Awesome, Amazing All Star Comics Complete Run-They deserve their own thread! 5 5

[Ghastly542454]

All Star Comics #43-Cover by Irwin Hasen and the story “The Secret of the Golden Universe” by John Broome.

After thefts of common iron objects, Raymond, a master illusionist, tells the JSA that a resort act known as Aurikon and His Gold Men are actually made of gold. When the JSA confront them, they leap into a carnival ride and vanish. The JSA follow them to Xenca, an iron-deprived dimension of gold. Scientist Myrla tells them her half-brother Aurikon plans to use the stolen iron to power three giant golden robots and conquer Xenca. Three JSA teams-Hawkman, Dr. Mid-Nite, and Atom, Wonder Woman and Black Canary, and Green Lantern and Flash are captured by the robots and Aurikon. Raymond helps free the JSAers, who then defeat their enemies. 

This issue introduces a new All Star Comics logo, which substitutes a single large star behind the word “All” for the multiple stars in the word “Star” in the first. 

My copy of All Star Comics #43 with the great robot cover was purchased in 2019 from MyComics.Com for $850. The “golden robot” cover concept was used 12 years later for the second Justice League of America in the Brave and the Bold #29 which is shown here too. Julius Schwartz was the editor of book comics.

Edited July 6, 2020 by Ghastly542454

[sagii]

..The 'other' Robot cover! Another one i really liked in the run. Nice to post the later JLA swipe also! 

[Ghastly542454]

All Star Comics #44-Cover by Irwin Hasen and the story “Evil Star over Hollywood” by John Broome. 

Evil Star threatens to destroy Stellar Studios unless it halts the production of the film “Thief in the Night”. Calling the JSA to Hollywood, producer Fred T. Fanum tells them he has only half of the screenplay as it was given to him by a masked man who is mailing the rest of in installments. Evil Star, a masked racketeer, fears the movie will reveal his true identity. As they seek to guard the studio and solve the mystery, the JSA teams are captured by Evil Star, but Green Lantern learns the screenwriter is the male secretary of a film executive. As the JSA escapes, they expose the executive whose name is Guy Pompton as Evil Star.

Whether by coincidence or design, this Hollywood story serves as a transition between JSA stories based in Gotham City (through issue #43 and strangely Batman only ever appeared in 2 stories!!!) and those based in Civic City from issue #45 on. This issue’s cover is the last of 39 in a row which depict virtually all JSAers who appear prominently in an issue. After this, only issue #47 will do so. 

My copy of All Star Comics #44 came indirectly from the collection of @BarristerBakerwho auctioned off on the same night at close the same time at Comic Connect roughly three issues I needed -#44, #45, and #55. Previously I had bought All Star Comics #48 from @BarristerBakerwhen he listed it for sale on the CGC Board. I was able to win issues #44 and #55 for about $850-$875 each but sadly lost out on issue #45 that night which I will discuss when I cover issue #45. 

I was VERY FORTUNATE indeed to win issue #44 that night. For in all the years I have been collecting All Star Comics, this was the only time this issue became available. Since winning it, I still have not seen another graded copy or a raw one. The CGC Census lists 21 Universal copies, 1 Qualified, and 3 Restored copies. There are 2 copies in 6.5, 2 copies in 7.5, and 1 in 8.0. In my opinion, this is by far the most difficult issue of All Star Comics to find!!!

[sagii]

@Ghastly542454 Cool!

Any truth to the rumor Black Canary was 'modeled' after Veronica Lake?

[Ghastly542454]

1 hour ago, sagii said:

@Ghastly542454 Cool!

Any truth to the rumor Black Canary was 'modeled' after Veronica Lake?

 @sagiiI’ve never heard that but I suppose it could be true. She does look her. I’ve got some beautiful Black Canary books in my collection.

Edited July 7, 2020 by Ghastly542454

[sagii]

6 minutes ago, Ghastly542454 said:

 @sagiiI’ve never heard that but I suppose it could be true. She does look her. I’ve got some beautiful Black Canary books in my collection.

Incredible collection David!

 

[Ghastly542454]

All Star Comics #45-Cover by Irwin Hasen and the story “The Case of the Cosmic Criminals” by John Broome.

Felix Egri tells the JSA that he bathed several everyday objects in cosmic radiation to give them “cosmic power” when a certain “nova or new star “is burning. JSA teams head to four places where cosmic radiation has increased during the past 24 hours. The JSAers defeat the gang’s cosmic powers-but when they grab the irradiated objects, they are teleported back to Egri’s lab in suspended animation. Egri, a would-be master criminal, was merely using the gangsters as guinea pigs. Black Canary manages to free the JSA. When Egri tries to use six everyday objects against the JSA at once, he is destroyed by their sheer power. 

An oddity in this issue is the cover and a similar splash scene show the JSAers converging on a costumed man with a multi-barreled ray gun. There is no scene like this in the actual story! This is the first issue in which the JSA operate out of Civic City, which will be their base, their new equivalent of New York Citryfor the remainder of the series. 

This is also very difficult issue to obtain especially in 6.0 or above. There is something about the cover, perhaps it is the Wonder Woman pose, that makes it especially appealing to me. Around 2017, there was a 9.0 of it for sale on eBay for $2,800 but I didn’t have the money at the time and even if I had, I don’t know if I would have spent that much to for #45. As I mentioned in my coverage of issue #44, @BarristerBakerhad a very nice #45, it was at least a 6.0, in the Comic Connect auction where I won #44 and #55. Unfortunately for me, I did not win the #45 which created a problem. I had told myself that I planned to finish off the All Star Comics series by the end of 2019. Now there was no #45 to be found. I don’t know how it happened, but a few weeks later I just happened to stumble on the Etsy website. Just for the heck of it, I typed in All Star Comics, and to my amazement, a #45 popped up. It was a 4.5 and it was for sale by Basement Comics out of Maryland. It was reasonably priced at $500. However, it was also a wanna-be pedigree book and not in my opinion in a good way. The listing said it had come from the “Mary Collection”. As I looked at the cover, the name “Mary” was written on it in several places. I inquired about it and it turned out that Basement Comics had bought a collection of comics from a lady named Mary out of Pennsylvania several years earlier. Growing up in the 40’s, Mary had two brothers who were constantly stealing her comic books. To prevent her brothers from saying that the comics were theirs, Mary began writing her name on the covers so there would be no doubt about the ownership. I’m not a fan of writing on covers but can tolerate a little. But this cover has too much for my liking so I hope to someday upgrade it.

[Ghastly542454]

All Star Comics #46-Cover by Arthur F. Peddy (pencils) and Bernard Sachs (inker) and the story “The Adventure of the Invisible Band” by John Broome. 

When a payroll vanishes from a locked safe due to “invisible” burglars, the JSA sketch out a way the theft could have been committed. Finding their notes in a wastebasket, the cleaning lady gives them to her nephew, Elmer Doolittle, who’s studying to become a detective. Elmer believes that whoever wrote the notes, must be a thief! He turns these “crime plans” over to the Gumshoe Detective Corresponding School, not realizing they are the real “Invisible Band”! Elmer thinks the Justice Society are imposters, Elmer messes up each JSA team and they are captured by the Invisible Band. However, once the JSA get free, they make short work of the crooks. Since their HQ’s location is now known to Elmer, the JSA magically change disguise their “secret headquarters”. 

All Star Comics #46 was another hard issue to find. As I wrote about earlier, I had made a promise to myself to have the collection completed by the end of 2019. However, the only All Star Comics #46 I could find for sale was a 2.0 that looked like a 5.0 and had received that grade due to spine splits. Now I normally don’t buy (a few of my key Silver Age books came back with grades of 2.5-3.5 but I only paid a nickel or a dime for them in the 1960’s and sold them or traded them off quickly and applied the money to purchase a higher graded copy)any book that is below a 4.0 or has restoration. Having this All Star #46 that was a 2.0 in my All Star Comics collection was an anathema!!! I began letting all of my friends and dealers I knew that I needed an All Star Comics #46 that was at least a 4.0 very badly!!!

On a Sunday in January of 2020, @Ricksneatstuff put out one of his awesome threads full of great books and among the books was an All Star Comics #46 5.0. Despite being alerted by @telerites, I did not see his message in time and the book was purchased by I believe @bounty_coder or @BorderlineHoarder. I tried to see if I could get him to sell it to me but unless I could come up with some books he was looking for, it wasn’t happening, and it didn’t. Anyway, @Ricksneatstuffhad forgotten that I had sent him an email telling him I needed All Star Comics #46. But because he is a wonderful, fantastic, awesome person, within a few days, he had outdone himself. He found me a gorgeous 6.5 and he even bought my 2.0!!! It just doesn’t get better than that in my world of comic book collecting!! I will be forever grateful!

Edited July 10, 2020 by Ghastly542454

[Ghastly542454]

All Star Comics #47-Cover by Irwin Hasen (pencils) and Bob Oksner (inks) and the story “The Ghost of Billy the Kid” by John Broome

A charity ball is robbed by cowboys led by a masked man claiming to be Billy the Kid. Professor Otis Baker tells the JSA he was recently taken blindfolded to a ghost town called Silver Butte and met the outlaw-who says he never died and means to resume his career. The JSA teams try to capture Billy the Kid at various passes but he always escapes. Later, in the rebuilt ghost town beneath Civic Square Arena, Billy uses Baker as a hostage to make the JSA surrender. The JSA is bound up on a stagecoach bound towards an explosive-filled shack. But Green Lantern’s ring saves them. The heroes crush Billy and his gang. Billy turns out to be rodeo star Hal Hampden, who faked his own death so he could “become” the legendary outlaw! An oddity of the story is when Professor baker rides on horseback for 48 hours trying to locate the “ghost town”, he seems to ride through Monument Valley, Arizona which is inconsistent with Civic City since it is on the East Coast. 

My beautiful copy of All Star Comics #47 was won at auction from Heritage last December 2019 at the same time I won All Star Comics #2. I believe I paid around $1,100 for it including buyer’s premium and sales tax!!!😖

[BorderlineHoarder]

On 7/9/2020 at 2:11 PM, Ghastly542454 said:

All Star Comics #46-Cover by Arthur F. Peddy (pencils) and Bernard Sachs (inker) and the story “The Adventure of the Invisible Band” by John Broome. 

When a payroll vanishes from a locked safe due to “invisible” burglars, the JSA sketch out a way the theft could have been committed. Finding their notes in a wastebasket, the cleaning lady gives them to her nephew, Elmer Doolittle, who’s studying to become a detective. Elmer believes that whoever wrote the notes, must be a thief! He turns these “crime plans” over to the Gumshoe Detective Corresponding School, not realizing they are the real “Invisible Band”! Elmer thinks the Justice Society are imposters, Elmer messes up each JSA team and they are captured by the Invisible Band. However, once the JSA get free, they make short work of the crooks. Since their HQ’s location is now known to Elmer, the JSA magically change disguise their “secret headquarters”. 

All Star Comics #46 was another hard issue to find. As I wrote about earlier, I had made a promise to myself to have the collection completed by the end of 2019. However, the only All Star Comics #46 I could find for sale was a 2.0 that looked like a 5.0 and had received that grade due to spine splits. Now I normally don’t buy (a few of my key Silver Age books came back with grades of 2.5-3.5 but I only paid a nickel or a dime for them in the 1960’s and sold them or traded them off quickly and applied the money to purchase a higher graded copy)any book that is below a 4.0 or has restoration. Having this All Star #46 that was a 2.0 in my All Star Comics collection was an anathema!!! I began letting all of my friends and dealers I knew that I needed an All Star Comics #46 that was at least a 4.0 very badly!!!

On a Sunday in January of 2020, @Ricksneatstuff put out one of his awesome threads full of great books and among the books was an All Star Comics #46 5.0. Despite being alerted by @telerites, I did not see his message in time and the book was purchased by I believe @bounty_coder or @BorderlineHoarder. I tried to see if I could get him to sell it to me but unless I could come up with some books he was looking for, it wasn’t happening, and it didn’t. Anyway, @Ricksneatstuffhad forgotten that I had sent him an email telling him I needed All Star Comics #46. But because he is a wonderful, fantastic, awesome person, within a few days, he had outdone himself. He found me a gorgeous 6.5 and he even bought my 2.0!!! It just doesn’t get better than that in my world of comic book collecting!! I will be forever grateful!

I didn't buy it...but I remember seeing it because these late-run GA All-Stars show up so rarely and I love Wonder Woman center stage on the cover.  Congratulations on putting a stunning DC golden age run together!  It's impressive to see and I'm having fun reading through the details in the thread.

[Ghastly542454]

1 hour ago, BorderlineHoarder said:

I didn't buy it...but I remember seeing it because these late-run GA All-Stars show up so rarely and I love Wonder Woman center stage on the cover.  Congratulations on putting a stunning DC golden age run together!  It's impressive to see and I'm having fun reading through the details in the thread.

Thank you! I appreciate your support!

[Ghastly542454]

All Star Comic s#48-Cover by Arthur F. Peddy (pencils) and Bernard Sachs (inks). The story “The Strange Lives of Edmund Blake” by John Broome.

The JSA take time off from trailing the X-Criminal Band to entertain a bedridden boy named Edmund Blake. But, without more desire to live, he won’t survive an imminent operation. Wonder Woman uses her Magic Sphere to show him the future he’ll have if he lives. He’ll perform heroic feats, often aiding teams of the JSA. Each vision rouses Edmund’s spirits only briefly, for he thinks that they are mere dreams. Later, on the still-activated Magic Sphere, Edmund sees the X-Criminal Band about to kill the bound-up JSA. Fired up with a new desire to save them, he survives his operation, and later arrives on the scene in time to give the JSA a chance to smash the X-Criminals. For his effort, Edmund is named an honorary member of the JSA. 

This story was almost certainly inspired by Frank Capra’s 1947 film classic “It’s a Wonderful Life”. In some ways, this story is the opposite side of the coin to issue #40, in which Wonder Woman’s Magic Sphere showed juvenile delinquents their potential dire fates. In this issue, it reveals Edmund Blake will have a rosier future if he lives. The first chapter in this issue featuring Wonder Woman and Black Canary will be Irwin Hasen’s last work for All Star Comics. This issue begins a full page “JSA Laboratory Notes” which features two scientific experiments hosted by Green Lantern and Flash which will continue from this point on. 

My copy of All Star Comics #48 came from a listing on the Board by @BarristerBakerin 2017 or 2018. I think I paid $550 for it. It’s a very nice looking book.

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

Hey @Ghastly542454, you left us hanging with only nine issues to go!!

Edited July 23, 2020 by 50YrsCollctngCmcs

[Ghastly542454]

42 minutes ago, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said:

Hey @Ghastly542454, you left us hanging with only nine issues to go!!

Sorry!! I’ve been very happy busy these last few days but rest assured I will complete the entire thread. I will do at least 2 issues on Friday.

[Ghastly542454]

All Star Comics #49-Cover by Arthur Peddy (pencils) and Bernard Sachs (inks) and the story “The Invasion of the Fire People” by John Broome.

With both the Army and JSA beaten and the Earth facing doom, Dr. Grover Conrad is carving into a mountainside the story of what happened, as a warning to future civilizations. Seen in flashback: Four large meteors from a yellow comet strike Earth. The heroes learn the Fire People have come inside the meteors to steal radium, which they need in order to live. JSA teams consisting of Black Canary and Atom, Flash and Dr. Mid-Nite, Hawkman and Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern are forced to flee before the invaders’ heat. With the radium, the Comet Men plan to leave Earth and the radioactive cloud from their rocket’s blast will kill all life. After the flashback, the JSA use carbon arc projectors to throw heat beams, to which their foes are vulnerable. The aliens turn their radium gun on themselves rather than be captured and are destroyed. In the story, PalominaUniversityis a stand-in for the then-new Palomar Observatory in California. 

My very nice white pages copy of All Star Comics #49 was purchased in 2018 from a Boardie sales thread. I can’t remember the seller’s name but it is someone I haven’t dealt with since. I think I paid $700 for it.
 

[sagii]

37 minutes ago, Ghastly542454 said:

All Star Comics #49-Cover by Arthur Peddy (pencils) and Bernard Sachs (inks) and the story “The Invasion of the Fire People” by John Broome.

With both the Army and JSA beaten and the Earth facing doom, Dr. Grover Conrad is carving into a mountainside the story of what happened, as a warning to future civilizations. Seen in flashback: Four large meteors from a yellow comet strike Earth. The heroes learn the Fire People have come inside the meteors to steal radium, which they need in order to live. JSA teams consisting of Black Canary and Atom, Flash and Dr. Mid-Nite, Hawkman and Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern are forced to flee before the invaders’ heat. With the radium, the Comet Men plan to leave Earth and the radioactive cloud from their rocket’s blast will kill all life. After the flashback, the JSA use carbon arc projectors to throw heat beams, to which their foes are vulnerable. The aliens turn their radium gun on themselves rather than be captured and are destroyed. In the story, PalominaUniversityis a stand-in for the then-new Palomar Observatory in California. 

My very nice white pages copy of All Star Comics #49 was purchased in 2018 from a Boardie sales thread. I can’t remember the seller’s name but it is someone I haven’t dealt with since. I think I paid $700 for it.
 

Probably my favorite cover in run

[Ghastly542454]

All Star Comics #50-Cover by Arthur Peddy (pencils) and Bob Oskner (inks) and the story “The Prophecy of Peril” by John Broome. 

Midwestern University confers honorary degrees on the JSA for contributions to crime detection. Alumnus Jay Garrick (Flash) keeps a date made ten years ago to read prophecies he and seven other graduating students wrote about what they’d be doing a decade later. One of the seven students, Paul Turnbull had predicted he would become “Mr. Alpha” and commit fives crimes based on the sciences he studied. The JSAers rush to cities where they believe Mr. Alpha will strike. When the teams of JSAers are felled, a shadowy figure rescues them. Green Lantern snags their shadowy benefactor-Paul Turnbull!! The JSA then captures Mr. Alpha who it turns out is one of the seven classmates, Ted Kincaid, who lost all of his money in the stock market. 

In a rarity of comics-time and real time correlation, All Star Comics #50 is dated exactly ten years after Flash Comics #1 (January 1940), in which college student Jay Garrick gained speed powers and became The Flash. Beginning in this issue, Wonder Woman trades he flared, high-top boots for high-strapped sandals. There is also a 3 page back-up story in this issue by Frank Frazetta.

My stunning copy of All Star Comics #50 came from Steve Zuvich of New York in 2019. I paid $1,600 for it.

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

This is a really interesting era for DC comics. The superheros aren't selling well and the stand alone titles are dying out or will be dying with the exception of the Big 3. Lots of new genres are being introduced to boost sales. The silver age is only five years away and there will be some really interesting experimentation before that. Titles like the Big Town, Phantom Stranger, Danger Trail and Mystery in Space come to mind. Television is becoming a big medium and Superman will hit the screen which must have helped sales of the Superman books! I wonder if anyone was looking back longingly on the Golden Age as this new era slowly came into focus?

[Ghastly542454]

37 minutes ago, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said:

This is a really interesting era for DC comics. The superheros aren't selling well and the stand alone titles are dying out or will be dying with the exception of the Big 3. Lots of new genres are being introduced to boost sales. The silver age is only five years away and there will be some really interesting experimentation before that. Titles like the Big Town, Phantom Stranger, Danger Trail and Mystery in Space come to mind. Television is becoming a big medium and Superman will hit the screen which must have helped sales of the Superman books! I wonder if anyone was looking back longingly on the Golden Age as this new era slowly came into focus?

Roy Thomas had a subscription to All Star Comics and relates how upset he was when he received All Star Western #58!!😢😩

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

12 minutes ago, Ghastly542454 said:

Roy Thomas had a subscription to All Star Comics and relates how upset he was when he received All Star Western #58!!😢😩

I was buying all the DC's off the stands from 1972 until 1982. There was the great disruption known as the DC implosion in the middle of that period but prior to that there was a slew of interesting books; many not well appreciated. Warlord, Shade, Ragman, Black Lightning to name a few. It was a fun time to be a DC fan. Times of change are always interesting.

Edited July 24, 2020 by 50YrsCollctngCmcs