334 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA
Reacting to America’s new anti-comics attitude partly caused by Wertham’s book, the
comics industry, in order to survive, came up with its own Comics Code. One of the rules
decreed that “females shall be drawn realistically, without undue emphasis on any physi-
cal quality.” Th e rule was interpreted to mean that women in comic books had to be more
covered up, and they were. Since it is hard to swing from vines and leap from branches
clad in an ankle-length skirt, this eff ectively ended the reign of the jungle queens.
Trina Robbins
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA. Th e Justice League of America, also known as the JLA,
the Justice League, and several other names, is the main superhero team of the DC uni-
verse and has counted among its membership most of the major DC characters. It diff ers
from its predecessor, the Justice Society of America, in that its members have mostly
been superheroes who were already popular on their own. Th e team has gone through
many incarnations over the years, and has had its high and low points. Th e league, in its
various incarnations, has appeared in six regular ongoing series, one quarterly title, and
a large number of limited series, one-shots, and specials. Th e team fi rst appeared in Th e
Brave and Th e Bold #28 (1960) and were in the next two issues of that title before mov-
ing to the fi rst ongoing Justice League of America comic the following year. Th is series
ran until issue #261 (1986). Stories from this title (as well as the three from Brave and
the Bold) have been collected in the various volumes of Justice League of America Ar-
chives, Showcase Presents the Justice League of America, and various “themed” collections.
Between 1986 and 1996, four separate Justice League titles appeared, some published si-
multaneously. Th e primary title began simply as Justice League, changed to Justice League
International with issue #7, and then to Justice League America with issue #26. Th is title
remained until it ended with issue #113 (an issue #0 also appeared in 1994). In 1989, the
fi rst ongoing spin-off , Justice League Europe began, changing its name to Justice League
International with issue #51, and ending in 1994 with issue #68. Both JLIs had annuals
associated with the series that went through all of the name changes as well.
A third new series, Justice League Task Force, ran for 38 issues (including a “zero
issue”) from 1993 to 1996, and a fourth, Extreme Justice, ran for 19 issues (#0–18)
from 1995 to 1996. After Justice League America, Justice League Task Force, and
Extreme Justice were cancelled in 1996, there was a transitional limited series called
Justice League: A Midsummer’s Nightmare, which led into the new ongoing comic
book that was simply titled JLA. Th is series lasted 126 issues (including an issue “one
million” in 1998). Th e JLA title was also used (along with various subtitles or with
words such as “and,” “vs.,” etc.) for a large number of limited series, one-shots, specials,
trade collections, and so forth. When this series ended in 2006, DC went back to
basics with a new series simple titled Justice League of America. One additional series
that began in the 2000s was JLA Classifi ed (2005–8, 39 issues) which featured stories
set throughout the team’s history. Also of note are two ongoing titles aimed at younger
readers and based on the animated programs on the Cartoon Network, Justice League
Adventures and Justice League Unlimited.
