365 Days of DC House Ads, Day 54

House ad for Justice League of America v.1 #4 (April-May 1961); printed in Batman #139 (April 1961)
Comic cover art: pencils and inks by Murphy Anderson, letters by Ira Schnapp

Ad designed and lettered by Ira Schnapp
The inset art on the ad is taken from the splash page of JLA #4:


Splash page of Justice League of America v.1 #4 (April-May 1961), script by Gardner Fox, pencils by Mike Sekowsky, inks by Bernard Sachs, letters by Gaspar Saladino
Hey, how'd GA earn his way into the JLA? (Huh, that kinda all rhymes!) By shooting a big diamond with another big diamond. He's got a diamond as big as a Ritz as an arrowhead.


How much does this comic book love diamonds? So much that this page appears to teach you all about diamonds!


So, thank you, diamonds, for making this story possible!


Man, Snapper Carr could not die fast enough, could he?

Also in this issue, on the letters page: a missive from the Emerald Archer himself!:


Me, I'm not certain that is Green Arrow writing in. Heck, that may as well be the Capitol City Goofball who penned that message. What's my first clue that this isn't by Oliver Queen?


JLA #4 also features a letter from another famous guy in comics before he joined up with one of the big teams:


Roy Thomas actually loved that JSA "Invasion from Fairyland" story so much that he scripted a modern-day version that never got published (he discusses it in Alter Ego #100).

But hey, what of that big-ass diamond arrowhead? Brad Metzer more recently retconned it to be a diamond-tipped arrow.



Panels from Green Arrow v.4 #19 (January 2003), script by Brad Metzer, pencils by Phil Hester, inks by Ande Parks, colors by James Sinclair, letters by Sean Konot
Sure, Ollie. Blame it on poor Mike Sekowsky.

So...diamonds! A comic book's best friend. Take it away, Miss Shirley Bassey!