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 appearances that are concurrent with All-Star's run:
- 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 Batman vs. Penguin, Riddler — Prince 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 monthly cover date, but complications ensued for books without them, like quarterlies and one-shots. 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
Martin Goodman was never one to pass on something popular without creating a dozen imitator titles. Maybe All Star Comics wasn't as popular as Roy Thomas made it out to be.
That's an interesting suggestion.
It would be hard to believe that "All-Star Comics" was any less popular than Roy Thomas made it out to be.
By any reasonable estimation he is remarkably enthusiastic about that title. A veritable - what is the word - oh, yes, a veritable fanboy.
I mean no offense, it is just the facts. He was writing with copious references about that book some forty years after they were published, with far more detail than anyone could expect. Monthly.
I have no doubt that Roy Thomas was a fanboy. I've read Alter Ego and All Star Companion. I was attacted to team books when I first started reading comics. Justice League was such a a big hit when it came out that Martin Goodman had Stan Lee create a team book, so the story goes. If All Star was as big as Superman or Captain Marvel, there would have been more imitators.
I don't know of any available sales figures for most Golden Age distributors or publishers, so we can only make educated guesses.
Constantine's "If All-Star was as big as Superman or Captain Marvel, there would have been more imitators." It's a compelling argument.
By the same token, All-Star Comics ran until 1951, outlasting all the comics and characters that comprised the Justice Society, in some cases by half a decade. So we can guess All-Star Comics sold better than Adventure Comics (through 1945), All-Flash, All-American Comics, Flash Comics, Green Lantern, More Fun Comics (through 1945) and probably Sensation Comics (which went mystery in 1951, before being canceled outright). But not as well as Action Comics, Batman, Detective Comics, Superman, Wonder Woman and World's Finest Comics.
Probably.
I've never heard that expression, either. Here, in context, it sounds like he means "hot stuff" or something, but in the lead-in to the Dr. Fate chapter he says, "I'm some punkins (sic) as a Justice Society member," indicating the opposite. ("Punk"?)
According to online sources, the expression "I'm some pumpkins" is a 19th-century American idiom meaning "I am a person of consequence" or "I am excellent/important," and the opposite of being "small potatoes." Certainly, I can confirm the expressions are used that way in Tom Taylor's Our American Cousin, the play Lincoln was watching when he was assasinated. This may be the first pairing of the expressions, but that is speculation on my part.
From Act II:
Flo: I'm what?
Asa: Small potatoes.
Flo: Will you be kind enough to translate that for me, for I don't understand American yet.
Asa: Yes, I'll put it in French for you, "petite pommes des terres."
Flo: Ah, it's very clear now; but, cousin, do tell me what you mean by calling me small potatoes?
Asa: Wal, you can sing and paint, and play on the pianner, and in your own particular circle you are some pumpkins.
Flo: Some pumpkins, first I am small potatoes, and now I'm some pumpkins.
[Nyarl Dotep] sounds like it might be an anagram to me, but I've never been very good at those.
Fox used “Nyarl” a lot. “The fish-men of Nyarl-Hotep," for example. So I didn’t look for any other meaning.
And "Dotep" sounds like "Imhotep."
"Plenty o' rad"?
At its start All-Star Comics was an early top-feature anthology, preceded by New York World's Fair Comics #1, and released at the same time (according to Mike's Amazing World) as New York World's Fair Comics #2. Some number of other companies did these: Fox (Big 3), Ace (Four Favorites), Marvel (All Winners Comics), Fawcett (America's Greatest Comics), Standard (America's Best Comics). But the publishers may have been imitating DC's follow-up World's Best Comics/World's Finest Comics more than the AA title. The Fox series preceded World's Best Comics #1 by several months.
All-Star Comics #3 and #4 introduced the book-length or near-book length multi-chapter story. AA picked this aspect up in All-Flash, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. At Marvel Young Allies started off like this. The earliest DC-proper one that springs to mind is Boy Commandos #4. The first issue of The Marvel Family like this was #10.
The team-up aspect was imitated at Lev Gleason in Daredevil Battles Hitler (counted as Daredevil Comics #1), which Mike's Amazing World says came out the same month as All-Star Comics #5. Aside from Daredevil the story involves the Claw, Silver Streak, Dickie Dean, Lance Hale, Cloud Curtis and the Pirate Prince.
Marvel's early story in this vein was the mutli-chapter story in The Human Torch #5[b], as it doesn't just pit the Torch and Sub-Mariner against each other but also involves Ka-Zar and (marginally) the Patriot and starts with a banquet attended by the Torch, Toro, the Patriot and the Angel.
In "Frankenstein" in Prize Comics v2 #11 (#24) the monster's antagonist, Bulldog Denny, recruited Yank and Doodle, the Black Owl, the Green Lama, the General and the Corporal and Doctor Frost to fight the monster. The story was 8 pages and the storyline (without the guests) continued the next issue. This is the grandfather of stories where a mixed group of superheroes fight the Hulk.
As Shakespeare never said, “The fault, dear reader, is not in All-Star, but in ourselves.”
Enough, captain: you have astonished us.
I have always liked the Justice Society as a concept. The execution was not always what we might expect, as you have said.
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