by Chris Ryall
7 The Justice League of America
And justice for allIf it worked before, it'll work again.
That was what DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz must have been thinking in late 1959, as he prepared to debut the latest feature in his burgeoning line of superhero titles. He had already successfully revived the Flash and Green Lantern in the anthology book Showcase. So what next? The choice for Schwartz was easy — a revival of one of the biggest successes for National Comics in the 1940s, the Justice Society of America. However, Schwartz wasn't crazy about the name. As he explained in the in-house DC fan magazine Amazing World of DC Comics #14 (March 1977), “To me, ‘Society' meant something you found on Park Avenue. I felt that ‘League' was a stronger word, one that the readers could identify with because of baseball leagues.”
The revamped team, the Justice League of America (JLA), would solidify DC Comics's full-time return to the superhero business. Its success would not only herald the introduction of scores of superhero titles at DC, but also inspire DC's rival Martin Goodman at Marvel to instruct Stan Lee to create their own superhero team, thereby kick-starting the Marvel Universe.
JLA ROLL CALL
While the name was changed, the basic concept was not. So who then would be drafted into Schwartz's new JLA? Schwartz's new rising stars, the Flash and Green Lantern, were a given. Wonder Woman still had her own solo magazine, so she was in. Aquaman was nestled into a monthly spot backing up Superboy in Adventure Comics, and he got the call. And also J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Man-hunter. Who, you ask? J'onn J'onzz, the Pete Best of the Justice League.
J'onn, a.k.a. the Martian Manhunter, was a holdover from the sci-ficraze in comics in the late 1950s. Premiering as a backup feature in Detective Comics #225 (November 1955), J'onn is a Martian accidentally teleported to Earth by the well-intentioned if somewhat skittish scientist Professor Mark Erdel, who drops dead from shock at the sight of the newly arrived Martian. Stranded on Earth, J'onn anglicizes his name to the more American-sounding John Jones, and uses his Martian abilities to shape-change into a human. J'onn works as a police detective and uses his Martian powers on the job in superheroic fashion, and there are quite a few of them. Aside from the shape-changing, J'onn is super-strong and can fly, turn invisible and read minds. Plus, there is his ill-defined and infrequently used Martian vision and Martian breath. (J'onn's major fallibility is that he is extremely vulnerable to fire.)
Justice League of America: DC's biggest stars. Only the best made the cut.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: LIMITED COLLECTOR'S EDITION; VOL. 5, NO. C-46 © 1976 DC COMICS. JUSTICE LEAGUE™ & © DC COMICS.
At the time Justice League of America was getting started, J'onn J'onzz had appeared as a six-page feature in Detective Comics for more than five years, thus earning him a spot on the team. Unfortunately, the Martian Manhunter would be written out of JLA by the time Hanna-Barbera premiered the Saturday-morning TV series Super Friends, its animated version of the Justice League, in 1973. Legions of young comics fans would later pick up old Justice League comics and ask, “Who's the bald green guy?”
But what about the two biggest guns in DC's arsenal, Superman and Batman? Initially there was some resistance to the inclusion of the Big Two in Schwartz's new League, namely from Superman editor Mort Weisinger and Batman editor Jack Schiff. They argued that Superman's and Batman's inclusion might overexpose the heroes and negatively affect sales, so the three editors compromised. Superman and Batman would be included as full members with smaller roles in the adventures (they were often busy in outer space or other missions), and would not appear on the cover.
Schwartz diplomatically handled the inevitable questions from fans asking about Superman's and Batman's absence. He wrote in the first JLA letter column that “these two popular heroes appear in so many other DC magazines that we thought it would be more appropriate to play up the other members.” This policy continued throughout the series' first year until DC higher-ups, noticing the absence of the two on the JLA covers, intervened. On orders from upstairs, Superman and Batman took part in more adventures and were featured prominently on the covers.
In assembling his creative team, Schwartz brought on Gardner Fox, longtime writer of the original comic-book super-team, the Justice Society of America. Back in the 1940s, Fox had helped established the sturdy formula of the team book, in which the JSA would gather at the beginning of the issue when a threat appeared, break up into solo or smaller-group adventures and then reunite for the grand finale. No need to mess with a good thing. This successful framework would continue for countless JLA stories, both by Fox and his many successors.
For the art, Schwartz selected Mike Sekowsky, whose art is far from flashy but contains a crude brilliance that is a perfect fit for the title — simultaneously futuristic and fairytale simple. Sekowsky's figures weren't the most heroically cut — sometimes the Justice League looked more like a bunch of middleaged businessmen dressed up for a Kiwanis Club masquerade party. His backgrounds were usually sparsely detailed and occasionally his anatomy could get a little, shall we say, creative. Still, Sekowsky's Justice League of America looked like nothing else on the rack at the time. The fact that the League members looked less flashy and polished in the pages of Justice League of America compared to their solo books helped to break out the series as its own animal.
SCOTT SAYS
The League's first recorded battle with Starro set off a mysterious trend: most all of the Justice League's recurring opponents had a name ending in the letter O. Starro was followed by Professor Ivo and his android Amazo, after which came Despero, and after that Kanjar Ro. The hidden message here? Gardner Fox liked the letter O. That's all we've got.
JLA VERSUS A STARFISH. REALLY.
Schwartz scheduled the Justice League for a three-issue tryout in the pages of another of DC's anthology books, The Brave and the Bold #28 (March 1960). The Justice League of America face off against the alien threat of Starro the Conqueror in the logically named story, “Starro the Conqueror!”
Schwartz and Fox dispense with an origin story, and instead drop the reader into the action at a point after the League has been in service long enough to have already handed out signal devices and constructed a secret (and, for the time, rather stylish) headquarters. At the start of the story, a friendly puffer fish warns Aquaman of the arrival of a mysterious giant starfish from outer space. The giant starfish — calling himself Starro — has changed three local starfish into duplicates of himself and declared his intention to conquer the planet. Concerned, Aquaman summons his fellow Justice League members to convene at headquarters to discuss the matter (with the glaring exception of Superman and Batman — Superman is off stopping a meteor shower and Batman is tracking down two suspiciously vague “archenemies.” (Sounds like an excuse to get out of dinner plans.)
CHRIS SAYS
I was always a Marvel kid growing up. Sure, DC's Wolfman/Pérez Teen Titans and the Levitz/Giffen Legion of Superheroes won me over, but for the most part, I had no real interest in big team books like the JLA. Until, that is, writers J.M. DeMatteis and Keith Giffen took over and brought with them the amazingly expressive artist Kevin Maguire. Their Justice League work is most often referenced for its well-developed humor and marvelous facial expressions, but it's so much more than that. The book instantly gives life to characters that held no resonance before. The unfortunate death of Blue Beetle nearly two decades after their JLA tenure only meant what it did because their earlier work with the character was so strong. It remains one of the very best comics to come out of the 1980s.
The League members split up to handle Starro's three starfish deputies, and soon the Flash discovers Starro's main power, aside from being, well, a really big starfish — mind control. Starro's deputy has mentally enslaved the entire population of Happy Harbor, except for one person: the teen hipster Snapper Carr, who remains mysteriously immune. After Flash defeats the giant starfish, he heads off to confront Starro, with the annoying Snapper i
n tow. (Snapper received his nickname for his incessant habit of snapping his fingers in appreciation of anything he likes. Charming.)
The re-assembled Justice League attacks Starro, who's much more formidable than his invertebrate underlings, having mentally received all the knowledge and experience from their individual battles with the League. Starro reads Green Lantern's mind and discovers his weakness against yellow, then changes his skin color to render GL's ring useless. To find out why Snapper is immune to Starro's mind control, the Flash performs a quick chemical analysis and detects traces of lime on Snapper's clothes. (Who knew sprinkling lime on the lawn was a necessary chore of the 1960s?) They gather several barrels of lime, and Green Lantern encases Starro in a hardened shell of lime, helpfully applied by J'onn J'onzz in a rare use of his Martian breath.
Once Starro is defeated, the Justice League rewards Snapper Carr for essentially standing around and doing nothing, declaring him an honorary member of the League and giving him a JLA signal device. Little do they know that their kind gesture of pity to a clearly troubled young man will result in this punk's practically living in the Justice League's Secret Sanctuary for the next five years.
Not surprisingly, the first three-issue Justice League run in The Brave and the Bold was a big success, leading to the first issue of its own series, Justice League of America, two months later in November 1960.
A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN
Unlike Marvel's Avengers series, which boasted a fluid, rotating membership as one of its strengths, for decades, the hallmark of Justice League of America was stability. Members weren't added easily or haphazardly, and by and large, once a hero joined up, he generally stayed, with very few exceptions. As a result, membership in the Justice League seemed far more exclusive and impressive
GUEST LECTURER
CARR D'ANGELO, owner, Earth-2 Comics
THE FIRST ISSUE OF JLA I EVER READ
The first issue of Justice League of America I ever read was #108 (December 1973) by Len Wein and Dick Dillin. It was the second part of that year's JLA-JSA crossover reintroducing the Freedom Fighters. It was great fun but horribly confusing. I don't think it ever says that Superman has gray hair because he's the 1940s Superman from Earth-Two! Needless to say, I came to love the multiverse from that moment on.
THE BEST CREATIVE TIME ON THE TITLE
Steve Englehart came on to Justice League of America in 1977 after a spectacular run on The Avengers at Marvel. He infused the book with cool ideas like the Star-Tsar and the Construct, revived erstwhile mascot Snapper Carr, linked the interstellar Manhunter mythology to the Green Lantern Corps and solidified the Martian Manhunter's role as an essential team member with a super-cool new origin. A lot of these concepts last to this day and even made it into the new cartoon series.
THE BEST COVER
Justice League of America #190 (May 1981) — they don't call him Starro the Conqueror for nothing. The heroes' faces are covered by this mind-controlling purple starfish. A creepy, haunting image by Brian Bolland. Definitely an issue where the cover is so much better than the story inside.
THE BEST STORYLINE/ISSUE
The story that blew me away as a kid was reprinted in the 100-page Justice League of America #116 (April 1975), “Crisis on Earth-Three,” where JLA and JSA go up against their evil counterparts, the Crime Syndicate of America. It was one of the rare times where both teams were outmatched. Heck, Ultraman got extra powers when exposed to Kryptonite! That's one nasty doppelgänger.
THE GOOFIEST STORYLINE/ISSUE
Roy Thomas was always crafting epic storylines that outclassed the minor continuity glitch they were designed to explain. Case in point: Justice League of America #219–220 (October–November 1983), a JSA crossover in which it was revealed that a pregnant Earth-Two Black Canary went into suspended animation during a routine trip between Earths, and gave birth to a daughter who ultimately emerged fully grown on Earth-One to make time with Green Arrow. It had already been explained that the Earth-hopping gave Black Canary a supersonic cry; couldn't that pseudo-science also explain her de-aging? Or maybe Ollie just likes older chicks.
This was the top echelon of the DC Universe, the absolute best the company had to offer. Over at Marvel, sometimes it seemed like anybody who hung around the mansion long enough could become an Avenger, but if a character was inducted into the JLA, it meant that the character wasn't going anywhere, and that readers would most likely be seeing them steadily for years to come. Let's take a look at the full roster of the original Justice League of America. Following the original Big Seven, DC's battling bowman the Green Arrow was the League's first recruit, followed at fairly regular intervals over the next twenty years by the size-changing hero the Atom, the winged wonder Hawkman, the blonde bombshell known as the Black Canary, the stretchable sleuth the Elongated Man, the android with a heart called the Red Tornado, Hawkman's wife and crimefighting partner Hawkgirl, the sorceress Zatanna the Magician, and the atomic powerhouse called Firestorm the Nuclear Man.
And there you have it — the Justice League of America. For our money the single best roster for a superhero team in comics. Maybe the Avengers had more fun and different combinations, and the X-Men may have been better written at times, and the Legion may have had them beat by sheer numbers, but this is the team to which all others are compared. It's got everything. Sheer muscle in Superman and Wonder Woman, raw power in Green Lantern and Firestorm, specialists like the Atom, Flash, Aquaman, Zatanna, Black Canary and the Elongated Man, mere mortals who get by on sheer skill and willpower like Batman and Green Arrow, and lost souls looking for a new home like J'onn J'onzz, the Hawks and the Red Tornado. Most of all, it's got pedigree. It's got stature. It's got presence.
In the two decades since this first Justice League team disbanded, there have been numerous JLA lineups, some more popular than others. The most popular versions, it seems are the ones that emulate this original model: the most powerful, important characters in the company. Even with that in mind, nothing has come close in our minds to the symbolic might of this first pantheon. Other teams were just superheroes. Back in the day, at least through the eyes of a couple of 10-year-old kids, the Justice League of America felt like legends.
8 Watchmen
The fantasy of realismDC Comics has had a surprising tendency over the course of its existence: if a rival publisher goes out of business, DC often swoops in and buys up the rights to its characters. It happened first in the 1960s with Quality Comics, adding 1940s stars Blackhawk and Plastic Man to the roster, then in the 1980s with Fawcett, garnering the rights to the original Captain Marvel and the rest of the Marvel Family, and again in 1985, when DC purchased the “Action Heroes” from defunct publisher Charlton Comics, adding characters such as Blue Beetle, the Question and Captain Atom.
In the case of the Quality and Fawcett acquisitions, the characters were simply folded into DC's stable through its convenient “parallel Earths” theory, a DC standby. However, other plans were afoot for the Charlton characters. Alan Moore, who had just made a name for himself on Swamp Thing, was thinking big: a veritable deconstruction of the superhero, using the established Charlton characters as his canvas. Moore's plan was too radical for DC — it didn't want to see the properties it had just purchased altered so permanently and irrevocably their first time out of the gate. DC loved the proposal, though, and instructed Moore to continue, only with new characters of his own devising. Moore obliged, modifying Blue Beetle to Nite Owl, Captain Atom to Doctor Manhattan and The Question to Rorschach, and the changes were all for the better. Rather than making them carry the baggage of their previous publishing histories, Moore imbued his new characters with an archetypal weight they wouldn't otherwise have: one was the gadgeteer, one was the superman, and one was the vigilante, respectively. Instead of being about the Charlton heroes, Watchmen would be about superheroes in total and how they'd exist in a real world, a change that gave Watchmen a scope and a feeling of universality.
In Watchmen, wr
itten by Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons, the setting is New York City in 1985; but a very different New York City, and for a simple reason: superheroes are real, and as a result, the United States has won the Vietnam War, and Richard Nixon is still in the White House. The U.S. has retained the advantage in the Cold War against the Soviets because of its superheroes (or rather, one particular superhero, the omnipotent and near-omniscient Doctor Manhattan), and the world balances precariously on the brink of nuclear war. This is all background, of course, for the real story at hand: a murder mystery. The vigilante Rorschach discovers that his fellow superheroes, most of whom had been forced into retirement years earlier, have become targets, following the murder of the Comedian, a former superhero turned government assassin. As Rorschach goes about his investigation, we're introduced to the rest of the remaining heroes in exile, and learn about their histories and intertwining relationships through flashbacks, as well as an innovative series of supplementary materials at the end of each chapter.
Watchmen remains both Moore's and Gibbons's strongest work, with Moore providing some of the best dialogue of his career, creating such distinct voices for his creations that the reader feels he's been reading them for years. Gibbons, meanwhile, adheres to a strict nine-panel format, only occasionally varying from the norm, and rather than feeling monotonous or confining, it acclimatizes the reader into the world of Watchmen without the distraction of fancy page layouts. Gibbons's designs, both for the main characters and for the slightly more futuristic yet still familiar world of 1986 New York, are inspired: his superhero costumes in particular are first-rate — you should be able to pick the characters out of a lineup having never seen them before, just by knowing their names.