JUSTICE SOCIETY 5: WAR ORPHANS

More Christmas Season kid-friendliness from the Golden Age with the 5th installment of the very FIRST superhero team in history: DC’s Justice Society of America. FOR PART ONE CLICK HERE

I will review the original issue and then detail how I would “script-doctor” the story for modern audiences.

ALL-STAR COMICS #7 (October 1941)

Title: THE JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA RAISES A MILLION DOLLARS FOR WAR ORPHANS 

Heroes: BATMAN (Original), SPECTRE, SUPERMAN (Original), HOURMAN, GREEN LANTERN (Original), DOCTOR FATE, FLASH (Original), SANDMAN, HAWKMAN (Original), JOHNNY THUNDER, ATOM (Original)

Villains: THE GENERALISSIMO, HOTFIST AND ASSORTED GANGSTERS

Synopsis: Justice Society Chairman Green Lantern mentions the plight of war orphans in Europe and recommends that the JSA members combine their crime-fighting activities with fund-raising for those orphans.

The heroes spend the next several days collecting bounties on wanted criminals, selling exclusive rights to a newspaper to cover their war on a particular gang of mobsters and trying to recover a priceless Aztec treasure before it falls into the hands of a corrupt Mexican General and his troops.

In the end the JSA raises ONE … MILLION … DOLLARS … for orphans in war-torn Europe.  

How I Would Revise It: 

A. As in all the previous JSA stories I would have used the original female Red Tornado (Abigail Hunkel) instead of Johnny “Jar Jar” Thunder. She at least wore a costume and did her own fighting.

B. Given that the huge page count in these Golden Age comic books could accommodate multiple stories today I would once again separate this overly long tale into three separate stories.

C. Story One – Green Lantern’s challenge to raise money for the war orphans would go unchanged. For this first story I would have the entire Justice Society of America fighting the rogue Mexican officer the Generalissimo and his army to recover the lost Aztec treasure for its monetary value.

D. Story Two – Days later the JSA would round up wanted posters like in the Sandman’s solo bit in the real story. With Batman’s detective skills shining the team would track down the wanted men all across the country and bring them in for the bounty money.

E. Story Three – And days after that second story would be the JSA helping the Tribune newspaper against the gangsters hassling it in exchange for an enormous amount of cash to secure exclusive coverage of the clash. Hotfist would be the leader of this gang. 

I WILL REVIEW THE NEXT JSA STORY SOON. KEEP CHECKING BACK FOR UPDATES.

FOR MY EXAMINATION OF THE 13-PART BLACK PANTHER STORY TITLED PANTHER’S RAGE CLICK HERE

FOR MY ARTICLE ON THE LIST OF ATLAS/ SEABOARD SUPERHEROES CLICK HERE 

FOR MY ARTICLE ON THE MAIN LIST OF CENTAUR COMICS SUPERHEROES CLICK HERE

FOR MY ARTICLE ON THE MEMBERS OF INFINITE HORIZON CLICK HERE

FOR THE AUSTRALIAN SUPERHERO PANTHEON CLICK  HERE

FOR MORE SUPERHEROES CLICK HERE:  Superheroes

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