All-Star Comics #58
All-Star Comics #58 ended a nearly 25-year absence of the Justice Society of America from their own title, resuming the original series numbering exactly where it had left off in 1951 and treating the All-Star Western interlude as if it had never happened. More consequentially, the issue delivers the first appearance of Power Girl — Kara Zor-L, the Earth-Two Kryptonian cousin of Superman — who became one of DC's most enduring Bronze Age creations and remains an active character today. The issue also introduced the 'Super Squad' concept, a deliberate generational bridge that placed younger heroes alongside the aging JSA veterans, a storytelling model that would shape DC's Earth-Two line for years and directly inspired later team books like Infinity Inc. Its creative DNA — the tension between old guard and new blood — proved so generative that writers and editors returned to it across every subsequent JSA revival.
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Writer-editor Gerry Conway, then just 23 years old, arrived at DC from Marvel and championed a full JSA revival after longtime fan Roy Thomas (under exclusive contract to Marvel) suggested the idea but had to decline Conway's offer to ghostwrite the debut. Conway scripted the issue and served as his own editor, with Paul Levitz as assistant editor; pencils were handled by Ric Estrada and finished by the powerful inks of Wally Wood. Conway's original plan was to call the young-heroes sub-team the 'All-Star Squadron,' but DC management objected to the acronym, which is how the group was renamed the 'Super Squad' before publication. The issue was placed on sale in October 1975 (cover-dated January/February 1976), and advance copies were mailed to select individuals — which is why the letters column already contained responses from prominent fans Roy Thomas and Jerry Bails at launch.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Power Girl (Kara Zor-L / Karen Starr), the Earth-Two Kryptonian cousin of Superman, co-created by writer Gerry Conway and inker Wally Wood.
- Revived the All-Star Comics title after a roughly 25-year hiatus, picking up the numbering at #58 and deliberately ignoring the intervening All-Star Western run (issues #58–119 of that series).
- Story titled 'All Star Super Squad,' scripted by Gerry Conway with pencils by Ric Estrada and inks by Wally Wood; cover painted by Mike Grell.
- Power Girl coins the name 'Super Squad' in this issue to describe the JSA's new younger recruits — herself, Robin (Dick Grayson of Earth-Two), and the Star-Spangled Kid (Sylvester Pemberton).
- The Star-Spangled Kid appears here wielding Starman's Cosmic Rod (Starman is sidelined with a broken leg); the full circumstances of that injury would not be revealed until Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #9 decades later.
- The villain behind the issue's global-disaster plot is Brain Wave (Henry King), whose redesigned appearance in this issue closely anticipates the look later worn by his son, Brain Wave Jr.
- Advance copies mailed before the on-sale date (October 9, 1975) allowed the debut letters column to feature contributions from JSA champions Roy Thomas and Jerry Bails.
- The issue has been reprinted in DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #3 (1980), Justice Society Vol. 1 (2006 trade paperback), Showcase Presents: All-Star Comics Vol. 1 (2011), and All-Star Comics: Only Legends Live Forever (2019 hardcover).
Cast · 28 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Hovering above the Earth in a space station, Brain Wave plans on destroying not only his nemesis, the Justice Society, but the world itself. He sends the JSA an anonymous computer message that alerts them to imminent disasters that are to befall three cities. Teams are dispatched to the three cities where in each they find the disaster being combatted by either the Star-Spangled Kid, Robin, or Power Girl. Power Girl suggests the JSA and the three new heroes form a new group - the Super-Squad. She also reveals that the villain they are fighting is none other than Brain Wave.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).