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As part of being a huge comic book nerd, I have to, by law, consider adaptations of the medium. Now, this can either take the form of complaining that every adaptation is not up to the part with what I believe to be the overall “ideal” adaptation–which isn’t really bad. There’s always some kind of good thing that arises with this thinking. Then there’s “Well, if I made the movie–!” And a combination of both.

Of course, there are some franchises within comic books that aren’t as likely to receive this treatment. Something like the Justice Society of America. For anyone familiar with comic books, they know that the Justice Society was formed by the original comic book heroes–those that would later be part of “Earth Two” in the era of the original multiverse. These are the people who fought Hitler and the Axis Powers, and all kinds of shit like that. These are the heroes that heroes look up to.

In Identity Crisis, Green Arrow was engaged in a fight with Deathstroke, and said that the Justice Society teaches people how to be heroes. And that couldn’t be more true. They’re the epitome of what is the moral “right” in heroes, most of the time. You have The Green Lantern [note the definite article], The Flash (the original) and countless other of the original heroes. These are the foundation for what would eventually lead to the Justice League and the Teen Titans, and Young Justice, and all of those other hero groups that come and go.

But how can we take something like the Justice Society, something that, like Batman, Superman, and all the others, has been around for decades, and make an accurate interpretation of the material, yet still manage to be honorable to what we’re taking the material from? Remember my stance with interpretations. The first movie of a franchise sets the universe. For this thing I’m going to write, we’re going go deep into the source of the comics themselves. We’re also assuming that variables like “viewers” and “cost” aren’t really a factor for this, because this is an ideal situation for the “best” translation of The Justice Society to movies and/or television.

The Justice Society was formed during World War Two, so, obviously, we should make our start there. The problem quickly arises of just who we would have as the team involved. This problem is mostly a result of the multiverse. Do we involve the older Bruce Wayne? Do we involve Kal-L and Hippolyta? Well, for this instance, I wouldn’t. The average person isn’t likely to know OR care about the multiverse. Batman is Batman. Wonder Woman is Wonder Woman. These people would be left out of the franchise mostly for the sake of clarity and because they’re already in the Justice League, and they take up too much screen time as it is. That’s not to say that, were we to extend this concept long enough, I wouldn’t include the Big Three (in their modern form) in a cross-over event with the JLA. But that would be something for another discussion.

So, who are we gonna have as the characters? There are a lot of people up for grabs. But at the same time, there were only a few that can be considered part of the “original” JSA. I’ve taken a FEW liberties with who was there–as already established by my exclusion of the Earth-Two counterparts of The Trinity. I’ve determined that, if we’re going to have this be a continuous thing–movies with television–then we have the ability to include a large number of people for this. My preferred team would be, in no order:

• The Green Lantern, Alan Scott
• The Flash, Jay Garrick
• Hawkman, Carter Hall
• Doctor Fate, Kent Nelson
• The Spectre, Jim Corrigan

These characters were, for the most part, the founding members of the JSA. Kal-L, Old Bruce, and Hippolyta were involved, but they were “Honorary Members” of the Society, and not really part of the main series itself. I also am obviously totally gay for a big fan of The Spectre, so that I would include him is obvious.

One of the main things in these kinds of adaptations that people often have to worry about is just how the costumes are going to look. This part is also probably the most debated part of any discussion involving the transition from comics to motion picture. I mean, just look at all of the screaming that happened because of all of the different Batman costumes and then the Superman costumes, and everything else. So what do we do? Well, with the exception of The Spectre, everyone’s costumes don’t appear to really be that difficult to translate to motion. The only problem that would arise with The Spectre is that he’s a man wearing nothing but gloves, a cloak, fairy boots, and a speedo. Some people might object to that. But he does have a cloak, and it could easily be manipulated to cover most of his bottom-half [see Kingdom Come]. So, there’s that problem. The other people don’t really have outfits that NEED to be adjusted. They’re more than adequate for the purposes. And anything more would be overkill.

A major problem, however, arises with Hawkman. Hawkman, as anyone who reads comics knows, has undergone at least 975 retcons since his creation. It was eventually determined in JSA that ALL of these people were various INCARNATIONS of Hawkman. But they were all Khufu, an Egytian fancyman. Just like Hawkgirl was always his woman, all through the ages. The problem arises that Hawkman, in this is series, hasn’t lived long enough to have experienced some of the things that he has experienced in he comics (such as Hawkworld) and there isn’t the multiple Hawkmen.

This, along with the removal of the multiverse in 1985, forces one to figure out just WHAT to do about origins–because origins would be a major part of this.

I propose that one simply use the most recent origin, manipulated to the time period. Since I’m more experienced in talking about The Spectre, I’ll use him for this example. Jim Corrigan, for this, is a detective from New York City who was killed in an ambush set up by Gat Benson and his stoolie, Louis Snipe. Afterward, he became the incarnation of God’s spirit of vengeance and worked to confront and comprehend evil to better understand the evil within himself. No mention of the previous, Earth-Two city, or even the future with Xanadu. Merely taking the relevant part of his history. I feel like this would be the best.

Alan Scott’s ring, too, would be described differently. In the original, Alan’s ring was merely from a magic lantern that granted him powers. However, if we want to keep with the concept I just mentioned, we would have to show that the ring is part of the Starheart, not just something that glows and makes cool stuff happen.

Obviously, the villains at first would not be major supervillains. These people are going into World War II, so, if anything, there are fighting the Axis Powers and any villains that they might have, in addition to assisting the troops. One could lead to an arc-climax with a confrontation involving Hitler, which would present the Spear of Destiny–something that, if the series goes long enough, could be brought in again involving The Spectre. This series would run similar to the comic books JSA Classified and JLA Classified following the removal from the war. That is to say, there would be arcs or episodes that focus mostly one a single character or any number of characters that are to be involved. Each episode is self-contained, but also is involved with the overall continuity of the series.

If the series continues long enough–meaning after the war–the other members of the Society [Wildcat, Hourman, Johnny Thunder, &c.] would be brought into the storyline when appropriate. The goal would be to ultimately grow the series to at least end after the comic series JSA. That would take a very long time, but if popular, I think it could manage. I would, of course, have to deal with some of the problems in continuity–like the Ragnarok, the aging, the de-aging, Zero Hour, and things like that. These problems only arise because I would want the series the span the entire time the group has existed. I am certain, however, that the comics have at least one or two decent excuses I could use.

I’d want to stop at that point in the series mostly because of the situations that are still taking place within modern continuity. Power Girl, for instance, has been manipulated a lot recently. And her origin itself is a problem because it makes Kal-L no longer the last Krypton. Of course, since this series would be separate from a JLA series, her being a Kryptonian could be used. But she was considered a Daxamite for a while.

Obviously, as I wouldn’t be including Batman in this, those who are directly connected to Batman–that is to say, Robin, Huntress, and others–will not be a part of this.

A lengthy series, also, allows for the possibility of spin-off series. Something like Infinity, Inc.–for Jade, Obsidian, and Nukleon–or a series for each individual character if one in particular becomes popular enough. It also allows for legacy, which JSA was a big fan of. Hourman II and Hourman III, as well as Atom Smasher joining the JSA and the second Dr. Mid-Nite. Death would obviously have to be a major part of this series.

This is all I can think of at the moment. Actors, right now, are not that big of a deal to me. Plus I can’t remember names too well.