Geoff Johns to do Justice Society Episode on Smallville!

[Christopher]

^Again, why bother? Why does WWII need to be brought in at all? The only reason is that it's what the original comics did and therefore the modern comics that pretend to be in the same continuity need to rationalize the time discrepancy. But for a new story in a separate continuity, there's no reason to associate the JSA with WWII. Especially given that we're talking about Smallville, a CW show aimed at young-adult viewers. For this show's target audience, WWII is ancient history. If the show's version of the JSA was associated with any war, it'll probably be Vietnam. But I don't see any need to tie them in to a particular wartime era at all.

[Mr Light]

I've only read a few JSA comics but I've always associated them with WWII. To me that's what defines them. To put them in a different war would just feel wrong to me. Nothing tops WWII. It was the ultimate story of human history. Korea? Vietnam? Gulf War I/II? Just doesn't feel right. But I guess in a CW world where there was no original generation of super-heroes it doesn't really matter... sad.

[Greg Cox]

Christopher wrote:

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^Again, why bother? Why does WWII need to be brought in at all? The only reason is that it's what the original comics did and therefore the modern comics that pretend to be in the same continuity need to rationalize the time discrepancy. But for a new story in a separate continuity, there's no reason to associate the JSA with WWII. Especially given that we're talking about Smallville, a CW show aimed at young-adult viewers. For this show's target audience, WWII is ancient history. If the show's version of the JSA was associated with any war, it'll probably be Vietnam. But I don't see any need to tie them in to a particular wartime era at all.

Oh, yeah, I'd ditch the WW II angle, too. That's dated and unnecessary. I'm just saying it might be easier to bring the JSA in from another Earth than to try to retcon an entire previous generation of superheroes into the world of SMALLVILLE. That doesn't mean you have to drag in World World II, Infinite Crises, or any of that stuff. "We're from a parallel Earth where superheroes are a proud tradition . . . ."

Think "Flash of Two Worlds," which was pretty simple story, really, than, say, CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS . . .

[Donald Draper]

How many of the stories from the actual 30s and 40s dealt with WWII? I doubt that many. I know with Superman it was rare, usually only on the covers. Even Siegel and Shuster's speculative "How Superman Would End the War" was published in LOOK MAGAZINE not any Superman titles. Having the JSA stories heavily involving the War was a retroactive choice to distinguish them from the JLA.

I thought Geoff Johns did a much better job of streamlining and combining the 2 versions of Hawkman in his JLU episodes than he did in the comics. Not surprisingly because for tv he just needed to focus on merging the basic ideas and not worry about reconciling continuity. He may well do the same with the JSA on Smallville.

[Nerys Myk]

Mr Light wrote:

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I've only read a few JSA comics but I've always associated them with WWII. To me that's what defines them. To put them in a different war would just feel wrong to me. Nothing tops WWII. It was the ultimate story of human history. Korea? Vietnam? Gulf War I/II? Just doesn't feel right. But I guess in a CW world where there was no original generation of super-heroes it doesn't really matter... sad.

Why tie them to any war? The JSA existed before WWII and after. Only half of their stories took place during WWII and of that half only a few were war related. They weren't like Captain America, where the series and character revolved around the war.