemire: The Golden Age JSA vs. Today
Brad: And the Jade and Obsidian relationship in this one is extra complicated, which we won't talk about too much. The way it's presented at the beginning of the issue, this generational conflict that is happening within the children, is "Our parents believed this and we represent that," and then the other child saying, "Yeah, but that's outdated."
Jeff Lemire: Yeah, totally.
Brad: Can you talk about that particular conflict?
Jeff Lemire: There's a schism. There are multiple schisms within the team when we start. First of all, you have the younger generation of heroes present and trying to keep the JSA going. The older generation, Jay Garrick, Alan Scott, Ted Grant, and a couple others are missing in action, and we don't know why yet, but obviously that will be revealed. So, this younger generation is reeling and trying to figure out the best way to keep things together and keep it moving. Within that, you have two groups. Jade, and her team within the team, believes in continuing the legacy of what her father and the older JSA members have done. She's trying to keep that flame going. And then you have Obsidian, Wildcat, and a couple others wanting to be more proactive and more aggressive. What they see as more modern to reflect the modern world, and obviously there's a lot of conflict there between those two groups.
Brad: Why was it necessary to explore that particular type of conflict in JSA?
Jeff Lemire: Well, these are some of the first superheroes ever created. They go right back to the 1940s, the Golden Age of comic books and superheroes. So, one of the questions I had when I took the job, and was trying to think of what I wanted to do with it, was like, what are the values and the beliefs of the Golden Age? What do they mean mean in 2024, 80 years later or whatever? And that became central to something I wanted to explore. Are the beliefs and the core values of this original JSA still viable in the modern world? And obviously not everyone would think they are. I thought that conflict and exploration were interesting.
Brad: As a grandchild of a D-Day survivor, I think about this a lot. I think about the Greatest Generation. I think about the Good War, where we are now, and what my grandfather would think of where we are now. How much Jeff Lemire is in this angle? Or does it only extend from the JSA assignment?
Jeff Lemire: Well, I mean obviously any writer, any creative person is going to bring stuff from their life into whatever they're doing. It's tricky. I wanted to take myself out of this book as much as possible. I wanted it to feel like a classic Justice Society comic. I wanted to pay homage to these characters and their history and their legacy. I didn't want something that was loaded with my opinions and personality quite as much. I wanted it to reflect those characters. When you take characters from the forties and put them in a modern setting, you have to reflect that and you have to see how they react to it and stuff.
So yeah, maybe it's not me bringing my opinions in and throwing them at the reader; maybe I'm trying to remove myself from it as much as possible. I just let the characters react the way they would, rather than how I would.
Jeff Lemire: JSA vs. Absolute Flash
Brad: Sure, sure. You're also working on Absolute Flash. What does exploring that character and that new pocket universe give you that the JSA doesn't?
Jeff Lemire: Well, in a lot of ways, the two jobs are almost the exact opposite. In JSA, you have a book with a massive cast of characters, and what makes them so unique and important is the history and the legacy. In Absolute Flash, you're starting from scratch. One thing we're doing in Absolute Flash - it's still a ways off, so we won't spoil it too much. One thing we're doing is removing the sense of legacy from the Flash. So, in the regular DC universe, you have a whole lineage of Flash from Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, Wally West, and onward. In the Absolute universe, our Wally West is the only Flash whoever was. He's starting fresh, everything's new.
We're removing all that history and all that legacy from the character. So, really they're totally opposite, which is good because you want two projects that aren't overlapping and you can do different things with them. Yeah, I think they each come with their challenges. However, for the JSA, the challenge is working with such a huge cast and trying to give them all room to shine. With Flash, every month, you're focusing on the same character. They are very different books to write, and very different tones to them as well.
Brad: And does working in the Absolute realm feel as exciting to you as a creator as it does for the readers? There's so much anticipation for these new books.
Jeff Lemire: I hope so. Yeah. I mean, it's very exciting to me because you're untethered. You can have so much freedom to build. I know I'm working with Scott Snyder, Jason Aaron, Kelly Thompson, and everything, but we still have so much freedom within our own little corners of this new universe to do whatever we want and build something new. And it's hard not to get excited by that potential and get lost in it a little bit, and hopefully, that translates to the readers.
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