When I saw the first few episodes of Young Justice I was really liking the interactions between the young heroes and the established heroes. That got me to thinking, would a cartoon based on the JSA (Geoff Johns period) work?

If you haven't read this incarnation of the Justice Society of America (starting in '07) the point was that the old golden age heroes like the orginal Flash, Jay Garrek, the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott joined with established heroes like Power Girl to train the next generation of heroes. Add in a bunch of legacy heroes like Hourman, Liberty Belle, and Sandman and there was a great series that representited pretty much everyone.

I really liked the fact that the training of the young heroes was the primary focus of the team. As such it would be unique among superhero team cartoons that are either about adult heroes (Justice League, Avengers: EMH) or teen heroes (Young Justice, Teem Titians).

I ask whether it would work or not due to the fact that the JSA was always DC's B team and doesn't have the premiere characters that usually make DC lots of sales and money. I'm just hoping that someday DC can make a profitable cartoon that isn't related to Superman or Batman.

Under the right hands, a show about any character could work, the thing would be getting them to sell, and, despite being a huge JSA fan, I do find it very tricky to make a JSA show really profitable, while popular (mainly amongst comic fans), they are nowhere near the popularity of other DC characters and franchises, and even though having big names in its roster like Flash and Green Lantern, many kids will probably be confused when they find out that those aren't the Flash and GL that they know. Again, under the right hands a show about anything can sell, but DC should take it slow for now, Flash and Wonder Woman are pretty much household names, yet they haven't got any solo cartoons.

What the JSA does have going for them is the large roster, not to say that all shows with a large cast are bound to sell, just look at Young Justice or Legion of Super-Heroes, but as I said, it all depends on the creators, if the marketing team end up making publicity where all the main characters appear and a solid toy line, and the writers are able to write distinct and varied personalities among these characters so they all become likeable, the show would end up being ten times more succesful than a Flash or Wonder Woman show could ever be.

As for the quality of the show, and whether or not it could be good, it has the potential of being absolutely fantastic, but I'm not saying that just because I'm a fan or anything, the JSA has stories that a JL, Teen Titans, Batman or Superman show could never do, stories about legacy, the dynamics between older and younger heroes where the age gap is huge, and one of the most unique mixes of personalities of any superhero group, it could be amazing. I'd prefer a WWII centered show, also focusing on other Golden Age characters, but that's just me, and what I have in mind probably wouldn't work unless it aired on Adult Swim or Toonami.

@rdclip:

I ask whether it would work or not due to the fact that the JSA was always DC's B team and doesn't have the premiere characters that usually make DC lots of sales and money. I'm just hoping that someday DC can make a profitable cartoon that isn't related to Superman or Batman.

AHHHH what???

First the JSA were the first hero team so they certainly were NOT always DC's "B" team.

Secondly for most of the Johns run the JSA series was DC's highest selling team book and in it's top 5 titles. Same in the Johns Goyer run of the late 90's. You don't give a team two simultaneously running titles when it's NOT selling. ( late 90's was JSA and JSA Classified. 2000's was Justice Society of America and JSA All Stars. http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/14312.html This was 7 issues before Johns left the series. DC's 5th best seller with over 60,000 issues sold. Here it was sixth with Blackest Night driving GL and Flash Rebirth driving flash sales. The issue after Johns left it dropped to 16th ( for DC) and for the first time in well over a year under 50,000 issues.

JSA has NEVER been a poor seller when written well.

yes yes yes

@beatboks1: You misinterpreted what I was saying. The JSA is my favourite superhero team of all time, 2 runs from 1999-2011 were some of my favourite comics of all time. Reading back issues of JSA is what got me into comics. No doubt it sold great, it was usually a great book.

I call them the b-team because thats how DC had always treated them ever since the Justice League has existed. DC never put one of their prime characters on the team while JLA was usually always packed with the bigshots like BM, SM, WW, GL and Flash. Usually most JLA members had monthly ongoings, while JSA members only getting miniseries and Power Girl and a few others getting solos.

They are considered a time paradox and a retconned nightmare. It would something if someone finally set the ground. They are set up to be before Superman. I think there will be episodes of what they were back then and how are they now. Do you think they would put 40s lingo when they show their flashbacks?

i'd watch it .

As long as they explain who the they are for the people who don't know. Also, as long as they don't make a comedy for kids.

Edit: You know what? They'll most likely do it all wrong. I say no.

@awesam: It could be very easy to establish the characters. First episode could be a 3 parter like the first episode of Superman: TAS. Heres a story that I came up with as I typed.

Show the old gang fighting gangsters in the 1940's becoming media darlings. Then, fast forward to the 1950's where they are forced to retire by the government. (Kids won't understand McCarthyism so just explain that the government wanted them to reveal their identities). Either that or stuck in limbo time, which I guess would be easier and less political. In modern times, a bad guy from the 40's is kidnapping metahuman kids and the decendants of the orginal JSAers or something. JSA frees the kids and bang there you go, JSA team of multiple generations.

Yeah, what he said.

I love the team, but with the current climate of things at DC at the moment, I think the JSA would be animated on a limited scale rather than a full blown series. Given that the recent incarnation of the DC animated universe seems to be introducing pre new 52 elements into their stories with the recent Justice League vs Teen Titans movie, I honestly think that a JSA cartoon movie, specifically one set in the 1940s or 70s like in Smallville, would actually be rather beneficial and flesh out the new universe. :)

They could deviate a little, maybe have them still be from WW2 but somehow get transported to the present day, or something like that. I'd watch a JSA cartoon either way though.

Yes I would like to see one. I think it would be to see a throwback to old hero cartoons.

Funny enough a couple of years ago I did "fantasy casting" for an JSA cartoon on http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/forums/showthread.php?p=79894#post79894

Justice Society of America:

Flash (Jay Garrick) - Tom Kenny

Wildcat - John DiMaggio

Black Canary (Dinah Drake) - Jennifer Hale

Mister Terrific (Terry Sloane) - Chris Hardwick

Green Lantern (Alan Scott) - Cam Clarke

The Spectre - John Kassir

Dr. Fate (Kent Nelson) - Jeff Bennett

Hawkman (Carter Hall) - Travis Willingham

Injustice Society:

Vandal Savage - Steve Blum

Brainwave - James Arnold Taylor

Ian Karkull - Maurice LaMarche

Gentleman Ghost - Rob Paulsen

Kulak - Charlie Adler

Gambler - Phil LaMarr

Sportsmaster - Troy Baker

Fiddler - Rodger Bumpass

Actually funny I came across this. I write TV shows and I've been writing a TV universe for when the arrowverse eventually collapses (or just dissolves away like what usually happens) and one of the shows is a justice league show the first season of which is based off identity crisis and there's alot of interaction between the more retired justice society and the newly formed justice league. I actually posted a forum about it here

Well, Justice Society : World War II is out. It's up to you to decide if it was successful.