Last weekend, because it was Batman Day, my LCS had a “50% DC Back Issues” sale. One of my favorite things as of late is diving into the “DC Misc.” and “DC Specials” portion of the back issue bins because I always wind up finding random stuff that I wouldn’t have thought to buy. A lot of what I find are reprint books from the Bronze Age, but every once in a while I find a gem like this, which is the origin of the Justice Society as told by Paul Levitz, Joe Staton, and Bob Layton from 1977 during the JSA “Revival” era that preceded their eventual morphing into the All-Star Squadron.

My experience with the JSA has been spotty. I first came upon them in Crisis on Infinite Earths when I collected that series in back issues, and picked up a few issues here and there of their early Nineties series as well as some of the mid-2000s series when it crossed over with JLA or had a storyline that looked fairly interesting. I’ve found that my preferred era does tend to be this Bronze Age era of the 1970s and 1980s because of who the creative teams were and because of how those creative teams (especially Roy Thomas) fostered the Earth-2 concept.

This particular book was actually a $10 book that I got for $5 (otherwise, I would not have bought it) and it starts out with FDR looking at files of all of the heroes that would become the Justice Society. We then flash to a story where Flash, Green Lantern, and Batman are fighting Nazis in the U.S., are captured, and taken to Berlin where they are put on public trial by Adolf Hitler himself who holds the Spear of Destiny. Doctor Fate and Hourman intervene and the ground eventually fights off Valkyries. We also have Sandman taking out spies in America and Hawkman, Sandman, and The Atom fighting alongside England’s forces. Even Superman gets involved, literally catching bombs that are about to fall on Washington, D.C. There’s more, of course, but by the end of it, FDR suggests the heroes continue to team up. Thus, the Justice Society is born.

Now, I have no idea if this fits into continuity very well or if it has any sort of historical accuracy behind it. What I will say is that it’s exactly what I wanted from a Justice Society comic: big fights against Nazis and the look of a comic. Staton and Layton’s art is great and I have really come to enjoy Staton’s work from this era (as opposed to his later Green Lantern stuff, which didn’t always work for me). This also feels like it deserves the “DC Special” 60 -cents treatment more than some of the other “big DC Special” comics that I’ve bought.

Keep, Sell, Donate, or Trash?

Keep.