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.
But I will be re-reading reprints, or availing myself of online information where reprints don't exist, of 14 of the 17 Golden Age characters who launched or appeared in All-Star Comics #3-57. Those characters include:
- The Atom: All-American Comics #19-46, 48-61, 70-72; All-Star Comics #3-26, 28-35, 37-57; Big All-American Comic Book; Flash Comics #80, 82-85, 87 89-95, 97-100, 102-104; Comic Cavalcade #22-23, 28; Sensation Comics #86.
- Black Canary: All-Star Comics #38-57; Comic Cavalcade #25; Flash Comics #86-88, 90-104.
- Doctor Fate: All-Star Comics #3-12, 14-21; More Fun Comics #55-98.
- Doctor Mid-Nite: All-American Comics #25-102; All-Star Comics #6 (text story), 8-57.
- The Flash: All-Flash #1-32; All-Star Comics #1-7, 10, 24-57; Big All-American Comic Book; Comic Cavalcade #1-29; Flash Comics #1-104, Flash Comics miniature (Wheaties)
- Green Lantern: All-American Comics #16-102; All-Flash #14; All-Star Comics #2-8, 10, 24-57; Big All-American Comic Book; Comic Cavalcade #1-29; Green Lantern #1-38.
- Hawkman: All-Star Comics #1-57, Big All-American Comic Book, Flash Comics #1-104, Flash Comics miniature (Wheaties).
- Hourman: Adventure Comics #48-83, All-Star Comics #1-7, New York World's Fair Comics [#2].
- Johnny Thunder: All-Star Comics #2-4, 6-35, 37-39; Big All-American Comic Book; Flash Comics #1-91; New York World's Fair Comics [#2]; World's Best Comics #1; World's Fair Comics #2-3; Flash Comics miniature (Wheaties).
- Mister Terrific: All-Star Comics #24, Big All-American Comic Book, Sensation Comics #1-63.
- Sandman: Adventure Comics #40-102, All-Star Comics #1-21, Boy Commandos #1, Detective Comics #76, New York World's Fair Comics [#1-2], World's Finest Comics #3-7.
- The Spectre: All-Star Comics #1-23, More Fun Comics #52-101, a single panel in More Fun Comics #51.
- Starman: Adventure Comics #61-102, All-Star Comics #8-23.
- Wildcat: All-Star Comics #24, 27; Big All-American Comic Book; Comic Cavalcade #1-2; Sensation Comics #1-90.
The obvious exceptions here are Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman. Superman and Batman, called "honorary members" in the text, appeared twice in All-Star Comics, but I don't plan to re-read all their adventures from 1938 to 1951. They are peripheral at best to the Golden Age JSA, and would overwhelm the discussion through sheer volume. This problem extends to Wonder Woman as well, who appears in four titles in the Golden Age (Sensation Comics, Wonder Woman, Comic Cavalcade, All-Star Comics). I'll re-read and report on her JSA adventures, but like Batman and Superman, I'll just note her solo stories in passing with a summary that I'll grab somewhere online. That will keep the discussion abreast of any major developments, like new supervillains, in Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman stories.
Here are their Golden Age adventures:
- Batman: All-Star Comics # 7 (cameo), 36; Batman #1-63 (February-March 1951); Batman 3-D #1; Detective Comics #1-169 (March 1951); New York World’s Fair Comics [#2]; World’s Best Comics #1, World’s Fair Comics #2-50 (February-March 1951).
- Superman: Action Comics #1-154 (March 1951); All-Star Comics #7 (cameo), 36; New York World’s Fair [#1-2]; Superman #1-69 (March-April 1951); Superman 3-D #1; Superman at the Gilbert Hall of Science; Superman Miniature; World’s Best Comics #1; World’s Fair Comics #2-50 (February-March 1951).
- Wonder Woman: All-Star Comics #8, 11-22, 24-57; Big All-American Comic Book; Comic Cavalcade #1-29; Sensation Comics #1-102; Wonder Woman #1-46 (March-April 1951).
Fortunately, Jeff of Earth-J is already doing a re-read of the Golden Age Superman. Jeff isn't doing a re-read of all Batman books, but he is compiling "The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told," by which he means "all of them." Recently he's begun re-reading other major Bat-villains, which he discusses in Riddler - Prinze of Puzzles, The Crimes of Two-Face and Catwoman: Nine Lives of a Feline Fatale.
I should note that my methodology changed over time, as realities required. For instance, I initially lumped books together by cover date, but complications ensued for books without them, like quarterlies and specials. As the number of quarterlies and their importance increased, I ended up going by on-sale dates as the primary organizational tool. (Which aren't available for all books, but that's a lesser devil than chronologically misplacing Batman or All-Star Comics). Initially I only included mention of others strips in anthology books if they were of some importance, like Slam Bradley, but eventually I started including all of them. Here and there I would try to improve the format. And so forth. In some imaginary "someday" I'll go back through and make them all consistent.
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 a Luke Blanchard post in what amounts to an outline for this discussion. But I'm sure I've left out tons, especially stories I don't have or can't find, which may be at hand in your collection. I hope folks will do re-reads of stories 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
It may have been the Mist's debut from Adventure Comics #67 (O'41) which was reprinted in Superman #252 (Ju'72) and The Greatest Golden Age Stories Ever Told (1990). There, Starman is falling down a chasm with his gravity rod falling with him a few inches away from his hand. Very thoughtful of the Gravity Rod! He says that the rod is strapped to his wrist but no strap is shown.
Indeed, earlier in the story, Starman gets knocked out by the Mist's invisible henchmen and he drops the gravity rod!
Another story has him underwater which is fraught with disaster!
Then there's the holster Starman wears for the gravity rod. He needs it because he always gets into a brawl with assorted goons but it would be awkward to either take the rod off the strap before putting it in the holster or cramming the strap into the holster or having a pocket to put the strap when not in use!
Better to say that the strap is made of a special transparent plastic or something!
That is probably the story I was thinking of, since I read it recently. Yeah, the holster business is nonsense, and he would obviously have a strap. Otherwise you're hanging onto a metal bar with one hand while being dragged through the air!
Yes, the rod is an awkward device to fly with but what would be better? A helmet? A harness? Gloves? Belt?
For flying? I can't think that a helmet, gloves or the rod are at all viable for more than a few minutes of flight, unless the device emits some sort of energy field that distributes the traction around the holder's body. Otherwise you would be effectively holding your whole body's weight on your own closed fist or, at best, on both. I don't want to think on how a helmet's traction would feel to one's skull...
So, without some sort of traction-capable energy field, the LSH and Buck Rogers would be essentially right: you need a belt, a harness, or a full suit. Boots might perhaps work, but it would be difficult to choose or change direction or even avoid simply flipping over oneself.
Come to think of it, that is perhaps an interesting if underexplored aspect of soft sci-fi. What are flying characters supposed to do once they are airborne? Recon, probably. But beyond that there is only so much that you can carry on person, particularly if path control requires operating some sort of device. In most situations effective participation in confrontations would be a collective activity with coordinated participation of a group of flyers to handle entrapment nests, remove or place obstacles and traps, or even pass tactical advice to ground forces.
Maybe that is why Captain Comet's pistol has never (AFAIK) had its functions actually revealed: writers felt the need to give him some sort of ability that could be used at a distance, but never felt entirely confortable with committing to what that would be exactly.
'ALL-AMERICAN COMICS' #26
Cover date: May 1941
On-sale date: March 19, 1941
Cover: Green Lantern battles crooks, by Howard Purcell
Green Lantern
Untitled by Bill Finger and Irwin Hasen (10 pages)
Where I read it: Golden Age Green Lantern Archives Vol. 1
Alan and Irene hear from a shop owner about being taken by a loan shark named Turpin. GL beats up the thugs who come to beat up the shop owner, then offers to join Turpin's mob. He uses his ring to terrorize a shop owner while the boys are watching, then tells the man later that he's pretending to work with Turpin to gather evidence. The next job is to release a lion at a circus that won't pay up, but the boys don't want to take a cut to pay Green Lantern's cut, so they take him for a ride. Unaware that the bullets they pumped at GL won't hurt him, they leave and Lantern follows. He puts the lion back in his cage and then beats up the gangsters. They turn state's evidence on Turpin. Then Lantern returns to Turpin's office and gets him to confess his scheme with the police listening outside.
Takeaways:
Not a great story. GL didn't need to wait and let the gangsters release the lion — he could have beaten them up and taken them to jail at any time. But I suppose the lion bit is the "action" part of the story, necessary because the rest is mostly talking heads. But allowing a lion out seems a bit reckless.
In the same vein, GL terrorizing a shopkeeper (he makes him temporarily blind, and briefly paralyzes his arm) seems pretty cruel for a superhero. It's all in a good cause, of course, but that doesn't change the shopkeeper's experience. Especially when you consider that everything Green Lantern eventually did to catch and convict Turpin he could have done on Page 2, without the fake heel turn.
1,001 uses for a power ring: GL hasn't used the ring to cripple people before, even temporarily. Ugh.
Fun facts:
Dr. Mid-Nite
Untitled by Charles Reizenstein and Stan Aschmeier (6 pages)
Where I read it: JSA All Stars Archives Vol. 1 (2007)
While taking a night walk at the waterfront, Dr. McNider sees a watchman thrown off a boat. He saves the man, who talks of river pirates. McNider changes to Mid-Nite and beats up the two river pirates. Mid-Nite patrols the harbor that night and discovers a ship with no lights. Eavesdropping he hears that they are going to blow up a traffic tunnel, built by a man running for governor. His opponent, Merton Marlow, is predicting the tunneil will collapse (and is going to hurry that along). Mid-Nite discovers the blacked-out ship is being guided by a smaller ship, which he takes over and guides the larger ship into a reef, where it blows up. Then he goes to the XYZ radio station, where Marlow is reading a "news bulletin" about the tunnel collapsing. Mid-Nite takes the mic and tells the true story, implicating Marlow, who confesses on air.
Takeaways:
Fun fact: Myra is described as McNider's "closest friend ... who acts as his secretary." We should all have such close friends!
Sargon the Sorcerer
Created by John B. Wentworth and Howard Purcell
Untitled by Wentworth and Purcell (8 pages)
Where I read it: Online
Significance: Golden Age DC superhero
First appearance!
"Over 4,000 years ago in the temple of Asyreth, goddess of the Tiparenes, the priests guarded jealously the Ruby of Life for which the temple was erected! ... But the black day came when the untutored, savage Aryan hordes struck swiftly from the mountains of the Blood King to the east." From there the Ruby traveled around, coming the New World where it was discovered by archaeologist Richard Biddle Sargent in Mexico. He gave it to his wife, who wore it on a necklace.
According to legend, if the ruby is the first thing one sees in life, and then that person reads an incanataion, he will gain great power. Naturally, the ruby is the first thing Richard's son John sees (somehow). John follows in his father's footsteps as an archaeologist, and one day finds a cuneiform scroll from the temple of Asyreth among his father's effects. (The father disappears from the story, so I assume he is dead.) John tells his mother, "according to the ruins of the Tiphranians, if this ruby is the first object a baby consciously saw and touched, that baby would have absolute power over whatever he touched in life!" There's also an incantation, which he reads to his mother:
"To whom doth the ruby belong? 'Tis mine ...
Sing the song of the strong, leonine ...
Fight the forces of wrong, malign ...
Sing the song of the strong!"
Well, the bad poetry does the trick. Sargent decides he must do good with this great power, and will disguise himself as a stage magician, so nobody knows his power is real.
When John Sargent was born, the first thing he saw was a mysterious Ruby of Life around his mother's neck. That ruby gives him the power over all inanimate objects he touches. He decides to disguise himself as a stage magician so no one will know he has real power. "Sargon's the name of the old Tiphranian priest-king ... I'll be Sargon the Magician!" His mother suggest the more alliterative Sargon the Sorcerer, and so John studies stage magic and emabarks on that career.
The story jumps ahead two years, to when Sargon is an accomplished stage magician "playing the big time" in Chicago. He overhears the theater manager being threatened and beaten by thugs behind a locked door. First he sends pins flying through the keyhole into the rear ends of the thugs, named Nick, George and Boob. Then he enters the room by expanding the keyhole, and defeats the thugs by animating a barrel and turning a gun into a rabbit. He captures them by collapsing the stairs they're on. He convinces the theater manager that it was all done with illusion, hypnosis and stage magic.
Takeaway: This is a pretty elaborate origin for the Golden Age. They must have had high hopes for Sargon.
Fun facts:
Golden Age appearances: All-American Comics #26-50, 70; Comic Cavalcade #3-6, 14; Green Lantern #37; Sensation Comics #34-36, 52-77, 79-83
Current status: Dead. Sargon sacrificed his life to save his niece in Swamp Thing #150 (second series, January 1995).
The Atom
By Jon Blummer, 6 pages)
Where I read it: Online
Mary James catches the school janitor stealing money to pay off his son's gambling debts to some racketeers. She tells him to put the money back and she'll get someone to help him. She puts an ad in the paper summoning The Atom, who agrees to drop in on the gangsters. Mary wants to watch, so she goes to the gamblers' hotel room, and gets caught. Atom breaks in and beats up the two gamblers. Mary helps a bit. Atom takes the IOU for the janitor's son and leaves his card with an explanation for the police. The unconscious gamblers are arrested.
Fun facts:
Continuing: Red Tornado and Scribbly, Hop Harrigan (as Guardian Angel), Red White and Blue.
There was an actual Sargon, who was the first ruler of the Akkadian Empire.
Perhaps Boob was named for Boob McNutt, eponymous hero of Rube Goldberg's comic strip that ran from 1918 to 1934.
Maybe so! Or, at least, the strip indicates that calling someone "Boob" at the time was probably not as vulgar as it sounds to my ears now.
Don't forget Jeremy Hillary Boob, Ph.d from 1968's Yellow Submarine!
In the period "boob"=fool. (But "bubbies" for breasts goes way back.)
"The Atom" was still by its creators, Bill O'Conner and Ben Flinton, and credited. The GCD credits the inking of these early stories to Leonard Sansone.
Hop's brief flirtation with a costumed identity at this point preceded the era of his radio show, which according to Wikipedia started Aug 31, 1942. I have often wondered if the makers wanted to do "Tailspin Tommy" and couldn't get or weren't willing to pay for the rights. Wikipedia says a "Tailspin Tommy" radio show appeared briefly in 1941. Hop's later appearance as the Black Lamp in #79 is different, an unamusing one-story superhero parody.
One of my favorite boobs!
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