Wow, this issue guest-stars Supergirl and features an elephant wielding a mace! What more do you kids want for thirty cents?!?The Story: "The Beasts Who Fought Like Men!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Continued from last issue, the animals and the insects of the world are getting smarter, and proving to be a tough match for the JLA.
Green Lantern manages to stop them long enough to head to the satellite to investigate, but when he gets there, his old foe Sonar is waiting for him! Sonar blasts him, plus other arriving JLAers.
Turns out it was Sonar, disguised as a S.T.A.R. Labs scientist(who the heck does the vetting over there?), who designed these credit cards.
As Sonar is explaining his plan, James Bond-villain-style, Supergirl breaks into the satellite and tries to take him out! She gets a good shot in, but Sonar manages to escape.
Turns out the JLA was playing possum so they could find out Sonar's plan. Batman realizes that Sonar has let loose something even he can't control, so they have to stop him for multiple reasons. Turns out that Supergirl has been trying to find her cousin, but couldn't do so anywhere on Earth! He has gone missing, along with Hawkman, Aquaman, Atom, Flash, and Elongated Man! But the JLA has more pressing concerns at the moment.
The JLA manages to stop Sonar, and they show him the flaw(s) in his plan--that, giving the animals human intelligence gives them all the flaws of humans, which cause the animals to fight among themselves and become unable to control!
Meanwhile, Wonder Woman, Black Canary, and Supergirl go after Queen Bee, who they have learned was actually behind this plot, even though she fell victim to it!
Tracking the brain-power link, they were able to find the missing JLAers, except Superman, who is still nowhere to be found! To be continued!
Roll Call: Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Elongated Man
Notable Moments: One last comment on the cover--typical of Batman, bringing a Batarang to a gorilla-with-a-gun fight.
I like how Conway, for all intents and purposes, ended this storyline, yet found a way to link it to the next one.
This is the beginning of DC celebrating the bicentennial, where you supposed to clip off the top of twenty-five different DC comics, send them in, and you won...a Superman belt-buckle! Having a cool way to hold up your belt doesn't make up for a pile of mangled comics, fellas...
Man, what a great cover. I always loved the "running in a straight line towards enemy" covers. (or whatever they are called) Looking at it now makes me want to go dig it out of my collection and look at it. Too bad most covers these days don't grab me like this does.
ReplyDeleteThat cover design has Infantino all over it. He had to lay that out. He loved the "two groups converging" cover layout. And apes! Lots of apes.
ReplyDeleteChris
The one that really kills me is the giraffe with the spear in its teeth. I have no idea why, but that one gives me the giggles more than any of the others.
ReplyDeleteThe thing I remember most about this issue is that it was cited by Steve Englehardt about 10 issues later as an example of how the JLAers were patronizing Wonder Woman. They are all flying in her invisible plane when one of 'em (Batman or GA, I don't remember which) yells, "Look out for the horde of bees coming right at us!" "Yeah, I see 'em, guys, thanks...morons!"
ReplyDeleteLoved that the super-women teamed up. And Black Canary flew the invisible jet! (Diana said, "Take the controls, Dinah! And keep an eye on the instrument panel!")
ReplyDeleteI really would have liked to see Kara join the JLA. Seriously, why weren't the JLA trying to recruit the most powerful woman on Earth?
There's a lot of "turns out" and n this tale.
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