Justice League of America #244 - Nov. 1985

The final JLA/JSA team-up!

The Story: "The Final Crisis" by Gerry Conway, Joe Staton, and Mike Machlan. Following events in Infinity Inc. #19, the JLA has been kicked out of their Detroit headquarters by its owner, Hank Heywood, Steel's grandfather.

So the JLA, under the leadership of the Martian Manhunter, is making a trip to their old, ruined satellite.

Vibe wants to know why they've made this loooong trip, and why, in his eyes, they are "running" from those kids in Infinity, Inc.

Manhunter says the JLA needs assistance (in fighting Infinity, Inc.? Oh, how the mighty have fallen...) and gets busy culling information from the JLA's computers.

Vibe asks Elongated Man who they're supposedly getting help from, and Ralph explains the whole Earth-1/Earth-2 thing:

That Vibe, he's a charmer.

Meanwhile, back the JLA's Detroit HQ, Infinity Inc. investigates the place, and can see no evidence of what Commander Steel told them--namely, that the JLA were bad guys, planning some sort of insurrection.

As Northwind and Silver Scarab head off to do some more investigating, Fury heads a different way, and discovers something horrible--the robot known as Mekanique (first seen in All-Star Squadron) seemingly torturing a young man (who we recognize as Steel)!

Commander Steel gets the drop on her, though, and knocks her lights out.

Back up in space, Manhunter has Zatanna use her magic to power up the JLA's transmatter tube, which carries them to Earth-2. At the same time, Commander Steel and Mekanique attack all of Infinity Inc., and with the element of surprise, buries them in rubble.

Commander Steel has been driven quite mad--he sees this new JLA as outlaws and traitors, and not worthy of his grandson, his superhero namesake.

In the midst of his tirade, he is surprised by the sudden appearance of the Justice Society--Dr. Fate, Dr. Mid-Nite, The Flash, Hawkman, and Wonder Woman--who are shocked to see what has happened to the man they knew.

Using Mekanique as a decoy, Commander Steel manages to escape, only to find himself in an underground basement, where Fury and the JLA are waiting for him!

Steel says this is between him and his grandfather, and they begin a knock-down, drag-out fight, while the red skies of the Crisis loom ominously outside.

Mekanique vanishes, and Dr. Fate warns something worse is coming. The JLA and Infinity Inc. meet up and team-up to fight off the disasters raging outside:

...I like that top panel. Very "chaaaarrrrge!"

While the heroes save lives, the battle between the two Steels ends. It seems Commander Steel is...dead?...as Hank stands over him, his eyes filled with tears.

Roll Call: Martian Manhunter, Elongated Man, Zatanna, Vixen, Steel, Vibe, Gypsy

Notable Moments: A nice fill-in job by Joe Staton, drawing what would be the last ever JLA/JSA team-up, at least as they were classically defined.

I noticed the "jerk" quotient of Vibe got ramped up here, both from Conway and from Dan Mishkin, who wrote the third JLA Annual, which came out this same month (and we'll see here tomorrow).

This is editor Alan Gold's final issue as editor, handing the reins over to Andy Helfer. Unless I'm very careless, I can't find any mention of why Chuck Patton left the book. Weird!

Justice League of America #232 - Nov. 1984

The second part of the JLA/JSA team-up as they take on The Commander!

The Story: "Battlegrounds" by Kurt Busiek and Alan Kupperberg. Picking up from last issue, the two sets of heroes split up to try and take on the assaults of a mysterious being named The Commander.

While Superman, The Flash, Starman, and Dr. Mid-Nite return from an alternate dimension with their young charges' father in tow, Dr. Fate, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and Green Lantern have just defeated a horde of demons that appeared outside the Pentagon.

Dr. Fate has all the demons trapped in a giant mystical black blobby thing, and says he needs a mystic pentagram to contain their evil. Since there's a pentagram already on hand, he decides to bury the evil under it, an idea that tickles Supergirl:

Finally, the other heroes arrive, except not as they planned...this time, Superman, et al are on the attack!

Acting as if possessed, the heroes try and fight off their friends without doing permanent harm. At the same time, the kids' father wakes up, still under the control of the mysterious Commander.

One of the kids, a young girl named Vicky, tries to pull her father out of his "trance", but it doesn't work. She tries to get her siblings to help out, but their brother, Ian, is disgusted with this whole thing, and refuses.

Wonder Woman finally ensnares the rogue heroes in her Magic Lasso, telling them to cease hostilities. It works...for the moment.

Ian finally realizes that whoever is controlling his Dad has to be eliminated if he ever wants to settle up with him, so he joins forces with his sisters. They then combine their abilities with the heroes, which is enough to rend The Commander out of their Father's body!

The heroes think this means the Big C has had to go back to his own dimension, but Dr. Fate isn't so sure. As usual, Dr. Fate is right about these kind of things:

The Commander gives the hero a classic Super-Villain Back Story, featuring tales of conquest and how he managed to defeat everyone he could find, until there was no one left to battle!

When he met up with the mind of the old man, he used him as a portal to this new dimension, where the promise of new battles await him!

As you can imagine, the heroes don't take too well to this. As Dr. Fate and the kids try and open up a portal back to his own dimension, the other heroes team-up and try and knock him into it.

He's almost defeated, but refuses to give up. Just then, the Monitor, who has been watching all this from his satellite, peeks in on The Commander. That distracts him just a for a moment, but that is enough for him to be knocked back to his home dimension!

But The Commander refuses to go, so instead he ruptured his own form, and the portal itself, sending the heroes hurtling through different dimensions! While protected by Green Lantern's power ring, they see glimpses of things that don't quite make sense...to them:

The heroes orient themselves when they see the Crime Syndicate, still in their inter-dimensional prison bubble, and head home to Earth-1.

The JSA says goodbye, and then Mr. Champion and his kids, still with some of the powers they received from The Commander, take off as well, on an inter-dimensional vacation.

Superman doesn't think that's a great idea, but Flash insists all is well, and challenges him to a race back to the satellite!

Roll Call: Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash

Notable Moments: That little cameo by the Crime Syndicate was a nice, if sorta nasty, touch--these poor saps are stuck in this little bubble, for all eternity, basically.

There's a lot of crazy mystical mumbo-jumbo going on in this issue, so I bet my summary is a bit confusing. It reads better, trust me.

As I said with Part 1, this was the last JLA/JSA team-up, at least in the form we all recognize.

Around this time, DC released its second DC Sampler book, featuring our first glimpse of all the all-new Justice League:

...its interesting to see that there were changes made to the new JLA very late in process--in this image, Vixen is wearing a mask, Gypsy's green eye make-up is much more pronounced, making it look more like a mask, and Vibe is colored much darker than he ever was in the regular JLA book. Hmm...

Justice League of America #231 - Oct. 1984

The final JLA/JSA team-up...at least, as we knew them.

The Story: "Family Crisis" by Kurt Busiek and Alan Kupperberg. So where the heck have Superman, Wonder Woman, and The Flash been during the Martian Invasion? We're about to find out!

This issue opens narrated by an unknown being, as it surveys the history of Earth...cavemen, baseball, Batman, the Eiffel Tower, I Love Lucy, advertising...all of it.

We see this being hone in on something called "the League" and we find Green Lantern deep in space, the Phantom Stranger wandering a dimension beyond understanding, and Ray Palmer on a search to find a lost city.

We also see many of the other members of this "League" heads toward Earth as it prepares to meet up with the strange spaceship heading towards the East Coast...and less then a few moments after that, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and guest-star Supergirl arrive:

Suddenly three...children(!) arrive, claiming to need the Justice League's help! The JLAers agree, and they all disappear together.

They arrive on Earth-2, in time to see their JSA friends under attack by a group of...flying monkeys? The JLA pitch in, of course:

This strange narrator takes stock of all the heroes, deeming them all to be "obstacles"...except for Dr. Mid-Nite, whose paltry powers seem insignificant compared to the rest of his fellow heroes.

Suddenly, the flying monkeys disappear, replaced by the giant visage of a man, who demands absolute surrender!

Turns out this this man is the kids' Father, and they tell the heroes that one day, their fatherm, while working for the FBI, suddenly vanished without a trace. He then reappeared in the same ghostly form, talking gibberish about bloodlines and great power.

The kids learned that when the three of them are together, they have amazing powers, and they can seemingly "follow" their father's trail. Dr. Fate has them divide up into teams to try and find the place where the next "attack" (that the kids' father warned of) is going to take place.

One of the kids makes a random comment about the Pentagon, and the heroes, not having a better idea, head there. When they get there, they discover a horde of demons!

Meanwhile, the other group of heroes arrive in an alternate dimension, where they discover a fantastic domed city. When they make their way in, they are met by a machine that calls itself The Commander, which flashes a light at them, causing them all to live out their deepest fantasies:

...oops, looks like Dr. Mid-Nite isn't quite so useless!

The doc throws one of his blackout bombs that wakes the others up, and they find the kids father, hooked up to the weird machine. They grab him and take off, heading for home.

The other heroes defeat the demons at the Pentagon, and as they await their friends' return, we learn that this is all part of The Commander's plan! To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash

Notable Moments: Is it me, or was Supergirl written as a more interesting, captivating character just before she was bumped off? She's a lot of fun here, kinda making jokey asides during all the action. I would've loved to have seen this Supergirl maybe join JLA Detroit!

The Dr. Mid-Nite bit is a great moment; he's dismissed early on but ends up being the only one who can save Superman, Flash, and Starman! Pretty good, no?

The JLA logo gets a face-lift as of this issue, the first time in about fifteen years.

We'll be a little out of sequence tomorrow, since we'll be talking about the second part of this story in JLA #232, instead of Justice League of America Annual #2, which came out this same month.

Instead, the second Annual will be covered on Tuesday, to be followed by an all-new JLA Satellite interview with...Gerry Conway!

Justice League of America #220 - Nov. 1983

The super-secret origin of Black Canary is revealed!

The Story: "The Doppleganger Gambit" by Roy Thomas, Chuck Patton, Romeo Tanghal, and Pablo Marcos. Picking up from last issue, the JSAers leave the JLA satellite and prepare to head off to various corners of the globe to stop rampaging supervillains.

They are startled when they are met by Sargon the Sorcerer, who uses his powers to freeze and pretty much embarass the Huntress, Power Girl, and Red Tornado, who don't know who he is. Hourman and Flash have a nice laugh.

Sargon explains he is here because the body of Jim Corrigan--who houses the astral body of their friend, The Spectre--was also zapped by T-Bolt, so Sargon is here to help the JSA get to the bottom of what's going on.

Meanwhile, in T-Bolt's dimension, Johnny Thunder forces T-Bolt to explain why all this is happening, and we get a rundown of the events in Johnny and Dinah's life in the late 1940s.

Johnny, now partnered (or so he thinks) with Black Canary, feels he didn't need T-Bolt anymore, and in an astonishing display of jackassery, tells the T-Bolt to get lost.

What Johnny forgot is, without the T-Bolt, he's basically Snapper Carr with worse fashion sense, and, realizing he is way, way out of his league in the JSA, eventually quit, to be replaced on the team by...Black Canary.

Johnny also takes a hit when he realizes that Dinah isn't interested in him as anything other than a friend:

Johnny Thunder, Ungrateful Jerk.

Years later, Larry Lance and Dinah are married, and they have a daughter. One day, the supervillain the Wizard shows up, to extract revenge for the time Black Canary and the JSA busted him. He casts a spell on the baby, which gives it the ability to project an ear-piercing scream whenever it talks...like a Canary Cry.

They turn to Johnny Thunder and his T-Bolt for help, and the T-Bolt says he can take the tyke, and keep her in suspended animation is his dimension, until a cure could be found.

Black Canary is, understandably, a little shocked at this news...she has a daughter she doesn't remember?

Meanwhile, the various heroes are finally getting to the supervillains: Flash and Hourman take on The Fiddler and Chronos (ooh, I'm scared!), the Huntress and Red Tornado take on the Icicle and Dr. Alchemy, and Power Girl and Sargon take on The Wizard and Felix Faust.

All the heroes are defeated, and we learn they stuck a deal with Johnny Thunder: if he could get all JLAers out of the way, they would do the same to the JSA. Johnny Thunder, though, has plans to have the T-Bolt kill the villains once all this is done, as well.

He then commands T-Bolt to kill Starman and Black Canary, and he tries to resist the command. As he struggles, the Earth-2 Johnny Thunder--also imprisoned there--breaks free of his energy gag, and supersedes that original order, freeing T-Bolt!

After the evil Johnny is punched out the good one, he sends T-Bolt to earth to help wake up the JLAers, who then in turn help the JSAers defeat the villains.

Back in the T-Bolt dimension, Black Canary is still wondering what the hell is going on. Luckily Superman and the Spectre show up to answer her:

...well, sure, I can see how that would make sen...wait a minute, what?!?

Turns out that Black Canary developed her powers when she switched Earths, not because of the villain Aquarius, as was thought way back in JLA #75. Superman and the JSA knew, but decided it was best just to leave "well enough" alone.

Superman picks up Canary, and as they head back to Earth-1, she asks that he let her explain all this to Green Arrow...

Roll Call: Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Red Tornado, Zatanna, Firestorm

Notable Moments: This has got to be, hands down, the craziest, most absurd retro-fitting in the history of superhero comics.

Even as a kid, when I got to the above page, I went "What?!?" Superman just took it upon himself to do all this memory and body switching? And he's kept this huge secret all these years? Gee, thanks, Kal, I think I can manage my own life, thanks very much.

I understand the need to explain how Black Canary seemed to be as young, if not younger, than most of the JLA, yet she was supposedly around since World Warr II. But the idea of erasing someone's memory, so you think you're your own Mother, is just so odd and wrong and weird and crazy.

From 1 to 10 on the Goofy Meter, this story, as a great man once said, goes to 11.

Enjoy this issue's cover by George Perez, its the last one he ever did for the book. *sniff*
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The JLA was doing a lot of guest-starring around this time--sandwiched in between their appearance in Batman and the Outsiders #1 (in Aug. 1983) and their one in World's Finest #300 (in Feb. 1984) was this guest-shot, in The Flash #327.

The Flash had just killed his old nemesis, Professor Zoom, and the JLA put him on trial to decide whether he should stay in the League.

Only six members participated, with Green Arrow, Elongated Man, and Firestorm voting to let Flash stay, and Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Hawkman voting for expulsion. It's up to Superman, who shows up at the end, to cast the deciding vote (which ended up being for The Flash to stay, making for some awkward meetings between Barry and Diana, Arthur, and Katar).

Interesting note: less than two years later, as Tony Isabella was putting Katar through his paces in his excellent Shadow War of the Hawkman mini-series, he had a moment where Katar reflects on this moment, and chastises himself for being so inflexible and tough on Barry. A nice touch, I thought.

Justice League of America #219 - Oct. 1983

The JLA and the JSA versus one of their own!

The Story: "Crisis in the Thunderbolt Dimension!" by Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, Chuck Patton, and Romeo Tanghal. We open in Keystone City, where the Flashes of both Earths are taking care of some particularly hapless crooks.

After wrapping them up and handing them off to the police, they head to the JLA Transporter Tube atop a local building.

While they're waiting for the tube to kick on, a giant pink lightning bolt comes out of suddenly-appearing storm clouds. Not only that, but it seems to headed right towards them!

The bolt seems to "push" Jay Garrick out of the way, but it zaps Barry Allen, knocking him out! Jay is shocked to see the lightning bolt is actually his fellow superhero, Johnny Thunder's Thunderbolt!

He tries to attack it, but T-Bolt blasts him, knocking him out for a moment. As he disappears into the sky, Jay sees that Barry is...dying!

Meanwhile, up at the JLA Satellite, the two sets of heroes are having a party. Except for Firestorm, who doesn't seem to be enjoying himself:

(By the way, coming in on Black Canary saying: "...oh, and it's about this long, and as wide around as a marking pen": is it just me?)

Anyway, Firestorm is mopey because Power Girl--who he has made a play for every time they reunited with the JLA since he met her--seems to be ignoring him. Elongated Man tries to cheer him up, but its Hourman who delivers the advice he wants to hear:

Hourman, mack daddy.

Suddenly the party is broken when the T-Bolt shows up at the satellite, and he blasts Firestorm as mercilessly as he did The Flash.

He then does the same to Zatanna and Elongated Man, but only barely touches the JSAers plus Black Canary and Red Tornado. In fact, it's Canary's Canary Cry that seems to drive him off.

Jay Garrick then shows up, with Barry is in arms, and they put all the comatose JLAers in Sick Bay. They then realize the only connection the rest of them have us they were all born (or, in Reddy's case, created) on Earth-2...but what could that have to do with anything?

They try and contact the other Leaguers, but they see a similar fate has befallen them:

...I always found this panel a tad unsettling, not seeing what happened. To be able to take out Superman and Wonder Woman before they even got the chance to get up? Wow!

While all this is happening, the JSA hears that a group of super-villains are attacking and robbing various places on the globe. The JSAers break up into teams to stop them, with Starman and Canary staying behind.

Starman has a hunch they might find out what's going on if they visit T-Bolt's home dimension, so using his Cosmic Rod, they go there, where they are sucker-zapped by the T-Bolt.

When they wake up, they are imprisoned by the T-Bolt, who is controlled by the evil, Earth-1 version of Johnny Thunder! Not only that, but he shows them something startling--encased in a glass coffin is her deceased husband, Larry Lance, plus...Black Canary herself! To be continued!

Roll Call: Flash, Green Lantern, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Red Tornado, Zatanna, Firestorm

Notable Moments: A rare Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman-less JLA/JSA team-up. I guess with Batman out of the JLA, it made more sense to feature the other heroes.

A great, insanely-detailed cover by George Perez. The JLAers really look like they're in pain there.

Justice League of America #209 - Dec. 1982

The biggest JLA/JSA cross-over ever concludes!

The Story: "Let Old Acquaintances Be Forgot..." by Gerry Conway and Don Heck. Picking up from last issue, the JLA, the JSA, and the All-Star Squadron reconnoiter at the White House, having broken up into several smaller teams to find the nuclear missiles stolen by the Crime Syndicate under Per Degaton's instructions.

In Switzerland, Steel, Firestorm, and Power Girl defeat Johnny Quick and destroy the missile. At the same time, Green Lantern, Firebrand, and Zatanna go back in time and head for Cuba, to try and stop Per Degaton from triggering World War III.

Meanwhile, the remaining heroes find Degaton's headquarters, defeat his army of armed henchmen, while the Huntress makes short work of Owlman. I mean, the guy's name is Owlman.

The Crime Syndicate show up in 1962-era Cuba to steal the Russian's missiles, but the heroes are there to stop them, thereby righting history. Immediately, all the heroes begin to fade away, back to their original times.

The All-Star Squadron has some hazy memories, Per Degaton is back working as a lowly lab assistant, dreaming of world power, and the Crime Syndicate is back in their inter-dimensional prison.

We then cut back to the moment the JSA was supposed to beam across to the satellite, and this time they do, and marvel that, for once, nothing bad happened:

"...Now what was that you were saying about wanting to get me alone?" Wow! Score one for Firestorm!

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Elongated Man, Red Tornado, Zatanna, Firestorm

Notable Moments: ...I probably did this story a disservice, condensing it down so much. A lot happens in these five issues. Nowadays this plot would run for two years.

Another awesome cover by George Perez, nicely summing up all that has come before. You have to admit, Per Degaton got a lot accomplished, more than most supervillains ever dream of. It took three sets of heroes to beat him, and he doesn't even have any superpowers!

Four of the five issues of this story came out when I was on vacation in the Poconos, a favorite spot when I was a kid. With two of the month-old issues still on sale at newsstands in August 1982, I got to read 4/5ths of the story in two weeks, which was very exciting.

Justice League of America #208 - Nov. 1982

The biggest JLA/JSA cross-over ever continues here!

The Story: "The Bomb-Blast Heard 'Round The World!" by Gerry Conway, Don Heck, and Sal Trapani. Picking up from last issue, the JLA and the All-Star Squadron find themselves face to face in the ruined headquarters of the Justice Society.

Not knowing each other, they of course start beating the crap out of each other, Marvel-style. Aquaman takes a swipe at Steel, and is surprised to find that he doesn't immediately fall over. The heroes from each side approach each other, fists clenched...

Superman can't take it anymore, and yells "Stop It!" at the top of his lungs, nearly bursting the ear drums of every one but Robotman.

The two teams get each other their back stories, Firestorm tries to hit on Firebrand, and then they get a call from...President Roosevelt!

FDR is amazingly calm, meeting all these new superheroes, and Zatanna is quietly stunned at the (to her) former President's magnetism. I think I'd feel the same way.

Anyway, FDR explains they got a crate in the mail, inside of which is a machine that plays a tape of...Per Degaton!

None of the heroes know who he is, exactly, and Firestorm makes an interesting observation:

...I bet Ronnie also believes in Phrenology.

Anyway, the heroes figure out that somehow Per Degaton changed history, something the JSA is learning too, while searching the destroyed Earth-Prime.

Turns out, on Earth-Prime, the Cuban Missile Crisis ended with all-out nuclear war, leaving the world the way it is now. Clearly, also the work of Per Degaton.

Back on Earth-2, Per Degaton's promise to explode a nuclear bomb out in the Pacific Ocean is fulfilled, but then the JLA sees a bubble in the aftermath, filled with their JSA friends!

As the JLA cares for their unconscious friends, they don't realize Per Degaton is watching them, plotting the end of his terrible plan! To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, Aquaman, Hawkman, Zatanna, Firestorm

Notable Moments: ...an awesome cover by George Perez. I would've loved to have seen it full bleed, but the overall design is cool, too.

Part four of the story takes place in All-Star Squadron #15:

...I thought I had these issues in my collection, but apparently I don't. That's a shame, since I remember Aquaman gets a lot to do in, er, ASS #15.

Time to hit eBay...

Justice League of America #207 - Oct. 1982

The biggest JLA/JSA cross-over ever begins here!

The Story: "Crisis on Earth-Prime!" by Gerry Conway, Don Heck, and Romeo Tanghal. The JLA and the JSA prepare meet at the JLA satellite for their annual get together. Think something will go wrong?

The JLA's transmatter machine lights up, but its not the JSA that steps out...it's the Crime Syndicate of Earth-3!

Startled, the CS make quick work of the JLAers, and then steal one of their spacecraft, heading for Earth-1.

Meanwhile, we find the JSA trapped in the same prison bubble in another dimension that the heroes left the Crime Syndicate in, waaay back in JLA #s 29 and 30.

Luckily, the combined powers of Green Lantern and Dr. Fate free them, and GL uses his ring to find the "hole" in reality that they believe the baddies left through. They follow that path, and make their way to Earth-1, or so they think:

They find this other Earth, Earth-Prime, completely destroyed in a nuclear holocaust, and filled with all sorts of irradiated creatures. GL scans the planet, and picks up psychic patterns which reveals who did this...the supervillain Per Degaton!

Back at the satellite, the JLAers wake up, and head to Earth-2 to try and find the JSA. But when they get there, they see they've arrived on Earth-2, all right, but this Earth-2 is different than the one they know...its a fascist world, filled with statues of its leader...Per Degaton!

The JLA sees that the JSA's headquarters was destroyed in 1942, so they decide to head back to that time, to figure out what happened.

Once they arrive, they are greeted by superheroes, but not the JSA--it's the All-Star Squadron! To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, Aquaman, Hawkman, Zatanna, Firestorm

Notable Moments: The biggest JLA/JSA team-up ever, spanning over five issues and two books. It was even more unusual, because you got to see the All-Star Squadron's "side" of the story in fourteenth issue of their book:

...which ended basically on the other side of the door to the JSA's headquarters, at the exact same moment this issue ended, leading into tomorrow's JLA.

The cover design, with all the heads reacting to the center image, is quite striking. Kudos to whoever designed it!

Aquaman, for whatever reason, rarely participated in the yearly JLA/JSA team-ups (he only appeared in two in the last decade), so its nice he was in on the biggest one they ever did!

Justice League of America #197 - Dec. 1981

Part 3 of the JLA and the JSA versus the Secret Society of Super-Villains!

The Story: "Crisis in Limbo!" by Gerry Conway, George Perez, Keith Pollard, and Romeo Tanghal. Continued from last issue, we watch the SSOSV gloat as they transport the kidnapped members of the JLA and JSA into another dimension.

After the heroes disappear, the desired-for effect happens, and both worlds experience a worldwide--but momentary--reality shift (another reason why it would be absolutely terrifying to actually live on either of these worlds, since stuff like this seems to happen every couple of days).

Anyway, Ultra Humanite checks his figures and...presto! The heroes of Earth-2 are gone!

While he, The Monocle, The Mist, Brainwave, Psycho Pirate, and Rag Doll gloat, the Earth-1 villains start to think this was going to be the result all along, and they have been hoodwinked.

Of course, they are exactly right, and now that they are no longer needed, UH beams them back to Earth-1! What an ungrateful little monkey!

The Earth-1 villains are furious at the treachery, and they hatch a plan. They lay in wait for Green Lantern, and get the drop on him just as he's about to use the JLA Transporter. They use him to beam there, where they subdue The Elongated Man, and use the satellite to beam themselves to the interdimensional limbo where the kidnapped heroes went.

They get Cheetah all worked up, so she attacks Wonder Woman in a blind rage, smashing the tube she's encased in, freeing all the heroes. Unfortunately, the villains didn't really have an Exit Strategy, and they are easily defeated by the JLA and JSA in return!

Soon after, the Earth-2 villains all meet, and ask why the Ultra Humanite wanted them there. He said he didn't, and the confusion is broken when they learn who it was who called them there:

The heroes make quick work of the bad guys (The Flash in particular knocks Rag Doll around like, well, a rag doll), and throw them all into a transporter beam jerry-rigged by Batman, The Atom, and Wonder Woman.

Superman ends the discussion with knocking UH into the beam, transporting them all into the same limbo the heroes were stranded in.

The JLAers return to the satellite, to a bewildered Green Lantern and Elongated Man, while all the villains chase after Ultra Humanite, in an unusually comical ending.

Roll Call: Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Atom, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Firestorm

Notable Moments: I like the glee with which Batman threatens the villains. For once, he's enjoying this.

The JLA Mail Room features a letter from a Canadian named Todd McFarlane. Hmm...

Justice League of America #196 - Nov. 1981

Part 2 of the JLA and the JSA versus the Secret Society of Super-Villains!

The Story: "Countdown to Crisis" by Gerry Conway, George Perez, and Romeo Tanghal. Continued from last issue, we have the SSOSV pulling off their plot to kidnap specific members of the JLA and JSA.

Having already captured Wonder Woman, Hawkman, and Black Canary, they are placed in some sort of giant mix-master, until the other heroes needed for this plan can also be kidnapped.

The next hero on the list is Hourman, and we find him being attacked by The Psycho Pirate out in public, in Hourman's civilian identity of Rex Tyler.

The PP projects his emotions onto a giant movie screen, trying to use them on Hourman, in a sequence wonderfully executed by George Perez (how many times have I said that already):

...of course, the Pirate finally gets the drop on Hourman, and takes him back to the base. This segment is a reminder that there really are very few bad characters, its all how they are handled. I woulda read an Hourman solo comic drawn by George Perez, no problem.

Cut to Earth-1, where we find the Dark Knight Detective on patrol:

He is attacked the The Signal Man, who turns the citizens of Gotham against him. As Signal Man says: "Mission Accomplished!"

The same fate befalls The Flash by Rag Doll, The Atom by The Floronic Man, Johnny Thunder by Brainwave, Firestorm by Killer Frost, and finally Superman by the Ultra Humanite.

All the heroes are then placed in UH's machine, and it spins faster and faster, until it finally disappears into limbo! To be continued!

Roll Call: Batman, Wonder Woman, Atom, Black Canary, Firestorm

Notable Moments: I like the use of the mostly obscure villains--The Monocle? The Mist? Not exactly The Joker and Black Manta here, but maybe the Ultra Humanite thought they'd be easier to control. We'll see next issue how wrong he was.

All of the issues of JLA in my collection are treasured, but this one a little more than most--I bought it while on vacation with my parents in the Pocono Mountains, where we went ever year in August (during my birthday).

I spent a lot of time sitting on the porch, looking out over the lake, with as many comics as I could find at the numerous bookstores and newsstands that lined the one road through the area. The copy I have here is the same one I bought back in August 1981.

Good times.

Justice League of America #195 - Oct. 1981

The JLA and the JSA versus the Secret Society of Super-Villains!

The Story: "Targets on Two Worlds" by Gerry Conway, George Perez, and John Beatty. We find various supervillains (The Monocle, Signalman, the Cheetah) being approached by other supervillains (Killer Frost, and some mysterious, shadowed figure) about joining the Secret Society of Super-Villains. Ah, open enrollment day!

The creepy Flash villain Rag Doll is rescued from a botched bank robbery by The Monocle and the Psycho Pirate, and Killer Frost, the Cheetah, and Signal Man drag Jason Woodrue (aka The Floronic Man, aka The Plant Master) into their scheme, as well.

We find yet another villain, the Mist, and how he deals with former accomplices who have done him wrong:

...The Mist may be a goofy villain, but he's hardcore.

The Earth-1 villains meet up with another villains, Brainwave, and he teleports them all to Earth-2, where they meet up with the other bad guys, and they meet their leader...the Ultra-Humanite!

He explains to them his cockamamie theory that, if you remove certain heroes from each of the two worlds, it will throw the "cosmic balance" out of whack, causing the permanent removal of all the heroes from one of the worlds!

Meanwhile, the JLA and the JSA are having their annual get together at the satellite, with The Atom telling bad jokes, Firestorm hitting on Power Girl (can't blame a guy for trying), and Batman happy to see his quasi-daughter, The Huntress. All the JLA are in attendance, even former members:

...how can we miss you if you won't leave?

Anyway, after all the heroes clear out, Canary is left behind on Monitor Duty. So lost in her reveries, Canary doesn't notice that the Mist has sneaked onto the satellite, where he sucker-punches her, knocking her out.

The Monocle and The Cheetah get the drop on the Earth-2 Hawkman and Wonder Woman, respectively, and all three heroes are kidnapped and taken to the SSOV's headquarters, as per the plan.

We find that the Ultra Humanite has been lying about part of his plan--he knows full well which Earth will be de-heroized! To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Red Tornado, Hawkgirl, Zatanna, Firestorm

Notable Moments: I like the running gag of Firestorm trying to score with Power Girl, and it was nice to see Aquaman (if only for one panel), since he seems to rarely show during these JLA/JSA team-ups, for some reason (although that will change soon).

DC raised their price with this issue from 50 to 60 cents, but gave you two extra pages of content. In this issue's case, a nice JLA/JSA pin-up by Perez:

Justice League of America #185 - Dec. 1980

The conclusion of the universe-shattering JLA/JSA/New Gods team-up!

The Story: "Darkseid Rising!" by Gerry Conway, George Perez, and Frank McLaughlin. We open with the New God Metron, who gives us a nice overview of what has happened so far.

Then we see Batman, Huntress, and Mr. Miracle, having just learned what Darkseid's ultimate plan is, are none too pleased to see that Darkseid himself has arrived, with the Injustice Gang in tow.

The Icicle brags that they have trapped three of the heroes--Firestorm, Power Girl, and Orion--in ice. You'd think Darkseid would be happy, but he's a moody guy. He doesn't take too well to seeing his son humiliated like that, and his blasts the IG, transporting them into a permanent prison chamber!

Meanwhile, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Big Barda make their way into the bowels of Granny Goodness' dungeon, where they see her overseeing a pit of forced child labor!

During the melee, Granny escapes using a secret passageway, but she doesn't quite get away:

...that's a great, mean, angry face Perez gives Barda there. *shudder*

In the meantime, the frozen heroes have been freed by Batman, the Huntress, and Mr. Miracle, who then continue on to the prison chamber holding the villains. Since The Fiddler is controlling the people of New Genesis, they need him to free them from their hypnotic trance Darkseid put them under.

Batman and Mr. Miracle are like kids in a candy store, figuring out a death-trap ridden, seemingly-impenetrable prison cell:

Of course, the villains are freed, and made an offer they can't refuse.

The other heroes make their way to Darkseid, and the combined might of Green Lantern, Dr. Fate, and Metron turn the tables on Darkseid, turning the energy in his universe-destroying machine back on him, seemingly destroying him. Yeah, right.

But, for the moment at least, New Genesis is safe.

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Firestorm

Notable Moments: As sad as it was to lose Dick Dillin, DC couldn't have found a better, more exciting replacement than George Perez.

Perez had--has--the ability to render wonderfully grand, exciting superhero battles, on a truly cosmic scale, but also could put across quiet little moments of characterization with a staggering amount of detail.

Look at the page above--just before Bats and Mr. Miracle break in to the prison cell, they have Huntress stand guard. Then they climb atop the cell, and in panel seven, we see Huntress doing just that in the background, a nice touch that a lot of other artists might have forgotten about or just not bothered to add.

Justice League of America #184 - Nov. 1980

Part 2 of the JLA/JSA/New Gods team-up!

The Story: "Apokolips Now!" by Gerry Conway, George Perez, and Frank McLaughlin. Continued from last issue, our heroes are none too happy to see that the villainous Darkseid, rumored to be dead, seems to have been brought back to life by the Injustice Gang!

Three heroes, Power Girl, Firestorm, and Orion, try and take on the Injustice Gang, consisting of the, er, less than terrifying combo of The Shade, The Fiddler, and The Icicle.

They manage to subdue two of them, until The Fiddler lays some bad tunes on them:

...that's a beauty of a page, and an early indication of the genius comic book storytelling George Perez was capable of.

Anyway, we cut to Superman, Wonder Woman, and Big Barda, who have discovered an organized, armed resistance against Darkseid's minion, the creepily-masculine Granny Goodness. Disturbingly though, this band of armed fighters are little more than children.

They use a mutant telepath child named Playto to learn how Darkseid ended up in cahoots with the Injustice Gang (he was less than polite in asking for their help), and then they search for Granny.

Meanwhile, Dr. Fate, Green Lantern, and Oberon rescue Highfather, who tells them he knows what Darkseid's ultimate plan.

Also meanwhile(!), the perfect combo of Batman, Huntress, and Mr. Miracle break into another part of Granny's stronghold, where they learn what the ultimate plan is...transporting Apokolips to Earth-2, and destroying the universe in the process! To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Firestorm

Notable Moments: The JLA Mail Room page makes the official announcement of Dick Dillin's passing:

The page is filled with tributes by those who knew and worked with the man, like Jack Harris, Paul Levitz, Len Wein, Bob Rozakis, and his nephew, Steven Leary, who tells stories of watching his "Uncle Richard" draw these amazing stories.

Justice League of America #183 - Oct. 1980

The annual JLA/JSA team-up...this time on New Genesis!

The Story: "Crisis on New Genesis" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. The annual JLA/JSA meeting is hijacked--again--when the heroes from both Earth-1 and Earth-2 find themselves transported to...New Genesis!

Superman explains to his bewildered pals where they are, since he has been here before. His use of the phrase "New Gods" irks the Earth-2 Wonder Woman, and as they squabble, they notice one of their party is suddenly missing...Firestorm!

Turns out the young hero got bored and went exploring, where he runs into the, er, less-than-even-tempered Orion, who blasts him with a bolt of energy.

The JLA and JSA find Firestorm and go after his attacker, and then they are met by the people that brought them here...Metron, Mr. Miracle, Big Barda, and Oberon of The New Gods!

Metron uses the Mother Box to calm Orion down, and they explain that New Genesis has been enslaved by the evil hordes of Apokolips, with assistance from...The Injustice Society of Earth-2!

The heroes infiltrate the royal palace, where they see the Injustice Gang surrounding some sort of giant cannon, which is pumping energy into someone in the distant sky...Darkseid! To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Firestorm

Notable Moments: A team-up of gargantuan scale, featuring three sets of heroes on a whole other world.

As nice as the team-up is, this issue is most memorable as the final issue--after fourteen years straight--of JLA with Dick Dillin as penciler.

Dillin's run on the book is simply astounding, and to me only gets more impressive with age, since it seems nowadays if artists stay on a book for six months its a miracle. To say nothing of just how tough it must have been to draw all these heroes every month, along with teams of villains, aliens, bizarre weapons, etc.

This was Dick Dillin's last JLA splash page, and it's a doozy. Click on it to take it all in:

Rest in peace, Mr. Dillin.

Justice League of America #172 - Nov. 1979

Hey, what's Wonder Woman doing there? And since the murderer is standing behind Batman right now, who the heck is he pointing at?

The Story: "I Accuse..." by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Continued from last issue, tensions are running high on the satellite following the murder of Mr. Terrific.

Superman asks that Dr. Fate and the Lanterns create a force shield around the satellite so powerful that not even he can break it, to make sure the murderer doesn't escape.

The two teams start an investigation, starting off with Huntress suggesting maybe Mr. Terrific was going senile, a suggestion Green Lantern doesn't take too well to.

Batman, who of course is leading the investigation, asks Flash a few questions:

...I love this sequence, mainly because Batman doesn't explain what he's getting at to the Flash. That seems very Batman to me.

While the Huntress is working the JLA computer, it suddenly explodes, leaving her with terrible burns. Luckily, Dr. Fate uses his amazing abilities to heal her, and with great effort she tells Batman that their suspect is, in fact, who they think it is. She then drifts into sleep.

Batman then reveals what happened--there's only a handful of heroes who could warp the satellite's hull, and who leaves a "seismic trail" that could be tracked by the machine the Spirit King recently stole...and that is Jay Garrick, The Flash!

It turns out that not too long ago, the Flash beat King so badly that he was chosen for a special revenge, to be used an instrument of murder! The Spirit King then uses The Flash's body to escape via the transporter tube, escaping the heroes.

And before the JSA departs to track him down, they take a moment to reflect that the main element of the Spirit King's plan--to turn the heroes against each other--failed, because the heroes refused to believe the worst about one another.

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Red Tornado, Zatanna

Notable Moments: I always though the Spirit King was in fact an old DC villain, turns out Gerry Conway just made him up! He didn't even rate a listing in Who's Who a few years later, even though he took out a long-running DC hero.

There is a bit of a cheat here, where King reveals that he didn't use the Flash's body to strangle Mr. Terrific--which would've been a creepy, unsettling touch--but instead became corporeal just long enough to do the deed himself. Like I did a few issues ago, I call shenanigans.

This issue features a spiffy ad for, well, itself:

...I like the varied bits of stock art you've got here. A bunch of Neal Adams heads, Power Girl from the cover of All-Star Comics #58, Green Lantern from the back cover of the JLA treasury comic, a real smorgasbord.

Justice League of America #171 - Oct. 1979

The JLA and the JSA's annual team-up this time involves a murder...committed by one of them!

The Story: "The Murderer Among Us: Crisis Above Earth-One!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Zatanna is chairing the monthly JLA meeting, which happens to coincide with the annual get together with the JSA.

The JSAers this time around include Hawkman, Green Lantern, Power Girl, Huntress, Mr. Terrific, Flash, and Dr. Fate. No points as to which one of these heroes doesn't make it to the end of the issue.

Anyway, the two teams of heroes are participating in chit-chat, and Zatanna mentions to Hawkman and Power Girl that she still feels a bit nervous about working with a team, because she wanted to prove she could make it on her own. Hawkman reassures Zee:

...Carter Hall, ladies man.

Anyway, over in another group, Mr. Terrific is telling a story about running into one of his old foes, The Spirit King, who was in the middle of some nefarious scheme when he was discovered by Mr. Terrific, but...:

...After a few awkward moments, Superman notices some of the heroes suddenly aren't around. Hmm...

But before he can look into it, a huge explosion rips open the satellite! While Dr. Fate and the Lanterns help build a patch for the hull, Superman discovers a casualty on a piece of wreckage...Mr. Terrific.

The Flash discovers another piece of wreckage, but with strange markings on it. Zatanna takes it and tries to use her powers to determine what happened to it, when she is hit by some burst of energy from it, which sends her into shock!

The Flashes search the satellite, and no one else is aboard. Red Tornado checks the records and sees that no one else has beamed off or on the satellite in the last hour. Which means...one of them is a murderer! To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Red Tornado, Zatanna

Notable Moments: This is one of those stories that I think works depending on when you read it. I think if I had read a comic like this now, when an old-time hero is brought out of retirement just to be killed off, I wouldn't like it.

But since I this comic came out pretty much right when I was first reading comics, I accepted it, and it was a shocking turn of events. Major changes are more easily accepted if they happened long before you came around.

That said, I like the murder mystery concept, and I still think the story works fairly well. Let's see how it wraps up tomorrow.