Aliases: None

Base of Operations: New York City, New York, Keystone City, Kansas

First Appearance: Flash II #134 (February, 1998)

History: (JSA #38 (fb, BTS)) - Jakeem Williams’ mother died shortly after he was born, and his aunt took him into her custody. Jakeem’s father Phil wasn’t in the picture because his grandmother forbid Phil from seeing her daughter after she got pregnant with Jakeem.

(Flash II #134, JSA Secret Files #2) - Jakeem was an outsider at school and alienated everyone with his four language and foul demeanor. One day he met Falsh (Jay Garrick) and asked him for an autograph. Flash gave him the autograph and the pen he signed it with, one borrowed from Johnny Thunder. Flash never knew that the pen housed the 5th-dimensional genie Thunderbolt that aided Johnny for decades.

(JLA #28-31) - J.J. released the Thunderbolt from his pen by saying the words "so cool", and thinking it was a demon, he immediately had it return. J.J. hid in a bank vault in Central City and passed time eating junk food and playing video games, hiding from genie Lkz, an invader from the 5th Dimension. After a lot of prodding from the JLA and JSA he summoned the Thunderbolt, who began a titanic battle with Lkz. Qwsp revealed himself as the instigator of the battle between Lkz and Thunderbolt, a battle that threatened to throw the 5th Dimension into chaos and destroy Earth. Representatives of the 5th Dimension arrested Qwsp, because only mischief was allowed in the 3rd Dimension, and he’d gone way past that. Captain Marvel and Green Lantern convinced Thunderbolt and Lkz to merge into one being, ending their war. The Justice Society agreed to tutor J.J., who’d decided he wanted to use the revamped Thunderbolt to be a hero.

(JLA #41) - J.J. was among the legion of heroes summoned by the JLA to quell worldwide outbreaks of warfare that were incited by Mageddon.

(JSA: Our Worlds at War #1) - During the Imperiex War Thunder was called in as a JSA reserve on a mission to disrupt Imperiex’s link to his ship’s power supply. The JSA found that Imperiex’s ship was leeching it’s power from the planet Daxam, which Imperiex had pulled out of its’ orbit. Dr. Occult channeled the mystic energy of Thunder and several others to send Daxam back into proper orbit, and Imperiex’s ship, no longer having a power supply, imploded.

(JSA #29) - While Flash, Sentinel and Wildcat went off to deal with an army of Jokerized villains they left Thunder and Star-Spangled Kid at JSA hq, and made them promise to stay out of trouble. Kid and Thunder soon found a Jokerized Solomon Grundy on their doorstop. Thunder saved the Kid’s life and destroyed Grundy. The Kid rethought the way she’d treated him like a punk and a kid, and they shook hands in friendship.

(JSA #38) - J.J. was setting up his connection to the JSA satellite com system in his room when he was interrupted by his aunt Lashawn. She told him he was more of a JSA mascot than a member and told him to clean his room. It was Father’s Day, so J.J. asked Johnny Thunderbolt to find his father, whom he’d never met. Johnny teleported him to the University of Michigan to meet his father Phil. J.J. and Phil talked, and J.J. realized Phil had no idea he’d had a son by J.J.’s mother. After meeting Phil’s wife and son J.J. decided not to tell him he was his father. Johnny told J.J. he’d met previously unknown relatives in the past and it was always an enjoyable experience, but J.J. told him it wasn’t the right time to try to start a bond with his long-lost father.

(JLA / JSA: Virtue and Vice) - J.J. attended the first annual JLA and JSA Thanksgiving celebration when the teams were called to Arusha, Tanzania to stop Doctor Bedlam from disrupting the Pan-African Conference on World Hunger. The JLA and JSA defeated Bedlam, but the attack was a ruse on the part of Johnny Sorrow to give him the opportunity to have Despero possess President Luthor, who was at the conference, and to have the Seven Deadly Sins possess members of the JLA and JSA. The possessed heroes destroyed JSA headquarters and incapacitated the unpossessed JLA and JSA members. J.J. was amng the heroes badly injured during the battle, but was cared for by Dr. Mid-Nite. By the time he recovered the JLA and JSA had returned the Sins to captivity in the Rock of Eternity, defeated Johnny Sorrow and freed Luthor from Despero. J.J. attended the banquet celebrating the opening of the new JSA headquarters graciously built by President Luthor.

(JSA #45) - J.J. Thunder, Wildcat and Alex Montez watched news coverage of the trial of Kobra for terrorist acts.

(JSA #46, 47, 49-51) - J.J. and Johnny Thunderbolt rushed to the scene of a battle between the JSA and Mordru in NYC. Mordru tore into the JSA and slit J.J.’s throat so he couldn’t command the Thunderbolt. Flash rushed J.J. to the JSA infirmary only to be confronted by Eclipso. Flash took J.J.and JSA team doctor Dr. Mid-Nite to Mid-Nite’s lab in Portsmoth where he could care for J.J. without being disturbed. Dr. Mid-Nite patched up J.J., allowing him to order Johnny Thunderbolt to attack Mordru and imprison him inside J.J.’s pen. Mordru escaped, but the effort drained him and he was defeated when he could no longer keep Dr. Fate imprisoned in Fate’s amulet. Fate imprisoned Mordru in the Rock of Eternity.

(JSA #52) - Johnny Thunderbolt took J.J. Thunder on a trip around the world, visiting Paris, Rome, Stonehenge and other famous sites. Back at JSA hq, J.J. saw overheard Stargirl asking Captain Marvel out on a date and his good mood dropped.

(JSA #54) - J.J., the JSA and JLA celebrated Thanksgiving at JSA hq. J.J.Thunder met Impulse and they bonded over how much they both hated school. Kulak and the Warlord of Ys ruined the Thanksgiving meal, but were quickly defeated by the heroes. The JLA and JSA settled for ordering out, and had pizza for Thanksgiving.

(JSA #66) - Aunt Lashawn forbid J.J. from taking part in JSA adventures until he pulled his grades up to a “C” or better. J.J. had the Thunderbolt whip up a fake report card, but she wasn’t fooled and told him to study harder. Rip Hunter contacted J.J. and told him he needed his help fighting Per Degaton. J.J. and Rip went into the timestream, but J.J. and the Thunderbolt failed to defeat Degaton.

(JSA #68) - Rip Hunter gathered J.J. and the JSA and brought them in his Time Sphere to the year 1951. Per Degaton was going to do something on October 30, 1951 and blame it on the disbanded Justice Society, thus altering history. As a result they would be tried for treason and the JSA would never again reform. Rip Hunter had brought the JSA to convince the Justice Society to get back together to oppose Degaton. J.J. found that he could no longer summon Johnny Thuinderbolt in the past.

(JSA #69-72) <October 28-30,1951> J.J. Thunder found Johnny Thunder sitting by the closed JSA brownstone and told Johnny he was his favorite JSAer. Johnny cracked a smile, no one had ever told him that before. He took J.J. to a soda shop, where J.J. told Johnny he was from the future and tried to convince Johnny to get back into action to stop Per Degaton. Johnny didn’t buy J.J.’s story, but after they left the soda shop J.J. was attacked y some roughnecks. Johnny was in shock to discover he couldn’t summon the Thunderbolt, but nonetheless jumped in to fight off J.J.’s attackers. J.J. and Johnny got bruised and bloody but won the fight. J.J. told Johnny he was trained by Wildcat, and convinced him to meet up with the rest of the reformed Justice Society and the time-traveling JSA at the Justice Society brownstone. Hourman informed them Per Degaton was going to assassinate the President. The Justice Society and JSA went to Washington to warn Truman that his life was in danger. Degaton and the Red Morgue attacked Washington, but the teams were ready for him. Degaton used a time-disc to speed up Atom’s metabolism and turn him into a nuclear bomb ready to go off. If he exploded millions would die, but J.J. Thunder and Johnny Thunder summoned the Thunderbolt to turn Atom back to normal. J.J. and the other heroes defeated Degaton, who fled into the timestream. The resulting time distortion caused the Justice Society members to forget their adventure with the JSA. After Degaton was defeated Rip Hunter ferried the JSA back to the present.

(JSA #73, 74) - Atom-Smasher asked to be readmitted to the JSA so J.J. and the JSA had a meeting and a vote on it. Once they’d voted, Atom-Smasher was already gone back to Khanaq. Captain Marvel told the JSA that Jean Loring/Eclipso and the Spectre-Force were attacking Khandaq, and their help was needed there. The heroes had little luck battling Eclipso and the Spectre, and Black Adam resented their presence and began fighting them. J.J. summoned the Thunderbolt to banish the Spectre to the 5^th Dimension, but the Spectre turned the Thunderbolt’s magic against him, sending J.J. and the Thunderbolt to the 5^th Dimension.

(JSA #78-80) - Qwsp possessed J.J. Thunder and waged war in the 5^th Dimension with an army of 5^th Dimensional hounds at his disposal. Shocko, Saradin, Thunderbolt and Peachy Pet fought valiantly against J.J.’s forces, but were outclassed, and J.J. kidnapped Peachy. Hourman, Mr. Terrific and Stargirl came to the 5^th Dimension to rescue J.J., and sided with Thunderbolt when they saw the chaos. The JSAers allowed themselves to be captured by J.J.’s hounds with Thunderbolt an Shocko hidden in liquid in Terrific’s mouth. As they approached J.J.’s throne Shocko couldn’t control himself at the sight of his captive wife and attacked. J.J. easily defeated the heroes and commanded Thunderbolt to kill them. Thunderbolt shook off J.J.’s commands and attacked him. The fight ended when Saradin separated Qwsp from J.J. and bound Qwsp to his service. The JSAers brought J.J. back to Earth, where he summoned the Thunderbolt to banish Mordru.

(JSA #81) - J.J. and the JSA were called to Philadelphia when Liberty Belle lost control over her powers after an attack by the Society. Stargirl showed her that her daughter Jesse was there, and was worried about her mother. This allowed Belle to focus and regain the use of her powers.

(JSA #83-87) - <one year later> J.J. saw a ghost that called him “little brother.” J.J. and the JSA had their first get-together in many months, and many of the members recounted recent encounters with the ghosts of loved ones. Gentleman Ghost appeared to the JSA and told them the ghosts they saw were his warning to them that they would all soon die by his hand. J.J. visited Hart’s Island and asked Thunderbolt to summon any of his family that was buried there, so he could learn if he really had a brother. He once again met the spirit of his brother Jimmy, who died in a fire that also claimed the life of his grandmother. Everyone blamed Jimmy for the fire and he wasn’t talked about in the family, but was innocent of any crime. J.J. asked the Thunderbolt to show him the spirit world, and was attacked by the Gentleman Ghost and a gang of ghosts loyal to the Ghost. The Thunderbolt summoned the spirits of Atom, Mr. Terrific, Jade, Sandman an the pre-Crisis Batman of Earth-2 to drive off the Gentleman Ghost and his gang. J.J. was confused because the Batman he knew wasn’t dead, but all the Thunderbolt could tell him was that it was complicated. J.J. asked Batman how they could beat the Ghost, and he told him to seek the Ghost in London, and that only one of royal blood could destroy the Ghost. J.J. shared what he learned with the JSA, and the team headed for London. J.J. and the JSA confronted the Ghost in the royals castle. The Gentleman Ghost was trying to fulfill an old gypsy prophecy that said he could return to life if he slew his enemies in the royal castle. The Ghost summoned an army of spirits to kill the JSA and their fight led to a chapel in Windsor, where an army of ghost knights arose and battled Ghost’s army for daring to defile the temple. Wildcat destroyed the Ghost, who was only vulnerable to those of royal blood, and the JSA returned home.

Comments: Created by Grant Morrison, Mark Miller & Paul Ryan

J.J. Thunder received a profile in JSA Secret Files #2.

JSA #64 showed J.J. Thunder on a JSA New Year’s postcard.

J.J. had a cameo in JSA #77 and JLA #121.

All characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Please visit The Official DC Comics Site at: http://www.batman.com