The 1940s Justice Society Of America Were A Surprisingly Progressive Bunch

A few weeks back we learned that Wonder Woman’s background role as the secretary of the Justice Society in the 1940s wasn’t some sort of patriarchal, sexist scheme.  Instead, it was actually about William Moulton Marston wanting complete control of his character.  Today we’ll gain an even better appreciation for the people behind All-Star Comics.  Not only were they not sexist jerks, there were also some really impressive messages of tolerance in the book.

All-Star Comics #22 begins with Dr. Midnite strolling to the Justice Society headquarters when he comes across some ruffians beating up another boy.  He asks them what their problem is, and then straightens them out after they explain:

For the rest of the issue, various members of the Justice Society get sent through time to fight prejudice in various historical eras.  They all return to the present, keen to teach others the importance of understanding your fellow man.  The entire Justice Society goes to a local school to spread their message and tell the kids that bullying others because they’re different is anti-American, and they all say the Pledge of Allegiance together:

SIDENOTE: You may have noticed that the phrase “under God” wasn’t included.  That’s because it wasn’t part of the original pledge.  It was added in the 1950s when everyone was all fired up about the godless commies, around the same time America put “In God we trust” on their money and legislated other religion-based empty gestures.  So if someone ever tries to point to “under God” as an example that America is a supposedly Christian nation, show them this issue of All-Star Comics!!  Separation of church and state, ya’ll!!

Anyway, after the school says the Pledge of Allegiance, Wonder Woman pops up with this impressively open-minded aside:

“Regardless of RACE, COLOR, or RELIGION!” is a pretty huge thing to say in 1944.  I mean, Catholic/Protestant was still a big divide, as evidenced by the beginning of this comic, much less hot button issues like race!!  It’s fitting that Wonder Woman is the one to point out the inclusionary nature of “liberty and justice for all”, seeing as equality and fairness were common themes in her own comics, and it’s nice to see them echoed in All-Star Comics as well, what with its different creative team.  Marston was a hardcore feminist, but Gardner Fox had some progressive ideas too!!

Then in ­All-Star Comics #27, we learn about another group that we need to treat fairly.  Covering race and religion wasn’t enough… the Justice Society is also all about helping people who are physically disabled:

The issue ended with the Justice Society writing a pledge that disabled individuals aren’t to be shunned or pitied but rather should be treated equally.  The pledge page also showed a series of physically disabled people who accomplished great things:

The Justice Society was REALLY into equality.  Regardless of your color, religion, or physical disability, the Justice Society had your back and considered you a friend.  It was an impressively progressive message for the early 1940s, and one I was surprised to find.  There’s a lot of bad stuff in Golden Age comics, and it’s really cool to see such positive messages.  It’s no wonder that the new Justice Society in Earth 2 has a gay Green Lantern… the team’s been tolerant and open-minded for ages!!

Wonder Woman: Secretary Of The Justice Society Of America

Way back in the 1940s, decades before the Justice League first appeared, DC’s premiere superhero team was the Justice Society of America.  The all-male team was always off fighting Nazis and other evildoers in All-Star Comics, but the most famous character to come from the book was Wonder Woman, who appeared for the first time ever in All-Star Comics #8.  She soon became an honorary member of the Justice Society, and some of you may have seen a version of this ad that listed her as the team’s secretary:

Some form of this ad appeared in several issues of All-Star Comics, and it’s been reprinted in various books and on several websites over the years, and the story behind Wonder Woman’s secretarial role is an unusual one.

In All-Star Comics #13, Wonder Woman fought alongside the team and so impressed her fellow members that they offered her the secretary gig for the team.  She was, of course, beyond thrilled to accept:

And here’s how the team was introduced the following issue:

All of the male heroes, Hawkman, Starman, Atom, Doctor Fate, Doctor Midnite, Spectre, Johnny Thunder, and Sandman, were listed, and then “as secretary to the Justice-Society” came Wonder Woman.  Her secretarial role was attached to her introduction for years to come.

Plus, she didn’t do much of anything.  Here she is later on in All-Star Comics #14, electing to stay behind while the rest of the team goes off to Europe to foil a nefarious scheme:

And this went on for a while.  Here’s Wonder Woman TWENTY issues later in All-Star Comics #33 staying behind yet again:

Damn patriarchy, right?!  You can’t have a woman be a full member of the team, she has to be a secretary.  And then anytime Hitler gets up to something, you have to leave the woman behind because it’s men’s work.  Those sexist fiends!!  Wonder Woman’s feminist creator, William Moulton Marston, must have been outraged!!

Well, he was outraged, but for completely different reasons.  When another author wrote Wonder Woman in one of her first Justice Society appearances, Marston was fairly irate.  He demanded to rewrite the story and wanted complete control of the character after that, which he was given.  But seeing as he and H.G. Peter were busy producing Wonder Woman stories for Wonder Woman, Sensation Comics, AND Comic Cavalcade, it ended up that All-Star Comics fell by the wayside.  The book had a couple Marston/Peter Wonder Woman stories over the years, but usually Wonder Woman just appeared in the first few pages, had a line or two, and then stayed behind while the rest of the team went off to fight the bad guys.

So the guys behind All-Star Comics weren’t actually patriarchal, sexist fiends.  Well, at least not in this regard.  Generally, chances are they were… it was 1940s America, after all.  But in this instance, Wonder Woman was relegated to the background because Marston wanted to be the only one to write her.  Ironically, the demands of Wonder Woman’s feminist creator led to Wonder Woman taking a very unfeminist role with the team. 

By the late 1940s, however, Marston had gotten very ill, and he passed away in 1947.  Around this time, Wonder Woman took a more active role in the Justice Society.  In fact, in All-Star Comics #38 it was Wonder Woman who brought in the Justice Society’s second female member, Black Canary:

Unfortunately, by the time Wonder Woman was able to do more in the Justice Society, All-Star Comics wasn’t long for the world.  The book was cancelled in 1951, and Wonder Woman was the only character whose solo series survived.  It would be more than a decade before most of the Justice Society would again appear in comics, but Wonder Woman stayed in print the entire time. 

So yeah, Wonder Woman was the Justice Society’s secretary, just not for the usual sexist reasons we’d expect.  There was no lack of sexism in 1940s comic books, but in this particular situation there were other factors at play.  Go figure!!

Wonder Woman On Earth Two #1 Variant Cover?

DC’s The Source blog has debuted a variant cover for the upcoming Earth Two #1, and it looks like it features Wonder Woman:

I say “looks like” because there seems to be some question about who those characters are.  Batman got those stick things that Dick Grayson likes to use, plus if it’s Earth Two and Helena Wayne is all grown up, then Bruce Wayne would be pretty old.  So if Batman is Dick Grayson, maybe “Wonder Woman” is Donna Troy, since we haven’t seen her in the DCnU yet. 

Anyway, these are some weird costumes.  With Batman, Superman, and Power Girl we’ve seen these wide V-shaped things come down the chest from the shoulders with their logo, and I find them rather ugly.  And Wonder Woman’s costume is far too busy for my tastes… that’s a lot of metal.  I do like the skirt, and it’s always fun when the tiara gets a little more bad ass, but I feel like there’s too much going on with all the metal details and such. 

Want to know my secret theory, though?  I think Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman are all going to die in the first issue.  Any time the book was referenced before it was called Earth Two, everyone was saying that James Robinson and Nicola Scott were working on the Justice Society.  These days, the Justice Society refers to a specific group of heroes that doesn’t include the Big Three.  Now, the old school JSA had them sometimes, and DC might want to have Superman and Batman, even in a different form, on more books.  But we haven’t seen most of the usual Justice Society yet, and I feel like they’ll be the stars.  Plus the Big Three a’re mid-battle with the hordes of Apokalips!!  So my prediction is that they’ll die or get removed in some way, and the Justice Society with the characters we’re used to (Power Girl, Alan Scott Green Lantern, Jay Garrick Flash, Wildcat, etc) take over for them.  I have NO information to back this up… it’s just a theory.

Hey, maybe if Wonder Woman is Donna Troy, she’ll stick around… that might be cool!!

Anyway, ugly costumes.  I know it’s hard to change iconic outfits, but these aren’t great.