Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities EDE RETRO REVIEW: Justice Society of America, For America and Democracy!

So, this week I acquired the first DC FINEST volume of All-Star Comics reprints, featuring #3-12! And what better way to celebrate than by starting a thread on Legion World for me to go through and give my impressions!

I believe I've read all of the stories in this volume previously, though except for the first few issues... it's been a while. And once the second volume comes out, I'm pretty sure it will contain stories I've never read at all. So, I'm especially looking forward to that!

The plan is to go through this fairly slowly, roughly 1-2 chapters per post, summarizing the story and highlighting interesting bits. So obviously it will be massively spoilerific!

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy it, because I know I will!

And I know I will, too!

ALL-STAR COMICS #3

We begin with the classic cover image of the original line-up of the JSA seated around their meeting table, which looks even better on the splash page, which adds the background of them in front of a wooden wall and unlit fireplace, and some festive looking decorations (this was originally released for Winter 1940) on the elaborate caption. "Gathered in the Justice Society Club Rooms for their first meeting are the mightiest champions of right and justice in the world!"

ROLL CALL: The Flash, the Hawkman, the Spectre, the Sandman, Doctor Fate, the Hourman, the Green Lantern, the Atom

And the first panel of the story features none of those guys! But instead, we see Johnny Thunder standing at a newstand, looking at the latest comics mags, such as Adventure, Detective, More Fun, All-American, and Flash Comics! And he's upset because many of the stars of these comics have been invited to a meeting to which he is not invited!

"Say, you'd think those guys would invite me!" And with that invocation of his magic words "Cei-U" his Thunderbolt is under his command for the next hour! And so it fulfills his wish to go to the JSA meeting! Along the way, he passes Doctor Fate! In the hotel where the meeting is to occur, they find numerous people (staff? guests?) asleep due to the actions of the Sandman, who wished to keep the meeting a secret! The Flash whizzes in at super-speed, but upon Johnny telling him to "cool down", he becomes freezing cold, which Johnny has to undo! The Green Lantern appears through a wall and the Hawkman swoops in! Then impatient Johnny wishes for everyone else to get there, so the Hourman, the Spectre, and the Atom all arrive at once! More hijinks ensure, as Johnny inadvertently shrinks his own hear, and then makes the JSA's dinner disappear after they graciously invite him to join, as long as he's there anyway. In thanks for being invited, Johnny suggests that the members each tell a story of "the most exciting experience they ever had".

Everyone agrees it's a good idea, but the Atom is concerned about missing members! He asks where Superman, Batman, and Robin are, but the Flash says that they are busy looking after things while the rest of the members are at the meeting. Then the Atom asks where the Red Tomato is, and Johnny replies that he guesses the Red *Tornado* is also busy! Johnny nominates the Flash as the first person to tell his story!


*************

So, this is a fun little intro. bit that raises a number of interesting questions. First, it is notable that we see from the very beginning that there are comics published about actual super-heroes in their reality. Eventually, Wildcat's origin will involve him reading a comic featuring Green Lantern, and in the very same issue (Sensation #1), Little Boy Blue will be inspired by reading a comic about Wildcat, but this is a couple of years earlier than that.

There's a bit too much emphasis on Johnny Thunder hijinks in these opening pages for my taste, but it's not too bad.

Really interesting is the Atom's expectation that not only Superman, Batman, and Robin would show up for the meeting, but the Red Tornado as well! Later it will be established that Supes and Bats are honorary members, but the Atom expecting Ma Hunkel there goes against the conventional story that she merely crashes the first meeting. More on that as we get to later scenes from the issue!

THE FLASH'S STORY

The Flash tells the story of finding some sunken treasure off the coast of Panama. This adventure occurs in the Summer of 1940, and begin when Jay and Joan are out dining at the Sandbox Club, and run into a friend, Mary Rogers, whose father is searching for the treasure. But Mary tells of the trouble they've been having, as a "group of roughnecks" having been giving them problems, sabotaging and stealing their equipment with the intent of either either covering the treasure first, or stealing it if Mary's father finds it.

Joan asks Jay to help, but at first he refuses, but then after she leaves, he decides to take a look at the situation. So, he runs to Panana in sixteen minutes, and searches for the treasure himself. It turns out that it is about two miles from where Tim Rogers' boat was searching for it. Jay tussles with a shark and visits the Nancy K, the boat of the roughnecks. Then he goes back to the Rogers' boat and informs him what he's found. As Rogers boat is disable, Jay turns the propeller himself to get the boat to the right position. When the Nacny K shows up, Jay takes all of their diving equipment and brings it over to Mr. Rogers, much too the consternation of head roughneck Burly Billy, and then uses his human propeller trick to rapidly move the Nancy K to the Arctic! Then he returns and helps Mr. Rogers gather the treasure. Finally, he's back in New York where he finds Joan and Mary having dinner and delivers a telegram to Mary from her father about finding the treasure. Joan realizes that's what he was up to that afternoon and scold him for not telling him, to which he replies that she'd have slowed him down by getting in trouble.

Next up: Hawkman's story!


******

So my favorite bit of this story has always been Jay's fight with the shark, who is apparently a freakishly intelligent tiger shark! We get to see his thoughts. A confused question mark hangs over his head as he worries that he is seeing things as the "nice juicy man" he was about to eat disappears as Jay swims away at super-speed. When Jay returns to teach him a lesson, he is confused as to how the juicy man has the upper hand, and is left thinking "Mamma! Help Mamma!" I always wonder what happened to this poor shark. Did he give up trying to eat juicy divers? Did the other sharks make fun of him for running home to mamma? Is he traumatized for life? I need at least a six issue mini-series starring this weirdly intelligent tiger shark.

Anyway, the shark is more exciting than main villain Burly Billy, though I also feel for the one henchman who suddenly finds himself in the freezing Arctic in his wifebeater.

I hope Tim Rogers and his daughter Mary enjoy their newfound riches from finding the sunken treasure, and that it doesn't have an Aztec curse or something on it.

THE HAWKMAN'S STORY

Hawkman tells the story of "Men Who Could Live in Fire!"

Hawk reminds us that in 1883 Mount Krakatoa (weirdly spelled "Krakatao") erupted, killing over 36,000 people! And his story concerns recent events there when it "went into action again".

The story begins with Shiera Sanders telling Carter Hall of strange balls of fire and fierce explosions underground occurring at Krakatoa, and that she has been assigned to investigate! But as Carter leaves a dude jumps out of shrubbery to attack Shiera with a knife, proclaiming that "Mazda the Great" has order her death! Carter punches him and threatens him for information, to which the thug again mentions Mazda and the "fire ghosts" he controls. Carter, concerned about Shiera leaving alone, decides to go himself in his identity as Hawkman!

On the island, Hawman sees the fire ghosts, "men encased in living flames". He tries to fly in close to investigate, but the heat is too great for him! Carter flies to a coastal town to discover that Shiera has arrived. Carter fills her in and they decide to investigate wearing "asbestos clothing". At the volcano they meet and take down one of the fire ghosts. But when more come the Hawk is overwhelmed and they are taken prisoner and taken before Mazda the Great! They learn about his might force generator which he will use as a weapon against the rest of the Earth!

Sentenced to be executed by being thrown into the volcano, the Hawk manages to free his wings enough to fly and rescue Shiera before they hit the lava. He smashes the force machine, gets Shiera to safety, and then goes after Mazda, who after a brief struggle, falls into the volcano himself! From a dying fire ghost they learn that Mazda was, in reality, a scientist who had invented the volcano-powered force machine and super-asbestos suits for his henchmen in order to become a world-power. Unfortunately, with his death, his secret inventions were lost.

Shiera is afraid that no one will believe the story, and Carter advises her to just downplay the whole thing as "native tales". Next up: the Spectre!



******

This story suffers quite a bit from having too much story to tell in too short a page count. It would've made a nice 22-page story in the Siver or Bronze Age, but at a mere seven pages, it really felt overcompressed.

Mazda the Great, who turned out neither to be a Japanese car company or a manifestation of a Zoroastrian deity, seemed like he had potential as a villain, but he's gone way too quick, and we don't even learn his story until after he is presumed dead. It seems like he could have easily been brought back, with the excuse that his super-asbestor was powerful enough to protect him from the lava.

I was very intrigued by Shiera being "assigned" to investigate the mysterious happenings at the volcano, by some sort of "society". I'm not really sure what that is all about. I don't remember anything like that from the early Hawkman stories I've read, but I could just be forgetting something.

THE SPECTRE'S STORY

The Spectre's story begins not too long ago, when at midnight on a night with full moon the night watchman at the Central Building is attacked and strangled by some strange monster with superhuman strength whom we only see in shadow! Investigating, Detective Jim Corrigan tells the coroner that he has a feeling this is only the beginning! And, indeed, the next two nights two more men are killed! And then the murders mysteriously cease!

Jim speculates that perhaps the murder had something to do with the full moon, and he is right, for the murders begin again at the next full moon! The police chief order Jim to get the killer, and he proceeds by wondering near the Central Building at night himself! Unfortunately, he doesn't see the giant bronze statue come to life and sneak up on him, tossing him across the street! Jim de-materializes to become the Spectre, and sees the statue running around laughing and chanting about death! He stops the creature before it can assault a patrol officer.

The creature identifies itself as "Oom, from the Dark Side of the Moon, who came to Earth ages ago searching to satiate his desire for violent death, and once he'd has his fill, left for a distant corner of the universe, but now thirsts again! The Spectre orders him off Earth, but Oom suggests a contest instead. Whoever locates the Red Moonstone of Yzgartyl wins the right to stay on Earth, while the loser must depart forever!

The Spectre agrees, and so begins a race through space to the planet Yzgartyl, with Oom employing dirty tricks to slow the Spectre down, including finally contacting a dragon henchmen on the planet. This final trick works, as while the Spectre is dealing with the dragon, Oom manages to locate and grab the Red Moonstone! But the Spectre's own magic makes the moonstone super-hot, causing Oom to drop it! Now the Spectre has it, and makes it to Earth with it!

But Oom reneges on the deal and refuses to leave! The Spectre manages to defeat Oom in a short combat, and then pulls Ooms soul out of his statue body, places it in the Moonstone, and hurtles it into space, while his body once again becomes an ordinary, albeit, hideous, statue! Later we seen Jim talking to his chief about how the crimes have stopped, and the chief laments that it seems it will remain an unsolved case.

And next we will find out if The Hourman can top that for excitement!



*******

Again, this story feels a bit rushed in places, particualrly the final fight between the two.

Oom seems like a potentially fun villain. He will later pop up in All-Star Squadron, though I don't remember much about him there.

This and the Hourman story are apparently both drawn by Bernard Bailey, who uses an 8-panel grid layout (2 columns by 4 rows), which has its limitations, as with a story this cosmic you kind want to see some bigger panels showing the action. And for a story that talks about the Moon so much, we barely get to see it. I need a nice SA Murphy Anderson scene with a giant full moon in the background here!

EDE, I'm sorry I'm not commenting much, but I'm greatly enjoying this. I especially appreciated the comments about Baily's artwork.

Keep it up.

Thanks. I realize a lot that I forget to comment on art unless it either really impresses me or really distracts me in some way. I've been reading a lot of Silver Age JSA/Spectre storeis lately, and the contrast where you get similar kinds of drawing but more interesting layouts just really struck me in a way that it never had before reading this story. It's not helped by the fact that the DC Finest format shrinks the overall page size as well.

THE HOURMAN'S STORY

Next up, Rex "Tick Tock" Tyler relates a story of when his boss recently called him into the office and requested that Rex escort his niece Regina to a charity ball at the Durant estate! Hesitant at first because he would need a costume, Rex comes up with the idea of going as The Hourman, much to the amusement of his boss!

Once at the dance, Rex is disappointed to discover that, far from being an original idea, there are several others in Hourmen costume in attendance. He soon discovers that the other "Hourmen" are crooks there to steal the Durant diamonds! He takes a miraclo pill, and waits for the criminals to make their move! Soon, they have whipped out guns and are stealing the diamonds! They shoot the guards! At Regina's insistance, Rex steps in the try to intervene, but gets knocked on the head! Regaining conciousness, Rex finds that Mr. Durant, whom he was introduced to earlier, is holding a gun on him and claiming that he is one of the crooks! He swiftly kicks the gun out of Durant's hand a flees. In other parts of the house, he makes interesting finds: a photostat map of the house and a broker's letter! After knocking some police officers out, he takes one of their uniforms to escape the house, and sees boat fleeing! Realizing the boat is headed towards Melba Island, Rex swims after them. He finds the crook's hideout, and fights them until he is briefly downed by a bullet to the temple, but then gets up and fights some more. Mr. Durant shows up while the fight is ongoing, but Rex captures him with the fake Hourmen. Upon delivering the whole crew to the police, Rex explains that the letter had informed him that the diamonds were fake and Mr. Durant had hired the crooks to steal them for the insurance money, needed to pay off his losses in the stock market. A policeman remarks about how brave Rex was, attributing it to his costume, and Regina says the real Hourman would be proud of him for clearing his name!

Rex suggests that the Sandman tell a story next... but they are interrupted!

*******

I'm a huge Hourman fan generally, but I particularly like this story. The fact that everyone thinks it is Rex-dressed-as-Hourman who captures the crooks, rather than the real Hourman, is a neat twist. I think the criminals wearing an Hourman costume thing was done in a couple of other GA Hourman stories. It also reminds me of the All-Star Squadron issue where Rex and... Tarantula maybe? switch exchange costumes to attend a ball.

As with many Hourman stories, it stretches the imagination quite a bit to think that it is only an hour from his taking the miraclo pill to the end of the adventure. He's knocked out twice during that period! Plus there's at least some waiting aroud after he takes the pill before the criminals make their move.

Regina Paige makes a couple of other appearances in GA Hourman stories, but doesn't really catch on as a regular love interest for Rex.

The 8-panel grid is far less distracting in this story than the Spectre one.

INTERLUDE-- The Red Tomato!

Before the Sandman can tell his story, they are interrupted with an "Ahem!" from off-panel! It turns out the Red Tomato Tornado has been standing there listening to the past couple of stories.

Hourman apologizes for not having invited her and gives the excuse that they had heard she was busy. So, she'd come in the window via the fire escape. As she stands there with her cloak surrounding her body, Johnny Thunder asks to take her cape, but then she suddenly decides to depart. The JSAers are puzzled, but the Flash discovers that her costume had gotten caught on the window when she was climbing through, and she had lost her pants! The JSAers are amused.


******

So, there's a lot of weirdness here. The Atom had asked about her earlier as someone it is assumed should be invited to the meeting, but here the Hourman is apologizing for her not being invited. This all suggests to me that there she has some previous connection with the JSA prior to their first meeting, such that there is some reason why Al Pratt and perhaps some other members would think that she's to be a member, and even she has some reason to think she should come to the meeting, though other members of the JSA such as Hourman are more skeptical of her joining. There's nothing in the JSA origin story published many years later that would explain this, so is there another unrold adventure in-between that and this first official meeting that might explain Ma Hunkel's status?

THE SANDMAN'S STORY

So, the Sandman starts by giving his background-- he has no superhuman abilities but is just an "ordinary fellow who doesn't like crime or criminals" and so he invented his gas gun and does we he can to "aid justice".

His story begins "less than a year ago" we he is driving along with Dian Belmont and they spy a man nearly twenty feet tall. The man staggers and collapses, dead. Welsey discovers a hypodermic needle in his pocket. Wesley decides to alert the police and then begin his own investigation. The next day they read reports in the newspaper of another body that was found, this time a huge sack of flesh containing normal sized human bones. Wesley decided to sneak into a nearby hospital. Gassing a hospital official, he breaks into a safe to find records of a doctor he had heard about from a friend, one who had been banished for his experiments on the pituitary gland. But the Sandman has stayed too long and the police burst into the office. A quick scuffle and a bit of his sleeping gas and the Sandman is soon out the window! He and Dian drove to he body they had found the night before, only to discover it had also dissolved into a mass of flesh. Discovering some sand which pointed him towards West Shore Road, Wesley and Dian head in that direction only to be confronted by a giant rat on the side of the road! Before the rat can strike, and runs off pursued by a giant cat! Both animals fall dead. The Sandman leaves Dian in the car with a gun for protection while he follows the tracks of the animals to a nearby country estate. Entering the house through the cellar, he finds a young man who is prepped to be experimented on! The man explains that he and the others had been unsured by Dr. Faversham who would both experiment on them and collect the insurance when they died. Faversham comes up behind the Sandman with a gun, but Wesley takes him down after a quick scuffle, phones the police, and returns to Dian to tell her the story.

Johnny Thunder worries that this story, with the brutal murders of people being grown to giant size, and then shrinking while their flesh remained stretched out, will give him nightmares. But he decides he wants to hear his next exciting story from Dr. Fate.

********

This story is a bit iffy. If Faversham were just a mad scientist experimenting on people it would be one thing, but if he's primarily interested in the insurance, as the story suggests, this seems like a massively elaborate way of killing people which is only going to lead back to him.

Anyway, it also really reminds me of the first Hugo Strange appearance in Batman, featuring his "Monster Men". But this one definitely pales by comparison.

Dian isn't given a whole lot to do in the story, other than drive Wesley around.

I know this story takes place almost a year earlier, but it's weird to have a JSAer at odds with the police.

The art on this and the previous interlude are apparently by Sheldon Mayer, though nothing really stands out about it. A lot of full moon shots, though!

DOCTOR FATE'S STORY

So, like the Sandman, Dr. Fate begins by telling us about his background. Only, he doesn't really have any background, never having been a child but simply being created by the Elder Gods just as he is to fight evil sorcery!

So his story revolves around his "Earth Companion" Inza going to an antique store to buy a lamp, only to have a strange woman suggest than she take a certain box instead. The woman disappears, and the proprietor claims to have never seen the box before, so Inza takes it home. She opens the box, which contains a dust that generates a mist, luring her to sleep, where she dreams of an ancient Egyptian princess who request the help of Dr. Fate in the moors along the coast. Inza goes to Dr. Fate's tower and tells him of her visions. They visit the area in question, only to be attacked by the undead. Using fisticuffs, Dr. Fate escapes the phantoms and flies off with Inza. Investigating further, he realizes that Inza has been drugged by an evil sorcerer and puts her into a deep sleep where she can no longer be vulnerable to the visions he causes. He investiages the antique shop, finding it empty except for a strange octopus like creature that he finds to be created out of mental energy. A pitched battle in which the sorcerer summons maddened unicorns and the witches of Endor ensues. Dr. Fate is nearly defeated before finally overcoming the baddie by tossing him across the room with what looks like a bit of judo! The sorcerer's neck is broken, and Dr. Fate uses his magic to dissolve him in such a way the he would not reincarnate. It turns out the sorcerer had learned his magic after he came across an ancient book that somehow manipulated the collective memory portion of the human brain to bring back images of dead things with mental energy, and had hoped to become invincible by defeating Dr. Fate.

Once again, Johnny has been frightened by the hero's story, but Dr. Fate suggests that it is his turn to tell a story next!

*********

Even though I've read through this issue quite a few times, I didn't really remember this particular story at all, and, honestly, it's not very memorable. The generic sorcerer villain isn't even given a name! The antique shop setup at the beginning is kind of interesting, but it all turns out to have been an illusion in the end, and the octopus found there later is kind of intriguing, but it's also easily dispatched.

The heavy use of hand to hand combat by Dr. Fate in this story is kind of unexpected. As is his statements about himself having been created full-grown by the ancient gods. It would be another six months or so before he is given an actual origin in his own series, so I'm not sure if this kind of thing had been stated in his own book previously.

Just snipping out some lines from these last two because I love how these old stories can be mined for new plots or characters! Want a growth character, for use as a hero or villain? Sandman's story leaves behind someone who may or may not have been given preliminary injections from Dr. Faversham, perhaps leading to his later developing a safer growth ability, or passing on to one of his kids? Want a villain (especially) or hero who can manifest dead things, perhaps a hunter or assassin who specifically hunts down dangerous creatures so that he can manifest them later, or a hero who can call up manifestations of her famous ancestors to fight on her behalf? Bam, that book from Dr. Fate's story serves as an origin!

So many great original ideas just sort of sprinkled around in these old stories that can be built off of!

^^Yeah, that's a lot of the fun of reading these issues! I especially like the idea of doing something with Dr. Faversham's test subject! I believe the Sandman basically just leaves him to wait for the police, so there's tons of opportunity for him to mess around with Faversham's notes and equipment and stuff as well!

I definitely have some ideas for one-shot characters introduced in some later All-Star issues.

JOHNNY THUNDER'S STORY-- "Guarding an Heiress"

Johnny is a bit too modest to relay one of his adventures himself, but, fortunately, as he points out in a fourth wall breaking moment, the editors have helpfully written up one of his adventures for him!

And so, we are treated to a text piece detailing how one day Johnny knocks on the door of his love interest Daisy Darling, only to overhear her giggling as another man, Edgar Egwel pitching woo towards her. Daisy dismisses Johnny as no longer being welcome at her house. Johnny pushes his way into the house. Edgar asks who he is, to which Johnny replies, "Who'd you say you were?", thus activating his magic thunderbolt! Johnny ends up turning his boutonniere into poison ivy, and Daisy gets mad at them both.

Realizing he has to change his strategy, Johnny sees two fellows carrying a mannequin out of the rear exit of a department store. He decides to buy the mannequin to use to practice romancing, but the men refuse to sell. Johnny calls them windbags, which changes them into bags of wind, but then he hears muffled cries coming from the mannequin! It turns out to be hollow and contain the lovely Teresa Drew, heiress, who was being kidnapped by the men to be held for ransom! She takes him home to her father, who notes that there have been multiple attempts to kidnap her, and Johnny finds himself hired as a bodyguard to Miss Drew! Soon he is escorting her to theatres, shopping, and social functions. Once they run into Daisy and Edgar, but Daisy intentionally ignores him.

Everything is going well for a few weeks until some gunsels come up behind Johnny and Teresa when they get out of a taxi, and they force them up to a hotel room. And who should be there but Edgar Egwel, "wealthy financier", who is actually the head of the kidnap gang! Teresa tells Johnny that she is disappointed in him for not protecting her, to which he replies "Say you shouldn't say things like that..." thus activating his thunderbolt again! He manages to compel the crooks to throw their guns out the window, and changes Edgar into a black snake, which frightens the rest of the men who take off out of the room and downstairs, straight into the arms of the police! Johnny is glad to see the law officers and tell them that Teresa is safe and sound upstairs in the hotel room. But as they approach the room, they hear screams!

Opening the door of the hotel room, the police are surprised to see "the Irish lass that tipped us off", namely, Dairy Darling, who has apparently been teaching Miss Drew a lesson for messing with her boyfriend Johnny Thunder! It turns out that Daisy had seen the gunmen forcing Johnny and Teresa into the hotel, had followed them and then contacted the police. All of this had made her realize that she liked Johnny much better than that Edgar Egwel anyway!



*********

I really do like the prose stories that used to be included in GA comics, and it looks like they are reprinted in this series, so that's a good thing!

Daisy is one of those GA love interests that you really start to wonder after a while what the protagonist sees in them. She would eventually be dropped from Johnny's series as his adopted daughter Peachy Pet becomes more prominent.

I assume the various transformations that the Thunderbolt performs have a time limit, so that the bags of wind and Edgar are eventually changed back to normal.

THE ATOM'S STORY

So, the Atom also begins by giving a bit of biography. He has no special powers, but is short, and is picked on by his classmate because of this, including his love interest Mary James, who has no idea that he is the Atom.

This story begins with Al Pratt on a geology expedition for a class, pickaxe in hand. He see a small plane landing in the middle of nowhere and decides to investigate. The plane turns out to be full of crooks, who hold up an armored army truck that soon comes by. Instead of stealing the gold from the truck, the crooks steal the entire truck! Now dressed as the Atom, Al leaps on to the top of the truck as it takes off, but misses his footing and takes a nasty tumble to the ground. While the Atom is unconscious, the crooks use the truck to infiltrate a nearby Army base that contains one of the U.S. gold caches and fill the truck with gold!

Meanwhile, Mary James comes across the unconscious Atom. Just as she's about to remove the Atom's mask to see who he is, he wakes up! She asks him where he got his pick, which she recognizes as belonging to Al Pratt. The Atom claims to have "borrowed" it from a little guy up on the hill who was sleeping. Mary is annoyed at Al for sleeping when he's supposed to be collected samples. The Atom sees the criminals returning in the truck, and tells Mary to go phone the police, He makes another attempt at leaping onto the truck from a nearby tree, and this time succeeds! He makes it into the rear of the truck, where he takes out the criminals there, and when they stop to unload the truck at the plane, he takes out the rest of the criminals, leaving them unconscious for the police who are arriving with Mary. The police and Mary are impressed by the Atom's work, though Mary is still annoyed at not having uncovered the Atom's identity!

********

It's a little weird that they apparently started having the JSAers introducing themselves halfway through the story.

I'm not sure the criminal's plot makes much sense. So they capture an armored truck making a gold shipment, then drive that truck to the base at which it is expected to get more gold. But presumably the truck is at least close to full to begin with, so it only really makes sense if they unload the gold that;s already in the truck and then go to the base for another load. But that's not what's shown. Oh well.

It's hard to believe that Mary doesn't at least strongly suspect Al of being the Atom. Besides the fact that they're both really short, you have the Atom here with the pickaxe which somehow she recognizes as Al's. Fishy. I would've liked something at the end with Al himself showing back up, perhaps to be balled out for his sleeping when he was supposed to be collecting.

Seriously, there's a whole page of the crooks robbing the army base while the Atom was unconscious that probably could've been cut or at least reduced to a panel or two.

INTERLUDE 2

Before Johnny Thunder can reveal whose turn is next (which isn't much of a mystery since there's only one remaining member), a boy delivers a telegram!

Johnny is confused at how the boy managed to get in there, as he remarks that "Only the finest in the country can come in here!" to which the boy responds with the best burn of the issue: "You musta crashed too huh?"

Anyway, the message if from the F. B. I. Director in Washington, D.C., and asks that a representative of the JSA come see him asap. Realizing this means that their government has need for them, the JSA votes to send Jay Garrick down to Washington to figure out what's going on, as he's the only one who can make it there and back before the meeting disbands.

And so the Flash leaves!

THE GREEN LANTERN'S STORY

So, we have an introduction to the Green Lantern, who, according to Johnny Thunder, "can streak through the air, walk through walls, is immune to metals, and has other supernatural gifts to use by means of his willpower, when he wears his potent ring, made from part of a mysterious Green Lantern..." GL himself add the fact that he needs to touch the ring to the lantern every 24 hours to retain its potency.

GL's story begins with a major crime breakout in his city. People were blaming Police Commissioner Mason, and, in particular, a reformer named Lacy is angling to replace Mason! A tip to the police and newspapers leads to Mason being caught in the act of apparently accepting a bribe! While Mason awaited trial, citizens demand that Lacy replace him as commissioner!

Lacy is installed as the new commissioner, and major crimes in the city suddenly cease! At the same time, minor crimes, such as gambling dens and other rackets, flourished without the public noticing!

Alan Scott decides to investigate, calling upon columnist Paul Pryer in his identity as the Green Lantern! Together they concoct a scheme to flush out the real crooks. In his column the next day, Pryer claims to have evidence that Mason was framed, which he will reveal on his radio program that evening! Thugs burst into Pryer's home to silence him, but the Green Lantern is waiting in ambush, and fisticuffs ensue! GL hypnotizes one of the crooks into revealing who is behind the scheme, and leaves for the boss's house!

At the boss's house, he is knocked unconscious by an apelike henchman named "Ape"! With GL tied to a chair, we discover that the boss is the "reformer" Lacy, who leaves to stop Pryer's broadcast using his police commissioner powers. GL uses his ring to free himself, and with a super-powered punch takes down Ape, despite his having a "jaw like cement". He rushes to the studio and uses his willpower and ring to force Lacy to confess on air! The next day Alan Scott is at the studio, and has to make excuses to his secretary Irene Miler about his absence the day before.

******

It's interesting that GL would eventually be established as living in Gotham City, but that doesn't really fit with having a police commissioner not named "Gordan" in this story. Checking online, it appears GL was actually operating out of a "Capitol City" at this point in his career.

There's a particularly nice panel when GL is interrogating one of the crooks and hypnotizes him into thinking his ring is grown to giant size and might crush the baddie if it continues to grow.

I checked to see if Paul Pryer was an ongoing supporting character, but apparently not.

I enjoyed this story quite a bit overall.

CONCLUSION

So, once GL has finished his story, the Flash returns with his message from the FBI director: basically, they are all requested to meet with him the following Tuesday! Which means that the first scene of the next issue of All-Star will take place the following week!

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Overall, this was a pretty fun first issue for the JSA. Obviously, they will very quickly be moving to all of the members being featured in connected stories, but the idea of them sitting around realting their solo adventures is kind of a neat one.

As I noted, it's a bit weird that halfway through the issue the members started giving more autobiographical introductions to start their stories. It does make one wonder exactly how the issue came together. How many of the stories were already prepped before they decided to do the 'JSA' framing sequence? I thought the stories in the first half were a bit stronger overall than the second half.

Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed following along with me! I'll start All-Star #4 this weekend!

This thread has inspired me to dig up and dust off my copy of The All Star Companion Volume 1. It covers the entire JSA run in All Star Comics, and has lots of interesting trivia about each issue!

The entry for All Star Comics issue 3 is most notable for these 1977 Gardner Fox quotes from a fanzine interview:


This is followed by speculation from Roy Thomas, who curated and edited the volume:


And finally, when asked by Morrissey if he had consulted with the heroes' regular writers when writing solo chapters, Fox replied:

Interesting. The cover to #5 is very similar to the cover to #2 and has nothing to do with the contents of the issue, so that would make a lot of sense. Most of the stories in #3 are listed as being by the regular writers so that does suggest that it was originally intended to be just another anthology, and that the framing sequence was added late in the process.

I actually wish they'd gone ahead and included #1 and #2 in this volume, because even though they don't rechinically feature the JSA, most of the stories are the future JSAers. I've got the Archive volume featuring them, though.

I don't own the All-Star Companion, but please feel free to keep posting anything relevant from it.

ALL-STAR COMICS #4-- "For America and Democracy!"

I never really noticed how weird the cover image to this issue is, with the JSAers arriving in Washington, D.C., Hawkman carrying a "justice Society of America" flag and the Atom carrying a "For America and Democracy" flag. But they are giants compared to the weirdly glowing capitol building. It really looks like someone has shrunk the capitol and the JSA is arriving on the scene.

Anyway, we get a list of the featured members, which notably includes Johnny Thunder, who are included "in the first book length adventure of the Justice Society of America".

The splash page gives us headshots of the JSAers around a variation on the seal of the United States, with and eagle perched on top of a shield with stars and stripes. The caption recaps their receiving the FBI chief's message last issue and tell how they've come from every part of the nation in answer to their country's call! And, of course, we get the title: "For America and Democracy!"

And indeed, we begin by seeing the JSAers arrive in the FBI building. Frist, there's the Flash, hen Dr. Fate, then Hourman, the Sandman and the Atom, then Hawkman, and finally Green Lantern and the Spectre.

The FBI chief tells them that he has called them there to wage a campaign to fight spies and saboteurs on American soil, t hose who have taken advantage of America's freedoms to use them against us! Newspapers, munitions plants have been targeted! Even the colleges are "overrun with alien teachers and students preaching hatred for the democratic ideals!" There are those who stir up racial and class hatred! The chief calls for the JSA to stand up for freedom and take down the organization that is suspected to be behind many of these subversive activities. And he gives them their battle cry: "For America and Democracy!"

And so, each of the JSAers is given their own unique assignment to investigate some particular aspect in which the "Bunds and other organization" are trying to overthrow America to give our gold and wealth to the totalitarian powers!

And so, the Justice Society "goes to war" against the subversives, with the Flash calling out their battle cry: "For America and Democracy!"


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This is not a comic that could be written today, but at a time that it feels like so many of the institutions which traditionally supported the "American Way" of life are fundamentally broken, it kind of resonates.

The mention of exploiting racial divisions is interesting, though I don't believe anything like that is actually covered in this story. But maybe I've just forgotten it.

The close working relationship that the JSA is established as having with the FBI chief (presumably Hoover) always seemed to me at odds with the later explanation of the team being caught up in McCarthey-esque wtich hunts and disbanding in the early 50s. Wouldn't Hoover vouch for them?

I'll be happy to! Thank you!

The entry to issue 4 had nothing of interest, but hopefully the next issue...

The Flash's Assignment: "Fritz Klaver and the Grey-Shirts"

So, the Flash is dispatched to deal with Un-American Propaganda that is being spread among the workers at auto and aircraft plants in Wisconsin and Michigan, and specifically heads to Detroit. There we find the "grey-shirts" promising any workers who will join them that they will get them better wages and working conditions. When one of the workers protests that the grey-shirts "don't believe in freedom" the spokesman responds by pointing out how much better life would be under a dictator that would watch out for them. As the worker leaves, some grey-shirts pursue and proceed to attack the worker! But the Flash arrives and defends him!

The Flash tells the worker he has just saved to speak to other workers and organize them to be ready to move against the grey-shirts. Meanwhile, he grabs the leader of the grey-shirts from his podium, and after searching him, locates his address. Carrying the grey-shirt leader back to his rooms, he finds his stash of propaganda materials. The grey-shirt leader protests about the invasion of privacy, to which Jay responds: "That's just like you rats! Yelling about your rights under a constitution you're trying to overthrow! It's only in a free county like America that there is any privacy!" And Jay slugs him.

Jay gathers the workers that the worker he had previously saved has organized and brings them to the grey-shirt leader's house! The leader has a gun and claims to have notified the police, but Jay dispatches him rapidly. He shows the workers the evidence he has uncovered: propaganda materials, a letter from a foreign government outlining the plan to undermine America, even paychecks signed by the foreign dictator! The workers head to the camp of the grey-shirts, whom Jay disarms so that it will be a fair fight. He also recognizes that many of the grey-shirts are actually known criminals from America. So after the workers have dealt with the grey-shirts, he recommends turning them over to the police. One of the grey-shirts mentions that something is going to happen to "the Liberty" however.

Jay realizes that the grey-shirt is referring to a refugee ship due to arrive in a few days. He rushes across the country and swims to meet the ship in the middle of the ocean. He searches the ship and eventually finds a bomb hidden in the coal bin. He explodes the bomb under water, finds a distinctive "K" symbol on the remains, and swims to an FBI office to search their records to identify it! He traces it to a manufacturings plant in Maryland where he finds a whole arsenal of sabotage devices! He overcomes the guards, blows up the plant, and forces the guards to reveal the man behind all of this: Fritz Klaver, who controls a network of 30,000 spies! So the Flash rushes off to find Klaver!

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It's hard to read this and not think of modern day attempts of foreign governments to influence America through social media and the like.

There isn't much subtlety to the story, but it's still pretty powerful.

A lot more happens than you would expect. I actually would've thought the story would've been over once he rounded up the initial group of "grey-shirts", but then you get the whole plotline of having to save a refugee ship from destruction.

I really like Jay getting mad and speechifying. Again, not a lot of subtlety, but still fun to read.

The Flash once again has the lead story in the book!