Jeff Lemire's JSA Run Ending at #24 — What Comes Next?
Some big news dropped over the holiday weekend. Jeff Lemire held an AMA (Ask Me Anything) at League of Comic Geeks. When asked how long his JSA run would last, he responded:
"Not announced yet, but what the hell, I'll say it here — my run on JSA will end with #24."
He went on to answer other questions, including how he balances the JSA's large ensemble cast:
"It is definitely challenging writing such a big cast. Breaking them up into smaller groups and giving them each plots and stories that eventually dovetail back together is the best method I've found."
He also mentioned that while he loved writing Hippolyta, he won't be writing her or Jesse Quick again — at least not for a while.
I'm bummed to see Lemire exit the book after two years. The first storyline was sprawling and left the JSA in a great spot, and the "Year One" detour was a highlight as well. But it does mean we'll only have a little time left with Jeff working on the present-day characters. That said, this is a historically long run for him on corporate-owned characters. His longest is Animal Man at 32 issues, and JSA now ties Old Man Logan for second at 24. Here's a quick look at Jeff's ongoing DC and Marvel work over the years:
32 Issues — Animal Man #1–29, #0, Annual #1–2
24 Issues — JSA #1–24
24 Issues — Old Man Logan #1–24
20 Issues — Extraordinary X-Men #1–20
19 Issues — Green Arrow #17–34, #23.1
16 Issues — Justice League Dark #9–23, #0
14 Issues — Moon Knight #1–14
14 Issues — The Terrifics #1–14
12 Issues — Justice League United #1–10, #0, Annual #1
12 Issues — Thanos #1–12
11 Issues — All-New Hawkeye #1–5, #1–6
11 Issues — Superboy #1–11
9 Issues — Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #1–9
4 Issues — Constantine #1–4
There was no mention of whether the series will continue after Jeff departs. I hope it does, and if so, I'd love to see Diego Olortegui stay on as artist — he's brought so much life to the JSA. If he remains, reuniting him with the writer of Jay Garrick: The Flash seems like a natural fit. Jeremy Adams not only recently wrote Jay Garrick, but has been dabbling in Thanagarian mythology and JSA-adjacent characters like Spectre, Dove, Silver Scarab, and Jade. His Geoff Johns-style lengthy runs would be very welcome on this book.
I'd also love to see Tom Taylor write the JSA proper to help bring the characters he co-created — Superman (Val-Zod) and Red Tornado (Lois Lane) — back to Earth 2, or perhaps a political adventure featuring his Bhadnesian character the Aerie from his Suicide Squad run. Speaking of Bhadnesia, it would be great to see Josh Williamson have the JSA and Jakeem interact with his co-creation Abyss from Batman. There's a lot of untold stories there — what happened between the JSA's last adventure there with Kiku and the country it eventually became in the days of Aerie and Abyss. And after his recent Alan Scott work in Batman, I'd be very curious to see what Matt Fraction could do with the full JSA roster.
Whatever happens next, here's hoping we get more JSA stories!