Earth 2 Society #1

   Sigh.

   DC seems determined to put a bullet in the head of my dreams of a comic that stars the Justice Society.

   I admit my prejudice - I loved the original concept of Earth-2, as a great way of bringing the heroes of the Golden Age back into the mainstream.

   The Justice Society of America was the first super-group, of course, and if we can wrap our minds around the continued rejuvenation of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and so many others (all of whom have been around since the 1940s), then certainly there was a way to revive the other heroes from that era.

   But ever since Crisis on Infinite Earths, the team has been jacked around, re-invented, exiled, un-invented, rejuvenated, shipped off to an alternate Earth and mostly ignored.

   I had high hopes for the "New 52" version of Earth 2, but they were quickly dashed as the JSA heroes, updated to modern times, were virtually unrecognizable. I dropped the series before it ended, but from what I gather the final story ended with the virtual destruction of Earth-2, with a few million people managing to escape in makeshift rockets.

   This new series rolls right out of the Convergence series, wherein the surviving Earth-2 heroes have acquired a new, uninhabited Earth - and this issue picks up a year later, as the resettlement moves along and the heroes are busy fighting crime and holding the pieces together.

   Each series only gets one "first" issue, and this was a chance to instill some hope, some energy, some fun into the series - and get back to the roots of the original team. Instead, we have more grim, humorless sturm and drang.

   So once again, with sadness, I'm walking away from a JSA comic.

Grade: C-

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