All Star Comics
Encyclopedia
All Star Comics is a 1940s comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 series from All-American Publications
All-American Publications
All-American Publications is one of three American comic book companies that combined to form the modern-day DC Comics, one of the world's two largest comics publishers...

, one of the early companies that merged with National Periodical Publications to form the modern-day DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...

. With the exception of the first two issues, All Star Comics primarily told stories about the adventures of the Justice Society of America
Justice Society of America
The Justice Society of America, or JSA, is a DC Comics superhero group, the first team of superheroes in comic book history. Conceived by editor Sheldon Mayer and writer Gardner Fox, the JSA first appeared in All Star Comics #3 ....

. The series is notable for its introduction of the Justice Society of America, the first team of superheroes, and the introduction of Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 . The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986....

.

Original Series

The original concept for All Star Comics was an anthology title containing the most popular series from the other anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...

 titles published by both All-American Publications and National Comics. All Star Comics #1 contains primarily superhero stories including All-American's Golden Age
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought of as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s or early 1950s...

 Flash
Jay Garrick
Jay Garrick is a fictional character, a comic book superhero in the DC Comics universe and the first to use the name Flash.-The Flash:...

, Hawkman
Hawkman
Hawkman is a fictional superhero who appears in 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 Publications in 1940....

, Ultra-Man
Ultra-Man
Gary Concord, the Ultra-Man was the name of two fictional, comic-book superheroes, father and son, who first appeared during the 1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books...

, National's Hour-Man, the Spectre
Spectre (comics)
The Spectre is a fictional character and superhero who has appeared in numerous comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in a next issue ad in More Fun Comics #51 and received his first story the following month, #52...

 and the Sandman, plus the adventure strip "Biff Bronson" and the comedy-adventure "Red, White and Blue". The title premiered with a Summer 1940 cover date.

Issue #3 (Winter 1940/41) is of historical significance for depicting the first meeting of the Justice Society, at which its members swap stories of their exploits, subsequently depicted in the book's array of solo adventures. In addition to the Flash, Hawkman, Hour-Man, the Spectre, and the Sandman were Doctor Fate
Doctor Fate
Doctor Fate is the name of a succession of fictional sorcerers who appear in books published by DC Comics. The original version was created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Howard Sherman, and first appeared in More Fun Comics #55...

, from National's More Fun Comics
More Fun Comics
More Fun Comics, originally titled New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine a.k.a. New Fun Comics, was a 1935-1947 American comic book anthology that introduced several major superhero characters and was the first American comic-book series to feature solely original material rather than reprints of...

, and Green Lantern
Alan Scott
Alan Scott is a fictional character, a superhero in the and the first superhero to bear the name Green Lantern.-Publication history:The original Green Lantern was created by young struggling artist Martin Nodell, who was inspired by the sight of a New York Subway employee waving a red lantern to...

 and the Atom from All-American's flagship title, All-American Comics
All-American Comics
All-American Comics was the flagship title of comic book publisher All-American Publications, one of the forerunners of DC Comics. It ran for 102 issues from April 1939 to October 1948, at which time it was renamed All-American Western. In 1952, the title was changed again to All-American Men of...

. The Justice Society was originally a frame story
Frame story
A frame story is a literary technique that sometimes serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, whereby an introductory or main narrative is presented, at least in part, for the purpose of setting the stage either for a more emphasized second narrative or for a set of shorter stories...

 to present an anthology of solo stories about the individual characters. Different chapters of the JSA's stories would often be handled by different artists. This new format proved to be so successful that the individual adventures were dropped and the heroes started teaming up to fight crime.

All Star Comics 8
All Star Comics 8
All Star Comics 8 is the 8th issue of the comic series All Star Comics. Although the main story featured the JSA in 'Two New Members win their spurs,' featuring Doctor Midnight and Starman joining in an incident involving an evil scientist's Insanity serum, it is more well known for having the...

 (December, 1941) is notable in the history of superhero comics for the first appearance and introduction of Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 . The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986....

 in an 8-page insert story written by William Moulton Marston
William Moulton Marston
Dr. William Moulton Marston , also known by the pen name Charles Moulton, was an American psychologist, feminist theorist, inventor and comic book writer who created the character Wonder Woman...

 under the pen name of "Charles Moulton", with art by Harry G. Peter. The insert story was included as a backup story in the issue to test reader interest in the Wonder Woman concept. The Wonder Woman story generated enough positive fan response that Wonder Woman would be awarded the lead feature in the Sensation Comics
Sensation Comics
Sensation Comics is the title of a comic book series published by DC Comics that ran for 109 issues between 1942 and 1952. For most of its run, the lead feature was Wonder Woman. Other series that appeared were the Black Pirate, the Gay Ghost, Mr...

 anthology title starting from issue #1. Wonder Woman would also appear in All Star Comics starting from issue #11 as a member of the Justice Society, their secretary. This isssue also featured Doctor Mid-Night and Starman joining.

All Star Comics increased its frequency from a quarterly to a bimonthly publication schedule, and the JSA lasted through #57 (March 1951) — ironically, a story titled "The Mystery of the Vanishing Detectives". Superhero comics slumped in the early 1950s, and All Star Comics became All Star Western from #58-119 (in 1961) with Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...

 heroes replacing the Justice Society.

1976 Revival Series

In 1976
1976 in comics
This is a list of comics-related events in 1976.- Year overall :* American Splendor, Harvey Pekar's long-running autobiographical comic book title, publishes its debut issue.* Fantagraphics Books, Inc. founded by Gary Groth and Michael Catron....

 the name All Star Comics was resurrected for a series portraying the modern-day adventures of the JSA. This new series ignored the numbering from All-Star Western and continued the original numbering, premiering with All-Star Comics #58. Starting in 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. This series ran for seventeen issues before it was abruptly canceled as part of the DC Implosion
DC Implosion
The DC Implosion is the popular label for the sudden cancellation of more than two dozen ongoing and planned series by the American comics publisher DC Comics in 1978.-History:...

 and the JSA's adventures were folded into Adventure Comics
Adventure Comics
Adventure Comics was a comic book series published by DC Comics from 1935 to 1983 and then revamped from 2009 to 2011. In its first era, the series ran for 503 issues , making it the fifth-longest-running DC series, behind Detective Comics, Action Comics, Superman, and Batman...

. The 1970s series introduced the new characters: Power Girl
Power Girl
Power Girl is a DC Comics superheroine, making her first appearance in All Star Comics #58 ....

, and the Helena Wayne
Huntress (Helena Wayne)
The Bronze Age Huntress was Helena Wayne, the daughter of the Batman and Catwoman of Earth-Two, an alternate universe established in the early 1960s as the world where the Golden Age stories took place...

 version of the Huntress
Huntress (comics)
The Huntress is a name used by several characters in DC Comics.The Golden Age Huntress is a supervillainess, while the Bronze Age and Modern Age Huntresses are superheroines....

. Furthermore, the 1970s series was the first regular series set on DC's alternate continuity, Earth-Two
Earth-Two
Earth-Two is a fictional universe appearing in American comic book stories published by DC Comics. First appearing in The Flash #123 , Earth-Two was created to explain how Silver-Age versions of characters such as the Flash could appear in stories with their Golden Age counterparts...

. Despite the cancellation of the series, it generated enough interest to spawn two other series set on Earth-Two, All-Star Squadron
All-Star Squadron
The All-Star Squadron is a DC Comics superhero team that debuted in a special insert in Justice League of America #193 . Created by Roy Thomas, Rich Buckler and Jerry Ordway.-The concept:...

and Infinity Inc.

Conway at one point privately offered to his friend Roy Thomas
Roy Thomas
Roy William Thomas, Jr. is an American comic book writer and editor, and Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is possibly best known for introducing the pulp magazine hero Conan the Barbarian to American comics, with a series that added to the storyline of Robert E...

 to write several issues of the book under Conway's name, as Thomas was exclusively contracted to Marvel Comics at the time. Although Thomas, a lifelong fan of the Justice Society, was sorely tempted, he finally declined on the grounds that when he finally did get to write the team's adventures, he wanted his name on the credits so that the world would know it. In 1981, Thomas moved to DC and was finally able to work with the characters.

Subsequent revivals

Since then, a number of Justice Society related comics have used the name All-Star Comics. A 1999, two-issue All-Star Comics series was published as a part of the Justice Society Returns
Justice Society Returns
"The Justice Society Returns" is a nine issue story arc that ran through a number of comic books published by DC Comics in 1999, reviving the Golden Age superhero team, which had previously been revived in the 1980s.-Publication history:...

storyline.


Reprints

The entire original series has been reprinted as hardback volumes in the DC Archives
DC Archive Editions
DC Archive Editions, collect early, sometimes rare, comic books published by DC and other publishers into a permanent hardcover series. With more than 100 titles, this series began in 1989 with Superman Archives Vol. 1...

series as All Star Comics Archives Vol. 0-11. The first nine issues of the 1970s revival of the series, All-Star Comics #58-67, were collected in the trade paperback, Justice Society Vol. 1 published in August 2006. A second volume with the rest of the 70s stories, All-Star Comics #68-74, was released in February 2007.
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