Comic Title: Secret Origins #31
Publisher: DC
Cover Date: October 1988
On Sale Date: June 21, 1988 Shipping Date June 21, 1988
Source: Direct Currents, #5

Shipping Date June 21, 1988
Source: Comics Buyers Guide, #758, #760, #762

Shipping Date June 23, 1988
Source: Amazing Heroes, #141

Copyright Date June 28, 1988
Source: Library of Congress, Copyright Office 1988

Newsstand Date July 5, 1988
Source: Comics Buyers Guide, #758, #760, #762

Newsstand Date July 16, 1988
Source: Amazing Heroes, #141

Cover Price: $1.50
Page Count: 48
Editor: Mark Waid

Title: "The Secret Origin of the Justice Society of America"
Pages: 38

Feature(s):
Justice Society (Post-Crisis)

Writer: Roy Thomas
Penciller: Michael Bair
Inker: Robert Downs
Letterer: Jean Simek (Izzo)
Colorist: Carl Gafford

Reprinted In:
Last Days of the Justice Society of America TPB (2017)

Feature Character(s)

• Justice Society of America (earliest chronological appearance; next appearance in All-Star Squadron #67)
• Flash (earliest chronological appearance; next appearance in All-Star Squadron #65)
• Green Lantern (last appearance in Secret Origins #18; next appearance in All-Star Squadron #67)
• Doctor Fate (last appearance in Secret Origins #24; next appearance in All-Star Squadron #67)
• Hourman (last appearance in Secret Origins #16; next appearance in All-Star Squadron #67)
• Sandman (last appearance in Sandman #1; next appearance in All-Star Squadron #67)
• Hawkman (last appearance in Secret Origins #11; next appearance in All-Star Squadron #67)
• Atom (last appearance in Secret Origins #25; next appearance in All-Star Squadron #67)
• Spectre (last appearance in Secret Origins #15; next appearance in All-Star Squadron #67)

Supporting Character(s)

• Franklin D. Roosevelt (earliest chronological appearance; next appearance in All-Star Squadron #65)

Villain(s)

• Helmut Streicher (a Nazi major; no further appearances)
• Adolf Hitler (last appearance in Secret Origins #27; next appearance in Spectre Annual #1)
• Gudra (leader of the Valkyries; earliest chronological appearance; next appearance in Young All-Stars #1)
• The Valkyries (no further appearances)
• Various Nazis (no further appearances)
• Professor Stauffen (no further appearances)
• Sammy and his partner (bank robbers; no further appearances)

Other Character(s)

• Smythe (an intelligence agent; no further appearances)
• Davis (the Gotham City police commissioner; no further appearances)
• Fala (earliest chronological appearance; next appearance in Secret Origins #29)
• An unnamed aide to FDR (no further appearances)

Cameo Appearance(s)

• Winston Churchill (depicted as a world leader)

Comments:
This story is a post-Crisis adaptation of the story from DC Special #29.

It has not been revealed in post-Crisis continuity whether Major Streicher becomes the Red Panzer as he did on Earth-2.

This story takes place on November 9, 1940.

Synopsis:
In late 1940, newly re-elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt faces the knowledge that Europe has been overrun by the Nazis, and England stands alone. He wants to offer aid to the British, but his own country demands a position of isolationism. When word of a full scale Nazi invasion of England reaches the President he suggests the recruitment of the new "mystery men" to act as independent agents who can protect England.

After catching a pair of bank robbers, the Flash races to Gotham City where he meets Green Lantern for the first time. The two heroes are recruited for the mission to thwart Hitler's advance. They fly to England where they battle a group of Nazis led by Major Streicher. The Nazi leader commands a robot which defeats both Green Lantern and the Flash. They are taken to Berlin as prisoners.

Doctor Fate witnesses the capture of the heroes in his tower in Salem, Massachusetts. He recruits Hourman to help. They then fly to Germany. Doctor Fate arrives just as Hitler is about to kill Green Lantern using the Spear of Destiny. The arrival of Fate and Hourman helps the heroes, until Hitler summons the Valkyries.

While the fight between the four heroes and the Valkyries rages, Hitler orders the immediate invasion of England. Needing reinforcements, Doctor Fate sends four probes back to America. The first three reach Hawkman, Sandman, and the Atom. They are brought to England to stop the Nazi advance. The fourth tendril reaches the Spectre who single-handedly destroys the German invasion fleet.

The remaining heroes regroup to chase a Nazi bomber bound for Washington and guarded by the Valkyries. Although the heroes catch the bomber and stop it, the Valkyrie leader enters the White House with the intention of killing President Roosevelt. The Atom stops her first attack and is nearly killed. Her second strike succeeds in killing Roosevelt. The Spectre then travels into the afterlife and defies the power of his own creator to restore Roosevelt to life. Neither the President nor the heroes are aware of the Spectre's intervention.

When the immediate threat has passed, the group agrees to get together again to discuss the possibility of remaining a team. The Spectre gives them their name, the Justice Society of America.