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 #19 - "Crimes Set to Music"

Winter of 1943. World War II is still going strong. Before the year is out, FDR, Churchill and Stalin will meet at the Tehran Conference and heavy bombing raids will continue in Germany as the war drags on. In the world of the Justice Society of America, however, the war has taken a back-burner as the fight continues on the home front against gangsters, law breakers and the forces of evil.

Before we turn the page and delve into the actual adventure, you've got to admire this cover by Joe Gallagher. The stark black background with only the spotlight illuminating the Justice Society members as they sit around a piano being played by Wonder Woman.

The black background certainly makes the colorful costumes of the Justice Society members pop, and if I was a kid passing the newsstand in 1943, I think it would definitely catch my eye. It's also an interesting choice to have Hawkman visible in an almost silhouette form, as he does not appear in the bulk of the story. One wonders why he wasn't just left out, or if his odd, almost spiritual-inclusion was at the behest of editorial for kids who were used to seeing all of the JSAers on a cover each month.

Hawkman - a better teacher than Rosetta Stone

As Ted Knight dons his Starman costume, a hawk suddenly flies into his window, carrying a note. Unraveling the rolled-up piece of paper, Starman discovers the note to be nothing more than a musical note - a G-Sharp. Curious, he follows the hawk to find out what's behind the message, and soon discovers that other members of the Justice Society are doing the same.

It all leads them to an old, run-down house where Wonder Woman has already arrived. She explains that she checked her note for fingerprints and found them to be from Hawkman. As if the 'talking hawk' hadn't already given that away. This leads the entire team to jump to the conclusion that Hawkman has been kidnapped or in trouble.

The building just happens to have a working piano, so Wonder Woman decides to play all of the musical notes on each message to the JSA members. The musical interlude turns up hidden messages, tied to the inside of the piano. Each message contains a riddle/clue of sorts that the individual Justice Society members take to decipher in the hopes of locating their teammate, Hawkman.

Starman saves a man (and his violin) who is the target of thieves who want to steal his priceless Stradivarius. Johnny Thunder must foil the kidnapping of a man named Charles Norris. He'd be much more successful if he didn't run his mouth on the public bus, telling what turns out to be the kidnappers that he, Johnny Thunder, is a member of the Justice Society and on his way to Norris' house to stop the plot. How do these men overcome Johnny? They distract him...by challenging him to balance a bucket of bees on a broom.

Yes. Balancing a bucket of bees on a broom. Those masterminds!!

Eventually, with the help of his magic Thunderbolt, Johnny rescues Mr. Norris, but not before Thunderbolt lets out a little resentment for having to work for such a dumbbell.

And the next day, Thunderbolt files a union grievance.

Dr. Fate is tasked with stopping some hired goons from stealing a famous singer's voice via a special gas pumped into the man's home. While the gas does its job, Dr Fate makes the man go through with a public performance anyway, lip-synching to a recording of his own voice. It fools the criminals into thinking they failed to remove the man's voice. So, they try again, only to find Dr. Fate waiting.

Once again, the not so magic Dr. Fate.

These three tales (Starman, Johnny Thunder, and Dr. Fate) are all drawn by Stan Aschmeier, who usually is the key artist on Johnny Thunder and Dr. MidNite in these JSA tales. As a side note, Aschmeier co-created Dr. MidNite with writer Charles Reisenstein.

The Atom saves a girl who's been marked for death, blamed for the murder of her father. Following the note in the piano supposedly form the Hawkman, The Atom tries to clear the young woman's name before she is given the electric chair. With her fingerprints on the gun found at the crime scene, it seems an uphill battle, until The Atom discovers a piece of art in the family home - a plaster cast of Claire Murray's hands. The Atom notices that he can even see the fingerprints on the mold, and sets out to see the artist who created them. Learning that the original mold was stolen, The Atom tracks down the thief and discovers the truth.

The Sandman and Sandy make a daring rescue, saving a talented pianist who is the target of a brutal attack. A large razor placed above his piano through a skylight is set to fall and literally, chop off his fingers!! Honestly, pretty dark stuff...

Then it's off for Sandman and Sandy as they learn someone has been paying all these thugs to take out these musicians or target their families.

A piano composer named is putting the finishing touches on his opus when he is kidnapped! Dr MidNite, following the note given to him at the beginning of the tale, attempts to thwart the kidnapping, to no avail, and is knocked unconscious. Before the composer is taken away, however, he pleads with the thugs to allow him to write the last notes of his symphony, and they oblige. When Dr. MidNite awakens, he finds that those last few notes of the composition, left on the piano, are actually clues - "Pizzicato Mano Sinistra Marcato Contra Ponti-Cello"

It sort of has all the logic of an Adam West/Riddler episode of Batman, doesn't it?

As the doctor follows the clues and begins his hunt, the criminals have brought the brilliant composer to a disbarred surgeon, who is being paid to perform an operation on the genius musician.

I don't know if your premium will cover this, but...

Dr. MidNite arrives just in time to take down this twisted medical man and, disguising himself in the surgical scrubs, takes out the rest of the lackeys and rescues the composer before heading out to join his fellow Justice Society members in the hunt for who is behind this rash of crimes against musical talent.

The Spectre saves a musician who uses bells as his instrument of choice after someone takes advantage of the superstitious "curse" surrounding the history of the bells and tries to make the musician think he's haunted. The real-life ghost (is that contradictory?), The Spectre, puts a quick end to it, and once he learns who is behind these targeted assaults, he joins his other JSAers to put a stop to it.

It all is the work of a music-mad man named Hec Bauer, who in his boyhood, was friends with all the other musicians who had been targeted for crippling, assault, etc. You see, each of the young men had dreams of becoming the next Mozart or Beethoven. All of them succeeded in the music world, with the exception of Hec, who, due to his lower financial status, was forced to stay home and work instead of going off to gain higher education. Determined throughout, he withdrew all his savings and went to the big city eventually, but finds that there really is no overnight success story in New York.

After years of failings, even when his former and now famous friends try out one of his symphonies (which fizzles), and Hec Bauer is seen as no-good in the music world. Now, you would think that might be enough anger building in Hec to warrant his revenge, but he apparently does not have it in him until walking home one day and getting a bump on the head at a construction site. It is from that moment on that he plans out his revenge. He's become so obsessed that...

Apparently, that house has been on the market a long time...

Yup. It turns out those notes weren't from Hawkman, but were from Bauer himself, as this mad maestro had dumb luck on his side and overpowered Hawkman during one of his early attempts at revenge and has kept him prisoner ever since, until the JSA arrives, that is.

An interesting tale, yes, but certainly not one of Gardner Fox's best. Hawkman being overpowered, held prisoner in a cell where there just so happens to be ink and leaves where he writes musical notes based on what keys in the old piano Bauer said he hid his revenge notes in, all just seems a bit convoluted, even for Golden Age JSA standards.

The art, however, is good almost all-around. Even Stan Aschmeier seems to have really stepped up his game compared to some of his earlier All-Star work, and it really shows, especially in The Atom's chapter. However, even though his cover was eye-catching, the JSA group chapter illustrated by Joe Gallagher were a little lacking this time around.

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...