Time for more Christmastime kid-friendliness with the 6th installment of the FIRST superhero team in history: DC Comics’ 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 #8 (December 1941)
Title: TWO NEW MEMBERS WIN THEIR SPURS
Heroes: DOCTOR MID-NITE, STARMAN, THE ATOM (Original), THE SPECTRE, DOCTOR FATE, HAWKMAN (Original), SANDMAN, JOHNNY THUNDER
Note: First appearance of Wonder Woman, but in her own separate story.
Villains: DOCTOR ELBA, THE LIGHTNING MAKERS
Synopsis: Starman is being welcomed to the Justice Society of America when suddenly another superhero, Dr Mid-Nite, arrives unexpectedly with his new chemical concoction – Solution K. This solution will restore the sanity of assorted witnesses to heinous crimes, witnesses driven mad by drugs devised by a mysterious villain called Dr Elba. Continue reading
GODS OF FIJI – Balladeer’s Blog’s examinations of neglected pantheons of deities from around the world are always a hit. 
MOTHER JONES: RECOMMENDED TRUMP LINKS – Balladeer’s Blog once again posted a roundup of links to the most thought-provoking articles about President Donald Trump. 
HAMMETT (1982) – I reviewed this 1982 Wim Wenders film that was produced by Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios. Frederic Forrest (Chef from Apocalypse Now) plays real-life mystery writer Dashiell Hammett as he gets caught up in a real-life mystery. 
PHELIM MCALEER ON THE AMERICAN LEFT’S TOTALITARIANISM – Like me and so many others, Phelim McAleer used to consider himself part of the political left but was driven away by the left’s growing fondness of censorship, blacklisting, totalitarianism and their support of ONLY reactionary Muslims, not Muslims who seek reform in their faith to bring it into the 21st Century. 
HELLRAISER: ORIGINS TRAILER – My love of Clive Barker’s horror novel The Hellbound Heart and the subsequent Hellraiser film series is well known. 
SNOPES CONFIRMS BARACK OBAMA’S ADMINISTRATION TURNED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHILDREN AT THE BORDER OVER TO HUMAN TRAFFICKERS – Just one of the many, MANY scandals of Obama’s presidency ignored by the Democrats in the media. 
SILAS TALBOT: REVOLUTIONARY WAR HERO – Balladeer’s Blog took a look at the Revolutionary War career of Silas Talbot. 
TRUMP-HATERS: ARE THEY INSANE OR ONLY PRETENDING TO BE? – A look at the slobbering, psychopathic behavior of those bizarre people who devote their every waking moment to drooling hatred of de facto Third Party President Donald Trump. 
THE INDEPENDENCE DAY SPEECH THAT NEVER WAS – This item examined a much-discussed speech during the deliberations over the Declaration of Independence. 
SOLO: BOOK REVIEW – I reviewed this Jack Higgins espionage novel. The story centered around efforts to stop an international assassin codenamed The Cretan Lover. 
POPE FRANCIS, A MAN OF HIS WORD: THE WORST SUPERHERO MOVIE EVER – I reviewed the documentary about Francis as if it was a superhero movie being reviewed by one of the snarkier IMDb members. 
NEW YORK TIMES OP-ED ON THE POMPOSITY OF THE AMERICAN LEFT’S TRUMP-HATERS – The title says it all. 
DYSTOPIA NATION: TECHNO-TYRANTS OF SILICON VALLEY – Balladeer’s Blog’s dystopian fiction examination of the 21st Century Robber Barons at Facebook, G**gle, Twitter and elsewhere becomes more timely by the day. 
FACULTY LOUNGE FASCIST ROUNDUP: MAY 7th – One of the most popular installments of this ongoing series about how American colleges and universities have become churches of irrational thought. 
FLASHMAN NOVELS: SIXTH PLACE – Because of the success and popularity of Balladeer’s Blog’s review of The Top Five Harry Flashman Novels I threw in this bonus sixth-place (out of twelve) book. 
ALL-STAR COMICS #7 (October 1941) 
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. 
FREE SPEECH, LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES – Neither end of the political spectrum seems interested in defending freedom of expression except when their own point of view is in danger of being silenced. 
WITHIN AN ACE OF THE END OF THE WORLD (1900) – My review of this work of “ancient” science fiction was a hit with readers. 
POLO: 2018 U.S. OPEN, GAMES ONE AND TWO – Balladeer’s Blog’s annual coverage of the U.S. Open in Polo attracted its usual share of attention. 
TRUMP-HATERS: FASCISTS AND BUFFOONS – After two pieces of garbage like Barack Obama and George W Bush we got a de facto Third Party President in Donald Trump. 
NEGLECTED DETECTIVES WHO SOLVED REAL-LIFE MYSTERIES – This item looked at a pair of baffling real-life mysteries that were solved decades ago by eccentric detectives as colorful as any in fiction. 
THE PRISONER: MORE RELEVANT THAN EVER BEFORE – This item kicked off my review of the 1967 science fiction/ existential drama The Prisoner. 
POLITICAL FORTUNE COOKIES – This was a popular one-shot item in which I took shots at Congressional Republicans, Barack Obama and many, many more. 
MICHAEL MOORE: FAKE FRIEND TO THE WORKING CLASS – Pathetic, outdated Michael Moore STILL refuses to give away all but two million dollars of his bloated fortune to prove that he really cares about the 99 percent like he claims he does. 
Joy Behar, whose pitch-perfect impression of hate-filled, slobbering anti-Trump fascists has made her famous, recently told a Balladeer’s Blog reporter during an interview that never happened that she has a book recommendation for Christmas. 
Jowly Joy enthusiastically called it “A terrific look at the cesspool of corruption which masquerades as the American government. De facto Third Party President Donald Trump is uniquely qualified to rock the crooked DC boat since he is NOT a career politician like all the other Made Members of America’s Criminal Class of Officeholders.” 
BLACK PANTHER: PANTHER’S RAGE OVERVIEW – From the 1970s comes this 13-part Black Panther saga by Don McGregor featuring the Black Panther’s attempts to preserve his kingdom during the blood-soaked uprising led by the callous and cruel Erik Killmonger. 
1912: BATTLE OF THE THREE PRESIDENTS – Readers loved this look at the Presidential Election of 1912 in which incumbent William Howard Taft faced Woodrow Wilson AND former President Theodore Roosevelt, who was running on the Progressive (Bull Moose) Party Ticket. 
FLASHMAN ON THE MARCH – The very popular series of reviews of my Top Five Harry Flashman Novels by George MacDonald Fraser wrapped up with this item at Number Five. 
VICE PRESIDENTS: JOKES ABOUT THESE ULTIMATE SECOND BANANAS – Many readers felt this examination of Vice Presidents was even funnier and more irreverent than my Presidential Pros and Cons blog posts. 
PRESIDENTIAL LOSERS: PROS AND CONS – If you’ve enjoyed my humorous looks at America’s past presidents and vice-presidents you should certainly enjoy this item. 
ALL-STAR COMICS #5 (June 1941) 
THE TOP FIVE FLASHMAN NOVELS – Little did I know how wild the reaction would be to my reviews of what I consider to be the top five novels featuring George MacDonald Fraser’s infamous antihero Harry Paget Flashman. 
CRATES: ANCIENT GREEK COMEDIES – Balladeer’s Blog took another look at the fragmentary remains of the works of yet another ancient Greek comedian. 
ORION: THE ELVIS PRESLEY HOAX/ PUT-ON – Many readers felt this weird topic featured me at my myth-dissecting best. 
REHASHING PRESIDENT TRUMP’S INCREDIBLE 2017 – De facto Third Party President Donald Trump showed the working class and the poor that at long last an American office-holder actually cared about them for the first time in decades. 
TRANSGRESS WITH ME, JANUARY 13th – One of the earliest installments of what has become one of Balladeer’s Blog’s most controversial and hotly-debated recurring items. 
ROBERT LUDLUM’S THE CHANCELLOR MANUSCRIPT – Balladeer’s Blog reviews Robert Bourne Identity Ludlum’s 1977 espionage novel that seems even more timely and possible here in 2018. 
ALL-STAR COMICS #4 (March 1941) 
