Writer: Roy and Dann ThomasArtist: Rafael Kayanan, Rich Buckler and Jerry Ordway (VS) David Ross and Mike Gustovich (Last Days)
Publisher: DC Comics (1985)
Includes: America VS Justice Society #1-4 and Last Days of the Justice Society of America
Clipped from Wikipedia: The series was set on Earth-Two and began with the discovery of Batman's diary (The Batman of Earth 2 was dead at that point) which indicated that the Justice Society was guilty of treason during World War II and conspired to cover-up their treason after the war was over.
Clipped from DC Database: Following the Crisis On Infinite Earths, the remaining surviving members of the Justice Society along with Sandman's partner Sandy and Hawkman's wife Hawkgirl gather in the estate of Carter Hall in a funeral service for Helena Wayne and the Earth-2 Dick Grayson, whom they knew became the Huntress and the Earth-2 Robin. They also realize that, with the merging of the Earth universes to form one single universe with one Earth on which most of the surviving superheroes from those universes now coexist, their own team has become redundant and past their time. Earth-2 Hawkman calls for the Justice Society to be immediately disbanded when the Spectre appears unto them, crying out in pain before he collapses.
This mini-series and special are nice book ends for Earth 2 before it is wipe clean with Crisis. The classic 1970's Justice Society of America appearance have been TPBed in two volumes already. DC should complete the trilogy with these stories.
I love the JSA better than a kid loves candy and I have aching respect for Roy Thomas, but I thought the America vs. the JSA mini was convoluted, boring, and hard to follow. BUT, having said that, The Last Days of the JSA is PHENOMENAL. It is EPIC and has some real pathos - or maybe it just seemed that way to me when I read it as a 13 year old. Eh. Still, its a terrific, sweeping story with a lot of gravitas, directly playing up the JSA's historical significance and also tying them inextricably to the WWII era, Hitler and the Nazis, and a lot of quasi-Lovecraftian black magic that became an often-picked-up-thread in later iterations of the team. Excellent all around. And there's a great essay type piece on the front and back interior covers that talks about Hitler's obsession with Germanic myth and the supernatural in general, which should also be reprinted. Its like a bonus episode of Leonard Nimoy's "In Search Of ..." in addition to a really awesome comic. I wore mine out reading it.
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