CINXE.COM

<HEAD><TITLE>Don Markstein's Toonopedia: The Justice Society of America </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=343 WIDTH=320 ALT="Splash panel from All Star Comics #4: Spectre, Dr. Fate, Sandman, Flash, Hawkman, Green Lantern, Hourman, Atom. Artist: E.E. Hibbard." SRC="jsa.jpg"> <TD VALIGN="CENTER"><H1>THE JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA</H1><FONT SIZE=4> <B>Medium:</B> Comic books <BR><B>Published by:</B> DC Comics <BR><B>First Appeared:</B> 1940 <FONT SIZE=3> <P> The original idea behind <I>All Star Comics</I> was to put a bunch of <A HREF="dc.htm">DC's</A> most popular characters (from both the <A HREF="all-amer.htm">All-American</A> and DC-proper sides of the aisle) together in  <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"> one regularly-published comic book. That, in itself, was an innovation — within a year, <A href="fawcett.htm">Fawcett</A> had <I>America's Greatest Comics,</I> <A HREF="mlj_arch.htm">MLJ</A> had <I>Jackpot Comics,</I> <A HREF="marvel.htm">Marvel</A> had <I>All Winners Comics,</I> and several others were either on the stands or about to be; but <I>All Star,</I> with a Summer, 1940 cover date on #1, was the first. <P> But the <I>real</I> innovation came in the third issue, when they put the "All Star" characters together in one <B>story.</B> It was quite likely the idea of editor <A HREF="sh_mayer.htm">Sheldon Mayer</A> (who also created <A HREF="scribbly.htm">Scribbly,</A> <A HREF="sugspike.htm">Sugar & Spike</A> and <A HREF="3mouse-2.htm">The Three Mouseketeers</A>), but at this late date nobody really knows for sure. Certainly, however, it was the start of something big. <P> That issue contained the first meeting of The Justice Society of America, comics' first <A HREF="glossary.htm#superhero">superhero</A> group. It was attended by two characters from each of four anthology comics — <A HREF="flash1.htm">The Flash</A> and <A HREF="hawkman1.htm">Hawkman</A> from <I>Flash Comics,</I> <A HREF="lantern1.htm">Green Lantern</A> and <A HREF="atom1.htm">The Atom</A> from <I>All-American Comics,</I> <A HREF="fate.htm">Dr. Fate</A> and <A HREF="spectre.htm">The Spectre</A> from <I>More Fun Comics,</I> and <A HREF="hourman1.htm">Hourman</A> and <A HREF="sandman1.htm">The Sandman</A> from <I>Adventure Comics.</I> <A HREF="jthundr1.htm">Johnny Thunder</A> (from <I>Flash</I>) and <A HREF="tornado1.htm">The Red Tornado</A> (from <I>All-American</I>) were uninvited guests. (Johnny became an actual member in <I>All Star</I> #6.) <P> <A HREF="superman.htm">Superman</A> and <A HREF="batman.htm">Batman</A> were honorary members, and occasionally put in an actual appearance. <A HREF="wonderwo.htm">Wonder Woman</A> joined in #11. Others who participated are <A HREF="starman1.htm">Starman,</A> <A HREF="mid-nite.htm">Dr. Mid-Nite,</A> <A HREF="mrterrif.htm">Mr. Terrific,</A> <A HREF="wildcat1.htm">Wildcat,</A> and <A HREF="bcanary.htm">The Black Canary.</A> In a 1985 <A HREF="glossary.htm#retcon">retcon,</A> a new character, Fury, and an old. hitherto-ignored one, <A HREF="misamer1.htm">Miss America,</A> were shoehorned into the original series after the fact, but they weren't in the actual comic books. <P> The JSA outlived the individual series of most of its members, lasting the rest of the 1940s and then some. By that time, however, superheroes were definitely passé. With its 58th issue (Apr-May 1951), <I>All Star Comics</I> became <I>All Star Western,</I> whose lineup included <A HREF="triggert.htm">The Trigger Twins,</A> Strong Bow, and a completely different character named <A HREF="jthundr2.htm">Johnny Thunder;</A> and the Justice Society was no more. <P> Five years later, however, superheroes started coming back. A new <A HREF="flash2.htm">Flash</A> in 1956 was followed in 1959 by a new <A HREF="lantern2.htm">Green Lantern;</A> and in 1960, the new crop of heroes was gathered together as <A HREF="jla.htm">The Justice League of America.</A> By '63, the revival was in full swing, and the JSA itself was brought back for a series of annual <A HREF="glossary.htm#xover">crossovers</A> with the Justice League. <P> In 1976, <I>All Star Comics</I> was re-started. Some characters were updated, and a few new members were added, but in essence, it was the JSA of old. The revival lasted only a couple of years, but since then, with mini-series, specials, back-up features and whatnot, comics' first superhero group has never been long out of the limelight. <P> During the 1980s, recognizing that they were getting a bit long in the tooth even for comic book characters, DC, at the impetus of writer Roy Thomas, started a second-generation Justice Society, called <A HREF="infinity.htm">Infinity Inc.,</A> consisting mostly of the sons and daughters of JSA members. At the same time, Thomas wrote and edited a series set in the '40s, titled <I><A HREF="alstarsq.htm">All-Star Squadron,</A></I> which included the JSA as well as nearly every other 1940s superhero DC owned. <P> In 1999, DC launched a new Justice Society title, <I>JSA,</I> which features the group as it is today. Members and successors of the '40s JSA aren't the only ones featured — so are many other current heroes with strong ties to those of that decade. Characters without direct JSA ties who have participated include <A HREF="capmarv1.htm">Captain Marvel,</A> <A HREF="airwave2.htm">Air Wave,</A> <A HREF="powrgirl.htm">Power Girl,</A> <A HREF="phanlady.htm">Phantom Lady</A> and more. <P> Nowadays, practically every superhero is or has been a member of one group or another. You can't walk across the street in the average superhero <A HREF="glossary.htm#universe">universe</A> without tripping over an army or two of superheroes. But there was a time when teaming up the super guys was an innovative thing to do, and that's how far back The Justice Society of America goes. <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><B>Webring:</B> <! JSA Webring><script language=javascript type="text/javascript" src="http://ss.webring.com/navbar?f=j;y=don_markstein;u=10141508"> </script><noscript><center> <table bgcolor=gray cellspacing=0 border=2><tr> <td><table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td align=center> <font face=arial size=-1>This site is a member of WebRing. <br>To browse visit <a href="http://ss.webring.com/navbar?f=l;y=don_markstein;u=10141508"> Here</a>.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table> </center></noscript> <P><! BEGIN ADSENSE BANNER CODE><CENTER> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </CENTER><! END ADSENSE CODE> <TD WIDTH=10><TD WIDTH=180 VALIGN="TOP"> <! BEGIN ADLINKS CODE><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><! END ADLINKS CODE> <P><! BEGIN ADSENSE REFERRAL CODE><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><! END ADSENSE REFERRAL CODE> <P> <form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/custom" target="google_window"> <table border="0" bgcolor="#cccccc"> <tr><td nowrap="nowrap" valign="top" align="left" height="32"> <a href="http://www.google.com/"> <img src="http://www.google.com/logos/Logo_25gry.gif" border="0" alt="Google"></img></a> <br/> <input type="hidden" name="domains" value="www.toonopedia.com"></input> <input type="text" name="q" size="23" maxlength="255" value=""></input> </td></tr> <tr> <td nowrap="nowrap"> <table> <tr> <td> <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value=""></input> <font size="-1" color="#000000">Web</font> </td> <td> <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value="www.toonopedia.com" checked="checked"></input> <font size="-1" color="#000000">www.toonopedia.com</font> </td> </tr> </table> <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search"></input> <input type="hidden" name="client" value="pub-1498877845272586"></input> <input type="hidden" name="forid" value="1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="oe" value="ISO-8859-1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="GALT:#008000;GL:1;DIV:#336699;VLC:663399;AH:center;BGC:FFFFFF;LBGC:336699;ALC:0000FF;LC:0000FF;T:000000;GFNT:0000FF;GIMP:0000FF;FORID:1;"></input> <input type="hidden" name="hl" value="en"></input> </td></tr></table> </form>  <FONT SIZE=2><P> <A HREF="boutique/dc-arch.htm#jsa">Purchase Justice Society of America Archive Editions Online</A> <P><A HREF="http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?wickedcoolstuff+e2VdY2+dccomics.html+" TARGET="_blank">Purchase DC Comics Merchandise Online</A> <P></FONT></TABLE> <HR><FONT SIZE=2><I>Text ©2000-10 Donald D. Markstein. Art © DC Comics.</I> </BODY></HTML>