:jsa_book_club: Crisis on Earth-Prime [March 16-28 2021] :jsa_book_club:

JasonTodd428 · March 15, 2021, 9:44pm

Hello all! Its great to see you all again!

This session we will be continuing to follow the adventures of the All Star Squadron in a crossover with the JLA called Crisis on Earth-Prime. Per Degaton is back with vengeance on his mind and he’s found just the people to help him: The Crime Syndicate. Let us see what his dastardly plan is this time and how the combined might of the JSA, the All Star Squadron and the JLA come together to prevent it. I now call this meeting to order.

THE JSABC ROLL CALL

CLUB LEADERS

@JasonTodd428 & @Aurora

STANDING MEMBERS

Abrax, AggressiveIntellectual219, anthony.javier3, Applejack, BBlake, bbzo24, bigblock66, BlueBeetlesAssistant, BobbinIrving, Brenticus_Rex, CassTheStreet, CrazyQuilt, Daffern, dave7atgosky, dave_worrell, DC_Community, Deathstroke’sPunisher, december360, djganon, DocterFate1, Don-El, fawsid, frankie.lacy79, Frostbite30, ganaoque, harrist, HombreDeMaiz, hotstufflouie, Jay_Kay, Jflow, jlevin, Jurisdiction, kaliym73, lunalane, MatthewHecht, mbpbinder, _meegs, Meisaj, mgeiler, Midnitehour, MisfitCMJ, mitchellbpearson, MPMCN86, msgtv, PaintEater, parzival27, ProActress, Quadpen, ralphsix, Ravenrifft, ReaganFan78, Remember5NovEveyHammond, RickTylerHourman, rlynchfamily, ROMANLEGION rspezzano, rwm, scoop001, slowp0Ketail, SuperBlue Grodd, TheCosmicMoth, TK52, TurokSonOfStone, YolandaMontezz, ZacharyLee1995.

WELCOME NEW JSABC MEMBERS

None this week but if you want to join then read on my friends.

To join the JSA BOOK CLUB hit the link.

Never thought I’d see this meeting ever take place but here it is!

WHAT TO READ
All Star Squadron #13-15
JLA #207-209

READING ORDER FOR CRISIS On EARTH-PRIME

* Justice League of America #207

* All Star Squadron #14

* Justice League of America #208

* All Star Squadron #15

* Justice League of America #209

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Here we have yet another crossover between teams from both Earths (Seems like we just had a bunch of those recently. ) What did you think of this one compared to some of the others?
Per Degaton wants revenge against all his foes once again. What do you think of his plan here?
And the Crime Syndicate of Earth-3 makes an appearance in this story as well. What do you think of them and their role in this story?
Lots of fight scenes in these issues. Which was your favorite here?
Of you had the chance to visit one of DC Universe’s Earths that existed at the time this story was published which would you visit and which character would you like to meet?

And that concludes this meeting of the JSABC. Next month we will spending the month in the Golden Age with a single issue of All Star Comics in a story that depicts members of the JSA going to war. A bit ago we saw that same idea happening in the pages of All Star Squadron #7 written decades after WWII and I thought it might be interesting to compare the two issues. Hope to see you JSABCers there.

Here’s the first page of All Star Squadron #7 and a page from All Star Comics #11 as a preview for next month’s session. Enjoy!

Jurisdiction · March 15, 2021, 9:45pm

I’m not new…

this is me

JasonTodd428 · March 15, 2021, 9:48pm

Thanks for that information. It can be difficult when people change names.

Jurisdiction · March 15, 2021, 9:55pm

sorry for the confusion

JasonTodd428 · March 15, 2021, 9:56pm

No problem!

Don-El · March 15, 2021, 10:10pm

All-Star Squadron, this is great… and I have the week off, it’ll be fun to read this week!

JasonTodd428 · March 15, 2021, 10:14pm

It’s a little bit of everyone here. We got the All Star Squadron, the JSA, the JLA and the visiting Crime Syndicate of America. I had a lot of fun reading this one.

MatthewHecht · March 15, 2021, 10:24pm

Is All Star Squadron #13 first?

JasonTodd428 · March 15, 2021, 10:47pm

All Star Squadron #13 isn’t a part of the crossover and we will get back to it. All that’s relevant for this story is that the Squadron elected a new chairman: Liberty Belle and most of the members of the JSA have joined the war effort as soldiers.

MatthewHecht · March 16, 2021, 2:11pm

If anybody wants a modern JSA story they are heavily featured in today’s Hawkman issue.

Jurisdiction · March 16, 2021, 2:18pm

sigh

MatthewHecht · March 16, 2021, 2:42pm

JasonTodd428 · March 16, 2021, 8:03pm

I’ll have to check that out at some point. Which members show up there or is it all of them?

MatthewHecht · March 16, 2021, 8:44pm

Hawkman, Hawkgirl (of course), Green Lantern, Flash, Wildcat, and Sandman.

JasonTodd428 · March 16, 2021, 10:58pm

Coolio! Some of my favorites.

MatthewHecht · March 19, 2021, 3:30am

Hard to follow. Surprisingly I really enjoyed the Roosevelt scenes despite thinking using Truman would be better. I am really amazed he was my favorite character here.
I think his words are not scary enough, but it is evil and practical in this universe to end one world to take over another, and he has the necessary counters to the CS.
Way too trusting and cocky. New 52 Alexander Luthor would have a field day with them.
Huntress vs Owlman followed by Robotman vs Ultraman (so many —mans in this story).
Earth 3. I want to grab a few history books and see what happened there.

In JSA I read Degaton as having a very cold voice similar to James Woods’s voice in Crisis on Two Earths. Here I kept picturing him having a more Dick Dastardly voice.

I like the detail that Owlman is a gun user. Nice contrast to Bats.

Don-El · March 21, 2021, 10:28pm

Two of 5 issues in, and I believe I can tackle one or two of the club questions. First though, congrats @Aurora upon graduating / completing your therapy sessions and getting to ring the bell! Hope to see you around here soon and hope you got our letter. (next time we’ll include a nip of catnip lol for your zoo animal).

On to the curated reading prepared for us by the JSA Club leadership this time around:

This annual “crisis” crossover (which all came to a halt with the 1986 Crisis) of 1982 occurred between and betwixt JSA things; Infinity Inc wouldn’t unfurl it’s flag for about two more years, and All Star Comics / Super Squad / JSA Comics had stopped publication two years before this. So the crossover only has the All Star Squadron and Justice League of America, both of which WERE still being published to roll out this story with.

What do you think of this one (annual crossover) compared to some of the others? Well, it’s somewhere in the middle, how’s that? There were some real non-events between the original 1963 Crisis on Earth One to the kind of last one in 1985 (I hear it comes to 23 crossovers), but some have archetypal significance that continue to guide and direct both current DC comics and CW storylines.

The fact the main villain is Per Degaton means this has at least some significance, although I don’t believe we have seen this snake show up in quite a while. Still, he appears in the ‘modern’ age of comics including I believe in the recent Hawkman series (appearing around 1940) and also elsewhere since 2016 Rebirth. The cad! Why does he get to hang out with Booster Gold etc while other of my cherished pre Crisis favs languish in non existance???

Concerning the first two issues of this crossover, wow, it is not subtle with what Degaton is able to perpetrate! Our earth, Earth Prime, is decimated in a nuclear nightmare for his first course of evil meal, all because a 1982 newstand worker wouldn’t let him steal a newspaper!

In the second issue here, I still am unsure if the dream sequence shown below really happened in some alternate time line that later disappeared, but again, rough man rough, take it easy Degaton. Don’t you have a favorite charity you’d like to rob banks for etc?

JasonTodd428 · March 22, 2021, 12:53am

Having just read Forever Evil I would agree 100% with you there. I think the N52 Crime Syndicate would as well.

That was mine as well. Loved this panel.

Me too.

It’s a nice contrast for sure. Also this Owlman has similarities to Flashpoint Batman.

MatthewHecht · March 22, 2021, 12:59am

Owlman is so inconsistent. He is sometimes an evil mastermind and team player, sometimes a killer version of Batman, sometimes a hard core nihlist, and sometimes the guilt filled murderer of his baby brother. How would Owlman respond to that?

JasonTodd428 · March 22, 2021, 1:10am

I think part of the problem with Owlman (and with the CS to an extent as well) is the ever changing continuity surrounding them. They have been retooled and rebooted several times over the years and that does cause character inconsistency. They don’t even appear in books all that often so maybe they get clean slated with every story they appear in.

As for Owlman himself it could be that part of the reason his character is so inconsistent is that Batman’s is more or less consistent. I tend to think of them as two sides of the same coin.