The JSA is back!The story: "Crisis on Earth-Three!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. We are introduced to the Crime Syndicate and the concept of Earth-Three, a world where all the major events of our Earth are different--Abe Lincoln shot Pres. John Wilkes Booth, England won freedom from the United States, etc.--and there are no superheroes, only villains!
The Crime Syndicate and the JLA square off twice, once on Earth-One, where the JLA wins, and once on Earth-Three, where the Crime Syndicate wins. Since they are evenly matched, they decided to fight on neutral ground--Earth-Two! When the bad guys discover that world has superheroes, they decide to take them on instead!
Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern
Notable Moments: The JSA returns in what will be a yearly event--the JLA/JSA team-up, one of Fox and Schwartz's most ingenious plot devices.
The Crime Syndicate was another neat idea, though I never understood why there wasn't an evil duplicate of Aquaman. Hmmph.
I always loved that cover...kind of a version of JLA 21 as seen from the JSA side. Hated that this issue only featured the "Big Five," though...
ReplyDeleteGet used to that roll call...
ReplyDeleteHowdy Rob, I just discovered this other blog of yours. Yeah, I know, I'm not too swift on the uptake. Anyway, it looks great, so I'll be dropping by here as well as the 'ol Aquaman Shrine.
ReplyDeleteI read this issue not too long ago, a rather good one compared with a lot of the other early JLA fare. I've been reading through all the JLA archives, and I've been, on the whole, very disappointed with just how goofy the threats they face are. At least this time they faced real super villains and not "Queen Bee."
It's weird, because I like the DC characters best, but the early Marvel Avengers comics are head and shoulders above these JLA issues.
while i dont think anyone can match Gardner Fox for the sheer invention he showed in these early issues, they do fall into a rut pretty quickly and the issues start to become routine.
ReplyDeletei dont have the passion for these early issues like i do the ones i grew up reading (#s100 and beyond, pretty much) so i find that my "reviews" are pretty sketchy, because what is there to say another YET ANOTHER alien invader who can somehow take control of the JLA?
i hope everyone who stops in here stays with me because as we go on the issues--and my take on them--should get progressively more interesting!
Haha, as will the issues themselves. Well, you've got me hooked, because I'm curious about all those issues I haven't read, as I can't get any archives past #5, I think. Yeah, you can really see how the CCA tied their hands in these issues. The villains can't overcome the physically, since that would involve a fight, so instead they wave a wand that SOMEHOW cancels all the diverse powers of the League. Ohh well!
ReplyDeleteI'm on the other side of the coin regarding the first 100 issues -- those are the ones i do have an abiding passion for, to this day. Yes, they are stiff and ridiculous, but there is something special about them -- something closely akin to this dimension's only formulation of magic. For the record, i read JLA heavily from #82-100, then sort of left the fold, buying only infrequent issues, until about #140, when i read it religiously for the next four years or so, so it's not necessarily a case of me carrying a torch for the issues i read as a kid, either ((although that's partially the case, as my two favorite issues of all time are #82 and #83, the first two i ever owned)). There's just something special about the JLA -- it's why people do blogs like these, and people like me, who stumble across said blogs two years later, are uncontrollably compelled to comment.
ReplyDelete