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
I started reading comics just after Justice League of America #100-102 so I first saw the STAR SPANGLED KID & STRIPESY in the Seven Soldiers reprint in JLA #111-112 where they fought "The Santa Claus Pirate" and they were...fine. As Golden Age heroes, they didn't bother me with the SSV and the other reprinted stories.
They said that the Kid was a genius and it was heavily implied that Stripesy was stronger than most and that was fine, too.
But then All-Star Comics #58 (F'76) came out and the SSK now was wielding Starman's cosmic rod to make him useful in the Super Squad! He was even described in the feature page as the creators "scraping the bottom of the barrel to get another 'young' hero" to join with the adult Robin and debuting Power Girl.
The Kid later updated the cosmic rod into the cosmic converter belt and he should have been one of Earth-Two's more powerful heroes but he got dropped from the book in favor of the Huntress. I didn't mind his name, but goodness, they should have changed his costume and there was no good reason why they couldn't.
Plus they kept portraying him as being short as if he were still a kid!
Roy Thomas used him as the "grown-up" of Infinity, Inc. but couldn't make him interesting, diminishing his belt so he could only fly and renaming him "Skyman" then killed him off when the book got cancelled.
Eventually, that led to Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E. so there's that...
TARANTULA: I did have World's Finest Comics #207 (N'71) which had the only Tarantula story that DC reprinted so I knew who the "Original Web Spinner" was (insert Steve Rogers meme here) when he was reintroduced in All Star Squadron #18 (F'83).
Again, he was fine for the Golden Age. They altered his costume so he wouldn't look like Sandman, though the new outfit looked too modern. Supposedly, Jonathan Law was Roy Thomas' AstSq Avatar.
CAPTAIN X: all I know about him was that he was revealed to be Ronnie (Half of Firestorm) Raymond's maternal (?) grandfather and he had an adventure with the Shade who described him as "crude".
But then All-Star Comics #58 (F'76) came out and the SSK now was wielding Starman's cosmic rod to make him useful in the Super Squad! He was even described in the feature page as the creators "scraping the bottom of the barrel to get another 'young' hero" to join with the adult Robin and debuting Power Girl.
And then they dropped Robin pretty much altogether, so the "Super Squad" was, to me, Power Girl and Star-Spangled Kid. Pretty disappointing to 1976 me. From what I'm picking up now, though, is that the "Super Squad" was supposed to be the entire team, as opposed to being a subset of Justice Society, which is how I originally interpreted things. That makes a little more sense, but then and now I just wanted some good JSA stories. They had a lot of heavy hitters, and I wanted to see them in action. The last thing the team needed, IMHO, was Star-Spangled Kid taking up panel space. They finally made him useful ... by having him steal somebody else's schtick.
I thought PG was a fine addition (I had wondered why there was no Earth-2 Supergirl) but the Kid really was "scraping the bottom of the barrel" to me. I guess we're lucky it wasn't Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys. Too bad they didn't think of the "Lost Children" idea back then. They'd have had their hands full with all the new sidekicks, and I daresay I would have enjoyed them more than Infinity Inc. (I know, I know, lots of Infinitor fans here. I'm not one of them.)
'BATMAN' #7
October-November 1941
On-sale date: August 8, 1941
Cover by Bob Kane
Untitled is by Bill Finger, Kane, Jerry Robinson and George Roussos (13 pages).
Where I read it: Batman: The Dark Knight Archives Vol. 2 (1995).
See Jeff of Earth-J's The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told.
GCD Summary: The Joker organizes a new gang by advertising for practical jokers in the newspaper, and when they show up, they touch objects used in major crimes, thereby implicating themselves ... and forcing them to work for the Crime Prince of Crime!
Batman and Robin
"The Trouble Trap!" is by Finger, Kane, Robinson and Roussos (13 pages).
Where I read it: Batman: The Dark Knight Archives Vol. 2 (1995)
GCD Summary: Batman must battle a swami who has hypnotized individuals, made records of conversations that he had with them, then later demands blackmail money or the records will be made public. However, one of the mystic's clients wants the secret of Batman's identity, thus Linda Page is kidnapped.
Batman and Robin
"The North Woods Mystery" is by Finger, Kane, Robinson and Roussos (13 pages).
Where I read it: Batman: The Dark Knight Archives Vol. 2 (1995)
GCD Summary: Nora Powell heads with Bruce Wayne to the big woods to help run a logging operation after her Uncle is murdered, but is puzzled when her partner wants her to sell out to their competition.
Takeaway: I wonder where the "big woods" are. Probably somewhere in a New York writer's imagination.
Batman and Robin
"The People vs. the Batman"
Where I read it: Batman #242 (June 1972)
GCD Summary: Weasel Venner wants to make sure that a fellow criminal doesn't make public the fact that he is the head racketeer in Gotham City, so he arranges for someone to be set up for the murder of Horatio Delmar: that someone being Bruce Wayne!
Fun fact: GCD says Batman receives official police sanction in this story.
Fun fact: GCD says Batman receives official police sanction in this story.
Here's the scene from "The People Vs. the Batman":
'FLASH COMICS' #22
Cover date: October 1941
On-sale date: Aug. 13, 1941
Cover: The Flash, by E.E. Hibbard
Untitled by Gardner Fox and Hal Sharp (13 pages)
Where I read it: Golden Age Flash Archives Vol. 2 (2006)
GCD Summary: Joan Williams, in Chinatown to see an eye doctor, is attacked by a strange sect of the Tong. The Flash decides to intervene to see if he can determine who resurrected the cult and why.
Takeaways
Hawkman
"The Adventure of the 'Killer Gang'!" is by Gardner Fox and Sheldon Moldoff (9 pages)
Where I read it: Golden Age Hawkman Archives Vol. 1 (2006)
Summary
Shiera witnesses a car flip over an armored car, and the "Killer Gang" emerges from the car to shoot through the floorboards of the armored car, killing all the guards. Later, Shiera is called in by the police commissioner. "I guess he's heard of my work solving cases," she says. "Your work! Huh!" responds Carter, not exactly being Mr. Chivalry. Outside the police station Shiera is almost killed by a drive-by shooter, but is told by another man on the scene that she wasn't the target. "I'm Joe Givvens, the police commissioner's son. Those men were shooting at me!" He has a mustache and is smoking a cigarette, so I'm suspicious.
Givvens takes Shiera out on a date to the Swank Klub, and Hawkman follows with a battle-axe. "I'm not jealous!" he thinks. But Givvens and Shiera are attacked again, and Hawkman captures the Killer Gang shooters and takes them to the police commissioner's penthouse. The commish holds them there at gunpoint, while Hawkman goes to the Swank Klub. There, the Killer Gang strikes again, and Hawkman hits two of them in the head with his battle-axe, but somehow does not kill them. He takes them to the cops, then hovers (with Shiera) over the club until a certain someone leaves. He follows the guy, but at his home the Killer Gang is ready and one of them shoots off one of Hawkman's wings. He swings in the window and attacks them anyway, defeating the whole gang and revealing Joe Givvens as the leader.
Fun facts:
Johnny Thunder
Untitled by John Wentworth and Stan Aschmeier (8 pages)
Where I read it: Online.
Summary: Johnny has adopted Peachy Pet. "The kids, who know her better, call her Pitchy Pest." The readers too, I expect. Johnny enrolls her in school and has Thunderbolt check on her. And, unfortunately, orders Thunderbolt to take orders from her. Dopey hi-jinks ensue.
Takeaways
Continuing: Les Watts, The King, The Whip.
'ALL-AMERICAN COMICS' #31
October 1941
On-sale date: Aug. 15, 1941
“The Adventure of the Underfed Orphans”
By Bill Finger and Marty Nodell (14 pages)
Where I read it: Golden Age Green Lantern Archives Vol. 2
GCD Summary: A salesman offering tickets to a dance to benefit an orphanage piques the interest of Alan Scott, who, in disguise, investigates charges that the orphanage feeds its charges sub-standard food. The chief crook is Assistant Mayor "Honest" John Logan.
Takeaways
The Atom
By Bill O’Connor and Ben Flinton (6 pages)
Where I read it: Online.
Summary: Truck plays a trick on Al at a dude ranch, getting him the wildest horse. Mary shows sympathy as Al is borne away by Lightning. (She didn't in the strip's earliest days.) The Calvin College gang (Mary, Anne, Truck and some other guy) are captured by escaped convicts. Al spots it and rescues them as The Atom. Mary participates in the capture.
Takeaways
Dr. Mid-Nite
By Charles Reizenstein and Stan Aschmeier (6 pages)
Where I read it: Online
Summary: Dr. Mid-Nite investigates a seance grift. He also investigates Ichabod Snipe, an investment advisor, who (coincidentally) is behind the seance grift. Dr. Mid-Nite breaks up the gang, and tells Myra he's sick of hearing about Dr. Mid-Nite.
Takeaway: The crooks discover that Dr. Mid-Nite is blinded by bright light. I suppose that bit of news doesn't get around, or it's game over for Chuck.
Continuing: Scribbly and Red Tornado, Mutt & Jeff, Hop Harrigan, Sargon, Red White and Blue.
By this time, it seems like most guys become superheroes in order to protect their girlfriends.
Peachy Pet is proof positive that they shouldn't let just anybody be able to adopt!
The no-frills, generic Atom (unless you count his height and outfit) could have been changed into your basic teen humor/mstery feature. I truly believe that the Atom needed the Justice Society far more than it needed him.
Al Pratt could have been replaced by the Whip, Hop Harrigan or the Red Tornado and the JSA stories would have been the same.
Don't dump on Al! He had the proportionate strength and speed of a short guy!
Al Pratt could have been replaced by the Whip, Hop Harrigan or the Red Tornado and the JSA stories would have been the same.
...and Johnny Thunder could have been dropped entirely and the stories would have been better.
The Red Tornado would have been at least as good as brawler as Al Pratt, and better comic relief than Johnny Thunder. If it had been my call, Ma Hunkle would have been the second member from All-American, and the Whip would have been the next hero called up from Flash Comics. Of course, in that timeline, Johnny Thunder probably wouldn't have lasted long enough to give us the Black Canary.
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