from 1992: My letter in “Justice Society of America #7” lettercolumn

In 1992 there were rumors about the upcoming cancellation of a comic book series that I was enjoying. This happens all the time in comics. Sales don’t meet a certain level, and any book can be cancelled. But this one had only had two issues come out at the time of the rumors, not enough time for there to be enough sales data to know if the book would be a success or not.

The rumors which were circulating on the CompuServe Comics and Animation Forum were confirmed by the book’s writer, Len Strazewski. I was then inspired to write a letter to the editors of Justice Society of America (the book in question) to ask them to continue the series.

Unlike most letter writers, I did not send the letter hoping for it to be published. In fact I only wanted to sway the opinions of the editors. I was surprised by the fact my letter had been published. Sadly, the editors were not swayed. But they did take the opportunity to explain and justify their actions.

However it was the popular opinion of my fellow forum members that the reply was a crock.

Here is my letter, and DC’s response as printed in the letter column of Justice Society of America #7 (cover date, February 1993):

Editor of JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA:

I have purchased and read the first two issues and hove enjoyed them immensely. I dare say that it is potentially one of the best comics in your line today. The storyline develops the characters well., letting the reader get a feel for how the years have treated the aging heroes. And the art is very good. Normally I wouldn’t take much notice of the quality of a comic unless it’s bad, but the Parobeck/ Machlan team really impressed me. Even with a somewhat “cartoony” style, they manage to draw older characters well, not just drawing twenty-year-old characters balding and with graying hari like other artist tend to do. Overall, the book is excellent, and I hope it has a long, good run.

This leads me to the point of this letter. Over the past week, I have heard rumors that JSA will be canceled, as well as several of your titles that I also enjoyed (AQUAMAN, GREEN LANTERN: MOSAIC, AND FLASH, to be specific) Now, I normally would dismiss these rumors until I read about them in one of the trade publications, but in this case the cancellation of JSA was confirmed by the book’s writer, Len Strazewski, in a computer bulletin board forum that I subscribe to.

I strongly recommend that you reconsider this cancellation. I was under the impression that sales of the book were very good. The book nearly sold through at Moonshadow Comics in Portland, Maine. In discussions with the clerks at Moonshadow, they have expressed their love of the book. With a book that was just released two months ago, and that is proving itself to be good, and acquiring a solid following, I find it amazing that you just wouldn’t give it a chance.

Involved with these rumors was the idea that these cancellations were due to the reworking of DC’s image, that you may be trying to alter your super-hero line to attract the teenage audience. Now, attracting the teenage audience is fine, and I know that your latest attempt to do so, the IMPACT line, hasn’t been successful, but please don’t throw out the baby with the bath water. Many of your titles have been among my favorites, as you have given the characters and stories depth and intelligence. It was those qualities that attracted me to comics in the first place; I had never read them in my childhood. To dispose of this entirely now would alienate many of your current readers. Please feel free to introduce new books aimed at younger audiences, but by no means should your super-hero books be exclusively an under-eighteen affair.

If you’d like to have the DC name associated with a teenage audience, I’d suggest this: Take the books that are more intelligent and attract a more mature audience (not necessarily “Mature Readers” labeled books), and group them under a sub-line, in much the same manner as you have the books in the upcoming VERTIGO imprint.

Books like JSA and MOSAIC deserve to remain in circulation. I would see your canceling of them as a betrayal of many of your loyal readers. Please reconsider. I’d really appreciate it.

Shawn S. Levasseur

Rockland, ME

Here’s the response. I’m not sure who wrote the reply as there was no credit, but judging by the phrase “Brian and I”, I’ll presume it was assistant editor Ruben Diaz who’s listed in the credits (“Brian” being the book’s editor, Brian Augustyn)

While I resisted starting off on a down note, I felt that it was important to address a very improtant concert of many of our readers. Yes, it is true that JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA will be canceled—with issue #10, to be specifi; however, FLASH will not be canceled. AQUAMAN will be discontinued only to be relaunched as a mini-series wit ha new creative team and direction. That is not the issue at hand. THe question that manty people are asking is, why?

First of all, although the first book did considerably well, sales of subsequent issues began to fall substantially. This is not to say that we are only concerned with selling caseloads of books; however, there comes a point where the sales of the book drop so low that they consume the the effort of the creative talet for little return. We at DC, or at least Brian and I, care enough about the JSA that we would love to see them continue—but not in this format. Surely the JSA will grae the prited medium again. Maybe in another maxiseries. Maybe in team-ups or one-shots. The bottom line is that the efforts of Len, Mike, Mike and the rest of us can be better spent elsewhere in a more beneficial venture. We must also be conscious that these people make their living producing comic books. Sometimes more support is needed to keep a comic book going than was given. Sadly, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.

Secondly, careful reading will tell you that DC does not cater strictly to an under-18 audience. We haven’t for a long time. Essentially if we are to remain competitive, to insure that we can affort to do comics like the JSA we must appeal to the under-18 audience as well. We are not neglecting the loyal over-18 DC reader, but we haven’t catered to the under-18 for so long that we need to provide that age group with a DC comic that they will be attracted to. Look at it this way: the JSA is here for you mature DC Universe fans. They will remain in the DC Universe for you diehard DC fans. Maybe it’s time to open the gates and allow new fans to fill the ranks of DC readers to insure that we remain a prominent publisher of comic books. As you sugggested, new books will be added. And when we have filled the “salad bowl” of DC fans we can do books like JSA that will appeal to ALL READERS.

I don’t see how it could be said that DC was not attracting teenage readers any more or less in any given time from the late 80’s through the mid 90’s. I seriously doubt that any real research went into the decision that JSA skewed too old and that a younger audience could be courted via a different book.

At the time, I thought that the grouping of certain ongoing DC books into a Mature Readers imprint, Vertigo, was a brilliant excercise in building a brand that would signal a certain type of book with a certain level of quality. Judging by this response, it may have been to disassociate them from the rest of the DC books as well.

But to throw a book overboard because you simply don’t want the audience it gets is a foolish move.

Today Len Strazewski is, as far as I know, out of comics. Mike Parobeck has since passed away. But the Justice Society has come around to where it’s now one of the top books in DC’s line. One could hope that this 1992 series could someday soon be collected into a trade paperback.

There’s lots of other articles in the comics blogoshpere about the Strazewski / Parobeck Justice Society:

• Seven Hells praises it.
• Comics Should Be Good asserts that “Justice Society of America was cancelled not because of sales, but because Mike Carlin no longer wanted to publish it.”
• Lady Obie calls it “The JSA That Came Too Soon.”
• Scott Tipton tells the whole history of the JSA, with part IV covering the time from the 80’s All-Star Squadron, through to the mid 90’s mini-series, Zero Hour.
• Mike Aragona interviewed Len Strazewski in 1998 about his career, including the cancellation of Justice Society of America
• Ironically, Green Lantern: Mosaic and Justice Society of America were 1st & 2nd place finishers for the rec.arts.comics newsgroup’s “Squiddy” Awards in the “Best New Series for 1992” category. Both were cancelled within a year.