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Post by Cei-U! on Sept 13, 2014 9:42:45 GMT -5
The last son of a doomed planet.
A night-shrouded nemesis of crime.
An immortal Amazon princess.
A brotherhood of invincible costumed crusaders.
The costumed super-hero genre — largely defined by Superman and Batman — was less than three years old when the “Justice Society of America” series debuted in the third issue of All-Star Comics, cover-dated Winter 1940-41. Already dozens of costumed characters had appeared on the market. The new strip took the next step, featuring eight of DC's second-string heroes working together as a team. This simple but visionary idea made All-Star one of the company's most popular titles for much of its existence. The genre dominated the industry during the war years but sales numbers began falling by the end of the decade. The JSA could defeat any foe… except a change in audience tastes. The cancellation of their series in 1951 marked the end of comics' “Golden Age” in the eyes of many fans.
A decade later, in what would come to be called the “Silver Age,” super-hero comics were making a cautious comeback. DC editor Julius Schwartz, who had helmed All-Star in the later years of its run, spearheaded this revival with often radical redesigns and reconceptualizations of The Flash, Green Lantern, The Atom, and Hawkman, as well as a brand new team for them to belong to: the Justice League of America (JLA). But the original versions were not forgotten. In 1961, Schwartz and original JSA writer Gardner Fox reintroduced the Justice Society characters to a new generation of readers, making use of a classic science fiction concept — parallel worlds — to explain the existence of two Flashes, two Green Lanterns, and so on: the Silver Age heroes lived on “Earth-One,” their Golden Age counterparts on “Earth-Two.”
The wonder that Silver Age readers felt when Earth-Two was introduced is hard to explain to today's readers accustomed to comic book “universes” crammed to the rafters with super-beings. Its specific appeal varied from fan to fan. Older readers who remembered the Golden Age were delighted to see their childhood heroes return, while those born later were intrigued to learn that other versions of their favorite characters existed. Some were fascinated by the differences between the Golden and Silver Age versions of familiar heroes, some by those characters who had no contemporary counterpart. Whatever it was, it worked. Throughout the 1960s and early '70s, an appearance by the team (invariably referred to as “the legendary JSA”) was a guaranteed bestseller.
In late 1975, by which time super-hero comics are said to have passed from the Silver Age into the “Bronze Age,” All-Star Comics, the team's Golden Age title, was revived. It was the first of several series that would focus either directly or indirectly on the JSA, its members and other denizens of Earth-Two over the next decade. Though not the headliners they were in the '40s, they continued to find an audience who understood and appreciated the multiple-Earth context in which their adventures occurred.
Ironically, the very success of the Earth-Two concept would prove to harbor within it the seeds of its own destruction. During the Silver Age, most Earth-Two stories were produced under the supervision of Julius Schwartz and, despite some minor contradictions, were fairly consistent. So much new Earth-Two material was produced during the Bronze Age, however, that deviations from the Schwartz-Fox paradigm were inevitable. Some writers and editors ignored or misunderstood the multiple-Earths premise, resulting in characters with “dopplegängers” — in comic book parlance, a parallel universe counterpart sharing a common history, costume, secret identity and supporting cast with the original — on three or more different Earths. Several experimented with “retroactive continuity,” telling stories based in the series' past but presenting new material, often contradicting established facts and premises. Though insignificant individually, such gaffes and contradictions began to have a cumulative effect. By the mid-'80s, Earth-Two history was thoroughly confused.
It was not just a question of keeping Earth-One and Earth-Two straight. In 1958, DC acquired the rights to characters and titles formerly published by Quality Comics. Quality headliners Blackhawk and Plastic Man were integrated into the Silver Age world of Earth-One. The others had to wait until 1973 and the discovery of “Earth-X.” Earlier that year, Captain Marvel and other heroes from the Fawcett Comics line made their DC debuts. They lived on “Earth-Shazam” a.k.a. “Earth-S.” In the mid-Eighties DC acquired the Charlton Comics super-heroes, who would be assigned to “Earth-4” (“Earth-Three” was already spoken for). Each additional world meant another layer of complexity for editors, creators and readers to track. Some began to question whether the effort was worth it, arguing that continuity was becoming too complicated, too impenetrable for new or casual readers.
The publication of the twelve-issue “maxi-series” Crisis On Infinite Earths in 1985-86, which eradicated Earth-Two and the other parallel universes, working most of their heroes into the mainstream “DC Universe,” was intended to simplify continuity. In the decades since Crisis, however, continuity has been anything but simplified. The heroes and villains of Earth-Two have seen their histories further confused. Many, including a number of JSA members, have been manhandled, abused, killed off and even “retconned” out of existence. Though many excellent comic books featuring the former Earth-Two characters have been published in the intervening years—indeed, the Justice Society of the 21st Century is enjoying a long period of popularity comparable to its Golden Age heyday—even the best of them contradict or obscure the continuity developed during the Silver and Bronze Ages. Opinions vary as to whether uniting all its characters into a single universe was wisdom or folly on DC's part but few longtime fans will deny that something special was lost in the process. It should not be forgotten.
The Boomer's Guide to Earth-Two tells the story of the birth, life and death of Earth-Two just as it occurred: one comic book at a time. Using a synthesis of the formats developed by such noted comics historians as Michael Fleisher, George Olshevsky, and Murray Ward, it examines the post-Golden Age, pre-Crisis history of the Justice Society of America and other Earth-Two heroes, villains and teams through cover images, creator credits, plot summaries and detailed continuity notation for each story. We begin with the introduction of the Earth-Two universe in The Flash #123 in 1961 and conclude with Infinity, Inc #30 in 1986, the last comic book story in which characters are consciously aware of their Earth-Two origins.
Appendices to the main text include alphabetical and chronological checklists of the 444 comic books constituting the Earth-Two canon, Golden Age appearance citations for all Earth-Two super-heroes and villains, an Earth-Two glossary, a who's who of major Earth-Two characters, a detailed Earth-Two chronology, and an index of editors, writers and artists contributing to the canon. (Note to the CCF gang: most of the appendices are incomplete and I probably won't post them.) It is our hope and intent that the Boomer's Guide be the definitive reference for anyone interested in Earth-Two, its super-heroes and its history.
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Post by Cei-U! on Sept 13, 2014 9:51:40 GMT -5
A Word or Two About My Methodology (Feel Free to Skip Past)
Deciding which of the thousands of comic book stories published by DC during its long history belong to the Earth-Two canon and are therefore included in this guide has been no easy task.
The most obvious criterion for inclusion of a story in the canon is an unambiguous statement within the text that it either occurs on Earth-Two or features characters from Earth-Two. The vast majority of the guide entries belong to this category, including all appearances of the Justice Society of America, the Seven Soldiers of Victory, the All-Star Squadron, and Infinity, Inc., as well as appearances on Earth-One by Earth-Two super-villains.
Several stories and series that are either explicitly set on Earth-One or do not identify themselves as occuring in a particular universe are regarded as canonical because later stories in the canon retroactively identify the characters as indigenous to Earth-Two, including
● All team and solo appearances of the Freedom Fighters
● All appearances of Sargon the Sorcerer
● The short-lived series Steel The Indestructible Man, and
● The science fiction story “The Answer Man of Space” in Mystery In Space #73.
Other series and stories with tentative connections to the Earth-Two universe, though not canonical, are included in the guide as Earth-Two apocrypha, including
● Appearances by The Spectre and Wildcat in stories set, either explicitly or implicitly, on Earth-One but neither acknowledging the characters' Earth-Two origins nor identifying them as Earth-One dopplegängers of the Earth-Two originals.
● The “what if” portion of the “Batman and Robin” story in Detective Comics #347, which first aknowledges the existence of an Earth-Two version of Batman, and
● The “Immortal Man” stories in Strange Adventures #177, 185, 190 and 198.
To keep this already ambitious project manageable, the following are not covered by this guide:
● Post-Crisis developments in the continuities of those characters and teams formerly tied to Earth-Two.
● Appearances by the second Black Canary, the android Red Tornado, and Steel the Indestructible Man / Commander Steel following their emigrations to Earth-One.
● Appearances in Earth-One stories by Zatara the Magician, The Guardian and The Newsboy Legion, Manhunter (Paul Kirk), TNT and Dan the Dyna-Mite, Air Wave, and Robotman, all presented (at least implicitly) as Earth-One characters in various Silver and Bronze Age comics prior to their appearances in the Earth-Two series All-Star Squadron. Since it was not established within the comics themselves that these characters were emigrants from Earth-Two to Earth-One, and since many of these stories create thorny questions about contradictory continuity, I have presumed that dopplegängers of these heroes exist on both Earths.
● Appearances by Sgt. Rock and Easy Company, The Unknown Soldier, and Mlle. Marie outside an explicitly Earth-Two context.
● Appearances by the Solomon Grundy clones living on Earth-One.
● Those strange hybrid “Dr. Mid-Nite,” “Flash,” and “Seven Soldiers of Victory” stories of the early '70s combining Golden Age scripts with contemporary art.
● Entries for Earth-Two characters in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe.
● Reprints of Golden Age or canonical Earth-Two stories.
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Post by Cei-U! on Sept 13, 2014 9:53:16 GMT -5
Introduction: The Justice Society of America in the Golden Age
The exact circumstances leading to the creation of the Justice Society of America are long since forgotten. Not even the identity of the man or men who had that first spark of inspiration is known for sure, though All-Star Comics publisher Maxwell C. Gaines, editor Sheldon Mayer, and original scripter Gardner Fox are certainly the likeliest candidates.
DC in 1940 was actually two sister companies: Detective Comics, Inc., was owned by Jack Liebowitz and Harry Donenfeld, All-American Comics (AA), by Liebowitz and Gaines. They shared production and distribution expenses but maintained separate editorial identities. All-Star was an AA title. Nonetheless, the original membership of the Justice Society included four heroes from DC anthology titles ― The Sandman and The Hour-Man from Adventure Comics, Doctor Fate and The Spectre from More Fun Comics ― as well as four from AA books: The Flash and Hawkman from Flash Comics, Green Lantern and The Atom from All-American Comics.
The mystery surrounding the team's genesis was echoed in the four-color world. Fox and his successors, Robert Kanigher and John Broome, never gave the Justice Society an origin. The JSA appeared, already organized, in All-Star #3 (Winter 1940-41) and immediately set about the earthshaking business of eating dinner and swapping stories of their latest solo adventures (the real action would start in the next issue). Over the next decade, the JSA would set the pattern for every super-hero team to follow in its wake: members joined, resigned, returned, changed costumes. They fought individually, in teams of two or three and as a single unstoppable unit against spies and saboteurs, mad scientists and madder magicians, super-villains and teams of super-villains. Adventures took them around the world, across the solar system, forward and backward in time and into other dimensions. Reorganized by the American military after Pearl Harbor as the “Justice Battalion,” they raised money for war orphans, sold war bonds and persuaded conscientious objectors to join the war effort. They started a club for their young fans, the Junior Justice Society of America (JJSA), whose members ― their four-color counterparts, anyway ― sometimes took part in the festivities, saving the day more than once. And the JSA exhibited a humane side, becoming involved in such issues as world hunger, juvenile delinquency and the rights of the handicapped.
The roster underwent upheaval almost immediately. One of the team's unspoken precepts was that any member with his own self-titled comic was automatically consigned to “honorary” membership. Superman and Batman, Detective Comics' most popular characters, were thus excluded from regular participation right from the start. When his solo title All-Flash debuted, The Flash too went to honorary status. His Flash Comics co-star, Johnny Thunder, signed up as his replacement. Four months later, Green Lantern and The Hour-Man departed, the former because his solo title had been launched, the latter for reasons unknown. All-American’s Dr. Mid-Nite and Adventure’s Starman replaced them. The gender barrier fell when Wonder Woman joined the team. The effect was muted by her immediate ascension to honorary status, though she would appear in nearly every subsequent issue in her administrative role as the JSA's “Recording Secretary.”
In 1944, AA temporarily severed its business ties with DC and tried to go it alone. The Justice Society's roster reflected this. The Sandman, Dr. Fate, Starman and The Spectre — all owned by DC — dropped out. Two of Wonder Woman's fellow headliners from the AA-published Sensation Comics, Wildcat and Mr. Terrific, dropped in for a single issue and were then replaced by returning AA stars Flash and Green Lantern, the ‘rule’ about honorary membership discarded. Although it wasn't long before Gaines decided to sell his super-hero properties and most of his titles to Leibowitz and DC, the JSA would rarely feature any but AA-originated characters again.
The lineup remained relatively stable for the remaining six years of the series' run. Wildcat substituted for The Atom in one issue. Superman and Batman, in the final appearance of any DC-owned characters in the JSA strip, filled in for Johnny Thunder and Atom, respectively, in another. The Black Canary permanently replaced her Flash Comics co-star Johnny Thunder in 1948. She, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Atom, Dr. Mid-Nite and Wonder Woman — now promoted to active duty — stayed with the team until the series' final issue.
The Justice Society ended its run as it began: abruptly and without explanation. All-Star Comics became All-Star Western following issue #57 (February-March 1951), its super-hero stars consigned to history. It was an anti-climactic end for one of the Golden Age's most important series.
For a more detailed history of the JSA, All-Star Comics and its creators during the Golden Age, I highly recommend Roy Thomas' The All-Star Companion, Volumes 1-4 (see Bibliography).
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Post by Cei-U! on Sept 13, 2014 9:54:33 GMT -5
Superman
“Faster than a speeding bullet… more powerful than a locomotive… able to leap tall buildings at a single bound…” Is there anyone who doesn't know the story of Superman, the “strange visitor from another world with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men”? Clark Kent and his co-workers at that “great Metropolitan newspaper,” The Daily Planet ― Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Perry White ― are as firmly ensconced in American popular culture as Santa Claus, Mickey Mouse and Uncle Sam. Yet the Superman introduced in the spring of 1938 was a much different character than what he later became.
In his earliest incarnation, Superman was a costumed vigilante wanted by the law, a self-declared “champion of the oppressed” who involved himself in such real life issues as lynching, domestic violence, drunk driving, workplace safety, war profiteering, urban re¬newal and civic corruption. Inhumanly strong and swift, the “Man of Steel” essentially bullied his early opponents into submission, shedding no tears for foes who died through their own actions. New and ever more wondrous powers began to appear: “x-ray vision,” immunity to gases and poisons, flight, hypnosis, ventriloquism, even the ability to alter his facial features at will (one of the few powers to prove short lived). By 1946, Superman was so mighty that he could stand at ground zero of a nuclear explosion with impunity.
As his powers increased, ordinary criminals and Axis spies were no longer challenge enough for Superman. His first major foe was the mad scientist called The Ultra-Humanite, who had his brain transplanted from his original decrepit body to that of a beautiful movie actress. His popularity with readers apparently waned, and he was soon supplanted by a second rogue genius named Luthor, fated to become the archest of the hero's arch-enemies. Other Golden Age opponents included the murderous Archer, the super-scientific Lightning Master, the criminal cartoonist Funnyface, con man J. Wilbur Wolfingham, the “fifth dimensional imp” Mr. Mxyztplk, the brilliant Puzzler, the armor-clad Metalo, and those jolly-but-deadly rogues, The Toyman and The Prankster. Later stories saw the Man of Steel dealing with such friendly “menaces” as the bumbling magicians Hocus and Pocus, Lois Lane's mischievious niece, Susie, and Inspector Erskine Hawkins, a sleuth from Scotland Yard determined to discover Superman's true identity.
Other aspects of the series changed over time. Clark and Lois worked for editor George Taylor at The Daily Star for several months before they all moved to the Planet, where they met and befriended office boy and future “cub reporter” Jimmy Olsen and Taylor's replacement, Perry White. Superman's powers were originally credited to his race's inherent physical superiority to Homo sapiens but as his arsenal grew more fantastic, they began to be attributed to Earth's lesser gravity and, still later, to the differences between our yellow sun and the red sun around which “Krypton,” his home planet, once revolved. “Kryptonite,” the radioactive remains of that ill-fated world which could kill Superman with sufficient exposure, was not introduced into the comic books until 1949. In the same story, he first learned of his extraterrestrial origins, previously known only to readers. That discovery would have profound repercussions for the character's evolution as the Golden Age drew to a close.
The creation of writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, the “Man of Tomorrow” began life as a newspaper strip proposal. Rejected by all the major syndication services, the strip eventually found its way into the hands of M. C. Gaines. It was Gaines, spurred on by assistant (and future AA editor) Sheldon Mayer, who recommended the strip to Vincent Sullivan, editor-in-chief of a small, struggling line of comic books. Sullivan, looking for something different for the company's latest release, cover-featured Superman on Action Comics's debut issue.
Superman was an immediate hit. Demand for more of his fantastic adventures was immediate and loud. DC quickly gave the character his own title and it too became a sales phenomenon. He also appeared in both issues of New York World's Fair, was a regular feature in World's Finest Comics and appeared twice with the Justice Society of America in All-Star Comics. Beginning in early 1945, More Fun Comics and Adventure Comics featured his past adventures as “Superboy.” His popularity extended far beyond comic books. Superman starred in a newspaper strip, a novel by George W. Lowther, a highly rated radio series, an impressive series of animated cartoons, a not-so-impressive pair of movie serials, innumerable toys, and countless other products (including peanut butter and bread).
The Man of Steel remained popular even as the super-hero genre died all around him, due in no small part to the popularity throughout the 1950s of the Adventures of Superman television series starring George Reeves. His primary titles, Action Comics and Superman, would continue publication to the present day. Dozens of other titles have featured or guest-starred the Man of Steel over his 70+-year history.
And yet, Siegel and Shuster's socially conscious muscleman enjoyed a life of perhaps three years at best, gradually transforming into the civic-minded lawman and glorified lifeguard ― the “Big Blue Boy Scout” derided by many modern fans ― of the immediate postwar years and ultimately the alien demi-god of the Silver Age. Much was gained in the metamorphosis but, as we would be reminded with the character's reintroduction as the Earth-Two Superman in 1969, the purity of the original concept was also lost along the way.
First Appearance: Action Comics #1 (June 1938)
JSA Appearances: All-Star Comics #7-8, 36
Solo Appearances: Action Comics #1-139, New York World's Fair - 1939, 1940, Superman #1-61, Superman's Christmas Adventure #1, World's Best Comics #1, World's Finest Comics #2-43
Although there is no point at which Superman explicitly segues from his Golden Age persona to the Silver Age version, I have chosen those issues cover-dated December 1949 as the cutoff point. According to the story published in Action Comics #484, the Earth-Two Superman marries Lois Lane in late 1950 at the conclusion of an adventure which saw the Man of Steel vanish for an entire year. Dialogue within the issue makes it clear that these events began after Superman became aware of his Kryptonian heritage in Superman #61 (December 1949). Since none of the succeeding “Superman” stories in Action Comics, Superman or World's Finest Comics make mention of either the disappearance or the marriage, it is reasonable to assume this is the point of divergence between the Earth-One and Earth-Two incarnations of the characters.
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Post by Cei-U! on Sept 13, 2014 10:08:35 GMT -5
Batman
If Superman was the progenitor of a new kind of adventure character, Batman was the apotheosis of an older tradition: that of the masked avenger. His forefathers include the Scarlet Pimpernel, Zorro, the Lone Ranger and the Shadow. Editor Vince Sullivan and freelance cartoonist Bob Kane hoped to duplicate the success of Superman. Once Kane's preliminary concept was fleshed out by writer and unacknowledged co-creator Bill Finger, the “Darknight Detective” accomplished exactly that.
The Batman who debuted in Detective Comics #27 lacked many of the distinctive attributes he would become known for later: no Robin, no Alfred, no Gotham City, no Batmobile or Batcave or Batsignal, not even his violent and poignant origin. Playboy Bruce Wayne simply walked into the bedroom of his Manhattan apartment to don the nightmarish costume of “the Bat-Man,” as he was first called. Police Commissioner Gordon also appeared in that debut story, as nemesis rather than friend. Wanted by the law and underworld alike, this early Batman was nearly as vicious as his enemies. He thought nothing of tossing thugs off rooftops, leaving them to perish in burning buildings, even shooting them. Within a year, the editorial overseers at DC had cleaned up Batman's act: his gun disappeared and he took a pledge never to willfully take human life. Batman also acquired a sidekick in orphaned circus acrobat Dick Grayson a.k.a. Robin the “Boy Wonder.” Now a father figure, the “Caped Crusader” became less visceral, more cerebral, earning the title of “the world's greatest detective.” The “Dynamic Duo” would eventually lose their outlaw status and become duly deputized agents of Gordon's police department. In short, Batman gained respectability… and lost a bit of his edge.
Batman's earliest foes ― Doctor Death, Professor Hugo Strange, the vampiric Monk ― were pale imitations of the kinds of villains that routinely appeared in the pulps. With the debut issue of his solo title, the level of opposition skyrocketed as Kane, Finger, and art assistant Jerry Robinson introduced the white-faced, green-haired homicidal ghoul known only as the Joker. In his wake came a flood of macabre villains: The Penguin, The Mad Hatter, The Scarecrow, Two-Face, Professor Radium, Clayface, The Riddler, The Crime Doctor, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, The Cavalier, Killer Moth, and comic books' ultimate femme fatale, The Catwoman. No other Golden Age hero had such a memorable lineup of villains and there is no question they contributed substantially to the strip's phenomenal popularity.
Once the character found his footing, Batman would remain the most consistent property in DC's stable of Golden Age stars, in terms of both internal continuity and overall quality. Where Superman's adventures grew progressively more spectacular (and thus more improbable), the “Masked Manhunter” found his niche and thrived there. His stories were often densely plotted and the artwork darkly expressionistic with script and art alike borrowing heavily from the gangster and suspense films of the era.
Only Superman achieved greater renown in the 1940s. Like the Man of Steel, Batman appeared in numerous other comics, including New York World's Fair, World's Best Comics, World's Finest Comics, Star-Spangled Comics and All-Star Comics (as an honorary member of the Justice Society). The Dynamic Duo also appeared in a pair of movie serials, as “guest stars” on the Adventures of Superman radio series, and in their own newspaper strip. Nonetheless, it would not be until 1966 and the premiere of the campy Batman TV show that Batman and Robin would become true icons of American pop culture, a status they retain to this day.
First Appearance: Detective Comics #27 (May 1939)
JSA Appearances: All-Star Comics #7-8, 36
Solo Appearances: Batman #1-91, Detective Comics #27-219, New York World's Fair – 1940, Star-Spangled Comics #88-95, 112, World's Best Comics #1, World's Finest Comics #2-70
Although there is no point at which Batman and Robin explicitly segue from their Golden Age personae to the Silver Age versions, I have chosen those issues cover-dated May 1955 as the cutoff point. According to the “Huntress” story published in DC Super-Stars #17, the Earth-Two Batman and Catwoman marry in the summer of 1955. Since none of the succeeding “Batman” stories in Batman, Detective Comics or World's Finest Comics make mention of the marriage, it is reasonable to assume this is the point of divergence between the Earth-One and Earth-Two incarnations of the characters.
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Post by Cei-U! on Sept 13, 2014 10:14:41 GMT -5
Wonder Woman
The third member of DC's triad of super-heroic icons came not from the realm of science fiction like Superman or from the pulp tradition that fathered Batman but from the world of classical mythology. Dr. William Moulton Marston, a distinguished psychologist and one of the developers of the polygraph, sat on DC Comics' Advisory Board. When he suggested that girls too needed a super-heroic role model, a skeptical editorial staff challenged him to create such a character himself. The result was “Wonder Woman.”
Wonder Woman was the daughter of Hippolyte, immortal Queen of the Amazons. Formed from the clay of “Paradise Island” and given life by the power of the Olympian (Greco-Roman) gods, Princess Diana possessed the strength of Hercules, the speed of Mercury, the beauty of Aphrodite and the wisdom of Athena. When the Second World War came to Paradise Island in the form of USAAF Captain Steve Trevor, Diana was appointed to return with Trevor to “Man's World” and teach the aggressor nations the futility of their ways. Adopting the identity of Army nurse Diana Prince, the “Amazing Amazon” quickly found herself bustier-deep in Axis spies, gangsters and super-villains.
Armed with bullet-deflecting bracelets, a mentally-controlled “invisible robot plane” and a golden lasso within the coils of which mortals were compelled to tell the truth, Wonder Woman and her allies ― Trevor and the Holliday Girls, a band of sorority sisters led by the rotund, wisecracking Etta Candy ― dedicated themselves to not only defeating but reforming their foes. One early nemesis, the Nazi mastermind Baroness Paula von Gunther, became a close friend and ally after her experience on the Amazons' “Reform Island,” later called “Transformation Island.”
Arguably the most eccentric of all Golden Age talents, Marston ― writing as “Charles Moulton” ― developed a mythos for his Amazon creation that relied on equal parts classical mythology, whimsy, patriotism and sexual innuendo. Diana's foes ranged from Mars, God of War, and his many flunkies, to the transvestite villainesses Doctor Poison, Hypnota, and the Snow Man. Other notable nemeses were the misogynistic Doctor Psycho; Giganta, a tigerskin-clad redheaded giantess who began life as an ordinary gorilla; Queen Clea of sunken Atlantis; and spoiled heiress Priscilla Rich, a.k.a. the sultry Cheetah. Among her super-heroic peers at DC, only Batman and the Flash could boast of equally memorable rogues galleries.
Despite later criticism of the “Wonder Woman” series for its undeniable undertones of lesbianism and sadomasochism, there was an innocence, a naïveté about the strip that rendered such accusations beside the point. Some of the credit for this must go to the Amazing Amazon's original artist, Harry G. Peter. His odd, unique style evoked both contemporary childrens' book illustration and the drawings on ancient Greek pottery. It complimented Marston's stories perfectly.
Wonder Woman debuted in a special insert in All-Star Comics #8. Shortly after, she became the lead feature in the new Sensation Comics. Marston's instincts were dead on: buoyed by a large female following, his creation became DC's third most popular character, gaining her own title as well as appearing in Comic Cavalcade, The Big All-American Comic Book, and even a short-lived newspaper strip. The Amazing Amazon also became the first female member of the Justice Society of America, remaining with the team until its demise in 1951.
The strip fell into a serious slump after Dr. Marston's passing in 1947, its quirky charm dissipating into a banal regurgitation of super-hero clichés. Nonetheless, Wonder Woman's place in the pantheon of comic book super-stars has remained unchallenged down to the present day.
First Appearance: All-Star Comics #8 (December 1941)
JSA Appearances: All-Star Comics #11-22, 24-57
Solo Appearances: All-Star Comics #8, The Big All-American Comic Book, Comic Cavalcade #1-29, Sensation Comics #1-101, Wonder Woman #1-46
Although there is no point at which Wonder Woman segues from her Golden Age persona to the Silver Age version, I have chosen those issues cover-dated January-February 1951 as the cutoff point. According to the “Justice Society of America” story published in Adventure Comics #466 (June 1978), the JSA — including Wonder Woman — were forced to disband and retire shortly after the events of All-Star Comics #57 (February-March 1951). Since succeeding “Wonder Woman” stories in Sensation Comics and Wonder Woman showing the Amazon still in action begin to regularly contradict Golden Age continuity, it is not unreasonable to assume this is the point of divergence between the Earth-One and Earth-Two incarnations of the characters.
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Post by Cei-U! on Sept 13, 2014 10:57:20 GMT -5
The Flash
“Faster than the streak of lightning in the sky… swifter than the speed of the light itself… fleeter than the rapidity of thought…” With those words, comics readers were introduced to the Flash. Billed as “the Fastest Man Alive,” he established his reputation through such astonishing feats as catching bullets in mid-flight, running across water and up the sides of buildings, racing around the world in seconds, and even breaking the time barrier.
The Flash was really amiable chemist Jay Garrick, who gained his super-speed as a result of accidentally breathing the fumes of “hard water.” As the eponymous hero of DC's new title Flash Comics, the “Sultan of Speed” bore a lot of responsibility on his crimson-clad shoulders. He met that burden with a smile. Flash was the most genial of mystery men and his stories, though always exciting, cheerfully sidestepped any hint of Sturm und Drang. This became particularly true when Everett E. Hibbard took over the illustration chores from original artist Harry Lampert. His comedic skills perfectly complemented the often tongue-in-cheek tales spun by writer and co-creator Gardner Fox. Fox and Hibbard created a backdrop for their hero's adventures straight out of Damon Runyon, populating “Keystone City” with spoiled heiresses and spunky showgirls, loquacious gamblers and lowbrow underworld types. In a spectacular display of overenthusiasm, they gifted Jay Garrick with not one but three comic sidekicks: Winky, Blinky and Noddy, a trio so dim they made the Three Stooges look like Jeopardy! champions. Jay and ladyfriend Joan Williams bore it all with bemused equanimity.
The Flash was one of the first Golden Age mystery men to assemble a roster of recurring costumed villains and villainesses, and a colorful lot they were. Readers eagerly anticipated the latest matchup between the “Crimson Comet” and the Thinker, the Fiddler, the Thorn, the Rag Doll, the Shade, Star Sapphire, the Turtle, and many others. The first two also appeared in All-Star Comics to match wits with Flash's teammates in the Justice Society of America.
Although he would never achieve a level of stardom equal to Superman, Batman or Wonder Woman, the Flash did acquire a large enough following to earn his own title (called All-Flash to avoid confusion with his original book), as well as to appear regularly in the oversized Comic Cavalcade and, of course, all 104 issues of Flash Comics. In later years, though E. E. Hibbard would be superseded by a number of artists, some gifted, some mediocre, the strip continued to provide the audience with a steady diet of excitement and entertainment.
A founding member and the first chairman of the JSA, the Flash vanished from the pages of All-Star for over three years after his promotion to honorary membership but returned in #24 and remained a cornerstone of the team until the end of the Golden Age. The Fastest Man Alive ran out of road in 1951, a casualty of the industry-wide downturn in super-hero comics. When the genre gained new life half a decade later, it would be a radically updated Flash who would spearhead that revival and also, ironically, provide the vehicle for the original's return from comics limbo.
First Appearance: Flash Comics #1 (January 1940)
JSA Appearances: All-Star Comics #3-7, 10, 24-57
Solo Appearances: All-American Comics #74, All-Flash Comics #1-32, All-Star Comics #1-2, The Big All-American Comic Book, Comic Cavalcade #1-29, Flash Comics #1-104, Flash Comics Miniature Edition
Green Lantern
The Golden Age career of Green Lantern paralleled that of his Justice Society teammate, the Flash: both heroes earned their own titles, both appeared regularly in Comic Cavalcade, both left the JSA team early in its existence and both returned to active duty in All-Star Comics #24.
When cartoonist Martin Nodell first brought his new character to All-American Comics editor Sheldon Mayer, the latter recognized the strong potential for audience identification in the premise. Pairing Nodell with Batman co-creator Bill Finger, he gave their collaboration cover billing at its debut. Armed with a magical “power ring” that was recharged every 24 hours by being pressed to the ancient green lamp from which it was made, civil engineer Alan Scott could fly, pass through walls, even deflect bullets using the strange emerald energy the ring emitted. All it took to command the ring was “will power” ― and Scott had plenty of that. The “Emerald Gladiator” immediately became a star.
The details of Green Lantern's life and powers would evolve during his eleven year comic book career. Alan Scott abandoned engineering as a profession, becoming first a troubleshooter for a radio station and later its best-known on-air personality. He also acquired a sidekick and confidante in the person of fat, feisty cab driver “Doiby” Dickles. As the Lantern grew adept in the use of his power ring, he discovered newer, more spectacular ways to wield it. His original immunity to metals also broadened to become an immunity to all substances except wood. Perhaps the most memorable aspect of the character was the oath he recited whenever recharging his ring. Originally the oath was worded “And I shall shed my light over dark evil, for the dark things cannot stand the light... the light of Green Lantern!” A number of variants of this original oath were used for the first few years of the strip. Later in the series, scripter (and moonlighting science-fiction author) Alfred Bester created a second, more euphonious oath: “In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight! Let those who worship evil's might beware my power... Green Lantern's light!”
“GL” originally battled the standard assortment of spies and gangsters until acquiring in the late Forties a roster of recurring foes including the Gambler, the Icicle, the Sportsmaster, the Fool, the time-traveling Knodar, the monstrous Solomon Grundy, and the immortal Vandal Savage. His most persistent opponent proved to be the bespectacled Harlequin, actually Alan Scott's secretary, Molly Mayne. She became a super-villainess to attract the attention of Green Lantern, on whom the mousy-but-athletic Molly had an enormous crush.
Toward the end of his runs in both All-American and Green Lantern, the Emerald Gladiator found himself crowded out of his own series by the antics of the unnaturally precocious Streak the “Wonder Dog.” It was an ignominious finale to a stellar career but Alan Scott would have the last laugh: revived in the 1960s, the original Green Lantern ― renamed “Sentinel” for a time in the '90s ― remains one of DC Comics' most powerful super-stars.
First Appearance: All-American Comics #16 (July 1940)
JSA Appearances: All-Star Comics #3-7, 10, 24-57
Solo Appearances: All-American Comics #16-102, All-Flash #14, All-Star Comics #2, The Big All-American Comic Book, Comic Cavalcade #1-29, Green Lantern #1-38
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Post by Cei-U! on Sept 13, 2014 10:58:11 GMT -5
Hawkman
Although never achieving his own title, Hawkman would alternate Flash Comics covers with its eponymous star throughout the series' 104-issue run. And no wonder: with his bizarre hawk's-head helmet and enormous artificial wings, the “Aerial Ace” was one of the Golden Age's most visually arresting characters.
The creation of writer Gardner Fox and artist Dennis Neville (and probably inspired by similar-looking characters showcased in Alex Raymond's famed Flash Gordon newspaper strip), Hawkman was actually wealthy amateur archaeologist and inventor Carter Hall, the reincarnation of the treacherously murdered Prince Khufu (not the historical Khufu, builder of the largest of the Great Pyramids) of ancient Egypt. Hall first donned the colorful uniform of Hawkman to rescue young socialite Shiera Sanders (Khufu's ladylove likewise reborn) from the clutches of mad scientist Anton Hastor (the reincarnation of Khufu's killer). Given the power of flight by a belt made of the anti-gravitic “ninth metal” (later shortened to “Nth metal”) and armed with antique weapons from his private collection, Hawkman defeated Hastor and went on to become the scourge of the New York underworld.
Beginning with Flash Comics #24, Shiera Sanders acquired her own set of wings and joined her beaked boyfriend in action as Hawkgirl. Though Hawkgirl never quite achieved equal billing (she required rescuing too often to be a full partner), her presence lent the strip an ambiance unique among the DC pantheon. One of the Golden Age's few he-and-she teams of costumed heroes, the “Winged Wonders” flew through their adventures accompanied by the flocks of hawks and other birds with whom they could communicative.
Thanks to Fox's atmospheric scripts and the shadowy art of early artist Sheldon “Shelly” Moldoff , Hawkman was one of the war years' moodiest strips. The adventures of the “Flying Furies” later became more conventional—particularly after their bizarre helmets were replaced by cloth cowls in 1948—though the art, now in the hands of Joe Kubert, remained its strongest asset. Never blessed with the kind of clever and colorful villains that plagued Batman or the Flash, the “Hawks” had a mere handful of recurring foes such as the Hummingbird, Simple Simon and the Ghost, who may or may not have been the phantom he seemed to be.
Hawkman holds the distinction of being the only super-hero to appear in all 57 issues of All-Star Comics, becoming chairman of the Justice Society of America in #8 and retaining the position through the remainder of the Golden Age. To many fans, then and now, Hawkman is the JSA.
First Appearance: Flash Comics #1 (January 1940)
JSA Appearances: All-Star Comics #3-57
Solo Appearances: All-Star Comics #1-2, The Big All-American Comic Book, Flash Comics #1-104, Flash Comics Miniature Edition
The Atom
“The Atom” (originally “The Mighty Atom”) was not one of DC Comics' more inspired series. Plagued in its early days by lackluster scripts and abominable art, it might have become an early casualty of the super-hero wars if the character hadn't been a charter member of the Justice Society of America.
College freshman Al Pratt, whose 5'1" height had earned him the nickname “Atom Al,” was tired of being humiliated by taller men, especially in front of Mary James. So when down-on-his-luck physical trainer Joe Morgan offered to turn him into “a little Hercules” to repay the young man for his kindness to him, Al jumped at the chance. Morgan was as good as his word. Within months, Al Pratt had developed his strength, speed and endurance to the pinnacle of human perfection. Soon, “Calvin City” had its own resident mystery man: the caped crimebuster called the Atom.
Alongside the Justice Society, the Atom flexed his muscles against a panoply of exotic backgrounds. Most of the Atom's solo adventures, however, revolved around the Calvin campus, with the hero alternating between clashes with the local mob and bids for the affection of Mary James.
“The Atom” was unusually migratory: the strip started out in All-American Comics and finished its run in Flash Comics, with stops along the way in The Big All-American Comic Book, Comic Cavalcade and Sensation Comics. In 1948, several changes were made to the character, presumably in a bid to increase his appeal. The Atom suddenly began exhibiting superhuman strength and his costume ― which had previously suggested his bodybuilder origins ― was replaced with a more standard set of super-hero togs (as of Flash Comics #98 and All-Star Comics #42, both cover dated August 1948).
It was too little, too late. The super-hero genre was dying and there was nothing about the series, still wrapped up in the mundane doings of professional students Al Pratt and Mary James, to mark it for survival. The Atom remained in the spotlight for three more years after his solo series' cancellation thanks to his presence in the JSA, but when that series too fell beneath the axe of changing tastes, the “Mighty Mite” returned to obscurity.
First Appearance: All-American Comics #19 (October 1940)
JSA Appearances: All-Star Comics #3-26, 28-35, 37-57
Solo Appearances: All-American Comics #19-46, 48-61, 70-72, The Big All-American Comic Book, Comic Cavalcade #22-23, 28, Flash Comics #80, 82-83, 87, 88-95, 97-100, 102-104, Sensation Comics #86
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Post by Cei-U! on Sept 13, 2014 10:58:57 GMT -5
The Spectre
Jim Corrigan may have been the toughest detective in the “Cliffland” Police Department but even he wasn't tough enough to survive being sealed in a cement-filled barrel and dumped in the river. That wasn't the end of Corrigan, however. His spirit, lusting for vengeance against his gangland killers, was offered the chance to return to the mortal plane by a divine Voice. As the Spectre, a costumed ghost with incredible supernatural powers, Corrigan would combat evil with a righteous fury unmatched in the annals of Golden Age herodom.
The Spectre was the brainchild of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel and artist Bernard Baily and was like nothing comics readers had ever seen before. The “Ghostly Guardian” wasn't content to capture criminals; he killed them in whatever gruesome manner he deemed appropriate. And because his incredible array of powers made even the Man of Steel look sissified by comparison, his battles against a sinister assortment of demons, monsters and evil sorcerers occurred on a cosmic scale.
Now literally a walking dead man, Corrigan distanced himself from partner Wayne Grant and girlfriend Clarice Winston and devoted himself to his work. It could've proven a lonely life-in-death if not for the Justice Society. The Spectre might have seemed an unlikely candidate for membership in a super-hero team but there he was on the cover of All-Star Comics #3, glowering grimly amongst all those smiles. Though logically his powers should have rendered his teammates superfluous, the “Spirit Sleuth” seemed to enjoy being ‘one of the boys.’ He remained on the roster through #23.
About midway through the run of Spectre's solo series in More Fun Comics, Jim Corrigan was brought back to life and shipped off to fight in the war, leaving his ghostly alter-ego ― now granted independent existence ― behind to guard the homefront. Then, in More Fun #74, the character Percival Popp, “the Super Cop,” was introduced and the once-fearsome Spectre was reduced to the role of straight man to the bumbling detective, who resembled a weird cross between Jerry Lewis' Nutty Professor and Seinfeld's Cosmo Kramer.
With the elements that had made the strip unique gone, its popularity flagged. By January of 1945, the Spectre was gone from More Fun, All-Star and the newsstands. But it's hard to keep a good ghost down. The Ghostly Guardian would experience the first of many resurrections some twenty years later.
First Appearance: More Fun Comics #52 (February 1940)
JSA Appearances: All-Star Comics #3-23
Solo Appearances: All-Star Comics #1-2, More Fun Comics #52-101
Doctor Fate
Practitioners of magic were commonplace in comics by 1940, although most tended to be little more than tepid imitations of Lee Falk's popular newspaper strip Mandrake the Magician. DC jumped on the bandwagon early with such offerings as Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's “Doctor Occult” and Fred Gaurdineer's “Zatara.” But none of his predecessors prepared audiences for Doctor Fate.
Gardner Fox was the mind behind the mage, ably assisted by the stiff but complementary art of Howard Sherman. With his brightly-colored tights and distinctive helmet, Fate looked like no other comic book thaumaturge before or since. Initially given no origin or civilian identity, described as a being of pure energy, the “Wonder Wizard” moved through a Lovecraftian universe of elder gods, lost civilizations and sinister students of black magic with only adventuress Inza Cramer for company. His base of operations ― a doorless and windowless stone tower on the outskirts of “witch-haunted” Salem ― was just one of many memorable touches Fox and Sherman bestowed on their hero. Eventually, Fate would remove his helmet and reveal the face of archaeologist Kent Nelson, trained since childhood by the ancient wizard, Nabu, to replace him as Earth's mystic champion.
Of all the Golden Age series to undergo drastic changes, perhaps none were harmed more grievously by editorial tinkering than “Doctor Fate.” The “Master Mage” lost most of his occult powers midway through his 43-issue run in More Fun Comics, retaining only flight, super-strength and limited invulnerability, while his helmet had its lower half sliced off with ludicrous results. With Fate transformed from mysterious sorcerer to wise-cracking muscleman, Kent Nelson also underwent remodeling, becoming a physician in the space of a single panel in More Fun Comics #85 (November 1942). Foes like the green-skinned wizard Wotan, the “living shadow” Ian Karkull or the strange Fish-Men of Nyarl-Amen were replaced by exagerratedly dimwitted gangsters and the occasional mad scientist.
Doctor Fate appeared in All-Star Comics as a charter member of the Justice Society of America through its twenty-first issue. His solo series, gutted of everything that had made it so appealing, limped on for another few years before disappearing from the pages of More Fun. Fortunately for both the character and his fans, he would return in his original incarnation when revived alongside the JSA in the 1960s.
First Appearance: More Fun Comics #56 (June 1940)
JSA Appearances: All-Star Comics #3-13, 15-21
Solo Appearances: More Fun Comics #56-98
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Post by Cei-U! on Sept 13, 2014 11:09:34 GMT -5
The Sandman
“The Sandman” made its debut on April 30, 1939, in the pages of New York World's Fair, a 96-page comic with cardboard covers initially available only at the fair. The regular series began in Adventure Comics #40 (July 1939). Originally credited to “Larry Dean,” the early episodes were the work of writer Gardner Fox and artist Bert Christman. The strip also appeared in early issues of World's Finest Comics.
As was so common in the Golden Age, no definitive origin was given. The Sandman was a vigilante whose arsenal included a sleep gas gun (hence the name), a powerful roadster and a bruising pair of fists. He was prone to leave sand sprinkled about as a calling card. Wanted by both the law and the underworld, the caped mystery man danced around legal niceties for the sake of justice. Behind the eerie, identity-concealing gas mask was Wesley Dodds (or sometimes Dodd), handsome heir to the Dodds-Bessing industrial empire. In his earliest appearances, Dodds was portrayed as an inventor but this was quickly de-emphasized in favor of the ‘bored and boring playboy’ ruse, already a cliché in the pulp magazines and movies of the day. Indeed, the Sandman was little more than a variation on any number of film, radio and pulp heroes. The strip tended to reflect these pulp roots. Gangsters, mad scientists and spies were his usual opponents with an occasional masked villain (such as Adventure #40's Tarantula) thrown in.
However prosaic the plotlines, Sandman stories were stylishly executed. What made this particular mystery man stand out from his peers at DC was his relationship with love interest and sidekick Dian Belmont, a relationship that owed more to William Powell and Myrna Loy than to Clark Kent and Lois Lane. The daughter of Manhattan's district attorney, Dian frequently aided her colorful boyfriend by driving his car, conducting investigations and acting as a sounding board while he worked his way through the latest mystery.
When Fox and All-Star Comics editor Sheldon Mayer began toying with the concept of a team of super-heroes, the Sandman was one of the characters chosen for their fledgling “Justice Society of America” feature. It may have been this association with the hugely popular JSA that saved him from cancellation over in Adventure Comics. Originally intended to be Adventure's main feature, the Sandman soon found his popularity eroding as newer, more dynamic super-heroes such as Hour-Man and Starman found a home in the title. The strip slowly drifted to the back of the book. Clearly, major surgery was called for.
In a bid to attract new readers, Fox and artists Paul Norriss and Chad Grothkopf overhauled the “Sandman” strip beginning with Adventure Comics #69 (December 1941). Gone were the baggy suit, fedora and gas mask in favor of a conventional super-hero costume of purple-and-gold tights. Gone too was Dian Belmont. Her replacement was teenage Sandy Hawkins a.k.a. “Sandy the Golden Boy,” one of the era's many kid sidekicks created to emulate the success of the Batman and Robin team.
Three issues later, the series found new life under the care of the red-hot team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, fresh from their phenomenal success with Captain America for Timely Comics. If Sandman and Sandy were now essentially Cap and his sidekick Bucky in civilian guise, readers didn't care. Simon and Kirby's trademark frenetic pacing and explosive action coupled with plots revolving around the twin themes of sleep and dreams made Sandman the most popular of Adventure's features once more.
Over in the pages of All-Star, the transition to the Simon & Kirby Sandman was seamless. He would remain with the team until mid-1944. His solo series ran through Adventure #102 (March 1946), although most later stories were executed by the S&K shop rather than Joe and Jack themselves. Perhaps that contributed to DC's decision to cancel the series during the belt-tightening of the immediate postwar era.
Fittingly, Sandman wasn't dead but merely sleeping, a sleep from which he would awaken two decades later.
First Appearance: New York World's Fair – 1939
JSA Appearances: All-Star Comics #3-21
Solo Appearances: Adventure Comics #40-102, All-Star Comics #1-2, Boy Commandos #1, Detective Comics #76, New York World's Fair – 1939, 1940, World's Finest Comics #3-7
Hour-Man
In 1940, the year the Food and Drug Administration published its first list of minimum daily requirements of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, there was much talk of ‘wonder drugs’ in the media. Small wonder, then, that comic book publishers seized upon such substances as a power source for super-heroes. Leading the way was Charles Nicholas' “Blue Beetle” ― his abilities derived from regular infusions of “Vitamin 2X” ― in Fox Feature Syndicate's Mystery Men Comics. Not far behind was Hour-Man.
Timid chemist Rex “Tick-Tock” Tyler (the odd nickname was never satisfactorily explained) created “Miraclo,” a wonder drug that gave him superhuman strength, speed and endurance for sixty minutes at a time. Hiding this discovery from his employers at Bannermain Chemical, Tyler assumed the costumed identity of the Hour-Man (sometimes spelled “Hourman” or “Hour Man”) and set out in search of good deeds to do. He found many.
Hour-Man was the creation of artist Bernard Baily and scripter Ken Fitch, although some sources credit prolific DC scripter Gardner Fox with having a strong hand in the strip's development. Regardless of the credit, Hour-Man enjoyed enough popularity with readers to crowd his future teammate, the Sandman, off the covers of Adventure Comics, their mutual home. The character also appeared in the 1940 edition of New York World's Fair and in the first two issues of All-Star Comics, so it was only natural that he be tapped for membership in the Justice Society of America when it premiered in the third issue of the latter title.
The success of the “Hour-Man” series must have been based on its conceptual strength (what kid wouldn't love a pill that made him a superman?) because the stories themselves were rather dull and unimaginative. The hero's powers were portrayed inconsistently, sometimes even overlooked altogether. His early supporting cast ― his abusive boss, Mr. Bannermain, and Bannermain's niece Regina ― were little more than ciphers. His opponents were the usual crowd of cheap crooks and mad scientists (although one foe, Doctor Glisten, was a costumeless super-villain). Like many of his fellow mystery men, Hour-Man was regarded with suspicion and occasional hostility by the police. Unlike the other heroes, this hostile attitude remained a fixture of the series throughout its run, perhaps because of a marked tendency among criminals to dress in Hourman costumes to throw the law off their scent.
About a year after the strip began, it was decided to liven things up by teaming the “Man of the Hour” with a bunch of scrappy street kids, the “Minute Men of America,” led by wholesome Jimmy Martin. The Minute Men served as Hour-Man's Baker Street Irregulars, acting as his eyes and ears on the street and always ready to lend a hand when a good fight was to be had. Aside from Jimmy and comedy relief Thorndyke, whose face was perpetually hidden within the voluminous collar of his turtleneck sweater, the kids were anonymous and interchangeable. The ranks of the Minute Men slowly thinned over time until only Thorndyke remained, transformed along the way into a strange amalgam of humorous/kid/costumed sidekick.
Hour-Man's popularity began to fade by late 1941, losing first his spot on the JSA roster and then his place at the front of Adventure, supplanted by Starman and, later, the revitalized Simon & Kirby version of Sandman. The editors tried tinkering with his powers a bit, replacing his pills with “black light,” exposure to which was said to activate the residual Miraclo in his system. It didn't help. Rex Tyler donned his hooded cloak for the last time in Adventure Comics #83 (February 1942). Two decades later, his hour would come again.
First Appearance: Adventure Comics #48 (March 1940)
JSA Appearances: All-Star Comics #3-7
Solo Appearances: Adventure Comics #48-83, All-Star Comics #1-2, New York World's Fair - 1940
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,864
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Post by shaxper on Sept 13, 2014 11:45:45 GMT -5
I absolutely cannot wait to delve into all of this later tonight.
Thanks so much for bringing this depth of content to us, Kurt!!
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 13, 2014 12:00:59 GMT -5
That first appearance of the JSA in All-Star Comics #3 is so much fun to read. I read it at a Boy Scout Christmas party in the mid-1970s. (It was the over-sized Famous First Edition reprint. It was years later before I got my own reprint in the JSA Archives.) It was the first time I saw the JSA, and I was a fan for life. I always thought they were better than the JLA.
Johnny Thunder inviting himself to the meeting always cracks me up. Great art on the Hawkman story. The Spectre story - where he fights crazy, murderous Oom - is really cool. And the Red Tornado shows up!
It's not just a milestone; All-Star #3 is just a great comic book aside from its historical importance.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2014 13:01:26 GMT -5
I'll definitely luxuriate in your golden (age) prose (& it definitely is -- we tease each other constantly, of course, but we all know you're at least as gifted a writer as you are a researcher) after I go out & procure lunch somewhere (wish I had a printer, given my inability to dine without something to read*). In the meantime, I'll note that here -- The last son of a doomed planet. A night-shrouded nemesis of crime. An immortal Amazon princess. A brotherhood of invincible costumed crusaders. -- I just assumed you were describing the Classics community, with yourself (of course) as the princess. Not that there's anything wrong with that. *Since, of course, I'm always solo. As far as I can tell, "friends" is something on Facebook. |
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Post by Cei-U! on Sept 13, 2014 13:47:44 GMT -5
Thanks muchly, guys (even you, Dan)! Here's some more:
Johnny Thunder
Super-hero comics of the Golden Age were not afraid of being silly, as proven by Bill Parker and C. C. Beck's “Captain Marvel,” Jack Cole's “Plastic Man”… and John Wentworth and Stan Aschmeier's “Johnny Thunder” (originally titled “Johnny Thunderbolt”).
Johnny was a good-intentioned but dimwitted young man whose reach habitually exceeded his grasp. That he actually fulfilled so many of his far-fetched ambitions was due to a strange gift: whenever Johnny spoke the words “say you” (a homophone for the mystic invocation “cei-u”), the Thunderbolt, a being of living lightning, was obliged to employ its awesome magical powers and grant his every wish. He gained this power in infancy when the high priests of the tiny Asian nation of “Bahdnisia” kidnapped him (he fit the astrological profile necessary to command the Thunderbolt) and subjected him to the requisite mystic ritual. Rescued not long after and returned to his parents in America, Johnny grew up unaware of the power he would have at his fingertips once he reached his twenty-third birthday.
When the strip debuted in the first issue of Flash Comics, Johnny Thunder had no clue why impossible things kept happening all around him. It took him eleven issues to notice the Thunderbolt (first portrayed as a literal stroke of lightning, later as a blue, then pink humanoid) and an additional nine issues to figure out his magic words. Once he caught on, he and his magical servant went on a series of madcap escapades. Johnny tried his luck as a prizefighter, a cowboy, a movie stunt man, and many other rugged professions. Along the way, he picked up fickle girlfriend, Daisy Darling, whose wealthy father disapproved of Johnny's screwloose antics, and adopted a little girl named Peachy Pet, possibly the ugliest child ever to appear in an adventure strip.
Johnny Thunder audaciously crashed the first meeting of the Justice Society of America in All-Star Comics #3 and thereafter became a sort of mascot to the team until he was elected to full membership in issue #6 as the departing Flash's replacement. With the help of his “T-bolt,” who the other JSAers suspected was the real brains of the outfit, Johnny managed to hold his own among such heavy hitters as Wonder Woman and the Spectre, often saving the day when the others could not.
Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Johnny enlisted in the Navy, where his antics threatened to do more damage than the enemy. In time, he adjusted to military life. Unlike the other Justice Society heroes, who were quickly mustered out of the service at the request of the War Department in order to form the Justice Battalion, Seaman First Class Thunder remained on active duty until discharged in Flash Comics #53 (May 1943).
The series remained popular largely on the strength of the rapport between scatterbrained Johnny and the Thunderbolt, who viewed his master's idiosyncracies with bemusement and commented on them with a razor wit. As time went on, readers learned more about the electric genie and the magic dimension from which he came, even meeting his wife and children. His son, Shocko, once teamed up with Peachy Pet on their own adventure.
The “Johnny Thunder” strip ran through the ninety-first issue of Flash Comics and also appeared in The Big All-American Comic Book and the first three issues of World's Best/Finest Comics (the only AA-owned super-hero to be featured in that DC title) but even Johnny's luck couldn't last forever. He would be replaced both in his solo series and in the JSA by his frequent co-star, the Black Canary, whose sultry beauty was deemed a greater asset to the company in those days of diminishing sales than Johnny's patented goofiness.
First Appearance: Flash Comics #1 (January 1940)
JSA Appearances: All-Star Comics #6-35, 37-39
Solo Appearances: All-Star Comics #2-5, The Big All-American Comic Book, Flash Comics #1-91, Flash Comics Miniature Edition, World's Best Comics #1, World's Finest Comics #2-3
Starman
The artwork in any given DC comic book could run the gamut from the ridiculous to the sublime. For an all-too-brief time in the early 1940s, their roster of talent included noted sports cartoonist Hardin “Jack” Burnley, whose superb draftsmanship and polished rendering raised the bar for every super-hero artist to follow. Burnley's contributions included a handful of exquisite “Superman” stories, a long stint ghosting the Sunday Batman newspaper strip, dozens of beautifully designed and memorable covers… and “Starman.”
One of many Golden Age mystery men whose origins were never explained, Starman first appeared in issue #61 of Adventure Comics, conspicuously bumping its previous star, Hour-Man, from both the cover and the front of the book. The “Astral Ace” was really wealthy playboy and amateur astronomer Ted Knight, who hid his heroic identity behind a facade of hypochondria and cowardice.
Starman was one of the few super-heroes who were not independent agents. He answered to Woodley Allen, special agent of the FBI and uncle of Knight's sweetheart Doris Lee. Armed with the “gravity rod,” a handheld device of his own invention that harnessed “stellar energy,” the “Man of Night” crushed sinister conspiracies and criminal masterminds who threatened the nation's security. With powers that included flight, the creation of force fields and the projection of an extraordinary variety of electromagnetic energies, “Starman” stories were sometimes short on plot but always long on action, all convincingly captured by Burnley's slick art.
Joining the Justice Society of America in between issues #7 and 8 of All-Star Comics, ostensibly as Hour-Man's replacement, Starman and his gravity rod ably filled the void left by the departure of Green Lantern and his power ring. The “Stellar Sleuth” remained with the team through All-Star #23, long enough to participate in many of their most celebrated exploits. For the character's early appearances with the JSA, Jack Burnley supplied the art not only for Starman's individual All-Star segment but also the introductory and final chapters, meticulously rendering each hero in the style of his or her regular artist.
Bored with the long hours and low pay of comic book work, Burnley returned to his newspaper career in 1942. Starman continued on for another four years under the aegis of a number of top-notch illustrators who worked hard to uphold his original artist's standard until the strip fell prey to the postwar disinterest in super-hero comics. Although active throughout the Silver and Bronze Ages, it would not be until James Robinson and Tony Harris' superlative 1994 Starman series, starring Ted Knight's son Jack, that the Astral Ace would take his place among the true legends of the DC Universe.
First Appearance: Adventure Comics #61 (April 1941)
JSA Appearances: All-Star Comics #8-23
Solo Appearances: Adventure Comics #61-102
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Post by Cei-U! on Sept 13, 2014 13:48:48 GMT -5
Dr. Mid-Nite
When “Killer” Moroni tossed a grenade into the offices of noted surgeon Charles McNider, where the physician was laboring to save the life of a material witness against the gangster, he thought he was eliminating a threat to his little criminal empire. Instead, he was creating the masked nemesis who would ultimately send him to the electric chair: the mysterious Dr. Mid-Nite.
Blinded in the explosion, McNider went into seclusion until the night an owl accidentally flew into his home. Startled, the doctor instinctively snatched the bandages from his eyes and discovered that, though sightless in normal light, he could see perfectly in darkness. Developing special lenses that restored his day vision when worn, inventing a “blackout bomb” that emitted a thick cloud of blackness when detonated, and training the owl, “Hooty,” to aid him on his crusade, McNider became Mid-Nite. Once he had gained his revenge on Moroni, Dr. Mid-Nite expanded his campaign, becoming one of crime and injustice's most relentless opponents.
No longer able to practice medicine, McNider ― who maintained the pretense of blindness to protect his secret identity ― became a crime writer, later even chronicling the adventures of his masked alter-ego. His loyal secretary and nurse Myra Mason, who had a major crush on Mid-Nite, couldn't understand why her boss kept insisting the hero was a figment of everyone's imagination.
The creation of writer Charles Reizenstein and artist Stan Aschmeier, “Dr. Mid-Nite” premiered in the April 1941 issue of All-American Comics. Though no threat to the primacy of his All-American co-star Green Lantern, the two-fisted medico enjoyed a respectable 78-issue run in that title. (Oddly, Dr. Mid-Nite was the only one of editor Sheldon Mayer's roster of mystery men not included in the one-shot Big All-American Comic Book.) The strip was not particularly well-written or well-drawn in its early years but would later showcase the work of several excellent artists, including future comics legend Alex Toth. Mid-Nite and the uncannily intelligent Hooty fought mostly ordinary criminals and Axis spies, with only one foe ― his sinister opposite, Doctor Light ― returning for a rematch. It didn't matter. He made plenty of enemies while serving with the Justice Society of America.
Recruited into the JSA after coming to the team's assistance in All-Star Comics #8, Dr. Mid-Nite remained on the roster until the series ended in 1951. (Hooty, made the JSA mascot in All-Star #8, rarely popped up outside the solo series.) And when the call to action sounded again a dozen years later, Mid-Nite was one of the first to step forward.
First Appearance: All-American Comics #22 (April 1941)
JSA Appearances: All-Star Comics #8-57
Solo Appearances: All-American Comics #22-99, All-Star Comics #6
Wildcat
Though Wonder Woman was clearly the star of All-American Comics' new title Sensation Comics, she shared its pages with several other mystery men, two of whom would go on to membership in the Justice Society of America. The most interesting of these tyro heroes was Wildcat, co-created by Irwin Hasen and Bill Finger.
The series was set in the world of professional boxing, a far more important sport culturally in the 1940s than now. Motion pictures revolving around the ‘sweet science’ were both common and popular, so it was perhaps inevitable that a super-hero series would follow suit. Prizefighter Ted Grant, framed for the murder of the heavyweight champion, donned the mantle of Wildcat to clear his name. A terrifying figure in black astride his custom “Cat-o-cycle,” the “Feline Fury” would continue his war on the underworld for years, aided by his manager and sidekick “Stretch” Skinner, an impossibly skinny hillbilly who fancied himself a “dee-teck-a-tif.” Wildcat and Stretch faced some of the era's more interesting costumed villains including the Yellow Wasp and the Huntress, a slinky dame in a tiger-skin swimsuit with an insatiable desire to add Wildcat's head to her hall of trophies.
Though his solo series in Sensation Comics ran for the better part of seven years, Wildcat's history with the Justice Society was a bit less resplendent. Slated to replace the Atom on the team, he made only two appearances before the editors chose to revamp Atom instead. It would not be until his revival in the Silver Age that the Feline Fury would become a mainstay of the JSA, a position he retains to this day.
First Appearance: Sensation Comics #1 (January 1942)
JSA Appearances: All-Star Comics #24, 27
Solo Appearances: The Big All-American Comic Book, Comic Cavalcade #1-2, Sensation Comics #1-90
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