Number 1: Last Days of the Justice Society of America Special #1 (DC Comics, 1986)
Okay, I will admit that having this book at the top of my favorites list will likely prove to be a head-scratcher for comic fans and non-fans alike. This issue was an instant favorite for me when I got it on my 13th birthday back in 1986 and it has remained at the top of my favorites for close to two decades. The tale is set in the immediate aftermath of the Crisis on Infinite Earths and the overall purpose behind the book was to firm up the legacy of Earth-2 heroes (including the JSA and Infinity Inc.) so that it was in step with DC’s post-Crisis continuity. This 68-page issue has it all, including prominent appearances by most of the heavy hitters in the JSA. How many comic books would begin a story with a quote from Nietzsche? Well, this one does! In the story, the JSAers must travel back to the final days of World War II to wrest the Spear of Destiny from the Nazis. When the Spear is used to trigger the cataclysmic battle of Ragnarök, the JSA must travel to another plane in search of a way to stave off the end of the world. Upon their arrival, they find the gods and goddesses of Norse mythology preparing for an epic battle which will surely mean the end of Earth.
Dr. Fate melds each JSA member with a Norse god or goddess and the JSA then engage the advancing hordes of Surtur, Loki and the Serpent of Midgard in a fierce and brutal battle. The JSA remain joined with the gods and goddesses in a seemingly infinite battle to hold the evil forces at bay and the Nazi attempt to destroy the world by releasing the forces of Götterdämmerung is thus thwarted, allowing the Red Army to smash the remaining German resistance back on Earth. The capture of Berlin is even noted in the tale with a comic-art rendering of Yevgeny Khaldei’s famous photo of a Red Army soldier raising the Soviet flag over the Reichstag. Although the war ends on earth, most of the JSA remain trapped in limbo, engaged in an infinite “Ragnarok cycle” in which the JSAers continue to die and rise again in an endless battle with their foes.
There is a bit of bonus material in this issue, including an introductory/supplemental text by writer Roy Thomas ("An Epilegomena to 'The Last Days of the Justice Society'") and some vintage Golden Age artwork featuring the JSA. Whew! What a comic book!
“Last Days” was written by Roy Thomas who is, in my opinion, one of the best writers to have ever written for DC. The issue’s artwork by Ross and Gustovich is very good as well. I had hoped to include a few more scans of panels from the issue, but the printing quality was not so good and my scans don’t really do the artwork the justice it deserves.
“Last Days” didn’t exactly stitch up all the holes in post-Crisis/Earth-2 continuity. In fact, the JSA returned to action just a few years later by popular demand. But the story chronicled in “Last Days” has been revisited several times in the pages of multiple DC series since 1986.
I have read a lot – and I do mean a lot – of comics over the course of nearly three decades and I have enjoyed many classics from the Golden and Silver ages in this time. I won’t deny that I have some sentimental attachment to this particular comic book, but in my opinion, it holds its own with many of the “classics” of the medium. I can’t imagine that I will ever find a story that will take the place of “Last Days of the Justice Society on my “Wall of Fame.”
