This cover gives me vertigo. Well done, Mr. Chua!The Story: "The Earth Dies Screaming!" by Martin Pasko, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Continued from last issue, the fearful Hawkman decides not to try and save his formerly-beloved Midway City.
Wonder Woman, the only JLAer not affected by Nekron-inspired fear, finds a way to override it, by using her magic lasso!
The only problem is, the bolt of energy that will destroy Midway is designed to only be stopped by Hawkman, which means Wonder Woman would have to force him to give up his life, which she can't bring herself to do!
Soon after, Flash, Aquaman, and Red Tornado arrive, Flash having also seen a vision of his death at the hands of Captain Cold. Black Canary then notices that while Hawkman is down in Midway trying to evacuate the people, he also seems to be in space heading towards Nekron's energy bolt! What?!?
Turns out that Red Tornado has dressed himself as Hawkman, to fool Nekron! The burst hits Tornado, exploding him to bits! He sacrificed himself to save the city.
While Wonder Woman uses her lasso to convince some of the JLA to fight Nekron on Earth, the Atom comes up with an ingenious plan to defeat him for good.
He has uses Greeb Lantern's ring to amplify Aquaman's telepathic power to boost the fear of death into Superman to a greater extent than even Nekron could accomplish.So when, down on Earth, the JLA transports Nekron to the JLA satellite, he instinctively attacks Superman, who is cowering in a corner.
Unfortunately for Nekron, when he tries to absorb Superman's fear, its too much for him to handle, which stuns himself and reduces him down to his original, insect-like size. Nice job, Atom and Aquaman!
While the JLA is happy they defeated Nekron, they are saddened over the loss of their friend The Red Tornado...
Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Red Tornado
Notable Moments: Red Tornado explodes a lot.
I loved Martin Pasko thinking outside the box here, taking Aquaman's inherent abilities and amplifying them to something not seen before with the character. Also, having Wonder Woman be the catalyst for defeating Nekron was a great way to bring her back into the JLA.
The JLA Mail Room header is changed again, to reflect the change in membership, and was drawn by Dick Dillin and inked by my old Kubert School instructor Tex Blaisdell:
Check out the jaunty angle on GA's cap in the mail room header!
ReplyDeleteI love that the people involved in the JLA cared enough about what they were doing to continuously update the picture above the letter page. You just don't see that these days.
Forget logos, you don't even see letters pages much any more. I guess blogging and message boards have taken their place. But I still miss 'em.
ReplyDeleteIt's been said before, but blogs and message board posts eventually go away. If a letter sees print in comics, its' forever.
ReplyDeleteSuperan looks very Sekowsky-like in the redrawn header, doesn't he?
Chris
That's one thing I like about Robert Kirkman. All his regular features have letters pages, and he writes details repsonses to each one he publishes. That is freakin' old school, my friends.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if anyone knew if this Nekron is the same Nekron who fought Green Lantern and the GL Corps in a mini in the early 80's? (and is my bet to be leading the Black Lantern Corps for anyone currently reading Green Lantern)
ReplyDeleteMan, that is a nice letter page header.
God, I miss Dick Dillin.
Rob, you meant to say Red Tornado teleported up with Aquaman and The Flash, not the Elongated Man. Ralph was there from the beginning. (Feel free to delete this comment as soon as you change it.)
ReplyDeleteI didn't like how Red Tornado dies in this. Otherwise, it was okay, I guess...
ReplyDeleteThis is not the same Nekron. This one is some creepy space alien with one visor-eye, three mouths, and several legs. One of Dillin's more creepy alien monsters.
ReplyDeleteAnd Rob, you can take Red off of the membership list column on your blog now. (sigh) I miss him already.
good catch, russell--reddy came and went so many damn times i couldn't keep it straight!
ReplyDeleteThis was my first-ever issue of Justice League of America (it seemed so much more grown-up than Super-Friends).
ReplyDelete