JUSTICE 4 ALL

ESSENTIAL LEAGUE LORE

Created by insanely prolific comic book writer Gardner Fox, the Justice League of America debuted in Brave And The Bold #28 in 1960, trouncing the multi-suckered menace of a giant alien starfish named Starro.

The League was a Silver Age spin on ’40s team the Justice Society of America, who were retconned to exist on a parallel Earth. The name was tweaked to reflect the early ’60s boom in baseball’s National League.

Founding members included Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Aquaman, the Flash, Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter. Oh, and a finger-clickin’ hipster-teen sidekick named Snapper Carr…

The team scored phenomenal sales. Rival publisher Martin Goodman ordered Stan Lee to create a superhero squad of his own – he did, and called it the Fantastic Four. So the Justice League are responsible for the entire Marvel Universe.

The original League has been endlessly franchised over the years: Justice League International, Justice League Europe, Justice League of China, Justice League Task Force, Justice League Elite, Justice League United and crack occultists Justice League Dark. Justice League Basingstoke is still up for grabs.

A cataclysmic clash of counterparts occurred in 2003 crossover JLA/Avengers. Cheekily, the Avengers had already fought the Squadron Supreme, Marvel’s riff on the League that substituted Hyperion for Superman, Nighthawk for Batman and Power Princess for Wonder Woman. Nick setchfield