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March 1951 saw the last story of the JSA in All Star Comics #57. For a number of its members, it was their last Golden Age appearance, their solo titles having already been cancelled.

There was a decline in superhero titles from the late 1940s. Crime, Western and Romance comics took their place. But it wasn’t quite the end of the Golden Age of superheroes. Fawcett heroes would continue until 1953. Quality Comics characters bridged the gap between Golden and Silver Ages, publishing heroes such as Phantom Lady, Blackhawk and Plastic Man until the end of 1956. This overlapped the first appearance of DC's Barry Allen by a matter of months.

With superhero comics accounting for less than 10% of 1950s comics, DC only continued to publish Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman in their own titles. However, several other characters continued to make appearances as back up strips or in anthology titles.

Recalling the origins of the Justice League upon its first 1960 appearance in Brave & Bold #28, Julie Schwartz said that “Our intent was to use all of DC’s super-heroes running at the time. A hero did not become a full-fledged member of the group until he appeared in his own series.”

A series didn’t have to be their own title. For example, Martian Manhunter appeared in Detective Comics.

What if the same criteria had been used earlier. Again, building upon its predecessor, the Justice Society of America, what if the Justice League of America had been launched to try and boost the flagging Golden Age market in 1953…

#1 – “Starro The Conqueror!”

“When the stars were right, They could plunge from world to world through the sky; but when the stars were wrong, They could not live.”

- H.P. Lovecraft.

Seeking answers to the origins of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, Adam Blake, Captain Comet, extracts mineral samples using his telekinetic powers. A shadow looms between him and his sleek spaceship, the Cometeer. He sees a star-shaped object moving at terrific velocity. Born a hundred thousand years before his time has granted Blake incredible telepathic abilities. His mind reaches out to scan the object, only to be violently rebuffed with the single minded desire of what he now knows to be a creature. Seeing The Cometeer veer away, pushed by the sheer force of the thing’s passing, Blake’s consciousness fades with all-consuming thoughts of conquest and feeding.

Off the Atlantic coast, Aquaman swims through the deep on his daily patrol. He begins to pick up telepathic signals of distress from the marine life. Investigating, he learns from them that a giant, star-shaped creature flew down from the night skies and plunged deep into the Atlantic.

Investigating further, Aquaman learns that the star creature had telepathic powers of its own. Those that Arthur communicates with are a fleeing maelstrom of escape from those powers. Vowing to stop any such threat, Arthur finds that the creatures around him have stopped fleeing. These marine dwellers are different…hostile. Aquaman finds he is combat with changed monsters from the depths…controlled by the star creature.

The two use their telepathic powers against each other. Aquaman learns that the creature, called Starro, told the sea creatures that it had travelled across billions of miles of interstellar space, seeking a planet like this one… teeming with intelligent life. From Aquaman’s mind, Starro learns about humanity…and sees a new race to conquer. Three of its arms fall from it, along with a sliver of its disc. As replacements regenerate, the arms form miniature versions of itself. They are sent out into the world, as the other sea creatures surround an embattled Aquaman.

A recovering Captain Comet finds uses his power of telekinesis to fly from the asteroids to reach the Cometeer. He finds it damaged and begins repairs. He knows he must return to Earth to stop the creature, and only hopes that Earth’s has champions can help defend it, if he should fail. Heroes like Superman, Batman… and Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman can be seen starting a speech at the UN on the screens of TVs for sale in a Happy Harbour shop. The only watcher at the shop window is in the television business himself. Newsreel man Johnny Chambers has just arrived in town on a story of his own. He complains to himself about lugging equipment around because Tubby Watts has the flu. Not that he has any trouble moving quickly when he needs to. Chambers walks further into the town, a pleasant sea side affair, but one with few people around. Those he does meet are glassy eyed, and respond to him remotely, almost mechanically.

People leaving the town in the last couple of days, had been involved in numerous incidents, some escalating into violence as they tried to convince their relatives to return with them to Happy Harbour.

At the edge of town, Chambers sees a young boy called Lucas being dragged back from a garden into his house by vacant eyed parents. The boy is shouting for help, and Chambers intervenes. He recites a formula: 3X2(9YZ)4A and transforms into Johnny Quick. But having rescued the youth, Quick is aware of a presence around him. Other townspeople have arrived en masse and he faces a single-minded mob. Lucas sobs as he recognises faces. Faces that look to change him too. Quick uses his super speed to create winds, driving those close to him back, and begins to fly himself and the boy away. He sees a metallic glint followed by a mechanical shout. It is loud enough to have come from a loudspeaker and Quick descends streets away from the mob. A man stands at a basement entrance, and invites Quick and the boy in for safety.

The boy’s sniffles bring a flurry of mechanical yips from the shadows. A happy mechanical dog appears around the boy. Quick, already asking the man in the shadows what happened to the town, stops at the dog’s appearance. He knows who it belongs to and the stranger removes his human mask to reveal a robotic form beneath: Robotman.

Robert Crane had only been in town for a few weeks. He wanted the solitude to work on new techniques to improve his robotic form. He has an almost desperate need to do this, as he now feels he will never be really human again. He’s getting used to feeling uncomfortable around what he considers real people. So, he didn’t notice the changes at first. People he had begun to strike up acquaintances with became distant, focused on certain tasks. Organising themselves into groups. More mobs than gatherings.

Robotdog’s mischiefs have cheered up the youth, who tells them his name is Lucas Carr, and that his parents were about to flee town to get help. A neighbour, one of the changed ones, tried to get them to stay. When that didn’t work something reached out from him and took over his parents. The neighbour just looked at them and it happened. Quick is keen to get to the source of the issue, while Robotman thinks that Lucas’ father had the right idea in getting help. He’s constructed a powerful transmitter as something, proablby the same thing that’s controlling the citizens, is blocking signals leaving the town. He tells Quick that the whatever controls people, does so through eye-contact. Something else is communicating through them, removing their individuality. Crane has proven to be immune to this due to his photo-optic eyes, but knew the townspeople were close to taking action against him.

The two leave Carr behind to work on sending warnings on the transmitter with a cute, but growly, Robotdog to guard him. Carr’s snaps his fingers as he gets to work.

A jet appears from a panel in Robotman’s back allowing him to fly with Quick. Surveying the town, they see that activity is centred at the docks. At a packing plant, they encounter a Starro controlling the movements of the people around it. They are packing supplies onto boats, looking to leave the area and spread Starro’s control.

Quick manages to disperse the crowds that try to prevent the pair attacking Starro. But his quick punches have little effect on the creature itself. It tries to mesmerise him with some success, only for the contact to be broken by Robotman’s telescopic arms reaching for and smashing large crates against it. The mob move in on Quick as Starro tries and fails to control Robotman. He jokes a little bitterly than not being human can have its advantages, and uses speed and strength to push the creature back through a wall and into a room with filled with sacks of salt. While this makes the creature uncomfortable it hovers above it and back towards the heroes as they once again try not to injure those under Starro’s control.

Robotman hopes that this is the only one of its kind, as some starfish can reproduce through fission. If there are more of them, they could be out of their league.

Starro mocks that there are others of its kind. They too, will have learned everything from their missions and will have telepathically informed their master.

Quick tells Robotman that he saw Wonder Woman at the UN, and that Carr’s signal will hopefully reach her there.

Wonder Woman is finishing her speech at the UN regarding the strength of nations, of individuals from differing backgrounds, to unite for the common good of all. It was a dream of her people from Paradise Island to see such a world, and the United Nations is part of that dream being fulfilled.

There is an ovation as she finishes and she’s introduced to some of the philanthropists who are helping to shape such a world. One of these is Oliver Queen, a millionaire inventor. As the two talk about how best to use abilities such as hers to aid others to unite the world, there are shouts of alarm. A Starro has appeared above the building, reaching out its arms to engulf it. Inside, people begin to become glassy eyed and remote. Wonder Woman races to her robot plane. Flying it against the creature, she tries to use her lasso to loosen the thing’s grip on the building. The arm pulls her from the wing of her craft, but she acrobatically lands on the building’s roof.

Now close to the creature, it uses its central eye to take over her will. It takes all of her Amazon training to resist it. Suddenly a burst of light blinds Starro. It came from an arrow and it is followed by a second blast as a third arrow pulls Green Arrow to the roof. The light seemed to have weakened Starro, and Green Arrow tries to fire a net arrow around one of the arms, pinning it against the roof. The creature is still strong enough breaks free. Green Arrow uses the last of his flare arrows, worried about what he can try next if they don’t work. They continue to weaken the creature. Inside the building, an emergency call is put out to Superman and Batman.

But Superman is protecting a planet from a devastating rain of meteors, while two of Batman’s archenemies have teamed up to take control of Gotham. Neither can face this emergency immediately. Both worry about finishing their own missions to help as quickly as they can at the UN.

Back at the UN, Wonder Woman uses her plane as the anchor for her lasso in a second, successful attempt to get the creature away from the UN building.

Trapped in her lasso of truth, the creature tells them it has succeeded in its task, and that it looked to return to add strength to its master in the Atlantic depths. It tries to flee, but Wonder Woman uses her strength and the lasso to smash it from the sky into the ground, where it lies defeated.

Wonder Woman and Green Arrow agree to team up to find the giant starfish’s master, when a UN delegate informs them of transmissions they have received from a small coastal town called Happy Harbour.

TO BE CONTINUED...

PART TWO

Crushed by a mob, Johnny Quick struggles to use his powers as Starro shakes loose the remainder of the salt. Robot realises that Starfish have a low resistance to temperature. He uses his metallic feet to start a fire in the wooden building. The primal fear of fire not only disturbs Starro, it loosens its grip on a panicked crowd. Quick gets them all to safety, as the building and the creature crash into the water.

Quick uses cyclonic powers to end the fire as Robotman dowses the flames with fire retardant foam from special miniaturised compartments in his arms. A shadow above them startles them into expecting an attack from another Starro, but it is the arrival of Wonder Woman in her robot plane along with Green Arrow.

Robotman tells the group that the master is likely to be a giant version of the miniature versions of starfish they have seen here. More powerful too. While the others agree to look in the Atlantic for the creature, Robotman agrees to stay behind to search for a way of defeating it. He jokes that he wouldn’t want to rust after all. As they prepare underwater gear, Robotman gives them all basic communication devices to keep in contact via the powerful transmitter he has built in Happy Harbour.

The activation light on the communicators happen to match those on the Cometeer’s console as its pilot manages to locate a giant flying starfish heading across the Rockies. The creature is intercepting a bomber carrying a nuclear warhead. It crushes the plane’s fuselage, retrieving the bomb, despite the best efforts of the plane’s crew. Hurling the plane away forces Comet to divert through the atmosphere to save them, which he does using his telekinetic powers to create a forcefield around the craft, lowering it to a safe slope on a nearby mountain.

However, this delay allows the Starro to activate the device. Comet surrounds himself in a mental forcefield and return to the more protective safety of his craft. It can survive cosmic storms. Fortunately, the Starro creature absorbs most of the energy into itself. It pulses with radioactive energy as it flies towards the nearest populated area: Denver.

Starro swats Comet away when he tries to use his strength to pull it back. His telekinesis slips off the now energised form of the creature, failing to get a grip on it.

The citizens of Denver look up in terror as the giant radioactive Starro approaches from the skies. In desperation Comet locks it in a battle of sheer will power. The energy the creature has absorbed is overloading its system, and the strain of also battling Comet proves to be too much. Its last words were that it had already completed its mission before it folds in on itself and becomes forever silent.

Using his telekinesis one again, Comet moves the still radioactively dangerous creature away from the city. He probes its mind and learns of the locations of the other two Starro minions… and the location of their master. The Cometeer races off through the skies towards the Atlantic.

In an underwater cave off the Atlantic coast, Starro tells a captive Aquaman that its plans are complete. Each of its short-lived offspring learned from the last. And all sent their messages to Starro. It learned of humans from Aquaman; of human leaders from the town of Happy Harbour; and of the weapons humans could use against each other from those leaders. Starro has even inherited the nuclear abilities of its last offspring, and will use those powers, along with its telepathic control to conquer the Earth!

Aquaman responds that it will never succeed in its plans. Even as it boasted he had been telepathically sending out his location to others, just as he had found that location by allowing Starro’s controlled sea creatures to bring him to their master. Aquaman breaks free and knocks the two large creatures that had been guarding him unconscious.

Swimming at great speed towards his foe, Aquaman manages to avoid the first two blasts from the tips of Starro’s arms, only to be grazed and stunned by a third. He tells the villainous creature that even if he falls, others will continue to fight its control. The creature mocks him, and reaches out with its mind, looking to start taking over minds and spreading its influence. It is shocked when it discovers that it is about to be attacked. It has no time to prepare before The Cometeer blasts through the cavern wall, followed by Wonder Woman’s robot plane.

Johnny Quick is first into the scene, churning up the water between Aquaman and advancing underwater creatures, and rescuing him. Wonder Woman attacks Starro directly. It blasts her with its new nuclear powers and she deflects the deadly beams using her bracelets.

With Quick helping Aquaman, the sea monsters once again threaten the heroes. Green Arrow uses the explosive tips from his arrows to seal the cavern from them, while Comet tries to use his telekinetic powers to stop Starro hitting Wonder Woman. Comet wonders how they will finally be able to defeat their foe. It seems too strong for them…

… In Happy Harbour, Robotman is assured by the Carr’s that everything has returned to normal. Just as the first wave of Starro’s influence reaches them prior to the attack of the heroes. It makes it clear to Robotman that the threat isn’t over. He wonders why Lucas wasn’t affected by the creature and discovers that the youngster was using quicklime in the garden when the rest of his family were taken over. Starro operates through telepathic control. It was immediately repelled by the substance and had his parents try to drag him into the house to remoive it, when they were stopped by Quick. Chemicals in the arrows of Green Arrow must be similar, explaining why they were successful against the Starro that attacked the UN. Robotman uses powered skates to race back to his basement and relay the signals to the other heroes. Robotdog has been chewing on the cables, but it’s the power of the ultralow frequency that worries Robotman. Will it be sufficient to reach the heroes through the conductive salt water?

Things are not going well for the heroes. Johnny Quick was too fast for Starro’s nuclear blast, but not a telepathic attack from its central eye. Aquaman’s own telepathy prevented it being a fatal attack, but he too is injured from a nuclear blast. Green Arrow stands ready in front of the collapsed cave entrance, as something massive, and under Starro’s control moves boulders to get in. A drained Captain Comet and Wonder Woman continue to fight their foe directly, when a single signal activates Wonder Woman’s communicator and then goes dead.

Green Arrow tells Captain Comet to boost the signal using his ship, and the mutant hero races off, receiving Robotman’s message as Wonder Woman and Starro exchange cavern shattering blows.

Wonder Woman cannot defect one of Starro’s blasts as Comet arrives back into combat. With few options, he telekinetically lifts Wonder Woman’s robot plane under the creature and propels it through the opening remade by the sea creatures under its control. The craft races to the surface and is propelled towards happy harbour. It it’s wake, there heroes regroup into the Cometeer evading the sea creature attacks.

Starro disengages from the robot plane above Happy Harbour and hovers above the town it prepares to annihilate. It has destroyed worlds in its past, using the psychic screams of its victims to propel it to other cosmoses. If it cannot control, then it will happily destroy and feed.

It’s not prepared for Robotman, giant lashed up fans and a huge supply of quicklime taken from neighbouring farms. Starro reels under the first blast of the toxic chemicals. Seeing its success, Johnny Quick retrieves more from the surrounding area at superspeed as Starro plunges to Earth. Captain Comet uses his mental powers to ensure that the quicklime remains encased around the Star conqueror, as Wonder Woman holds it in place with her lasso. Defeated, Starro slumps to earth, completely inert.

Standing in Happy Harbour and surrounded by its inhabitants, the victorious heroes have been joined by Superman and Batman.

Wonder Woman recalls her speech at the United Nations. But would a world unite under the threat of invaders like Starro, or would they fragment in division and fear?

Captain Comet tells them that the Guardians of the Universe, whose missions he undertakes, believed that beings of action were always needed to keep the mechanisms of the universe working correctly.

Having arrived after desperately solving their own cases, Batman suggests that they ought to form a club or society, and Superman suggests that its purpose would be to uphold justice against whatever danger threatens it. That would ensure that the Earth would always have protectors.

Green Arrow suggests that they could become a group of superheroes, banding together in a common cause. Robotman wonders about who could fund such a group. Both Green Arrow and Batman say that they have an idea about that and look closely at each other as if trying to see through each other’s mask.

Robotman wonders about the name of the group. Having both been in the Justice Society, Superman and Batman think about reviving that name. Johnny Quick feels that something new is needed. Wonder Woman, also a member of the Society, agrees that something in keeping with new organisations like the United Nations is required. Quick remembers feeling out of his league against Starro at first, and thinking of something less stuffy than society suggests they call themselves the Justice League of America.

As we look down at happy harbour, listening to the noise of the gulls, yapping robotdogs and the snapping fingers of Lucas Carr, Green Arrow tells the others “You know, I used to be in a group called the Justice League…”

THE BEGINNING …

Future issues…

#2 Challenge of the Weapons Master
#3 Robotman’s dreams of a better future are stolen by Professor Ivo who instead creates Amazo
#4 The Clockwork Universe
#6 Mystery in Space
#8 Congo Bill must deceive the JLA to save the Earth! But will it cost him his JLA membership?
#17 The atomically powered Atom, Al Pratt, joins the JLA, leading up to …
#26 The JLA battle Hawkman and his JSA allies in the first JLA/JSA crossover: Crisis in Two Ages!

Plot Points

Regardless of when JLA launched, it would have seemed odd to promote it as a grouping of DC’s greatest characters and leave out Superman and Batman. But Mort Weisinger (of the Superman titles) and Jack Schiff (of the Batman books) were reluctant to have their characters appear in another title. They cited saturation on the marketplace, but the JLA would have been a book out with their immediate control.

With no Superman, there was no need to have Kryptonite appear in every story.

Their relegation to supporting status does come with some pluses. The 1960 team got Martian Manhunter and Green Arrow as replacements for Superman and Batman respectively.

The Manhunter came with his own problems. But, as he’s less well known they are solved a little more easily. His super-strength is downplayed. An early example of him having it, is when Amazo takes it. There’s use of the fact that’s he can’t use his other powers when invisible. Fire is a lot easier to build into the plot that an endless supply of Kryptonite used to keep Superman at bay. Having no Martian Manhunter in the 1953 version removes the need to have fire appear in every story.

Batman is no great loss from having a key role in early JLA issues. Barry Allen was the go to guy for deduction, with early examples of Bruce’s contributions being:-

“But where’s that? Sounds like kookie talk to me!”
“J’Onn J’Onzz! Maybe you know what’s going on around here?”

There’s an argument that Fox used the Flash in a detective role because of the limitations around the use of Batman. But there’s also that the Flash was a favourite of the editor and more under their sphere of influence in a way the Big Two weren’t. Perhaps Weisinger and Schiff had a point about control. If the JLA was to become a vehicle to help boost the Flash and Green Lantern, it wouldn’t be at a cost to their own characters.

With no Hal Jordan, every foe does not have to be yellow or use yellow minions, rays or devices. Hal’s powers were still unrefined in his first JLA appearances (beginning March 1960). They occurred just after his first Showcase appearance (October 1959) and his own title didn’t begin until July 1960. His ring was almost a wishing ring. He could will it to do almost anything, such as continue a plane on its course or create a meteor.

Since 1953 is before The Flash of Two Worlds story, Earth-1 and Earth-2 can be reinterpreted. In this story, there are members of the Justice League who had been connected to the JSA before them. The JSA is one source of inspiration for this new team.

Credit Department

Ann Hebistand introduced me to the JLA Apocrypha thread which can be found here.. This story is a spin off from that concept.

The source for the changes in JLA personnel come from an article in a comics magazine, some 20 years back. I no longer have it, but it discussed the heroes who were still in publication between the end of the Golden Age and the beginning of the Silver Age. It was quite a surprise to read that they were so many. The departure of superheroes at the end of the Golden Age had been portrayed as quite clean cut. But, as with so many things, that wasn't the case.

Without the article, it’s a little hard to give proper credit. But if I had to put Venturan Walking Money on it, I’d say it was Michelle Nowlan in her Nowlan’s Notebook column of Comic Book Marketplace.

The whole revision is still based very much on the story and ideas created by Julius Schwartz, Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky.

Love this! I've always thought it was a shame Robotman didn't quite survive long enough to make it into the Justice League. I suppose the current JLA has Cyborg occupying a similar role as one of the founders.

Psst-- Vigilante was published until 1954!

Thanks EDE! And thanks for taking the time to read it. I did it in one sitting (3 cups of coffee) yesterday, so I’ve not really had a chance to peek back at it yet.



I agree. Robotman is a very flexible character who fills a number of slots on any team.
His metallic form makes him super strong and resistant – Superman & Manhunter
He has some enhanced vision – Supes and Manhunter again.
He has telescopic limbs – Elongated Man
He’s fairly quick - Flash
He’s a robot – Red Tornado
He can fly – Lots of the cast.
He has access to lots of gadgets - Batman
He’s based on science and technology – perfect for Schwartz

His strips were aiming to be humorous by this point as superheroes struggled. I think they were trying to emulate Plastic Man a bit. Quality’s Plastic Man would also be one of the few heroes being published at this time. I gave him a little bit of melancholy because I wanted him to be a stranger in Happy Harbour for a reason. Yappy Robotdog was being used in the strip for comedy value, again to capture that fun feeling of lighter strips. It won’t have escaped their notice that Streak the Wonder Dog ousted Green Lantern from his strip.

From a modern perspective he also sates a bit of readership bloodlust and provides an indicator on how dangerous the villain is. By that I mean he can get damaged a lot without it killing him. Just like the roles Cyborg and Wolverine fill. “Gosh! That villain *must* be deadly, because look at what he’s done to Cyborg/Psycho Claws/ Robotman.



Vigilante was on my list, but honestly only ever in the back of my mind for being a member. I think any chance he had ended before I’d finished typing the introduction. I went on about the Westerns and Romance replacing the super hero and this being an attempt to bring the super hero back early. And I was thinking of Vigilante more as a Western character than a member of the Seven Soldiers.
Having a Western character in the team would have seemed to run against that a little. Having reread B&B#28 for this, I was really aware of how often Wonder Woman used her lasso. Vigilante would have duplicated that and then there were the guns.

Had I put on my Modern Hat of Marketing (Hat #43 in Jimmy Olsen’s Box of Hats) I’d have Vigilante as the first member on the team. After all, Westerns were popular at the expense of Super heroes. So why not utilise that *more*? Like every DC story being linked to Gotham to be close to Batman or every Marvel team having a psychotic clown in it, to pander to those sales.
If I rewrite this, I’ll start with storm clouds over the prairie, announcing the arrival of Starro over a Western town.

Congorilla came much, much closer to making it into the team from the outset. Gorillas and DC are a popular match. Captain Comet has a recurring ape enemy around this time. There’s only the slight snag ( ) that Congo Bill wasn’t Congorilla until 1957. I have read a story from around 1953, that has a character that could easily act as a lead-in to Bill being Congorilla earlier. But that would have meant tweaking what was available at the time.

Also, like Vigilante, having an explorer on the team seemed a bit of a genre stretch for what was supposed to be a super hero revival.

The main reason Congorilla is not there though, was that I’d kept 2 of the 3 Starros in the USA, and it seemed easier for something that was going to be “of America” to be set there, rather than having 1 segment nip over to Africa for a visit. So, as soon as I typed that “of America” that was that.

In the spirit of Fox teamups, It also meant that I’d have to team him up with Captain Comet, and I just got lazy preferred to pay homage to the original by using the Green Lantern plot with a new person in it instead.

Following a modern approach to shoehorning characters, I’d have Vigilante, Congorilla and Streak The Wonder Dog taking up three of the team slots. I’d find a recurring Romance Comic character too.
I just remembered that JLA issue where they did do some sort of Silver Age pre-Appelaxian origin for the JLA. It’s one of my least favourites, which must be why it didn’t cross my mind once when putting this together.

The character list I was using was:-

DC – Congo Bill (1961); Johnny Quick (1954); Robotman (1953), Nighthawk (1959); Vigilante (1954)
Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Aquaman (continuous)

Quality – Blackhawk (1956); Doll Man & Doll Girl (1953); Phantom Lady (1956); Plastic Man (1956)

Fawcett – Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr. (1953); Crime Smasher (1953)

A Post-Crisis version might be interesting.

This is delightful, Thoth. I hope you'll expand on it.

I would bet my autographed* copy of Avengers v.1 issue 23 that you know more about the JLA than any other Legion Worlder. Such erudition is a pleasure to see put to good use.









*John Romita Senior, who signed my copy at a convention in the 90s. One of the true gentlemen of comics.

Thanks very much Ann! I'm really glad you liked it.

What were our heroes up to in 1953, I hear you ask? A most opportune question, as I have just finished going through their appearances for that very year...




Aquaman’s adventures focused on his control of sea animals, used in interesting visual ways, to confound his opponents’ schemes. Most adventures involve smugglers and modern day pirates.

January – Aquaman finds a prehistoric cave carving…of himself. He falls into a Time Pool that takes him back to fight prehistoric monsters. In tribute the cavemen carve his likeness onto the wall next to the Time Pool. (Adventure 184)

February – Aquaman is briefly on land to join a smuggler’s ring. They need a good swimmer but suspect the King of the Seas of infiltrating them. The only way Aquaman can convince them he’s not the Sea Monarch is to make all the other swimmers look as though they are. (Adventure 185 )

March – Aquaman comes up with the idea of a dive in theatre, showing films on the waterfront to help Cap Hoyle. But nefarious crooks try to stop it as it takes away their business. (Adventure 186)

April – Has Aquaman met his match in Ann Collins, The Queen of the Sea? She seems to be faster and can stay under water for longer, but what is her secret. Worth pointing out the characterisation in this one is excellent. (Adventure 187)

May- Aquaman cares for the sea life around him, treating their injuries (often man-made ones). But when smugglers break open the quarantine around a sea lion, how is Aquaman to catch them without going outside the exclusion zone? (Adventure 188)

June – A plane has to ditch its cargo to save its passengers. That includes a chest full of diamonds. A reward for their recovery brings a horde of untrained, ill equipped treasure hunters into the sea. There’s also skulduggery afoot too, regarding the diamonds. (Adventure 189)

July – Joseph Lundgren, tired of killing all the big game animals above the ocean surface, sets his sights on the deeps as the Hunter of the Seven Seas! Almost veers into The World’s greatest Game, but instead has its own path. (Adventure 190)

August – Aquaman turns into Aquacop in an effort to improve safety in the shipping lanes. But while he’s giving out tickets, what about all those boat thefts? (Adventure 191)

September – Someone is killing Aquaman’s aquatic friends in an oceanic preserve. But they are not random killings. Instead, the names are clues to the location of stolen treasure. The first attempt to decipher the destination gives…STARO! (Adventure 192)

October – Aquaman discovers a huge sea monster in an iceberg he’s helping to thaw. It looks as though Aquaman has really met more than his match in the beast. Fortunatley it becomes friendly only to change into a terror of the seaways. Aquaman has to uncover why it behaves that way before the creature is attacked by the navy. (Adventure 193)

November – It’s Aquaman against The Outlaw Navy. He has to organise his own fighting forces to stop this new angel on crime, as crooks pick up old war surplus ships to loot the seaways. (Adventure 194)

December – The River Gang, who are committing acts of piracy and racketeering capture and think they have disposed of Aquaman. Later, they begin to look for his help themselves. (Adventure 195)

Johnny flies at great speed, more than runs, using that velocity for speed tricks such as making a door red hot through friction. Later tales would see the artist use a doppler effect to make it appear as though he was in more than one place, due to his speed.

January – Johnny stands in as “Mercury” to help a film producer friend of Tubby’s, who is being wrecked by a powerful movie mogul. Johnny does all the stunts, but it’s one of his fans who saves the day. (Adventure 184)

February – Johnny Chambers next assignment is to film Johnny Quick delivering gifts as Santa to help out a welfare charity. The only way to do that is to give Tubby the magic formula… except that it ends up in the wrong hands and a superfast hard luck Santa tries to commit crimes, only to do good. (Adventure 185)

March – Tubby gets a job as editor of The Eater’s Digest. Trouble follows with mishaps and robberies of the culinary Hi-Life Club. Chambers’ new assistant may not be everything he seems either. (Adventure 186)

April – Johnny’s enemy Mister Magnate is desperate to get rid of the hero. He turns to a TV Wizard for help, but ends up getting more than he bargained for. (Adventure 187)

May – Johnny is let go from Sees All-Tells All News because someone is beating him to his pictures. That person is Johnny Quick. Another hint that there’s more to his magic formula than just speed. (Adventure 188)

June – Professor Rollins claims to have invented a formula that mimics Johnny’s powers. When Chambers is forced to use his speed in front of the Professor, it only convinces him that his formula works. Johnny now has to ensure that anyone else using the formula gets super speed to go with it. (Adventure 189)

July – Johnny covers for 99 crooks as they try to capture the one bad apple that might ruin their chances of serving their time in a model prison. (Adventure 190)

August – Johnny helps out a vet’s delivery service that looks like its’ going to go broke as it pays a penalty on each later delivery, and has a sabotaged fleet of trucks. Ever-more outlandish deliveries threaten to hamper Johnny’s help, including building a matchstick Eiffel Tower and a box of ping-pong balls that go everywhere. (Adventure 191)

September – Tubby Watts is offered $1000 to switch places with someone who looks just like him for the day. (Adventure 192)

October – Tubby gets to the museum a hour too early and finds that the statue of Hermes looks just like Johnny, while he resembles Bacchus. Boastful of Hermes being slower than Quick, an adventure in Olympus follows where Quick and Hermes have a race as mush of wits as speed. But all is not as it seems. (Adventure 193)

November – Johnny and Tubby filming a South American expedition. They make the discovery of a lost city. But it’s not been lost to others, who are using it as a base to smuggle gold from. (Adventure 194)

December – Johnny helps stand-in teacher Tubby Watts put a classroom of youngsters on the path to a better education. (Adventure 1945)

January – Green Arrow and Speedy take on a mountain climb after the Globe Girdler’s Club dismiss a friend for claiming to have proof that a native Peruvian made an “impossible” climb. (Adventure 184)

February – Green Arrow keeps tabs on even the foes who have gone straight. Oddly, they all thank him for saving them from a blackmail racket when his microfilm ends up in the wrong hands. Arrow had inserted himself into the microfilm as The Human Fly, just in case this ever happened, and he needed to be a crook. The pair reveal that they have been working for ten years. (Adventure 185)

March - Green Arrow tries out the arrows made for him by The Inventors Club, not realising that one of them is a trap to seal his removal from crime fighting. (Adventure 186)

April – Anticipating gritty ‘90s vigilantes, it looks as though Green Arrow has started to kill his enemies in a war against 3 notorious escaped convicts. As the city turns against him, it sure looks as though Arrow is the killer. (Adventure 187)

May – The Emerald Archer and Speedy have to figure out which one of the guests at the new Green Arrow Hotel, built in honour of him saving the owner, is the villainous Question Mark. (Adventure 188)

June – Green Arrow joins the Legion—the Legion of 100 Archers that is. A huge crime wave results in The Club of 100 Archers (2 different names on the same page) being formed. But why isn’t Speedy allowed to join? (Adventure 189)

July – Around the World in 80 Arrows, takes Oliver and Roy around Earth with a number of specially designed arrows in this Verne themed adventure. (Adventure 190)

August – Ivory hunting brings the Emerald Archers to Africa. But Green Arrow seems to switch sides after drinking some poisonous water. Could he really be King of the Ivory Raiders? (Adventure 191)

September – Green Arrow meets up with the Alibi Club of Archers. They each have gone through a situation in which they failed as an archer, giving them an alibi to show why they are not the best archer in the world. One of their number suggests that Green Arrow might not be the best either, and Oliver goes through all of their situations to prove that he is. (Adventure 192)

October – Green Arrow struggles to capture a kidnapped witness, with three of his shots going astray. While the splash page would indicate that criminals no longer fear the archer, the pace of the story leads you to think that the archer is definitely not himself. (Adventure 193)

November – The 50th century Green Arrow and Speedy use Atom, Super Acetelyne, Light Screen and Anti-Gravitation arrows to catch the crooks taken with them through time, when an experiment they crashed in on in the 20th century is turned on. (Adventure 194)

December – Green Arrow and Speedy are exiled from their city. They end up solving crimes in Mercer, when escaping crooks go back into the city and the archers have to follow. (Adventure 195)

I wonder if that's where Mark Waid got the idea to reinvent Quality's Golden Age "Quicksilver" character into Max Mercury?

Fun Fact: Even though Golden Age Quicksilver was an utter cipher, his feature was drawn for a while by none other than Plastic Man creator Jack Cole!

I've always liked Johnny Quick. I enjoyed the Golden Age of Cinema style banter between him and Liberty Belle in Roy Thomas's "All Star Squadron."

I think it was the Who's Who page for Quicksilver that suggested he stood out due to the acrobatic feats he performed while at super-speed. Johnny Quick was already doing a lot of that, and it would be a bit of a waste if Jay Garrick wasn't also making the most visually of his powers.

Note that Johnny Quick met Hermes later on in the year. Max Mercury might have been Harold Hermes.



Looking ahead for JLA1953, I'd underlined DC getting the rights to the Quality characters in 1956. I'd forgotten it was as early as that. DC kept Blackhawk and Heartthrobs going. But what if they'd kept Plastic Man and Phantom Lady around too? Of course had anyone remembered they'd already owned the rights, Ralph Dibny would have been the Silver Age Plastic Man.


That was a great run of books to learn loads about the Golden Age of comics from. Thomas' knowledge of that era is superb.

Looking back, it can't be a coincidence that Quick and Robotman were part of that core team. Thomas would have known that their series had outlasted the JSA, and the qualities (and visual powers) that they would to bring to the team.

It's well known about the Multiverse Bus (A precursor to Mayavale's Train?) Thomas got thrown under due to Crisis, I wonder how many hoops he had to jump through to get his initial team. He couldn't use Wildfire (due to the Legion) so reworked her as Firebrand II. He makes use of DC owning Quality Comics' characters to retcon right away in #1. So Plastic Man appears early on, but I wonder if his appearances in other media, prevented Thomas using him on a more ongoing basis. Phantom lady makes a lot more appearances.

Yeah, I noticed a couple of years ago that RT seemed to intentionally pick characters that were relatively long-lasting but no longer known as his main cast. The Shining Knight also lasted until '51 I believe, and even Liberty Belle lasted until '47, which is nothing to sneeze at.

Yet Vigilante doesn't make more than a couple of cameo appearances. Poor Vig! Perhaps this is due to there being an Earth-1 Vigilante around, even if not seen too often. If Roy *had* used him, would Marv Wolfman have created another identity for Adrian Chase?

Warren Ellis did a volume of stories on the premise of what comics would look like today if super-heroes had not taken over the genre (wasn't terribly interesting, IMO). This is sort of the reverse of that speculation and considerably better reading.

Were there any recurring romance comic characters? It seems unlikely, since any such character - unless a narrator - would have had to be a serial love 'em and leave 'em type, not suitable for Comics Code.

Given the prevalence of horror comics pre-Wertham, I wonder if a 1953 JLA Dark could have been assembled.

As you point out, it's Justice League AMERICA, so having a Starro land in Africa would have been out of bounds. However, this did raise the idea of a Justice League International - if there were enough international characters from that time to populate it. (Unfortunately, this led to thinking what a Justice League Ibiza would look like, so I'll leave it there.)

There would some irony in a universe in which DC fully embraces it attempts to duplicate one of its competitors and eventually changes it's name to Binky Comics.

Thanks for taking the time to read it Cramer. Much appreciated.



In 1953...

Kanjar Ro will need all his powers of charm if he's to survive... A Date With Judy!
It's an Invasion from Beyond the Stars. It's Sgt. Cragg's girlfriend Louella who holds the secret to their defeat. Read all about it in Here's Howey Meets the Harvesters From Infinity!



Funny you should mention that...



Well, I know of at least one Robotman who enjoyed his Ibiza days a bit too much.