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The JLA faces Death itself at the hands of...Amos Fortune!
The Story: "Destiny is a Stacked Deck" by Gerry Conway, George Perez, and John Beatty. A hooded figure deals a deck of Tarot-like cards, except these feature members of the Justice League. He wonders aloud "Which shall live...and which shall die?"
Cut to: a carnival taking place in Metropolis, and reporters Clark Kent and Lois Lane are participating in the fun (well, Lois is--Clark is in charge of carrying all Lois' stuff).
As he waits for Lois, Clark realizes that someone can read his thoughts! He makes his way into a nearby tent, where the self-same hooded stranger reveals that Clark Kent is Superman!
He then strikes Superman with a wooden staff, which turns Superman into a frail old man! As the hooded man leaves, he promises Superman for what's next..."You will know him by the horse he rides."
Meanwhile, in Central City, Barry Allen and the Dibnys are spending some time together, but trouble is never far behind--two strangely-dressed men appear, and the two heroes don their uniforms to investigate:
...I always liked this panel. Perez made The Elongated Man look dynamic!
Anyway, they too are attacked, leaving The Flash consumed with depression, and Ralph turned into a giggling moron. Similar attacks happen to Green Lantern, Black Canary (along with Green Arrow), and even at the JLA satellite, where Zatanna is rendered blind.
The affected JLAers find her there, each of them trying to overcome their respective afflictions. Once Zatanna hears what happened to the rest of them, she says she knows who is behind this.
Soon after, they show up at the castle of the JLA's old foe, Amos Fortune, who draws forth Death himself to attack them!
It initially seems hopeless, but soon the JLA starts to feel differently--that, yes, death is inevitable. It can be denied, but it can be defied. This helps restore Superman to fill strength, who punches Death, which is way cool.
Zatanna's theory that once the JLA started overcoming their depressions, they would be able to fight back, was correct. Amos Fortune tries to escape using another of his Tarot cards, but it wasn't the one he wanted:
Roll Call: Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Zatanna
Notable Moments: Even as a kid I knew that Amos Fortune didn't die--what supervillains ever does?--I still found the end kinda creepy. I liked Perez's style on the Tarot cards, too.
Amos Fortune is back with his Magic Color Wheel of Death!
The Story: "The Unluckiest League of All!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. While the JLA men are throwing Ray Palmer a bachelor party, the women members talk amongst themselves in another part of the satellite.
Suddenly Wonder Woman is zapped by some mysterious bolt of energy, but she awakens and says she is fine. She acts oddly, and storms off. What the?
Hawkgirl and Black Canary try and round up the guys, but Green Arrow interrupts them and tells them to handle whatever it is by themselves. And Green Arrow is supposed to be the Ladies Man in the League?
While on Earth, WW is attacked by a giant robot and knocked out. She wakes up tied up (she's used to that) in the clutches of...Amos Fortune!
He then blasts WW with a ray that will "increase the luck" of various people on Earth, giving them superpowers. Amos then hopes to put those people under his command! Not the best thought-out plan, you have to admit.
Some of these people attack Superman, Batman, Flash, Elongated Man, and Black Canary, who seem to be losing their superpowers!
Meanwhile, tempers flare at the JLA satellite:
...I wonder if Aquaman now regrets his "yea" vote in #146? Shayera Hol don't take no guff!
While the rest of the JLA takes on these menaces, Wonder Woman finds a way to hypnotize Fortune into turning his Wheel of Fortune counter-clockwise, which took the "luck" away from them, enabling the JLA to defeat them!
Meanwhile, Green Arrow apologizes to Black Canary for being such an idiot.
Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Red Tornado, Hawkgirl
Notable Moments: Gerry Conway's first issue as writer. Except for about a dozen issues, he would write all the remaining issues of the book, breaking every other writer's record.
I have to admit, the scene with Green Arrow telling the women to handle their own problems is major, er, league, dumb.
Though I did like Hawkgirl not taking any crap from Aquaman. Shayera was never a wallflower, and even though she's a new member, she ain't having any nonsense. Good on ya, Shayera.
The Royal Flush Gang is back!
The Story: "History-Making Costumes of the Royal-Flush Gang!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Sid Greene. Hal Jordan lays dying, and the clues to who do it lead to crooks dressed as historical figures like Queen Elizabeth and Alexander the Great! Turns out it's actually the Royal Flush Gang, so you've got people wearing costumes inside other costumes.
Roll Call: Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Martian Manhunter, Atom
Notable Moments: Flash visits Hal Jordan in the hospital, and immediately lays his hand on the power ring so it can telepathically tell him what happened to his friend. They don't really explain that, which I thought was a nice, subtle touch of characterization--Barry and Hal are close friends, so Barry knows how the ring works.
The debut of the Royal Flush Gang!
The Story: "The Card Crimes of the Royal Flush Gang!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. The JLA fights a team of bad guys, the stellar-powered Royal Flush Gang.
The RFG uses their powers to affect the JLAers moods, so that they become despondent over their losses and start to give up. Luckily Snapper Carr is there to give them a pep talk, and he helps them defeat the Royal Flush Gang. Wonder Woman makes him a jester's costume so he can go with them to fight the RFG, making him more of a horse's ass than he was already.
Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Hawkman
Notable Moments: Hawkgirl guest stars again, Snapper gets a large role, and the Royal Flush Gang debuts. A pretty big issue.
...but all that pales in comparison to the really big deal with this issue--the debut of DC's Go-Go checks! Yeah, dig it, baby! It's a happening!
Also, we get for the first time a new JLA logo, which I admit is pretty spiffy. The old one is almost mythic in its iconic-ness, so I'm glad they went back to it, but I thought this one was pretty cool, too.
The Atom joins the Justice League!
The story: "The Menace of the 'Atom' Bomb!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. The JLA decides to vote in a new member("Adam Strange!" cries The Flash), and as soon as they vote in the Atom, all of them realize they have no idea who that is!
The JLA head to Ivy Town to investigate, but on the way they release they're starting to forget who they themselves are! Turns out its the work of the mysterious Mister Memory and his "De-Memorizor"!
Roll Call: Superman, Batman Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, and new member The Atom!
Notable Moments: Mister Memory is actually Professor Amos Fortune in disguise, a nice callback to a previous issue when that was still pretty rare in comics.
There's a sweet moment at the end, when the JLA shows The Atom his chair, and he sees that its sitting on the floor! But the Atom is too good-natured to say anything, so he decides not to complain, only for the JLA to show him the chair has the abillity to hover in the air, so he can fully participate in JLA meetings! Again, what kid wouldn't want to hang out with these people?
This issue doesn't feature the typical new-member title-page scroll, one of my favorite touches. Oh well, maybe for Hawkman...
Another classic, iconic cover. Think of all these powerful heroes reduced to just mere props on a giant wheel of death!
The story: "The Wheel of Misfortune!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. Professor Amos Fortune, via his Stimoluck device(patent pending) has found way to control his luck!
At the same time, the Justice League is having nothing by bad luck in their individual lives. They meet and start to wonder how this is happening! Could Amos Fortune have something to do with it?
Roll Call: Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow
Notable Moments: The first issue where Superman and Batman don't appear at all. It's so quaint to think about how their participation in the early issues of JLA was limited because their solo book editors didn't want them over-exposed.
This is the debut of Amos Fortune. Like Doctor Destiny last issue, this is a villain who would reappear several times as a thorn in the JLA's side.
