Issue #1 By Neil Gow

Faux-DC Presents the Justice Society :  Postcards from a Distant Earth It was a time that time has forgotten It was a place that reality has hidden It was a world where nothing was ever quite the same. From this place came heroes, true heroes with truth, justice and fair play at their hearts. This is their story, and that of their children faux dc and top gow productions present The Justice Society (And the crowd truly goes wild!) Postcards from a Distant Earth ' <zzz> report the breaking news of changes in the roster of the Justice League. Reporters were shocked to discover the inclusion of third string heroine, Firehawk in the new line-up. Hero expert, Larry <zzz>' ' <zzz> ..and after the break we'll be asking - whatever happened to Booster Gold? <zzz>' ' <zzz> saved Metropolis yet again, this time from the air-solidifying plans of a new Dr Alchemy. Superman was unavaila.. <zzz>' ' <zzz> 'I'm sorry Hilary, but I can't see how we can let these young people fight crime like that? The teen hero phenomenon is just a bad example to the youth of today.. <zzz>' ' <zzz> was sentenced to serve 15 years in Belle Reve Prison. The Australian criminal commented that 'He'd be back!' <zzz>' ' <zzz> Captain America is dead. Yes, that's right! Marvel Comics have pulled off another coup by killing their flagship character. The question is, how long will he be gone this time? <zzz>' The TV remote flies across the tidy, small room and the figure that was once holding it slumps in the armchair that has held him for the last few hours. He used to be a hero once. He used to fly alongside the Big guys - even the Big Man himself. Who would have thought that little Johnny would have been a member of the Justice Society? He reaches up and runs his hand over his balding head. His lucid periods were few and far between nowadays, the Alzheimer's had seen to that. He couldn't even bring himself to think about the end, but he knew it was coming. He wished he could ride the skies again on the back of the T-Bolt, but that was Kiku's job now. Uncle Johnny would just have to stay here in this hospice and wait for the end. ************* Far off in space, an antiquated rocketship ploughs the aether in search of a long lost hero. It's human pilot, Jack Knight - son of the golden age hero Starman and bearer of that current title - is oblivious to the warping of space around him. Dark shapes move past his craft, blinking stars out as they pass by. However, space is black and so are they, and they go unnoticed. ************* Obsidian sits with his back to a water tower, watching the moon and wondering what was happening up there. He should have been there - he used to be a member of the League but they have just ignored him for months. Lets face it, he's been pretty withdrawn for a while now, especially since that stuff with Jade and the Starheart. Why did she loose her powers and not him? That would have been the best way fro things to go. Jade always liked being in the spotlight, he never really got used to it. Maybe he should get together with Albert for a beer? ' You should not fret, young man, your time will come soon.' The voice makes Todd jump and he rolls to his side, transforming into the tall, dark figure of Obsidian and springing to his feet. ' You!' ' Calm yourself, my youthful brethren. I am here as a friend, an ally,' The tall, lean figure before Albert twirls a cane under his arm and tips his tall top hat. He produces a confident yet controlled smile and gestures for Todd to sit ,' The Shade is here as a friend, not a foe.' ' What do you want?' The bile in Todds voice was unmissable. The Shade had been the bane of his father, the JSA and Infinity Inc. ' It is not what I want, as such, but more what I have to tell you. What I want to share, you might say. You are a being of the darkness, just as I am? Have you felt anything recently? A pulling? Some tension?' ' For what it's worth, yes, I have. Like heartburn, only more intense. What's that got to do with you?' ' I feared I would be the only one to be affected, but I am wrong. I fear, young hero, that this may be the precursor to the arrival of a terrible being. A being your father helped vanquish decades ago. Beware Obsidian. The time will come when he will come for those of us that are of the shadow. Be prepared!' And with that the Shade pulls his coat around him and a horde of snapping shadow-demons envelope him and he disappears. ' What the hell was that all about?' ************* Faster. She needed to get faster. Ignore the crowds and the traffic and the noises that she was reliving backwards as she caught up with the sound waves. Match velocities with the bullet, reach out and pluck it from the air. Done it! Jesse Quick, the daughter of the golden age speed legend Johnny Quick glides to a halt and rests against the raised platform that the Senator was speaking on two seconds ago. Now he's lying beneath a pile of security guards and she's staring back down the barrel of the assassins gun. ' Did you honestly, really honestly, think that a high velocity rifle was going to beat me?' She shouts up at the eight floor window and raised an eyebrow beneath her goggles. She sees the assassin bolt from the window. Under her breath she mutters the formula that her father swore by ( and that Max Mercury always tries to say is some sort of mathematic mumbo-jumbo that links her to the speed force.) - 3x2(9YZ)4A - and she speeds away again. By the time the assassin has taken his fourth step she is behind him. By the time that he registers her presence she has dismantled the gun. By the time he looks to she where she is, she has hit him 40 times and fractured his cheekbone. By the time he hits the floor unconscious she has carried a policeman to the scene and is well on her way back to her job. All in a days work for Jesse Quick - fastest woman on Earth ( barring maybe Wonder Woman but she would never get into one of those stupid race-offs like Wally and Superman always end up doing.) She flies through the building and in less than half a second, changes in the washroom and emerges, pushing her hair into he headband. Running her tongue over her teeth ( she's sure she still has a piece of broccoli trapped there) She round the corner and enters the office. ' Miss Chambers. Call for you on line three!' Jesse picks up the phone and balances it under her jawbone so that she can go through her mail. The first of many today, she thinks. A typical day in the typical life of the typical second generation superhero. She grins to herself and gets on with it. ************* To soar the skies again is all that he has ever wanted. To feel the wind flow through his hair and hear the feathers on his wings as he pitches and turns amongst the clouds. Carter Hall is happier than he has been for _. Well, for as long as he can remember. There have been a lot of strange things happened to him recently and taking this moment just to clear his head was the right thing to do. He had so much that he felt he needed to clear up, now that he was 'himself ' again. And the first thing would be to look up some of his old friends from the Justice Society! He smiles and with a whooping cry plummets into a nose dive and falls through the clouds. ************* ' I heard you the first time! Enough with the doorbell!' Jade struggles to keep the towel wrapped around her body as she staggers out of the shower and picks her way through Kyle's unfinished work. Who the hell is it at this time of the morning? She pushes back the strands of wet hair from her eyes and reaches out to undo the locks with her power pulse. Damn! Those habits really do take a long time to lose. Since the incident with the Starheart she has had to get used to getting by without the emerald power she had inherited from her father, Alan Scott - the original Green Lantern. ' WHAT! can I do for you?' she snarls as she opens the door. Before her she sees a tall figure dressed in a leather jacket and rough denims. The young man's face is unshaven but beneath the grime gathered by travelling she recognises him. ' Rick! Rick Tyler!' She flings her arms around her old team-mate and hugs him tight. It was so long since she had seen any of the members of Infinity Inc. ' Jen! I .. oh, I'm sorry about disturbing you.' Jade stands upright and then jerks her arms as the towel begins to fall ,' Shall I just sit here whilst you slip into something that isn't going to make Todd throttle me?' Rick sits down and flicks through one of Kyles coffee table books. Moments later, Jenn arrives in a loose shirt and cycling shorts. She vaults over the back of the sofa and turns to face Rick. ' What brings you here? How are you? I mean ...' ' The cancer? It's cured, well, as far as the doctors can tell. Apparently it was the dormant Miraclo in my system that caused it. When Dad taught me how he had learned to use his Miraclo without actually taking the pills using a positive thinking thing ..' ' Like Jesse?' ' Yeah. He got the idea from her dad. By activating the Miraclo that sits in my body occasionally I can stop the process.' ' So you're back in the hero business? Funny really, you in - me out?' ' Well, I'm not back in just yet. I'm not sure I really want to be, after what happened to Dad and the others. That's what I'm here for really. I need to get my life back on track and I was wondering whether you knew anyone who needed a good artist?' Jade throws back her head and laughs. ' Oh my life! Yes, I know a few artists. Kyle, the guy I live with has been known to draw a little. You two will get on like a house on fire. Orange juice?' She moves through to the kitchen and Rick smiles. It's good to be amongst friends again. ************* They can go and take their Justice League and stick it where the sun doesn't shine. If they don't want Damage then Damage doesn't want them. And what the hell did they think they were doing dropping him off in the middle of the desert? ' Well I'm not going to do it! I'm not going to lose my ....,' Grant Emerson feels the charge beginning to build inside him ,'... OK, Maybe I am going to do it, but it's not my fault!!' He screams into the sky and then slams his hands down on a boulder and the world goes crazy. Devastating energy blasts out from his body, vaporising the sandstone and levelling the land around him. When the dusts settles Damage is stood in a crater with his clothes shredded. ' Oh you must think you are so clever!' He shakes his fist at the sky, hoping he's gesturing in the direction of the JLA. He kicks a rock and wanders across the dustbowl. How long was he going to have to walk. Suddenly in the distance he sees a car approaching. He runs to meet it, waving his arms but it seems to have been coming his way anyway. The driver stops and winds down the window. ' You that Damage kid? I just got plucked and dropped here by Superman. Yeah, the real Superman. He told me to pick you up and drive you wherever you wanted to go, after you've calmed down. I assume you have?' Without speaking Grant climbs into the cab and it drives off. This has to be the final indignity. When Superman begins to notice, you know things are bad. He was going to have to crack this thing, one way or another. Somehow he was going to have to gain the respect of the rest of the hero community. He had a heritage to live up to - he was the son ( well, the biological son) of the Atom. As for the rest, well, if he didn't have a heroic pedigree then no-one else on this planet did! ************* The two figures sit opposite each other. For this small corner of New York it had become a regular sight. Sure, a few passers-by turned and stared, but the regulars just got on with drinking their coffee and reading their papers. The smaller of the two is a young woman, a girl really. In the melting pot of New York her dark skin, high cheekbones and almond eyes were nothing strange. She  slurps the last of her soda and runs her hand through her short hair. It is very hot. The other 'being' is tall and spiky and pink. Sort of crackling. It is the last remaining Bandhesian Thunderbolt and it is staring at it's owner, master, friend and tormentor - Kiku Thunder. ' Say you couldn't make it a bit cooler around her could you, Mr T.?' The thunderbolt rolls it's eyes and conjures a magical fan that blows cool air over the young woman. ' I have been called so many things in my life that it would take me the whole day to recite them but 'Mr T.' has never been one of them.' ' Lighten up, Bolt Boy, and thanks for the fan. So, where are we off to today?' ' I assume this means that you have no business meetings today?' ' The world of frozen yoghurt is safe in the hands of the people I pay half my money to to run it. I fancy Australia, or Brazil. What about you?' ' Personally I would prefer a day of rest and relaxation.' ' You want that? Really?' ' Yes. I have not visited Johnny for a while and I would like to go to see him.' ' Cei-u, T-Bolt. Get going and have the day off. Go and see Johnny. I'll just hang around the mall.' The thunderbolt smiles and flies off. Kiku swings her legs down off the stool and wanders off into the crowd. Life is just too cool. ************* Jared, the mercenary ( and Agent of Balance) known as Fate finishes his last beer and slams the glass down on the bar. The strip joint was empty now - the show had ended long ago - but the owner wasn't going to be throwing him out. Not in the state he was in at the moment. Things are slow, very slow and he needs a lift. He thought that ten or twenty beers would have done it but he had been wrong. Behind him the shadows begin to shift and move. Jared feels the hairs on the back of his neck lift and shiver. He slides his hand down the side of his leg and grasps the handle of his dagger. He feels the arcane power of the reforged ancient artifact that used to be the Helmet of Dr Fate flow through his body. ' Whoever you are and where ever you are, I know you're there so you might as well come out and face the music. C'mon you demon freak. Get out!' He stands off the stool and draws the dagger. The bar owner's face freezes as the darkness at the edges of the dance floor coalesces and a tall figure forms. The figure is bald, yet noble. It looks at Jared and  laughs. ' You! They chose you to take his place? A drunken depressive with no future and ,' he turns his head sideways as if contemplating something ,' yes, no past either. You are nothing. A cheap replacement for a once worthy foe. You have what I want. Give them to me.' ' What the hell are you going on about? Who are you? What, you want these? The daggers? The ankhs? Well come and take them, freak boy!' Jared snarls and drags a piece of spittle between his teeth. The shadow creature takes a step back and grins. ' I am sooo scared. Because all the upper body muscle and attitude is going to get you through this!' The creature reaches out a hand and draws it back towards its chest. ' Give me your time, false Fate, give it all to me!' Energy reaches out from the creature and envelopes the drunken hero. He slashes at the eldritch tentacles with his knife but he can't muster the strength. His body feels like lead, his lungs are aching and his mind is splitting. Within a minute of the temporal onslaught the pretender was dead. A pile of ashes and dust. The shadow creature bends down and plucks the dagger and the ankhs and the bandage from the ashes. It laughs and disappears into nothing. ************* The pulsating shapes of orange light that are the Lords of Order swell and shift. ' The pretender is dead. The time has come. Send out the Emissary. Find a new Fate! ************* The house is dark except for an eerie light creeping from beneath the door. Low murmuring voices can be heard from behind the door, analysing and commenting. Footsteps approach and a bell rings, echoing around the room. The door that was outlined with light flies open and the room is filled with a chill wind. The bell is answered and the old oak door that separates the yard from the hall opens. In the door stands a tall figure, broad and impressive. ' Alan! You're late. Hurry up, Opal are about to score. I don't want to leave Ted alone for too long with the pizza.' Jay Garrick's weathered face smiles at his oldest friend, Alan Scott. The Flash and Sentinel give each other a solid embrace and move through into the TV room to watch the playoffs. In the room already are two other men. One is a small, aged man wearing small round glasses and clutching a glass of wine. He is arguing furiously with the other man who appears to be slightly younger and in far better physical condition. He slugs back a can of Bud and shakes his head furiously. The technical ability of the Opal team is being debated by the Teds; Ted Grant ( who still fights crime as the Wildcat) and Ted Knight, who has long since passed his mantle as Starman onto his sons. ' Jay - this was your idea. tell him how good a player Stewart is, will you?' Ted Knight throws his hands into the air ,' I swear that the man only understands boxing.' ' Actually, it was Joan's idea to get us all together. She was all too aware that we've been missing our get-togethers with the Justice League and she thought that it would be a nice touch.' ' But Football? Who's interested in Football?' Ted Grant crushes the can he has just finished and plucks another from the cool box. ' You have no sense of occasion do you Ted?,' Alan Scott laughs and pours himself a glass of wine ,' Cabernet Sauvingnon? And a good year. Your's Jay?' ' I'll have a beer Alan. But only the one - just in case?' ' I'm sure that Keystone City can survive with only what? Four speedsters on duty. Between Wally, Jesse, Max and Impulse I'm sure they've got the bases covered.' Alan Scott laughs. His hefty frame rocks. ' How are the kids Alan?' Ted Knight turns towards his friend as Pittsburgh prepare to defend again. ' Jen's still off doing her own thing. Last I heard she was still living with Kyle. As for Todd, well he has his moments. He's still really smarting from that stuff with the League. I can't seem to get through to him anymore. How's Jack doing?' ' He's gone off into space to find Will Payton - the other Starman, you remember? From a few years ago.' ' All purple and yellow!' Ted Grant interrupts. His voice is drowned out by a gasp from Sentinel as his chest pulses and glows. The emerald light grows and envelopes the four heroes. Their minds are twisted and warped. They see images and hear noises that they should never hear. Finally it subsides and the four heroes fall back into their seats. ' Ted, Jay, Ted? Are you OK?' Alan Scott is shocked. ' Yeah, I'm fine. Did that mean what I think it meant?' ' I surely think it did Ted, ' replies Ted Knight ,' In one years time one of our most deadly foes will return to destroy the world. He will be met by .... it doesn't really matter who he will be met by does it?' Jay picks up the thread ' No Ted, it doesn't. They will meet him and we'll be dead! Oh my God, we've just seen the last days of the Justice Society!!' ************* So what the hell was that? It surely wasn't a *proper* comic-book story. Where was the action? Where were the villains? Where was the plot? Stuff that. Lets get things straight from the beginning - doing *anything* about the Justice Society in Faux DC was going to be *really* difficult. Some people want the old JSAers back from the dead, others want to see the remaining old guard and others want to see the second generation heroes in the spotlight. What to do?? This book sets the stage for what is to come. It puts a reference point against an array of heroes. It's just a taster of what I have planned for *some* of the characters. Watch for them over the next 'year' of Faux DC. They'll be appearing in a number of books - notably JLA, Hawkman, Green Lantern and the Flash. In Faux Dcs second year, the plot threads will come together and you'll get what you want - whatever you want! Starting with All Start Comics #75, January Year Two. So hang on for the ride and remember one thing - The Justice Society of America is dead. Long Live the Justice Society! Neil Gow Information and Research Officer Newcastle University Union Society