Original Series
The original concept for All Star Comics was an anthology title containing the most popular series from the other anthology titles published by both All-American Publications and National Comics. All Star Comics #1 contains primarily superhero stories including All-American's Golden Age Flash, Hawkman, Ultra-Man, National's Hour-Man, the Spectre and the Sandman, plus the adventure strip "Biff Bronson" and the comedy-adventure "Red, White and Blue". The title premiered with a Summer 1940 cover date.
Issue #3 (Winter 1940-1941) depicts the first meeting of the Justice Society, at which its members swap stories of their exploits, subsequently depicted in the book's array of solo adventures. In addition to the Flash, Hawkman, Hour-Man, the Spectre, and the Sandman were Doctor Fate, from National's More Fun Comics, and Green Lantern and the Atom from All-American's flagship title, All-American Comics. The Justice Society was originally a frame story to present an anthology of solo stories about the individual characters. Different chapters of the JSA's stories would often be handled by different artists. This new format proved to be so successful that the individual adventures were dropped and the heroes started teaming up to fight crime.
All Star Comics #8 (December 1941-January 1942) is the first appearance of Wonder Woman in an 8-page insert story written by William Moulton Marston under the pen name of "Charles Moulton", with art by H. G. Peter. The insert story was included to test reader interest in the Wonder Woman concept. It generated enough positive fan response that Wonder Woman would be awarded the lead feature in the Sensation Comics anthology title starting from issue #1. Wonder Woman would appear in All Star Comics starting from issue #11 as a member of the Justice Society and as their secretary. This issue also featured Doctor Mid-Nite and Starman joining. Gardner Fox left the series with issue #34 (April-May 1947) with a story that introduced a new super-villain, the Wizard. The Injustice Society first battled the JSA in issue #37 in a tale written by Robert Kanigher. The Black Canary guest starred in issue #38 and joined the team three issues later.
All Star Comics increased its frequency from a quarterly to a bimonthly publication schedule, and the JSA lasted through #57 (March 1951) — in a story titled "The Mystery of the Vanishing Detectives". Superhero comics slumped in the early 1950s, and All Star Comics became All-Star Western from #58-119 (in 1961) with Western heroes replacing the Justice Society.
A good amount of artwork has survived from an unpublished All Star Comics story titled "The Will of William Wilson" and has been reprinted in various publications from TwoMorrows Publishing.
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