Page 34 - JOA-Sept-2021

t might not seem like the men behind the Junior Justice Society of start, with Flash and Green Lantern even having their own titles.
America club were taking a big risk. After all, they were following Dr. Fate and The Atom appeared for the first time in the same
Itheir highly successful formula of combining their top characters issue that featured the team’s debut, but by then there was a solid
into the appropriately named All Star Comics with the equally profitable formula in place. If they weren’t “can’t miss” characters, they were at
concept of the Supermen of America club. Between a world at war and least close cousins.
corporate in-fighting, though, things weren’t as easy as they looked … Prior to the group’s first appearance in All Star Comics #3
(November 1940) none of the comics publishers had cobbled their
Gathered Together characters into a “super team.” In hindsight it’s easy to wonder how it
When the superhero tide started, it took no time at all for a deluge actually took someone so long to think of it.
of super-powered, mystically charged, and flat out weirdly attired crime
fighters to become the norm in comics publishing. From the first Building a Better Society
appearance of Superman in Action Comics #1 (June 1938) until In 1938, Superman personified the collective imagination of a
the emergence of the Justice Society of America in 1940, the children society struggling to regain its identity. Here was a man-like being who
of America found newsstands awash with a plethora of superheroes could throw automobiles, stop airplanes as they flew, and who was
fighting for their attention. faster than a locomotive. That those three industrial icons of the time
American publisher Martin Goodman had a group of businesses could be so easily bested by the Man of Steel was no coincidence.
that acted as the earliest comic book “arm” of his business, commonly Through comic strips and pulps, in science fiction, adventure and
referred to as Timely Comics early on, and would evolve in the 1960s crime stories, fantasy characters frequently represented the pinnacle of
as Marvel Comics. By June 1940, Timely Comics’ Human Torch and human development. In whatever form, these characters almost always
Sub-Mariner, their two main mainstays, had done battle in a single succeeded against the odds. Good most often triumphed over evil.
story, but it wasn’t even close to the congregation of characters gathered Only the forces of nature were not subservient to people – at least
together in All Star. not usually.
The Flash, Green Lantern, Sandman, Hourman, Spectre, and This particular era of escapism makes sense. The prime consumers
Hawkman had already appeared in other comics and were off to a rousing of this fare were children. The residuals of the first World War and The

The 6” x 9” JJSA
mailing envelope
shows the low
individual issue/
member number
(3533) matching the
certificate. The
accompanying member
letter mentions that
All-Star Comics #3 featured the first appearance the badge is included. This example of the four-page comic book
of the Justice Society of America, which makes Image courtesy of The Minute Man Answers The Call
them the first superhero team. Hake’s Auctions. by All-American Comics founder M.C. Gaines
Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions.
is the 1942 version. Image courtesy of Hake’s Auctions.
32 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles