Junior JSA: The Golden Age Teen Titans

Decades before the formation of the second generation of young heroes, following in the the fabled footsteps of their mentors the Justice League, another team of terrific teens did the same by modeling themselves after the Justice Society of America. While not as colorful as the Teen Titans of Earth-One*, the Junior Justice Society of Earth-Two were just as courageous! These lads and lasses fearlessly faced supervillains and criminal gangs, lacking powers, with only teamwork and tenacity to triumph over terrible tyrants!

When they first appeared, there were reportedly “thousands” of Junior JSA across America. Alongside their role models, Junior members Eddie Brackus, Ted Worth, and others helped the adult Society combat Adolph Hitler’s spy network. These youths returned to help capture the Wizard, who was then leading the first incarnation of the Injustice Gang of the World. Shortly after this, Don Brent and his Junior teammates supported the Justice Society's efforts to combat the Crimson Claw Gang, which had Don's brother Chick as one of its members. On all three adventures, Tommy "Little Boy Blue" Rogers and his "Blue Boys" pals Toughy and Tubby, as well as a young Christopher "Vulcan" Pike and the "Cyclone Kids" Dinky and Sisty were active Junior JSAers (pictured in civilian clothes versus the Wizard and meeting at their club room)!

Junior members also aided individual Society members during their solo adventures. For example, a lad named Bob assisted the Flash in escaping a trap set by his foe the Turtle. Later, Junior JSAers Bill Townley and Mary Ames accompanied Wonder Woman as she was confronting the Duke of Deception with his invading Martian forces.

Over on Earth-One, the Teen Titans were supported in their crimefighting endeavors by adventurous adolescents. Student Chet Walters joined the Teen Titans when they first fought the Aliens of Dimension X. Teenage protestor Chuck along with his big brother David, aka the costumed crusader Joshua, joined forces with the Titans in combatting those aliens.  The Teen Titans, like the Junior JSA, briefly operated only in their civilian identities. Under the tutelage of Mr. Jupiter, the Titans' Wally “Kid Flash” West, Donna “Wonder Girl” Troy, Roy “Speedy” Harper, Lilith and Mal “Hornblower” Duncan set aside their uniforms.

Years later, school students Alec and Shana aka the Whiz Kids, like Bill and Mary aided a grownup hero confronting a vile villain, when they joined forces with Justice Leaguer Superman in defeating Major Menace.  The Whiz Kids would also assist Superman's cousin Supergirl and his Justice League teammate in two other adventures, both times vs Lex Luthor!

The Earth-Two counterparts of Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Wonder Girl and Speedy never joined the Junior JSA. Earth-Two Robin, Johnny Quick, Speedy and Neptune Perkins were All-Star Squadron members. Additionally, Speedy was a charter member with his mentor Green Arrow of Law's Legionnaires (also known as the Seven Soldiers of Victory). Meanwhile, rather than being raised on Paradise Island after being saved by Wonder Woman, the orphaned Donna Troy of that world was saved by a firefighter, and in her late teen years was enrolled in Holliday College. She joined Etta Candy and the Holliday Girls as frequent collaborators in Wonder Woman's adventures, once gaining the powers and costume of the Amazing Amazon herself! Regardless, these lads and lasses were Junior JSA in spirit!

Sons of Fire Meet Teams of Justice

Many costumed crusaders aspire to be among the few invited to join their Worlds’ Greatest Superhero Teams. For two young men, Ronald Raymond and Christopher Pike, they too different paths to arrive at the same destination. And with different results.

Ronnie Raymond was a student athlete who fell in with the wrong crowd, a group of criminals masquerading as activists protesting a nuclear power plant designed by Professor Martin Stein. When their sabotage caused the plant’s reactor to explode, Raymond and Stein were merged together, transformed into Firestorm the Nuclear Man. His brief heroic career, with Martin becoming a mentor to Ronnie, led to a team-up with Superman of Earth-One and his recommendation of Firestorm for membership in the Justice League of America.

Chris Pike excelled in academics and scholarly pursuits, inspired by the heroic examples of his childhood heroes, the Justice Society of America. He first joined his mentor Rex “Hourman” Tyler’s Minute-Men of America, where he worked alongside that team of Earth-Two’ teen titans on several cases. When this team dissolved, Chris joined the Junior Justice Society of Earth-Two in their adventures combatting the Injustice Society and the Crimson Claw Gang. Then, tragedy transformed him into Vulcan, Son of Fire!

The experience of joining the Justice League helped mature Ronald, as he developed a self-sacrificing attitude towards his fellow man and became the true hero Firestorm. The experience of joining the Junior Justice Society sadly did not have a lasting effect on Christopher, as he developed a self-loathing for himself and a deep-seated resentment towards his heroes, whom he attacked as the villain Vulcan.

While Firestorm's tenure with the League only lasted for a couple years, before the team was disbanded and then reassembled with a smaller roster in Detroit by charter member Aquaman, the effect his former teammates had on the Nuclear Man was profound. Both Ronald and Martin formed a lasting friendship, developed from their physical bonding spawned by the reactor incident. Firestorm would face and defeat scores of supervillains with powers as great and some greater than his own, relying on the adaptability and instinctive nature of Raymond and the analytical and reasoning nature of Stein.

Since his own mentor Hourman distanced himself from Pike and his former Minute-Men allies, Christopher began relying too much on his own analytical abilities without humbly acknowledging his psychological limitations. When madness gripped him while aboard an experimental spacecraft orbiting the sun, Pike's mind snapped and he slayed his fellow astronauts, while disabling the vessel carrying them across the solar system. Due to the timely intervention of an alien observer saving Chris’ life, Pike was transformed into Vulcan. Instead of appreciating this act of kindness, Pike adopted the alias of Vulcan and became a foe of the Justice Society, later joining the Secret Society of Super-Villains!

Titanic Teen Teams: Alliterate Avengers Assemble

Earths One and Two had a plethora of superhero teams. While most of these consisted of adult costumed crusaders, there were a few second and third-generation heroes who likewise gathered together. Interestingly, the two more famous adolescent assembled avengers of both worlds had alliterate names, two word names each with the same starting letter. 

On Earth-One, the first of these was the Teen Titans, originally consisting of charter members Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad. Each was a sidekick to a member of the Justice League of America, eventually joined by two other sidekicks in Donna “Wonder Girl Troy and Speedy. Following this, te next four teammates were new heroes Mal Duncan, Lilith Clay, and brothers Hank "Hawk" Hall and Don "Dove" Hall. On Earth-Two, their four counterparts Tommy "Little Boy Blue" Rodger’s, Janie "Little Miss Redhead", and pals Toughy and Tommy who formed the Blue Boys who later joined the Junior Justice Society. As for the Earth-Two versions of Robin, Donna Troy and Speedy… these never joined the Blue Boys… although the lads were members of the All-Star Squadron while Donna was one of the Holiday Girls who aided Wonder Woman. The Titans later gained more members such as Bat-Girl, Gnaark, Bumblebee, Golden Eagle, Beast Boy and the Harlequin.

Eventually, two new teams took the place of the Teen Titans and Blue Boys, those being the Forever People of Earth-One and Infinity, Inc. of Earth-Two. The Forever People only had five members in Mark Moonrider, Beautiful Dream, Vykin the Black, Big Bear and Serafin. As for the sons and daughters of the Justice Society of America who formed Infinity, Inc. was far larger with founding members Silver Scarab, Fury, Northwind, Neblon, Star-Spangled Kid, Obsidian, Jade, Brainwave Junior as well as honorary members the Huntress and Power Girl. As with the Teen Titans, Infinity, Inc. would expand to include additional members such as Wildcat II, Hourman II and Doctor Midnight II... while being assisted behind-the-scenes by the Harlequin.

The Forever People briefly operated between the period when the Teen Titans first disbanded, then leaving Earth-One for good just prior to the Titans reforming. The Blue Boys were the predecessor to Infinity, Inc,, with the latter team still fighting together during the same period of time when the New Teen Titans began the third incarnation of that team.

Whiz Kids TRS-80… meet the Junior JSA-51!

The Justice League and Justice Society members had younger sidekicks, the Robins... Kid Flash and Golden Boy Sandy... Aqualad and Minute Man Jimmy... Etta and Donna the Wonder Girl. However, one such pair were ordinary youths, blonde haired boys and brunette haired girls, who aided the World's Greatest Heroes in some unbelieveable adventures. We introduce the TRS-80 Computer Whiz Kids Alec and Shanna... and the Junior Justice Society members Billy Towney and Mary Ames.

Alec and Shanna were a pair of invented kids attending Metropolis Elementary when they were challenged to use their classrooms Tandy Radio Shack TRS-80 computer to perform calculations in a competition versus the Earth-One Superman's super-brain when the hero visited their school. Due to the malevolent machinations of Major Disaster, Superman's mental abilities had been severely hampered, and so the Man of Steel enlisted the aid of the kids in helping him defeat the Major before his disasters had a detrimental effect on the city. 

Later, the Whiz Kids assisted Superman as well as his cousin Supergirl and his Justice League teammate Wonder Woman during their encounters with criminal mastermind Lex Luthor. They would appear once more several months later in another Superman tale.

Over on Earth-Two, Wonder Woman was hosting the visiting pair of Junior Justice Society kids Billy and Mary. Billy may have previously participated in some of the Junior JSAs adventures with the actual Justice Society of America, both when they battled the Injustice Society and later the Crimson Claw Gang. Mary would have been in the background for such tails, as girls at that time weren't encouraged to be active participants in the Junior JSA's cases.

While flying Billy and Mary over Washington D.C. on a siteseeing tour, they encountered an invasion of Martians using a gigantic wind-funnel to trap the city in a virtual bottle. Tracing this disturbance to its source on Mars, Wonder Woman and her two young allies were captured by the Martian's leader, the Duke of Deception (this was shortly after Wonder Woman dealt with another invasion, from the Sargossa Sea led by Major Disaster's counterpart Master De Stroyer). However, when approaching his electron-x switchboard which was directing missles towards Earth-Two, Mary and Billy jump out of reach and cause the Duke to send Wonder Woman after them. Now freed, the trio destroyed the device and its rockets, freeing Washington D.C. from the Martian's snare.

Tenacious Teens Triumph over Tragedies

Vibe and Gypsy were both mutants who lived in Detroit on Earth-One. Vibe aka Paco Ramone could generate sonic vibrations from his hands while Gypsy aka Cynthia Reynolds is as able to blend into her surroundings, and later to project realistic illusions. Both became members of the Justice League during a period when that team downsized and sought to reconnect with Earth shortly after they combated a Martian invasion. 

While Gypsy was a runaway, Vibe was tempted to retain his leadership of a local gang, Los Lobos, which competed with the gang led by his criminal older brother Armando. Yet of their heroic careers gave them focus and purpose, as they were trained in the superhero careers by the veterans of the League. Later they pursued a romance together.

Dinky and Sisty, aka Huey Jibbet and Amelia Hunkel were a pair of adolscents who were inspired by the original Red Tornado. The Tornado, secretly Amelia's mother Ma Hunkel, rescued them from some local racketeers that had stolen from her grocery store. After seeing her courageous if somewhat foolhardy example, the duo decided to design costumes in homage to the heroine, to assist her in fighting crime.

Over the next couple of years, the two children, known as the Cyclone Kids, aided the Red Tornado in a series of adventures... or misadventures... depending on one's perspective. Around this time, Ma in her costumed identity learned of the secret location of the Justice Society of America, and crashed their initial meeting attempting to join them. Although she withdrew her request out of embarrassment due to her entrance, the Society still made Red Tornado an honorary member. Later in the decade of the 1940's, Huey and Amelia became members of the Junior Justice Society, although not as the Cyclone Kids but simply as Dinky and Sisty. As adults, they later married.