From a creative standpoint, 1973 had been a very stable year for Justice League of America. Everyone who’d been working on the book as the year began — writer Len Wein, penciller Dick Dillin, inker Dick Giordano, cover artist Nick Cardy, and (of course) editor Julius Schwartz — remained in place as 1973 neared its end. From a business perspective, however, it was a rather different story. After having been published on a nine-times-a-year schedule from 1965 to 1971, DC Comics’ premiere super-team title had dropped back to eight issues per year in 1972; and then, with the first issue of 1973, had its frequency reduced even further, to a bimonthly status.
And then, December, 1973 brought a change that was even bigger (in more ways than one), as JLA joined several other DC titles in transitioning to the “100 Page Super Spectacular” format — a giant-sized package that featured some three pages of reprints to every one of new art and story, at a cost of 50 cents — more than twice that of the “standard” format comic JLA had been prior to the change, which sold for 20 cents. (With the following month, the price of the “Super Spectacular” format would go up to 60 cents, making these comics a full three times more expensive than DC’s standard size books… but of course we fans of the time didn’t know that yet.)
I wrote about a number of aspects of the “Super Spectacular” format in my Detective Comics #439 post a couple of weeks ago; one thing that I only touched on briefly there, however, was what it meant for the covers of the titles that adopted the new format. From being able to use a single, dominant image to highlight an issue’s contents (with a text blurb or, at most. a small insert panel employed to promote a backup story where applicable), DC’s editors were now expected to use the same limited real estate to showcase multiple 
features. There seemed to be some flexibility in how the individual editors chose to implement this new imperative, however; and so, while some — like Detective‘s Archie Goodwin — opted to continue to keep the focus on the lead, brand-new story as much as possible, essentially relegating the backup (and mostly reprint) features to a banner at the cover’s bottom (and sometimes leaving one or more of those features out completely, as was the case for Neal Adams’ Detective #439 cover shown at right, where the Elongated Man failed to make the cut), others — like Justice League of America‘s Julius Schwartz — chose an approach that, while still giving the lead story pride of place, nevertheless afforded the backups a status closer to parity with it.
The cover of today’s blog post subject — the first JLA issue published in the 100-page format — is perhaps the supreme case in point. Each of the issue’s three stories gets a separate image devoted to it; though the one for the comic’s single new story is twice as large as the other two, and sits on top as well, one could hardly say that it dominates the cover in the way that Adams’ “Night of the Stalker!” illustration does Detective #439’s. Rather, the main focus of Nick Cardy’s composition is the semi-circle of superheroes, uniformly (and statically) standing with arms akimbo, that frames the three smaller pictures. I realize it’s a matter of personal taste — and I mean no disrespect to the talents of Mr. Cardy, who may not even have been the person who came up with the idea — but, for me, the result makes for a pretty dull visual.* If I hadn’t already been in the habit of picking up Justice League of America (almost) every issue, I might have passed on this one… though, in the end, I’m glad I didn’t.
And with that, let’s move on to take a look at this issue’s interiors. Past the cover, the book opens with a one-page table of contents — and then it’s on to our main attraction:
Here’s an interesting factoid about that JLA Satellite “news flash” that serves as a header to our story’s first page: Evidently, the main body of the page was completed before Julius Schwartz and co. knew that #110’s actual first page would be a ToC, and so room was left for he usual bottom-of-the-page indicia. Once plans changed, something else was needed to fill up that empty space, and so… voila!
Well, at least you can’t say that the one measly little illustration representing this story on the cover was misleading. Someone has indeed murdered Santa Claus. Merry Christmas, kids!
The credits box includes a note offering “special thanks to Green Lantern fan, Duffy Vohland“. Vohland was a comics fan from Indiana who eventually went pro at Marvel, working on the editorial staff and doing some inking here and there through much of the 1970s; he passed away much too young at the age of 30, in 1982. If the precise details of his contribution to “The Man Who Murdered Santa Claus!” have ever been revealed, I haven’t been able to track them down.
Everyone reading this remembers how Iris West Allen had been revealed to be a native of the 30th century in Flash #203 (Feb., 1971), right? I knew you would.
Back in 1973, my sixteen-year-old self kinda wished that Ollie and Dinah had received the JLA signal just a few minutes later, if you catch my drift. But in the Code-approved comics of the era, such fantasies had to remain just that, alas.
Despite being a regular reader of Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams’ “Green Lantern/Green Arrow” run (at least from Green Lantern #80 on), I’d somehow managed to miss GL #87, the issue in which John Stewart had made not just his debut, but his only appearance to date, besides. So this was essentially my introduction to the guy, as it was for everyone else who hadn’t yet read that particular comic.
Incidentally, if I’m not mistaken, this issue represents the first time a Black superhero ever appeared in an issue of Justice League of America — which makes it something of a shame that Hal Jordan got the one and only Green Lantern cover spot. (And, yes, I know that Hal appears, in costume, in this issue’s reprinted JLA yarn — and that John is himself not technically a League member at this point — but who cares? Dr. Mid-Nite isn’t a Justice Leaguer, either, so there.)
Sure, Hawkman may be gone, but it’s good to know that there’s still someone who can get under Green Arrow’s thin skin, namely Red Tornado.
I think Len Wein may be overstating things just a bit in claiming, “The clues are all there” in the note left with Santa Simpson’s body — because there’s really only one clue relevant to the present crisis, and it’s the phrase, “Beneath the arch…”. Batman is gambling everything on his pegging that “arch” as being St. Louis, Missouri’s Gateway Arch monument; good thing that our story will presently prove him 100% correct, eh?
Um, Superman? Don’t tell me that you’ve forgotten that you’ve run not just one, or even two, but three whole races against the Flash, and you’ve come close to winning every time. I should think that would make you a better candidate than Reddy for getting this particular job done, seeing as how the latter has never been classed as a contender for the fastest hero on either Earth One or Two, so far as I know… but, whatever. Red Tornado does in fact come through admirably, traversing all of St. Louis at amazing speed until he arrives at a crumbling building on a condemned street, and the strange key begins to emit an eerie green glow…
Yes, a red sun with a yellow core. Now, there’s some proper narrative convenience for you, and no mistake.
First Santa Claus buys the farm, and now Superman. This is shaping up to be a very special Christmas, indeed…
I’m not quite sure how the calliope’s sound waves are supposed to control the flow of the gas in the first place, so I have even less of a clue as to how Black Canary’s “silent ultrasonic melody” pushes the noxious stuff back. But it’s kind of cool to see Dinah using her almost-forgotten sonic powers for the first time in a while, so I’ll allow it.
Again, it’s not clear to me why Batman and the other JLAers are so sure the Canary’s already dead. Isn’t there at least a chance that her ultrasonic song can keep back the gas for another minute or two? But Wein is clearly on an “and then there were none” roll, here, so we’ll just roll along with him, for now…
The Key! Who could have ever guessed that he’d turn out to be the unseen villain of our tale? Except for anyone who was familiar with him from either of his prior appearances, that is. (My younger self had in fact read both of those stories, although I only blogged about the first one, in this post from 2015.)
It sure seems to me that Green Lantern should be able to counter these bouncy balls handily, yellow star decorations or no. But, apparently not.
As established in Green Lantern #87 (and alluded to on page 4 of our present story), John Stewart is a professional architect — an occupation which I’m sure even on Earth-One requires a college education. So the implication in the last panel above that he might have trouble understanding the Red Tornado’s more formal English is highly implausible (and borderline offensive).
Anyway, the “tin soldiers” do indeed attack, and it first looks like they’ll be no match for our heroes — but then, they all suddenly turn solid yellow in color. Gaaaah!
At this point, you might be thinking that it’s awfully suspicious that our view of “Key-Man #1” has been obscured every time he’s appeared… especially since he’s evidently just misled his boss into thinking that GL and Reddy have been killed, rather than simply dropped through a portal. And, of course, you’d be right.
From Justice League of America #63 (Jun., 1968). Text by Gardner Fox; art by Mike Sekowsky and George Roussos.
Personally, I think that the court’s ruling that Superman’s plan to subject the Key to an indefinite term of imprisonment in his own Fortress of Solitude was unconstitutional was right on the money — but hey, even the Key thinks that the judge who made that call was “too-lenient”, so what do I know?
For the record, that bit with Supes and the Key comes directly from JLA #63, as shown at right; and I’m pretty sure that when I first read the story in question, I didn’t question the legality or the ethics of the Man of Steel’s extrajudicial scheme. (Of course, I was only ten years old at the time; I’m not sure what the excuse of either scripter Gardner Fox or editor Julius Schwartz would have been.) Had I come to take a more civically responsible view of the matter by the time the matter came up again, in December, 1973? I’d like to think so, but I honestly can’t remember what sixteen-year-old me made of it all.
Considering that the Phantom Stranger’s well-established modus operandi usually has him dealing with supernatural menaces, his turning up to assist the JLA in this very non-occult-type case seems pretty random. On the other hand, he’s a mysterious kind of guy, so who knows? Maybe he was just feeling a little lonely this holiday season.
As I wrote in my JLA #103 post last year, I loved the idea of the Phantom Stranger being a Justice League member so much that it really didn’t matter to me whether he ever formally accepted or not. The team had unanimously voted him in; to my fannish young mind, that made him an official member (at least unless and until he unambiguously said “no”).
Len Wein didn’t see it that way, however; in a 1979 interview with The Comics Journal, he declared:
The Phantom Stranger did not join the Justice League. If I read that in one more letter column, I’ll scream. He did not join, not when I was writing it. They asked him to join. He never accepted. They turned around and he was gone. That was intentional. Everyone took it to mean that because they asked him, naturally he accepted. He never did. He’s not a member. The fans seem to think he is.
From Justice League of America #146 (Sep., 1977). Text by Steve Englehart; art by Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin.
Among the “fans” who thought P.S. was a member was Wein’s fellow comics writer Steve Englehart — who, soon after becoming JLA scripter with issue #139 (Feb., 1977), brought the Stranger back to the book’s pages for the first time since Wein’s tenure, having him share several adventures with the team. As indicated by the dialogue in the panel from issue #146 shown at left, there was at the least no doubt in the man of mystery’s own mind regarding his membership status during Englehart’s run. Perhaps he’d made his acceptance official sometime off-panel between Wein’s time on the series and Englehart’s; but, in any case, it was largely a moot point by the time of the former’s grousing in 1979.
Has the Black Canary ever demonstrated any aptitude for, or even interest in, fashion design before now? I don’t think so; but she’s the only female on the team at present, so “naturally” she’s the one Wein tags to do the honors for Reddy’s new outfit. And speaking of that outfit: based on the letters printed a few months later in JLA #113, fan reaction at the time was overwhelmingly negative… and the several retrospective reviews I’ve read in preparation for this post have hardly been more kind. So I was fairly surprised to discover that this costume has continued to serve as the Red Tornado’s professional attire for most of the past half century; he’s had other looks from time to time, but nothing has had staying power like Dinah Lance’s red, yellow, and blue ensemble. As Christmas gifts go, you’d have to call this one a winner, if only for its long-term utility.
And speaking of Christmas: it’s really only in these last couple of pages that the seasonal theme promised by the, er, murder of Santa Claus in the opening scene — a heinous act also highlighted by the story’s title, not to mention by its piece of the cover illustration — comes back to the fore. When you get right down to it, poor Santa Simpson died simply for shock value; the Key’s fiendish plan to murder the JLA could have been kicked into gear by any number of other, less sensational means. But if the holiday theme hadn’t been introduced in some fashion early on, its resurgence in the next-to-last scene — the one where Green Lantern John Stewart provides some disadvantaged St. Louis residents with the non-flashy but much-needed gift of decent housing — as well as in this final, more conventional tableau of Christmas cheer, would have seemed to come out of nowhere; so, needs must, I suppose.
In the end, the awkward contrivance that got us here doesn’t matter, because this last scene just works. Call me a sentimental old softie, if you must, but the Red Tornado does grasp the true meaning of the holiday when he invokes the self-sacrificial actions of his teammates from earlier in the story. Then, now that the snowball is good and rolling, “Grinch” Arrow hits his grouchy but softhearted mark, right on cue. And lastly, to put the star on the top of the tree, we have the final, holly-framed panel’s festive fourth-wall breaking, via Superman’s holiday greeting to the reader. “Merry Christmas to everyone!“, indeed.
“The Man Who Murdered Santa Claus!” may be the lead story of this issue — but at 20 pages, it’s by no means the longest. That honor goes to “The Plight of a Nation!” — a Justice Society of America adventure reprinted from All-Star Comics #40 (Apr.-May, 1948) — which weighs in at a whopping 36 pages,
Like the JLA adventure preceding it, the story’s first page gets a new header in lieu of the source comic’s indicia; this time, instead of hearing from the JLA Satellite’s broadcast facility, we’re apparently taking a peek over the shoulder of the JSA’s hard-working secretary, Wonder Woman, into the team’s “secret files”:
Your humble blogger has a confession to make, here. While I’ve been a fan of the Justice Society of America for most of my comic-reading life, my affection for the team is derived almost completely from stories dating from the Silver Age and later. I certainly recognize the seminal quality of the team’s Golden Age run, and I’m glad that DC has reprinted so much of this material for later generations to be able to read and appreciate; that said, my personal interest in stories like this one is almost entirely historical. Perhaps it’s a failing on my part, but I’ve never been able to glean a lot of entertainment value from the Justice Society’s vintage exploits, even those crafted by creators whose later work I sincerely admire — such as this story’s writer, John Broome, and two of its three pencillers, Carmine Infantino and Alex Toth. (No disrespect intended to the remaining artist, Arthur Peddy — I’m simply unfamiliar with his other work.) To my particular taste, a lot of the writing and artwork is simply too crude in its technical execution to provide much reading pleasure, regardless of how much raw energy and imagination has undeniably found its way onto these comics’ pages.
So I’m going to limit my commentary to noting one particular aspect of historical interest regarding this particular story — which, as the splash above indicates, is an earnest attempt to address the societal problem of juvenile delinquency — and that’s the irony of the timing of its original publication. As observed by comics history scholar Amy Kiste Nyberg in Roy Thomas’ All-Star Companion [Vol. 1] (TwoMorrows, 2004), All-Star Comics #40 would have reached newsstands in early 1948, shortly before the publication of the March 27, 1948 issue of Collier’s magazine — an issue notable for its inclusion of an article called “Horror in the Nursery”, one of the earliest pieces in the national media to spotlight psychiatrist Fredric Wertham’s assertion that much of the blame for the ongoing major societal problem of juvenile delinquency should be placed on… comic books.
The JSA are also represented in this issue by a double-page pinup, drawn by Murphy Anderson. It had appeared once before, in Justice League of America #76 (Nov.-Dec., 1969) — but since my younger self hadn’t picked up that otherwise all-reprint issue when it first came out, this pic was new to me, and I was happy to have it — even if the loss of a small but noticeable amount of the spread’s content in the gutter between its two halves pointed out one drawback of the squarebound 100-page format (I mean, “Justice Soety of America”?).
The third and final story of the issue is a reprint of JLA #51 (Feb., 1967), which I had picked up when it came out; and which, as it happens, I also blogged about here, seven years ago.
Of course, that version of this Gardner Fox/Mike Sekowsky/Sid Greene story had come with first-page indicia, and so didn’t include the new intro shown directly below — one that bypasses such conceits as satellites and secret files to let us hear directly from the yarn’s very special guest star: Zatanna, Mistress of Magic:
As I’ve already noted in my Detective #439 post, this particular selection by DC’s reprint curator, E. Nelson Bridwell, completed a mini-reprint program of sorts that had seen the complete “Zatanna’s Search” story arc — a plotline that had originally woven through several of Julius Schwartz’s titles in the years 1964-66 — re-presented to readers for the first time since its original publication. But while I’m sure that my younger self — who’d only caught the tail end of the saga back in ’66 — had been happy enough to be able to finally read the “Elongated Man” episode from ‘tec #355 via its reprinting in #439, I suspect I was considerably less jazzed about the reprinting of “Z — As in Zatanna — and Zero Hour!” here… simply because I had already read it, and in fact, still owned my original copy, which meant I had now “paid twice” for the same material. No, it wasn’t an entirely fair, or even consistent, attitude to strike; but I’m pretty certain that that’s how it was.
I’ve written here on several previous occasions that Justice League of America was my first favorite comic book. Not only was it one of the first three or four comics I ever bought for myself, it was also the first one I cared enough about to pay for in advance via a subscription (yes, my copies all arrived crisply folded, and the creases are still visible after 57 years). More than that, it was the one I’d buy most consistently though the first eight-plus years of my comics-reading habit, even as my tastes and interests inevitably grew and changed over the course of that period. I didn’t have an unbroken run, by any means (even at age sixteen, I still hadn’t quite “caught” that aspect of the collecting bug); still, I owned a lot more of the JLA issues DC had published between September, 1965 and December, 1973 than I didn’t.
As a further marker of the importance of Justice League of America to my first near-decade of comic book reading, I’ve devoted thirty-seven blog posts to date to the series — more than any other individual title. (For the curious among you: currently sitting at second place, with thirty-six posts, is… Avengers. Yeah, I guess I do like team books.)
But, as they say, all good things must come to an end — and my JLA-buying habit pretty much came to an end with issue #110, at least for a good long time. From this point on to the beginning of Steve Englehart’s run in late 1976, I’d only be buying the annual JLA-JSA team-ups (a ritual I’d continue to practice for as long as that august tradition lasted) — and when Englehart left after a year, so, again, did I. I’d drop in for the odd special occasion between the JSA’s appearances (e.g., issue #200), but otherwise kept clear until close to the end of the book’s original run, circa 1986.
As with so many other events in my personal history with comics that, in retrospect, seem quite significant, I have no recollection whatsoever of making a conscious decision to stop buying Justice League of America. So I can really only speculate as to what my reasons were at the time. For all the dings I’ve given Len Wein in my review here of “The Man Who Murdered Santa Claus!”, as well as for some of his earlier efforts, I generally enjoyed his JLA stories. If not for the change to the 100 Page Super Spectacular format, I suspect I might well have kept buying and reading for at least a while longer; but, in the end, I didn’t like Wein’s writing quite enough for it to overcome my negative feelings about a format that had a 3:1 reprint-to-new-content ratio, while also costing three times as much as what I’d been paying to read JLA previously. (The ongoing promotion on the book’s covers of the Super Friends animated series — a show I considered myself definitely too old for — may or may not have been a subconscious influence; at any rate, it didn’t help.) By the time DC returned the book to its standard-size format (now “only” 25 cents!) in January, 1975, I’d already moved on.
Obviously, this all means that you can expect to see considerably less of the Justice League of America on this blog, going forward; still, they’ll hardly be gone for good, since my younger self’s continued patronage of the JLA-JSA annual get-togethers (and my older self’s determination to blog about each and every one of them) means that there’ll still be two, maybe three Justice League of America posts a year…with, um, the exception of next year, 2024, which will bring us the 50th anniversary of the only Justice League-Justice Society team-up to have both begun and ended within a single issue. Though, naturally, that’s a discussion we’ll need to postpone for a later post. See you in June, JLA (and JSA) fans?
*Kudos, however, to whoever had the idea of including Dr. Mid-Nite and Hawkman in the superheroic semicircle, despite the former never having been a Justice Leaguer, and the latter being inactive at the time JLA #110 was published. Doc Mid-Nite, who’s pictured as facing the illo for the issue’s reprinted Justice Society of America story, is of course a participant in that very adventure; while Hawkman, who’d left the team just one issue before this one, is a featured player in the reprinted JLA tale he’s facing. That’s conceptually clever in a way that rewards the attentive reader — though it doesn’t quite make up for the cover’s overall lack of visual excitement, at least as far as your humble blogger is concerned. (UPDATE, 12/9/23, 1:15 pm: As pointed out by reader jaybeatman in his comment below, Wonder Woman’s presence in the semicircle is, like Dr. Mid-Nite’s, probably due to her role in the JSA story [never mind that she’s not “facing” it]; meanwhile, Hawkman can just as easily be taken for the JSA’s version of the character as for the JLA’s. And as long as I’m at it, the presence of Hal Jordan as Green Lantern, as well as that of the Atom, should also probably be attributed to their roles in the reprint from JLA #51. So much for your humble blogger considering himself an “attentive reader”, eh?)
At 7 years old, I was still just collecting comics only sporadically, but JLA was quickly becoming my most frequent title. JLA # 110 was a terrific story, with an intriguing mystery, plenty of action and suspense, and more of Len Wein’s characterization.
A bunch of brief comments:
Alan, I was intrigued to read your interpretation of the characters on the cover. It seems to me that Dr. Mid-Nite was not the only JSA member on the cover; Wonder Woman and Hawkman are the Earth-Two versions reflecting their inclusion in the All-Star reprint.
This was a great mystery story, as well as the first holiday story I encountered in comic books.
When I became more mature, I realized that the first scene with Dinah and Ollie was an example of “Canary-us Interruptus”.
Hal Jordan, rendered unconscious countless times in his Silver Age career, now defeated by the Nefarious Non-Yellow Bar of Soap, and this time the ring decides it’s time to bring in John Stewart?
Red Tornado asking “… why is this particular evening different from any other?” is the central question asked in a Passover seder, to which there are four separate answers, and is a subtle reference by Leonard Wein to what is known to us Jewish readers as the Four Questions.
The Key’s signature Key-Helmet, not just worn with his costume, but also in his doctor’s appointment as well as his court appearance when he’s in his civvies.
P.S.: the Phantom Stranger in a story that could have been subtitled “The Phantom Stranger Does Not Say Yes or No”, as a nod to the title of Metamorpho’s first guest-appearance in JLA # 42.
Lastly, Black Canary’s sartorial sensibilities would again be employed in ish 112 in revamping the costume for another artificial humanoid, Amazo.
As a very young reader, the Super-Spectacular format with reprints was a great way to become familiar with DC Comics’ rich array of characters from the past.
As for the reprints in this issue, a miss and a hit. While the JSA story was an early harbinger of relevance in comics in the 1940’s, it lacked the oomph of the other guest-star/super-villain stories during the highpoint of All-Star Comics between issues 33 and 42.
The reprint of the story from JLA # 51, while just a mere eight years after its original publication, was brand-new to me, and only my first JLA reprint after the two stories from the 100-Page Super-Spectacular from earlier in the year.
All-in-all, a great issue, led off by one of the best of Len’s very impressive run of the JLA.
jaybeatman, I’m sure you’re right about Wonder Woman’s presence on the cover, and maybe Hawkman’s, too. I think I overthought that observation a little bit 🙂 … will be amending the post.
Thanks also for pointing out how Red Tornado’s question about Christmas Eve calls back to the Four Questions of the Passover Seder. I knew that there was something vaguely familiar about the way he’d phrased his query, but I doubt I would ever have caught it.
I also thought it sounded familiar, but my mind went to the Lemony Snicket book ,”Why is This Night Different From All Others?” which obviously couldn’t have been the inspiration since it hadn’t been written yet.
Thanks Alan for another enjoyable review. Interestingly enough, there are again some similarities with our experiences here. I did buy JLA 110 and liked it well enough back in the day, and it certainly holds up ok now. But I had bought JLA 51 when it first came out and was not really pleased to see it again, especially since there were earlier JLA stories I had never seen reprinted (although to be clear JLA 51 was a perfectly good story). But JLA 110 was the last JLA comic I would buy for quite a long time. In fact I would not buy JLA again until 1980 when George Perez came from Marvel to draw the book (JLA 184). I really don’t recall why I stopped buying JLA (it is nearly 50 years ago after all) but it may have had to do with price point you mentioned above. I did not remember that DC raised the price of the 100 page books to 60 cents, but I do remember that Marvel raised the price of all their comics to 25 cents in February 1974 and I believe I started to cut down on what I was buying because of that price increase. I completely missed Englehart’s run on JLA but did read those stories in later years as back issues. But from a historical point of view, I am now aware that Len Wein only stayed with JLA for just a few more issues, and then JLA went through a long period of instability with writers until Steve Englehart came on for a year and Gerry Conway for 10 years. Of course Dick Dillin always provided stability as artist until his untimely passing. The comments from Len regarding the Phantom Stranger are really interesting. If Len did not intend for PS to be a member of the JLA I wonder why he had him show up in this issue. Just curious about one point, Alan, since I am not always clear on mid 70s DC history…did John Stewart make any other 70s appearances? It seems that before the 80s and beyond he made very few appearances in the 70s other than GL 87 and JLA 110. Just wondering. Thanks Alan. Happy holidays!
According to Mike’s Amazing World (godspeed, Mike), John Stewart’s next appearance was in GL #94 (Apr.-May, 1977). http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/main/features/story.php?storyid=40264
This issue of JLA was “OK.” I love the DC holiday stories and even though this one only used the murder of a dime-store Santa as a kicking off point, I really enjoyed the Christmas cheese at the end when Green Arrow’s heart “grew three sizes that day.” Also, Dick Giordano’s-ah, I mean Dillin’s-artwork is lovely; just the kind of Neal Adams-lite look we’d come to expect. What I don’t like about the story will take a bit longer to examine:
Len Wein’s characterization of Batman. Let’s face it he’s not the only 1970’s DC writer to do it, but after the Denny O’Neill/Neal Adams reinvention of the Dark Knight, I hated it when Wein or anyone else wrote Bats as if he were just a guy in a costume. Batman saying stuff like “hey pal,” and talking about someone “dribbling my head” was just not Batman to me then, and certainly isn’t how I think of him now. Plus, the way he just walked in and out of public spaces with no sticking to the shadows or projecting any sense of danger or dread at all, to me, was a betrayal of what O’Neill and Adams had brought back to the character. I realize the characterization of Bats as a brooding and obsessed borderline psychotic creature of the night is years down the road, but this was not Batman to me.
Let’s talk about page 8 of the JLA story when the little black kids ask the JLAers for some spare change. John Stewart at first wants to help, but is immediately hobbled by the urgency of his mission and the ridiculous rules of the Green Lantern Corps which were first invented to keep GL from involving himself in socially-conscious situations in the first place. You’d think after O’Neill/Adams run on GL/GA, that the Guardians would have lightened up on these rules, but in this case, Wein seems to have wanted both his cake and the chance to eat it too. Yes, we’ll show the plight of inner city kids, but we’ll also point out how our heroes are needed for much more important tasks and are too busy to deal with them. The casual way the main (read: white) Leaguers dismiss the kids is pure white privilege and don’t even get me started on Stewart’s excuse that his uniform has no pockets. Kudos to Wein for not wanting to ignore real world issues, but to introduce them and then ignore them anyway, is just as bad. Oh, and Stewart’s solution at the end of the story in rebuilding all the tenements that were destroyed into newer, better buildings? The first thing that occurred to me (now, not 50 years ago) was that the owner of those buildings were going to double the rent and force those folks out on the street anyway. Maybe I’m just cynical, but it doesn’t mean I’m wrong.
As for the whole Super Spectacle debate, I never cared for all the reprints and was probably fairly selective in which of them I read. I bought the book for the lead story and didn’t really concern myself with the rest. In 1974, I was already working and had my own money, so the bump up from 20-60 cents was probably something I noticed, but probably didn’t pay much attention to.
All in all, this was, IMHO, a typical example of Wein’s run on JLA. Servicable, but not spectacular. I don’t blame anyone for dropping the book at this point. In fact, I have no memory at all of my own buying habits at the time and wouldn’t be suprised if I’d dropped it as well. Thanks for the rundown, Alan. It was enjoyable, as always.
I liked that handling of Batman myself. I can buy that he’s going to talk differently among his peer group or Robin than when he’s lurking in the Gotham City shadows. I certainly prefer it to the asshat in the 21st century.
Of course I enjoyed the scene in the following issue in which the JLA, fighting the Injustice Gang, decide to randomly draw names out of the hat as to which villain to face rather than going up against their established foes. Make of that what you will.
I didn’t get a copy of JLA #110, though my next door neighbor did. I was never able to talk him into trading it to me. My first issue, though, was #109. Len Wein’s tenure on the book remains a high water mark for me. https://tombrevoort.com/2016/04/16/bought-this-one-at-the-7-11-during-another/
Oh, and Duffy Vohland had to have been the one to suggest using John Stewart to Len, hence his special thanks credit marking him as a GL fan.
It seems pretty clear to me why both Alan and Brucesfl stopped buying JLA following this issue: the lead feature is possibly the laziest story to ever appear in this magazine. Not only is it remake of JLA 103 (published barely a year earlier!), but it’s utterly lacking in creativity and full of holes you could fly a sled full of toys through. Feels like Schwartz dictated the “Santa gets murdered” hook and Wein phoned it in.
Like 103, we get a holiday theme, an unexpected visitor to the satellite vouched for by one established member, the return of a long-absent “classic” JLA foe, heroes picked off one-by-one and the Phantom Stranger lurking in the shadows to ultimately save the JLA.
What we don’t get is the novelty of PS’s initial appearance, the boatload of fun guest characters and the many clever touches — like the big red dude defeating Superman with magic lightning (has Mark Waid ever acknowledged this inspiration?) and “Thor’s” hammer shattering Green Lantern’s construct.
Instead we get horribly contrived crap like the red-yet-still-yellow mini-sun and Superman forgetting he’s faster than a speeding bullet. And the gargantuan plot holes:
– doesn’t occur to the JLA to evacuate the area until after the Key has activated his bomb (I guess they were worried they wouldn’t have enough time beforehand — oh wait, they ultimately evacuated a multi-block area in minutes, even without the Flash)
– if PS knew the Key’s plot and location, why didn’t he just take him out from the jump, instead of letting the JLA run the death-trap gauntlet? (At least in 103 there was the pretense of a magic spell that needed to run its course.)
Like Alan, JLA was one of my favorite books in the late 60’s/early 70’s. Unlike Alan and Brucesfl, I continued to buy it after 110 — although that was probably because I had a subscription.
My apologies for the Bah, Humbug! rant to those with fond memories of this issue. In the spirit of the season, I will note a few redeeming aspects of this book:
– the appearance of John Stewart, which spurred me to seek out GL 87 on the back issue market and keep an eye out for future appearances
– the reprint of JLA 51, a story originally published before my time that provided closure to the Zatanna arc I had been following via other Schwartz-edited titles
– the fabulous JSA pin-up; although I had already seen it in JLA 76, it was great to revisit this wonderful example of Anderson inking his own pencils
One final note: I have long thought that what Red Tornado wanted to say on page 20 (but was too polite) was “This new uniform is most… appalling.”
I don’t think it was phoned in, but that’s what makes horse races. And while most of your criticisms are fair, I think PS’ conduct matches the way he works during Wein’s tenure on PHANTOM STRANGER. He doesn’t usually take out the menace until the mortal soul he’s helping has done everything they can or had some mental breakthrough (“Shit, my husband wasn’t kidding about sacrificing me to Neron!”). Of course he typically gives some cryptic warning to the person first but the JLA knows they’re going into a trap so they hardly need one.
Though by the same token, the Stranger impersonating the Key Man isn’t the sort of thing he’d have done in his own book.
John Stewart would stay in Len Wein’s memory until 1984, when he made him a replacement for Hal Jordan for a while and then a permanent Green Lantern. He was also called in to sub for Hal in GL#94-95 in early 1977.
I always took John Stewarts and The Red Tornado’s interaction as being more, “I design and build things. I keep it simple” which tracks with how John Stewart was handled in the Mosaic series later on: a guy whose perceptions of things are so profound they appear simple.
As to the Phantom Stranger, “Qui tacet consentire.” So, I think he was a member.
I really liked John Broome’s 1948 JSA story. “There is nothing new under the sun;” “relevance” was not so new and “hot new artists” were doing their things even whan the names stopped being “Toth” and “Infantino”: and started to be “Starlin” and “Cockrum.”
Now, Broome’s story seems highly influenced by Warner films like Angels with Dirty Faces (1938, M. Curtiz, Dir.) or The Mayor of Hell (1933,A. Mayo; M. Curtiz,Dir,) but it is good, well-paced fiction, not slowed by the “message” elements (somethings O’Neil & Adams and Thonas & Adams, in the Inhumans), could have emulated.
I have always liked the Zatanna story and I thought Sid Greene was a better inker for Sekowsky than Sachs (although he was often a good inker for Infantino and had done some strong pencils of the Space Cabby series in MiS in the 1950s. After reading the 1960s Zatana stories by Fox and seeing a lot of his 1940s Dr, Fate stories (also in reprint), I see why Roy Thomas thought Gardner Fox would do well on Dr, Strange.
This seems like a decent story, although as Alan observes it has a few holes in it. The color yellow gets a major workout in this story to stymie Green Lantern. I guess I can see John Stewart, assuming the role pf GL for only the second time, not being experienced enough or quick enough on his feet to figure out how to stop the various yellow-tinted menaces. Use your ring to tear up the floors and hurl the chunks at the giant bouncing balls & toy soldiers, John!
Even with the happy ending of the League escaping seeming death and John Stewart being able to restore the residents’ buildings to brand-new conditions, Santa Simpson ins still dead, and his killer, the Key, makes a clean getaway. Yes, the Key is supposedly terminally ill, but it still feels wrong for him to have escaped justice like that.
I’ve often figured that the GL Corps’ rules against influencing societal development were probably a reaction to former members like Sinestro who thought they had the right to “help” their home planets by taking them over and becoming absolute rulers. I can see the Guardians of Oa becoming worried about that sort of slippery slope occurring again with other Corps members who might start out with the best of intentions.
So, this is the source of the scene where Hal Jordan slips on a bar of soap in the shower and bangs his head. Not the first time something like that happened to him, either. For years people have joked that’s it’s not surprising that he eventually went crazy and destroyed the GL Corps. Too many knocks to the noggin!
Around this time, the “Prime Directive” had been a big deal on Star Trek and was becoming a trope in Science Fiction generally. I suspect that was also an influence.
The inteesting contrast was that GL had rescued very primative societies in the second Sowcase issue and in GL# !, where the primitive civilizations seemed almost to worship Hal as a Messenger from their god.
(Also, in these early GL adventures, the Guardians seemed to have a preference for humanoids over things like intellegent pterosaurs or giant apes , , , ,
Regarding the reprint of “The Plight of a Nation” from All-Star Comics #40, unlike Alan I have a definite fondness for the original adventures of the Justice Society of America, having picked up a couple of the hardcover Archives volumes and enjoyed the other reprinted JSA stories I’ve seen here & there. Yeah, they often have some very dodgy plotting, but I still find them fun.
(Although I’ll readily admit that I’ve always found it difficult to take seriously the idea that certain Golden Age villains like Sportsmaster were supposed to be a threat to the entire team. Whenever that guy shows up in those old stories I inevitably end up rolling my eyes.)
Speaking of the Archives, I also have the majority of the Legion of Super-Heroes volumes. Their series had a very similar cover design as JLA during the “Super Spectacular” period, with several smaller images on each cover, and I agree with Alan, it just doesn’t work well. It comes across as busy & cluttered and doesn’t give the potential buyer that one dramatic image to grab them.
This is the first DC I remember having owned….it was bought for me as I was an out and out Marvelite at the time. I don’t recall wanting to buy further issues , but a few years later I re-read the comic and from that point JLA#110 became one of my favourite ever comics….and not because it has any one outstanding feature, but because I find it an overall outstanding package. My favourite feature is Plight of a Nation, and am in total disagreement with Alan; the art by Toth and Infantino is fabulous, as is the Angels with Dirty Faces type story by Broome. I have read other JSA stories and in my opinion none match this. The Zatanna story is really solid and keeps the attention going; while I was in wonder at all the new characters I discovered in the main lead. The Dillin-Giordano team really delivers on the art. I would not have read JLA#110 until about March’74, as there was a time-lag in US comics being distributed into the UK, and I am really looking forward to re-reading all 3 stories when it gets to March and my own 50 year mark ( right now I am re-reading the Lee-Kirby FF and Thor stories then being reprinted in the UK and have fallen in love with them once more…as well as the Lee-Ditko Spideys and Dr Strange).
I loved the super-spectacular format with all the cool reprints, as I’ve mentioned before. I was on board for JLA going that route but missed this book for some reason — I found a copy hiding in the back of the spinner rack some time later so my first was the following issue with Libra.
It’s true Christmas isn’t essential to the story but that’s true for a lot of Christmas stories. As some mystery writer once put it, Christmas fiction breaks down into stories about Christmas, stories that use Christmas cheer as a contrast for a dark story, and stories that simply happen at Christmas (for example using it as an excuse for a family gathering).
I’ve read a fair amount of JSA and while I don’t hate them they often fall short. In their battle with the King Bee, for example, we have a mad scientist creating armies of insect men for crime but the JSA members still wind up spending a lot of time fist-fighting ordinary hoods (even Starman and Spectre do it). But yes, they often did “message” stories of one sort or another. Overall, I think Seven Soldiers stories often worked better (for one thing, a much lower powered team).
After my family’s transition from the UK to the US, I started buying comics regularly again when I picked up Mike Friedrich’s JLA 97 with the retold origin. I followed the League all the way to the end of the original team (Giffen’s League of Goofballs broke me of the habit). That included the string of forgettable stories between Wein’s departure and Englehart.
As for Reddy’s costume, while I prefer the simplicity of his first look, I don’t hate the retooled version as much as y’all do.
Black Canary working on a new costume seems to be a case of “she’s a girl they do stuff like that,” much like the Scarlet Witch designing the Goliath costume for Henry Pym in Avengers, just in case he ever returned. The same way a lot of fiction assumes if there’s an abandoned baby, any female character will instantly know how to do Mom stuff (one thing I enjoyed about the 1990s Flash series is that when Flash and Tina wind up with an abandoned infant, she’s as baffled about baby care as Barry is).
I didn’t hate the new Red Tornado costume overall, but I really hated the striped pants. Maybe I’m imagining it, but I want to say I remember reading an interview with someone who worked on JLA at the time who said the stripes were supposed to suggest the “spinning winds of a tornado.” Whether that’s true or not, I always thought they made Reddy look like a clown.
I recall a fan in a letter column asying he z’looked like The Vision with racing stripes . . . .?
As I may have mentioned before, I’m a big fan of the Super Spectaculars, since even the recent reprints were ones new to me. However, I must agree about the awkward cover designs most had. Considering Carmine Infantino’s expertise in designing covers, these are particularly disappointing. The previous, all-reprint, Super Spectaculars had some eye-catching covers and must have done well enough to warrant DC’s taking such a big gamble on so much of their line — for pete’s sake, every book with Batman was converted into the larger size!
That said, poor cover design and even price were not impediments to me, because my parents gave me for birthday and/or Christmas subscriptions to most of the DC superheroes that year. So I got them dedpite factors that may have otherwise been off-putting. By the way, except for one, the Super Specs came mailed flat. Sometimes they were pretty mangled or water damaged, since my dad was stationed in West Germany, but it was always a delight to receive a new comic in the mail. This issue was the first in my JLA subscription to arrive.
As for this issue in particular, I was and still am a big fan. Gorgeous Dillin/Giordano art, a JSA story and Zatanna!
The logical inconsistencies in the lead story bothered me not a bit, though I didn’t like Red Tornado’s new costume. Sorry, Len!
John Stewart’s actions to rebuild the decaying houses was an early glimpse into the idea that sometimes rules, however well-intentioned, sometimes get in the way of what is morally right. I can’t say I thought that much about it at the time, but I was happy he helped out the kids.
The JSA story with the kids likewise struck a chord. To this day, it’s one of my favorite JSA stories. I enjoyed it more than the only previous JSA story reprinted, because the heroes teamed up instead of having solo chapters. That and the human interest angle made it seem more complete in a way that even the multiple villains of the Injustice Society couldn’t. Luckily, I had a chance to read the second, superior Injustice Society story in an upcoming issue.
I had been following the Zatanna story through the previous Super Specs, and was happy to see the culmination. If only I hadn’t missed the reprinting of her introduction! It took me years to find that Hawkman story, buried in the back of Supergirl, I believe.
Thank you for another trip down Memory Lane, Alan!
I did a quick check of Arthur Peddy’s work and it seems that he stopped working in comics in the early sixties. The bulk of his work was for DC I believe but aside from The Justice Society most of it seems to have been in the romance titles. Also, like some of the others I really liked the 100-pagers. It meant I was getting to read stories that either came out before I was reading comics or that I had missed the first time around. It was interesting to note though that none of their war titles got this treatment, even though a couple of their mystery/horror titles and romance titles did.
Speaking of war comics, Peddy did those, too, in the 1950s with Bernard Sachs,
DC did not make monthly books Super Specs, so SGT Rock and Superman got special Super Spec issues about every quarter or six months. I tnink SGT Rock’s were Published in March and September and Superma in May and November and Action in April and November, Kammandi did not get one.
Though they did convert the monthy Tarzan title to a bi-monthly when it became a Super-Spec.
JLA covers were always a bit hit-or-miss for me, maybe because having to cram all the heroes on there made them less impactful. Even Adams struggled to equal what he did on his other titles, and when they introduced the heroes heads running down the side of the page, it made the cover seem overly busy. Nick Cardy’s work also seemed less inspired here than elsewhere, and when he started doing three, four or five small illustrations on JLA and Batman it was really disappointing. (I don’t think I ever forgave them for the travesty that was the cover for Batman #255, when they crammed four small Cardy illustrations onto the cover alongside an Adams cracker.)
Earlier this month when I checked the page on Mike’s Amazing world for the comics published in December 1973 I wouldn’t have predicted that you would dedicate a post to this one – but I’m very pleased that you have! After all, you have dedicated posts to 9 out of the last 11 issues of the Justice League of America and I didn’t remember this issue as being particularly memorable. In fact, the only things I could remember were Hal slipping on the soap, John being pressganged by the ring into substituting for Hal and Reddy’s new costume. I had bought GL/GA 87 so was familiar with John and was pleased to see him being given an outing again.
On rereading the story again after 50 years I can see the flaws in it. I also can’t understand how using the green lantern ring on the key would result in it illuminating when it was near to the lock that it opened – what was the science behind that?
I also think that this was the first issue that mentioned that Black Canary’s power was a sonic scream. I remember when she moved across from Earth 2 that she gained a power, but my memory was that this was of a psionic nature, not vocal. I’ve checked through your posts on the JLA issues since issue 74 when she transferred earths and can’t find a previous reference to a sonic scream, can anybody confirm if I am right in my assertion?
I loved the JSA tale, I was lucky enough to have found a copy of the JLA Super Spectacular that had been published earlier in the year which included the first appearance of the Injustice Society of the World so was looking forward to reading another original JSA story. I remember being surprised that they covered a topic like juvenile delinquency, up until that point I hadn’t thought that such topics were tackled in the Golden Age. It gave me more respect for Golden Age authors.
Reading your final paragraphs I think may have given me a bit more insight into why you blogged about this issue. I may be wrong, but I feel as if I can detect a bit of regret that you stopped regularly buying JLA after this. It feels as if you had outgrown it and were moving on to other things – but as the saying goes “ you never forget your first love”. I kept on buying JLA right up until it ceased publication after the Legends miniseries ca 1985 and I still have an over 200 issue unbroken run in my collection. Happy days!
She always had a sonic scream, but IIRC, it was largely ignored — I think the rationale was that she couldn’t control it well enough — until Wein’s JLA run. It was variously labeled the sonic song, sonic scream and sonic whammy — “canary cry” was several years in the future.
Thanks Fraser, you’re right and I should have done my homework properly. I’ve checked on line and found images from pages of JLA 75 and 77 which clearly state that her new powers were sonic in nature. I think what confused me was the way the powers were described and visually represented in the two comics. In 75 (page 6) Dinah says “ then the noise that was not a noise seemed to leap from me” and it is shown as waves emanating from her head not her mouth. In 77 on page 2 the note says that Dinah had “acquired the ability to generate ultra-sonic energy waves as a result of her encounter with Aquarius” in issue 74. On page 3 panel 1 of the story the waves are clearly shown coming from the back of her head, again not from her mouth.
I think that 110 is the first time that her powers is shown as being vocal and that the sound waves are coming out of her mouth (although I’m sure if I’m wrong again someone will correct me 😄). Both stories were written by Denny O’Neill and it made me wonder if he followed up on this in his GL/GA stories. I gone through all the posts that Alan has done on these issues and am fairly certain that Dinah never demonstrates her sonic powers in any of them. Maybe, Denny thought it was a dead end and not worth developing further.
The other thing that really struck me as I have researched all this is how poorly Dinah is treated in many of the JLA and GL/GA stories. She normal role is to do a few martial arts moves and then either get knocked out or is overcome by her opponents. She then plays the “damsel in need of rescuing” for the remainder of the story.
Maybe Len Wein was trying to beef up her abilities in this story so that she could better hold her own with the other league members.
As far as I remember, her GA/GL stories didn’t mention it. I think O’Neil’s heart was mostly with non-super heroes like Ollie and Bruce so what looked useful in JLA didn’t appeal to him.
Until the 1983 JLA/JSA team-up (#219-20) changed the nature of the Black Canary in the JLA, the Canary had no “sonic scream” until #75. Denny O’Neil used it to good effect in #77 (she takes out the Joker as John Dough), but by #81, that seemed to be it for the ability…though Robert Kanigher’s sole script for the series (#84, which Mr. Stewart covered most ably) gave her mind-reading abilities.
The Canary would design a new uniform for Amazo in #112, so perhaps there is a frustrated designer in her at that!
Jean Grey also makes new uniforms for the X-Men in late ’67.
Robert Kanigher also gave her the power to control flocks of black canaries in one of his Golden Age stories. Then promptly forgot about it.
Thank you for reminding me of that…I saw a panel of that online, and it brought to mind Hawkman (wheet-wheet!) communicating with birds later. (Could this be why she said she was “going to miss him” so poignantly at the end of *JLA* #109? Perhaps only “Big Red,” an avian ally of the Hawks, knows for sure!)
While Dinah made new costumes for androids, she also made a new one for herself, which she burned later in an issue of *Action Comics Weekly* (#609).
Sartorial asides:
Marvel Girl’s new costumes for the X-Men made the cover of *X-Men* #39 but weren’t seen until the final page of the story. While Iceman thought they would go no further than “blue belts,” they were all different, reflecting Professor X’s view that his students were individuals. (The Professor would forget this with later X-Men in #129.)
As far as I know, the Angel was the only original X-Man to sport a costume before he joined the team, as you’ll see in #55-56. He returned to that “Avenging Angel” outfit in #60, and as “the Creator,” Magneto gave him new attire in #62.
And to think that earlier yesterday I confused Vance Astro and Vance Richmond. Ah, well, Reed Richards could lead a journey to the Skrulls’s world in *F.F.* #37 after getting lost in the A & P the week before. (Could that have inspired the Clash’s “Lost in the Supermarket”?)
Well, she is a florist, so she probably has a good sense of design, but a very different medium.
Fun story. I liked Len Wein’s run on the book.
I have to say, though, Alan, that by not reading any JLA until 139 and the arrival of Steve Englehart, you didn’t miss too much. Len only stayed around a few more issues, and he was followed by a string of rather undistinguished stories by the likes of such Julius Schwartz standbys as Cary Bates, Martin Pasko (who would go on to some GREAT Superman stories), and Elliott S! Maggin. Even the arrival of Gerry Conway (which I anticipated with a measure of enthusiasm after liking his Spider-Man and Thor stories) turned out to be rather blah.
Yes, nobody seemed terribly committed to the book between Wein and Englehart. Though the line in 124 (IIRC) “You know how much i liked your last story? About as much as having an incontinent yak sit on my lunch!” still makes me laugh.
I liked Marty Pasko’s work on JLA. He did a few (maybe 6 overa 2 year period) stories and they has sound characterization and clever plots.
He and ENB did the 1976 JLA/JSA story with the Fawcett charactors and it was quite fun. He also explained why the JLA revealed thir secret IDs and how the JLA compter system works. He also did a goof two part villain-geavy story that I liked at the time but can’t
I like a lot of Pasko’s work but his JLA is a mixed bag. The computer story is way creepy now — putting an alien into a permanent coma so they can get quality IT? And he insisted on referring to Red Tornado as emotionless, which he isn’t.
I have always been a HUGE fan of the Super Spectacular format precisely because of the large content of reprinted material. But the decision by DC to reprint this particular JSA story is a head scratcher for me. The Justice Society was at their best when they battled formidable opposition like Brain Wave, Degaton or The Wizard. Out of fifty-five JSA stories that appeared in All Star Comics it’s strange that the powers that be chose one about juvenile delinquents! Go figure.
Always thought the footnote referring to the Key as “the Keynote Criminal” was weird, suggesting he had some sort of musical motif going on, which was never the case.
A few glitches I noticed:
“in lieu of the source comi’s indicia;” s/b
“in lieu of the source comic’s indicia;”
For the Justice Society story you write
“and two of its three artists”.
But there are four artists listed. You don’t mention Bernard Sachs.
Near the end of your writeup, you have a link for a photo, the cover of Justice League of America #113, but the photo evidently isn’t at that location (maybe it was there 2 years ago).
https://i0.wp.com/50yearoldcomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/jla113.jpg?ssl=1
Thanks, Pat. All fixed now.