The Justice Society – Director: Christopher Manley/Writer: Taylor Streitz
This one starts with football practice at Blue Valley High. The quarterback (and best player) is Artemis Crock, but she has a bit of a temper. When one of the defensive players hits her late she decks him and gets benched by the new coach. Later, Artemis’s parents (who were proud of her for decking her teammate) confront the coach and waste him when he refuses to back down from their threats. Did I mention that Artemis’s parents are Crusher Crock (who runs the gym downtown) and Paula Brooks (who’s the school gym teacher)? Of course, they’re also Sportsmaster and Tigress of the Injustice Society.
When Courtney returns home from her nightly outing, Pat is waiting for her. He gives her shit for stealing the JSA artifacts and gets even more
pissed off when he learns she already bestowed two of them on the new Wildcat and Dr. Mid-Nite. Pat already suspected Rick had his father’s hourglass (although he wasn’t aware Hourman had a son) since he saw the results of Rick’s super-strength on Matt’s mangled car down at the garage. Pat tells Courtney she has to get the goggles and costume back from Beth and Yolanda before they wind up dead like Joey Zarick. Meanwhile, Icicle gets a call about Crusher and Tigress’s latest “indiscretion” (apparently 
this is the third coach they’ve killed in two years). He gives them shit and tells them they can work off some of their energy in costume because he needs their supervillain alter egos. At home, Mike is making a candy volcano for the science fair, but tells Barbara and Pat not to come because parents aren’t invited. Later, Pat intercepts Rick on the way to school and tells him he knew his dad, taking him to the garage to give him shit for losing his temper. Pat also gives Rick his father’s notebook full of chemical formulae.
At school, Yolanda has become quite the fan of Ted Grant (the original Wildcat) and his boxing career. When Yolanda tells Courtney how being
Wildcat has given her a shot at redemption, like Ted Grant got when his boxing career went to shit, Courtney doesn’t have the heart to ask for the mask back. The same thing happens with Beth, who’s so happy with the Dr. Mid-Nite A.I. because she finally has someone who listens to her and doesn’t think she’s weird. But over lunch Courtney does finally ask them both for the artifacts back. Neither of them likes that idea and they both refuse. At the garage, Rick says the 
personal stuff in the diary is all wrong and might be some kind of code. When Pat asks for the diary and hourglass back, Rick refuses and questions how useful Pat was to the JSA in the first place, since he doesn’t seem to know his ass from a hole in the ground. At school, Gambler drops by to let Sportsmaster and Tigress know what the plan is for tonight: they need the satellite codes to go with the broadcasting equipment they stole last episode.
At the Middle School science fair, Mike is feeling a bit lonely since everyone else’s parents are there. He obviously regrets lying to his family about that, so he’s thrilled when Barbara shows up unexpectedly. Courtney and the
others run into Rick, but Beth’s goggles can’t help decipher the chemical equations in the diary. Beth gets an alert that the Gambler is hacking into Empire Enterprise, a communications company. Rick and Yolanda figure Gambler will be an easy adversary to take down, which means they can lean on him to get info on the other Injustice Society embers. Courtney reluctantly agrees to go with them, unaware that Gambler will have Tigress and Sportsmaster as back-up. Icicle 
and his son commemorate his dead wife’s birthday at a restaurant and we see a bit of frost breath come out of Cameron’s mouth, suggesting he may have inherited his father’s ice powers. At home, Barbara and Mike are bonding, having eaten most of his candy volcano. Pat isn’t happy when he hears that Courtney is out with friends. She and the others (now in full costumes) are at Empire Enterprises looking for Gambler, but they run into Sportsmaster and Tigress instead.
The new JSA don’t have the experience of the villains, nor have they learned to work properly as a team, so they don’t do too well. Sportsmaster kicks
the shit out of Hourman while Tigress pounds Wildcat. Stargirl intervenes and does a bit better against Sportsmaster, but Dr. Mid-Nite has to use a fire extinguisher to save Wildcat. They regroup outside, where the villains are double-teaming Courtney. She gets a scare when one of Sportsmaster’s explosives seems to neutralize the Cosmic Staff, but it recovers and her teammates rally to her side. The two villains are ready to kick some more ass until Pat shows up in 
the STRIPE armour and they take off, Gambler having already gotten the access codes for the satellites. Back at the garage, the others marvel over the STRIPE armour while Courtney complains to Pat about how none of her friends would listen to her and how frustrating it was. It takes a while for the irony to sink in, but she finally realizes that all of Pat’s advice was for her own good. At Injustice Society headquarters, Icicle tells the others they need to find out who the new JSA are so they can take care of them.
This is a pretty good episode that gives us our first look at the new JSA team. Unfortunately, they learn pretty quickly that just putting on a costume or even having super-powers doesn’t mean you’re ready for the big time. I
loved the irony when Courtney was complaining to Pat about how none of the others would listen to her, even though she was trying to help them. I think she ended up having a lot more respect for Pat’s point of view, and it was apparently mutual since he agreed to let them keep the JSA artifacts as long as they train to use them properly. But Courtney actually defended Pat earlier when the others were talking shit 
about him, so she already had a certain amount of respect for him (or maybe she’s just coming around to having him as a step-dad). The others gained a new respect for Pat too after seeing how sophisticated the armour is, especially Rick who would know how hard it is to make something like that from old car parts. It’s also interesting to see Mike and Barbara bonding; neither of them are aware of Pat and Courtney’s double lives, so it makes sense for them to have some common ground.
Noticeable Things:
- Pat tells Rick that Hourman’s power is addictive, which is why he restricted it to one hour per day. That follows the comics, where the original Hourman gained his strength from a Miraclo pill that turned out to be addictive, so he switched to a Miraclo ray.
- Charles McNider’s favourite book was Fahrenheit 451, which he bought new off the shelf.
- Johnny Thunder’s pen (which Pat called the most dangerous of the JSA artifacts) is still sitting in a cup on Courtney’s desk because she thinks it’s worthless.
Favourite Quotes:
- “I can’t take much more of this town, with its Rotary Clubs and bake sales.” Paula (Tigress) Brooks expressing her love of small town life.
- “Does this mean I get a costume? I’d really like a costume.” Beth getting into the superhero spirit.
- “They do not look like hackers.” Hourman’s first impression of Tigress and Sportsmaster.