Justice League of America

Jsa1 — *The Original Justice Society of America, from the cover of The Super Heroes Monthly Vol 2 6*

Super heroes ann 1983 — *The Super Heroes Annual (DC)*

Background[]

The Justice League of America (JLA for short), or sometimes Justice League International, or just plain Justice League, is an American superhero team published by DC Comics which has existed in various different incarnations since February 1960. It was an updated version of the earlier Justice Society of America, the first ever American comic book superhero team, who fought crime and the Nazis in the Golden Age comics of the 1940s before disappearing in 1950. Like the earlier JSA, the JLA's ranks have generally included DC's most well known superheroes of the time. Both the JSA and the JLA have at times included Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and versions of The Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Black Canary and The Atom among their members, alongside lesser lights. The Justice League's second string members have included Aquaman, the Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, the Elongated Man, Firestorm, Zatanna, Red Tornado, the Phantom Stranger and later Vibe, Steel, Vixen, Gypsy, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Fire & Ice, Captain Atom, Captain Marvel, Mister Miracle, Plastic Man, backup Green Lanterns Guy Gardner, Kyle Rayner and John Stewart, replacement Flash Wally West and dozens more, including formeer Justice Society members Dr Fate and Power Girl. In September 2011, DC reset their comics' continuities, restarting all of their characters (including the Justice League) from scratch and effectively erasing the original versions, including the original Justice Society. In 2019, though, they brought them back again.

British Reprints[]

Unlike Superman and Batman, the JLA have not traditionally had much exposure in British reprints over the years, but they have turned up periodically. In the 1960s, remaindered copies of JLA were bound into several of Thorpe & Porter's Double Double Comics, and a number of JLA tales were later reprinted in The Super Heroes Monthly and its associated annuals in the 1970s (one issue of The Super-Heroes Monthly also reprinted The Untold Origin of the Justice Society of America, probably the first time the JSA had featured in a British title). In the late 1980s, Justice League International featured in a lengthy series of back-up strips in London Editions' Superman monthly (and in the first issue of Batman Monthly Presents), while since the dawning of the 21st Century Titan Magazines have been responsible for numerous DC reprint titles including the first British Justice League title, Justice League Legends, which ran for ten issues from 2007 to 2008 (the Justice Society also appeared in the final three issues). Titan have since launched the new, post 2011 reboot Justice League in anthology title DC Universe Presents: Justice League Trinity, but eventually lost their licence to publish DC comics reprints in January 2019. In addition, Pedigree have published Justice League Annual's.

See Also

Justice League of America

Gallery

Real name

Justice League of America

Alignment

Good

Universe

DC Comics (British Reprints)

First appearance

Unknown

History[]

The history of the JLA has been revised several times, but what always remains constant is that they are the greatest supereroes of their world, united to protect it from injustice.