Justice League of America #238 - May 1985

The new JLA comes to the rescue of the old one!

The Story: "Savage Symphony" by Gerry Conway, Chuck Patton, and Mike Machlan. Continued from last issue, we see the new bad guy in control of Allegro's sinister keyboard, named Maestro, using the monsters that emanate from the machine to torture a paralyzed Wonder Woman.

Meanwhile, the JLA, in their shuttle, head towards Russia to find them.

There's a moment here where the JLA discusses what the newspapers having been saying about the new JLA, about how its a disaster, and how can these second stringers replace Superman, Wonder Woman, etc?

Vixen says that's because a lot of people are afraid of change, and never want the world to be different than the one they know. Hmm...

Their musings are interrupted when they are met by Soviet jets, but Zatanna uses the weather to neutralize them without harming the pilots.

Meanwhile, down on the ground, Allegro and his two friends are helping Superman, Wonder Woman, and Flash escape from their prison!

Back with the JLA, Martian Manhunter dispatches another set of Soviet jets, and when he returns, he is greeted with the kind of warmth he never got in the old JLA:

This leads an odd sequence where Zatanna confides in Elongated Man that she is personally repelled by Vixen. Interesting...

Anyway, the JLA aims its shuttle for a river as not to be seen landing. Moments later, as Gorki aims his soldier's guns at Allegro and the paralyzed heroes, Aquaman and the other burst out of the water, to an astonished Superman, Wonder Woman, and Flash:

The JLA fight the Maestro's demons, but start to get overwhelmed. Finally, Allegro uses the confusion to grab a rifle, sneak up to Maestro, and smash his powerful keyboard. Gorki then shoots him in the chest.

Gypsy then grabs Gorki, and we see the best example yet of her powers--she has the ability to transfer herself and someone else (or is it they just think they've been transported?) to another location! Gorki thinks he is miles up in the sky, and screams as he "falls." He is no longer in his right mind, as he lays in the snow, whimpering from fear.

Superman asks Aquaman what's going on, but he promises to explain everything when they get home. Meanwhile, Manhunter carries off the dead Allegro.

Roll Call: Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Martian Manhunter, Elongated Man, Zatanna, Vixen, Steel, Vibe, Gypsy

Notable Moments: After months of hanging around, nice to see Gypsy get something real to do--and saving everyone, to boot.

I wouldn't want to be Aquaman, having to explain what he did. We'll see tomorrow whether Superman grabs Arthur and throws him into the sun.

Justice League of America #237 - Apr. 1985

The missing JLAers return, only to meet an old foe!

The Story: "Lest Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot..." by Gerry Conway, Chuck Patton, and Mike Machlan. We open in the new JLA's Detroit headquarters, where the team's leader, Aquaman, keeps a quiet vigil.

Vixen happens to see Arthur by himself, and asks him what he's thinking about. Turns out his missing wife, Mera, is on his mind. He's angry at her for leaving, yet cannot get her out of his mind.

Vixen suggests he go look for her, but he dismisses the idea, saying he can't leave the League. Also, he's been wondering, where have "they" been all this time?

The "they" are Superman, Wonder Woman, and Flash, who disappeared without a trace just before the Earth-Mars war, and haven't been seen since.

Their timing is fortuitous, since, at that exact moment, the old JLA's satellite proximity alarm goes off:

We find our three heroes understandably confused as to what has happened to their satellite, since, according to them, they've only been gone half a day's time?

Superman notices a small satellite hovering nearby. Wonder Woman recognizes it to be of Soviet design. A few moments later, Aquaman alerts his League that his friends are heading into Russia. Steel says he'll ask his grandfather, with his extensive government contacts, for more information.

Once Superman, Wonder Woman, and Flash show up in Soviet airspace, they are fired upon, but they make short work of them. They get the Soviet pilots to land, saying they don't want to fight.

On the ground, they are met by a group of Russian soldiers, and...one strangely-dressed man, carrying...a keyboard? Flash says the hardware looks vaguely familiar, but before he can place it, the man strikes:

These demons that emerged from the man's keyboard attack the three heroes, and knock them out, with the man then encasing them in some sort of greenish amber.

Later, at KGB Headquarters, demands are being made of the Russian Premier. With the three heroes--and this seeming supervillain--under the control of General Gorki, he demands total control over the country. When the offer is refused, the Premier and his guards meet with the same gruesome hate at the hands of these demons.

Later. we see the three heroes, paralyzed, being tended to by some male nurses, including one who the JLA knows as...Allegro!

Turns out, after his defeat by the JLA (way back in JLA #163), he defected to Russia, where he was institutionalized by Gorki, and his powerful weapon stolen from him.

Gorki arrives, and says he is here to begin the next phase of his plan...executing one of the Justice Leaguers! To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Martian Manhunter, Elongated Man, Zatanna, Vixen, Steel, Vibe, Gypsy

Notable Moments: I like bringing Allegro back, I think it gives a nice verisimilitude to the DCU--after all, what happens to these one-shots super-villains once they finish their jail time? Not everyone can be a professional bad guy like Luthor or the Joker.

Aquaman makes an off-hand mention here about Green Lantern, having "accepted" what happened to the JLA, making his departure from the team official. Kind of a shame that a founding member ends his run with the team with such a whimper, but this was around the time Hal had quit the Corps in his own book.

Justice League of America #164 - March 1979

Finally, we get to the bottom of this Zatanna/Zatara business!

The Story: "Murder by Melody!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. The JLA reconvenes after letting Allegro escape, and Zatanna suggests that sorcery is behind his abilities.

She says that his music weakens the barrier between her and her mother, so if she can get his mysterious machine, it can possibly solve two problems at once!

Allegro, meanwhile, starts to play his mad music in an abandoned concert hall, which he then broadcasts all over the Earth!

As you can see, it has the same effect on kids that KISS' music did in the 70s.

The JLA finds an ancient text that Zatanna believes Allegro learned his magic from, which she thinks has driven him mad.

They then find Allegro and Black Canary, via a spell from Zatanna, uses her Canary Cry to dispel the demons, which gives the other heroes a chance to knock Allegro out and get his Mad Synthesizer of Death.

They then turn to Zatara, who tells the story of how he met and fell in love with Zatanna's mother, Sindella.

They use Allegro's machine to open the portal to another dimension. Here they meet a sorcerer named Highlord, who has Sindella as his prisoner! He tells the heroes Sindella is dying, and when she does die, her daughter will take her place! To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Red Tornado, Hawkgirl, Zatanna

Notable Moments: I like how the Allegro story ends half-way through the issue. There might have been a temptation to pad the story to fill two full issues, but its kinda neat how the JLA goes from one story to the other.

Justice League of America #163 - Feb. 1979

One of my favorite JLA covers, by Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano--the angle, the movement, a bad guy, fire demons--total pandemonium!

The Story: "Concert of the Damned!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Green Arrow comes home to find someone waiting for him--well, Oliver Queen--a super villian-esque guy named Anton Allegro.

Allegro plays a few notes on this machine he's carrying, which produces three bizarre demon-like creatures, who make quick work of Green Arrow.

Meanwhile, the JLA is talking to Zatara and Zatanna, and they want to know why her own father cast a spell of forgetfulness on her!

But before he can answer, Black Canary issues a distress call, telling them what happened to Green Arrow. When they arrive, Arrow tells them of his history with Allegro. Apparently he showed up at Oliver Queen's foundation (back when he was rich), looking for financial backing for his odd music, which he says the music establishment won't consider because of a conspiracy.

Queen gives the guy the bum's rush, which infuriates Allegro. Seconds later, Green Arrow is stopping a bank robbery and fires off a tuning-fork arrow in an attempt to shatter the tank(!) the robbers are using.

It works, but the arrow then went haywire:

...it left Allegro deaf for life. Oliver Queen picked up his medical expenses, but obviously something else has happened over the years.

The JLA tracks Allegro's music to a mansion, where he is using his powers to murder his ex-manager! They try and stop him, but Allegro's demons are too powerful, and he leaves, out to find his ex-wife.

Meanwhile, Zatara reveals to his daughter, under a spell of Zee's, that his wife--her mother--who he always thought was dead, is in fact alive! Zatara has tried to find her spirit, but has been unable to. Zatanna tries to do the same thing, and they see a glimpse of her, before it disappears!

Back with the JLA, we find Superman and Batman as they stop Allegro from murdering his ex-wife...sort of. Allegro thinks he's killed her, but after he manages to escape they explain it was a robot duplicate from Superman's Fortress! But...Allegro is still out there! To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Red Tornado, Hawkgirl, Zatanna

Notable Moments: This is Hawkgirl's first JLA story without Hawkman. Cool. As we always knew, Shayera is fully-formed character in her own right.

While Allegro is quite mad, he's got a murderous glee a lot of comic book super-villains don't have, which was a tad unusual for the time.