JSA: The Golden Age
Reprints The Golden Age #1-4
Written by James Robinson
Art by Paul Smith
The post-World War II period in the United States appeared to be a period of jubilation from the outside. Propaganda became full of images of happy white families enjoying their new homes in the suburbs. The German Nazis didn’t really lose. Some of them were tried & punished in Nuremberg. But many of them became founders of NATO and helped lay the groundwork for the European Union, everything done with the intent of undermining communism. Operation: Paperclip created cover to funnel Nazi scientists into the U.S. to aid in the development of the nuclear and space programs. America has a new coat of pain, but underneath is something dark & evil.
In 1993, writer James Robinson made a big splash at DC Comics, pairing with Paul Smith (Uncanny X-Men) to create an Elseworlds tale about the Golden Age of superheroes. Elseworlds is DC’s equivalent to Marvel’s What If? but less about alternate paths and & more about placing heroes in alternate realities. The Golden Age is different in that it feels like it could be folded into continuity if DC was willing to let its heroes go down such a dark path.
The book opens as we see World War II’s outcomes for several Golden Age heroes. Many retire, with the war being the final straw. Tex Thompson, formerly Mr. America and the Americommando, is doing well. He returns to a grand celebration. This inspires him to seek political office, leveraging his fame for votes. Thompson starts recruiting, including Al Pratt (The Atom), Dan Dunbar (Dan the Dyna-Mite), and the once-human Robotman. A series of experiments leads to Dunbar being transformed into the Superman-level Dynaman.
In the background, we jump around to other characters. Alan Scott (Green Lantern) has put up the ring and continues to run his media company. This draws him into the crosshairs of the McCarthy communist witch hunts. Libby Lawrence (Liberty Belle) is living with John Law (Tarantula) after her marriage with Johnny Chambers (Johnny Quick) falls apart. Rex Tyler (Hourman) is finding his Miralco pills are losing their potency, and his powers are lasting for only minutes at a time. Lance Gallant (Captain Triumph) is trying to live an everyday life while the ghost of his brother keeps pushing him to embrace the life of a superhero again.
Everything changes when Paul Kirk (Manhunter) returns to the States under duress. His memory is massively shattered. All he can recall are blurred nightmarish images of Tex Thompson. Something happened between the two in Europe, and unlocking his memories will be the key to discovering the rising political star’s true intentions.
I had read The Golden Age many years ago, but so many details were lost in the time between. This time, I found it incredibly literary, reading like a novel more than a comic. Robinson’s characterizations for each person are so specific and add the type of depth you never would have seen when they were first introduced. This is very much a mature reader title with several moments of extreme violence and insinuations of sexual assault. This story is about genuinely evil villains, and Robinson makes us hate them.
There’s an aching sense of disillusionment from start to finish. We get the ticker tape parades in the opening, but that’s the exception. As soon as we start peering in on the protagonists and seeing how aimless they are. Libby Lawrence is hanging at John Law’s cabin, unsure what to do next. She thinks her marriage with Johnny Chambers has ended but is uncertain. Rex Tyler has become a drug addict, unable to stop his thrill-seeking, which has led to him popping more Miralco and trying to up its potency. Al Pratt is so desperate not to be forgotten that he joins up with Thompson, who clearly has terrible plans in mind.
Robinson plays with the type of trauma people who don these costumes would experience. Ted Knight (Starman) has been committed to a mental asylum after having a breakdown in the waning months of the war. His scientific genius returns when the sun goes down and the stars shine, but he can’t hold onto it. Robotman was once a human whose brain was transferred into a robot body. His distance from being able to feel things is turning him into a violent sociopath. Joan Dale (Miss America) shows up as the partner of Tex Thompson, but very little here is consensual. Robinson isn’t afraid to add complexity & depth to these often-forgotten characters from decades ago.
Paul Smith’s art is the perfect touch to bring this story to life. Last year, I read through his run on Uncanny X-Men with Chris Claremont. I was pretty impressed watching Smith’s art evolve over that run. It was such a treat to see his art in The Golden Age, where it’s evident that Smith put his whole heart on those pages. The characters feel realistic, and the hair and clothing perfectly align with the time period. Smith spent a lot of time researching to ensure he recreated America of the late 1940s and 1950s. The choice of a more muted color palette adds to the somber nature of the story. This is no longer the era of brightly colored, costumed folks but a time where people are bracing for something dark to emerge.
What frustrates me so much is where was this James Robinson in the early 2010s? During that period, he wrote what many consider the worst Justice League run ever (Cry For Justice) that played into all the worst elements of contemporary comics. The problem was that we got less Starman and more The Golden Age in that Justice League story. This bleak storytelling works in the context of this isolated mini-series, but when you apply the same tone to what is meant to be a reboot of the all-star DC Comics team book, it’s going to feel strange.
You see elements of Ted Knight’s post-war life that Robinson included in his incredible run on Starman. I think some things here found their way into the JSA ongoing series, which Robinson and David Goyer co-wrote together for a couple of arcs. None of the things I’ve read from Robinson top The Golden Age, though. This is a fantastic example of what superhero comics can be for grown-ups. We still need lots of kid-friendly books, but I appreciate the places Robinson was willing to go, and his severe critique of the United States, especially about a period we are often taught, was a fantastic moment in our history.
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