Today, we look at when the Justice League first lost a member.

In Comic Book Questions Answered, I answer whatever questions you folks might have about comic books (feel free to e-mail questions to me at brianc@cbr.com).

Reader Stephen M. wrote in a while back to ask, "Who was the first member of the Justice league to leave the team? (Not counting Superman and Batman here as they weren’t really treated as real members, as you have mentioned many times) Was that character replaced by another character joining the team?"

Let's take a look, Stephen!

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SUPERMAN AND BATMAN AS THE MARSHAL MATT DILLON OF THE JUSTICE LEAGUE

Stephen specifically referenced some earlier columns of mine where I've discussed the treatment of Superman and Batman in the original Justice League of America. You see, DC used to have a series called Showcase which was split amongst its main editors at the time, with each guy having to come up with a new project that would debut in Showcase and, if it did well, would graduate to its own title. It was literally a "showcase" for characters. Famously, the fourth issue (during Julius Schwartz turn as editor) saw the introduction of Barry Allen, the new Flash, and that kickstarted a whole new era of superheroes at DC under Schwartz's direction. DC had another series called Brave and the Bold that told non-superhero hero stories that the company decided to change to make it a second tryout series, with the same concept (alternating editors would try out new ideas). In the first issue of Brave and the Bold under Schwartz's auspices, he introduced the Justice League of America (by writer Gardner Fox and artists Mike Sekowsky and Bernard Sachs) in Brave and the Bold #28.

The issue is that back in 1960, the DC editorial staff, outside of the shared books like Showcase and Brave and the Bold, were very protective of their characters, especially the two main stars of DC Comics, Superman (edited by Mort Weisinger) and Batman (edited by Jack Schiff). Weisinger and Schiff allowed "their" two heroes to join the Justice League, but under the understanding that they would not be heavily involved in the series.

Hence in that first Justice League of America adventure in Brave and the Bold #28, Superman is busy fighting meteors...

and Batman is busy on another case...

So they don't help the other heroes of the Justice League (Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman and Martian Manhunter) fight against Starro, only showing up at the end to welcome Snapper Carr as an honorary member of the Justice League.

Similarly, when Fox, Sekowsky and Sachs revealed the origin of the Justice League in Justice League of America #9, the other five members form their own makeshift team together, but then run into Batman and Superman fighting off villains separately...

And then they all officially formed the Justice League together...

So that was what Stephen was referencing, the fact that Superman and Batman would often not get involved in the main story, with the other five heroes being the "main" Justice League. I once did a piece showing all of the various ways that Gardner Fox came up with to explain why Superman couldn't help out the Justice League in the early stories (as otherwise, presumably he'd just save the day himself each time)

However, they would still always make an appearance, though. It was very much like how Marshal Matt Dillon was treated on Gunsmoke. That series lasted 20 seasons, but especially the last eight or so mostly involved spotlights on the various denizens of Dodge City, the city that Dillon was a Marshal for in Kansas (and often, Dillon's deputy, Festus Haggen, would star in the stories in Dillon's place). The thing was, no matter how small of a role he had in the overall story (famously, a number of stories would bring Dillon in as the Deus Ex Machina at the end, shooting the bad guys and resolving the story), Dillon appeared in every single episode of Gunsmoke. Similarly, then, no matter how little of an impact they had on the story, Batman and Superman WOULD make appearances.

Although, as the membership of the team expanded (with Green Arrow, Atom and Hawkman joining the team), heroes would be more and more sporadic no-shows in the book, but rarely missing for more than an issue or two.

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MARTIAN MANHUNTER GOES MISSING

When the Justice League debuted, the seven heroes were in the editorial control of Mort Weisinger (Superman and Aquaman), Jack Schiff (Batman and Martian Manhunter), Robert Kanigher (Wonder Woman) and Julius Schwartz himself (Green Lantern and the Flash). By the mid-1960s, Schwartz had also taken over Batman from Schiff, with Schiff then moving over to House of Mystery and taking Martian Manhunter with him. Aquaman had his own series by that point, edited by former Schiff assistant, George Kashdan. So during the mid-1960s, Martian Manhunter was the hero who was the most distant from Schwartz, editorially, and as a result (or perhaps just due to Gardner Fox not being a fan of the character), when heroes stopped all showing up in every issue, the Martian Manhunter was the main example of a hero going missing. After Justice League of America #41, the Manhunter missed issues #42-43, 45-49, 51, 53, 55-58 and then, after appearing in #61...

he was missing the next TEN Issues! So really, Martian Manhunter was kind of sort of off the team by that point without officially being off of the team.

Because of him only unofficially gone from the book, the first hero to OFFICIALLY leave the team was Wonder Woman in Justice League of America #69 (by then-new writer, Denny O'Neil and artists Dick Dillin and Sid Greene), as that was the time period during which Wonder Woman had lost her powers...

Then, two issues later (by O'Neil, Dillin and Greene), Martian Manhuner returned to the series after ten issues off to then just get written out of the book officially...

So the answer is technically Wonder Woman, but Martian Manhunter is kind of the answer, as well.

Thanks for the question, Stephen! If anyone else has a comic book question, feel free to drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com.

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