success of Flash Comics, more superheroes were to follow at All-American Comics Inc.
All-American Comics would receive its own resident superhero with issue 16, July 1940. Like The Flash and Hawkman before him, Green Lantern became one of All-American's most popular characters. With issue 19, October 1940, another superhero was added to All-American Comics, The Atom. In the summer of 1940 All-Star Comics was launched. All-Star Comics was meant to promote characters from both the National and All-American lines. The first issue featured The Flash and Hawkman from the All-American line and Hourman, The Sandman, and The Spectre from the National line. From a magazine which featured several different heroes from several different titles, it was a small step to a comic strip that would feature several different heroes side by side as part of a group--the Justice Society of America. The Justice Society of America was originally meant to showcase those characters from All-American and National who did not have titles of their own. For that reason the Justice Society of America included two characters from All-American's Flash Comics (The Flash and Hawkman), two characters form All-American's All-American Comics (Green Lantern and The Atom), two characters from National's More Fun Comics (Dr. Fate and The Spectre), and two characters from National's Adventure Comics (Hourman and Sandman). The Justice Society of America made their debut in All-Star Comics #3, winter 1940-1941. Sheldon Mayer is most often credited with having conceived the Justice Society of America, although many believe that it may have been at M. C. Gaines' suggestion. Regardless, with The Justice Society of America as its central feature, All-Star Comics became what may have been the second best selling title for either Natinonal or All-American.
All-American continued to expand their superhero line following the success of the Justice Society of America. With issue 25, April 1941, All-American Comics received another superhero, Dr. Mid-Nite. The Flash received his own title in the summer of 1941, while Green Lantern received his own title in the fall of that same year. With other heroes All-American broke new ground. In All-American Comics #20, November 1940, in the pages of Sheldon Mayer's comic strip Scribbly (which was about a boy cartoonist of that name), Ma Hunkel donned a t-shirt, a cape, red longjohns, and a saucepan as a helmet/mask to become The Red Tornado. Not only was The Red Tornado one of the first parodies of the superhero genre, but The Red Tornado herself may well have been the first superheroine created solely for comic books. The Red Tornado would be followed by a superheroine cast in a more serious mould. In All-Star Comics #5, July 1941, Hawkman's girlfriend Shiera Sanders became Hawkgirl. While The Red Tornado and Hawkgirl would both prove popular, neither would have the impact of All-American's next superheroine. Dr. William Moulton Marston, psychologist and educational consultant to both DC and All-American, was talking to M. C. Gaines one day and noted that there while there were many male superheroes in the pages of comic books, there were few if any superheroines. Gaines then asked Marston to create a superheroine. Assuming the pen name of Charles Moulton, Marston created Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman debuted in All-Star Comics #8, December 1941-January 1942--a portion of her origin was added as an extra eight pages to the magazine. Her entire origin appeared the following month in Sensation Comics #1, January 1942. Wonder Woman became a smash hit, easily All-American's most popular character. She received her own title in the summer of 1942 and even had a newspaper strip for a short time. Also debuting in Sensation Comics #1 were Wildcat and Mr. Terrific.
Not only was M. C. Gaines a shrewd entrepreneur, he was also a man with a social conscience. He was well aware of the power of comic books to educate as well as entertain. In addition to its superhero titles, All-American Comics Inc. also published comic books meant primarily to educ