The Beginnings Of The Justice Society

Tracking the Justice Society of America down through the ages...

...here are a few of their biggest beginnings from the 20th Century...

...starting from the 1940s to the 1990s, with a little history behind each appearance...

The First Meeting Of The Justice Society Of America

The team first gathered in All-Star Comics #3 (Winter, 1940), with a cover by E. E. Hibbard, and main story by Gardner Fox and E.E. Hibbard, with chapters devoted to each of the individual members of the group who were in attendance at the meeting:  The Flash (Jay Garrick), Hawkman (Carter Hall), the Spectre (Jim Corrigan), Hourman (Rex Tyler), Sandman (Wesley Dodds), Dr. Fate (Kent Nelson), Johnny Thunder (a text story, as Johnny was not yet a member), the Atom (Al Pratt) and Green Lantern (Alan Scott), as well as an interlude with the Red Tornado (and hints that Superman and Batman were too busy to come).

Though the group had met before (though readers had yet to see that), the team just related individual adventures as they interacted and got ready for the next issue, where they would work as a team for the FBI!

This set the tone for many of their adventures, with team members coming (Johnny Thunder, Dr. Mid-Nite (Charles McNider), Starman (Ted Knight), Wonder Woman, Wildcat (Ted Grant), Mr. Terrific (Terry Sloane) and Black Canary (Dinah Drake), as well as two appearances over the decades by Superman and Batman), as the teams adventures ran until All-Star Comics #57 (February-March, 1951) (with a later adventure, detailing how the team had been convinced to retire).

Vengeance Of The Immortal Villain

The team resurfaced in Flash #137 (June, 1963) by Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella (with Infantino and Murphy Anderson supplying the cover).  Here, as old (like caveman old) Flash (Jay) villain, Vandal Savage (who was one of many members of the JSA's opposite number, the Injustice Society of the World, and using a few of their gadgets), plotted to capture the retired JSA members (at least close to the final line up of the team (Hawkman, Atom, Green Lantern, Johnny Thunder, Dr. Mid-Nite and Wonder Woman...), but hadn't counted on the interference of an alternate Earth Flash (Barry Allen) who crossed over to help Jay, and the two worked together to save team and defeat Savage.

This convinced the JSA members that they needed to gather occasionally, and they would find some Crisis that had them crossing Earths to meet their counterparts in the Justice League Of America, as the JLA/JSA team-ups began (with that first one giving readers the idea that the JLA was on Earth-1, and JSA was on Earth-2), adding new members of a grown up Robin and a new robotic Red Tornado, with the original heroes (well, at least Flash, Green Lantern and the Atom) occasionally teaming up with their counterparts away from their teams.

 

The Untold Origin Of The Justice Society

Now, in the midst of the decades of JLA/JSA team-ups, the JSA was revived in a new All-Star Comics, adding a time-tossed Star-Spangled Kid and Power Girl, Superman's cousin to the team.  Halfway through that run, in DC Special #29 (August-September, 1977) by Paul Levitz, Joe Staton and Bob Layton (behind a Neal Adams cover), the origin of the team was revealed as the team was gathered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a top secret mission to stop Adolf Hitler from invading England in November, 1940.  FDR was able to get Batman, Flash and Green Lantern, and sent them, but they were not entirely successful, with Hitler planning to execute them with the Spear of Destiny (a magical item purporting to be the spear that was used against Jesus).  

Dr. Fate recruited Hourman to help him and save the trio...but that didn't quite work, with Hitler invoking some of the mystic power of the spear to summon the Valkyries (but additional heroes Dr. Fate summoned arrived...Sandman, Hawkman, Atom and the Spectre).  The Spectre especially was able to stop Hitler's sea fleet and disperse the Valkyries...and Hitler used them to guard an experimental plane he had to bomb the United States capital, and would have been successful if not for the last minute appearance of Superman.  After the Atom saved FDR from a rogue Valkyrie, the president suggested the heroes should form a team...and they did.

The Huntress joined the team during the remainder of the JSA's All-Star revival, and into their short run in Adventure Comics (the last of which had Huntress reveal to Power Girl what she knew of how the JSA retired in the 1950s....with the team's loyalty being called into question by Congress, and instead of revealing their identities, the team disappeared for a time).

This time, the team continued at least as part of JLA/JSA team-ups, as well a (sort of) revival in All-Star Squadron (which was 1980s adventures featuring the JSA, but set in the 1940s), which led to Infinity, Inc. (a group of heirs to the JSA as a team, with the JSA as supporting characters), and even another trial in America Vs. the Justice Society....all before the Crisis on Infinite Earths set in motion the events that led to the Justice Society being sentenced to limbo in Last Days Of The Justice Society Special, fighting a never-ending Ragnarok to keep the universe from ending, with only Power Girl, Dr. Fate, Star-Spangled Kid and the Spectre not being trapped in that limbo on the now (supposedly) one and only Earth.

The Gathering Of Heroes

But, you can't keep good heroes down, as in Armageddon: Inferno #4 (July, 1992) by John Ostrander, Dick Giordano, and Frank McLaughlin (and a few other artists like Tom Mandrake, Art Adams and Walt Simonson, with Mike Netzer and Joe Rubinstein on the cover), the JSA returned.  

In the previous issue (with art by Luke McDonnell and Bruce Solotoff), Spectre related to Waverider how the JSA was out of time due to the Spear of Destiny (and Kobra's attack on the Spectre) leading to near Ragnarok, but that combining their power, they could take the JSA out of the loop, and use them to fight Abraxis (an invader from another dimension, who was summoned to Earth, and empowered his minions, getting the time travelling Waverider to recruit heroes to fight him...but all this made time fragile, leading to extraordinary measures).

Still, this returned the JSA to fight Abraxis in his home dimension, where the JSA also empowered to the locals with their Ragnarok energies to help in the fight...and the nameless residents of Abraxis' hopeless dimension found hope with their power, and, replaced the JSA in their endless time loop (after the defeat of Abraxis), resulting in the JSA (plus Hawkgirl and Sandy, partners of Hawkman and Sandman) to be returned to the modern day.

The team had a few adventures (mostly Flash and Green Lantern, with their counterparts), and a slight JSA revival, before the disruption of Zero Hour (which sidelined the team for a time, until it's revival in 1999, leading the team to one of its most successful times)...but, that's a tale for another day....and later in the 21st century....

But, if you have been lucky enough to find this, make sure to check out many other articles and podcasts on the many years of the Justice Society, as we celebrate 85 years of the JSA, and you can find out where to find them checking the #JSApril hashtag, as well as a list at fireandwaterpodcast.com/JSApril.