Justice League of America #193
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeJustice League of America #193 is genuinely one of the most content-dense single issues of the Bronze Age, doing double duty as both a key Red Tornado mythology issue and the debut vehicle for an entire new DC series. The lead story resolves a long-running mystery about Red Tornado's true nature — revealing the Tornado Champion as the alien life-force inside the android — in a way that retconned years of established continuity and planted a secret that Firestorm alone would carry forward. Tucked inside the same cover, a 16-page free insert introduced the All-Star Squadron, the World War II team that would run for 67 issues and become Roy Thomas's most sustained and celebrated attempt to canonize DC's Golden Age, setting the stage for the entire JLA/JSA/All-Star Squadron three-way crossover that followed. The issue also marks the first appearance of Danette Reilly, the woman who would become the second Firebrand, and serves as one of the earliest major professional outings for inker Jerry Ordway, who would go on to define DC's visual identity through the decade.
In "Secret of Genesis," the Justice League tracks T. O. Morrow to uncover the truth behind Red Tornado’s disappearance, only to face the Tornado Tyrant—now a foe from their past. With the League disabled, Firestorm discovers a startling connection between the reformed Tyrant and Red Tornado’s origin, leading to a secret re-merging that changes everything.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The lead story, 'Secret of Genesis,' was written by Gerry Conway with George Pérez providing breakdowns and John Beatty finishing the art, all under editor Len Wein with Mike W. Barr as associate editor. The 16-page All-Star Squadron preview insert — physically bound between pages 12 and 13 of the main story — was written by Roy Thomas, penciled by Rich Buckler, and inked by a then-newcomer Jerry Ordway, whose work on this insert was his first ongoing assignment at DC; production accounts note that some of Buckler's penciled pages for the related All-Star Squadron #1 were lost in transit, forcing Ordway to ink photocopies on vellum. Thomas conceived All-Star Squadron after DC gave him an opening to revisit the Justice Society, and he deliberately set the series in 1941 rather than the modern era, using the Pearl Harbor attack as the story's ignition point.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of the All-Star Squadron as a team: the 16-page insert previewing their series debuts here, set on the night of December 6–7, 1941, and leads directly into All-Star Squadron #1 (September 1981).
- First appearance of Danette Reilly, who will become the second Firebrand; she appears in the All-Star Squadron preview alongside her brother Rod Reilly, the original Firebrand.
- Retcons Red Tornado's origin: Firestorm learns from the Tornado Champion that the alien entity — not T.O. Morrow's engineering alone — was the true life-force of the android, a secret kept from the rest of the JLA and not fully revealed until Justice League of America Annual #3 (1985).
- The cover is by George Pérez; the lead story's interior art is Pérez breakdowns finished by John Beatty — part of Pérez's celebrated early-1980s JLA run.
- The All-Star Squadron preview is written by Roy Thomas and illustrated by Rich Buckler (pencils) and Jerry Ordway (inks), marking one of Ordway's earliest major DC assignments.
- The preview's charity foot race between Golden Age Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern is Thomas's in-story explanation for the famous cover image of All Star Comics / Comic Cavalcade #1, which depicted that race without any story to account for it.
- Villains in the All-Star Squadron preview — including Solomon Grundy, Sky Pirate, and Wotan — are present due to Per Degaton's time-travel, allowing Thomas to feature characters who had not yet made their real-world debut in 1941 in-story.
- The 'Secret of Genesis' lead story was reprinted in DC Comics Classics Library: Justice League of America by George Pérez Vol. 1 (2009 hardcover); the All-Star Squadron preview was reprinted in Showcase Presents: All-Star Squadron Vol. 1 and Justice Society of America: A Celebration of 75 Years.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Gerechtigkeitsliga #18 (1982), Gigant #2/1983 (1983), La Ligue de Justice #6 (1983), Red Tornado #[nn] (1983), Superamigos #11 (1986), DC Comics Classics Library: Justice League of America by George Perez #1 (2009), Showcase Presents: All-Star Squadron #1 (2012), Justice Society of America: A Celebration of 75 Years #[nn] (2015), Batman #1204
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