Pop Culture Chronicles

JSA Chronology 6

All-Star Comics # 6 (June 1941) begins, as usual, with a JSA meeting, this time a dinner in honor of the Flash. The JSA membership has thus far consisted of eight central members including: 

• Flash
• Green Lantern
• Hawkman
• Atom
• Hourman
• Sandman
• Spectre
• Dr. Fate

Batman and Superman were honorary members, but showed up very rarely, as is the case with superheroes who already had a book dedicated to their stories exclusively. With All-Star 6, Flash was joining those ranks with his new comic All-Flash, meaning he was now to be relegated to honorary status. The reason given for honorary status in the stories was that a particular hero had become extremely busy. Johnny Thunder, who had previously guest-starred, now applies for full time membership as a replacement for Flash. 

The JSA plays a prank on Johnny, telling him to bring in the notorious "Killer McPanzee." They don't tell Johnny that McPanzee is a frail old weakling who, in search of notoriety, prints fake newspapers with headlines announcing all the people he supposedly killed. Talk about fake news! A guy is so desperate for attention that he pretends to be a serial killer. In real life the guy would be institutionalized. So juvenile were the older comic stories, intolerably lame by adult standards, but comics were for kids back then. The guys writing the stories were practically kids themselves.  

Johnny goes to McPanzee's house in a ridiculous disguise, only to find that some counterfeiters have arrived to enlist McPanzee's help in their operation. The Flash must break up the counterfeiting ring while Johnny's Thunderbolt, always summoned accidentally, rescues Johnny from the bottom of the river where the bad guys have put him. Granting Johnny's wish for a pretty girl to comfort him, Dr. Fate's girlfriend, Inza, shows up in her car. Johnny bums a ride and gangsters steal the car to make their getaway from a bank heist. Dr. Fate must intervene. 

While Fate deals with the crooks, Johnny falls down a laundry chute in the crooks' hideout and is picked up by the laundry serviceman. He abandons Johnny at a house of horrors entertainment venue where a protection racket must be dealt with by the Sandman. 

Meanwhile' Hourman searches for Johnny who hasn't returned to the JSA meeting. He checks the theater since Johnny likes movies, only to find that an African display to promote the latest film about Africa is not populated by mannequins, but by bad guys in the guise of a gorilla and natives. A disgruntled fired employee is planning a robbery for revenge. When the police, as useless as in the previous issue, arrive, they think Hourman is committing the robbery. When will they learn?

Meanwhile, as Johnny wanders the streets he is approached by the proprietors of an illegal gambling house. He thinks that if he can break up their ring, the JSA is sure to vote him in. He gets into trouble resulting in his Thunderbolt alerting the Atom who comes to deal with the crooks. 

Meanwhile, the Spectre searches for Johnny, but comes upon headless musclemen terrorizing an engaged couple. This is one of the better stories in the book, reminiscent of nostalgic pulp fiction and pre-code comics. The criminal mastermind has been stalking the young engaged female and then turning kidnap victims into zombies with severed heads to do his bidding. Delightfully creepy, but one could expect no less from the Spectre. 

The next segment has Green Lantern breaking up a ring of delivery truck hi-jackers whose boss happens to be named "Fruity Leman." The villains are foiled as the Lantern resorts to using watermelons as weapons. 

Johnny, in the meantime, has been swinging from a rope attached to the bottom of a plane in flight. Thunderbolt had granted Johnny's wish to be taken from the gambling house by an airplane. He is later dropped to the deck of a ship where Shiera Sanders, Hawkman's girlfriend, has been kidnapped by bad guys. One who had been standing outside her lawyer's office just happened to overhear the news that she had inherited a fortune. Shiera is the second of only two leading ladies appearing in this issue. Of course Hawkman comes to her rescue.

The Hawkman segment, in spite of some juvenile elements, is probably the best story in the book (with the Spectre's being a close second). The Hawkman art, especially on the segment's final page, is outstanding for its time. We have Sheldon Moldoff to thank. Johnny remains captive on the ship, but is rescued by the Thunderbolt and is (somehow) granted JSA membership. 

This issue isn't as rich in 40's vernacular as previous ones. We do, however, have the Flash expressing approval to a suggestion with "That's a corking idea!" Johnny's disappointment in his incompetence is met with the phrase, "I'm some punkins!" Bad guys determine to "make hay" while their opponents are sidetracked. 

Interesting superpowers are revealed, like Dr. Fate's ability to absorb matter into his body, including bullets, rendering him essentially bulletproof. He can also follow a vehicle's trail by viewing microscopic remnants of rubber. He rescues Inza's car from a burning garage by putting a magical protective mantle over it. We also discover that Sandman's wirepoon gun can lodge in the bottom of a passing airplane, giving him a lift to the top of a skyscraper. 

Overall, good fun if not held to today's standards.        

JSA Chronology 5

All-Star Comics # 5 begins with the JSA members sitting around in their meeting bored, lamenting the low crime rate. They've succeeded, it seems, in putting an end to crime. But elsewhere the gangsters are meeting, who at the orders of a mysterious Mr. X, the leader of the racketeers, each gangster is assigned a different member of the Justice Society of America in retaliation against the JSA's war on crime. 

The criminals first try to lure the Flash out by committing numerous arsons, which will also secure insurance claims on gang-owned properties. In the Sandman story, Dian Belmont is kidnapped by gangsters who know she is Sandman's "companion." How this is common knowledge without anyone putting it together that Wesley Dodds is Sandman is not explained. Sandman's eventual victory has him unrealistically lamenting that with all the kidnappers in custody, life is going to be slow. Yes, comics were for kids in those days.

In the Hawkman story gangsters plan to lure him out by committing a jewelry store heist. They make sure Shiera Sanders knows in advance so she can get word to him. As with Dian Belmont and Sandman, the criminals again seem aware of who the hero's leading lady happens to be. In this milestone issue Shiera first wears the hawk mask and wings, not as Hawkgirl, but as a Hawkman decoy.

When the issue turns to Dr. Fate, a familiar pattern continues as it's common knowledge that Inza Cramer knows the good doctor. Here we learn that Dr. Fate is immortal unless he wills to die. He is lured to the lair of a fake magician who is supposedly bleeding widows dry holding phony seances. Inza brings Kent Nelson to the magician's place where gangsters attempt to kill him, somehow knowing that he is Dr. Fate. Was Dr. Fate's identity secret, or not?

In the Hour-man story an impostor tries to frame him by stealing tires off cars. The authorities are naturally dumb enough to think Hour-Man would have resorted to such petty crime. A stereotypical Irish flat foot is the police officer in this tale. In the Atom story some gangsters running a gym recruit short guys off the street for a fitness course in hopes of rubbing out the Atom, a hero of small stature. 

The Spectre seems a bit out of character as his story begins with him leaving the JSA meeting, complaining that there is "No excitement. No nothing." This ghostly apparition not only falls into the same level of common boredom as we mere mortals, but he also uses poor grammar. Eventually his mortal counterpart, police detective Jim Corrigan, leads a raid on an illegal gambling casino after overhearing a stereotypical immigrant couple speak of the husband's gambling addiction. Racial stereotyping was common in comics back then.

The Spectre is finally framed for running the gambling racket, as if a ghost would have any interest in doing so. But the authorities are as dumb as those who thought Hour-Man might have been stealing tires. The Spectre again seems out of character when he takes petty revenge on a doorman who refused to let Jim Corrigan into the gambling house. Spectre kicks the man in the seat of the pants thinking, "That's for getting flip with me." The biggest plot hole was a "queer ring" worn by a gangster that renders Spectre powerless. We're never told why the ring has such power. Spectre is in the company of other violent Golden Age heroes when he throws a villain's car head on into either a tree or the side of a cliff. The art doesn't make it clear.

Green Lantern has the common complaint of Sandman, Dr. Fate, and Spectre in this issue, stating that he is "fed up with sitting around." He sees plenty of action though, when Mr. X demands two-million dollars from the city threatening to blow up city hall and the electric power plant unless his demands are met. He also dares Green Lantern to stop him in a newspaper ad.

This comic includes the slang and cultural references of its time, including phrases like "and how; "a-fine-how-do-you-do;" "Whats the idea?;" and "What I say goes." In addition to a "queer ring" we learn of "queer rainfall." And could the Atom be referencing Dale Carnegie when he mentions a course on how to influence people? 

In all it's a fun comic. While all the stories are quite juvenile by today's standards, the Hawkman story probably holds up the best. While all four color stories are written by Gardner Fox, Hawkman has the stand out art of Sheldon Moldoff. The most surprising thing about this comic is that two leading ladies get shot in the same issue. The comic has been reprinted in All-Star Comics Archives # 1 and is available for digital download for a reasonable price at Comixology.com.              

JSA Chronology 4

Following Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Earth-Two comic All-Star Squadron basically suspended its storyline and produced five months of filler from issues 61-66 consisting of origin stories. The final issue, #67, was a retelling of the first case of the JSA from All-Star Comics # 4. 

The retelling is a very condensed version of the original tale with some of the more outlandish details removed. Perhaps the change in details can be accounted for by considering this a post-crisis story. But along with the removal of outlandish details came the omission of practically everything that made the original story interesting, as was often the case when DC history was altered to accommodate post-crisis continuity.

A most glaring omission is the speech of the F.B.I director about homeland traitors to American ideals (Maybe this hit too close to home).  But in this version the director is named as J. Edgar Hoover. Hitler and the Nazis are also named.

The Green Lantern story omits the adjective "charming" to describe Irene Miller. Nor does this version have her jump out of a plane. Gone is the Flash's charge of hypocrisy against those who yell about their rights under a constitution they are trying to overthrow (Note how the political rhetoric is toned down considerably in this retelling. Again, perhaps too close to home). Instead, the Flash quotes Andrew Jackson: "The Constitution is not a suicide pact." 

The Spectre and Dr. Fate stories are condensed to one-page summaries that do little to showcase these guys' superpowers, though we do see Dr. Fate dematerialize guns and part the waters beneath a ship. There is no reference to Hour Man killing anyone, but he knocks out some Nazis. The Sandman story is so abbreviated that there is hardly any story at all.

Whereas Hawkman shows up at Shiera's bedside, she does not return the favor. In this later version she is referenced as Hawkman's fiancé. She has been trying to persuade Hawkman to accept her as his masked partner. 

The Atom story gets a good bit of coverage in this version. As in the original, he beats up some Nazis on campus and forces them to sing "God Bless America."

While this retelling of the story updates it for modern sensibilities, the original is much more fleshed-out. The retelling feels rushed by comparison. Both issues are available to purchase for download on comixology.com.   

JSA Chronology 3

When I read the F.B.I director's speech to the Justice Society of America, I felt like I was reading a description of our nation today. Here is part of what he told them when they arrived in his Washington office:

Even our colleges are overrun with alien teachers and students, preaching hatred for democratic ideals! Telling young men and women of America that freedom is useless---outmoded! Soapbox orators stir up class and race hatreds! Strong arm tactics are being used against our patriotic but helpless workers! 

While this sounds all too current, especially the part about the brainwashing of gullible young people in institutions of higher learning, the story takes place in 1940 just prior to U. S. involvement in World War II. The Atom, being Al Pratt, college student, takes on the college infiltrators and Johnny Thunder sees some action alongside Atom. 

It's scary that circumstances paving the way for tyrants are repeating themselves in this country and scary that the comic publishers have unfortunately gone P.C. on us as opposed to working to instill the patriotic values that comics were all about in the Golden Age. I admit, though, that even then the pro-war propaganda was more than over-the-top and not objective at all. Comics have never, to my knowledge, been published by brave trailblazers, but by drones who merely mimic the spirit of the age. Comics are great entertainment, but I've always wished they would stay out of the social propaganda business. But enough of that.

All-Star Comics #4 is the issue in which the (unnamed) F.B.I. director briefs the JSA, giving each member sealed instructions to destroy after opening. These instructions send each member to a different part of the country to defeat the foreign spy rings discovered by U.S. intelligence. Each ring is but a cell of a larger organization ran by a leader in Toledo, Ohio. The story concludes with the entire JSA teaming up in Toledo to take down the organization.

The "grey shirts" are obviously Nazi party sympathizers, but aren't named as such. Flash takes a group of them on who are out to propagandize the working class. A still timely statement by the Flash rebukes a criminal for "yelling about your rights under a constitution you're trying to overthrow." We have certainly seen more than our share of that in recent times.  

Green Lantern is next, who as Alan Scott, radio engineer, investigates interference in radio reception across the country--an obvious effort to break down America's communication systems. Scott's leading lady, called the "charming Irene Miller," and co-worker of Scott, takes matters into her own hands and becomes the stereotypical damsel in distress who must depend upon Green Lantern for rescue. A rather silly incident is when Irene parachutes out of a commercial airliner against the orders of a flight attendant. It's about as ridiculous as the previous issue where Sandman puts all the guests in a hotel to sleep so the JSA can have a private meeting in the conference room. But comics were for kids back then.

The Spectre and Dr. Fate were just all too powerful. Spectre, surprisingly nicknamed the "Dark Knight" in the narration, manages to turn back time, summon up visions of previous events, freezes crooks in their tracks, and reads minds. Good thing his stories were short back then since it would be difficult to write much of a lengthy plot to challenge this guy. Dr. Fate is just as powerful, not needing to open his sealed envelope to know what's inside. He casts spells over broadcast wires and blows up bad guys' guns by just thinking about it. He can read minds, cause chains to materialize from nowhere, find crooks by using a crystal ball, and summon F.B.I agents with the use of a dark cloud. Not much can challenge this guy.

Hour Man spends most of his time as Rex Tyler undercover in the Oklahoma oil fields. His actions inadvertently get some bad guys killed, but he comments that they met a deserving end. Yes, comics have changed over the years.

Sandman defends freedom of the press helping a newspaper threatened in regard to what they print. He also breaks up an impressionable gang of youths taken under the wing of pro-tyranny forces. But it turns out these youths were just "looking for adventure," so by the end Sandman has them singing "God Bless America" just prior to enlisting in the Army. Cheesy.    

While many elements of comics in this era were juvenile by today's standards, they were in some cases ahead of their time. One surprising element for this era is that Green Lantern meets a German-American who happens to be a tyranny-opposing patriot. Hawkman shows up at Shiera's bedside for the second issue in a row, but prior to that, she shows up at his. She gazes upon a sleeping Hawkman, who laughably just happens to sleep in his superhero headgear. The Hawkman story stood out again this issue due to the superior art of Sheldon Moldoff. 

 You can read All-Star Comics #4 in All-Star Comics Archives Volume 1 or buy it digitally on comixology.      

JSA Chronology 2

The first super-hero team to appear in comics was the Justice Society of America in All-Star Comics #3 in 1940. The story has been reprinted in Famous First Edition #F-7 (1974), in Millennium Edition: All-Star Comics #3 (2000), and in All-Star Comics Archives vol. 1. The story is also available digitally from comixology.com. for 1.99.

The story tells of the JSA's first meeting at a hotel conference room where the heroes meet for dinner and swap stories of solo adventures. So we don't get to see a team-up per say this issue.

The story is dated in that there are fewer attempts than today to inject any dose of realism into the story. But then this is back when in-house ads were addressed to "boys and girls." We find the JSA having the hotel to themselves since Sandman has put all the guests to sleep. Never mind that some guests might have had to catch a flight, or report to a work conference, or meet a sick relative. But we weren't supposed to think of all that back then. Other juvenile aspects of the story includes a shark who thinks in English referring to Flash as a "nice juicy man."

The 1940s slang is also amusing. Flash addresses the shark as "old kid." His costume is described as a "screwy outfit." Strange happenings are said to be "mighty queer." A woman's curiosity is stereotypically referred to as being "just like a woman." A ship's captain is described as being "happy as a kid" and Hawkman lands a successful punch exclaiming, "What a lulu. Right on the button." The Atom says both, "Holy Smoke" and "Swell."

Most of the scripts are by Gardner Fox with pencils contributed by Everett E. Hibbard. A brief comedic interlude is scripted and drawn by Sheldon Mayer in which the original Red Tornado crashes the party. The Spectre story is co-scripted by Jerry Siegel of Superman fame. The most outstanding art is that of Sheldon Moldoff for the Hawkman story. It has a pulp sci-fi feel to it that isn't quite as cartoony as the rest of the book. The panel with Hawkman appearing at Shiera Sander's bedside borders on a very subdued eroticism.

A stand-out feature of the book is that most heroes of the time had a leading lady, but not always a damsel in distress. For the Flash it was Joan Williams, his girlfriend who in later comics becomes his wife. Shiera Sanders is likewise destined to marry Hawkman. Rex Tyler (Hour-Man) is found working at Bannerman Chemicals where his leading lady is boss's niece Regina Paige. While Regina made several appearances in Hour-Man's early adventures, it is Wendi Harris who becomes his wife, appearing first in Showcase #56 (1965). Sandman pals around with Dian Belmont, a socialite and amateur detective. They had an ongoing relationship in the comics well into their golden years, but never officially marry. Green Lantern's leading lady, Irene, appears in only a couple of panels. College Sophomore Al Pratt's crush, Mary James is none too impressive. It's another one of those romantic tension situations in which the lady idolizes the hero (the Atom) but is not impressed by the man behind the mask. Dr. Fate's interest is Inza Cramer, who later becomes his wife. Only the Spectre lacks a leading lady in his story. 

While written for kids the stories are entertaining enough, with some having an almost creepy element due to occultism or science gone awry. The stories cover a wide variety. Flash, the Atom, and Hour-Man are more typical super-heroics while Hawkman, Sandman, Dr. Fate, and the Spectre are more of the pulp fiction, macabre, fantasy, or noir categories. Overall, it's a great book concluding with a summons by the F.B.I. chief for the JSA to meet him in Washington which occurs in issue 4.             

JSA Chronology 1

I've decided that from time to time I am going to trace the history of the JSA from their beginning up until the new 52 began. This will be about the real Justice Society of America (mainly pre-crisis) and not the new 52 impostors. 

The first comic appearance of the JSA was of course in All-Star Comics #3 back in 1940, but the origin of how the team came together was not told until the 1977 DC Special #29. The book is so important that my very-good to fine copy is probably worth around $40. To give an idea of the era, the front cover has a blurb about a contest to be in the Superman movie (the one with Christopher Reeve). The slash page pictures the JSA line-up from the 70s revival of All-Star Comics being published at the time. 

The story is set in the winter of 1940 and the team actually comes together at the instigation of FDR who has heard about a number of mystery men appearing all over the country. They are just the ticket to prevent Hitler's planned invasion of England. So Batman, Green Lantern, and the Flash are summoned to Commissioner Gordon's office and then dispatched to Europe. They are later joined by Dr. Fate, Hourman, Sandman, the Atom, Hawkman, and the Spectre. Superman appears before the story is over. Both FDR and Hitler play prominent roles. I loved it as a kid when real people appeared in comics and I still love it when the stories told are historical fiction which interplay with real historical events. The editorial claim on a text page of the book is that Hitler really did plan an invasion of England, but for some unknown reason did not go through with it. The untold story is here. 

So here is a sample of retroactive continuity which Roy Thomas later popularized with All-Star Squadron, but I am uncertain whether he coined the term. Retroactive stories fill in some of the continuity gaps from bygone eras, this one telling of the JSA's formation. So obviously my reviews of the JSA chronology will include retroactive stories as opposed to a mere chronological publishing order.

The art by Joe Staton and Bob Layton is very good. The story by Paul Levitz (one of my favorite writers) is passable, but he is naturally a much better writer now than back then. Portions of the story are a bit juvenile by today's standards, but this was the era when kids still read comics. There is an over-reliance on Dr. Fate's magic to bring a second wave of heroes to Europe and to foil Hitler's unmasking of Batman. Hitler, in the original Earth-Two' s DC Comics, was a collector of relics which he employed for superstitious means. In this story the spear of destiny (which pierced Christ's side) is used to summon an army of Valkyries on winged horses to battle the JSA. This does fit Hitler's obsession with Aryan myths, but I would be interested to research whether he was truly superstitious. I've heard that horoscopes were a thing with him. I owe my being an amateur World War II buff to my reading of JSA and Invaders adventures in my youth.  

DC Special #29 was more recently reprinted in the 2006 trade paperback Justice Society, Volume 1, including the Neal Adams cover, but minus the text page.