Showcase Presents: Justice League of America, Vol. 1 [Paperback]

Gardner Fox (Author), Mike Sekowsky (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (December 7, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401207618
• ISBN-13: 978-1401207618
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.4 x 8.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #96,439 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #86 in Books > Children's Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Superheroes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE START OF DC'S GREATEST SUPER TEAM, March 14, 2006

By 

Tim Janson (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Showcase Presents: Justice League of America, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

As I began to read Showcase Presents the Justice League of America I soon quickly came to the startled realization that in my thirty plus years as a comic fan, I had never read the first appearance by the JLA in Brave & The Bold #28. This came as a surprise as I had read, in some form or another, the first appearance of just about every major superhero or team: Superman, Batman, The Avengers, Spiderman, The Fantastic Four, etc..., but never the Justice League. It came to me that growing up I had read many of these DC first appearances in those old, oversized, Famous First editions, and read many of the Marvel first appearances in Origins of Marvel Comics collections. But somehow I missed on the Justice League. Thankfully DC continues to produce these affordable and jam-packed Showcase editions. With over 500 pages, this book collects Brave & the Bold # 28 - 30, Justice League of America # 1 - 16, and Mystery in Space # 75, the formative years of DCs greatest super team. All of the stories in this book were written by Gardner Fox with art by Murphy Anderson, Mike Sekowsky, and Carmine Infantio, all with great Anderson covers. Murphy Anderson was as much the artistic face of DC comics in the 1960's as Kack Kirby was at Marvel in the same period.

Interestingly, in Brave & the Bold #28, we get virtually no origin at all. In fact the league is already established with members The Flash, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Superman, and Batman. It's obvious they've already worked together as they have communication devices to signal each other when needed, which Aquaman does when he discovers the threat of Starro the Conqueror, a giant, intelligent starfish from space. Only Superman fails to answer the call as he is deep in outer space battling a meteor swarm. Then in Brave & the Bold #29, the team goes up against the Weapons Master Yotar from the year 11960 who travels back in time with his futuristic weapons to destroy the JLA. In Brave & Bold #30, professor Ivo creates the synthetic humanoid known as Amazo who has the power to steal the powers of the heroes.

Superman would see his first action in Justice League of America #1 as the team would meet for the first time one of their greatest enemies, the tyrant Despero from the planet Kalanor. Other long time JLA villains also make their early appearances in this volume including Doctor Light (the lighting rod for the Infinite Crisis storyline) and Felix Faust. Green Arrow would gain membership into the team in issue #4 and the Atom would join in issue #14. One of the very first issues of the title I remember seeing and reading was #7. This one has the famous funhouse mirror cover with distorted images of the team including the hefty Wonder Woman which I always got a kick out of.

By today's standards the stories may seem a bit simplistic and they are but this was, after all, the very early 60's, pre-Beatles and Viet Nam and it was a simpler time. The running theme of teamwork is present in many of the stories as the team learns to work together to best utilize their abilities. Yes the comics are in black & white and printed on low-cost newsprint paper. But in color this book would be three times as much and that's what the hardcover Archive editions are for. This is great stuff. Vintage Silver Age comics at their finest!

Reviewed by Tim Janson

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Value, January 10, 2006

By 

Karl H. Heckenberg (Hinsdale, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Showcase Presents: Justice League of America, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

Ignore the review above....all Showcase titles are in B&W. It's nice to see DC finally coming out with their own version of the Marvel essentials.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cheese-tastic greatness, February 18, 2008

By 

J.S. Hicks "J.S. Hicks" (Alabama, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Showcase Presents: Justice League of America, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

My God, DC silver age comics were goofy. If you LOVE the Superfriends, then this is for you. I mean, if you love the fact that every villain in the universe had some Krytonite, some yellow lasers to zap Green Lantern with, and a Bic lighter to get Martian Manhunter- then this is AWESOME! The stories are so absurd that you have to suspend all disbelief and just enjoy the comedy of it. This is not for people who want a serious story, this is for heroes who are so stupid they are trapped by the most insane devices. This is about villains who are mega-whacky. This stuff is just FUN, FUN, FUN.