Request For Injustice Society Collections

One of the most persistent foes of the Justice Society of America has been the Injustice Society of the World.  Premiered in All-Star Comics #37 (October-November, 1947) by writer Robert Kanigher and artists Irwin Hasen, Joe Kubert, Carmine Infantino, John Belfi and Alex Toth, this group of villains has unleashed havoc across the world, as well as having grown in size (here by George Perez)....

...and while the group's Golden Age appearances have been reprinted a few times, many individual members are far from having their appearances visible since their first printings.

That needs change....and, here's a way to do that in three tradepaperback volumes!

ISW Volume 1

The first volume should include:

Wizard (William Asmodeus Zard) All-Star Comics #34 (April-May 1947):  "The Wiles Of The Wizard" Brainwave (Henry King Sr) All-Star Comics #15 (February-March 1943): "The Man Who Created Images" Gambler (Steven Sharpe) Green Lantern #12 (Summer 1944):  "The Gambler" Green Lantern #20 (June-July 1946): "The Gambler Comes Back" Green Lantern #27 (August-September 1947): "The Gambler Bets His Life" Per Degaton All-Star Comics #35 (June-July 1947):  "The Day That Dropped Out Of Time"

Thinker (Clifford DeVoe)

All-Flash #12 (Fall 1943):  "Tumble Inn To Trouble" All-Flash #14 (Spring 1944):  "The Man Who Unleashed The Past" Vandal Savage Green Lantern #10 (Winter 1943): "The Man Who Wanted The World"

...and the team appearance from All-Star Comics #37, "The Injustice Society of The World", for a wonderful collection of 319 pages (with appropriate covers, with sadly, the Thinker not appearing on any, and the Gambler only making one of his cover), with many All-Star Comics issues, and a few Golden Age Flash and Green Lantern tales.


Still, this does collect all of Per Degaton and Vandal Savage's Golden Age appeaerances, and at least the first two appearances of every charter ISW member except for Brain Wave.


Leaves some Brain Wave, Thinker and Gambler stories uncollected, but....read on!

ISW Volume 2

The second volume should include:

Icicle (Joar Makent) All-American Comics #90 (October 1947): "The Icicle" All-American Comics #92 (December 1947): "The Icicle Goes South" Fiddler (Isaac Bowin) All-Flash #32 (December 1947-January 1948):  "Duet Of Danger" Flash Comics #93 (March 1948): "Violin Of Villainy" Comic Cavalcade #28 (August-September 1948): "The Flash Concerto"

Sportsmaster (Crusher Crock) All-American Comics #85 (May 1947): "The Rise And Fall Of Crusher Crock" Green Lantern #28 (October-November 1947): "The Tricks Of The Sportsmaster" All-American Comics #98 (June 1948): "The End Of Sports"

Huntress (Paula Brooks) Sensation Comics #68 (August 1947): "Wildcat -- Former Crime Fighter" Sensation Comics #69 (September 1947): "Follow The Leader" Sensation Comics #71 (November 1947): "The Count That Never Ended" Sensation Comics #73 (January 1948): "Murder Masquerade" Sensation Comics #75 (March 1948): "The Snare That Backfired" Sensation Comics #76 (April 1948): "The Wildcat Ride" DC 100-Page Super-Spectacular #6 (1971): "Crime Wore A Costume"

Harlequin (Molly Mayne) All-American Comics #89 (September 1947): "The Harlequin" All-American Comics #91 (November 1947): "The Wedding Of The Harlequin" Green Lantern #29 (December 1947 - January 1948): "The Challenge Of The Harlequin" and "The Harlequin Haunts Green Lantern"

All-American Comics  #93 (January 1948):  "The Double-Crossing Decoy" All-American Comics #94 (February 1948): "Partners In Peril" All-American Comics #95 (March 1948): "The Unmasking Of The Harlequin" Green Lantern #31 (March-April 1948): "The Terror Of The Talismans" Green Lantern #32 (May-June 1948):  "The Case Of The Conscience Fund"

....and, with the Wizard's gathering of these villains from All-Star Comics #41 (June-July, 1948), this gives all the Golden Age appearances of these villains from the various Flash comics, Green Lantern comics and even Wildcat appearances (though he never made the covers of Sensation Comics).



Except for some of Harlequin's appearances, all of these characters Golden Age tales are here (about half of all of these stories hadn't been reprinted), with this being the largest volume, at 330 pages.

ISW Volume 3

The third volume should include Golden Age tales of the Bronze Age additions:

Shade (Richard Swift) Flash Comics #33 (September 1942): "The Man Who Commanded The Night" Solomon Grundy (Cyrus Gold) All-American Comics #61 (October 1944): "Fighters Never Quit" Comic Cavalcade #13 (Winter 1945): "And Then There Was One" All-Star Comics #33 (February-March 1947): "The Revenge Of Solomon Grundy" Comic Cavalcade #24 (December 1947-January 1948): "The Case Of The Withered Flower"

Missing stores of other ISW members from the Golden Age:

Brain Wave (Henry King Sr) All-Star Comics #17 (June-July 1943): "Brain Wave Goes Berserk" All-Star Comics #30 (August-September 1946)" "The Dreams Of Madness Gambler (Steven Sharpe) Green Lantern #30 (February-March 1948): "The Fatal Chance" Green Lantern #35 (November-December 1948): "Perfect Crimes For Sale"

Thinker (Clifford DeVoe) Flash Comics #65 (June-July 1945): "Adventure Of The Thinking Cap" All-Flash #27 (February-March 1947): "The Thinker Cooks With Gas" Comic Cavalcade #22 (August-September 1947): "Beware The Ice Age" Comic Cavalcade #23 (October-November 1947): "The Sleeping City" All-Flash #32 (December 1947-January 1948): "Crime, Incorporated" Flash #214 (April 1972): "The Tale Of Three Tokens"

Harlequin (Molly Mayne)

Green Lantern Vol. 1 #33/3 (July-August 1948): "The Harlequin's Leap Year"

Green Lantern Vol. 1 #34 (September-October 1948): "Harlequin's Secret Revealed"

Other villains, who joined even later or were related to the ISW:

Rag Doll (Peter Merkel) Flash Comics #36 (December 1942): "Tale Of The Treasure Hunt" The Mist (Kyle) Adventure Comics #67 (October 1941): "The Menace Of The Invisible Raiders"

The Shade joined during a JLA/JSA adventure, Solomon Grundy during the 1970s run with Star-Spangled Kid and Power Girl, Rag Doll VERY much later, in JSA All-Stars, and the Mist, because his second appearance was in the Wanted collection, and this gives more than Flash and Green Lantern (and JSA stories) with a Starman story, giving 328 pages (and hope that a collection with Hawkman's Gentleman Ghost and Monocle and a few others can materialize somewhere).

A fanciful wish from someone who knows the Flash, Green Lantern, Wildcat, Hawkman and Starman stories reprinted from the Golden Age, and would like to see more, with Wizard, Brain Wave, Per Degaton, Vandal Savage, Gambler, Thinker, Icicle, Sportsmaster, Huntress, Fiddler, Harlequinn and the rest serving as a nice conduit to a forgotten era!

JSA Opposite: Injustice Society of the World Part 1

Every hero needs a villain....and even groups have their opposite number.


For the premiere super-team of the Justice Society of America, their evil counterpart came with All-Star Comics #37 (October-November, 1947, by Robert Kanigher and Irwin Hasen) with "The Injustice Society of the World"...a team made up of foes of the JSA!


This team was made of these members the first time around...

Vandal Savage

Starting with the oldest member of the team...the caveman, Vandar Adg was a caveman who killed his father to take over his tribe (and was exposed to the energy of a meteor, granting him an exceptionally long life, wherein he battled to control the world) and he first faced the original Green Lantern in Green Lantern Quarterly #10 (Winter, 1943 by Alfred Bester and Martin Nodell) with "The Man Who Wanted The World" (in his only Golden Age appearance besides the team adventure).

Vandal Savage was responsible for the return of the Justice Society, fighting the two Flashes in Flash #137 (June, 1963), and returned again and again, not only to face the JSA, but also the Flashes (Jay Garrick and Barry Allen in Flash #215 and #235 in the 1970s  and Wally West in Flash #1, #2, #13 to #16 and more in the 1980s and Flash #48 to #50 in the 1990s), Superman (Action Comics #515 #516, #542, #543 and #556 in the 1980s), Rip Hunter with the Forgotten Heroes (Action Comics #552 and #553 in February and March, 1984) and Time Masters (Time Masters 8 issue mini-series in 1990), the Martian Manhunter and his Justice League Task Force (including Gypsy in Justice League Task Force #17-#21, #25, #27, #28 and #37 and the Ray in Ray #14-#21 and #28), Hawkman (Hawkman #29 and #30 in February and March, 1996), Arsenal (in the four issue Arsenal mini-series of 1998) and the Titans (fronting their gathering of foes, Tartarus in Titans #5 to #12 in 1999), Resurrection Man (Resurrection Man #24 to #27 of 1999), and even his own daughter, Scandal Savage and her group, the Secret Six (Villains United #5 and #6 of November and December 2005, and Secret Six #3 to #6 of September to December, 2006), as well as being the driving force in getting the Justice Legion A to come back to the current time in DC One Million...

Someone worth more of a look in the future, especially as more tales from his past come to light as well, as it seems this villain has been fighting the JSA even before they became the JSA (in JSA #42 to #44 of January to March, 2003), and was instrumental in helping them end as well (mentioned in Justice Society of America #1 to #8 of 1991, and JLA: Year One #2 and #3 of February and March, 1998)...


...not bad for an old man around almost as long as the dinosaurs, eh?

The Gambler

Next up is another foe of the original Green Lantern, Steven Sharpe III premiered in Green Lantern Quarterly #12 (Summer, 1943 by Henry Kuttner and Martin Nodell) in "The Gambler".  Steven tried to marry his high school sweetheart right after graduation, but the girl, Helen, ran off with another local boy who won the lottery.  Then, Steven encountered an armored car that lost a bag of money, and he could see the writing on the wall...it was better to take a chance and hope for luck, and he became a Gambler, like his grandfather.

The Gambler picked up skills like mastering disguise, throwing knives and guns (his gimmicked to fire ammonia or blackout gas), and ran across Green Lantern (Alan Scott) next to his own wanted poster in Gotham City!  Gotham seemed to have a problem keeping criminals in jail, or maybe it was just luck...the Gambler returned again and again in the Golden Age, with Green Lantern #20 (June-July, 1946), Green Lantern #27 (August-September, 1947), joining the ISW, and coming back to face Green Lantern twice more, in Green Lantern #30 (February-March, 1948) and Green Lantern #35 (November-December, 1948), though as luck would have it, he didn't make it onto any of those covers.

The Gambler returned once more with the Injustice Society, facing off against the combined JLA and JSA in Justice League of America #123 and #124 (October and November, 1975) and surviving the Crisis on Infinite Earths #9 (December, 1985), before being cheated of his ill-gotten gains, and shooting himself in the head with his own derringer.  Still, his legacy continued with his granddaughter, Rebecca, who joined Injustice, Unlimited to face Infinity, Inc. with her own luck power (starting in Infinity, Inc. #34 of January, 1987), and his grandson, Steven Sharpe V, who became the new Gambler, to join with the Royal Flush Gang and face the New Teen Titans (in New Titans #68 and #69 of July and September, 1990).

The Thinker 

Clifford DeVoe first faced the original Flash in All-Flash #12 (Fall, 1943, by Gardner Fox and Everett Hibbard) in the "Tumble Inn to Trouble".  Clifford was a lawyer, who just couldn't make any money, failing in prosecuting mobster Hunk Norvock, and realized that criminals, who had the skills to make money, but not the smarts, just needed someone to lead them, to be their "Thinker", to find success.  The Thinker came to face the Flash, more than occasionally using the latest scientific devices, but failed again and again, in All-Flash #14 (Spring, 1944), All-Flash #27 (February-March, 1947), Comic Cavalcade #22 (August-September, 1947), Comic Cavalcade #23 (October-November, 1947), the team appearance, All-Flash #32 (December-January, 1947/1948) and one unpublished Golden Age adventure presented in Flash #214 (April, 1972).

The Thinker, along with the Fiddler and the Shade, kept Keystone City under their personal control, until defeated by the combined efforts of Flashes Barry Allen and Jay Garrick (Flash #123 of September, 1961), with Clifford now using the Thinking Cap of Dr. Hartford Jackson (from Flash Comics #65 of June, 1945), which gave the mob organizer amplified brain power, including projecting mental force.  Soon after being defeated by the two Flashes, the Thinker moved up to full super-villain mode, getting a costume and improving the helmet, facing off against the two Atoms in Atom #29 (February-March, 1967), then working with old Flash foe, the Rag Doll, in Flash #229 (September-October, 1974), rejoining the ISW in All-Star Comics #66 (May-June, 1977), and facing off against the Huntress and Power Girl in Wonder Woman #274 to #276 (December to February, 1980/1981)...all the while pretty much avoiding being on a comic cover!

The Thinker died when recruited for a mission for the Suicide Squad in Doom Patrol and Suicide Squad #1 (1988), but really thought his way out of this fighting mess, instead dying quietly from brain cancer in Flash #134 (February, 1998) even when Jay Garrick tried to revive him by finding his original thinking cap; Clifford still wanted to die as it was his time.

The Thinker continued, with Ronnie Raymond's high school nemesis, Cliff Carmichael, getting the Thinking Cap DeVoe left behind from Amanda Waller, and being the new Thinker for a time (starting in Firestorm #99, July, 1990)...and another version of the Thinker in an Artificial Intelligence that was part of a new Injustice Society of the World (starting in JSA #16, November, 2000) (that eventually went to work for Amanda Waller in Checkmate, no less).


Check back soon for the other 3 original members, Brain Wave, Per Degaton and The Wizard!