Twelve Days of Comic Book Christmas: Day Five!

I grew up a Marvel guy in terms of comic books. I liked DC's Batman, Superman and The Flash, but that was about it. That is until I picked up DC's JSA at the urging of many, many people. I was immediately hooked and because of the book's emphasis on legacies, it helped me branch out and discover the rest of the DC Universe. So, while I may have been mostly a Marvel kid, I became a DC adult!

With that being said, today's entry in our countdown comes from the very book that put DC on my mental map!

JSA #55

"Be Good for Goodness Sake"

February 2004

Writer: Geoff Johns

Artist: Leonard Kirk

For the uninitiated, J.S.A. stands for Justice Society of America. They were actually the first super hero team, debuting in All-Star Comics #3 in the Winter of 1940. The original roster consisted of the original Flash, the original Green Lantern, Spectre, Sandman, Hour-Man, Doctor Fate, the Atom and Hawkman. Each of these characters had their own book or shared books at two different companies, DC Comics and All-American Publications.

Across the years of its publication, there have been multiple incarnations of the team and definitely mix-ups in continuity (it's DC Comics, duh). In my opinion, we didn't get a real stable team until this volume, which debuted in 1999. Many of the members of this incarnation are legacies, but there are many of originals still present.

And that's what we have in this issue, which begins with old-school members Alan Scott (Green Lantern), Wildcat (Ted Grant), Hawkman (Carter Hall) and Jay Garrick (The Flash) on their way for an annual Christmas Eve visit with a friend in New Hampshire.

Elsewhere, Santa Claus stops his car to help a stranded motorist and her children. Consequently, Santa ends up being late for his appointment at the mall.

But, this is comic books, so the worst thing to happen couldn't just be Santa being late to his mall job! That's right, some robbers show up at the mall wearing Santa masks. They demand the money of all the parents standing in line to see Santa, but someone sounds the robbery alarm. Desperate, they change their plan and decide to take hostages! Santa's having none of it and, fortunately, the JSA show up just in time!

The JSA do their thing and take down ALMOST all the bad guys. One of them gets away, but an unlikely hero steps in:

Not only is the mall Santa not a HE, it's the original Red Tornado, Ma Hunkle! Ma originally debuted in All-American Comics #3 in 1939 and has a history with the JSA and its characters. Here, though, she's just taking care of business!

After the mix-up at the mall, the guys and Ma head back to her place for some food and reminiscing. Ma explains how she was forced into retirement and hiding years ago after revealing her true identity in order to testify against a crime family. Jay reveals to her that she need no longer hide because the last member of that family recently died.

They invite her back to the JSA's brownstone in order to help take care of the place and its members; to offer some veteran guidance. 

The issue ends on a touching note with Ma's Red Tornado costume taking its place amongst the other famous JSA-ers in the trophy room while Ma herself takes her place amongst the JSA group as den mother.

THIS is the DC Comics I love. The emphasis on family and legacy was a staple of the DC Universe prior to the New 52. It really set DC apart from Marvel and the other guys. While the idea of the legacy character had been around a long time in the DC Universe (Infinity, Inc, Mark Waid's The Flash, etc), Geoff Johns managed to capture the lightning in a bottle and his JSA run is the ultimate expression of it.

I cannot say enough good things about it. I miss it terribly.