The Liars Club
Residence: Metropolis, Keystone City, Gotham City
Occupation: Social Club
First Appearance (Golden Age): Adventure Comics #75 (June 1942)
History
The Liar's Club is a social organization that engages in camaraderie and charitable events for professional men of middle-class and higher means. The premise of the Liar's Club was that members had to tell the best tall tales and fables and to one-up each other on the most outrageous fictions. The Liar's Club frequently had events for the members to tell the Biggest Lie with proceeds for the evening going to charitable causes or the War effort.
The exact beginnings of the Liar's Club on Earth-Two are not precisely known. It is know that by the 1940's, there were branches in all over the United States. The earliest recorded case was when Ted Knight was inducted into the Gotham Liar's Club through his friend, banker Cliff Henry. Ted Knight announced the assembled Liars that he was in reality Starman, which was greeted with gales of laughter that the foppish Knight could be the Astral Avenger, Another member, Russell Vardon, was later revealed to be The Veil, a criminal hypnotists who attempted his fellow members of the bank board of directors to cover his thefts of bank funds (Adventure Comics #75).
The best known of the Liar's Club was found in Keystone City. By 1943, Jar Garrick was known to be a regular member of this club, often regaling them with actual adventures that the Flash had experienced but that members of the club were convinced were lies. In his first time winning the Biggest Whipper Award, Garrick shared how the Flash was testing his own speed and accidentally ran 500 years into the future, ending up saving the planet from solar instability while he was there. When he tried to deny his prize and claim the story was true, he was treated to a ceremonial dunking (Flash Comics #44). Garrick remained a member in good standing of the Keystone Club at least through 1947 (All-Flash#30).
A branch of the Liar's Club also existed in Metropolis at least as early as 1944. That year Liar's Club member Arthur Boyle spun a fantastic yarn in which the labors of Hercules were actually done by the Man of Steel, though there is no evidence this was anything more than a fiction of Boyle's (Superman #28). The Metropolis Club also had a youth chapter, the Jr. Liars Club of which Lois Kent's niece Susie Tompkins was a champion member. Her honesty was challenge when aliens reached out to her for help and she had to overcome her reputation for fiction to get anyone to listen (Superman Family #199).
Liar's Club existed on Earth-Two until at least the 1950's. Whether they persisted or fell out of favor in more modern times is unknown.
Earth-Prime
The Liar's Club on Earth-Prime originated in Burlington, Wisconsin as a gag story in a slow news cycle. The idea caught on and soon "the club" was giving out an annual award for the Year's Biggest Lie. The concept inspired imitators around the US, though there is no evidence that they formed a network of such clubs as is implied on Earth-Two. The Earth-Prime Liar's Club persists up until present times (Wikipedia).
Earth-One
The Liar's Club is also present on Earth-One though it's not clear again if the clubs are local ventures or part of a national organization. In the 1960's, Dane Dorrance and the Sea Devils were periodic participants in the Deep Six Liar's Club and one tale, possibly a fiction, suggestion the existence of a similar club among aliens on Mars (Sea Devils #10). In the 1980's, a Liar's Club operated in Gotham City that was robbed by the Mad Hatter (Detective Comics #573). How extensive these clubs were on Earth-One is not known.
Appearances
Issue |
Comments |
Reprinted in |
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Adventure Comics #75 |
First Liar’s Club revealed on Earth-Two, Gotham City Club – Ted Knight joins and exposes club member Vardon as The Veil |
Starman Archives #1 |
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Flash Comics #44 |
First Appearance Liar’s Club of Keystone City – Jay Garrick a known member, travels into the future as the Flash but the Liars think it’s fiction |
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Superman #28 |
First Appearance Liar’s Club of Metropolis, Member Boyle spins a fantastic yarn about Superman that is likely fabricated |
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Emerson Kinnick of the Keystone Club is thought to be lying about a winged horse until the Flash proves him right |
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Garrick makes up a story about the Flash using a time machine to inspire Santa Claus but it sounds too plausible so the Club thinks its true |
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All-Flash Comics #18 |
A chapter in a neighboring county from the Keystone Club has a member stop by and outfib the big city club about the Flash |
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Comic Cavalcade #14 |
Garrick tales how the Flash visited a house that reached into the fourth dimension but the Club roasts him as a liar |
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All-Flash Comics #22 |
Garrick tells the story of how the Flash discovered a secret city of Sand-Men in the Gobi desert several years before and wins the Liar contest, even though the story was true. |
Four-Star Spectacular #1 |
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Comic Cavalcade #19 |
Garrick share how the Flash captured crook empowered with a speed serum and the Club gives him a trophy for telling such a fib |
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All-Flash Comics #30 |
Garrick tells how a picture allowed him to travel back to a medieval land but the Club laughs him off. |
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Superman Family #199 |
Susie Thompkins is a champion at the Jr. Liars Club in Metropolis and when aliens contact her for help, she has trouble getting anyone to believe her. |
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