Secret Origin is one of those phrases that makes fanboys titter with glee. You get to discover the beginning of things. How did this character get those powers? that costume? that hair? Origin stories are constantly revisited, revised, and revamped. So, I take the approach that any Secret Origin story is never going to tell us everything we need to know and there is plenty of room for a comics creator to come in later and change things.

In the case of the Justice League of America, the origin of the team is rather simple and if you have seen any 1950-1960s sci-fi the plot will sound oddly familiar.

Seven asteroids crash on Earth. Inside each asteroid is a monster, an alien overlord just waiting to take over the Earth. The creature bursts from its meteor shell and begins to turn the surrounding inhabitants into duplicates of itself to act as soldiers in it’s quest to destroy the other asteroid overlords that are using Earth as a battleground.

Meteors land in Denver, the Indian Ocean, Paradise Island, the African Savannah, the Lombardy Plain in Italy, the Everglades, and Antarctica.

The Martian Manhunter met and defeated the Rock God in Denver. Aquaman handled the Glass Golem in the Indian Ocean. Wonder Woman defended Paradise Island from the Mercury Monster. Green Lantern managed a win against the Golden Roc. Flash outpaced the Fire Lord in Italy.

The five heroes independently show up at the American Everglades to defeat the next monster. In all the previous instances the radiation that turned the locals into duplicate soldiers was emitted by the alien itself, but the Wood King inside this meteor had thought ahead and he programmed his meteor to exude this radiation as well, surprising our heroes, they turned into wooden creatures sprouting roots, limbs and leaves.

Using team work and their powers they managed to free themselves from the Wood King’s influence. Aquaman slammed his hand into Green Lantern’s exposing his power ring. GL used his ring to free the Martian Manhunter’s head from the wood. Manhunter used his breath to blow Flash so that he would knock Wonder Woman into the path of Green Lantern’s ring. This freed Diana and her golden lasso, which soon made splinters out of the Wood King.

Once the five heroes were completely freed of the wood prisons they went in search of the last meteor. In Antarctica, Superman and Batman were already fighting the seventh alien. Superman had succumbed to the radiation of the meteor which was made out of Green Kryptonite. Batman managed to lasso the meteor with his Batplane to get the fatal radiation away from Superman, who once recovered turned the Crystal Creature into coal.

The seven heroes unite and discuss what occurred and decide to band together to handle threats that they each cannot battle on their own. They become the Justice League of America. They bury the remnants of the Appellax meteors where they landed, keeping one in a lead case as a souvenir of their first case.

The Appelaxian invaders are defeated. Job well done Justice League! Or was it?

For issue #200, the Appellaxians make a big come back and the Justice League is a League divided.

First off though, some people who are NOT fictional that you need to know.

Writer – Gerry Conway

Artists – Jim Aparo, Terry Austin, Brian Bolland, Brett Breeding, Pat Broderick, Frank Giacoia, Dick Giordano, Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, Joe Kubert, and George Perez.

Colorist – Carl Gafford

Letterer – John Costanza

Technical Advisor – Roy Thomas

Editor – Len Wein

These are the real men behind this book that we are spending a lot of time talking about so they deserve the credit for the work here. I know they may not mean something to the comics novice out there, but trust when I say, these are some of the most talented people to work in comics at this point in the medium and their work influences talent to this day. We’ll get more indepth on them later, but for now, credit where credit is due.

When next we meet, it will be because the Justice League has been divided… It will be the Old Guard vs. the Rookies. Who will win? Who will lose?