By [ad_1]
Today, with the news of the Justice League dying in the upcoming Justice League #75, find out when the Justice League were FIRST all killed!
In “When We First Met”, we spotlight the various characters, phrases, objects or events that eventually became notable parts of comic lore, like the first time someone said, “Avengers Assemble!” or the first appearance of Batman’s giant penny or the first appearance of Alfred Pennyworth or the first time Spider-Man’s face was shown half-Spidey/half-Peter. Stuff like that.
As you might have heard by now, the upcoming 75th issue of Justice League will feature a major battle where nine of the ten members of the Justice League will fall in battle and we’re not talking, like, Vibe and Steel level heroes, we’re talking nine heroes will die from the following ten MAJOR heroes – Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (John Stewart), Martian Manhunter, Hawkgirl, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Zatanna. So this is a major death toll.
Since it is 2022 and this is the 75th issue of the book, you can’t help but think about the fact that this is the 30th anniversary of the Death of Superman and sure enough, the writer of the issue, Joshua Williamson, is all over that aspect of the comic book, telling Entertainment Weekly, “I remember the experience of reading the build-up to ‘The Death of Superman’ and then waiting in the rain for my copy of issue #75. I think one reason that story was so powerful was that after the ‘Funeral for a Friend’ story, there were no Superman comics for three months. That’s part of what led us to make the decision that this is the last issue of Justice League. But then three months later, there’s still not gonna be a Justice League comic. It’s gonna be a while, and that’s gonna be a major part of what the DCU looks like after this story: There is no Justice League.”
I think it sounds like a cool story, but then I thought, “Hey, I wonder when the Justice League FIRST died in the comics?” Note that of course, Williamson’s story is not really about their deaths, per se, but rather what the effect that their deaths will have on the rest of the DC Universe, who suddenly have to deal with huge gaping hole in the world of superheroes. While in the Silver Age, their deaths ARE the key.
Just like how the original Silver Age imaginary story “Death of Superman” was about the Williamson side of things (how would the world react to the death of Superman?) while the modern “Death of Superman” was about the actual death (with, as WIlliamson notes, “Funeral for a Friend” being about the aftermath).
NOT A DREAM! OR A HOAX! OR AN IMAGINARY STORY!
As I feel like I spend way too much time talking about, the whole way that comic books were sold back in the day were based on an impulse buy market where the cover was of an extraordinarily high level of importance. As after all, you had to come up with some way to get that kid with his 40 cents to spent his change on YOUR books and the way to do so was often to basically overpromise on the covers and hope that the story will still be good enough that the buyer won’t feel ripped off by the cover.
Like Justice League of America #59’s Mike Sekowsky and Sid Green cover certainly seeming to imply that the Justice League are all dead inside the comic…
But in reality, they were just dealing with a particularly tricky adversary.
Justice League of America #63’s Sekowsky/Jack Abel cover (based on a Jim Shooter cover idea) suggested that Superman would kill his fellow Justice Leaguers…
But in reality, he is able to find a way around being ordered to kill them by the Key (who had brainwashed Superman).
Which is why the fact that Justice League of America #65’s cover by Dick Dillin and Joe Giella is actually ACCURATE is all the more shocking!
HOW WERE THE JUSTICE LEAGUE KILLED AND HOW DID THEY ‘GET BETTER’?
In the previous issue, the first issue to be drawn by Dick Dillin and Sid Greene (Gardner Fox still the writer…for now) we see that on Earth-2, a number of the Justice Society of America members are killed…
And when Red Tornado (who debuted during this storyline, created by T.O. Morrow) thinks he can bring them back to life, he instead kills the REST of the Justice Society!
That brings us to Justice League of America #65 (by Fox, Dillin and Greene), where the wives and girlfriends of a few of the Leaguers burst into the meeting and seemingly kill half of the League right there (by the way, it is worth noting that Snapper Carr is treated as an outright member of the League. People often call him a mascot or sidekick, but he was clearly treated as a real member of the team. Just a kind of useless member of the team)…
T.O. Morrow then announced that he would kill the rest of them next!
And sure enough, he did so, with Batman suffering one of the most half-assed “death blow” I think I’ve ever seen in a comic…
Things looked bleak with the Justice League now all dead, but luckily, since he was an android, Red Tonado survived the Justice Society attack…
He then had the Justice League’s loved ones, like, reverse the kiss that killed half of them…
(Jean Loring didn’t know Ray Palmer was the Atom at this point in time, making her presence kind of weird)
The living members then helped Red Tornado defeat T.O. Morrow and then had him use “futerenergy” to revive the other heroes…
Ah, the Silver Age. “Futurenergy.” Sure, why not?
If anyone has a suggestion for a notable comic book first, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!
About The Author
[ad_2]
