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!

JSA - Ragnarok

There was definitely no better way to start out 2021 than to read the one and only JSA prose novel! I have been waiting for this book for more years than I can count (well, not really, but it HAS been quite a number of years!).  The JSA (or, more accurately, the Justice Society of America) has long been my favorite superhero team, consisting of my favorite heroes from the pre-Crisis Earth-2 (and if you don't know what that means, go look it up!).  After the Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985, DC Comics wiped out all of the alternate earths and merged the JSA into the main earth; however, this meant that these World War II heroes would be fighting side-by-side with their formerly Earth-1 counterparts, and the world would be filled with two Flashes, two Green Lanterns, two Hawkmen, two Hawkgirls, two Atoms, two Wonder Women, etc.  And DC couldn't have that.  So, they elected to send the old-timers into a limbo, forever fighting the undefeatable Surtur in a never-ending cycle of battles to protect all of reality - and so seemed to end the careers of the Justice Society...

Until DC brought them back in the '90s. After a short-lived 10-issue series, writer Geoff Johns breathed new life into the team, creating a legacy of heroes and an absolutely amazing comic book series populated with old and new heroes alike.  And it is this super team that author Paul Kupperberg drew upon for the very first JSA prose novel, Ragnarok.  It was set to be published in early 2006, and I even had it on my Amazon watch list, ready to buy it.  Then the publisher claimed bankruptcy, and the completed JSA novel never saw print.  I kept hoping DC would take it to another publisher, but that didn't happen.  And year after year after year went by, until finally I came to the realization that I would never get to read Kupperberg's tale.

But all that changed when I saw an announcement on Facebook that Kupperberg was going to self-publish the book!  After all this time, I finally was able to get the book and read the prose adventures of the JSA!  And Kupperberg definitely did not disappoint.  Ragnarok is not a re-telling of the JSA's last adventure after Crisis; rather, it was a story that explored the after-effects of that tale.  The story is set in the post-Crisis universe, where Power Girl is uncertain of her origins; where Superman and Batman were never part of the original JSA; where Hippolyta (Wonder Woman's mother) was the Wonder Woman who was a member of the JSA; where Hawkman's son, Hector Hall, is Doctor Fate; where Sand has now taken over the role of Sandman; where Jakeem Thunder now has control of the Thunderbolt, who is merged with the original Johnny Thunder; where Michael Holt has taken over the role of Mr. Terrific; and where the original Flash, Green Lantern, and Wildcat are training the next generation of heroes, such as Stargirl and Hawkgirl.  The story also features the JSA's long-time nemeses, the Injustice Society - the Wizard, the Icicle, the Sportsmaster, the Fiddler, the Tigress, the Shade, Brain Wave, and even Solomon Grundy.  It is a good, old-fashioned story of good vs. evil - the ISA wants to take over the world, and the JSA must stop them.

Kupperberg treats readers to a glimpse into the JSA's past, after the end of World War II, as the world was beginning to settle down following the death of Hitler and defeat of Germany.  The Spear of Destiny takes center stage, both in the past and in the present, and when the Wizard gets all three pieces of the Spear, in conjunction with other mystical objects, it offers him an opportunity for unlimited power - but at what cost?  Is he willing to betray his own villainous teammates to put an end to the JSA once and for all?  And with the JSA on ice (literally!), how will they prevent Surtur from taking them back into his world to return to that eternal battle from which they thought they had escaped?

There's plenty of heroic action, plenty of characterization of our beloved characters, and plenty of dastardly betrayals.  The only thing that was a bit disappointing for me with this story is that Green Lantern mentioned his daughter, Jade, on several occasions - but not once did he mention the fact that he also has a son (Todd Rice, otherwise known as the hero, Obsidian).  There is even a mention of the Infinity, Inc. team, of which Obsidian was a founding member.  So, why the glaring omission?  I can't say, but once can only hope that it was merely an accidental oversight and not an intentional omission.

The story was well-worth the wait, and considering how long it has been now since DC introduced its "New 52" universe and the current "Rebirth" universe, leaving far behind not only the original JSA of Earth 2, but also this version of the JSA from New Earth, it was refreshing and fun to read some more adventures of the team I've loved for nearly all my life. Now, if only DC Comics would bring back the original JSA and tell some more stories of them (perhaps the upcoming JSA cartoon movie will inspire some creators to pitch a new JSA comic to DC.....)

RATING:  9 showings of Casablanca out of 10 for feeding a fan-boy's hunger for more tales of the original super-team!

All Star Comics - Only Legends Live Forever (DC Comics Omnibus Collection)

In June 1980, less than a year after I started collecting comics, I purchased issue 271 of Wonder Woman. As with all of the comics from DC that month, there was the proclamation across the top that read "Now! 8 Extra Pages..." and in this instance, it was "with The Huntress!" I had no idea at the time who this character was, but seeing her blue and purple costume with the blue flowing cape and the pointed mask, I was intrigued. After reading the 17-page Wonder Woman story, I became absolutely captivated with the 8-page tale of this character - the Huntress - the daughter of Batman and Catwoman from a different earth! Say what?! A different earth - this was news to me. But this first 8-page story began my love and fascination and borderline obsession with the original Earth-2 of DC Comics and the Justice Society of America who resided on that earth!

The very next month, in August 1980, I got my first full taste of Earth-2 characters and the Justice Society of America themselves when they appeared in Justice League of America no. 183, the first of the three-part JLA/JSA/New Gods story - my very first (but certainly not my last!) JLA/JSA crossover tale.  Power Girl! Doctor Fate! Huntress! I couldn't get enough.  So, I started asking around (pre-internet days, thank you very much) and eventually found out more about them - how they started in the 1940s during World War II, they were published in a book called All-Star Comics, they disappeared from comics for a decade or more, they re-appeared first in Flash ("Flash of Two Worlds") and then in the first JLA/JSA crossover in 1963.  But what excited me the most is that there was a revival series of All-Star Comics, picking up the numbering with issue 58 (the original series ended with issue 57) and telling new stories from Earth-2 in the late '70s.  Unfortunately, it had been cancelled again before I was collecting comics, but they were not yet that old that I couldn't find them reasonably priced in the back-issue section of local comic shops.  So, I hunted them down, high and low, until I found them all and could read these stories of my now favorite comic books characters - the Justice Society.  I got to read the introduction of Power Girl, and later still, the introduction and origin of the Huntress (who was and still is my all-time favorite character!).  I was sad when the series ended during the DC Implosion with issue 74, but I found the $1.00 issues of Adventure Comics that continued the stories, including the Death of Batman (from Earth-2, of course) and the Man Who Defeated the Justice Society.  I must have read those issues over and over again as a teenager.

Flash-forward to today, because DC finally honored its first super-team with an omnibus of that 1970s' collection of stories (having previously issues the entire run of All-Star Comics nos. 1 through 57 in Archive format).  Well, I couldn't wait to dig into this new omnibus - All-Star Comics: Only Legends Live Forever.  Re-reading all of these stories again was such a beautiful escape from all the craziness going on in the world today. This was a time when continuity was just beginning to really come into focus in comics (the JLA/JSA crossovers happen in-between some of the issues), and while the stories are multi-issue in length, with subplots in some issues laying the ground for stories in future issues, the tales of the JSA were still much, MUCH lighter than the dark-gritty stories in today's comics.  Also, these stories featured some beautiful art by Wally Wood and then Joe Staton and some fantastic writing by Gerry Conway and later Paul Levitz (who co-created the Huntress with Joe Staton).  Each issue, while only 17 or so pages, was jam-packed with story, which is what I love!  It definitely gives you your money worth (unlike the comics of today, which feature too many splash pages and too many 3-panel pages, these issues feature most of the time 5 or more panels of story per page, with splash pages being kept to a minimum for only very important scenes that give the story greater impact for those pages!), and it takes longer than just a couple of minutes to read a whole issue.

What I truly love about these stories is that they have some major battles with fantastic villains (such as Brainwave, the Injustice Society, Vulcan, the Psycho Pirate, the Strike Force, Sportsmaster and the (original) Huntress, and others, but at the same time, there is plenty of room for more personal struggles - such as Star Spangled Kids unease at being brought into the future (he was brought from the 1950s during a JLA/JSA crossover with the Seven Soldiers of Victory), Green Lantern's struggle with keeping a personal life and balancing it with his heroic work, Power Girl's temper and anger at being held back for so long in her cousin Superman's shadow, Hourman's feelings of uselessness, and Wildcat's growing need to get back to his life as Ted Grant.  These were stories of heroes, but they were also stories of the people behind those masks as well.  Conway and Levitz crafted the tales and wrote the characters so that you felt for them - you shared their joy, their tears, their wonder, their determination, and their loss.

Throughout these stories, Dr. Fate's life was in jeopardy - Power Girl's life was in danger - and even Wildcat faced possible death; the "hero-in-danger-of-dying" trope was played a bit too often for such a short run, but it did allow for a rotating use of heroes - while Star Spangled Kid, Power Girl, Flash, Green Lantern, Wildcat, and Hawkman (and later Huntress) played the main cast, Conway and Levitz occasionally brought in Superman, Wonder Woman, Dr. Mid-nite, Hourman, Robin, Starman, and even Batman to help the team in their fight for justice.  There was a passing of the torch from some of the old-times (who headlined the original run of All-Star) to the newcomers, which offered readers their first glance at the ideal that the Justice Society would become a legacy team, passing from one generation to the next (more heavily played upon in the post-Crisis continuity of DC Comics with Geoff John's run on the JSA).

The stories in Adventure Comics were rather hit-or-miss; even with the first two-part story, "Only Legends Live Forever" (used as the subtitle for this collection) having been originally intended for the over-sized issue 75 of All-Star Comics that was never published due to the DC Implosion (when DC cancelled quite a few titles).  The whole death of Batman story felt contrived and had no real lead-up to it in order to make the impact of his death more powerful to the reader.  The follow-up story that revealed how Batman's killer got his supernatural powers was a major letdown with an unknown warlock-wannabe named Fredric Vaux (perhaps an Earth-2 version of Felix Faust??) who was trying to summon a nether god to grant him power.  As the Huntress says when she attacks him, "Then Batman died for no earthly reason...." The story seemed to be nothing more than a way for Levitz to clear up the fact that with Bruce Wayne/Batman dying and his identity becoming public knowledge, people would know who Robin and the Huntress were.

However, the Wildcat tale from Adventure Comics no. 464 and the "countdown to disaster" tale from Adventure Comics no. 465 were both well written stories worthy of the Justice Society.  The final tale, from Adventure Comics no. 466, was very befitting, as Huntress tells Power Girl the story of why the Justice Society disappeared from the scene for so many years when the government demanded they reveal their true identities to be cleared for national security in the early 1950s, and rather than compromise their identities, Dr. Fate simply removed them from the trial, and the members went on with their civilian lives, hiding their heroic sides until their fateful meeting with the Justice League in 1963...

For me, these stories represent some of the best times of comics. While the stories occasionally dealt with death or other topical issues, they were still much lighter in nature (even the colors were brighter!), and there was a heck of a lot more story in each issue.  The heroes were true heroes (unless they were being controlled by someone like Psycho Pirate or Brainwave) and never crossed the line , and they represented the hope of what being a hero truly meant.  For me, this original Earth-2 and its Justice Society will forever be my favorite super hero team, my favorite characters (particularly the Huntress!), and my favorite comic book stories (with the exception of "The Judas Contract" from Wolfman/Perez' The New Teen Titans).  I don't care how many times I read these stories, I still enjoy them just as much each and every time!

These are what comics were meant to be!

RATING:  10 namesake battles out of 10 for reminding me just how good comic books can be (and for giving me another opportunity to read tales of the Justice Society of America!).