And with this issue, my JLA run was complete! (see below for further explanation)The Story: "Crisis in Triplicate!" by Paul Levitz, Martin Pasko, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. The Demons Three (Abnegezar, Rath, and Ghast) newly freed from their magical prisons, quickly realize that they have, well, conflicting ideas on how to rule.
They plan to fight it out, as good villains, do, but realize that if they did their vast powers would destroy the universe, so they need to think small, by turning to the various heroes and forcing them to fight each other by proxy.
It turns into a real donnybrook, with various JLAers, JSAers, and the Legion all beating each other up.
Many twists and turns later, the heroes shake off their enforced fighting, and turn the tables and manage to defeat Abnegazar and Rath, leaving only Ghast. Dr. Fate manages to absorb some of the defeated demons' energy, giving him the power to trap Ghast where the magical objects last existed--inside the JLA satellite!
The modern day heroes say bye to the Legion, with Lantern planting a post-hypnotic suggestion in the JLA and JSA so they won't have any memory of their possible futures. I don't think non-powered heroes like Green Arrow need to worry about being alive in the 30th century, but what the hey...
Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Black Canary
Notable Moments: I had spent most of my teenaged years completing my run of the JLA comic. I had no intention of doing so when I started, but as I grew up(hah!), I came to realize that it wasn't impossible.
So over time, as I made fairly decent money for a teenager(working at a Roy Rogers restaurant on the turnpike, making about $8.00/hr--in 1985 money--because I was one of the few who could be relied upon to actually show up for my shifts), I spent that money on--no, not girls, not saving up for a car--but comics. One can take issue with my decision making abilities at the time, but lacking a time machine...
Anyway, I managed to find all the early issues, even the really hard to find ones like #1 and #9. But for some reason, this issue--#148--evaded me. I would buy every back issue I could find at my local comic shops, cons, but I could never find this one!
Finally, desperate to finish off my collection, I started buying comics via ads in The Comic Buyer's Guide (remember that?), and even then it took a while. Finally, some seller in Arizona was selling this a copy, and after a few nervous weeks, it arrived. A complete run of Justice League of America was mine.
Ugh! I was hoping for so much more from a JLA/JSA/LSH team-up. It wasn't much of a team-up at all, since the various groups didn't really get to work together. In #147, the Legion were depicted as inexperienced due to their youth. In #148, the JSA (except Power Girl) were depicted as weak-minded because of their age. And why use Brainiac 5 and Princess Projectra? The only less useful Legionnaire is Dream Girl.
ReplyDeleteThese issues sure didn't fit in with Englehart's run. I got the impression that Pasko and Levitz were tapped for this before Englehart signed-on. Besides, it didn't have enough "Editor's notes" to be an Englehart story. :)
Rob...
ReplyDeleteI worked at the Turnpike Roy Rogers (Mount Laurel) the Summer of 1985... The summer it opened... I remember the day I turned 18 they moved me to the roast beef slicer area. They couldn't find anybody old enough to be legally allowed to work the slicer that would show up!
George Rears
-I still have my brown uniform shirts.