In our last post we talked about the first appearance of the Justice League of America in The Brave and the Bold #28 - but though it was the team's first adventure, it did not explain their origin.
Of course, in the early '60s there wasn't much concern about continuity - they were focused on delivering a monthly adventure to fill each issue.
But two years after that first appearance, the powers that be must have tired of those pesky fan letters and finally delivered the origin of the team.
The team gathers at their secret headquarters (in a cozy cave somewhere) where, at Snapper Carr's request, they recount their first meeting exactly three years ago.
Each member encounters a strange alien creature, who are fighting a war - with Earth as their battleground - in hopes of winning the throne on a distant planet. Each alien plans to transform Earth creatures into forms that mimic their biology - so the heroes must battle creatures made of stone, fire, wood, glass, diamond, mercury, and a giant yellow bird (?).
It's all pretty strange, and the heroes must face the creatures first singly, and then as a team. It's surprising how brutal the heroes are - after all, these are apparently alien forms, not robots - and more than one creature is destroyed by a League member.
But let's not get caught up in the details - it's mostly a fun and imaginative series of challenges and puzzles for the League to face - oh, and Superman gets to deliver a classically bad joke.
Something I hadn't noticed before is: who actually names the League? I'll spoil this one point, as Batman suggests they form "a club or society" (a nice nod to their Golden Age predecessors), but it's the Flash who suggests, "A League against evil! Our purpose will be to uphold justice..."
So there you go, the origin of the team is explained. They even sing "Happy Birthday" to the team at the end (like ya do).
But... that's still not the real origin of the team. We'll explain that... tomorrow.
Grade: A-
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