Bring on the Bad Guys: The Maestro

Real name: Not applicable 

First appearance: Justice League of America I#16 (Dec. 1962)

Abilities: Mind controlling music 

Worst act: Theft, kidnapping 

Quote: "Certainly not! I've arranged for you to be so busy dancing--you won't be able to stop them!"

Created by: Gardner F. Fox (script), Mike Sekowsky (pencils), Bernard Sachs (inks) 

An oddity here. Imaginary stories were a unique thing at DC. Basically a what if or elseworld, with the main theme being that it wasn't canon. In other words, this is just a show and you should really just relax. 

So, the story here is actually credited to JLA superfan Jerry Thomas (a mash up of Jerry Bails and Roy Thomas), who on a whim writes to the JLA with a question, what if this villain I just created fought you? He plays the experiment fairly, I'll say.

The Maestro is committing a string of robberies, aided by his music which forces people listening to dance uncontrollably. Shades of the Music Meister, eh?

The JLA is actually fairly stumped for a bit when the Atom comes up with a novel solution. All in all, not bad but I'm honestly curious why this would be imaginary?

Bring on the Bad Guys: The Untouchable Aliens

Real names: Not revealed 

First appearance: Justice League of America I#15 (Nov. 1962)

Abilities: Can becoming intangible, teleporting 

Worst act: Theft

Quote: "They can't see us in this world--because about fifty seconds still separates us!"

Created by: Gardner F. Fox (script), Mike Sekowsky (pencils), Bernard Sachs (inks) 

Slightly different kind of entry this time, in that these fellows aren't really villains. They pop up across the globe and steal various super weapons from various countries and then reappear across the globe, seemingly trying to use said weapons against various cities. 

Ok, so far pretty standard villain plot. The twist? They're actually from Earth, just not the Earth the JLA know. Seems they're world and Earth-1 are separated by exactly one minute. A-bombs going off on both worlds have somehow thrown them out of alignment and now they risk sharing the same physical space. Thankfully Green Lantern is able to save the day.

Like I said, interesting. Admittedly, most of the drama could have been spared if someone had taken the time to explain things but for drama's sake I understand. A pity they never showed up again. 

Bring on the Bad Guys: Mr. Memory

 Real name: Amos Fortune/Bruce Wayne

First appearance: Justice League of America I#14 (Sept. 1962)

Abilities: Via use of a De-Memorizar, can remove memories 

Worst act: Attempted murder, brainwashing

Quote: "That is why you took those pills--to protect your own memories! The side effect of the De-Memorizor blast caused everyone else on Earth to forget the person at whom you aimed!"

Created by: Gardner F. Fox (script), Mike Sekowsky (pencils), Bernard Sachs (inks) 

Big impact this story; first we have Ray Palmer (the Atom) officially joining the team. The crazy thing is, he has zero memory of just HOW that happened. He soon forgets about that too, as the entire population of Ivy Town just got shrunk, including himself. 

Mr. Memory, whoever he is, sets out forming his own gang.

Hector Hammond (Green Lantern): Here is where Hammond evolves himself into a 'man from the future', i.e. a big forehead. 

Pied Piper (Flash foe)

Sea-Thief (Aquaman foe) his only apperance by the way

Angle Man (Wonder Woman)

Dr. Davis (Green Arrow)

The Joker (sort of?)

Yeah, seems the Joker kidnapped Batman on the behest of Mr. Memory, who put his own costume over Bat's but apparently never bothered to look under the hood. 

Martian Manhunter and the Flash get to work as the JLA fights the assembled team manages to snap Batman out of his haze and quickly bust Fortune. 

Bring on the Bad Guys: Robot Duplicates

Membership: Robot Superman, Robot Batman, Robot Wonder Woman, Robot Flash, Robot Green Lantern, Robot Green Arrow, and Robot Martian Manhunter

First appearance: Justice League of America I#13 (Aug. 1962)

Abilities: Exact powers as the originals 

Worst act: Attempted murder

Quote: "I'll allow you to shoot first! But my follow-up arrow will touch you before yours can reach me--and I'll have won!"

Created by: Gardner F. Fox (script), Mike Sekowsky (pencils), Bernard Sachs (inks) 

Well, these guys are different, I'll say that. On the planet Skarn, the life energy of their universe is dying out. This has happened before, so the residents opt to use the same plan they've used before, namely kidnap the champions of a neighboring universe and force them to fight the robot duplicates of themselves, with the loser's universe being one destroyed. 

Snatching the entire league, it is spelled out to the confused heroes. All the heroes are forced, save Aquaman since Skarn has no bodies of water big enough to stage a proper fight. Aquaman is then roped into being the JLA's coach, a role he does shockingly well. 

Seriously, with Aquaman's leadership the JLA manages to defeat the robots and get sent home. 

Although most of his coaching seems to be "Wonder Woman, remember you're an Amazon!"

Bring on the Bad Guys: Doctor LIght

Real name: Arthur Light

First appearance: Justice League of America I#12 (Jun. 1962)

Abilities: Powered suit with various light based attacks

Worst act: Murder, and NOTHING ELSE that will be discussed here. 

Quote: "There is no Justice League anymore, young man! Step in--I want to tell you all about it!"

Gardner F. Fox (script), Mike Sekowsky (pencils), Bernard Sachs (inks) 

Lord, considered skipping this guy entirely. I mean, for YEARS Doctor Light was basically the Barry Horowitz of DC. A jobber, punching way out of his weight class and getting the utter hell kicked out of him. 

Then some jackass decided that comics had to be grown up and the single dumbest thing DC put out that decade went and made him utterly unusable as a villain or even a concept. "Oh no, he was NEVER really a loser, he was a bad ass! The JLA just mindwiped him and had kids fight him!"

Not sure who comes out looking worse in that situation. His Suicide Squad take was really the best, in that he was a total loser. His luck was the kind where he manages to escape Hell and come back to life...only to suffocate inside his coffin. 

He then escapes Hell once again, only to mistaken for a vampire and shot with a crossbow. 

His first story was a pretty basic. He shows up and when the story starts, is boasting of already taking down the JLA and forces Snapper Carr to write up the caper. He managed to get the drop on Aquaman and with his signal device, lure the JLA and send them to worlds that would render them helpless (i.e. a world of yellow for Green Lantern, fire for Martian Manhunter, etc.). 

He's only foiled because Batman and Superman switched costumes. He then creates duplicates of himself to rob various light related items but team stops him. 

His powers don't seem all that related to light but eh, 1960's. Things were more of a suggestion back then. 

Honestly, killing him off via the Spectre was probably the best thing for him but I have a feeling some fanboy will bring him back. Sometimes dead is better. 

Bring on the Bad Guys: Felix Faust

Real name: Felix Faust

First appearance: Justice League of America I#10 (Mar. 1962)

Abilities: Magic

Worst act: Unleashing hell

Quote: "I--Felix Faust! Long have I studied ancient parchments, old palimpsests, the clay tablets of long-dead conjurers! Now that I have summoned you--I order you to reveal the secret of your supernatural powers!"

Created by: Gardner F. Fox (script), Mike Sekowsky (pencils), Bernard Sachs (inks) 

Another big name, but lord, the kid's already named Faust. Why would you compound on that by calling him Felix?

The JLA was no stranger to magic but Felix here had a very specific goal. He specifically wanted to free three ancient demons from their slumber, so hopefully they would be very cool to him afterwards.

The demons need three specific items to be free, but Felix isn't foolhardy enough to go get them himself. That would be dangerous after all. The crazy thing is, Felix wins. Oh, he gets captured but he techinally frees the demons.

Sort of, the spell won't actually free them until a hundred years pass but still, Felix is doing better than Pete Ricketts. 

This was also first two parter story. Issue 11 focuses more on the three demons lords. 

Bring on the Bad Guys: Aliens from Appellax

Membership: Stone-God, Glass-Man, Mercury Monster, Golden Roc, Fire-Lord, Crystal Creature, and Wood-King

First appearance: Justice League of America I#9 (Feb. 1962)

Abilities: Various

Worst act: Transforming people into stuff

Quote: "So your weakness is fire, Man of Mars? Then that's how I shall overcome you!"

Created by: Gardner F. Fox (script), Mike Sekowsky (pencils), Bernard Sachs (inks) 

Technically this could have been published on the 1st, given this is the first proper origin story of the Justice League, but we'll have it here for completion's sake. 

The aliens here are all competing for the throne of their home world Appellax. They just decided to compete on Earth and change as many people as they can. 

Landing across the globe, each alien attacks the local pop but thankfully a future League member is nearby to stop them. A slight breakdown:

Stone-God (Martian Manhunter)

Glass-Man (Aquaman)

Mercury Monster (Wonder Woman)

Golden Roc (Green Lantern)

Fire-Lord (Flash)

Getting together to see how many meteors crashed to Earth, they discover they all missed one. Rushing to the next one to tackle it, they find themselves turning into trees but thankfully they work together and stop the Wood-King. They next head to Greenland to face the Crystal Creature, but there they find Superman and Batman having already cracked the case.