The Atom gets married! Oh, and the JLA fights The Siren.The Story: "Till Doom Do Us Part!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, Juan Ortiz, and Frank McLaughlin. We open on the curvaceous Siren, who commands a whole team of male slaves as she declares war on the Justice League!
Meanwhile, Ray Palmer does what he's been debating over the last few issues, whether to tell his fiancee Jean Loring whether he is the Atom. He does, and Jean's mad at Ray's keeping secrets, and storms off.
At the same time, the JLA are in the satellite wrapping wedding presents. Black Canary is showing off her gift, a skimpy negligee, which Wonder Woman seems dubious about (Green Arrow = Happy, Steve Trevor = Sad).
Anyway, the festivities are interrupted when the Phantom Stranger shows up again, and warns that the Gods the JLA fought last issue ("The Fiend with Five Faces!") are not as vanquished as they thought. One of them created an illusion of themselves to fool the heroes (and the other Gods) and is still on Earth.
Some of the JLA encounter the Siren's goons, while Green Lantern and Red Tornado find The Siren herself. Who, via a magic kids, gets Green Lantern to become her slave!
She then gets GL to take her to the JLA satellite, where she uses her powers to hypnotize all the men, who she convinces to attack the women JLAers, plus guest-star Supergirl!
They fight for a while, but Supergirl is able to break through the mind control of Superman, because of his deep love for his cousin. That enabled the rest of the JLA to be freed, and its Kara and Black Canary who knock Siren out with a good shot right in the, er, kisser.
The Epilogue is Ray and Jean's wedding. Jean does show up, forgiving Ray for keeping such a secret. So let's go get hitched!:
Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Red Tornado, Hawkgirl
Notable Moments: Ray and Jean invited The Phantom Stranger (next to Green Arrow) and Captain Comet (between Aquaman and Flash) to the wedding! Now that's generous.
The cover is by Joe Staton, who never did another JLA cover. Too bad, since Joe Staton rocks.
One other art related comment: this issue was mostly drawn by fill-in artist Juan Ortiz, with Dillin handling the opening few pages and the Palmer marriage sequence. Other than this issue's middle section and all of issue #153, Dick Dillin's JLA streak ran unbroken. Pretty damn impressive.
Congrats Jean and Ray!
ReplyDeleteAnd hurray for Supergirl! Here's hoping that #158 opens with Kara being inducted. . .
Okay, I know that didn't happen. But it should have!
You know, something I just noticed, all the female members of the team seem to be in bride's maid dresses, but Jean didn't know Ray was a superhero until like 5 minutes ago. Did she knows all those ladies well enough in their secret identities to make them bride's maids?
ReplyDeleteAnd who's standing up for poor Ray? None of his male League friends seem to be wearing matching clothing.
And they invited Captain Comet and Phantom Stranger, but not Adam Strange? Man, total diss!
And now, I want this issue. Thanks rob!!
I assumed since Carter Hall is standing behind the bridesmaids, away from the other male Leaguers, he must be the best man (he was Ray's best friend after all).
ReplyDeleteThings I'm wondering about the Atom's wedding:
ReplyDelete1) How did they deliver the invitation to the Phantom Stranger? Send it to the JLA satellite & hope he might show up?
2) Did Silver Age Mera have flipper feet, or was that just her costume? And if she DID have flipper feet, how did she squeeze them into those shoes? How painful must have THAT been?
3) Did Hal Jordan manage to score any bridesmaids with his turtleneck, medallion & maroon jacket ensemble? Or was he c**k-blocked because all them seem to be his teammates?
Some answers....
ReplyDelete1. The Phantom Stranger goes where he wants to go, whether he is invited or not. :-)
2. Mera did NOT have web-feet. It was her costume.
3. Hal came with Carol Ferris. That's her on his right.
Captain Comet and Supergirl were invited because of their help in tracking Jean down in the Atom-based Super Team Family adventures leading up to this story. Likewise, Solovar from Gorilla City appeared, but in cognito (along with Red Tornado, who supposedly had a secret identity...?)
I always thought it odd that Jean had no sisters or friends or relatives at the wedding, and as Adama pointed out, except for Ray's lab assistant whose name escapes me (Henrietta something?) all Jean's bridesmaids are Ray's "friends." Hmmm....
I much preferred Juan Ortiz' art to Dillin's, and hoped that he would take over the title. I no longer cared for his and McLaughlin's style at all. (sigh)
Whatever happened to Juan Oritz? He was all over DC at the time. JLA, Detective, Batman Family, and then...poof. He was gone by the 80s.
ReplyDeleteThe only mention I've ever heard of him since was in a recent interview with Bob Rozakis where he said Oritz liked to stray from the script a little too much.
Chris
" . . . except for Ray's lab assistant whose name escapes me (Henrietta something?) . . . ."
ReplyDeleteEnrichetta Negrini. She was introduced in The Atom # 12 (Apr.-May, 1964). She was also the inadvertent source of many of the problems in the 1966 JLA/JSA team-up.
Always found that ghostly depiction at the wedding very odd.
ReplyDelete