The cover is awesome. It's a Jerry Ordway piece. Ordway is always a great fit for the World's First Superteam. It's basically the Spectre commanding the committee to release the JSA...or die. It does fit the character, as the Spectre is known for being...rather brutal in his dispensing of justice. I also like seeing the JSA freak out, as if they're like "YOU ARE NOT HELPING HERE, CORRIGAN!" He's clearly not helping things here. It's a great cover. Would have loved to have seen him do the interiors. A story like this was made for Ordway's art.
"Trial by Congress"
Writers: Roy and Dann Thomas
Penciler: Michael Bair
Inker: Alfredo Alcala
Colorist: Carl Gafford
Letterer: David Cody Weiss
Editors: Roy Thomas, Janice Race
Executive Editor: Dick Giordano
The story begins with the members of the JSA ready for their hearing.
I like the little quote from Sir John Harrington. True fact, he's also the reason why toilets today flush. I am not joking. And what is Flash doing there? And Johnny Thunder really regrets getting drunk last night. The hearing goes through some procedures that assure that this is not a trial (Although if it's determined that Batman's charges are true, then criminal charges will be levied against the Society). The JSA just want to clear their names. They know Batman's accusations are false. The three committee members doing the investigation identify themselves.
Meet Congresspeople Linda Valdez (???-CA), Jason Philips (???-NY), and Senator William Hopkins (???-MI). Hopkins will be chairing this hearing. With them is Dick Grayson, their legal counsel. Helena Wayne hopes he'll be fair. Starman alerts the chairman that Sandman had recently suffered a stroke, but the Sandman wants no special favors. As the media and public are allowed inside, Wildcat grumbles that he feels like they're being set up. Among the people there are Superman, Flash, Hawkman, and Dr. Fate's wives: Lois Lane-Kent, Joan Garrick, Shiera Hall/Hawkgirl, and Inza Nelson, who is shooting him a wink. Wonder Woman's husband Steve Trevor is on an Amazon island, so he can't be there. The story hints he's dealing with some injuries of some kind.
With that, the hearing begins. Chairman Hopkins announces that they are investigating two things: The accusation that the JSA were secretly Nazi agents, and the alleged sabotage by the JSA of a bomb-defense formula in 1941 that would have prevented the attack on Pearl Harbor that year. Helena Wayne announces that she intends to prove that despite the diary indeed being produced by the late Batman, the accusations within it are utterly false.
Chairman Hopkins asks the first question: If the JSA did encounter Adolf Hitler in November 1940 (as Batman's diary recounts)...why didn't they capture him then. It could have ended WWII early, preventing a lot of deaths...and a lot of other horrors. Flash mocks the diary as a fountain of lies, and proceeds to tell that tale.
Hitler had used the magical Spear of Destiny in his possession to summon some mythical Valkyries to attack the United States. The heroes tried, but were unable to stop him. Only when Superman showed up was the tide turned in the heroes' favor. It led FDR to bring them together. It basically is a retelling of the origin of the JSA.
Congresswoman Valdez raises a question: If the JSA were so opposed to everything the Nazis stood for...why were the roster practically only white guys? Where were no women or POC on their team? Valdez's view of the JSA is understandable. The roster never seemed to get more diverse, even as the decades passed. It is odd. Alan Scott responds they worked with anyone who showed up. The JSA never turned anyone away due to race or gender. This is...somewhat true when you consider the existence of the All-Star Squadron. Not to mention that in the New 52, Alan Scott would be revamped as an openly gay man.
After the group was formed, Superman and Batman would only be honorary members, being busy with their own adventures not attending the JSA's first official meeting on November 22, 1940. But the JSA still stood eight strong: Flash, Green Lantern, Atom, Dr. Fate, Spectre, Hourman, Sandman, and Hawkman. All of them are at the hearing...except for the Spectre. He's out gallivanting in other worlds right now.
We then get a real telling of their first adventure, told by Jay Garrick. The Flash raced to Washington DC. J. Edgar Hoover (yes, him) asked the JSA to flush out a Nazi spymaster that was operating in the United States. They tracked the spymaster, a man named Fritz Klaver, to his estate in Toledo, Ohio.
They managed to save the life of Johnny Thunder and Atom in the process. Thunder wasn't really a member of the JSA at the time, but he managed to get involved in their early adventures. The Batman diary claims that Klaver was a second-string spy that Hitler found useless. Atom points out Batman was not there...and Pratt was. Wearing his first costume, too. Superman adds he was on Klaver's tail at the time, and he was considered the greatest threat to the country since the Abwehr spy ring. Klaver was no second-stringer.
The JSA's next case was busting up a crime syndicate led by a man named Mr. X. They ended up discovering that the crimelord was actually just some guy they had stumbled over several times. I want to read that story, because it sounds hilarious. At that point, Flash stepped down as an active JSA member because of his own adventures taking up too much of his time. It was here Johnny Thunder was brought into the group proper...after a bit of hazing. Yeah, hazing. Our heroes, everybody!
Shiera Hall, watching from the stands, recalls that Hawkgirl also helped with the Mr. X case. Next, the committee looks at the time the JSA raised a million dollars for war orphans. The Batman Diary charged that the money never benefitted the orphans. Alan Scott (at that point, he stepped down from JSA Chairmanship, transferring the gavel to Hawkman, who held it ever since. He and Hourman had also stepped down from the team, their places taken by Dr. Mid-Nite and Starman) answers that one: It's a lie. He and Dr. Fate did deliver that money to President Roosevelt.
Luckily, they came in time to save the President from a group of attacking men that seemed to be living shadows. It was part of a plot to kill ten Americans, including President Roosevelt. All the JSA were able to prevent the deaths...except for the original Green Lantern. He was fighting Dr. Fate's old enemy Wotan, who assaulted him in a way he couldn't counter (likely using wood. Alan Scott's ring is useless against wood)...and a child got killed in the process.
It was an old shame for Alan. Even after all these years, it haunts him. It was the case that drove him to quit the JSA altogether. However, there were other implications to that case. Superman takes up the explanation. It started with a man named Ian Karkull.
Like Wotan, Karkull was one of Dr. Fate's foes. He was a mad scientist who wanted his genius recognized, no matter what the cost. He found a way to look into the future, learning who the next nine presidents would be after FDR died in office. The JSA were able to save the future Presidents...except for Alan. The child who died despite Alan's best efforts could have become a future President of the United States.
It puts a hush over the crowd. This...this is huge. That child Alan failed to save...could have been a President? How would they have changed things? How would history have gone?
Valdez changes the subject by pointing out Hourman left around this time. He explains that he gets his powers from a drug of his own creation called Miraclo. With it, he gains super strength, speed, and stamina for one hour. It was at that time he realized that the drug that gave him his power...was addictive. Yup, Rex Tyler was a drug addict. He would then create a device that could give him the Hourman powers without the addictive side effects. He then returned to action as a member of the All-Star Squadron. It wouldn't be until the 1960s that he joined the JSA again.
Starman adds that during that adventure, the JSA were exposed to waves of chronal energy that was trapped in the body of Karkull. Thanks to that, the JSA members' aging was slowed down, and they could remain active in superhero work for decades. Elsewhere in the nation's capital, a figure is watching the hearing. And they're hoping the committee destroys the JSA.
Doctor Mid-Nite clarifies that Green Lantern had been gone from the team for weeks before he joined up. He had been a solo crimefigther for some time before that, and had been fighting a madness-inducing villain called "Dr. Elba". He called on the Society to help him out, shortly after Starman joined. They both had their JSA trial by fire on that same adventure. Not long afterwards, J. Edgar Hoover sent them to Latin and South America to fight the Nazis there.
Senator Hopkins points out that it was right afterwards that the JSA failed to get the bomb-defense formula. Remember, this was one of the things that the hearing was about.
Dr. Mid-Nite confirms that there is a little truth to the Batman Diary: Shortly before Pearl Harbor, He, Hawkman and Sandman did save some scientists from armed gunmen. However, they were Nazi spies, not Russian like the Batman Diary claimed.
The scientists had essentially found a way to make time travel possible. The heroes went forward to the year 2941. They had managed to bring back information the scientists (known as the "Time Trust") used to build a device that could hopefully generate a forcefield that could protect America from being bombed. The prototype worked, but the second time they tried it, it failed and got scrapped. Dr. Mid-Nite admits that the device could have been sabotaged, but the JSA were certainly not behind it if that was the case.
None of the Time Trust can testify now because they've vanished afterwards. A couple of them are confirmed to have died, but the others could still be out there. Chairman Hopkins then goes on to another reason this committee have convened: Where was the JSA during Pearl Harbor? And why didn't they prevent the attack?
Wonder Woman offers to take this question, as her husband Steve Trevor is recuperating from some injuries (Thanks to events in the Infinity Inc. comic), and she's hoping to return to his side while he recovers. And speaking of Infinity Inc., we get to check on them.
They're watching the hearing. Wonder Woman offers to bring her "Magic Sphere" from Paradise Island, as it can show the events of that time. However, Congresswoman Valdez brings up a point. Wonder Woman's Magic Sphere can simulate events...so it could be used to make something up. It could be used to commit perjury. Wonder Woman doesn't appreciate the insinuation, and threatens to tear the place apart. Nice, Wondy. Way to help there.
Dr. Fate is able to calm her down, though. Helena Wayne announces she's sent for two other heroes who have a connection with this point in time, but were not accused. And here they are!
Meet Shining Knight and Chuck Grayson, aka Robotman. Well, Robotman's brain in Grayson's body. He was a relative of Dick Grayson who died. Also, this is not the same one that's in Doom Patrol, that's a different brain. Comics are WEIRD. How did he get involved with the JSA in December 1941? Well, allow him to explain.
He was at the Lincoln Memorial, lamenting that his life sucked because he was a brain in a robot body. He saw Hawkman, Atom, and Dr. Mid-Nite fighting "The Monster", a Jekyll-and-Hyde type villain. The other members of the JSA then (plus Wonder Woman, who was not a member yet) had been captured by other supervillains and left at a volcano near Hawaii. The four heroes, alongside Liberty Belle, Johnny Quick, and Plastic Man, were recruited by FDR to form the nucleus of what would be known as the All-Star Squadron. Shining Knight confirms this.
At the time, the Knight was one of the Seven Soldiers of Victory. He was in Hawaii at the time to discover a young woman already there. Her name was Dannette Reilly, and that adventure would cause to gain pyrokinetic abilities which allowed her to become the heroine Firebrand.
Remember my review of Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 from January of last year? Then you may know of her from that comic. Anyway, it was during her origin adventure that she had been kidnapped by the time-travelling supervillain known as Per Degaton. However, there was no criminal record for him until 1947. Firebrand got her powers in 1941. Well, yeah. He's a time-traveler. he went back to 1941 in an attempt to change the outcome of WWII and conquer the world. However, he would end up back in '47, forgetting all that happened in the process. The Spectre then gathered up all the heroes there and dropped them in San Francisco, and the All-Star Squadron was truly born.
Okay, so the heroes couldn't prevent Pearl Harbor. So, why didn't they go take on the Axis Powers afterwards? Well, they tried. But there was a problem.
You see, both Adolf Hitler and Hideki Tojo managed to get themselves a pair of magical artifacts. Hitler had the Spear of Destiny, and Tojo had a magic stone (described as a prototype of the Holy Grail). Using mechanical means, the two artifacts were used to create a mystical shield. If any heroes that used magic or were vulnerable to it entered into Axis territory...they would be magically forced to fight for the axis. And this affected the mot powerful heroes of the era, like Spectre, Dr. Fate, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman...and Superman. Yeah.
When America entered the war, the JSA disbanded. Out of perhaps a sense of misguided patriotism, the heroes went off and joined the armed forces, fighting as soldiers during the war. Despite this, their time in the armed forces lasted only a couple of months, as they were lured into a trap and captured by a new foe: The original Brain Wave.
This led to Wonder Woman finally getting to join the JSA, as she was one of the heroes captured. After that, they regrouped as the Justice Battalion, working under the War Department. Wonder Woman recounts their adventures during that time: Battling the Japanese saboteurs known as the Black Dragons, an adventure in "hyper-dimensional space", and even managed to get food to the various resistance movements fighting the Nazis in Europe.
With that, Wonder Woman has had enough and prepares to fight her way out. After all, she understandably thinks this whole hearing is insane. However, she's stopped by a surprise arrival.
The Spectre offers to basically destroy the planet and send the JSA to another world, but they say no. Doing so would not help them out here, you see. And with that, he leaves. Yeah, he just leaves. With that, Helena Wayne decides to call a recess. She and Dick Grayson talk a bit, which shows how this hearing has really divided them. Both of them considered the late Batman a father, but Dick is clearly the one who shows the stronger bond. It makes sense, as he knew Bruce much longer than Helena did. He thinks Helena is trying to make him look like a fool. However, Bruce did turn against the JSA before he died, and she can't let him smear them...even from beyond the grave. She may have to reveal his secret identity to the committee.
Another player is lurking: The Wizard. He's watching the hearing, and wondering when he gets his day in court. A.K. O'Fallon (remember him from last issue? The newspaper man who plotted against the JSA?) assures him he's got Senator Hopkins in the palm of his hand. He does listen to him, after all. And reads his papers. The story ends with the Wizard vowing to destroy the Justice Society, as he turns the TV into a monster, then a bug. He crushes the bug with his hand. A.K. O'Fallon may want revenge on the Society as well, but the Wizard will destroy him if he gets in the way.
This comic was alright. Again, what it basically is...is a recap of the JSA's history. That's pretty much it. We do get some villainous plotting in the story, and the Wizard's scene is neat. It makes sense that an egomaniacal man like him would take advantage of this to smear the JSA.
I also liked seeing how the hearing impacted Dick Grayson and Helena Wayne. The late Earth-2 Batman was an important part of both their lives, and their stances make sense. Dick knew Bruce decades longer than Helena Wayne did, so he would naturally gravitate towards Batman. Bruce Wayne was a father to both of them (biologically in Helena's case), but Helena can't let the JSA be smeared by the diary of the seemingly insane late Dark Knight. Made for some good drama.
A thing I did love about this issue was the art. Some of the panel layouts were really cool, and some of those images looked like they would be right at home on a Golden Age comic cover. All in all, I think this is one of those mini-series issues that is best read as part of the whole mini than on its own. If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2015 trade paperback America vs. The Justice Society.
Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you enjoyed it, spread it around! I am looking into other options for further supporting this blog. See you next time, when Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes continue their battle to get back to glory...
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