338 JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA
some of their children. America Vs. Th e Justice Society (1985) recounted their 45-year
history, and the following year, in the pages Th e Last Days of the Justice Society, the team
was trapped in a “limbo” world, seemingly forever, though “forever” only lasted a few
years. In 1991, the limited series Justice Society of America showed an untold JSA adven-
ture from the 1950s, and that same year the team was brought back at the end of the
Armageddon Inferno limited series; in 1992 the team was given, for the fi rst time, their
own self-titled book, which only lasted 10 issues. Various team members appeared in
other books for the next few years, but 1999 brought two important developments. Th e
fi rst was a limited series and several one-shots that were printed under the umbrella
title of “Th e Justice Society Returns.” Th e story took place in the 1940s and each comic
bore the name of a superhero title of the era, such as All-Star Comics. Th e second was a
new, ongoing series simply titled JSA. Th is series featured old and new characters and
ran through 2006, when it was replaced by a new Justice Society of America ongoing
series. Th e team has also appeared in various limited series, specials, and graphic novels.
Th eir adventures have been collected in various places including the All-Star Archives
which collect issues from the 1940s, several volumes of Crisis on Multiple Earths that
feature stories from the 1960s and 70s, two Justice Society books that feature the 1970s
adventures, and many collections of the modern ongoing series.
Th ere are some diffi culties in recounting the fi ctional history of the team, as some of
it was told out of chronological order. For example, their origin story was not told until
over 35 years after they fi rst appeared. In addition, following the events of 1985’s Crisis
on Infi nite Earths the team’s history has been revised on various occasions, so that their
history now consists of pre-and post-crisis versions.
As revealed in DC Special #29, the JSA was formed in 1940 when the Flash (all char-
acters listed here are the original heroes as named, unless otherwise indicated), Green
Lantern, and Batman were sent on a mission to Europe to uncover a Nazi plot. When
they were captured, Dr. Fate recruited the Sandman (Golden Age), the Atom, Hour-
man, Hawkman, and the Spectre to both free the others and stop a Nazi invasion of
England that used both regular weapons and mystical Valkyries. While they saved the
day in Europe, one special warplane and several Valkyries made it all the way to America.
Yet with the timely arrival of Superman, the day was won, and after his life was saved by
the Atom, President Roosevelt suggested the group band together permanently.
Th ey did so, and while Superman and Batman became honorary members, the
rest of the heroes, as seen in All-Star Comics #3 met for dinner and swapped stories.
What was interesting about this gathering was that technically some of them were
owned by National Comics and the others by All-American, making this the comics’
fi rst inter-company crossover. Th e humorous superhero Th e Red Tornado (aka “Ma”
Hunkel) made a brief appearance, and the dinner was also attended by Johnny Th under
who made a wish on his magic Th underbolt that he could be there. Th eir fi rst full mis-
sion, given to them by the head of the FBI, was to break up a spy ring. Many of their
early adventures were against ordinary spies and criminals, and a common story would
have each team member go on a solo adventure (the comic in which they regularly
