A rare, not-totally-kickass cover by Neal Adams. The first of many Neal would do for the book.The Story: "Divided--They Fall!" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin, and Sid Greene. During a JLA meeting, Superman and the rest of team get mad at Batman, Green Arrow, and the Atom, who are engaged in some shop talk. Atom even gives Supes a sarcastic response when they're asked to stop! That Ray had some guts.
Anyway, Snapper mentions the burglarly at Happy Harbor College. Most of the JLAers think that's too small a crime to get involved with, Bats, Arrow, and Atom disagree, and they split to investigate, hurling insults as they leave! Man, these Denny O'Neil JLA sure are different from Gardner Fox's!
Turns out this machine--called a Morale Machine--has been stolen by the comical Generalissimo Demmy Gog, who plans to use it to invade America! Meanwhile, the rest of the JLA back home are finding constructive uses of their awesome, god-like powers:
...Hal Jordan doesn't like bossy chicks.Suddenly, these JLAers lose the "interest" in using their powers, forcing them to hitchhike to Habby Harbor College!
They eventually meet up with the others, and help defeat Gog and his "Dirty Half-Dozen." They resolve not to fight again(I'm sure that will stick), realizing that they truly need one another. Oh, and Snapper is there, too.
Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Atom
Notable Moments: The first JLA story not written by Gardner Fox; O'Neil certainly went out of his way to write a different kind of tale; the goofy jokes lean toward the Batman TV-show style and its a bit jarring to see these guys fight with each other after eight years of collegial behavior.
The letters page features a letter by a "Joe Straczynski" from Matawan, NJ. Babylon 5 creator, Amazing Spider-Man writer J.M. Straczynski was born just a stone's throw away in Paterson, NJ, in 1954, making him fourteen in 1968. So it's gotta be...
The classic JLA logo makes a return starting with this issue!
I'm quite familiar with this one. I remember Ray giving Supes some sass and thinking then that Ray had some brass ones.
ReplyDeleteThen I thought, and still do, that if anyone is going to give Supes (or someone of his ilk) lip, Ray is best equipped to get out of it. He's can all but disappear, then reappear back inside your skull if he really needs to.
You don't want Ray Palmer inside your skull.
Besides, he was wrong. Stick to moving stuff around and hitting things, leave the thinking to the others.
Obviously this has really nothing to do with the issue, but it did go through my mind at the time of reading. And I have to talk Ray up, of course.
I do enjoy a pc Hal...
I remember thinking that this was a really, really stupid story. Luckily, it was not representative of where Denny ONeil was going to take the JLA....
ReplyDeleteI really thought the immediate transition of having them not get along all of a sudden was insincere and not at all understanding of what was turning kids onto Marvel.
ReplyDeleteI agree. This was like Go-Go Checks made flesh.
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