Data courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under Creative Commons license.

Issue Details

Issue #24
Published Spring 1945
Cover Price 0.10
Pages 52
Editing Sheldon Mayer
Notes This issue carries the All-American instead of DC cover bullet. Scripter Gardner Fox reports writing this issue's story in August of 1944 under the title, "The Story of Germany," and in the slot reserved for #30 [and after the actual issue numbers #25 and #26]....but the story, no doubt, was pushed ahead due to the fact that the war was winding down. All story synopses and notes added by Craig Delich (Dec. 2005).

Cover Details - "This Is Our Enemy!"

Characters Flash [Jay Garrick]; Wonder Woman [Earth-2]; Mr. Terrific; Hawkman [Carter Hall]; Wildcat [Ted Grant]; Johnny Thunder [Earth-2]; Green Lantern [Alan Scott]; Dr. Mid-Nite; Atom [Al Pratt] (all as the Justice Society of America/JSA)
Genre superhero
Pencils Joe Gallagher
Inks Joe Gallagher
Notes This issue carries the All-American instead of DC cover bullet. Scripter Gardner Fox reports writing this issue's story in August of 1944 under the title, "The Story of Germany," and in the slot reserved for #30 [and after the actual issue numbers #25 and #26]....but the story, no doubt, was pushed ahead due to the fact that the war was winding down. All story synopses and notes added by Craig Delich (Dec. 2005).
Reprinted in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #6

5 page Justice Society of America story "This Is Our Enemy! [introduction]"

Characters Hawkman [Carter Hall]; Wonder Woman [Earth-2]; Flash [Jay Garrick]; Green Lantern [Alan Scott]; Johnny Thunder [Earth-2]; Atom [Al Pratt]; Dr. Mid-Nite; Wildcat [Ted Grant]; Mr. Terrific (all as the Justice Society of America/JSA); Adolf Hitler; Conscience [2nd & last appearance].
Synopsis As the JSA meeting begins, a knock on the door brings the Flash and Green Lantern into the room, where they meet Wildcat and Mr. Terrific. They are told by Wonder Woman of the Justice Society's latest case, which will make them so proud that they will want to become active mebers again. It begins when Carter Hall was brought a young man named Dick Amber who was refusing to go into the armed forces because he didn't see Germany as a problem for this nation. He is brought to JSA HQ and told by various members the history of the German people and their attitude toward peace. But this doesn't sway Amber's opinions....until the Conscience of Man is re-awakened and appears at the meeting. To allow Dick to make up his own mind, she is going to send him back in various time eras of Germany to see what the situation is like, and that each JSA member would accompany him to protect Dick from any harm, but not be allowed to directly influence his thoughts.
Genre superhero
Script Gardner Fox
Pencils Martin Naydel
Inks Martin Naydel
Notes The head views on the splash page were drawn by: Hawkman [by Everett Hibbard], Wonder Woman [by Harry Peter], Flash [by Lou Ferstadt], Green Lantern [by Howard Purcell], Johnny Thunder [by Everett Hibbard], Atom [by Ben Flinton], Dr. Mid-Nite [by Stan Aschmeier], Wildcat [by Irwin Hasen], and Mr. Terrific [by Stan Aschmeier]. Flash and Green Lantern are invited back to the JSA as fighting members at the end of this issue. Wildcat and Mr. Terrific were called in by Chairman Hawkman to work on this one case only.
Reprinted in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #6

6 page Hawkman story "This Is Our Enemy! [chapter 1]"

Characters Hawkman [Carter Hall]; Mr. Terrific (cameo)
Synopsis Back to the year 1410 goes young Dick Amber and the Hawkman, where Dick is a member of the Teutonic Knights named Reinhard. Reinhard discovers a maid in trouble and goes to her defense, a fact that puzzles her since she is Polish, race hated by the German people. He explains to her that the Knights simply spread the culture of his people....the "right" culture. Later, he goes out on a mission, but it ends with the slaughter of helpless people, a fact that begins to disgust him, and he voices the fact to others in his company....who now call him traitor! Since his own people won't listen to reason, he goes to the Poles....is taken prisoner, but the young lass he saved now saves him. He then teaches the Poles how to use the longbow to break the charges of the Knights, and the battle is won [with a little help of the Featered Fury!].....then Dick is pulled into another era by Mr. Terrific, where Amber will now be known as Manfred von Klug.
Genre superhero
Script Gardner Fox
Pencils Joe Kubert (signed)
Inks Joe Kubert (signed)
Reprinted in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #6

1 page Wonder Woman public service announcement "Wonder Woman Explains Waste Paper Salvage"

Characters Wonder Woman [Earth-2]; Hippolyta
Synopsis The Queen Mother, having noted strange things in her Magoc Sphere, asks her daughter about why Americans are trying to conserve paper. Diana explains that the Americans use paper to pack rations, cartridges and shells in it, use it to line their shoes, being used to make bomb bands, practice bombs wing tips, parachute flares, airplane signals and other essentials for war. Wonder Woman then repeats the need for all boys and girls to also collect and turn in all waste paper themselves in this effort.
Genre superhero
Pencils Harry G. Peter
Inks Harry G. Peter
Reprinted in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #6

5 page Mr. Terrific story "This Is Our Enemy! [chapter 2]"

Characters Mr. Terrific; Dr. Mid-Nite (cameo)
Synopsis Back goes Dick Amber to 1725, now as a young child, into the playroom of his cousin, Crown Prince Frederick. As they play, Frederick tells Manfred that, one day, he will rule the world! The years pass and now, in 1740, Prince Frederick becomes Emperor Frederick II, and Manfred the trainer of his armies. The Emperor announces that he will convince the German people that other nations are plotting against Germany, giving the Emperor the right to crush them and take them over. Manfred voices his converns to his wife Elva, but goes ahead with the plans of the Emperor. The years pass and Manfred is now a General....but, as a father and realizing that his son will be going to war, decides that he will no longer follow the Emperor's mad schemes. But his wife, Elva, has betrayed her husband to the Emperor....fortunately, Mr. Terrific lends a hand mopping up the Emperor's hit squad just before Dr. Mid-Nite shows up to take Dick Amber to yet another era of Germany's history.
Genre superhero
Script Gardner Fox
Pencils Stan Aschmeier [as Stan Josephs] (signed)
Inks Stan Aschmeier [as Stan Josephs] (signed)
Reprinted in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #6

1 page filler "Flying Colors"

Genre fact
Script John M. Jenks
Pencils John M. Jenks
Inks John M. Jenks

5 page Dr. Mid-Nite story "This Is Our Enemy! [chapter 3]"

Characters Dr. Mid-Nite; Atom [Al Pratt] (cameo)
Synopsis It is now 1824 and Dick Amber has become Wilhelm von Shurtleff, who is attending the Prussian War Academy, learning to become an officer. He is re-introduced to Fritz Underwurtz in dueling class, who thinks that obtaining a dueling scar is the true mark of a Prussian officer. A young lad Wilhelm finds there is sobbing because he doessn't have a scar as yet and Wilhelm wonders if something is wrong with a German who glories in the disfigurement of someone. Later, at the academy ball, Wilhelm is teased for not having a scar, and it leads not only to a disagreement, but also to the young lad committing suicide. He thinks that enough is enough and challenges Fritz to a duel, and he does so well that Fritz calls for help before Dr. Mid-Nite intervenes to protect young Dick Amber, and before the Atom appears to whisk him away to yet another era, where he becomes Helmut von Conrad.
Genre superhero
Script Gardner Fox
Pencils Stan Aschmeier
Inks Stan Aschmeier
Reprinted in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #6

5 page Atom story "This Is Our Enemy! [chapter 4]"

Characters Atom [Al Pratt]; Wildcat [Ted Grant] (cameo)
Synopsis Dick Amber now appears in the year 1872 in Prussia as Helmut and finds himself holding a gun on Otto von Bismarck, calling him a liar and a cheat. He reminds von Bismarck that, back at the war academy, he made him his official aide, and studied hard, believing the stories he was told about France's treachery towards Germany. He fought well, eventually being appointed to an ambassadorship. Now privy to state secrets, Helmut learns that the supposed treachery was a lie and calls Bismarck on it, who yells for help. The Atom helps overcome the danger to Dick Amber, who now realizes that, if Germany continues on this course, the world will one day rise up against her. Then.....Wildcat shows up to take Dick Amber on to his next rendevouz, as Franz Unger.
Genre superhero
Script Gardner Fox
Pencils Joe Gallagher
Inks Joe Gallagher
Reprinted in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #6

1 page filler "Flying Colors"

Script John M. Jenks
Pencils John M. Jenks
Inks John M. Jenks

2 page text story "Glider Plight"

Characters Ben Boyd
Synopsis Air Scout Ben Boyd was at the controls of the Silver Swallow, which was flying from Colorado [where it had taken off from Pike's Peak] to the wheat fields near Eureka, Kansas. If he made it, it would set a U.S. record for flight! Suffering through many weather-related crises, he finally made it to the Ferris Mountains....some 275 miles from Pike's Peak. Not to Eureka, as he hoped, but still setting the record he was after!
Genre aviation; adventure
Script Jay Marr (signed)
Letters typeset
Reprinted in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #6

5 page Wildcat story "This Is Our Enemy! [chapter 5]"

Characters Wildcat [Ted Grant]; Johnny Thunder [Earth-2] (cameo)
Synopsis Arriving in the Germany of 1896, bewildered young Franz Unger is standing in his private chemistry laboratory. He studies chemistry because his fanatical father forces him to and he wants his son to become an officer in the chemical division of the German Army. Outside the Unger house, a man is frantically crawling with his last bit of strength towards it, while inside his father is telling about an escaped political prisoner...a man who dared to disagree with the sacred principles of the Pan-Germanic League. When the young Unger tells his father that the man has a right to his opinion, his father slaps him and berates him. Back in his lab, Franz spots the man outside and decides to trick his father before he can kill this man....the escaped prisoner. Franz says that he will kill the man himself if his father will give him a letter of permission to do so, so this act will not be considered murder. Franz hands him a pen, his father writes the letter, then asks his son to take the man away to somewhere else before he kills him. The prisoner is surprised to learn than the letter was written in invisible ink and that he is being freed. However, Wildcat notices that Franz's father has sent men out to follow his son, and so he takes care of the problem before they can harm young Dick Amber, who Johnny Thunder now takes away to the final era in Germany history, where Amber is known as Karl Wertz.
Genre superhero
Script Gardner Fox
Pencils Joe Gallagher
Inks Joe Gallagher
Reprinted in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #6

1 page promo (ad from the publisher) "Join the Junior Justice Society of America"

Characters Membership certificate with head-views of Wonder Woman, Sandman, Green Lantern, Flash, Johnny Thunder, Dr. Mid-Nite, Atom and Hawkman.
Synopsis Ad for readers to join the JJSA.
Pencils various
Inks various
Notes Sequence added by Craig Delich (Dec. 2005). Oddity: even though All-Star was now published by the All-American Comics group, Sandman [a DC property] is still shown on the JJSA certificate.
Reprinted in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #6

5 page Johnny Thunder story "This Is Our Enemy! [chapter 6]"

Characters Johnny Thunder [Earth-2]
Synopsis Young Karl Wertz [Dick Amber] now appears with Johnny in the Berlin of 1923, where he suudenly remembers that he is a veteran of WW I and was an aviator that slaughtered people without mercy....and now the Nazis are already talking about the next war. Hearing this, the German Police begin shooting at him, and he flees....right into the arms of a friend, August. Just then, Johnny appears in a cloud of smoke and tells them both what a rat Hitler is. Two weeks later, August takes Karl to a German razor factory, which is secretly turning out weapons of war for the Nazis, which stuns Karl. As they leaving the factory, German Police spot the two....Karl is taken, but August escapes. Later, August holds a gun on Karl, asking if he talked to the Police and let them know about the factory and what the Nazis are up to. Karl says no, but is told by August that the Fuhrer deems it necessary to eliminate him anyway, fearing Karl will spill the beans. Johnny and the Thunderbolt show up and make quick work of August and his thugs, then Johnny escorts Dick Amber back to the present time at JSA HQ.
Genre superhero; humor
Script Gardner Fox
Pencils Stan Aschmeier
Inks Stan Aschmeier
Reprinted in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #6

3 page Justice Society of America story "This Is Our Enemy! [conclusion]"

Characters Hawkman [Carter Hall]; Mr. Terrific; Johnny Thunder [Earth-2]; Wildcat [Ted Grant]; Dr. Mid-Nite; Atom [Al Pratt]; Flash [Jay Garrick]; Green Lantern [Alan Scott]; Wonder Woman [Earth-2] (cameo) (all as the Justice Society of America/JSA); Conscience
Synopsis Conscience asks Dick was his views are now after all of his experiences, and he tells her [and the JSA] that he has finally learned the truth about German war-mongering, and that it must be stopped for the good of the world! He vows he will go into the U.S. Army and fight to end that madness, once and for all. Before leaving the JSA members, Conscience tells the members that they have a responsibility to now inform the world of the truth learned by Dick Amber. And their solution is the "Formula for a Lasting Peace," which 1)states that the Germans have a proven track record of leading their people into senseless wars; 2) that the world must firmly convince Germany and other aggressor nations that it will no longer tolerate such wars; 3) that Germany must be completely re-educated so that its youth will grow up respecting and helping other nations...peacefully; and 4) that a World Organization of Peace be established to guarantee the above. It was signed by all the regular members of the JSA and Wonder Woman, Secretary.
Genre superhero
Script Gardner Fox
Pencils Martin Naydel
Inks Martin Naydel
Reprinted in All Star Comics Archives (DC, 1991 series) #6