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<HEAD><TITLE>Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Mr. Justice </TITLE> <script language="JavaScript"></script> <META name = "author" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "description" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "subject" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "keywords" content = "comic books animated cartoons animation comics comix syndicated comic strips"> <META name = "publisher" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "format" content = "text/html"> <META name = "language" content = "EN"> </HEAD><BODY> <body onload="if (self!= top) top.location = self.location"></body> <BODY BGCOLOR="FFFFFF" TEXT="000000" LINK="0000EE" VLINK="551A8B"> <TABLE><TR><TD WIDTH=330 VALIGN="CENTER"><IMG GALLERYIMG="NO" ALIGN="LEFT" HEIGHT=274 WIDTH=320 ALT="Mr. Justice tells it like it is. Artist: Sam Cooper." SRC="mr_just.jpg"> <TD VALIGN="CENTER"><H1>MR. JUSTICE</H1><FONT SIZE=4> <B>Medium:</B> Comic books <BR><B>Published by:</B> MLJ (Archie) Comics <BR><B>First Appeared:</B> 1941 <BR><B>Creators:</B> Joe Blair (writer) and Sam Cooper (artist) <FONT SIZE=3> <! BEGIN DONATION CODE> <HR><FONT SIZE=2 COLOR="993366"><CENTER> If this site is enjoyable or useful to you, <BR>Please contribute to its necessary financial support. <BR><A HREF="http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/pay/T1237L0BCY25QA" TARGET="_blank">Amazon.com</A> or <A HREF="https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=don%40toonopedia.com&no_note=1&tax=0&currency_cod e=USD" TARGET="_blank">PayPal</A> </FONT></CENTER><HR> <! END DONATION CODE> <P><A NAME="cont"> Mr. Justice belongs to a genre of stories that's as old as story-telling itself — dead men who return to wreak vengeance upon their foes. In comic books, this genre  <P ALIGN="RIGHT"><A HREF="#cont"><FONT SIZE=2><I>continued below</A></FONT> </TABLE> <CENTER><! BEGIN ADSENSE "LEADERBOARD" CODE> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <! END ADSENSE CODE></CENTER> <P><TABLE><TR><TD VALIGN="TOP"> is found not just in series characters like <A HREF="swamp_th.htm">Swamp Thing,</A> but also in a vast number of non-series stories from <A HREF="ec.htm">EC Comics</A> and the like. Tho this motif is most familiar in the form of a horror story, it's also found in quite a few <A HREF="glossary.htm#superhero">superheroes.</A> <P> The best-known of them, <A HREF="dc.htm">DC Comics'</A> <A HREF="spectre.htm">The Spectre,</A> hadn't been out of his grave more than a year before <A HREF="mlj_arch.htm">MLJ Comics</A> followed with one of its own. Mr. Justice debuted in <I>Blue Ribbon Comics</I> #9 (February, 1941), instantly displacing Richie the Amazing Boy (not one of your stand-out characters) and <A HREF="rangtang.htm">Rang-a-Tang</A> the Wonder Dog (obviously derived from Rin-Tin-Tin) from the cover position. He went on to become — temporarily, at least — one of MLJ's biggest stars. <P> The Royal Wraith, as Mr. Justice was sometimes called, was Prince James of England, lured to his death by Scottish rebels in the year 1040. He murdered them back, but afterward, his destiny thwarted (according to an unseen voice), his spirit was trapped in the castle where all this took place. In 1940, the castle was dismantled and shipped to America, where it was to be re-assembled, but the ship carrying it was sunk by a Nazi submarine. James's spirit was thus released into the modern world. He then re-assumed corporeal form, took on the "Mr. Justice" monicker, and, love interest being <I>de rigeur</I> for a 1940s superhero, picked up with an American woman named Pat Clark. The story was written by MLJ regular Joe Blair and drawn by Sam Cooper, both of whom stayed with the character through most of his run. <P> A major villain, throughout Mr. Justice's sojourn in the Mortal Realm, was Satan himself. Busy guy — not only was he behind most of the lesser supernatural foes James fought in his 20th century incarnation — over in another MLJ comic, he was an every-issue regular in the <A HREF="madam_s.htm">Madam Satan</A> series. <P> Aside from being the cover feature of <I>Blue Ribbon Comics,</I> Mr. Justice had a prominent spot in <I>Jackpot Comics,</I> where the most popular MLJ stars were gathered under one roof. Starting with its first issue (Spring, 1941), he shared <I>Jackpot's</I> covers with <A HREF="steelstr.htm">Steel Sterling,</A> <A HREF="sgtboyle.htm">Sgt. Boyle</A> and <A HREF="blakhood.htm">The Black Hood.</A> But by <I>Jackpot</I> #6 (Summer, 1942), he was gone from that position. About the same time, he began sharing <I>Blue Ribbon</I> covers with a red, white and blue-draped superhero called <A HREF="capflag.htm">Captain Flag;</A> and as of <I>Blue Ribbon</I> #19 (December, 1941), Mr. Justice lost his cover spot entirely. <P> He hung on in the back pages of both <I>Blue Ribbon</I> and <I>Jackpot Comics</I> as long as those titles lasted — which wasn't long, as MLJ was rapidly getting out of the superhero business. After <I>Jackpot</I> #9 (Summer, 1943) he was completely out of comics, and MLJ's new star was <A HREF="archie.htm">Archie.</A> <P> Mr. Justice wasn't <B>quite</B> forgotten, tho. He turned up in a couple of mid-1960s issues of <I><A HREF="mightycr.htm">Mighty Crusaders,</A></I> and even became a member of a superhero team himself, The Terrific Three (the other two of whom were Steel Sterling and <A HREF="jaguar.htm">The Jaguar</A>). That, however, lasted only one issue. The next time Archie Comics (as MLJ had been renamed years earlier) tried reviving its superheroes, in the 1980s, he was only briefly included in the festivities. Since then, he's been seen only in very rare cameos. <P> By the way, only a cynical churl would point out that before 1066, when the Normans came in, English princes didn't get named "James", and Scots were still centuries away from feeling a necessity to rebel against English royalty. So please, pay no attention to this paragraph. <P ALIGN = "RIGHT">— DDM <P><A HREF="index.htm">BACK</A> to <I>Don Markstein's Toonopedia</I> Home Page <BR><A HREF="today.htm">Today in Toons:</A> Every day's an anniversary! <P><! 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