A fantastic alternate reality of the rise of the Golden Age DC superheroes. One of the best of the Elseworld series. Excellent storyline and art. Highly recommended for comic fans

I've had this on my kindle for awhile and finally got around to reading it. It's a decent self contained story about some of DC's golden age superheroes. Not part of the main continuity.

I'd give this more than 1 star, but less than 2. It's ripping off Watchmen HARD. Also like a bad version of Darwyn Cooke's JLA New Frontier books. Oh and the reveal near the end is like they just gave up and jumped the shark into ridiculous. Too bad, since the characters are all interesting enough when done properly, but this just fails on many levels. Avoid unless you like derivative work with far-fetched (even for comics) ideas.

James Robinson's and Paul Smith's Elseworlds tale involving JSA and the heroes of the Golden Age is a well told tale and successfully reflects the post-WWII era in a fascinating manner. Robinson is a good writer and Smith is delivering some of his finest work in this volume.However, while I enjoyed the story, I could not help feeling, on more than one occasion, that I was somehow reading a Watchmen light. Several of the themes that seems to interest Robinson as a writer, are themes that Moore co...

To review Robinson and Smith's JSA: The Golden Age, is to view it through the lens of Moore and Gibbons' Watchmen, of which the former is heavily influenced. One can't miss superheroes being involved in politics or operating in the theater of a major war. Both even have a rekindled romance subplot. There's more, only because the latter is a seminal work.JSA: The Golden Age isn't as good as Watchmen, but it is still an great read. It isn't as accessible as the latter, Moore created his opus from

One for long-term enthusiasts. If you're not familiar with the original source material - the DC heroes of the 1940s - then this loving tribute will require a bit more concentration than normal...Like Watchmen, it considers the position of outdated superheroes in a changing world where old values and previously lauded behaviour appear to be irrelevant - or even faintly ridiculous. Like Watchmen, it treats the men behind the masks as real people, full of flaws and anxiety and unresolved issues. A...

A good graphic novel that could have been better. It's excellent as a period piece - "Watchmen meets post-WWII Americana" - but it's marred by a multitude of unsympathetic point of view characters and way too much "head-hopping" between them. As a result the narrative through-line in the first half of the book is really weak. The reveal of the villain(s) is a nice, satisfying a-ha moment to anyone versed in Golden Age lore, and the final battle is a gripping slam-fest in the best comic book fash...

The best Coda to WW2 Superheroes Robinson Paul Smith and company created the most realistic take on what Happens to the World’s greatest heroes when they don’t need them anymore. How do you fit in the next Era? As the tears go by it’s harder to identify the new faces of Evil. A brilliant story that bridges the gap between the 40s and 60s DC heroes

Hitler's brain?Recycled plot, which isn't necessarily a bad thing since so much of comics (and fiction) is about recycling, re-envisioning, re-presenting - but ultimately this graphic novel is boring and mired in the liberal promise of post-War America that pretends to be a critique of the fascistic undertones of the American superhero genre and the anti-communist fervor of the 1950s, but ends up just reinforcing an over-simplistic ideological vision of "the American spirit."

Part of Zavvi’s Threads box for July.JSA The Golden Age is a great one off self contained story. The main story itself is set in the 50’s and deals with the fallout of World War 2 and what the DC superheroes of that era were up to during the war. It evolves relatively quickly to revolve around Cold War paranoia. It doesn’t go into the typical end of the world affair, it’s a more grounded and realistic take on the genre.I didn’t recognise many of the characters, but doesn’t seem to be a problem h...

This is another of those books that I totally forgot that I’d read before. That's partly due to the cover of this Deluxe Edition being different from the original paperback, and partly due to the fact that it's been close to a decade since the last time I read it.In the end, it's not a big deal. It's definitely a story worth reading again. Robinson and Smith take the Justice Society through the post-WWII years and into the McCarthy era. It's a final hurrah for the classic Golden Age heroes and a...

Robinson & Smith's Golden Age was a bombshell on the DC lineup when it came out, and rereading it it's easy to understand why. It absolutely feels like a a new and different form of storytelling for DC, more naturalistic in its conversations and daring in its use of time, characters and crosscutting between points of view. My only complaint about it is like many great elseworlds stories it generated so much interest that people chased that right into the regular DC universe, with generally negat...

A good 'Elseworlds' storyline - juxtaposing the transition from WWII to the Post-War/Cold War 50's with the passing of the golden age of comic heroes.

In the aftermath of World War II, the mystery men have largely retired. One of them, Tex Thompson, is now a celebrity with an eye on the White House and is instrumental in the creation of America's newest super hero, Dyna-Man. But things are not as they seem. Can the former super heroes rally to stop the greatest threat to America and the world?This one has been on my radar for years since I'm a fan of James Robinson and the Justice Society. I snapped it up at MightyCon for $5 and it was worth t...

wow. musch better the second time around. especially when you think it's going to get all preachy about social problems and history, and then the supervillians are unmasked and the battle royale kicks in!this is an "Elseworlds" title, so don't expect everyone you know to show, or history to unfold as it should. nevertheless, I found it quite exciting -- stayed up and read it by flashlight, like I was 12 again!

Highly regarded early ‘90s series JSA: The Golden Age is back in a new deluxe edition. It’s a saga worth revisiting.This Elseworlds tale picks up shortly after World War II with many costumed heroes abandoning their masked personas for civilian life. Tex Thompson, once an unremarkable hero known as Mr. America, returns to the US a war hero. He embraces red-baiting and manipulative populism as his political fortunes rise. Tex recruits Dan Dunbar, once a teen sidekick known as Dan the Dyna-Mite, t...

A very good story about what happened to the Golden Age heroes after the end of WWII. As an Elseworld's story, Robinson is allowed a bit more play with backstory and outcome. Overlaid with the story is the socio/political climate of the time, with the beginning of the Red Scare.Given that I am less familiar with the JSA characters, I found I had less emotional involvement in the story than I had with New Frontier, which visits similar themes. This gave the book less of an impact for me and, over...

There are a ton of characters in this thing, and as someone who has never read any golden age DC stuff, it took me a little while to understand who they all were. But once I got it, I enjoyed it immensely. There are some leaps in logic here and there and a couple of utterly boneheaded mistakes by the villain that no self-respecting evil genius would have made, but the thematic and character aspects of the story more than make up for those missteps. The way Robinson uses post-WWII Communist paran...

While this was once considered an "Elseworlds" book, it's now almost entirely accepted as canon in the JSA continuity. A well-told tale providing new insights into many older characters, and a rare look at superheroes in the years between WWII and the Silver Age.Reread 2/2022: Still powerful tale from 1993-94 (collected in 95) but now a fascinating prequel to Robinson’s Starman series that came later in the 90s

Gorgeous artwork, a beautiful balance between superheroic nostalgia and historic paranoia, and plenty of over-the-top revelations that carry the whiff of the best of 1950s B-grade monster movies, all delivered with a straight face and a perfectly balanced respect for, and love of, the various elements. A wonderful volume for the geekiest of JSA fans, those with a memory of the-way-comics-used-to-be, and those who enjoy a finely balanced combination of artwork and narrative.