Unca Cheeks the Toy Wonder's Silver Age Comics Web Site!

Earlier, I've waxed somewhat (pseudo-) lyrical over the manifold joys to be discovered -- or re-discovered, assuming you've already read 'em-- within the issues of JUSTICE LEAGUE written (for all too brief a span, worse luck) by one Steve Englehart.

Let's talk about those issues... shall we?

The first thing you need to know, really, is this: for a year or two prior to Steve Englehart's leaving Marvel Comics and sojourning to DC (there to take over JUSTICE LEAGUE and DETECTIVE COMICS)... DC's "flagship" super-hero title was listing badly; was, in fact, in imminent danger of capsizing altogether.

A dizzying succession of writers had tried their respective hands at the title, after the methodical Len Wein had left for an editorship elsewhere. Some of them were obviously talented, to one extent or another (Elliot S. Maggin, in particular, comes to mind, here)... but none of them, really, had the requisite "spark" this particular series has always needed its writer(s) to provide. Sales, therefore, began to dip.

And then they dipped some more.

What Mr. Englehart brought to the dance, really, was nothing more (or less) than this: the awareness that these characters, assembled, were The World's Greatest Super-Heroes.

Regardless of what the monthly sales figures were showing, at the time; regardless of fickle fan sentiment; and regardless of the conventional pro "wisdom" of the day. The World's Greatest Super-Heroes. Period.

And so, all he did, was: he wrote 'em that way.

After a quick "warm-up" introductory story (enjoyable, certainly; but of little consequence, for our purposes), Mr. Englehart apparently opted simply to tromp the pedal allllllll the way down; aim for the widest strip of storytelling superhighway he could find; and hope like heck there weren't any pedestrians out and about this early in the A.M.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #140 opened up with one of the "Manhunters" -- essentially, an intergalactic organization of "rogue cop"-style bounty hunters -- storming his heavily-armored way into a meeting of the League and accusing founding member Green Lantern of "mass murder" (!!!)

Jaw-dropping enough an accusation, to be sure... but paling into virtual insignificance, a heartbeat later, when Green Lantern calmly raised his hands above his head and intoned: "I surrender. Go ahead and take me; guilty as charged."

One thing Mr. Englehart had learned while at Marvel, for sure: "shock endings" are all well and good, in their place... but: for real storytelling "oomph"... nothing beats a "shock OPENING."

In this issue (and the one following, as well; it was a two-parter), Mr. Englehart explicated the depths and resonances of Green Lantern's nascent characterization more deeply -- and to immeasurably greater effect -- than any writer since Dennis O'Neil, during the heady GREEN LANTERN/GREEN ARROW period. The character's adamantine personal "code of honor" (he'd been led to believe he'd accidentally visited planet-wide genocide upon an alien race, as it turned out; a hoax perpetuated by the story's villains, of course) simply would not allow him to do anything other than surrender himself to the first duly-conscripted authority figure(s) to come looking for him. Even when confronted, later on in the story, by irrefutable evidence that he was wholly innocent... Green Lantern remained profoundly shaken by the experience, throughout.

It remained something of a signature "touch" of Mr. Englehart's, throughout his abbreviated tenure on the title: select one or two characters, in turn, and find something... new in them. Some perfectly logical (but hitherto unexamined) shading or nuance of character- ization around which to craft a moving, human- centered story. In JUSTICE LEAGUE #143, it was the long-neglected Wonder Woman's turn.

(Brief Side Note: take a moment, if you will, to more closely examine the stunning cover, reproduced above. It is the work of long-time JUSTICE LEAGUE artist extraordinaire Dick Dillin; sadly, no longer with us.

(Mr. Dillin handled the penciling duties for the JUSTICE LEAGUE title for something in the neighborhood of one hundred and twenty consecutive issues; not just the all-time record for that title, but for practically any mainstream super-hero series. Throughout the length of said tenure -- and working under an assortment of scriveners ranging from the inspired to the inept -- the man never turned in anything of any less manifest quality and measure than you see, right here.

He remains, to this day, the standard by which all successive JLA artists are measured... and rightly so.)

Perhaps Mr. Englehart's finest JLA "moment," however, was his artful and inventive "expanded" origin of the Justice League, in issue #144. It involved practically every costumed and/or super-powered individual known to be extant within the borders of the DC Universe during the late 50's/early 60's; even such time-shrouded once- favorites as "Congorilla" and "Rex, the Wonder Dog" found themselves swept up in the planet-wide doings revolving an almost- invasion of Earth by an advance team of Martian myrmidons.

My own personal "favorite" issue, however, is easily the story entitled "Carnival Of Souls" [JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #145].

It starts out with nothing less than the actual, literal death of Superman, and the banishing of his heroic soul to the pits of Hell; the drawing together of a small, select assembly of Leaguers, in order to retrieve it; and the nightmarish, Dali-esque temptations and torments they undergo, in so doing.

Certainly, there have been many fine JUSTICE LEAGUE stories written, since this issue; many of these have been of quality fully equivalent to that of "Carnival."

But... I guarantee you this (those of you who've yet to discover and summarily devour this marvelous one-issue wonder): there's never been any JUSTICE LEAGUE story -- by any writer -- that's ever been any better than this one, either.

Honestly, however: I could pick apart each and every one of the Englehart-scripted JUSTICE LEAGUE books, and find something wondrous and rare with which to dazzle you, time and again. They're simply that deep, and good, and true.

... but it just wouldn't be the same as your reading them, for the very first time.

Magic, second-hand, is -- invariably -- second-rate, as well.

Be your own wizards, just this once. Discover the magic.

The Silver Age JUSTICE LEAGUE
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