The Justice League, or Justice League of America (JLA), is a group of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #28. Writer Gardner Fox conceived the team as a revival of the Justice Society of America, a similar team from DC Comics from the 1940s which had been pulled out of print due to a decline in sales. The Justice League is an all-star ensemble cast of established superhero characters from DC Comics' portfolio. Diegetically, these superheroes usually operate independently but occasionally assemble as a team to tackle especially formidable villains. This is in contrast to certain other superhero teams such as the X-Men, whose characters were created specifically to be part of the team, with the team being central to their identity. The cast of the Justice League usually features a few highly popular characters who have their own solo books, such as Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, alongside several lesser-known characters who benefit from exposure.
The Martian Manhunter is a superhero in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Joseph Samachson and artist Joe Certa, the character first appeared in the story "The Manhunter from Mars" in Detective Comics #225. Martian Manhunter is one of the seven original members of the Justice League of America and one of the most powerful beings in the DC Universe.
Hitman is a character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Garth Ennis and John McCrea and first appeared in The Demon Annual #2 before receiving his own series by Ennis and McCrea that ran for 61 issues.
The Crime Syndicate are teams of supervillains from one of DC Comics' parallel universes where they are the evil counterparts of the Justice League. The original team was specifically known as the Crime Syndicate of America and is sometimes abbreviated as CSA. This first superpowered Crime Syndicate team appeared in Justice League of America #29 in August 1964. The primary successive incarnation, known as the Crime Syndicate of Amerika, first appeared in the 2000 JLA: Earth 2 graphic novel.
Solomon Grundy is a supervillain and occasional antihero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He was originally depicted as a murder victim brought back to life as a corporeal revenant or zombie, though subsequent versions of the character have occasionally depicted a different origin. His name is taken from the 19th century nursery rhyme "Solomon Grundy".
"DC One Million" is a comic book crossover storyline which ran through an eponymous weekly miniseries and through special issues of almost all of the "DCU" titles published by DC Comics in November 1998. It featured a vision of the DC Universe in the 853rd century, chosen because that is the century in which DC will have published issue #1,000,000 of Action Comics if it maintains a regular monthly publishing schedule. The miniseries was written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Val Semeiks.
"Infinite Crisis" is a 2005–2006 comic book storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous, seven-issue comic book limited series written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, and Jerry Ordway, and a number of tie-in books. The main miniseries debuted in October 2005, and each issue was released with two variant covers: one by Pérez and one by Jim Lee and Sandra Hope.
"Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!" is a comic book crossover storyline published by DC Comics in 1994, consisting of an eponymous five-issue limited series written and drawn by Dan Jurgens and a number of tie-in books.
Starro is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #28, and was created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky.
Douglas Mahnke is an American comic book artist, known for his work and penciling books including The Mask, JLA, Batman, Final Crisis, and Green Lantern.
Evil Star is the name of two supervillains appearing in DC Comics publications.
Kevin Nowlan is an American comics artist who works as a penciler, inker, colorist, and letterer. He has been called "one of the few artists who can be called 'artists's artist'", a master of the various disciplines of comic production, from "design to draftsmanship to dramatics".
Gunfire is a fictional DC Comics superhero and freelance anti-terrorist operative. He first appeared in Deathstroke Annual #2, created by Len Wein and Steve Erwin, and was one of the "New Bloods", several superpowered individuals introduced during the 1993 DC Comics Bloodlines crossover event.
DC Comics has produced many crossover stories combining characters from different series of comics. Some of these are set in the fictional DC Universe, or any number of settings within the DC Multiverse.
Geist is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe. He was created by Chuck Dixon and Jim Balent, and first appeared in Detective Comics Annual #6 (1993).
