The Massive, Extravagant, Over-the-top Golden Age JSA Re-read

Captain Comics July 6, 2026 at 1:44pm

BONUS!

JSA #21
September 2026

“The Search for The Spectre Part Three”
By Jeff Lemire and Diego Olortegui

This issue gives us a new origin for The Spectre.

The Spectre has always been a work in progress. He was simply the ghost of Jim Corrigan in the Golden Age — a simple concept for a simpler time. But in the Silver Age, Spectre and Corrigan morphed into separate entities. Spectre then became the “wrath of God,” a replacement for Eclipso, and the fallen angel Aztar. These and other changes weren’t always consistent.

But once the Aztar business was established, the question naturally arose about Aztar’s past. Lemire answers that in JSA #21.

The issue begins with an description of the entity that created The Spectre, often coyly referred to as “The Voice” or “The Presence.” Lemire makes no bones about it: It’s God.

In the beginning, “at the center of all things was The Presence. Across time, cultures, and worlds some call this presence Allah or Yahweh or Starmother or Brahma … its names are as infinite as its multitudes. For our purposes let us call it simply … God.”

Then there was Lucifer’s rebellion, and Aztar is shown to be on the wrong side. (I think we knew that.)

One interesting bit is seeing Spectre with angel wings. I think that’s probably new. But on the other hand, he’s still dressed as The Spectre, green hood and all. In fact, all of Lucifer’s rebellious angels are dressed that way.

I can’t say I like this. We’ve seen Lucifer’s rebellion a number of times before, including, as you’d expect, in Lucifer. This is the first time the Spectre’s outfit has become the rebellion uniform.

And it shouldn’t be, to my eyes. In my head canon, the Spectre outfit is a funeral shroud — Jim Corrigan’s funeral shroud, to be exact. In the Golden Age, The Spectre didn’t have an outfit until Jim Corrigan sewed one. That didn’t age well, and John Ostrander established that Spectre ran around as ghostly Jim Corrigan until Percival Popp gave him the Spectre garb so he could play superhero. That wears a little better, even though I’d rather Ostrander had written Popp out altogether. And Lemire picked up on this, establishing that Doctor Fate talks Corrigan into playing superhero and joining the JSA, so he could have support as he learned to live with the Spectre force.

The upshot is, regardless of how the outfit came about, I find it strikingly out of place at the dawn of time.

Anyway, Lemire says that Aztar, like other rebellious angels, became a demon lord in Hell. (I think that’s kinda new.) Then Aztar sought forgiveness, and became the Wrath of God as penance. (I think that’s an Ostrander invention.)

We see him bonded to humans before Corrigan, specifically a caveman and a Roman centurion. I don’t recall if we’ve seen any previous hosts, and if we did, who they were. I really do need to re-read the Ostrander run, and maybe Eclipso and Madame Xanadu!

By the way, this is all being shown to Doctor Fate (Khalid Nassour), Jakeem Thunder, Kid Eternity II and Stargirl by Metron of the New Gods. When he gets to Jim Corrigan, he skips ahead a bit (we’ll see that next issue).

What he shows then is Darkseid finding Jim Corrigan bound in chains on the Dark Side of the Moon. Which I don’t remember at all.

An editor’s note refers us to the DC All In Special, so I re-read it. And sure enough, Darkseid appears in the JLU headquarters already bonded to The Spectre. The business on the Moon isn’t shown.

So, as I’ve mentioned before, this is where I get a bit fuzzy and can use some help.

To my knowledge, the original Golden Age Jim Corrigan was given his final reward at the end of Ostrander’s series. Other characters have hosted The Spectre since, notably Hal Jordan and Crispus Allen.

Corrigan did appear in those periods, which I wrote off to a writer not doing his homework. In the Crispus Allen story, a second Jim Corrigan was introduced, a corrupt forensic scientist.

Then in New 52, a third Jim Corrigan was introduced, with Spectre (like most DC characters) being re-launched as, essentially, a new character.

Then came Rebirth. And I honestly have no idea if the Jim Corrigan shown here is one of the previous ones, or an entirely new one, or (most likely) the original quietly restored to continuity. (Lemire used the original in “Year One,” set in 1940, so he probably wants to use him again.)

And what’s he doing on The Moon? I know The Spectre was involved with the JLA’s battle with Eclipso at the end of the second Justice League of America in 2011. That would place him on the Dark Side of the Moon for Darkseid to find. That's if we skip over the New 52, but somehow continue the third Jim Corrigan. And it doesn’t explain the chains.

So, some puzzlement here. Perhaps it will all be explained.

Back on Earth, the Spectre force, driven mad without a host, has grabbed Todd “Obsidian” Rice. His sister Jade takes the Spectre force from him, briefly becoming the Ghostly Guardian. Then Alan Scott takes the force. Or, at least, he tries to. Somehow, it ends up in Yolanda “Wildcat” Montez (who is physically elsewhere at the time).

The list of people who have hosted The Spectre keeps growing!

Back on The Moon, Metron explains that when Darkseid tried to host The Spectre, it was stripped from Corrigan, and he no longer has any tie to the Ghostly Guardian. Also, his location is unknown.

The kids are ready to go find Corrigan, but first Metron wants to show them 1940s Corrigan. I assume that, like with The Spectre, he will be depicted as someone who needs redemption.

Obviously, as a huge Spectre fan, I'm delighted by the focus. I don't agree with all of Lemire's amendments, but they work well enough. Besides, it's DC Comics -- Spectre will probably get another new origin in a few years.

The part I'm actually most worried about is Lemire's announcment that he's leaving the book with issue #24. There is no news of a replacement wrtier, and so far no solicitation for JSA #25. I guess we'll find out when the October solicitations arrive. Fingers crossed.

Jeff of Earth-J > Captain Comics July 6, 2026 at 4:43pm

Thanks for reading this (so I don't have to).

Captain Comics July 8, 2026 at 10:16am

Welome to my nightmare!

We're at June 1942, by cover date. DC and All-American comics published 10 issues of JSA-related material with that cover date, in April 1942, beginning with Sensation Comics #6. The good news is that this month includes All-Star Comics #11, where the title catches up with Pearl Harbor and the war finally begins. The bad news is that for the rest of the year retcons and flashbacks will be hot and heavy. The entirety of All-Star Squadron (67 issues, three annuals) and Young All-Stars (31 issues, 1 annual) takes place in the final seven months of 1942, for example, and I've already run across some other stray retcons/flashbacks. I don't know how many I'll give the whole re-read treatment to, and there's no telling how many I'll miss, but I'll try to keep track of any major JSA developments.

Modern Wonder Woman has a number of stories set in World War II, including Wonder Woman #159-164, Wonder Woman #228-242 and Wonder Woman v2 #131-136. A cursory search suggests they all take place in 1943 or later, so maybe I'll catch a break.

A third item of interest is that there appears to have been some sort of crackdown on unauthorized sites. I've been searching for Sensation Comics #6 for the Mr. Terrific and Wildcat stories for about a week, but all of my usual sources were unavailable. I have found a new source, so here we are. But it that one goes down, i might have to return to my original plan of only re-reading physical reprints.

JUNE
Shipping in April 1942

Sensation Comics #6
Flash Comics #30
Batman #11
All-American Comics #39
Action Comics #49
More Fun Comics #80
Detective Comics #64
All-Star Comics #11
Adventure Comics #75
World’s Finest #6
Star-Spangled Comics #9

I'll also discuss the insert in Justice League of America #193 and All-Star Squadron #1-5, possibly many more.

APRIL 8, 1942

Sensation Comics #6, June 1942, All-American Publications Inc.
Cover by Harry Peter

Wonder Woman
By Charles Moulton and Peter (13 pages)

Steve is promoted to major and takes temporary command of the intelligence service while Col. Darnell is on a trip to England aboard the Gigantic. Meanwhile, Paula von Gunther is on the loose, and threatening Steve's life. Hippolyta invites Diana home, where she joins a roping contest on kangas. At last only she and Mala, the champion, are left. Wonder Woman snaps Mala's rope, and lassoes Mala. Then she hog-ties her. (Nothing suggestive about that at all. Nope, nope, it's just a comic book.) Hippolyta has metal-worker Metala take links from the Magic Girdle and make an unbreakable chain (lasso). Diana prays over it all night to Athena and Aphrodite. At dawn Aphrodite says "Having proved yourself bound by love and wisdom, we give thee power to control others! Whomsoever they magic lasso binds must obey thee!"

As WW returns to Man's World, a radio report says a bomb has gone off in Steve Trevor's office (he wasn't there). So Diana knows Paula Von Gunther is serious about killing Steve. We see in flashback that she killed a guard in coold blood to escape prison, and takes Lady Chumpley's place on the Gigantic ("How fortunate that we look alike!"). Von Gunther shoots the radio operator, bombs the radio room, disables the engines, turns the ship inviisible and summons a Nazi U-boat. Wonder Woman and Steve arrive on her magic plane, whereupon Steve attacks the Nazis on the U-boat and Wonder Woman stops a torpedo. She uses her new lasso to make the German commander surrender, and she takes him and Paula aboard her plane to "a prison of my choosing and see if I can reform them!"

Takeaways

Wonder Woman enters the kanga contest in a mask, much like when she entered the contest to go to Man's World in All-Star Comics #8. She says her sisters won't recognize her in her WW uniform, because they've never seen it. Which is true. In All-Star Comics #8, she wore a generic Amazon uniform.
Speaking of All-Star Comics #8, that was Mala's first appearance as well.
In much of modern Wonder Woman mythology, those bound by the lasso are forced to tell the truth. In this early story, it's more like mind control.
Col. Darnell tells Steve to "keep 'em flying" after Steve rescues him. Works for me.

Where I read it: 100-Page Super Spectacular #DC-14 (February 1973)

Fun Fact: Captain Steve Trevor is now Major Steve Trevor. Does he ever make it to lieutenant colonel?

Mr. Terrific
By Charles Reizenstein and Hal Sharp (8 pages)

Terry Sloane eavesdroops as a con man sweet-talks a mark in the city park. Sloane follows up as Mr. Terrific, and gets the lowdown on the scam: The roper tells old Henry about some gold stock, Zeroid Mining Co,, that's about to go up, and the shill, a "sick man" unaware of its value is willing to sell for $5 a share. The inside man, pretending to be the president of Zeroid, says he'll buy any Zeroid stock for $100 a share. Henry takes all his money out of the bank, but Terry slows the game by pickpocketing Henry. Wanda returns the wallet disguised as an old lady, who gives Henry and his wife a lesson in honesty.

Then Sloane disguises himself as a man who has just come into a lot of money, and pretends to fall for the scam. Then he sneaks into a newspaper office and creates a few issues of a fake newspaper to convince the crooks that gold really has been found at the mine, and now the stock are worth hundreds more than what they got selling them. Naturally, they buy them all back at a premium, and Mr. Terrifiic shows up to gloat, before carting them all to jail.

Where I read it: Online.

Best Lines

It's not the first time I've seen a scene where some crooks are beaten to the punch by other crooks, but it always makes me laugh. When the con men realize that a pickpocket stole Henry's money before they could trick him out of it:

Shill: "Can you beat that? Some crook got his dough!"

Roper: "You can't trust anyone any more!"

Takeaways

The opening capttion says Terry Sloane has "grown into a bit of a snob." Evidently last issue's treatment wasn't a one-off. I'm glad of that, beause the strip is a bit generic and could use some color. "Mr. Terrific gets all the credit," laments Wanda Wilson at the end, "while people think that Terry Sloane is snobbish and selfish ..."
The only one of the con men to get a name is the shill, "Mike."
Mr. Terrific operates a typsetting machine without ever having seen one before. That's not genius -- that's magic. Typesetting machines used a keyboard with a variety of symbols in addition to the alphabet to peform a variety of functions not found in you average term paper, from setting column width to iine spacing to shifting font size/weight. Some of these keys are used in tandem, and none are marked in a way an amateur could come in and guess their purpose. People used to have to go to school to operate typesetting machiines. But I guess Reizenstein didn't know any of that, or didn't care.
Mr. Terrific tells the newspaper press to "keep 'em flying." That's just dopey.

Wildcat
"The Laughing Ghost Walked!!!"
By Bill Finger and Irwin Hasen (10 pages)

Ted, Joan and Stretch take a drive in the country, only for a rainstorm to force them to the "Spooky Inn." They are told the place was founded by a former pirate who went mad and now haunts the place. The trio run into various supernatural episodes before the innkeeper is murdered. Only he gets up and runs away. Ted, convinced they're being tricked, switches to Wildcat out of sight of the others. Wildcat and Stretch uncover a plot to steer a gold-laden ship into the rocks, using the "Laughing Ghost" to deter the curious. Wildcat and Stretch beat everybody up and turn them over to the police. However, one of the so-called supernatural events wasn't set up by the crooks, and can't be explained. Dun dun DUNNNNNN.

Where I read it: Online.

Takeaways

A plot seen a few hundred other places.
Stetch tells Wildcat to "keep 'em flying" as they wade into the crooks. Fair play.

Continuing: Black Pirate, O'Malley of the Fourth Precinct, Gay Ghost, Little Boy Blue

The Baron > Captain Comics July 8, 2026 at 10:45am

Interesting. I always thought that Wonder Woman had that lasso from the very beginning.

Mr. Terrific's writer have been relying on his audence not knowing how a typesetter worked. (I wouldn't have known, myself.)
Dave Elyea > The Baron July 8, 2026 at 5:45pm

As near as I can tell, after Marston died and the B&D elements of Wonder Woman were down played, if not quite memory holed, the magic lasso's most notable attribute was being unbreakable and infinitely elastic. The mind control aspect came back somewhat during the first "Return to the Golden Age " in the 60s, and remained, at least occasionally until the 1970s Wonder Woman TV show, at which point it became the Lasso of Truth in order to avoid as much of the bondage stuff as they could. It gradually assumed that status in the comics, and was codified during the Perez relaunch with mythological mumbo jumbo of the goddess Hestia embuing the lasso with magic fire that burns away lies. That's so much better than bondage...

Mr. Terrific had the problem of having to have knowledge that his writers may not have had. Unlike the current Mr. Terrific, whose tech leans on "comic book science " which is indistinguishable from magic. Anyway, for the purpose of this story, I would be willing to believe that Sloane once read a book about typesetting, and his photographic memory did the rest.
Commander Benson > Captain Comics July 8, 2026 at 12:37pm

Captain Steve Trevor is now Major Steve Trevor. Does he ever make it to lieutenant colonel?

He does, Cap---but not being a Wonder Woman maven, I'm not sure of when. On-line resources aren't any help, either, mainly because the wrtters are unfamilar with the hierarchy of Army officer ranks and jump Trevor from major to full colonel.

I'm most familar with the Andru-Esposito period of Wonder Woman, and when it came to Trevor, the inconsistency about his military service annoyed me. First, his uniform was coloured a shade of grey never used by any contemporary U.S. military branch. (O.K., O.K., for you purists, the Navy tried out a grey dress officer uniform in 1943 or so, but it didn't last six months.) So, it was impossible to tell the branch of service in which Trevor served. Into the late 1950's and early-to-mid '60's, he was stated as being in the Army (hence, working for Military Intelligence). But at some point, much later after the U.S. Air Force became a separate service in September, 1947, the stories referred to Trevor as being in the USAF. Again, one couldn't tell because Trevor's uniform was still coloured grey, which neither the Army, nor the Air Force used.

In most of those Andru/Esposito W.W. tales, Trevor was drawn wearing the silver oak leaves of a lieutenant colonel, even though when the text referred to him formally, it was always as "Colonel Steve Trevor". (That flies in conversational address, as you know, Cap, but is wrong in presenting him to the reader formally.) Yet, on spare occasions---usually when somebody else, such as Irv Novick or Mike Sekowsky did the art, but Andru/Esposito also drew this from time to time---Trevor would be depicted as wearing the eagle rank devices of a colonel.

I did a fairly deep, but not comprehensive, search, and I found no story in which Trevor was specifically promoted to colonel from lieutenant colonel. This is more of a guess, but I don't think there was ever a tale in which we saw Trevor promoted from major to lieutenant colonel, either. (I tried checking my "read comics on line" sources, but they're down for the time being.)

Hope this helps.

Philip Portelli July 8, 2026 at 1:24pm

While there is no story showing Steve Trevor being promoted, according to Michael Fleisher's The Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes Volume 2: Wonder Woman, he was already a lieutenant colonel by Comic Cavalcade #20 (My'47) where he received a remarkable promotion to brigadier general but quickly got demoted back to lieutenant colonel

And along the way, all of Wonder Woman's equipment and costume would get an origin story!

Commander Benson July 9, 2026 at 10:54am

I finally found the resource to go back and check those old issues of Wonder Woman and Sensation Comics and Comic Cavalcade, so I did a little research.

In the last Wonder Woman story drawn by Harry G. Peter that included Steve Trevor---"Daily Danger", Wonder Woman # 96 (Feb., 1958)---Trevor wore the eagle insignia of a full colonel. Checking the previous four issues to that also showed Trevor with eagles. So, then I backed up, using Philip's information that Trevor was a lieutenant colonel (before and after briefly being a brigadier general) in Comic Cavalcade # 20 (May, 1947). and went forward from there. Trevor remains a lieutenant colonel (at least, Mr. Peter drew him with oak leaves) in Wonder Woman, Sensation Comics, and Comic Cavalcade---until the story "The Secret of the Kidnapped Dummy", from Wonder Woman # 27 (Jan.-Feb., 1948). There, Mr. Peter depicts Trevor as wearing the eagles of a colonel. Neither that tale, nor the others immediately previous involving Trevor state anything about him being promoted. Peter just abruptly started rendering Trevor as a colonel, and he did so consistently over the next four issues I examined. (I'm presuming he did so over the remainder of his run on the Wonder Woman stories.)

The artistic information is enough to reliably conclude that Steve Trevor was a full colonel as of Wonder Woman # 27. This is another indication that "The Million-Dollar Penny", from Wonder Woman # 98 (May, 1958) demarks the beginning of the Wonder Woman of Earth-One. Besides a revamped version of her origin, Trevor is depicted as a lieutenant colonel (as seen in the last panel of the tale) and is shown as a lieutenant colonel for most of the rest of the series.

Commander Benson July 10, 2026 at 12:25pm

As you could've guessed, once I had the resource to check out the issues of Wonder Woman, I couldn't let the imprecisions of my pervious posts about Steve Trevor's rank and service rest.

I scanned every story depicting the adventures of the Earth-One Wonder Woman, from "The Million-Dollar Penny", from Wonder Woman # 98 (May, 1958) to the story in which she relinquished her Amazon powers, in issue # 179 (Nov.-Dec., 1968), with regard to the military questions about Trevor. Here are my findings:

First, Wonder Woman # 159-65 (Jan. through Oct., 1966) are excluded from my evaluations. These issues encompassed a period when editor Robert Kanigher imposed an experiment on the series, by reverting it to the Golden-Age era. Beginning with a retelling of the Amazing Amazon's origin, the series was re-set to the time of World War II. Mr. Kanigher even instructed artists Andru and Esposito to copy the style of Henry G. Peter. Consequently, these stories must be considered to have involved the Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor of Earth-Two. (A good thing, too. Because Trevor's rank shifts among captain and major and lieutenant colonel through those seven issues.)

Now, down to particulars.

I found that Andru and Esposito, and later, Irv Novick, were consistent in depicting Steve Trevor with the silver oak leaf insignia. That made him---despite what the text indicated---a lieutenant colonel. When Mike Sekowsky took over the art chores with issue # 178, he gave Trevor the eagles of a colonel. Sekowsky did so as well in the next issue. (When Trevor was killed off in issue #180 [Jan.-Feb., 1969], he wasn't in uniform.) So, in extrapolation, Trevor wasn't promoted to colonel until sometime between issues # 177 and 178.

As to the matter of Trevor's branch of service, he was repeatedly stated to be in Military Intelligence. "Military", when spelt with an uppercase "M", refers to the U.S. Army, as in the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, which is the Army's service academy. (The U.S. Air Force has its own intelligence service called, quite logically, Air Force Intelligence.) I never came across any text specifying that Trevor was a member of the Air Force, though I did come across one panel that showed him preparing to fly a jet marked "USAF", in Wonder Woman # 176 (May-Jun., 1968). That can be considered a one-off error, as Wonder Woman # 179 specifically states, many times, that Trevor is an officer in the Army.

Therefore, despite various on-line sites stating otherwise, we can reliably conclude that Trevor served in the U.S. Army. And, by extension, so did Diana Prince.

Speaking of Diana Prince and rank, I found something interesting. The second story, "Once a Wonder Woman . . . ", in Wonder Woman # 166 (Nov., 1966) includes a scene in which Diana Prince is promoted to captain, and she is referred to as a captain in the next three or four issues. Then, in Wonder Woman # 175 (Mar.-Apr., 1968), she reverts to being a lieutenant (presumably, a first lieutenant) and remains so for the rest of the Silver Age. No explanation given; she's just back to being a lieutenant. (I checked; Robert Kanigher wrote both the story in which she was promoted to captain and the one in which she's a lieutenant, again. So the reason for her reversion wasn't due to a change in authors.)

And that's that. And it's probably more than you wanted to know, Cap, when you asked when Steve Trevor made lieutenant colonel.

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