This is an expanded and updated version of a post originally published April 30, 2023.
Today in Comics History: it's Hitler's last day alive. And he's spending it with Baron Zemo? The guy who accidentally glued his mask to his head? Well, you do you, Hitler.
from Spider-Man: Fear Itself graphic novel (Marvel, February 1992), plot and co-script by Gerry Conway, co-script by Stan Lee, pencils by Ross Andru, inks by Mike Esposito, colors by Bob Sharen, letters by Rick Parker
from Last Days of the Justice Society Special #1 one-shot (DC, July 1986), co-plot and script by Roy Thomas, co-plot by Dann Thomas, pencils by David Ross, inks by Mike Gustovich, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by David Cody Weiss
from Last Days of the Justice Society Special #1 one-shot (DC, July 1986), co-plot and script by Roy Thomas, co-plot by Dann Thomas, pencils by David Ross, inks by Mike Gustovich, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by David Cody Weiss
from The New Golden Age #1 one-shot (DC, January 2023), script by Geoff Johns; pencils, inks, and colors by one or two or three of these creators; letters by Rob Leigh
from Justice Society of America (2023 series) #3 (DC, May 2023), script by Geoff Johns, pencils and inks by Mikel and Jerry Ordway, colors by Jordie Bellaire and John Kalisz, letters by Rob Leigh (
from Justice Society of America #3 (DC, May 2023), script by Geoff Johns, pencils and inks by Mikel Janín, colors by Jordie Bellaire, letters by Rob Leigh
from Last Days of the Justice Society Special #1 one-shot (DC, July 1986), Script
co-plot and script by (who else than) Roy Thomas, co-plot by Dann Thomas; pencils by David Ross, inks by Mike Gustovich, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by David Cody Weiss
from Last Days of the Justice Society Special #1 one-shot (DC, July 1986), Script
co-plot and script by (who else than) Roy Thomas, co-plot by Dann Thomas; pencils by David Ross, inks by Mike Gustovich, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by David Cody Weiss
from The New Golden Age #1 one-shot (DC, January 2023); script by Geoff Johns, pencils and inks by Diego Olortegui, J. P. Mayer, Scott Hanna, Jerry Ordway, Steve Lieber, Todd Nauck, Scott Kolins, Viktor Bogdanović, Brandon Peterson, and/or Gary Frank; colors by Nick Filardi, John Kalisz, Matt Herms, Jordan Boyd, and/or Brad Anderson, letters by Rob Leig
from "Justice Society: Past is Prologue" in Stargirl Spring Break Special one-shot (DC, July 2021), script by Geoff Johns, pencils and inks by Bryan Hitch, colors by Alex Sinclair, letters by Rob Leigh
from "The Case of the Patriotic Crimes!" in All-Star Comics #41 (DC, June-July 1948), script by John Broome, pencils by Carmine Infantino, inks by Frank Giacoia
"The Conscience of Man" — in the form of a beautiful transparent fairy, as good a form as any — has spent the last 50 pages sending the Justice Society of America throughout time striving to put right what once went wrong to battle the violent fear and prejudice of mankind throughout the ages. "I promised you a reward," girl with wings but sometimes not says, "Perhaps you already know what it is. You have earned it, and by earning it, you have attained the solution to your problem — it is understanding!" Which, in addition to being a pretty good albeit oft-forgotten Bob Seger song, is also the lesson du jour for fighting against bigotry and prejudice.
Panels from "The Test of Time!: Conclusion" in All-Star Comics (1940 series) #22 (Fall 1944), script by Gardner Fox, pencils and inks by Joe Gallagher
The Justice Society of America! Strange visitors from another world (Earth-2, to be precise)! Hey, since they came first, why is their world Earth Two? If'n I were the Original Flash and the Original Green Lantern and the Original Superman, I'd have a thing or two to say about that. Anyway: they're fightin' Nazis! Which is always a good thing, as Earth-2 Martha Stewart told you first.
Panels from Justice League of America (1960 series) #107 (September-October 1973), script by Len Wein, pencils by Dick Dillin, inks by Dick Giordano, colors by Glynis Wein, letters by Ben Oda
All is darkest before the dawn (and also because my scans didn't turn out as bright as I'd hoped on those last panels), but luckily the JSA is accompanied by their Earth-1 non-union equivalents, the Justice League of America! Er, at least, Green Arrow, Elongated Man, and...Red Tornado, not even actually yet a member of the League. Oh man. They're boned.
Hooray! It's the Nazi-bustin' heroes of Earth-X! The Earth where no one under the age of eighteen will be admitted, cos' it's kinda saucy. It's...Amerihat! Gnat Boy! Cling-Film Woman! Captain Rhinoceros! Designed-By-Mike-Grell-Costume Kid! And Poppin-Fresh! They are the Freedom Fighters!
I kid the Freedom Fighters, but they punch Nazis, so they're okay by me. You go, FF!
Panels from All Star Comics #4 (March-April 1941), script by Gardner F. Fox, pencils and inks by Everett E. Hibbard
Tune in tomorrow to see how Flash, the Master of Going Faster, deals with the enemies of America! (Hint: he goes quicker than them.)
* Nice.**
** This footnote satisfies the requirement by international internet law that all mentions of the number sixty-nine be accompanied by the word "nice."
Hey look! Even silver screen tough guy Humphrey Bogart and sultry siren Lauren Bacall (famous Hollywood husband and wife) are impressed by the JSA! Meanwhile, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope (making a second appearance already in this feature) make the woo-woo eyes at Black Canary! Aw, I betcha Dinah would appear on your show, Bob. I'm sure she uses Pepsodent!
Panels from "Evil Star Over Hollywood" in All-Star Comics #44 (December 1948-January 1949), script by John Broome, pencils by Irwin Hasen, inks by Bob Oksner
Seventy-five years ago today, the attack on Pearl Harbor by Imperial Japanese forces precipitated the entrance of the US into World War II. It also directly led to the making of Michael Bay's film of the same name, which I think we can all agree was a pretty terrible thing. It's certainly not as good a movie as Roy Thomas and Rich Buckler's All-Star Squadron is a comic, and the movie's only clear advantage is that Faith Hill song.
In this post I'm gonna give Roy all the accolades for kicking off his Earth-2/WWII comic series with a solid three-(and a half)-part story that doesn't downplay or trivialize the terror of the Pearl Harbor attack, mostly because the events and evil schemes within are a supervillain's tangent to take advantage of, but not cause, the real-life events.
Like several of the popular DC comics series of the early '80s, All-Star Squadron kicks off as a 16-page preview story within the pages of another comic book, in this case, the original JLA. You actually really did get more for your buck fifty cents! The New DC: there was no stopping them then!
Panels from "Special All-Star Squadron Preview" in Justice League of America (1960 series) #193 (August 1981), script by Roy Thomas, breakdowns by Rich Buckler, finishes by Jerry Ordway, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by John Costanza
JLA's preview ends as December 7, 1941 begins, President Franklin D. Roosevelt confers with his then-Veep Henry A. Wallace trusted aide and advisor, Harry Hopkins (thanks to Ward Hill Terry for the correction!) about the need for Earth-2's Justice Society of America "forming some sort of All-Star Squadron" to aid the US in the inevitable world war. Pretty savvy thinking, and I'm not certain if the All-Star Squadron was his finest idea, or giving Captain America that round shield was. Either way, on any Earth, he's the smartest man in a wheelchair this side of Charles Xavier, Niles Caulder, or Stephen Hawking.
Panels from All-Star Squadron #1 (September 1981), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Rich Buckler, inks by Jerry Ordway, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by John Costanza
Eventually gathering at the White House are a few of the JSA plus other Golden Age DC heroes. But FDR's not ready to send them into direct battle against the Japanese forces. There's a more immediate, homefront danger...
...and that danger is spelled Per Degaton! Dah dah dah! (sinister sting) The time-traveling, world conqueror wanna-be who's so evil he doesn't even have a code name! If he did it would probably be something like Time-O or Mister Iniquitous, so it's a good thing he just stuck with the name Ma Degaton gave him.
Who can stop Per Degaton's heinous plan? Who will stand against him? These guys, that's who! These guys! And Plastic Man.
Splash page from All-Star Squadron #2 (October 1981), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Rich Buckler, inks by Jerry Ordway, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by John Costanza
Degaton's evil plan for blood, devastation, death, war and horror of course involves — wait for it — time travel. He has come back to 1941 from 1947, so he's armed with the futuristic power of the Slinky! He's also brought back supervillains experienced in the art of defeating the Justice Society by hitting them with a wood plank (Green Lantern) or tying them up (Wonder Woman) or just hitting them really, really hard (Atom, Wildcat, Sandman, Hawkman...pretty much all of them).
His plot is to divert the attention of American forces westward instead of toward Europe, thus enabling that rat Hitler (who is he kidding?) to attack from the east! Step two: ???. Step three: PROFIT!
Per woulda come back earlier to influence the war, but there was a (handwave) timestorm (yep, that's it, that'll work) blocking time travelers off from landing in the years from September 1939 through December 1941. And now you know why so few time travelers attended the grand premiere of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's blockbuster Gone with the Wind!
The Justice Society All-Star Squadron to the rescue! Not seen: other Golden Age heroes like Liberty Belle, Firebrand, Mighty Mouse, Abbott and Costello, Senator Beauregard Claghorn, and Bugs Bunny!
Splash page from All-Star Squadron #3 (November 1981), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Rich Buckler, inks by Jerry Ordway, colors by Carl Gafford, letters by John Costanza
Glass jaws are punched, volcano island bases explode, and justice is eventually served. Which only goes to show: guys in 1941 are better than 1947. Also: Per Degaton obviously has one of those Brother PTouch Labelmakers. They come in ever so handy for marking detonator buttons that have to be pressed to be activated!
And in the end, as December 8th dawns on a grim new world but the all-new all-different All-Star Squadron joins with the JSA on the Golden Gate Bridge to listen to a speech by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (portrayed here by J. Edgar Hoover) and vow to keep fighting the good fight for as long as the war lasts or until the Crisis on Infinite Earths deletes their existences from history, whichever comes first.
Despite their patriotic last-panel cheer, not a single one of the JSA or the ASS earned one slim dime from Sammy Kaye's 1942 hit song. That's not justice!
There's a lot of characters to keep track of and a lot of DC/Quality comics lore to learn (not to mention your fundamental world history). But Roy made it easy for you to get up to speed: here's a text page from the second issue of All-Star Squadron that explains the basic premise between the continuity implant behind the series, and general introductions to the cast. Handy!
In all complete seriousness, I salute the real military and civilians who fought in the Battle of Pearl Harbor and World War II. My own dad was an electrician's mate on a ship in the Pacific Fleet during the War, and I've been forever proud of him. We now look upon Japan and Germany as friends and allies, which is the right way to progress through history. But I've got to admit that this, posted today on Twitter by former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, is an insulting and cowardly statement that compliments and praises the attacking force on Pearl Harbor. Seriously: I'm very angry that this is considered an acceptable public statement, especially by a man who got a deferment from serving during the Vietnam War. It's a personal put-down directly at every man and woman who died at Pearl Harbor and who fought during World War II. I say it's rotten spinach, Mister Gingrich, and the hell with you.
As long as there's public statements like that which draw attention away from what we have lost and what we fought for, I'll never scoff at Roy Thomas for being merely silly in scenes like this:
There was certainly racial hatred packed into a lot of the comics of World War II that we can now rightly call deplorable portrayals. We can read comics like those and learn our American history, both hopeful and unfortunate, from their contemporary views. All the more kudos to Roy Thomas, therefore, for presenting us with modern comics of World War II that entertain and educate without resorting to to racism, that rewrite history only in the name of fun and fantasy. May Roy's patriotic heroes always inspire us; may we learn from and not follow the regrettable aspects of our past, only seventy-five years ago.
Panels from Justice Society of America (2007 series...you know, the one where a bunch of people got murdered by Nazis in the first issue) #9 (November 2007); script by Geoff Johns, pencils by Dale Eaglesham, inks by Ruy Jose, colors by Jeromy Cox and Hi-Fi, letters by Rob Leigh
Oh no, kid...that's not the biggest pancake in the world. I'll show you the biggest pancake in the worldtomorrow.
Seventy-five years ago today, the attack on Pearl Harbor by Imperial Japanese forces precipitated the entrance of the US into World War II. It also directly led to the making of Michael Bay's film of the same name, which I think we can all agree was a pretty terrible thing. It's certainly not as good a movie as Roy Thomas and Rich Buckler's All-Star Squadron is a comic, and the movie's only clear advantage is that Faith Hill song.
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