Posted By Dan Greenfield on Nov 22, 2025 | 11 comments

AN ANNIVERSARY SPOTLIGHT: One of comics’ most important issues was released Nov. 22, 1940…

By PETER BOSCH

It was 85 years ago, on November 22, 1940, that All-Star Comics #3 (Winter 1940) was published, just one issue away from the first time the Justice Society of America worked as a team to bring down the forces of villainy. For the time being, though, this issue laid the groundwork. It was a momentous occasion, DC’s mightiest heroes – well, those that weren’t Superman, Batman, and Robin – gathered together.

All-Star Comics #3 (Winter 1940). Art by E.E. Hibbard.

So, sit back and let me tell you 13 things about that meeting of the very first superhero team in comic book history.

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1. It all began with Johnny Thunder accidentally using his Cei-U Thunderbolt to crash the JSA meeting at a hotel (no dingy cave for them). Scribe Gardner Fox and artist E.E. Hibbard started off the comic’s round robin of talent with these four pages. And, as you see below, it was Johnny who put forth the suggestion of each hero there telling of their “most exciting adventure.”

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2. First up to tell his tale was the Flash, using his speed in a most unusual place — underwater — in order to locate a sunken treasure in the quickest way possible to help out a friend of Joan Williams, while stopping a criminal gang (a term you are going to have to get used to in these summaries).

Writer: Gardner Fox. Artist: Hibbard.

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3. The Flash handed off the storytelling to Hawkman in a tale with Shiera Sanders (pre-Hawkgirl). His take involved a superstitious group of natives fearing supposed fire dwellers from inside a volcano. The Shelly Moldoff art was the most impressive in the book – what with it actually being a collection of lifted panels originally drawn by Alex Raymond for Flash Gordon and Hal Foster for Prince Valiant.

Writer: Fox. Artist: Shelly Moldoff.

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4. The Spectre was the next in line, with his story of a demon from the moon inhabiting a monstrous-looking statue whenever there was a night with a full moon, seeking one victim after another to kill.

Writer: Jerry Siegel. Artist: Bernard Baily.

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5. The Hourman told of a criminal gang (see, told you) impersonating him at a costume ball and robbing the patrons there. Luckily, Rex Tyler was already there in his real Hourman costume, and swallowed one of his power-inducing pills to take them on.

Writer: Ken Fitch. Artist: Baily.

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6. The Hourman was ready to turn the proceedings over to the Sandman (in his Green Hornet-imitation days) but they were interrupted by Ma Hunkel, the Red Tomato — er, the Red Tornado.

Writer and artist: Sheldon Mayer.

Ma was introduced back in All-American Comics #3 (June 1939) within the Scribbly feature (created, written, and drawn by Sheldon Mayer) as the mother of a new pal of Scribbly’s.

First appearance of Ma Hunkel in All-American Comics #3 (June 1939), written and drawn by Mayer.

In All-American Comics #20 (Nov. 1940), when two kids, including Ma Hunkel’s little girl, were kidnapped by a criminal gang (sigh), Scribbly told Ma and the rest of the group that if Green Lantern were here, he’d rush in and rescue them. Ma had never heard of him but was very interested when Scribbly said his real identity was unknown, so he didn’t worry about having to follow the guidelines of the law as the police do. At the end of the story, a peculiar and poorly-costumed character entered the fray, tantalizing the audience to buy the next issue to find out who he — er, she — was.

First appearance of the Red Tornado. All-American Comics #20 (Nov. 1940), written and drawn by Mayer.

By the way, don’t bother looking for Wonder Woman. It would be a year before Princess Diana would be making her comic book debut in All-Star Comics #8 (Dec. 1941-Jan. 1942) in a separate tale from the JSA adventure that issue. She would be welcomed into the JSA in #11 (June-July 1942)… as the group’s secretary.

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7. Anyway, let’s get back to the stories. The Sandman told a horror story of how he encountered menacing giant creatures that were later found to be large masses of flesh with smaller bones inside. Of course, a mad scientist was behind it all.

Writer: Fox. Artists: Hibbard (first panel) and Chad Grothkopf.

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8. Dr. Fate’s fateful story was about body possession by ancient spirits and magic.

Writer: Fox. Artists: Hibbard (first two panels) and Howard Sherman.

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9. Johnny Thunder’s tale was related in a two-page text story. A text feature was needed in comics in order to satisfy a rule that would allow them to be sent by the post office’s lower shipping rate of Second Class. (This was why letter columns were introduced.)

Writer: Evelyn Gaines. Spot illustration artist: Mayer.

Writer: Evelyn Gaines. Spot illustration artist: Mayer.

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10. The Atom was up and at ’em in his tale of a criminal gang out to heist millions in gold from a depository.

Writer: Bill O’Connor. Artist: Ben Flinton.

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11. Green Lantern finished up the accounts with a cliché story of a police commissioner being framed for bribery in order to rally public support around a strict law-and-order candidate for the job. No need to tell you who the secret boss was behind the criminal gang raging throughout the city.

Writer: Fox. Artists: Hibbard (first two panels) and Martin Nodell.

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12. However, just prior to GL going into his tale, a messenger showed up with a request from the head of the FBI. (J. Edgar Hoover was not named).

Writer: Fox. Artist: Hibbard.

Writer: Fox. Artist: Hibbard.

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13. If you think all of the above made a terrific issue — there were also DC character-related ads!

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So, dig out your copy of All-Star Comics #3 to re-read on its 85th anniversary. Oh, just in case you don’t have one, it’s been reprinted (sometimes without the above ads) in Famous First Edition #F-7 (June-July 1975), and subsequently in All-Star Comics Archives #1 (1992), as Millennium Edition: All-Star Comics No. 3 (June 2000), as a Facsimile Edition (in 2024), and most recently in DC Finest: Justice Society of America: For America and Democracy (2024).

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MORE

— 13 JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA Toys That Do Them Justice. Click here.

— JSA: YEAR ONE Kicks Off in November. Click here.

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13th Dimension contributor-at-large PETER BOSCH’s first book, American TV Comic Books: 1940s-1980s – From the Small Screen to the Printed Page, was published by TwoMorrows. (You can buy it here.) A sequel, American Movie Comic Books: 1930s-1970s — From the Silver Screen to the Printed Page, is out now. (Buy it here.) Peter has written articles and conducted celebrity interviews for various magazines and newspapers. He lives in Hollywood.