Re-reading the JSA from square one

I have set out with a clear-cut, geeky goal: to read the adventures of DC Comics' classic Justice Society of America from the very beginning - starting with All Star Comics #1 in the Summer of 1940.

As a comic book reader since I was a young child, I've seen many superheroes, and especially super hero teams, come and go. But, even as a child, one group of super heroes fascinated me more than any other - The Justice Society of America. They were the first. Formed in the early 1940s, it was the first time some of the most popular characters in comics met, interacted, and began to exist in the same universe. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Sure, by the time I was growing up int he 80s, they a thing of the past - 40 years past. It didn't matter though. These characters set the pace for what was to come. They battled the everyday suited gangster, giant robots, the world's first super-villains, and of course, Nazis and other Axis powers. But they always did it with a smile, and a great example for the youth of the time.

Today, many of these characters still exist in the comics universe. Some, the originals, just now elderly and teaching the newest generations of heroes how it's done - still setting examples of what is right in an age that has gotten mighty dark.

And so, I'm going to go back - all the way back to the Summer of 1940 and read, in order, the adventures of the Justice Society.

With each subsequent reading, I will do my best to summarize, review, and when appropriate, note any sort of retroactive continuity references that find their roots in comics Golden Age.