And Justice for Some
Justice League America #100
Writer: Gerard Jones
Penciller: Chuck Wojtkiewicz
Inker: Bob Dvorak
Colorist: Gene D'Angelo
Penciller: Chuck Wojtkiewicz
Inker: Bob Dvorak
Colorist: Gene D'Angelo
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When one thinks of the Justice League, one thinks of the most recognizable DC heroes: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman. And for two decades, that was the team, give or take a few members.
But since the 1980s, the team has been more often comprised of one or two of the heavy hitters and a cast of lesser-knowns. It started in the mid-1980s with the "Detroit" era, in which Aquaman and Martian Manhunter headed up a group of newcomers including Vibe and Vixen. In 1987, following Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new team emerged. The soft reboots of Superman and Wonder Woman led to a team that was anchored by Batman and Martian Manhunter. They were joined by a colorful array of B-listers such as Booster Gold, Dr. Light, and Mister Miracle. A bit later they were joined by a second team in their own title, Justice League Europe. This one had Wonder Woman and Flash teamed up with the likes of Captain Atom, Metamorpho, and Power Girl.
As a kid, my main exposure to the JLA had been the Super Friends show. When I started collecting comics, the title was in the death throes of the DeMatteis / Giffen era and was too impenetrable for me to jump into. Luckily, a 1992 relaunch cleared the slate and brought on new members and creative teams, and I was there for it. With a couple of brief exceptions, I haven't stopped collecting Justice League comics since.
The innovation of the Detroit era, as maligned as it has become, is that it made the case that the League didn't have to be all the heavy hitters. It could still be the Justice League with a couple of big names and an assortment of lesser-knowns. And then the Giffen/DeMatteis era showed that not only could it work, it might just be preferrable.
Marvel had already discovered the same thing with the Avengers. When a book's cast consists of 90% characters that have their own titles, the writer is beholden to whatever is going on in the solo books. Not only do they have to reflect the current status quo (costumes, powers, relationships, etc.), but they can't make any major changes themselves. But when your team is full of characters that are exclusive to the title, you have a lot more freedom.
The cast of Justice League America as the title reached #100 was a mixture of disparate characters, a mashup of three separate teams. As of issue #0 (September 1994) the team has defeated the Overmaster, but the JLA has dissolved. Wonder Woman has taken possession of the Overmaster's ship, the Refuge, a sprawling structure full of advanced technology and the sole survivors of several alien races. She puts out an open call for members. Fire carried over with Wonder Woman from the main team, and they were joined by Flash, Crimson Fox, and Metamorpho from Justice League International. Hawkman, a Justice Leaguer of yore, returned to the team, though he wasn't exactly the same character as before (Hawkman has one of the most confusing backstories in comics). And, most intrigugingly, Obsidian and Nuklon, from the defunct 1980s Justice Society legacy team Infinity Inc., made the jump to the big Leagues.
Later, Artemis, Ice Maiden, and Blue Devil - all brand new to League membership - would join. This line-up was mix of personalities and experience levels, and had a good number of heroes that were exclusive to the title. Only Wonder Woman, Flash, and Hawkman had their own books at the time, and for the most part they are not given a whole lot to do. There are glancing mentions of developments in their own titles, including the Flash's increased powers and Wonder Woman's short-lived new costume (one that looks like she wandered off the set of a Madonna video). But for the most part the focus is on the lesser-knowns. Nuklon even acknowledged this in issue #113: "It's funny," he reflected, "When Wonder Woman and the others showed up...wasn't it almost like they were part of a different league? Those world-class heroes wieth their big powers."
Through 22 character-driven, idiosyncratic issues, Jones and Wojkiewicz sent their team on a rollercoaster: They pitted the JLA against the disembodied mind of their svengali, Maxwell Lord; they introduced a team of assassins called the Elite; they solved the mystery of Power Girl's immaculate conception; they brought back El Diablo; and they introduced a new hero, the werecat Civet. As far as Justice League runs go, it ranks up there with the most intriguing.
In many ways, the stories explore the ramifications of trauma. Fire is reeling from the death of her best friend, Ice. Metamorpho is on a rage-filled quest to find the killer of his lover, Vivian, while her twin sister, Constance, sublimates her grief by taking on the role of the Crimson Fox. Jones tried to balance this heaviness by casting Nuklon and Obsidian as a comedy team of sorts, with the former brimming with the optimism and the latter constantly gloomy. But even this takes a dark turn when Obsidian sense of abandonment and self-loathing culminates in a suicide attempt.
One of the big innovations of the title was its forward-thinking treatment of gender and sexuality. One of the alien survivors on the Refuge is the Yazz, a diminutive pterodactyl-like creature who becomes sort of a team mascot. When Flash realizes he doesn't know Yazz's gender, the creature has fun tweaking the scarlet speedster's need to know. Ice Maiden is romantically interested in both women and men, though doesn't want to be labeled as bisexual. And when Crimson Fox tells Nuklon she always assumed he and Obsidian were a couple, the following exchange occurs.
Later, Nuklon tells Obsidian he loves him back, and accepts him no matter what. And after this series ended, writer Marc Andreyko would pick up on the thread of Todd's sexuality and have him come out as gay. He was one of the first DC heroes to identify as LGBTQ+.
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Chuck Wojkiewicz had a brief but bright career in comics. A native of Hillsborough, North Carolina, Woj became involved with Artamus Studios which featured pros such as Mike Wieringo, Jeff Parker, and Dave Johnson. After some work at independent companies in the late 1980s, Woj arrived at the Big Two pencilling the Impact titles The Jaguar, The Crusaders, and Crucible. He moved over to Justice League from there, partnerting with Jones on ten issues of Justice League International before their JLA run.
Justice League America would turn out to be Woj's last major work at DC. He'd do an Imperial Guard miniseries at Marvel before leaving the comics business to do freelance toy, game, and concept design for dozens of major companies. Though I assume this change was willing and has brought him happiness, it's the comics world's loss. His style was detailed, exaggerated, expressive, and cartoony, all without sacrificing storytelling. Like Wieringo and Parobeck, he was a welcome beacon in a ocean filled with Liefeld-and-Lee imitators. I would have loved to see him draw every character at both companies.
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Gerard Jones, meanwhile, is a troubling figure, so much so that I hesitated to include his work in this project. In 2016 Jones was arrested by San Fransisco police on suspicion of distributing child pornography. He initially insisted he was innocent, but as the evidence mounted he pled guilty and was sentenced to six years in prison.
It was a shocking developement to comics fans and pros who knew Jones as a '90s journeyman-turned-comics-historian. After growing up in California, Jones worked for the Harvard Lampoon and parlayed that into an action-comedy series for Malibu Comics called The Trouble With Girls. In 1989 he moved over to DC, working on El Diablo with Mike Parobeck. This led to work on Green Lantern, as well as well-recieved miniseries for Martain Manhunter, Elongated Man, and Batman. He also wrote Wonder Man over at Marvel and co-created Prime and Freex for the Ultraverse. After leaving superhero comics behind Jones worked for Viz Media, where he worked on the first English adaptations of manga such as Dragon Ball Z and Ranma 1/2. In 2004 he published one of the best regarded histories of superhero comics, Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book.
Jones was a sort of character actor of comics writers; though I didn't make a point to follow his work, it seems like I read nearly all of it. As writer Elle Collins put it,"during his tenure in comics he did some of the best superhero work of that era, and left behind an impression on the characters he wrote that has affected everything that came after." So hearing about his heinous proclivities was a gut-punch. I still struggle with what to do with his work. On one hand it's impossible to read his writing without doing so through the lens of his crimes. At the same time, there is almost no hint of it anywhere in his work; only the teen body horror of Prime and Freex gets close. I also have some empathy knowing that quite often a person who commits child abuse was likely at one point a victim themselves.
I guess that's why I've never removed his work from my collection. And in a way it's academic. I've already bought the comics, and he's not doing anything new. In fact, his fate in superhero comics was very apt. His run on Justice League America was his swan song, as he was unceremoniously removed in favor of the splashy and very popular JLA reboot by Grant Morrison and Howard Porter. It was the second time Jones' careful work had been swept aside in favor of something brigher and flashier; Jones was the writer on Green Lantern before Kyle Rayner took over.
Even so, his and Wojkiewicz created something that can stand as a blueprint for how to do the Justice League right.
Sources:
Collins, Elle. "Unsung Hero of the '90s: A Celebration of Gerard Jones." Comics Alliance. July 11, 2016. https://comicsalliance.com/tribute-gerard-jones/
Speelman, Tom. "Gerard Jones and Dealing with the Legacy of Predators In Comics." Comic Book Resources. August 31, 2018. https://www.cbr.com/gerard-jones-legacy-predators-in-comics/
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