Major League

All the little comic book fanboys
cheered on August 23, when the first issue of the new Justice League of America title hit shelves. It’s yet another relaunch for comicdom’s premier
super team (sorry, Avengers — no squad with Ant Man as a founding member can
be considered top dog), this one shepherded by novelist Brad Meltzer and
up-and-coming artist Ed Benes. The new lineup is causing quite a stir in the
online comic communities, but it bears remembering that over the years the
League has had many, many iterations with many, many members. In honor of the
new book, here’s a very basic history of the bestest super team ever.

The founders:

The Justice League first formed in March 1960’s Brave and the Bold No. 28. Writer Gardner Fox brought together DC Comics’ heaviest hitters to take
on an alien threat, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern,
Flash, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter.
The team operated out of a secret cave in the small town of Happy Harbor and eventually added new members
including archer Green Arrow, size-shrinking Atom, and winged warrior Hawkman.

The Satellite League:

The end of the 1960s brought an end to the kitschy secret
cave and all its trappings, and the League found a new headquarters in an Earth-orbiting
satellite. It also found a new, more socially relevant direction under writers
like Denny O’Neil, and an even larger cast. Elongated Man, Red Tornado, Zatanna, and Hawkwoman all joined
the team, and teenage hero Firestorm became a mainstay in the early 1980s.

The Detroit League:

Writer Gerry Conway decided to refresh the League by
focusing on new, young heroes. It was a colossal failure, as the new members
— Steel, Vibe, Gypsy, and Vixen — were largely unmemorable and the biggest
name in the book was Aquaman,
for pity’s sake. Editors knew they had to do something drastic and so, in the
final issue of the original Justice
League of America, several members were murdered and the team disbanded.

Justice League
International

Going in a totally different direction, writers JM DeMatteis and Keith Giffenrelaunched the team as a global operation featuring a
massively expanded cast — new members included Captain Marvel, Mr. Miracle,
Dr. Fate, Metamorpho, Blue Beetle, Animal Man, and
Booster Gold, among others — with multiple bases of operation and even
multiple series. The tone shifted dramatically as well, infused with slapstick
humor. The book’s popularity waned again by the early 1990s, and the series and
its various spin-offs were cancelled.

JLA

Offbeat writer Grant Morrison brought the League back to
basics in the mid-1990s with this series featuring the “big seven”: all the
original members were back tackling darker, more complicated threats. The core
seven stuck around for most of the run, joined by new members like Major
Disaster, Plastic Man, and Big Barda. A string of
rotating-creator arcs ultimately killed the book, paving the way for the new relaunch featuring a cast culled from all the previous
eras.

This article appears in Aug 30 – Sep 5, 2006.