JLA: Year One (New Printing) SC

by KC Carlson

One of my very favorite DC maxiseries (as they used to be called) is back in print in December. JLA: Year One is being re-presented with a new cover (actually, it’s a composite of a couple of the original covers) by artist Barry Kitson – although I kinda like the old one too, and I hope they find a way to incorporate it into the new printing somehow.

JLA: Year One, written by Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn and pencilled by Kitson, is one of DC’s classic continuity implant stories. And yet, it is also so much more.

This was one of the first attempts to make sense of the early DC continuity, which had been rent asunder on a fairly constant basis since the various changes caused by the effects (and after-effects) of DC’s landmark Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985. By 1998 (when JLA: Year One first appeared), there were some very large question marks in DC’s overall continuity, which had major ramifications on the early Justice League stories – not the least of which was the revelation that the new (George Pérez version of) Wonder Woman was not around at the time that the Justice League first formed. Fans wondered who stood in for Wonder Woman in the original JLA.

We got the answer in Secret Origins #32, where it was revealed that Black Canary had originally taken Wonder Woman’s place in the team’s early adventures. Then Black Canary’s origin changed. And changed again. And again. (I think. I actually lost count.) But anyway, it became known that the Black Canary who was in the Justice League was actually the original Black Canary’s daughter.

(Don’t worry, Kurt Busiek explains this – and, oh, so much more – in the introduction to the collection.)

Also needing to be addressed was why Superman and Batman weren’t that involved with the League in the early years. In the original stories from the Silver Age, the World’s Finest team wasn’t actually around that much anyway. They appeared in comic books not edited by the Justice League’s editor, the venerable Julius Schwartz. He and the other editors, along with the powers-that-be at DC back then, had decided that Supes and Bats shouldn’t appear too much because – get this! – they didn’t want them to be overexposed as characters! They already appeared in multiple books, a grand total of three books each (if you don’t count Superboy appearances or Superman’s supporting role in Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, or Supergirl stories). Times sure were different then!

Eventually, the fans wanted a story reason why they weren’t in the JLA full-time in the early years, but answers were not quick in coming. And this isn’t even taking into account other changes in characters like Green Lantern, Aquaman, and the Martian Manhunter over the years. When retelling the early years of Justice League, those differences would have to be folded in as well.

(And the really scary thought: Since this JLA: Year One story was first published, DC has changed its continuity again, specifically stating that Wonder Woman was an original member of the JLA! Don’t believe me? Check out the end of Infinite Crisis! JLA: Year One – at least in this form – may not even exist in current continuity at all anymore! Or, it may be the Year One of some other JLA of some other Parallel Earth! My head hurts!)

So yes, there was a lot of continuity baggage to straighten out in JLA: Year One. But you know what? That’s all secondary in relation to how good this story is. Mark, Brian, and Barry pulled out all the stops to give us a great story about five young characters with nothing in common except their superpowers and an overwhelming desire to become the best people they could be – growing themselves while helping people in need.

In the original Silver Age stories, the characters were little more than the same basic heroic stereotype, with only their uniforms and powers to differentiate them. Here, Waid and Augustyn flesh out these long-running, but not well-developed, characters with quirks and conflicts both internal and in-your-face, while at the same time showing these five characters forging not only a formidable fighting force but also life-long friendships as well. Artist Barry Kitson also shines in these areas, as his often subtle facial expressions carry much of this more “quiet” storytelling.

Also notable is the way in which this early Justice League interacts with the rest of the DC Universe of the time period, something else we never saw much of in the original Silver Age stories. We learn a lot about the historical legacy of the original Justice Society (since in this re-telling both teams exist in the same universe, planet, and timeline, which was not the case in the original tales). Also, we see many of the other superheroes, teams, and even super-villains that the JLA never originally encountered (except maybe in cameo). Thus, we get new insight into the original Doom Patrol, Metal Men, and not-quite-JLA-members-yet Green Arrow and the Atom. Plus, there are lots of fun cameos by other Silver Age heroes, such as the Blackhawks, Sea Devils, and Animal Man, as well as a number of Golden Age greats. There are even a couple of long-running questions finally answered – like who actually funds the JLA?

All in all, JLA: Year One is one of the best of DC’s long-running “Year One” outings as well as a prime example that Retroactive Continuity tales can stand on their own. It’s filled to the brim with important DC history and above all else, a tight, moving, action-packed, and fun story. One of DC’s best. And one you’ll re-read again and again.

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KC Carlson has been working in, around, and adjacent to comic books since the 1970s, most notably for DC Comics as an editor (including Collected Books) in the 90s. KC’s Bookshelf is an ongoing attempt to catalog the great comic book collections and history books that should be on your bookshelf.

Collecting Batman Annuals #1-3 (1961-1962). DC Senior VP and Creative Director Richard Bruning calls the early DC Annuals, in his informative Afterword, “the first DC collected editions.” So this is actually a collection of collected editions. Dude, you just totally blew my mind!

If there ever was a cosmic comic concept that totally deserved something like an Infinity Cover, it would be this book. Instead we get a gorgeous cover by artist Rodney Ramos and colorist Allen Passalaqua, based on the original work of the classic Bat-artists of the era: Sheldon Moldoff, Dick Sprang, and Charles Paris. It’s not quite an Infinity Cover – but close! The effective layout – big, bold Batman and Robin figures in front of a color-muted selection of elements from the actual covers – has an eerie, multi-dimensional look. It’s contemporary and yet immediately tells the reader he’s looking at a Batman from another era.

The Batman stories from the Batman and Detective Comics of the 1950s were a mixed bag of influences from all over the pop culture landscape. The best of the Bat-stories during this era (largely written by Bill Finger, the legally unsung co-creator of Batman) revolved around expanding the whole concept of Batman, including origin stories (or recaps), stories about Bat-gear (Batmobile, Bat-cave, utility belt, Bat-Signal, Hot-Line), or the Bat-villains (the Joker, Two-Face, the Mad Hatter). Many of the weaker stories of the era were those based on fads or trends in other media, including Davy Crockett-inspired adventure tales, or worse, a long-running series of ill-conceived time-travel stories with bizarre aliens similar to sci-fi and monster movies and comics of the era.

In his Introduction, Batman film producer and historian Michael Uslan presents his list of Bat-things he hated from the era:
“• giving him super-powers
• making him imitate Superman
• transporting him to other planets
• making him fight aliens
• making him fight giants
• making him fight robots
• making him invisible or making him fight invisible foes.”

Fortunately, the Batman Annuals generally avoid the worst of all of these types of stories, although a few occasionally drift in, including one in Batman Annual #2 that includes everything on this list! By the way, there’s a wealth of meticulous information in Uslan’s very informative introduction. Editor Jack Schiff (and later, E. Nelson Bridwell) usually made excellent selections for their still-memorable Batman Annuals and 80-Page Giants.

Another little thing I was very happy to see was “A Word from the Publisher” where Paul Levitz spends a couple of hundred words defining just what the DC Comics Classic Library is, exactly. Paul describes the series as a companion series to the DC Archives, sort of Archives-lite. The books are not printed on the thick archival paper used in the regular Archives – and mostly because of this, the cover price of these books are lower than the $50-$60 dollar price tag of the current Archives.

It would have been nice to know this information when these books were first being solicited. I was initially avoiding them because I thought that they were printed on the crummy newsprint that they’re using in some of their other books. I couldn’t check, because most comic shops frown on letting you open up shrink-wrapped books to investigate the paper stock. For the record, the paper stock is quite nice – not archival quality, but not cheap newsprint either. It’s sort of heavy-duty, smooth, off-white newsprint with some minor, but not bad, bleed-through. The paper holds colors well and does not succumb to the day-glo look from too-white paper. My one, minor, complaint is that the paper smells funny, but since I’m probably the only weirdo on earth that goes around sniffing stock, that’s certainly a complaint that can be discarded. (I’m also possibly the only person on earth who still uses the word “weirdo.” So it goes.)

The other major difference between these books and the DC Archives is that the Archives generally deal with comic series, and the DC Comics Classic Library is seemingly going to concentrate on one-shot storylines (see list below). The Batman Annuals is an exception, due to the “Volume One” appellation. Here’s my vote for continuing this series, especially since DC defines Batman’s “Silver Age” as starting with the “New Look” material of 1964 and everybody else’s “Silver Age” somewhere in the late 1950s (or whenever their new series started). The collected Batman Annuals may be the only logical way to “archive” the better (often great!) stories of Batman’s much maligned sci-fi days of the late 50s/early 60s, especially since the actual Archives, Showcase, or Chronological collections aren’t going to get to this material for a very long time, if ever.

Looks like I’ve got some catching up to do. Here’s the list of DC Comics Classic Library books to date, as well as a few upcoming ones:

Superman: Kryptonite Nevermore!
Legion of Super-Heroes: The Life and Death of Ferro Lad
The Batman Annuals: Volume One
The Roots of the Swamp Thing (the Wein/Wrightson stories) is due this month.
The Flash of Two Worlds (the origin of the original multiverse) ships in July.
The Justice League of America by George Pérez, Vol. 1, ships in August.
Batman: A Death in the Family (the death of the Jason Todd Robin) ships in September.

Also Available:
Camelot 3000: The Deluxe Edition (technically, not labeled as a DC Comics Classic Library title, but mentioned in Paul Levitz’s essay as part of the concept in general).
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KC Carlson has been working in, around, and adjacent to comic books since the 1970s, most notably for DC Comics as an editor (including Collected Books) in the 90s. KC’s Bookshelf is an ongoing attempt to catalog the great comic book collections and history books that should be on your bookshelf.