All-Star Comics #24 - "This is Our Enemy!"

While All-Star Comics #24 is cover dated as the "Spring Issue" of 1945, some research shows that it was on newsstands in mid-February of that year. Of note on the cover is the fact that there is no "DC" logo, instead replaced with the logo for "All-American Comics."It seems a real-life split between DC (aka National Comics) and All-American left several issues beginning with this #24 to be published solely by All-American. That meant that former DC properties were not available for use and changes had to be made to the team roster.

That would account for why Starman is suddenly no longer a part of the team, nor is The Spectre. Instead, we have characters from All-American's stable of heroes joining the team, Wildcat and Mr. Terrific. This issue also marks the return of The Flash and Green Lantern, who had previously left the team to focus on their own solo adventures.

Mr. Terrific makes his only appearance as a JSA member in these pages. Wildcat will make just one more.

The story itself is heavily drenched in American war propaganda, and according to comics historian (and beloved writer) Roy Thomas, the story for this issue had originally been planned as "Dreams of Madness," a tale that will come to light later on in All-Star Comics #30. As it started to become evident that the war would be ending sooner rather than later, that meant "This is Our Enemy," a story that relied so much on the backdrop of WWII and fighting Germany needed to get out as soon as possible or not at all.

It involves a young man named Dick Amber, who is friends with Carter Hall, otherwise known as Hawkman. Dick has been drafted into the U.S. Services, but while he admits he loves the country he lives in, he does not believe in the U.S.'s involvement in the war. For this reason, Hawkman invites him to the Justice Society meeting, where they hope to convince Dick of the necessity of warring with Germany.

As the JSA sits around looking for a way to make their case to Dick as to why he should support the war, the Conscience of Man (remember her?) is once again awakened in her other-dimensional realm and takes an interest in this situation.

Hey everyone! Remember me?

She sends Dick and the members of the JSA along with him, through time, to experience life as a member of the German people throughout various times in history. The point, of all of this, is to 'prove' to this young man that the Germans have always been a war-hungry and monstrous people and that is why he should be in favor of going to war.

 
When the JSA accomplish this, the Conscience of Man fades away, and Dick Amber is more than ready to go to war.

We won't quibble over the atrocities and horrors that occurred in World War II. Those are evident.

There are moments when the JSA specifically mentions Hitler and his desires, which certainly works for the story at hand. However, as the tale runs its course, young Dick Amber is made to see that Germans, in general, have always been either war-hungry, blood-thirsty, backstabbing, or ready and willing to follow orders at the drop of a hat. It's just odd reading. I will say, though, that it's sort of disconcerting to see characters that would become such tried-and true heroes in the comics universe such as Alan Scott, The Atom, etc, trying to convince a young man that he is wrong for not wanting war and then using the entire tale to tell that man (and the young readers) how foul, vicious, bloodthirsty and war mongering an entire race is. It's a product of its times, of course, but I think you would be very hard-pressed to find something like that today.

Coming up Next, the JSA solves the mystery of "The Forgotten Crime"...

All Star Comics #16 - "The Justice Society Fights for a United America"

It's Spring 1943 and Hitler is at it again. Feeling the pinch from American forces (and the Justice Society), he sets out on a plan to attack America from the inside - by having Nazi spies infiltrate the United States and start convincing people that those they've trusted are taking advantage of them.

It starts at a steel factory not far from Hawkman's territory, where a German bloke named Buehler has managed to get a job at the factory so that he can persuade the workers that the steel factory owner, who has always been kind to them, is making a fortune off of their sweat, and must be taking more than a fair share. An uprising seems evident, until Hawkman, with the aid of two young men (one the steel factory owner's son, the other one of the employees' sons, both best friends since youth) put a squash to it and expose the Nazis plan to bring a halt to steel (and thus armament) production during the war.

The Dr. MidNite tale is a bit more somber than has been customary for the Doc in past issues. The reader is greeted by what looks almost like a spectral version of an old-school gangster named "Tough Tony Scarlotti," who talks about what a terrible youth he was and how he strives for his son, Tony Jr, to be a better person.

What could have quickly devolved into a typical punch-em-up caper is a heartfelt tale about racism in America. Tony Jr has been getting into fights and even taking a black eye or two, but not because he's starting trouble. No, it's because he's been standing up for kids who have been picked on because of their ethnic background.

The prejudiced ideas are being planted into the children's heads by members of the Axis powers, who are working covertly in American to spread hate. That's when Dr. MidNite gets involved (also because Tony Jr is a member of the Junior Justice Society of America, which any kid could join back in the 40s, for a few cents and mailing in the certificate found in the comics The membership materials, including the Junior Justice Society badge are worth hundreds of dollars today).

When the spreaders of hate-filled racism find that young Tony is trying to teach the neighborhood kids better, they decide it's time to get the little squirt out of the way, kidnapping him. While he's eventually rescued by Dr. MidNite, rats kidnapping his son does not set well with Tough Tony, who pulls out his old "chatterbox" and drops in as Dr. MidNite tangles with the enemy.

Of course, Tony ends up a bit in over his head, and finds himself on the other end of the gun for a change. He dies, but as he tells both Dr MidNite and the reader, he's dying happy, knowing the boy he raised is a better man than he.

Written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Stan Asch (the same guy who handles art chores on Johnny Thunder), this short tale really holds up today, delivering compassionate thoughts on where the country stands with its melting pot status, and how words of hate can quickly turn to violence and death. Definitely a stand out.

The Atom finds himself also at odds with those who wish to spread messages of hate and intolerance across America (noticing a theme yet?), only he is dealing with the workers of a coal mine.

In fact, the story opens with the Atom single-handedly propping a mine shaft on the verge of collapse. As the miners rush to safety, the mine gives way and The Atom, tapped beneath the rubble, recalls how he got into this mess.

The son of one of the miners (also a member of the Junior Justice Society) informs the Atom that his father and other workers are being told that the mine's owners, because they are foreigners, don't care at all about the workers and that the mine's are a dangerous place for them to be working. They want the workers to turn against the owners, solely on the base of what country they were born.

While the workers, at first, don't buy into the propaganda, once The Atom addresses the crowd about the safe conditions and not judging people by their birthplace, the propaganda artists decide to set off explosions in the mine and prove their point.

Bringing us to the present, The Atom is thought to be dead by the miners, who are starting to believe the hate-message about the mine's owners. That is, until The Atom, who managed to survive, comes forth and lets the workers know who was really behind the explosion.

Dr. Fate's got a mystical foe on his hands, or so that foe would like the public to believe. A so-called prophet calling himself "Mr. Fortune" blows into town in a nice suit and turban, reading fortunes and giving residents a glimpse of what's to come. When the incidents start to actually happen, the town goes into a panic, and is ready to do anything Mr. Fortune tells them.

Of course, this turns out to be nothing but a ruse. Once Mr. Fortune builds the public's confidence in himself, he can spread the hate of the Axis Powers, his true intention after all. When Dr. Fate tries to intervene, the public turns on the hero, taking Mr. Fortune for his word that Dr. Fate is "un-American."

Naturally, all goes well in the end and Mr. Fortune is exposed as a fraud, but I can't help but mention how much I dug the name of "Mr. Fortune" as a villain. Sure, his look was typical 1940s villain (a suit), with the addition of the turban, but something about it just worked for the Golden Age.

I also have to wonder if his look helped inspire the character of "Sir Swami" from the Justice League animated series (by Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Alan Burnett, James Tucker, Dwayne McDuffie and company), in an episode that put the League in an alternate dimension with clean-cut heroes and villains that slightly resembled the heroes and rogues of the Justice Society stories of the 40s. In this case, Sir Swami was a stand-in for JSA villain, "the Wizard," but his look certainly seems to come heavily from Mr. Fortune.

Alas, as interesting as he is in a very simplistic way, I've yet to find reference to any other appearances by Mr. Fortune with the JSA or Dr. Fate.

The Sandman, meanwhile, is haunting the dreams of Henry Overman, the publisher of a newspaper called "The New Way," meaning a confrontation between the two will soon come to pass. Once again, beautiful art by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

Using his newspaper, Overman, working for Hitler and the Third Reich, is publishing false articles, supposedly by "experts" that state the American forces are in pretty bad shape when it comes to the war, and are facing a losing battle.

Overman hopes this will raise doubt in American citizens and stop them from buying war bonds to support the forces.

With the help of the newsies who didn't realize they were on the street peddling a Nazi paper, The Sandman brings the publication to a halt.In the end, the newsies realize they all come from different ethnic backgrounds and get along fine, so why should it make any difference in other parts of life?

Starman finds himself in a similar boat, racing to the midwest to get to the bottom of a near-revolt by America's farmers. It seems some strangers have blown into town and planted the bug into their ears that they should be getting paid more for their crops, and that the middlemen and the shops are taking far more than they deserve.

 

Just to be clear, this is a very real problem, even in today's world, where farmer's receive far too little for the necessary crops they grow and provide our dinner tables with. I have a great admiration for the work farmers too, but also a great sympathy for the way they are treated or poorly compensated for such a necessity.

On the night of a vote by the farmers to decide whether or not to stop growing, Starman intervenes and reveals the new men in town as nothing more than Nazi propaganda artists. Seeing that they were being duped by Nazis who hoped to damage the American crops, and morale at home and on the front lines, the farmers decide it's best during the course of WWII to keep things running as-is for the greater good.

In another factory, elsewhere in the country, another troublemaker has broken into the company safe to steal secret documents with the sole intention of planting them on someone of an ethnic background to create friction. Posing as a factory worker and befriending a man name Jan Seybowsy, the Axis spy has found his target. Planting the stolen documents on Jan, the rest of the factory workers quickly turn against him and open their ears to what this stranger has to say. When The Spectre gets word of this, he spirits the evildoers away to the far reaches of space, and a fiery planet where the Nazi is convinced he's burning in hell. The Spectre even take on the frightening form of Satan to push the villain over the edge.

When the man is returned to earth, he has been so frightened that he tries to contact the mother country by radio. When he does, it's before an audience of factory workers and townspeople brought over by The Spectre, who quickly realize they've made a mistake, running the Nazi muckraker out of town, and apologize to Jan for their quick emotional reaction without thinking.

Johnny Thunder (still wearing his Naval uniform) is on the lookout for the Nazi propaganda culprits when he stumbles into a meeting where he unwittingly (is there ever a time that Johnny does something wittingly?) gets caught up in the discussion and ends up making the propaganda speech himself. When he realizes what he's done and the people who led him down this not-so-rosy path, he and his magic Thunderbolt quickly go to work exposing the truth.

The story wraps with the entire Justice Society making an appearance at a War Bond rally at a theatre, where they introduce the audience to the various hard-working Americans across the country, from the miners, the farmers, the women in the factories, the mothers at home, and more.

All-Star Comics #14 - "Food for Starving Patriots"

At the latest meeting of the Justice Society, the group's chairman, Hawkman, is taking the bull by the horns and pushing the group to make it their next mission to deliver food to patriots fighting back in Nazi-occupied countries. It doesn't take much convincing over the two page introduction for the other JSA members to get on board, and soon, each member is given a stash of "food capsules," containing a complete dinner that can be made real with a supplementary solution. Think of it as a precursor to dehydrated food.

And so, with these narrative words, there mission begins:

"Thus from 'the land of the free and home of the brave' the gallant members of the Justice Society hit the danger trail...a trail that will lead them thousands of perilous miles over war-torn and famished Europe!"

While not directly tying into this story, just for background, it's important to note that as anyone read this tale back in late 1942, in the real world, the year had already seen Japanese-Americans relocated to concentration camps, German air raids against cathedral cities in Britain, mass murders via gassing at Auschwitz, the Battle of Stalingrad, and orders by Hitler to execute any captured British commandos. That was the summer and fall leading up to when this story was likely in the hands of readers.


Hawkman finds himself in France, where he finds patriots trying to fight back against their Nazi oppressors, and offers them plenty of food to fill their stomachs as they resist the German invaders.

In Poland, freedom fighters are hoping to prey upon superstition and are dressed in the chain-link armor of their forefathers in the middle ages. Too tired to go on with their attempts, Starman gives them an energy boost with a few of the food capsules, and a little help with his anti-gravity rod.

A convoy of Nazi trucks roll through the stone streets of Holland as a cloaked figure moves near them, offering directions that send the trucks downward into the Zuyder Zee, a shallow bay of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands.

Realizing they have been tricked, the Nazis take the robed figure and throw them into a jail cell. Apparently, they never bothered to take the hood off of their prisoner, or they would have discovered it to be The Atom, who got himself captured in order to find other prisoners and freedom fighters in need of food.

The Atom - super hero, mental child abuser.

Once the Dutch Patriots are fed, and those imprisoned are set free, The Atom helps the Dutch in their secret mission to get maps and plans to the British air troops, and by tale's end, a few Nazi hangars are targets of the British bombers.

Dr. Fate has Hitler on edge after an old woman finds his name in tea leaves, and it sends ol' Adolf into a tizzy.

As Hitler becomes more paranoid about the presence of the supernatural Dr. Fate in Germany, the good doctor is working on freeing men who are held captive in one Germany's concentration camps. I believe this is the first time in All-Star Comics (and this issue is from late 1942) that we've seen the presence of the very real concentration camps where so many were taken under the Third Reich, and scores were killed.

Dr. Fate breaks into one of these camps and feeds its starving prisoners. However, instead of setting them free, he instead develops a plan with those prisoners forced to work on Nazi weapons to sabotage their work.

Why a being with the power of the universe at his fingertips didn't eradicate the concentration camps and teleport everyone to safety remains a bit of a mystery.

When some Nazi troops uncover the sabotage (and Dr. Fate who stuck around to oversee it, apparently), a fight ensue, with Fate easily overpowering the Nazis, and taking them far, far away.

Yet, somehow, carrying all the prisoners OUT of the camps never occurred to him. Apparently when you have all that magic power, you overlook the obvious sometimes.

Dr. Mid-Nite, meanwhile, finds himself in Norway, where peering through a window, he comes across a site that unnerves him.

Dr. Mid-Nite goes to Toy Fair.

Searching for the leader of the Norwegian Underground Army, and when he shows the leader and his followers the food capsules, they quickly take Mid-Nite into their confidence and show them his invention of a missile that always finds its mark, even when a submarine or ship moves out of range. His family fearful that he will be killed if he tries to get his inventions to the Allied Nations, the Underground Army Leader, also known as Eric, has remained in oppressed Norway with his inventions.

That is until Dr. Mid-Nite convinced the man to leave the country for the sake of the war, leaving his family and wife behind. You're probably wondering how this type of ultra-sensitive news will be broken to Eric's wife and children. Dr. Mid-Nite's solution? By owl.

The weirdest Dear John letter ever.

So, leaving his family behind in an oppressed country, with food capsules, Eric sets sail with Dr. Mid-Nite to lands far away.

On a hidden airplane hangar somewhere south of Brussels, the grim and ghostly figure of The Spectre haunts the skies , and when he comes across an execution attempt by some Nazi soldiers, he springs into action, growing to gigantic proportions and scaring the bejeezus out of the Axis soldiers.

While he delivers food capsules to the starving people of Belgium, The Spectre spends much of this tale just stepping back, hoping to "inspire" the local people that they, too, can rise up against their oppressors and do their part "in the good fight."

And step back he does, watching as the humans control their own destiny on this one.

Oh, Johny Thunder. With a mission to feed the Czech Patriots, he's already off to a bad starts when he stops the first person he meets and asks them if they know where the Patriots are. And that person just happens to be a uniformed Nazi soldier.

How'd this guy get in the Justice Society again?

Through his own dumb luck (isn't that always the way with Johnny), he stumbles into a restaurant that has closed because they have no food to serve. So, Johnny breaks out one of his food capsules to tide himself over, to the amazement of the starving restauranteur, who quickly seizes the meal, just as some Nazi soldiers want to seize him...AND the food.

However, it is through this stroke of luck that Johnny discovers the Czech Patriots, who have been hiding out under the restaurant, making plans to strike against Nazis.Johnny's plan for the patriots is to "pretend" they're having accidents when around the Nazis (i.e. tripping, bumping into them, etc), and pick-pocketing any plans the Nazis may have on their person. Johnny then summons his magic Thunderbolt to have those plans delivered to the RAF.

The plan goes fairly smoothly until a raid on the Czech Patriots' headquarters by the Nazis. In order to calm his nerves, Johnny lights a cigarette, and the Nazis suddenly surrender. Once the Nazi's are trussed up, Johnny learns why - he was lighting his cigarette while standing next to the highly flammable material used for incendiary bombs.

A Nazi Captain is experiencing haunting dreams that involve Sandman, along with his sidekick, Sandy the Golden Boy. This is the first time Sandy's made an appearance with the JSA, and personally, I prefer my Sandman stories solo. Then again, I prefer my Sandman in gas mask and trench coat instead of yellow and purple tights, so what are you going to do?

The Nazi Captain has every right to be fearful of his dreams, as even as he awakens, Sandman and Sandy have derailed a Nazi train, and brought food capsules to freedom fighters in Greece

Here's where Sandman's plan gets a bit...weird. After publicly derailing the train, and beating their way through Nazi soldiers, Sandman and sandy tel the Nazi Captain that they have decided to switch allegiances.

Yes. Yes they are fooling you.

And in roughly four panels, with very little persuasive word, Sandman and Sandy have somehow convinced the Nazis that they've switched sides. With no challenges put forth to test their allegiances, they're accepted into the fold, so much so, in fact that with a mere friendly wave, they bid the captain adieu and ask him to send out a message via the Propaganda Broadcasting Office.

Surprise, surprise. The message was really a coded message that let American Intelligence Officers know where an invasion was taking place so that they could stop it. Oh, and Hitler makes an appearance before the chapter's end:

Their individual missions completed, the Justice Society reconvenes, and gives themselves a large round of back patting, except for Johnny Thunder, who's starving and decides to gorge on food capsules, leading to this bizarre exchange with Wonder Woman:

So, not only do they now let her be a full-fledged member of the group, but they also make her watch over the most useless member of the organization? Sheesh, they might as well have made her Den Mother.

Of course, all those food capsules are useless without the solution to make the food solid, which then inspires this brilliant move by Johnny Thunder:

And with that, this JSA adventure comes to a close.

On a historical note, a running theme throughout each story in this issue was the "RAF Bombers," either in mention or action as the planes took down Nazi hangars. In case you're wondering, the RAF stands for Britain's Royal Air Force. If this issue is dated for Dec 1942 - Jan 1943, it likely was on newsstands some months before, at which point, in the real world, the Allies had agreed upon a strategy where Americans would bomb during the day and the RAF at night.

Next up, something I've been looking forward to - the JSA's first encounter with a full-fledged super-villain -"The Brain Wave!" Stay tuned...

All-Star Comics #13 - "Shanghaied in Space"

Hitler is pissssed. Not because of the effort of the U.S. Forces on the ground, but because he says the Justice Society are always around every corner, thwarting his plans. With that in mind, he brainstorms with other Axis leaders to come up with a plan to do away with the JSA for good.

I'm not quite sure that the Germans and Japanese were ever in this close proximity during the war years, but, what the heck, we'll let it go- just check out that beautiful Jack Burnley artwork.

Just when Hitler's about to pull his hair out with frustration, a German engineer enters with an idea - he has developed rockets that he believes can launch the JSA members into Space, and out of the Axis Powers' hair for good.

Pleased with the idea, Hitler orders an infiltration of the JSA Headquarters, where the heroes are to be knocked unconscious, loaded into the rockets and launched into space.

Historical side note: While this issue is cover dated October-November 1942, it is safe to assume that, like most comics since their inception, the actual release date of these books is months before the cover date.

That means this issue probably came out some time in the Spring or Summer of 1942, months and months before this real-life incident happened:


October 1942 saw the first successful launch of an A4 rocket at Peenemunde, Germany. The rocket flies 147 kilometres wide and reaches a height of 84.5 kilometres and is therefore the first man-made object reaching space.

Talk about life imitating art. Grant Morrison might appreciate the true-life manifestation of that.

Each JSA member finds themselves stranded on a different planet, with each chapter introduction giving the reader a tidbit of knowledge about hat particular planet. For example, we learn Saturn is "very light in weight due to the gases that form her outer atmosphere, 16,000 miles deep."

The tales are all pretty cut and dry. Hawkman helps a race of people on planet Saturn, who look very much like people of Earth, but ride giant birds.

Fancy that, he speaks bird-tongue

The Sandman lands on Uranus (cue cheap laughs here), which houses a race of beings made of pure crystal.

The king has been disturbed by dreams of "Kafta, the Evil One," who looks to destroy the planet's people with his poisons. How, oh how is the Sandman going to defeat this evil being of Crystal?

Sure. That works.

Meanwhile, Dr. Midnite has landed on Neptune where he is greeted by beings that appear half human and half plant-like. He's also the first Justice Society member to run into trouble understanding these other races.

Math - bringing interplanetary races together since 1942. Keep your nose in your books, kids.

The planet's people are in a panic when Dr. MidNite arrives, as they have been plagued by what they know only as "The Red Death" and fear that their lives are doomed. That is, until the blind hero drops a little reality bomb on them, along with an antidote:

Jupiter - "bigger than all the rest of the planets put together, including our Earth. Its gravity is three times that of the Earth..." Starman finds this out the hard way when he crash lands there.

Starman finds that the planet is occupied by beings that, due to the cold and lack of oxygen, must wear rustless metal clothing, with their internal organs encased inside. In other words, he stepped out of the rocket and was greeted by this:

Starman fights off a giant fungus menace that plagues the planet and is sent on his way with the help of these mechanical men. And all show in once again beautiful art by Jack Burnley.

"Mars - the red planet...its canals, and varying colors, of green and rust, suggest vegetation, irrigated by the melting polar cap..." is our introduction to the next chapter, as the tiny hero known as The Atom crash lands on the red planet.

The Atom, much like Sandman did on Uranus, has to help a race of beings living on the planet who are being threatened by one of their own to poison their water supply. The Atoms' given a tiny boost in his heroic abilities thanks to the atmosphere of Mars.

The Spectre has crash landed on the planet Pluto, which the tale tells us "is four billion miles from the sun - so distant is it, that the sun looks like a mere star" (which it is).

It's still a bit of a stretch that The Spectre could even be knocked unconscious in his spirit form by the knockout gas used in the beginning of the story in order for the Nazi's to place them all in rockets. He's a ghost, after all, and ghosts don't require oxygen. It is explained away as thus:

Once on Pluto, The Spectre finds a city far beneath a well on the planet - where resides a group of people living in fear from "the furred men," which turn out to be other human-like creatures dressed in parkas. The parka-men are more warriors than the peace-loving civilization in the well. However, a few punches from the Supernatural Spectre and the threat of his re-visiting the planet "every now and then" to check in prompts a peace treaty.

The planet Mercury - "the one nearest the sun - incredibly hot, its surface temperature is enough to melt lead or tin," which is why Johnny Thunder is having a helluva time trying to keep cool as he finds himself crashing toward the planet.

His magical Thunderbolt fills him in on the attempt by the Nazis to shanghai the JSA, and Johnny tries to just make a go of the hand he's been dealt.

Manifest Destiny.

Somehow Johnny manages to not notice the Spider that is the size of the building, and walks right into its clutches. The arachnid takes Johnny home to show to its mate, but the pair are scared off by a giant ant-eater. Yes. A giant ant-eater.

Johnny actually befriends his spider captors when he and the Thunderbolt lure the giant ant-eater into quicksand, freeing the giant spiders to live their lives in peace. Johnny begins to think that he should start studying the Spider civilization if he's going to be stuck on that planet forever. It apparently never occurred to him that his magic thunderbolt, with the powers of a genie, might be able to get him off the planet whenever he wants.

Wonder Woman, meanwhile, finds herself rocketing towards the planet Venus, which apparently is inhabited by a race of flying women with wings. Pulled out of the crashing rocket by these women, Wonder Woman tries to return the favor.

Sheesh. That's a bit presumptive, isn't it?

Okay, so maybe she was right. The women are being attacked by a race of warriors who are capturing and killing their men. Being a peace-loving planet, the women possess no weapons, and have no idea on how to fight back. Apparently, neither does Wonder Woman.

Yikes.

Quick history lesson for you folks who may not know - Wonder Woman's creator, William Moulston was not only the inventor of the lie detector, but was pretty obsessed with S&M, thus his fascination with bondage and domination that is on display in many of his early Wonder Woman stories.

The men of Venus try to fight back, but the dandies are crushed by the sheer strength of their attackers.

It looks like its up to Wonder Woman to save the entire race, and she does so in quick fashion, and under the power of her might and her magic lasso, the warriors submit. Bound by chains, the leader of the Venusians tells Wonder Woman that they will work to make the men loving and peaceful.

Each member of the Justice Society has made it back to Earth, each thinking they were the only one launched into space. This descends over several panels into a game of one-upmanship as everyone tries to be the biggest hero in the room.

"You should have been on Uranus!"

Following the government's leads to the spies who launched the JSA into space in the first place, the heroes take out Hitler's cronies and send him a message via radio.

But, wait. This adventure is not over. Wonder Woman has done a lot for the JSA. The power of the gods flow through her and she's easily the most powerful member of the team, and the JSA feel it just isn't right to have her be only an "honorary member." What to do?

Wa wa waaaaa

That's not all, though. Meanwhile, in Germany...

Alas, Hitler never did learn his lesson.

This tale was later adapted/updated in a multi-chapter arc of back-up stories beginning in the series All-Star Squadron #52 some 40+ years later by JSA Superfan Roy Thomas. The story is retold with a more "modern science" behind it, and the JSA are explained to have been stranded in 'hyper-space' as opposed to the actual planets we all know and love. I have not actually had the chance to read this updated version, but hope it will make it into the first or future editions of DC's collected Showcase Presents All-Star Squadron edition.