Welcome to our re-read of the first and greatest superhero team in comics ... and quite a bit more!
My plan is to re-read and discuss the Golden Age Justice Society of America, which ran from All-Star Comics #3 (Winter 1940) to All-Star Comics #57 (February-March 1951), and is currently being reprinted in DC's "DC Finest" line.
But, as ever, I am consumed by context. What events brought us to All-Star Comics #3? What characters did editor Sheldon Mayer and writer Gardner Fox have available from which to choose? What else was competing in the superhero space? To achieve that context, I plan to start the discussion at the publisher's beginning, when Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson launched National Allied Publications Inc. in 1935. That was the first step toward the Justice Society — and to DC Comics as we know it today.
So before we even get to the JSA, I'll re-read and open for discussion all the solo stories starring JSA members, mostly from DC's Archives and Famous First Edition series. Which is actually quite a lot! (Although not as much as I'd prefer. I want it ALL!) I'll be writing about non-JSA superheroes created by National, Detective Comics Inc. and All-American Comics Inc. too, like Crimson Avenger and Doctor Occult. I'll also be tipping my hat to some non-powered characters, principally those who managed to appear outside their parent title, like Slam Bradley and Hop Harrigan. That means no re-read for the likes of "Bart Regan, Spy" and "Speed Saunders." Sorry, fellas, but I had to draw the line somewhere — before I found myself doing a deep dive into the history of Ginger Snap.
Speaking of drawing lines, I won't be re-reading Superman and Batman. They are peripheral at best to the Golden Age JSA, and would overwhelm the discussion through sheer volume. The volume issue extends to Wonder Woman as well (Sensation Comics, Wonder Woman, Comic Cavalcade), but she was a major player in the JSA, so I haven't decided yet if I'll include her solo stories. (And I have quite a bit of time to decide, since the bulk of DC"s Golden Age Archives books consist of material published before Sensation Comics #1.) Fortunately, Jeff of Earth-J is already doing a re-read of the Golden Age Superman.
I should note that I'm using cover dates instead of ship dates (not all ship dates are available) and assigning specific months to seasonal cover dates. That is to say, I consider "Spring" to mean March-April-May, "Summer" to mean June-July-August, "Fall" to mean September-October-November and "Winter" to mean December-January-February. I know the books with seasonal dates don't always align with the months I've assigned. But I'm organizing by month, so I have to assign months to seasonal cover dates. The cover date for All-Star Comics #3 was Winter 1940, for example, so I'm going to call it "December." (The actual ship date was Nov. 22, 1940, according to the Grand Comics Database, for whatever that's worth.) It's not necessary for Golden Age books to be in specific order very often, but where they need to be (like Detective Comics #38 and Batman #1), I'll order them properly.
I've tried to be comprehensive, relying on a variety of sources, from online to reprints to "companion" books. A tip of the cowl to some of Luke Blanchard's posts in what amounts to almost an outline for this discussion. But I'm sure I've left out tons, especially reprints that I don't have or can't find, which may be at hand in your collection. I hope folks will do re-reads of reprints I've left out, as well as comment on what I've written. So let's hear what I've missed Legionnaires — and what you think!
Replies
I've been doing a lot of newspaper and archival research for the new book, along the way taking another side-trip into my home town's past. I'm again struck by how much of a city or town's life was chronicled in the old newspapers. The fact that my sister's grade 7 teacher had them bring in pets one day for science class was local news (though a true fact-checking would have tempered the description of my grandmother's cat. But her deformity certainly made her look half-rabbit).
This generation has very few people that have experienced the true potential of the written word.
Skilled writting is simply far more efficient and stylish at expressing content than audiovisual media, but that seems to have been mostly forgotten.
Well put. I recently read an article about the virtue of pushing through densely-worded prose to get at the true meaning beneath. To that end I have orderd the first volume of Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time, which I have never read (or even studied). It should arrive today, along with the first volume of Varney the Vampire (another "dense" work, I have heard) and Pat Cadigan's UltraSeven adaptation. But I digress...
I'll be curious to see how you do with Proust. I read the first two volumes of À la recherche du temps perdu (In English translation, I must confess) and thought, "I'm not gonna live long enough to make it through five more volumes of this stuff". Finnegans Wake was an easier read.
I'll be curious to see how you do with Proust.
Keep your eye on "So, What Are You Reading Today (Besides Comics?)" (but right now I'm in the middle of Cadigan's first Ultraman adaptation).
(In English translation, I must confess)
What, you think I'm going to be reading it in French? (I did specifically order an unabridged version, however.)
Radio Squad, by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, begins in More Fun Comics #11 (July 1936).
From what I've found on-line, while radio was invented in 1900, the first police radio system was not implemented until 1928, in Detroit. Police radio probably still seemed like exciting, cutting-edge technology when this feature was created.
They were still using the police boxes as their major means of communication. Only a few years later would police radio be treated as "normal" as seen in countless Batman comics of the early 40s.
To this day, I still have my grandfather's call box key from when he was a Boston cop back in the 30's.
Sort of like avation. Evidently kids in the '30s loved anything that had to do with radio or airplanes.
I've never seen a reprint of New Comics and have nothing to say about it.
But Jerry Bails did. In a foreword to The Golden Age Spectre Archives Vol. 1, Bails said New Fun and New Comics were the titles that "established, once and for all, there was a market for new and original comic books." That seems important.
My understanding of the title New Comics has been that before that everything in this form was reprinted newspaper comic strips.
I suspect that the standardizing of the comic book sizes was under pressure from the newsstand retailers.
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