Justice League of America #174 - Jan. 1980

Interesting, having a super-villain warning the super-heroes to save themselves. Well, The Regulator was new at this...

The Story: "A Plague of Monsters" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Continued from last issue, we see The Regulator and his rat army taking over S.T.A.R. Labs.

He punches out a scientist, telling him he is exacting revenge against the people who had him committed to a mental hospital, who he believes were jealous of his genius!

Back at the JLA satellite, Green Arrow is telling the other JLAers what happened and just why they aren't inducting Black Lightning. He gets so worked up he gets convinced that the others didn't really want him to join!

Arrow then storms off, off to find Lightning and ask him again, with Elongated Man and Zatanna tagging along.

While at the Metropolis Police HQ, they get an emergency call at S.T.A.R. Labs, and when the three JLAers and the police arrive, they are met by a horde of giant vermin! Ewww!

Some other JLAers arrive to help, as does Black Lightning, and they learn who this Regulator nutjob is. Soon, his hordes of vermin start filling the streets, and the JLA attempts to fight them off.

Meanwhile, Lightning makes a move towards The Regulator, atop a smokestack. In the ensuing battle, The Regulator is careless, and he slips, falling to his death inside the smokestack.

The JLA round up all the creatures, put them into a container of Zatanna's crafting, and Wonder Woman sends it hurtling into space(!), "to the outer reaches of the solar system."

Green Arrow tries one more time to talk Black Lightning into joining, but he remains steadfast to being a loner.

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Elongated Man, Zatanna

Notable Moments: I know the universe is a big place, but over the years superheroes have thrown so much crazy crap "to the outer reaches of the solar system" that it must look like a junkyard out there.

Also, it was kinda cruel, what the JLA did to the Regulator's creatures. Its not their fault, exactly, because they would normally be regular-sized rats and insects had the Regulator not messed with them.

Putting them all in a box, with no food or light, hurtling through space for however long, means that, in short work, that box will become a real chamber of horrors, as the creatures start killing and eating each other to survive.

Sorry to end this on such a downer.