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All Star Comics is an American comic book series from All-American Publications, one of three companies that merged with National Periodical Publications to form the modern-day DC Comics. While the series' cover-logo trademark reads All Star Comics, its copyrighted title as indicated by postal indicia is All-Star Comics, with a hyphen. With the exception of the first two issues, All Star Comics told stories about the adventures of the Justice Society of America, the first team of superheroes, and introduced Wonder Woman.
The original concept for All Star Comics was an anthology title containing the most popular series from the other anthology titles published by both All-American Publications and National Comics. All Star Comics #1 (cover-dated Summer 1940) contained superhero stories that included All-American's Golden Age Flash, Hawkman, Ultra-Man, as well as National's Hour-Man, Spectre, and Sandman. The adventure strip "Biff Bronson" and the comedy-adventure "Red, White, and Blue" also premiered with the Summer 1940 cover date. Issue #3 (Winter 1940-1941) depicted the first meeting of the Justice Society of America, with its members swapping stories of their exploits which were subsequently illustrated in the comic's array of solo adventures. In addition to the Flash, Hawkman, Hour-Man, the Spectre, and the Sandman were Doctor Fate from National's More Fun Comics; and the Green Lantern and the Atom from All-American's flagship title All-American Comics. The Justice Society of America (JSA) was originally a frame story used to present an anthology of solo stories about the individual characters, with each story handled by a different artist. Comic historian Les Daniels noted, "this was obviously a great notion, since it offered readers a lot of headliners for a dime, and also the fun of watching fan favorites interact." The anthology format was dropped in 1947 and replaced with full issue stories featuring the heroes teaming up to fight crime. All Star Comics #8 (cover dated January 1942) featured the first appearance of Wonder Woman in an eight-page story written by William Moulton Marston, under the pen name of "Charles Moulton" with art by H. G. Peter. The insert story was included to test reader interest in the Wonder Woman concept. It generated enough positive fan response that Wonder Woman would be awarded the lead feature in the Sensation Comics anthology title starting from issue #1. That same issue saw the induction of Doctor Mid-Nite and Starman as members of the Justice Society as well. Starting with issue #11, Wonder Woman would appear in All Star Comics as a member of the Justice Society as their secretary. With issue #34 (April–May 1947), Gardner Fox left the series and a new super-villain, the Wizard, was introduced. The Injustice Society first battled the JSA in issue #37 in a tale written by Robert Kanigher. The Black Canary guest starred in issue #38 and joined the team three issues later in #41. All Star Comics increased its frequency from a quarterly to a bimonthly publication schedule, and the JSA lasted through March 1951 with issue #57 in a story titled "The Mystery of the Vanishing Detectives". Superhero comics slumped in the early 1950s, and All Star Comics was renamed All-Star Western in 1951 with issue #58. In this issue, the "Justice Society of America" feature was replaced by Western heroes. Artwork from an unpublished All Star Comics story titled "The Will of William Wilson" survived and was reprinted in various publications from TwoMorrows Publishing.
In 1976, the name All Star Comics was resurrected for a series portraying the modern-day adventures of the JSA. The new series dismissed the numbering from All-Star Western and continued the original numbering, premiering with All-Star Comics #58. Starting with issue #66, a hyphen was added to the title and the words "All-Star Comics" became a much smaller part of the cover; while the words "Justice Society" became much larger. The 1970s series introduced the new characters Power Girl and the Helena Wayne version of the Huntress. This series ran for seventeen issues before it was abruptly canceled with issue #74 as part of the DC Implosion and the JSA's adventures were folded into Adventure Comics. After 23-year-old Gerry Conway became an editor at DC Comics, long-time JSA-fan Roy Thomas suggested to Conway that the JSA be given their own title again. Conway offered Thomas a chance to ghostwrite an issue of the revived All-Star Comics, but he declined as Thomas was under an exclusive contract with Marvel Comics at the time. However, in 1981 Thomas moved to DC and was able to work with the characters.
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