JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA
Comic Books
For Sale
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The
world famous superhero team that paved the way for almost
all of the superhero teams since 1960 made its momentous
debut in the three issue tryout set of Brave and the Bold
#28, 29 and 30.
The
Justice League of America came onto the comic book scene
like a whirlwind with the famous first cover appearance
against Starro the Conqueror.
Green Lantern, Flash, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Martian
Manhunter teamed together to combat the giant starfish from
another world and formed the group as charter members.
Supporting side-kick Snapper Carr made his debut in the
issue and the JLA was complete as the first superhero team
of the Silver Age of Comics.
The team
continued its adventures in the next two issues with
long-time and still recurring villain Amazo having been
created in the last of the tryout issues acquiring powers of
all of the JLA members at that time. He even possessed
their weapons as well. A great character that is still
utilized today in various DC publications.
DC
editor Julius Schwartz was reviewing the sales figures of
the three tryout issues and knew he
had a hit on his hands and immediately commissioned the JLA
to have their own title.
The very
first issue of the Justice League of America debuted in 1960
shortly after their stint in the Brave and the Bold.
One of the keys
to success with every superhero and superhero team is its
villains. The JLA had no shortage of villains and the
title offered many introductions and origins throughout its
long run.
Despero
would debut in that first issue and has remained one of the
JLA's villains ever since. He appeared on
the cover with an ingenious tie
into the story
playing chess with the Flash and slowly his fellow team members
were disappearing with each move of the chess pieces.
He has gone onto play a big part in re-shaping the DC
Universe and continues today as a major villain appearing in
many other titles.
Kanjar Ro is yet
another great villain from a different world and had his origin and
first appearance in issue #3 enslaving the JLA temporarily.
He's a great character that has appeared numerous times over
the years and has been featured in other DC titles. He has
always been a thorn in the JLA's side with each and every
encounter against the team.
Julius Schwartz
loved the idea of adding in other heroes from the DC
Universe to join the team. Superman and Batman would
eventually become members of the team too and did appear in
the Brave and the Bold tryout issues and initial issues of
the title, but serving as fill-in
for those stories.
Green Arrow
would be the first new addition to the team in issue #4
helping to rescue the group and agreeing to join. He
has consistently been a part of the team in some form for the
last 50 plus years.
Interestingly
the tryout and debut issue never described the
origin of the team. They simply just appeared on the
scene and worked together as if they were a team for several years,
but in issue #9 we finally get the origin story told although a
little bit on the bland side with Snapper Carr becoming the
official team mascot towards the end of the story.
Most fans at the time probably enjoyed the issue since it
was consistent with DC's other titles, but today most
readers would've found this to be too campy and less
serious than they would prefer.
Getting back to
the villains for a second those early issues would introduce us
to characters that have been in the DC Universe ever since such
as Felix Faust in issue #10 and Dr. Light in issue #12.
Both issues provide those characters' origin which are often overlooked by most
collectors since they always seem to want to go after the
superheroes origin and first appearance issues. The covers
to both are bright and eye-popping.
Another of DC's
most enduring characters would join the team in issue #14.
Always a great way to introduce a character to the title
like that of issue #4 is to have the character play a part
in the overall rescue of the current members. The Atom-DC's
tiniest and mighty superhero rolled right in literally to the JLA and has been
an on again, off again team member since. His size
offered some great possibilities in storytelling and would
appear with his larger companions in Filmation's DC
Superheroes TV cartoon in the 1960s.
A huge storyline
that still gets quite a bit of attention even today started
in the pages of the JLA called Crisis. Here DC
introduced the concept that there is yet another Earth
called Earth Two where all Golden Age superheroes reside
on which parallels Earth One where the Silver Age
superheroes live.
This was a great
way for DC to re-introduce the Justice Society of
America-the first superhero team in comic books.
Issues #21 and #22 would bring back the JSA for essentially
the second time in the Silver Age having briefly appeared in
the Flash title, but the first time in the JLA title.
We would see Hourman and Dr. Fate in the Silver Age for the
first time in these issues.
In addition to
those Golden Age greats, Starman, Mr. Terrific and Sandman
have all made their first Silver Age appearance in this
title in issues #29, 37 and 46.
The Crisis
concept would also open the opportunity to bring Golden Age
versions of Superman, Batman, Robin back to the current DC
Universe at the time.
We would see a
plethora of the Golden Age mixing in with the Silver Age and
the readers of the day absolutely loved it. The
universe just wasn't comprised of one set of characters, but
now we would get almost a doubling of characters.
We would even
see the JLA and JSA taking each other on in issue #56 with a
fantastic cover by Carmine Infantino.
The Crisis
storyline has gravitated into some major developments in the
DC Universe throughout the years and will more than likely
play a major part in future DC movies as well.
As mentioned
before DC would slowly add in other of its huge stable of
legendary characters to the team's ever changing roster.
Hawkman would join the team in issue #31, Black Canary would
join in issue #74, but of course there would be subtractions along
the way with Green Arrow, Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter
leaving the team.
When DC was able
to acquire Quality Comics line of characters we started to
see the likes of Uncle Sam, Black Condor, The Ray, Dollman,
Phantom Lady and the Human Bomb making their first
appearances since that company went out of business back in
the 1950s. They made their revival in issues #107 and
108. Now DC had yet another line of characters to tap
into the already growing DC Universe and the Justice League
title would be the perfect venue to bring these characters
back to life.
After DC was
able to settle their long-time legal battles with Fawcett
Publications they revived many of their characters in the
pages of the Justice League. In issues #135, 136 and
137 we would see Bulletman, Bulletgirl, Spy Smasher, Mr.
Scarlet, Pinky and Ibis for the first time since the Golden
Age.
It also opened
up the opportunity for DC to use Fawcett's most famous
character-Captain Marvel/Shazam and his supporting cast.
Captain Marvel would eventually become a team member.
Without the
incredible talents of writers and artists the Justice League
of America would not be what it is.
Legendary writer
Gardner Fox among many have created the stories with a long
list of DC's stable of artists like Mike Sekowsky, Dick
Giordano and Murphy Anderson whom have had their opportunity to
draw the huge amount of characters in this title.
The great Neal Adams has created quite a few eye-popping
covers in this title with some of my favorites below.
Who wouldn't
want to have the opportunity to work with the entire DC
Universe at your disposal. They would not be limited
to one superhero or one villain. It takes multiple
villains to go toe to toe with the Justice League and I know
from reading interviews and articles over the years that
those who have worked on the title had a great time creating
each and every issue.
It was great fun
for them to try and come up with stories to utilize the
team's great powers and personalities so they could interact
well with one
another from issue to issue.
The title has
gone through a few series with the inaugural 1960s run
lasting until 1987 and shortly thereafter was re-launched
into a new title simply called Justice League.
A new team
consisting of some heroes from the Golden Age and some from characters that DC had acquired over the years including
Captain Marvel and Blue Beetle mixed in with some of the
regulars like Batman would form this new title. This
run would last almost 10 years before giving way to another
set of titles.
In order to keep
the interest of current fans and an attempt to bring in
newer fans we would see titles like Justice League
Europe/Justice League International and the JLA before the
Justice League of America title was yet again published as
such.
The Justice
League title continues to run even today and the Justice
Society has found new life with its own title after having
had a couple of mini-series and off-shoot titles like
All-Star Squadron make their attempts to grab readers during
the 1980s and 90s.
If you like
stories where you get more than one character featured and
it consists of an all-star cast, then the Justice League of
America is a title for you.
Purchasing Justice League of America Comics
When reviewing sources to acquire
Justice League of America
issues, I like to check
out local comic book shops and conventions. I get to see
the comics in person and can examine more issues at one time than I could online.
Eventually local sources go only so far since they rely on
collectors and other sellers in the area to bring them in.
Sources on the internet tend to travel and pick up
collections and will buy a lot of books online to add to
their inventory. They also have a lot of people from
all over the world who will contact them since they are not
tied to a local area to sell to them. These sellers
also tend to advertise on a more global scale than the local
comic book shop since their marketplace is the entire world
essentially.
mycomicshop
is a great place to find Justice League of America issues. They're a
national online seller and have been selling comic books
through the mail since the 1960s. They try to stock every issue of every
title that has ever been published.
You'll
see a large amount of
Justice League of America
covers of key books in the run
as well as general issues in the title on this page that I
think will interest any
Justice League of America
collection which will take
you directly to mycomicshop's inventory of that issue.
There you
will see every condition of that issue they currently have
in stock so you can choose the right condition of the book
that you're looking for.
Don't be
worried if you do not see an issue in stock when you click
on any of the links. Often times they will receive an
issue into their inventory on a fairly regular basis as they
purchase books and collections daily. Just go ahead
and bookmark the link after you've clicked on the issue here
or check back here and click on the link to see if the issue
has come into stock. The links will stay permanently
connected.
I've
purchased books from mycomicshop before and will continue to use them.
Their grading is accurate and they are a reliable source.
They have great customer service in providing you books in a
timely manner.
Ebay is a
great option as there’s a lot of
collectors/sellers/dealers always looking to move in
and out of product and use Ebay as their avenue.
You may find some good deals on Ebay, but be careful to check out
the auctions and or Buy it Now listings carefully. Some
sellers’ terms are not right for everyone and sometimes the
items are not what you expect.
If condition is important to you, then be sure to ask a lot
of questions. If you don’t get the right kinds of answers
you’re looking for, then move on and try another listing.
Always check out the seller’s profile to see how their past
selling has been. If they’re new to selling and have only
been buying, ask questions.
You always want to be comfortable with the person you’re
potentially going to be buying from and you really need to
know what it is you’re getting.
If you're looking for CGC
Justice League of America comics, then ComicLink is
your best choice. They focus primarily on CGC books
and you can find some of the top notch
Justice League of America issues
available on
their site. Expect to see from time to time CGC
Justice League of America #1s,
Brave and the Bold #28 and others of that era as well as CGC
Justice League of America comic books
from the Bronze age.
I hope
this page has been informative to you regarding the world of
Justice League of America
comic books.
Happy Collecting!!!
Johnson's Collectibles