JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA

Membership: Atom I, Flash I, Dr. Fate, Dr. Mid-Nite I, Green Lantern I, Hawkman I, Hawkwoman I, Hippolyta, Johnny Thunder, Mr. Terrific I, Sandman, Spectre, Starman I, Star-Spangled Kid I, Wildcat I

Base of Operations: Gotham City

First Appearance: All-Star Comics #3 (Winter, 1940)

History: (All-Star Comics #3) - <1940> President Franklin Roosevelt recruited Atom I, Dr. Fate, Flash I, Green Lantern I, Hourman I, Sandman and Spectre to stop Adolph Hitler's attempt at invading Britain. After successfully completing their mission the heroes decided to form the Justice Society of America.

(All Star Comics I #36) - At a JSA meeting the team learned of formerly respectable men were creating a nationwide crime-wave, and the team split up to capture the men. The JSA rounded up the criminals and Green Lantern learned the criminals were turned evil by Calvin Stymes, who exposed them to Koehaha, the Stream of Ruthlessness. Calvin wanted to see the men in jail or dead because they traumatized him in college, so when the JSA brought the criminals to the Stream, Stymes set off an explosion. The JSA survived and a landslide crushed Stymes. The JSA knew the effects of the Koehaha would wear off and offered to testify at the criminals' trials so they would be found innocent by reason of temporary insanity.

(DCU Holiday Bash #2) - <December 24, 1944> The Society put on the Justice Society Canteen for troops home for the holidays. They helped foil nazi sabateurs that tried to blow up the canteen, thanks to the help of Ensign James Gordon.

(Spectre III #20 (fb)) - <1945> At the end of WWII the Justice Society visited Auschwitz and learned the full extent of the Nazi's genocide. Spectre raged, and wanted to destroy every German in sight, but the Justice Society talked him down, telling him he had to rely on the justice of the Nuremberg war trials. Spectre would go on to spend years hunting escaped Nazis.

(JSA #68) - <October 13-15,1951> The Justice Society appeared before HUAC, where they were accused of having ties to the reds because they’d associated with a communist to bring in saboteurs. HUAC demanded they prove themselves good Americans and reveal their secret identities. They all refused, and Green Lantern teleported them out of Washington. At JSA hq they discussed the fact that they’d be wanted men and women if they didn’t reveal their identities. They decided it was for the best to disband the Society.

(JSA #69-72) <Octoer 28-30, 1951> The time-traveling JSA convinced the members of the Justice Society to come out of retirement to prevent Per Degaton from altering history and forever ending the Justice Society legacy. Degaton planned to assassinate President Truman. The Justice Society and JSA went to Washington to warn Truman that his life was in danger. Degaton and the Red Morgue attacked Washington, but the teams were ready for him. Degaton used a time-disc to speed up Atom’s metabolism and turn him into a nuclear bomb ready to go off. If he exploded millions would die, but J.J. Thunder and Johnny Thunder summoned the Thunderolt to turn Atom back to normal. The other heroes defeated Degaton, who fled into the timestream. The resulting time distortion caused the Justice Society members to forget their adventure with the JSA.

(JSA #75 (fb)) - Atom introduced the Justice Society to his young godson Albert Rothstein, and they let him sit at the Society meeting table.

The JSAers came out of retirement, and teamed a number of times with the Justice League of America.

(All-Star Comics I #58, 59) - Brain Wave informed the JSA that he was going to cause disasters in Seattle, Washington, Peking, China and Capetown South Africa that would cause a chain reaction that would destroy Earth. They split up, but found themselves unable to deal with the disasters, although youthful heroes Robin*, Power Girl and Star-Spangled Kid helped them avert catastrophe. Power Girl suggested that Brain Wave set them up to fail but didn’t foresee the interference of the new heroes, whom power Girl dubbed the Super Squad. They confronted Brain Wave aboard his space station, and learned that he'd sapped the willpower of the JSA that they displayed in averting the disasters to return will and youth to Per Degaton. When the JSA had the villains on the ropes, Brain Wave used his mental powers to send Earth on a collision course with the sun, demanding they submit or see the planet die. Power Girl sent Brain Wave's space station toward the sun, overheating it and causing the villain to pass out. The JSA decided to take in the Super Squad so they could learn from each other.

*Robin could not have been part of the Super Squad post-Crisis.

(All-Star Comics I #60, 61) - Vulcan attacked JSA hq because he once idolized the JSA, but blamed his inhuman condition on his attempts at heroics, and now wanted to kill his former idols. He set their hq ablaze and left. Lantern and Fate battled Vulcan, and Vulcan collapsed a building on Fate and escaped. Power Girl met Xlk-Jnn, the alien that gave Vulcan his powers, and he informed her that he needed to treat Vulcan because he was now vulnerable to sunlight. The mad Vulcan killed the alien, but Star-Spangled Kid now knew his weakness and used a blast of cosmic rod starlight to destroy Vulcan. Dr. Mid-Nite examined Fate and determined that he was dying.

 (All-Star Comics I #62) - The JSA sent Green Lantern and Flash to Egypt to try and find a way to save Dr. Fate's life. The ancient Lemurian Zanadu kidnapped Hawkgirl and was destroying Tokyo, so the JSA arrived to battle him.

(Justice League of America I #172) -

(Spectre III #54 (fb)) - The JSA pursued Spirit King in Flash's body to Stonehenge, where he emerged, and jumped from one hero to the next to defeat them, ultimately taking Dr. Fate as his host, and allowing Flash to flee, and putting the idea in his head to seek Spectre's aid. Spirit King brought the heroes to Fate's Tower to punish them with hellish torments, and he animated Mr. Terrific's rotting corpse for his own amusement. Flash arrived with Spectre, and Spirit King revealed that his whole plan was to draw in the Spectre, his prize. His master was Shaitan, and he opened up a portal to Hell to consume the Spectre. Mr. Terrific's spirit arrived, and helped Spectre send Spirit King to Hell, closing the gate. Terrific said he always felt outclassed by his teammates, but he knew he was the hero that day, and the JSA said he made upo for his lack of powers with heart and guts.

(Crisis on Infinite Earths #1-12) - The Justice Society were thrown into Limbo, and forced to wage eternal war against a race of gods. They were eventually returned to Earth by Waverider.

(Justice Society of America #1-8) -

(Green Arrow III #16 (fb)) - The Justice Society attended Oliver Queen's funeral.

(JLA #28-31) - The 5th Dimensional invasion began, with genie Lxz causing havoc around the world. Flash summoned the Justice Society to team-up with the JLA and find J.J. Thunder, who was in possession of the 5-D genie Thunderbolt. Because Flash mistakenly gave him the pen Johnny Thunder used to hold the genie as a memento. Lkz tried to stop them by animating the buildings of Keystone City and killing citizens. Hippolyta arrived to join the Society, and the heroes fought him off the best they could, but it still came down to J.J., who, after some prodding, summoned the Thunderbolt, who began a titanic battle with Lkz. Qwsp revealed himself as the instigator of the battle between Lkz and Thunderbolt, a battle that threatened to throw the 5th Dimension into chaos and destroy Earth. Representatives of the 5th Dimension arrested Qwsp, because only mischief was allowed in the 3rd Dimension, and he’d gone way past that. Captain Marvel and Green Lantern convinced Thunderbolt and Lkz to merge into one being, ending their war. The Justice Society agreed to tutor J.J., who’d decided he wanted to use the revamped Thunderbolt to be a hero.

Comments: Created by Gardner Fox & E. E. Hibbard

In the pre-Crisis DC Universe the Justice Society of America lived on Earth-2. The pre-Crisis JSA roster included Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, Robin and Aquaman of Earth-2.

The Justice Society of America received a profile in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #12.

The Justice Society of America had cameos in Action Comics #650, DC Comics Presents #25, 30, JSA #56, Spectre III #21, 24, Spectre Annual II #1.

A photo of the Justice Society of America was seen in the JSA Museum in JSA #52, JSA #54, JSA #73, JSA #87 and JLA / JSA: Virtue and Vice.

Flash II #230 showed a picture of the Justice Society in the New Flash Museum.

A photo of the Justice Society of America was shown in Red Tornado I’s home in JSA #55.

JSA #67 showed a HUAC poster of the Justice Society of America declaring them enemies of the state.

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