#squadron of justice

[puppetwoman17]

The JL: *just found out their coworker was a child but also sad/mad because they missed their chance to watch him grow up*😡

Squadron of Justice(Fawcett heroes): *knew Cap and his marvels were kids the whole time and did in fact get to watch them grow up*😁

Billy:…So, how’s everyone’s day been?

[doctorslippery]

[chernobog13]

Art by Kurt Schaffenberger who, after C.C. Beck, is the only artist I ever wanted drawing these characters.

The Squadron of Justice, the Earth-S superteam made up of the Fawcett Comics characters that DC first licensed, then acquired outright. Clockwise from top left: Mr. Scarlet and his sidekick Pinky; Spy Smasher; Ibis the Invincible and his wife, Taia; Bulletman and Bulletgirl; and the Marvel Family - Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, and Captain Marvel Jr.

The team was introduced in Justice League of America (vol. 1) #135-137 (1976) during the annual Justice League-Justice Society crossover.

The only member missing is the god Mercury, who was responsible for putting the team together. However, Mercury was never a Fawcett hero, just someone who lent the Marvel family his powers. He was included in the story mainly to serve as Earth-S's analogue for the Flash.

Unfortunately, this was the first and only appearance of this team. DC never revisited the concept, and ten years later there was that whole Crisis On Infinite Earths thing which destroyed the multiverse (and DC is still, to this day, trying to undo the damage done by that event).

BTW, this was actually the second time the Squadron of Justice name had been used by Fawcett characters. Waaaaay back in Whiz Comics #21 (September, 1941) readers were introduced to Captain Marvel's Squadron of Justice.

Cover art by C.C. Beck.

This issue introduced the three different boys each named Billy Batson. When they said "Shazam!" together along with the original Billy they were transformed into the three Lieutenant Marvels. The four Marvels then joined forces to battle a team of villains that Dr. Sivana put together.

While the Lieutenant Marvels would appear several more times over the years, the Squadron of Justice name was never used again.

[mostsanescarletspiderfan]

When I first started making my own DC universe I didn't realize just how much DC has erased and ignored the time between the JSA disbanding and the JLA forming, like they really try to sell that the league is the starting point for the "modern age" when in reality there's barely even a gap between the time superheroes stopped operating and the new guys coming in.

For starters I don't think you can put the JLA forming any later than 1990-1991 because these people are OLD so this gives you an 40 year gap to play with considering that the JSA disbanded in 1951.

Here's a list of teams that have operated during that time:

• freedom brigade

• inferior five (depending on if you consider the freedom brigade being formed in the 40s or the 60s)

• justice experience

• infinity inc (there's NO WAY those fuckers are peers with the teen titans)

• squadron of justice

Even when the JSA and the All-star squadron disbanded most of them still operated as usual.

While I'm at it I would also like to note that there were other heroes before 1938, the old west vigilantes are pretty cool and there have been heroes here and there through the centuries.

[zal-cryptid]

DC characters - Blue Beetle 👍

[browsethestacks]

Justice Society of America #08/#09/#010 (2023-2024)

Art by Tony Harris

[dailydccomics]

HEROZ4U (NOT an escort service!) One-Star Squadron #1

[gundamfight]

[ufonaut]

Upcoming Justice Society of America (2022) variants by Tony Harris.

[justicesocietyzine]

[comicarthistory]

Black Canary pinup from All Star Squadron #42. 1984. Art by Mike Hernandez and Terry Austin.

[puppetwoman17]

Someone absolutely NEEDS to write a fanfic of the Squadron of Justice(basically a bunch of Fawcett superheroes) meeting the JL and Cap being like: oh yeah, these guys all live and fight in the same city. I’ve known them all since I was a toddler. We do karaoke sometimes.

Idk why, but I feel like they’re the type of team to go out like almost every day and call it a team bonding exercise. They just have fun without holding back ya know?

For the lineup I’m thinking:

The Marvel Family, obvi

Bulletman & Bulletgirl

Spy Smasher

Golden Arrow

Ibis the Invincible & Taia

Minute Man

For fun, I think they’d know who the Marvel Family is and have a ball confusing the JL!

[doctorslippery]

[chernobog13]

The Squadron of Justice of Earth-S by Kurt Schaffenberger:

Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., Mary Marvel, Mr. Scarley, Pinky, Spy Smasher, Ibis the Invincible, Taia, Bulletgirl, Bulletman.

This is the second version of the Squadron. The original appeared in the 1940s and consisted of Captain Marvel and his 3 Lieutenant Marvels.

The Squadron as shown above (also referred to as Shazam's Squadron of Justice), was formed by the god Mercury and made its first and only appearance in Justice League of America (vol. 1) #135-137 (1976). That was the annual summer crossover between the JLA of Earth-One and the Justice Society of America of Earth-Two. Because of shenanigans on Earth-S, Mercury summons the JLA and JSA to help the Squadron defeat the plans of the evil King Kull.

Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family were introduced in the Shazam! comic in 1973. The JLA/JSA crossover tale was the introduction of the rest of the superheroes from Fawcett, which DC Comics had licensed a few years prior (and would purchase outright a few years later), to the mainstream DC Universe.

However, DC seemed to have forgotten one Fawcett hero: Minute-Man.

Minute-Man has been written off as Fawcett's version of Captain America, but that is inaccurate and unfair. Minute-Man first appeared in Master Comics (vol. 1) #11, with a cover date of February, 1941 (which meant it was probably released around November, 1940). Captain America made the scene in Captain America Comics (vol. 1) #1, which was published in December, 1940, with a cover date of March, 1941. So Minute-Man arrived first, or at the very least at the same time, so there was no possibility of him copying Cap.

Besides, at the time every comic book publisher was coming up with at least patriotic superhero for their books. That was a trend started by The Shield from MLJ (now known as Archie Comics), who first appeared in Pep Comics #1, cover dated January 1940.

Minute Man was only nominally a superhero because he wore a costume. He had no super powers, but he had trained himself to the peak of human perfection. He was Private Jack Weston in the US Army whose secret identity was only known by his commanding officer, General Milton (as MM didn't wear a mask, shouldn't everyone have known who he was?). The general would send MM on missions behind enemy lines, but America was not at war at the time, so who were these enemies? Didn't matter. Minute-Man still managed to battle his share of spies, saboteurs, robots, vampires and assorted monsters, and even headhunters.

Anyhoo, for whatever reason, the folks at DC forgot Minute-Man when they put together the Squadron of Justice. And I'm sure someone pointed that out to him, because about a year later he finally appeared.

Minute-Man finally reappeared in Shazam! (vol. 1) #31 (October, 1977). Someone finally realized that a superhero who doesn't wear a mask while in costume, or some sort of disguise (eyeglasses, anyone?) when not, is not going to have a secret identity for very long. Artist Kurt Schaffenberger (himself a longtime artist for Fawcett back in the day) added a simple blue mask so Minute-Man could operate incognito.

Unfortunately, this would be Minute-Man's only appearance in a DC comic book before the whole multiverse went kablooey in Crisis On Infinite Earths.

Afterwards, he had sporadic appearances in The Power of Shazam!, before being killed off by agents of Vandal Savage in Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #3 (April, 2007).

There is a new DC character currently using the Minute-Man moniker, but the less said of him the better.

[brevoorthistoryofcomics]

GH: ALL-STAR SQUADRON #20

This was actually a really good issue of ALL-STAR SQUADRON, yet it became my last, at least for a short while. Why? I can’t really say. I maintained my pull list for other titles, but somehow this one didn’t make the cut. Which seems strange to me today, as the book was just about in its prime period–there would be another couple of years in which it would trend downward, similar to the…

http://tombrevoort.com/2024/07/14/gh-all-star-squadron-20/

[evilhorse]

Alter Ego magazine #175