''All Star Comics'' is an

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publ ...

series from

All-American Publications All-American Publications, Inc.The name is spelled with a hyphen per its logo (pictured) and sources includinat Don Markstein's ToonopediaArchivedfrom the original on April 15, 2012. was one of two American comic book companies that merged to fo ...

, one of three companies that merged with

National Periodical Publications National Comics Publications (NCP; later known as National Periodical Publications Inc. or simply National) was an American comic book publishing company. It was the direct predecessor of modern-day DC Comics. History The corporation was origin ...

to form the modern-day

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

. While the series' cover-logo trademark reads ''All Star Comics'', its copyrighted title as indicated by postal indicia is ''All-Star Comics'', with a hyphen. With the exception of the first two issues, ''All Star Comics'' told stories about the adventures of the

Justice Society of America The Justice Society of America (JSA) is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. It was conceived by editor Sheldon Mayer and writer Gardner Fox during the Golden Age of Comic Books. It first appeared in '' ...

, the first team of superheroes. It also introduced

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superheroine who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in ''All Star Comics'' Introducing Wonder Woman, #8, published October 21, 1941, with her first feature in ''Sensation Comic ...

Publication history

Original series

The original concept for ''All Star Comics'' was an

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

title containing the most popular series from the other anthology titles published by both All-American Publications and National Comics. ''All Star Comics'' #1 ( cover-dated Summer 1940) contained superhero stories that included All-American's

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during wh ...

Flash,

Hawkman Hawkman is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Dennis Neville, the original Hawkman first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1, published by All-American ...

, Ultra-Man, as well as National's Hour-Man, Spectre, and Sandman. The adventure strip "Biff Bronson" and the comedy-adventure "Red, White, and Blue" also premiered with the Summer 1940

cover date The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication (the on-sale date or release date); later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unusu ...

. Issue #3 (Winter 1940–1941) depicted the first meeting of the Justice Society of America, with its members swapping stories of their exploits which were subsequently illustrated in the comic's array of solo adventures. In addition to the Flash, Hawkman, Hour-Man, the Spectre, and the Sandman were

Doctor Fate Doctor Fate (also known as Fate) is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first version was originally created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Howard Sherman, debuting in ''More Fun Comics' ...

from National's ''

More Fun Comics ''More Fun Comics'', originally titled ''New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine'',''New Fun'' #v1#1 (Feb. 1935 ...

'' and the

Green Lantern Green Lantern is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers, all of which come from imagination, fearlessness, ...

and the

Atom Atoms are the basic particles of the chemical elements. An atom consists of a atomic nucleus, nucleus of protons and generally neutrons, surrounded by an electromagnetically bound swarm of electrons. The chemical elements are distinguished fr ...

from All-American's flagship title '' All-American Comics''. The Justice Society of America (JSA) was originally a

frame story A frame story (also known as a frame tale, frame narrative, sandwich narrative, or intercalation) is a literary technique that serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, where an introductory or main narrative sets the stage either fo ...

used to present an anthology of solo stories about the individual characters, with each story handled by a different artist. Comic historian Les Daniels noted that "this was obviously a great notion, since it offered readers a lot of headliners for a dime, and also the fun of watching fan favorites interact". The anthology format was dropped in 1947 and replaced with full issue stories featuring the heroes teaming up to fight crime. ''All Star Comics'' #8 ( cover dated January 1942) featured the first appearance of

in an eight-page story written by William Moulton Marston, under the pen name of "Charles Moulton" with art by H. G. Peter. The insert story was included to test reader interest in the Wonder Woman concept. It generated enough positive fan response that Wonder Woman would be awarded the lead feature in the ''

Sensation Comics ''Sensation Comics'' is the title of an American comic book comics anthology, anthology series published by DC Comics that ran for 109 issues from 1942 to 1952. For most of its run, the lead feature was Wonder Woman, a character which had been int ...

'' anthology title starting from issue #1. That same issue saw the induction of Doctor Mid-Nite and Starman as members of the Justice Society as well. Starting with issue #11, Wonder Woman would appear in ''All Star Comics'' as a member of the Justice Society as their secretary. With issue #34 (April–May 1947), Gardner Fox left the series and a new super-villain, the Wizard, was introduced. The

Injustice Society The Injustice Society (a.k.a. the Injustice Society of the World) is a group of supervillains in the . They are the main antagonists of the Justice Society of America. The Injustice Society first appears in '' All Star Comics'' #37 (October 1947 ...

first battled the JSA in issue #37 in a tale written by

Robert Kanigher Robert Kanigher (; June 18, 1915 – May 7, 2002)Social Security Death Index, social security #116-07-5117. was an American comic book writer and editor whose career spanned five decades. He was involved with the Wonder Woman franchise for over ...

. The Black Canary guest starred in issue #38 and joined the team three issues later in #41. ''All Star Comics'' increased its frequency from a quarterly to a bimonthly publication schedule, and the JSA lasted through March 1951 with issue #57 in a story titled "The Mystery of the Vanishing Detectives". Superhero comics slumped in the early 1950s, and ''All Star Comics'' was renamed ''

All-Star Western ''All-Star Western'' is the name of three American comic book series published by DC Comics, each a Western fiction omnibus featuring both continuing characters and anthological stories. The first ran from 1951 to 1961, the second from 1970 t ...

'' in 1951 with issue #58. In this issue, the "Justice Society of America" feature was replaced by

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

heroes. Artwork from an unpublished ''All Star Comics'' story titled "The Will of William Wilson" had survived and was printed in various publications from

TwoMorrows Publishing TwoMorrows Publishing is a publisher of magazines about comic books, founded in 1994 by John and Pam Morrow out of their small advertising agency in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Its products also include books and DVDs. List of maga ...

1976 revival series

In 1976, the name ''All Star Comics'' was resurrected for a series portraying the modern-day adventures of the JSA. The new series dismissed the numbering from ''All-Star Western'' and continued the original numbering, premiering with ''All-Star Comics'' #58. Starting with issue #66, a hyphen was added to the title and the words "All-Star Comics" became a much smaller part of the cover; while the words "Justice Society" became much larger. The 1970s series introduced the new characters Power Girl and the Helena Wayne version of the Huntress. This series ran for seventeen issues before it was abruptly canceled with issue #74 as part of the

DC Implosion The "DC Explosion" and "DC Implosion" were two events in 1978 – the first an official marketing campaign, the second a sardonic reference to it – in which American comics company DC Comics expanded their roster of publications, then abruptly cu ...

and the JSA's adventures were folded into ''

Adventure Comics ''Adventure Comics'' is an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1938 to 1983 and revived from 2009 to 2011. In its first era, the series ran for 503 issues (472 of those after the title changed from ''New Adventure Comics''), ...

''. After 23-year-old

Gerry Conway Gerard Francis Conway Thomas, Roy. "Roy's Rostrum" (" Bullpen Bulletins") in '' Marvel Super-Heroes'' #43 and other Marvel Comics cover-dated May 1974. (born September 10, 1952) is an American comic book writer, comic book editor, science ficti ...

became an editor at DC Comics, long-time JSA-fan

Roy Thomas Roy William Thomas Jr."Roy Thomas Checklist" ''Alter Ego'' vol. 3, #50 (July 2005) p. 16 (born November 22, 1940) is an American comic book writer and editor. He was Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics and possibly bes ...

suggested to Conway that the JSA be given their own title again. Conway offered Thomas a chance to ghostwrite an issue of the revived ''All-Star Comics'', but he declined as Thomas was under an exclusive contract with

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

at the time. However, in 1981 Thomas moved to DC and was able to work with the characters.

Subsequent revival

A two-issue ''All-Star Comics'' series was published as a part of the " Justice Society Returns" storyline in May 1999.

Collected editions

* ''All Star Comics

Archives An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...

'': ** ''Volume 0'' collects #1–2, 144 pages, March 2006, ** ''Volume 1'' collects #3–6, 272 pages, 1992, ** ''Volume 2'' collects #7–10, 256 pages, 1993, ** ''Volume 3'' collects #11–14, 240 pages, November 1997, ** ''Volume 4'' collects #15–18, 224 pages, December 1998, ** ''Volume 5'' collects #19–23, 224 pages, December 1999, ** ''Volume 6'' collects #24–28, 240 pages, October 2000, ** ''Volume 7'' collects #29–33, 216 pages, July 2001, ** ''Volume 8'' collects #34–38, 208 pages, August 2002, ** ''Volume 9'' collects #39–43, 192 pages, August 2003, ** ''Volume 10'' collects #44–49, 216 pages, August 2004, ** ''Volume 11'' collects #50–57, 276 pages, March 2005, * '' Justice Society'' ** ''Volume 1'' collects #58–67 and ''DC Special'' #29, 224 pages, August 2006, ** ''Volume 2'' collects #68–74 and ''Adventure Comics'' #461–466, 224 pages, February 2007, * ''

Showcase Presents ''Showcase Presents'' is a line (comics), line of black-and-white paperback books that were published by DC Comics (from 2005 - 2016) at an average rate of two per month. Much like Marvel Comics' ''Essential Marvel'' volumes, each book usually incl ...

: All-Star Comics'' collects issues #58–74 and ''Adventure Comics'' #461–466, 448 pages, September 2011,

''Millennium Edition''

In 2000 and 2001, DC Comics reprinted several of its most notable issues in the '' Millennium Edition'' series. ''All Star Comics'' #3 and #8 were reprinted in this format.

References

External links

''All Star Comics''
an
''All Star Comics'' (revival)
at Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics. {{Wonder Woman Comics magazines published in the United States 1940 comics debuts 1951 comics endings 1976 comics debuts 1978 comics endings Comics by Gardner Fox Comics by Gerry Conway Comics by Paul Levitz Comics by Robert Kanigher DC Comics titles Earth-Two Justice Society of America Justice Society titles Golden Age comics titles