And then it came to an end. With the Crisis On Infinite Earths (much more on that later) the woeful decision had been made that the Justice Society of America was redundant and so could properly be disposed of so that comics could march forward stalwartly into a new age. Dopes!
Roy Thomas seeking to control the demise since he could not prevent it concocted a wild story which served as something of an oddball bookend to 1979's DC Presents special which had related the previously unrevealed origin of the JSofA. In this wild tale drawn by the talented David Ross and inked by Mike Gustovich the Justice Society finds itself again confronting head on the might of the Third Reich and the devious Adolph Hitler.
To forestall defeat, they allow themselves to be transformed into avatars for the Norse Gods who then enter into an eternal conflict with the great demons of Nordic myth. Thus they are locked away in this version of Valhalla, neither really dead nor really alive, apart from the larger DCU but forever (in the imagination at least) fighting the good fight.
It was a noble effort, but alas an unsatisfying one, at least for this reader.
Years passed.
Eventually though DC decided to bring them back. It takes place as part of one of the more woeful crossovers called Armageddon. In one of the off-shoots of that story line called Armageddon: Inferno sundry heroes are assembled to battle an other-dimensional threat called Abraxis across four time periods. The battle goes poorly and the Spectre decides to call out some heroes who already exist outside time, the Justice Society of America. They are brought in and battle the villain on his home turf and defeat him. They are then rewarded by being brought back into the DC Universe with the henchmen of Abraxis himself taking their places battling the Nordic gods.
Though the artwork on this storyline is spotty in places, the JSofA chapter is drawn nicely by Dick Giordano though the story is terribly wonky.
So knocking off the Justice Society was proven a bad idea. That didn't mean DC wasn't done trying to do it though. More later.
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