13 SUMMER SPLASH PAGES: The JUSTICE LEAGUE Meets the JUSTICE SOCIETY

You got the Silver…

Summer in the Silver and Bronze Ages meant all the usual things: swimming; running around until you were filthy, gross and disgusting; going to the amusement park; chasing the ice cream man; riding bikes; playing ball; and reveling in that sweet, sweet air conditioning, if you were so fortunate.

But for DC Comics fans, it meant more — the annual meeting of the Justice League of America and Justice Society of America, a Multiversal happening that began with 1963’s JLA #21 and ended with the yearlong Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985.

Mike Sekowsky pencils, Murphy Anderson inks

This summer I’ve been re-reading a bunch of these events, particularly those from the ’60s when the whole concept was still fresh, bright and new. And besides the stories themselves, a particularly cool aspect of these issues is that they featured especially groovy splash pages often adorned with — wait for it — FLOATING HEADS!

Given that it’s the beginning of July, dig these 13 SUMMER SPLASH PAGES: THE JUSTICE LEAGUE MEETS THE JUSTICE SOCIETY in the Silver Age.

(One note though: Not all the opening splash pages of these stories were that special, so I’ve substituted a selection of interior splashes to round out the gallery.)

Dig it.

Issue #21. Written by Gardner Fox. Art by Mike Sekowsky and Bernard Sachs.

Issue #22. By Fox, Sekowsky and Sachs.

Issue #29. Fox, Sekowsky, Sachs.

Issue #30. Fox, Sekowsky, Sachs.

Issue #37. Fox, Sekowsky, Sachs.

Issue #38. Fox, Sekowsky, Sachs.

Issue #46. Fox, Sekowsky, Sid Greene.

Issue #47. Fox, Sekowsky, Greene.

Issue #55. Fox, Sekowsky, Greene.

Issue #56. Fox, Sekowsky, Greene.

Issue #64. Fox, Dick Dillin, Greene.

Issue #65. Fox, Dillin, Greene.

Issue #73. Denny O’Neil, Dillin, Greene.

MORE

— PAUL KUPPERBERG: My 13 Favorite DICK DILLIN JLA-JSA Crossover Stories. Click here.

— PAUL KUPPERBERG: My 13 Favorite MIKE SEKOWSKY Comics. Click here.

Author: Dan Greenfield

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6 Comments

  1. Snap! Snap! Look at those splash pages! Now that defines summer and, wow, lots of Sid Greene inks which warm my heart when I need to cool down! Plus the Earth-Two Robin, to boot! And I’ve always loved that roll call of page Dr. Fate, Flash, Starman, Black Canary and Hourman!

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  2. I was so excited when I read JLA #21. I was already enjoying the current super-heroes but now there were all these Golden Age ones, as well.

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  3. My day has been done so much justice with this latest post. Thank you so very much for it.

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  4. Mike Sekowsky was such a wonky artist, but I’ve grown to really love his work over the years (at least when inked by Bernard Sachs; Sid Greene was a terrible inker (almost as bad a Vince Colletta) who just over-rendered and completely over-powered the pencils).

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  5. These are nice inks. Generic comic book stuff, well done. But, Daniel, you are comparing these pages favorably to Kirby and Colletta Thors? To early Colletta romance art? A silly reply that required no mention of Vince Colletta.

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