World's Greatest Super-Heroes - a DC Comics 100-Page Super-Spectacular

I have wanted this comic book for such a long time.  I remember seeing images of it and people talking about it for years, but I've never been able to find a copy (at least, not at a reasonable price that I was willing to pay!). Thankfully, at a recent comic book convention, a dealer had a not-quite perfect copy (but still fully in tact with no tears or rips and no pages missing) for a very reasonable price - so I bought it!  The reason I wanted it is because it truly does feature the world's greatest super-heroes:  The Justice Society of America!  That's right - while many consider the Justice League the world's greatest super-heroes, ever since I met the JSA way back in 1980 in that classic JLA/JSA/New Gods cross-over, I have been in love with them.  The idea of an alternate earth where the super-heroes did grow older, where they had children, where some of them died fascinated me to no end - particularly when I was introduced to my favorite all-time comic book character, the Huntress (the grown daughter of the Earth-2 Batman and Catwoman!).  Thus, ever since that time, I have hunted down and read pretty much every possible appearance of the JSA that I could find - and this is one of the comics that I have never been able to get my hands on - until now!

 

DC 100-Page Super-Spectacular featuring World's Greatest Super-Heroes! (for only 50 cents back in 1971!) is a reprint issue, giving readers of the early 1970s an opportunity to read (or re-read, as the case may be) stories starring the Justice Society and some of its members from the 1940s, '50s, and '60s.  The book opens with the two-parter "Crisis on Earth-One!" and "Crisis on Earth-Two!" from Justice League of America issues 21 and 22 (Aug. and Sept. 1963, respectively).  The stories that follow are those of individual members of the JSA - The Spectre, Johnny Quick, the Vigilante (not the Marv Woflman/George Perez version), Wildcat, and Hawkman with Hawkgirl.  And, yes, I realize the Vigilante was never truly a member of the JSA; however, he was later included in the All-Star Squadron in the 1980s, so it could be said he was later retconned into the group of Earth-Two heroes!

 

Anyway, that opening story with the first historic cross-over of the JLA and JSA is always a treasure to read.  "Crisis on Earth-One!" re-introduced the Justice Society of America to young readers of the 1960s who may have never heard of that team (since its last appearance was back in 1951 with the cancellation of All-Star Comics).  By this time, the Flash of Earth-One had already discovered the existence of Earth-Two and its super-hero counterparts, but the two teams had yet to meet.  But when the villains of both Earths find a way to switch places in order to commit crimes, the JLA and JSA find themselves at a disadvantage - not only do they not know these other Earth's villains, but the ne'er-do-wells have set a trap to ensure the JLA and JSA cannot defeat them!  The two-part story continued into "Crisis on Earth-Two!" and allowed the Green Lanterns of both Earths to free the kidnapped Flashes and ultimately defeat the Crime Champions of two worlds.  The words of the Earth-Two Hawkman at the end of the story are oh-so-prophetic:  "We're going to keep in touch! There's no telling when we may be called upon to join forces again!"  And join forces again they did, every year in an annual team-up that saw them eventually meet up with a number of other teams, including the Seven Soldiers of Victory, the Freedom Fighters, the Legion of Super-Heroes, the Shazam family, the stars of the Old West, the New Gods, and even the All-Star Squadron!  Gardner Fox likely had no idea what an iconic story he had written, one that still resonates with fans more than 60 years later!

The Spectre's story, from More Fun Comics issue 55 (May 1940), is the oldest reprinted story in this comic.  With art by Bernard Baily, the story finds the ghost of vengeance battling another spirit who walks the Earth, only this one is spreading evil.  It seems he may have met his match, but a last minute trick enables the Spectre to turn the tables on his nemesis and imprison him for all eternity in solitude - a fate the villain had planned for the Spectre!  The author of the story is not identified, but an online search reveals the writer as Jerry Siegel, one of the creators of Superman!

The next tale features Johnny Quick and His Magic Formula in "Stand-In for 100 Convicts." from Adventure Comics issue 190 (July 1953).  I really enjoyed this story, as (a) I like the character of Johnny Quick, and (b) it was a creative story.  A prison warden agrees to release 100 criminals from prison on the belief they will not return to a life of crime - but when $100,000 worth of diamonds disappears, it seems the criminals have gone back to their old ways.  Johnny is on the case, but he discovers that only one of the criminals has gone bad - the others are searching for the bad seed, hoping that by bringing him back in, they can prove they have changed.  Johnny agrees to help and must distract the warden and the police in order to give the criminals a chance to find the one who stole the diamonds! Using his speed, Johnny tries to pretend to be all 100 of the released criminals, a pretty nifty trick!  Even though it is only six-pages in length, the story is full of action and dialogue (and, in today's comics, this would probably be spaced out into a six-ISSUE story, rather than just six pages).  The artist is identified as Ralph Mayo, but online sources indicate Hy Mankin was the artist, and Don C. Cameron was the writer.

Next up is the Vigilante and his little sidekick Stuff in a story titled "The Galleon in the Desert!" (from Action Comics issue 146 (July 1950).  I'm not going to lie here, I did not read this story.  The Vigilante is not a character that interests me, and while the art of the nine-page tale was actually pretty good, I just didn't have the desire to read it.  It was written by Joseph Samachson and drawn by Dan Barry.

The Wildcat story, however, I did read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  "Crime Wore a Costume!" is actually an unpublished Golden Age story that never saw print before this comic, which made it a special treat.  The artist is identified as Jon Chester Kozlak, and I discovered online the writer was Bob Kanigher.  The story finds Ted Grant and his boxing contender, Mike Bailey, putting in a holiday appearance at a local department store when a group of Santa-wearing criminals try to escape with all the contents of the jewelry department! Ted quickly changes into Wildcat to fight the criminal Santas, and Bailey steps in to help, unmasking Wildcat's nemesis, the villainous Huntress (not the Batman and Catwoman's daughter from the late '70s, but the tiger-striped one from the Golden Age who Roy Thomas eventually renamed "Tigress" in his Young All-Stars series).  She sets up a number of traps for Wildcat, including a very nearly beheading; but, Wildcat manages to outwit the feline thief and flip her right into the hands of the waiting police.  

This issue wraps up with a tale of Hawkman and Hawkgirl from The Brave and the Bold issue 36 (June/July 1961) titled "Strange Spells of the Sorcerer."  Story by Gardner Fox and art by Joe Kubert, the Hawks find themselves battling a noted magical authoriy, Konrad Kaslak, and unknowingly the sly woman, Mavis Trent.  It must be noted that this Hawkman and Hawkgirl are the Katar and Shayera Hol of Thanagar - the Hawks of Earth-One!  It's a silver-age tale that was published just 10 years prior to this reprint and is only one of the two stories that originally appeared in that issue of The Brave and the Bold.  The story is a bit darker in tone and color than its Golden Age predecessors, and it is also longer than any of the previous tales (other than the JLA/JSA two-parter).  It's interesting that with all the other stories in this issue focusing on Earth-Two characters, they would end the issue with the Earth-One Hawks.

The wrap-around cover to this reprint issue is a masterpiece drawn by comic legend Neal Adams and features a conglomerate of heroes from both Earth-One and Earth-Two (interestingly, the front cover features mostly Earth-One heroes, while the back cover focuses mostly on Earth-Two heroes).  While I didn't really need it, I do like the fact that DC included a handy guide on the inside back cover to all of the characters who appeared on the cover.  This likely helped the readers back in 1971 who did not recognize many of the Earth-Two characters. I find it interesting that when identifying the characters, those who have doppelgangers on both Earths are identified by their Earth (such as Superman of  Earth-One and Superman of Earth-Two), but characters who have no doppelgangers are simply identified by their name (such as Mr. Terrific and Wildcat).  Black Canary is the only character identified as being from both Earth-One and Earth-Two, since she originally came from Earth-Two, but crossed over and stayed on Earth-One in one of the annual JLA/JSA crossovers.  There is also interspersed among the stories "A Checklist of DC Super-Heroes" (appearing on pages 35, 51, 97, and 98), which not only lists a number of the characters used by DC at the time, but provided the characters' first appearances.  The list is in alphabetical order and includes many well-known characters as well as some obscure characters such as Air Wave (first appearance in Detective Comics #60, Feb. 1942), Bwana Beast (first appearance in Showcase #66, Jan/Feb 1967), the Ghost Patrol (first appearance in Flash Comics #29, May 1942), and a number of others.  For me, this guide was a lot more informative than the character guide on the inside back cover!

Overall, this was a great issue of reprints and one I am absolutely thrilled to now have in my collection!

RATING:  10 museum animals brought to life out of 10 for keeping the Justice Society of America and its members "alive" for readers of every generation to read, fall in love with, and enjoy!