BEYOND CAPES: The Krypton Chronicles

Few superhero teams have such a rich history as the Justice Society of America, and few know that history

as well as Roy Thomas. The legendary comics scribe who brought the Golden Age of comics to the Bronze Age wrote a detailed and definitive version of it in the four-issue America vs. the Justice Society. Walk with us, BACK ISSUE readers, as we stroll through the hallowed halls of the JSA headquarters in Civic City and discuss the making of this miniseries that would change the lives of every character involved. Hurry… Hourman says time will run out soon. As the DC Universe heroes of Earth-One were preparing for a crisis, their counterparts on Earth-Two, whom said crisis would eventually affect, had their hands full with their own series of events. They began with a shocking revelation from beyond the grave. Batman, whose death was chronicled in Paul Levitz and Joe Staton’s “Only Legends Live Forever” classic in Adventure Comics #461–462, in his diary accused the Justice Society of America of treason. That allegation is the core of America vs. the Justice Society.

Roy Thomas was kind enough to speak with BACK ISSUE about the 1985 miniseries.

– James Heath Lantz

by James Heath Lantz

JAMES HEATH LANTZ: Can you tell the folks reading who may not be familiar with the comic what America vs . the Justice Society is, and how it came to be?

ROY THOMAS: Yes, definitely. Of course, I’d already been doing a lot of reading on World War II, especially the home front, from when I was doing The Invaders and even before. But then, I’d read a fair amount of medieval history before Arak, too, just without any definite aim in mind.

LANTZ: You mentioned in our discussions of Arak: Son of Thunder [in issue #121] that you and your wife Dann did a bunch of research to make it as historically accurate as possible. Was this also the case with America vs . the Justice Society?

THOMAS: As accurate as possible, since once you would inject superpowered beings into history, that history will be irretrievably changed. Probably a real All-Star Squadron, Dragon King, etc., would have made history a lot more different—even if the JSA missed Pearl Harbor—by early 1942 than I allowed. Consider those alternate-history versions of World War II in prose fiction, which generally veer off considerably from real history soon after a few new elements are introduced. I felt I wanted to keep the history as close roy thomas to accurate as I could. LANTZ: In fact, I often wondered

what it would be like if superheroes

IMDb.com. like the JSA existed during wartime.

You satisfied that curiosity in a way without going the grim-and-gritty route of Watchmen or other comics that came after America vs . the Justice Society.

Grave Allegations

Accusations made in the late Batman’s diary placed DC’s original super-team in peril; detail from America vs. the Justice Society #1 (Jan. 1985). Cover by Jerry Ordway.

You described this series as “The real history of the Justice Society” in your intro to America vs . the Justice Society #1. The last panel on page six and all of page seven of that issue in particular show your attention to those details regarding DC’s various heroes’ individual histories. In fact, you’ve often stated the importance of such things when writing for characters and teams who have been in the comics medium as long as the JSA. Do you still feel that’s the case?

THOMAS: No change there. I have a real disdain for people who don’t appreciate the importance of history. I feel they’re morons.

LANTZ: Like Spanish philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” History is more appreciated if it is remembered.

You stated in your intro that America vs . the Justice Society was intended to be a six-issue miniseries. Do you recall what led to it becoming four issues instead?

THOMAS: DC dictated it. However, the AvJSA issues contained no ads whatsoever. This meant the story content was at least as much as it would have been with six regular issues.

LANTZ: One of my favorite things about America vs . the Justice Society and The Last Days of the Justice Society one-shot was the skeleton key on the inside covers, so as not to overrun the story with footnotes. I wish more comics did that. I think I only saw something similar in a Star Trek comic. Was this your idea or something you discussed with the powers-that-be at DC?

THOMAS: It was my idea, but I had to get approval from DC. They didn’t have ads in that mag, so it worked.

LANTZ: The entire series feels like one of those classic mysteries where the characters and the reader alike ask who the real culprit might be while they all try to figure things out as they read or experience events in the story. Was this your intention? What influenced this particular type of writing?

THOMAS: Dann and I were kicking around things, and she came up with the “Batman’s Diary” thing based on the “Hitler’s Diary” hoax then going around. Dann loves mysteries, and I enjoy playing around with them to some extent.

LANTZ: You and Dann worked a lot together during your tenure at DC. Did you two bounce ideas back and forth while writing America vs . the Justice Society? How much of the series was you both together, and how much was one or the other’s idea?

THOMAS: I can’t recall how much was her idea or how much was mine, but of course I was the one who interfaced with DC and was the official generator of ideas. Dann never tried to push me to do a particular series or idea since she really had no objective interest in being a comics writer. It was all about (a) helping me, and (b) potential income for her, as it should have been.

LANTZ: The Justice Society has such a rich, varying roster. Did you make the decision on which members to include in America vs . the Justice Society? How did you decide who starred in and who just wouldn’t work for the series?

continued on page 42

Returning All-Stars

Writer Roy Thomas’ previous All-Star Squadron artists illustrated pages 1 (this page) and 12 (opposite) of America vs. the Justice Society #1: Rich Buckler (inked by Alfredo Alcala) and Jerry Ordway.

by Tom Speelman

In the 1980s, the deregulation of advertising on television effectively meant that TV shows—TV shows for kids— could be big commercials. This led to a gigantic toysto-TV pipeline, creating an age that saw beloved cartoons popularizing franchises that are still with us, like Transformers, G.I. Joe, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Comics, of course, were in on the ground floor. With Marvel and DC’s business model for most of their histories being “craft compelling stories with interesting-to-great characters wrapped in cheap advertisements for things,” toymakers saw it only natural to hire them to craft a story for their lines and promote them with comics (famously, Denny O’Neil named Optimus Prime during his 1980s stint as a Marvel Comics editor-writer).

Of all those, of course, the titans are the three mentioned above. Marvel’s Transformers and G.I. Joe comics were both so much better than they needed to be and so successful that both series are still being continued today by other publishers. Archie’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures—which began adapting the cartoon before going off on its own wild path in the original indie comic’s spirit—may not be as well known today, but it ran for nearly ten years (slightly less than the cartoon) and still holds up today.

Other comics of this era and ilk... less so. Case in point: DC’s 1984 Robotech Defenders miniseries by writer Andrew Helfer, pencilers Judith Hunt and Mike Manley, inkers Murphy Anderson (yes, that Murphy Anderson!) and Dan Zolnerowich [a former Golden Age artist and Murph’s one-time colleague who came out of retirement to work with Anderson on the project—ed.], colorists Bob LeRose and Nansi Hoolahan, letterer Ben Oda, and editor Barry Marx. A tie-in to Revell’s shortlived model kit line of the same name, it’s a fascinating curio of the moment of comics history it sprung from. Fiction with a clear mandate to sell toys but still doing its best to offer a compelling story… even if, in this instance, it doesn’t fully work.

But why is this? What made this toy tie-in miniseries obscure, while others became immortal? Does this series have anything to do with the more famous Robotech you might’ve heard of? And why is that series such a big deal?

A PACKED STORY… FOR BETTER OR WORSE

Robotech Defenders opens with all-out war on the planet Zoltek, where the United Worlds Confederation’s (UWC) Tactical Squadron is trying to protect the besieged capital Zoltek City from the evil, lizard-y Grelons (think the Gorn from Star Trek, but if they were telepathic, had normal faces, and spoke like “thissss,” albeit inconsistently). Armed with hyper-advanced warships be-

First of… How Many Issues?

DC initially planned its toy tie-in miniseries Robotech Defenders to run three issues. Fate had other ideas. Issue #1 (Jan. 1985) cover art by Judith Hunt and the legendary Murphy Anderson.

by John Schwirian

When someone mentions Gary Cohn, the topic quickly changes to

Amethyst or Blue Devil, but Cohn had been writing for DC Comics long before either of those two series emerged. “The Barren Earth,” by Gary Cohn and Ron Randall, first appeared as a backup series in The Warlord #63 (Nov. 1982). In the early 1980s, Warlord featured several six-page series including “OMAC,” “Claw,” and “Arion, Lord of Atlantis.” “The Barren Earth” was the last backup feature, running 23 installments before being promoted to a four-issue miniseries, only to disappear after that, save for a brief spot in the second issue of DC’s Who’s Who. A science-fiction story, The Barren Earth was the tale of a dying planet, super-heated by a sun turned into a red giant. For the last 5,000 years, humanity fought an interstellar war with the insectoid QLOV—a war that had begun to turn in favor of the QLOV. After a two-millennium absence, humans headed back to Earth in search of weapons and technology left there by their ancestors. A band of intrepid warriors fought their way past QLOV battleships, only to crash-land into the scorching sands that now covered humanity’s birth world. Jinal Ne Comarr and her companions believe that they are alone in this vast desert, but are proven wrong as bizarre predator species attack and devour them, one by one. Soon, Jinal is alone and battling to survive. Rescued by the dashing Skinner, she joins his band of marauders, allies with Lord Barasha (leader of the reptilian Harasham), fights the monstrous Mulge (mindless mushroom men), and encounters the enigmatic Ancient Ones who claim to have guided Earth’s evolution after humanity left for the stars. The miniseries introduced a new nemesis—Zhengla Koraz, a yellow-skinned barbarian warlord reminiscent of Genghis Khan and Attilla the Hun. Jinal and her team overcome many challenges in prepagary cohn ration for the pending QLOV invasion, with the series ending on a cliffhanger with the arrival of Jinal’s mentor Admiral Rizzek in her personal intergalactic warship. On November 15, 2021, writer Gary Cohn and artist Ron Randall graciously took the time to speak to me about the development and history of The Barren Earth.

– John Schwirian

JOHN SCHWIRIAN: Gary, prior to Barren Earth, you and Ron had not yet met. You had done some odd projects here and there…

GARY COHN: Very odd.

SCHWIRIAN: Amethyst [with co-writer Dan Mishkin] was underway, so how did Barren Earth get started?

COHN: Ron and I had done a story for one of the mystery magazines, maybe Unexpected, called “Samurai Nightmare” (Unexpected #216, Nov. 1981)—I’m pretty sure that came before Barren Earth—so we knew each other from around the office and—I don’t know if we had done anything else, but we did that one. We were both in [DC editor] Laurie Sutton’s office, I think… RON RANDALL: Oh, no—I’ve got the juicy story. I have a great memory of how this went, at least how you and I got hooked up. COHN: Good, because I don’t. RANDALL: I had done some backup stories in various DC books. I had gone to the Joe Kubert School of Art, so I got to do some war stories in the back of the Sgt. Rock book that Joe was still editing at the time,

Liberated from ‘The Warlord’

Gary Cohn and Ron Randall’s cult favorite “The Barren Earth” backup graduated from the back pages of The Warlord to its own four-issue miniseries. Conqueror of the Barren Earth #1 (Feb. 1985) cover by Randall.

by Jonathan Brown

How far would you go for the people you love? How far would you go to settle a score? How far would you go to keep your sanity? These are the questions asked in the four-issue limited series Legionnaires 3, published by DC Comics. The story was plotted and laid out by Keith Giffen. Dialogue was provided by Mindy Newell. The legendary Ernie Colón penciled the tale. Karl Kesel inked the work. Carl Gafford gave the art color, and it was edited by Karen Berger. The four comic books have the publication dates February through May 1986.

In this article, we will examine the plot in light of the questions keith giffen asked at the beginning of this piece. We will next move to examine DC Fandom. how the pictures related that story to the readers. We will then close by asking how effective the whole story worked. Let us get into the world of Legionnaires 3.

Legionnaires 3 focuses on four primary players. The first primary character we are introduced to is our villain, Time Trapper. At the edge of reality, this dark-hooded figure tortures allies and enemies as he is tortured by thoughts of past attempts to destroy the Legion of Super-Heroes. Every character that comes into his presence is subject to his whim. If they please him, they are spared to live another day. If they bring him displeasure, he erases them from existence or unleashes some breaking of their reality. He constantly dwells on how to destroy the Legion. He decides he must attack their core, the foundational members of the team: Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, and Cosmic Boy. He believes that the key to laying the foundation for victory is to

Troubled Times

The Time Trapper pushes the founding members of the Legion of Super-Heroes to their limits in the four-issue Legionnaires 3. Cover to #1 (Feb. 1986) by Ernie Colón and Karl Kesel.

Wonder Woman, the most popular and well-known

superheroine in the world, was published regularly from her debut in All-Star Comics #8 (Dec. 1941–Jan. 1942), followed by Sensation Comics #1(Jan. 1942) and Wonder Woman #1 (Summer 1942) until Wonder Woman #329 (Feb. 1986). Her popularity was only part of what kept her a regular on the publishing racks for 45 years. Another key ingredient to her never disappearing for long was a mysterious contract between DC Comics and the estate of her creator, William Moulton Marston…

So what happened when—in the wake of the continuityshattering Crisis on Infinite Earths maxiseries—DC decided to cancel Wonder Woman and relaunch it a full year later? The creative team wasn’t ready to debut any earlier, and the Marston contract meant that DC would lose the property if they didn’t publish something. Enter a unique group of mostly female creators, teamed with a yet-tobecome-a-star co-writer, for a four-issue miniseries to help fill in the publishing gap… the ode to the Golden Age of the Amazing Amazon, The Legend of Wonder Woman.

The following is an edited transcript of a Zoom reunion between Trina Robbins and Kurt Busiek, moderated by Andy Mangels. Letterer Lois Buhalis was unable to participate, editor Alan Gold declined participation, and colorist Nansi Hoolahan was unable to be found after extensive research into her current whereabouts. The reunion was filmed on January 6, 2022, and the pair revealed many answers to the questions longtime DC fans and historians have wondered about for decades since.

ANDY MANGELS: Good afternoon, and welcome to the Pro2Pro interview session for Wonder Woman for BACK ISSUE magazine, one of the industry’s leading and award-winning magazines about the history of comics, specifically the realm of the 1970s and 1980s.

The 1980s were a major time of change for DC Comics. They were not only introducing creators who had come from the independent comics world and the underground comix world, and British creators, but also introducing an entirely new continuity.

That’s what leads us to The Legend of Wonder Woman. Crisis on Infinite Earths had done away or was in the process of doing away with the entire history of Wonder Woman, and the stories that we had known and enjoyed for 40 years at that point were going away.

During this time, DC Comics brought together legendary comics creator Trina Robbins and relative

Seems Like Old Times

The Golden Age–inspired The Legend of Wonder Woman #1 (May 1986). Cover art by Trina Robbins. Trina may have found it “disappointing” to be required to draw Wonder Woman in her then-contemporary costume, but she did it with the grace and pizzazz that would have brought a smile to the face of legendary WW artist Harry G. Peter.

by Andy Mangels