Wednesday, July 22, 2020

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!



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