Can Superman fill in for Johnny Thunder? Is Batman an acceptable substitute for the Atom?
So much behind-the-scenes history in just these few pages. This is the cover to ALL-STAR COMICS# 36, September 1947. It was the first time Superman and Batman had appeared in person on a Justice Society cover and the second time they had actually turned up at a meeting (even that had only been a brief panel or two as they helped raise money for war orphans).
The funny thing about this line-up is how closely it matched the first appearance of the Justice League just a dozen years later. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman looked about the same. There was a Green Lantern and Flash, with new streamlined costumes but the same powers. Dr Mid-Nite and Hawkman had been replaced by Aquaman and the Martian ManHunter, but even there Hawkman would shortly be revived and join the League. A new Atom and Black Canary soon followed. When the Justice Society was featured in the Silver Age team-ups, the members were usually chosen to be those who were not in the League for contrast... Dr Fate, Hourman, the Spectre, Starman. But actually, the last few years of ALL-STAR COMICS had a Justice Society line-up very similar to the Justice League's. Only a decade had passed, after all.
It's a low-tech era. Instead getting a text message or email on the headquarters' computer, the Society learns about its absent members because they're reading the newspapers before the meeting. It's hilarious that Al Pratt was injured at a basketball game; the whole point of the character was that he was so short, just 5'2" or so... it was his motivation. Maybe he got in a fight in the bleachers. And I love Johnny Thunder's brassy attitude, putting a notice in the paper for Superman to fill in for him because he has a cold. That's our Johnny, all right. You notice Dr Mid-Nite isn't reading the paper, what with being sort of blind and all.
And in comes Superman through the window. He(and Batman) had been honorary members from the start because they had their own titles. The Justice Society was (for the publishers) a trick to give characters more exposure). Each of the members appeared in an anthology like ALL-AMERICAN COMICS or MORE FUN. When they got popular enough to receive their own quarterly with nothing but them in it, they got bumped up to Honorary Member status, so that someone else could get the exposure. This happened to first the Flash and then Green Lantern. Then the system stalled. I guess Hawkman was next in line but he never quite earned his own title, so he just stayed as chairman year after year. After awhile, as sales declined, the system was dropped and both Flash and Green Lantern came back as active members.
Wonder Woman first appeared in an insert in ALL-STAR COMICS before starting her strip in SENSATION COMICS. Then she got her own title a few months after that, so logically she should have been an honorary member, too. But they bent the rules to keep her in ALL-STAR as "secretary," showing up but not usually taking part in a case. It's odd, considering she was more powerful than most of the other members and realistically should have been right in the fights. But then they were stretching things to keep in the comic at all since she had her own title.
Back to the story itself, what the heck is wrong with Batman? Why is he claiming he knows Al Pratt, who sent him to the JSA meeting? Then he ducks out and changes clothes in the hall outside the meeting room and comes back in as Batman. Huh? The next time Pratt shows up as the Atom, someone is going to ask, "Who's that Bruce Wayne nut that you sent here?" and he'll say, "I don't know any Bruce Wayne." Why not just come in as Batman in the first place?
For that matter, how does Batman know Al Pratt is the Atom...? I guess, 1940s or today, Batman is just a nosy guy keeping tabs on his colleagues.
I like Superman's self-assurance. Relaxed and confident, but then he IS Superman after all. Maybe he knows Bruce Wayne is Batman already after peeking through the mask with that little ol' X-Ray vision, because he seems amused by Wayne showing up.
The panel with Superman and Batman chatting is funny. They appeared together on the covers of WORLD'S FINEST COMICS, often in the most mundane activities, but their actual stories were separate. Except for the few panels in ALL-STAR COMICS# 7 where they helped the JSA raise charity money, I don't think they ever actually met face to face before this. It seems bizarre today, considering how closely their fates and storylines have intertwined. But then, in the Golden Age, crossovers were the exception rather than the norm. I suspect comics benefit from having the heroes act pretty much in their own little worlds rather than having them constantly breathing down each other's necks and mucking up any suspense or tension.
I haven't even gotten into the behind-the-scenes reasoning for this. Briefly, DC and All-American were originally two comics publishers that worked closely together. The Justice Society was made up mostly of All-American characters like the Flash, Hawkman, Green Lantern, etc. DC owned the really big guns, Superman and Batman. When DC and All-American had rough relations (typical business maneuvers), the DC characters like the Spectre and Dr Fate were dropped from the Justice Society and briefly replaced by AA heroes like Wildcat and Mr Terrific. This issue signified that everything had been settled (DC bought out All-American as I recall, and its publisher went his way with his son later starting EC Comics like TALES FROM THE CRYPT.) So there's even more history behind this one little story.