No sooner did Wonder Woman leave the JLA, then they lost another founding member, just two issues later!The Story: "...And So My World Ends!" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin, and Sid Greene. Guest-star Diana Prince runs afoul of a mysterious cloaked man wrecking the fire-eating sideshow at the circus(!) Prince and her mentor I-Ching(!!) are attending. When Prince is easily knocked aside by the stranger, she calls in the JLA for help.
The JLA show up and they learn that this mysterious stranger is...the Martian Manhunter!!
They ask J'onn where he's been, since they haven't seen him for months(he last appeared in JLA #61), and he tells them he has been trying to prevent a murderous Martian named Blanx from taking over Mars by killing its citizens and destroying its resources. He asks the JLA for help!
They go to Mars and take on Blanx's army, but its up to Manhunter to take on Blanx personally. It's grim, hand-to-hand combat, but finally J'onn defeats Blanx. Unfortunately, Blanx has wreaked massive destruction on Mars, far beyond even what he had planned, leaving the entire planet dead. Superman informs J'onn that some of his people escaped via a spacecraft that J'onn had built for just such a purpose. He resolves to find those people and bring them back to Mars to rebuild, which means he has to leave his adopted planet Earth and his friends in the Justice League:
Notable Moments: Aquaman is the only member of the team not participating in this story---rats!
Denny O'Neil was affecting all kinds of change, barely a year into his tenure as JLA writer. Two powerful, founding members gone, and of course even more change was in store...
My son was totally confused by this story, I'm not even sure DC treats it as canon anymore....
ReplyDeleteY'know, the run you're into now falls into the cracks - a couple-year window where I didn't read many comical bookies.
ReplyDeleteI was never a big Sekowsy/Greene fan ("too clunky"); and thought the later Dillin/McLaughlin was only o.k ("too wirey")...
But this Dillin/Greene stuff looks like a mix that really worked! Hafta seek a few a' these out.
(Recommendations? Rob? Gang?)
Best,
-Craig
Craig, my recommendation is for you to check out the Dillin/Giordano pairings, from JLA 103-116. It was totally beautiful! After them, early Dillin-McLaughlin was also very, very good (117 to about 126 or so). I'd rank Dillin-Greene after that. Sid Greene was MILES better than Joe Giella, who is coming up next. (sigh)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Russell - notes taken!
ReplyDeleteBest,
-Craig W.
i agree with russell--i thought dillin/greene were a fantastic combo, and way superior to dillin/giella.
ReplyDeletei found the initial denny o'neil issues a lot of fun, even if he was ripping up every aspect of the team we knew!
Weird that the timing of this synopsis fell so close to the rumors of J'Onn's demise at LITG, and Netzer's subsequent crusade against it. The universe is a funny place, especially when you factor in J'Onn and Arthur sharing Netzer's issues of Adventure, and Aquaman's potentially on the chopping block, too...
ReplyDeleteDisagree 100%, Dillin-Giella was IT.
ReplyDelete