Oh, if it's an undersea story, you can bet Aquaman's gonna shop up! This cover is by Infantino and Anderson, giving Neal Adams the month off(I guess he only had to draw thirty-seven DC covers this month).The Story: "Plague of the Pale People!" by Mike Friedrich, Dick Dillin, and Joe Giella. A woman, almost unconcious muttering in Atlantean, is found on the beach by Batman(looking a bit out of place). He calls in the JLA.
We cut to a city beneath the sea, called Sareme, the domain of the Pale People, who are mighty sick of the all the poison and trash dumped into their water by the Surface World. Once their way of life is threatened, they resolve to attack Atlantis. They actually kill a few Atlanteans in a sneak attack!
Their leader confronts Aquaman, who demands he surrender. Aquaman does, to stall for time while he figures out how to defeat the Pale People and the gas weapons(!) they have built from all the pollution dumped by humans.
The JLA gets involved, and the Pale People attack, but of course the JLA defeats them. They congratulate themselves on a Job Well Done, but Aquaman disabuses them of that notion:
Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Atom, Hawkman
Notable Moments: The Pale People, it is noted, first appeared way back in The Flash #109.
Even though Aquaman is a little harsh to his fellow JLAers, I like that his particular POV is highlighted here.
The issue ends with an epilogue, which is a teaser for the next issue, where Batman beams aboard the satellite carrying...a seemingly-dead Flash! To be continued!
Uh, maybe the royal undersea tude this guy is spewing is what's keeping him from JLA missions.
ReplyDeleteWho wants to be yelled at all the time?
Not the JLA, I can tell you that.
Is it bad thatmy first thought upon reading "Plague of the Pale People" my first thought was "they wrote an issue about sick Scandanavians?
ReplyDeleteHa, well, I agree that the heavy handed (was there any other kind at this time) approach leaves a lot to be desired, but this sounds like a really good story. I ask again, have these been collected anywhere?
ReplyDeletethe last edition of the JLA Archives series, vol 9, goes all the way up to issue #80, but i dont know...is DC still doing these?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the answer Rob, from what I heard, DC is being retarded and no longer doing these.
ReplyDeleteI always thought this story was OK. I liked Hawkman's white undersea suit. I have the original page where Supes and Hawkman put the Pale People to rout.
ReplyDeleteStop buying collected editions, go buy back issues. Do you imagine they will be getting cheaper when you're older?