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The conclusion of the search for the Atom in the Microcosmos!
The Story: "The Choice" by Gerry Conway, Don Heck, and Romeo Tanghal. Picking up from last issue, the JLA and the Siren Sisterhood have made their way into the citadel to retrieve the late Lord Kaa's royal staff.
Unfortunately, the evil Black Princess is waiting there for them! She blasts Hawkman first, then attacks the rest!
A pitched battle ensues, the mutant powers of the sisters proving to be more than a match for the Princess' royal guards. But during the battle, the Black Princess sneaks off.
Mother Moon heals Hawkman, but here they discover a problem: the sisters are intent on restoring the rightful heirs to the throne, destroying all who help him.
That includes the Atom, which of course doesn't sit well with the JLA. Krystal Kaa takes an us-vs.-them approach, and they nearly come to blows. Luckily cooler heads prevail, and they choose to split up towards their own goals.
Meanwhile, all is not well between Golitha and the Black Princess. When Golitha shows her that he has no intention of giving her more power, she takes matters into her own hands, stabbing Golitha right in the back in front of the crowd!
All hell breaks loose--the Atom wakes up, goes beserk, and the JLA tries to stop him. Krystal Kaa goes after the Black Princess, and the two groups start to take each other on.
But Mother Moon uses her healing powers to drag the Atom out of his fog, which works. The Black Princess' mystical eye beam, fired at Krystal Kaa, bounces back onto her, killing her. Krystal Kaa retakes the staff, and the throne.
She thanks the JLA for their help, and uses the staff to send them home. In their world, the JLA has only been gone a few hours, and Ray and Jean make up. Even Batman enjoys the moment:
Roll Call: Batman, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Red Tornado
Notable Moments: The big news here, of course, is the sudden, unexpected departure of longtime JLA writer Gerry Conway. What's even odder is that he would be back just two issues later!
It looks like a search for the Atom has turned into a fight against the Atom!
The Story: "The Bigger They Are..." by Gerry Conway, Don Heck, and Romeo Tanghal. The Atom, totally mad, runs amok through the city, sending its citizens scurrying to hide.
Hawkman and Red Tornado try and reason with their friend, but nothin' doin'...the Atom makes quick work of them. He is only stopped when Golitha hits a switch on a computer bank which renders the Atom unconscious again.
Two members of Mother Moon's sisterhood find the beaten JLAers and bring them back to their sanctuary. As they mend, Princess Kaa--aka the Wanderer--explains to them how their world got this way.
Her grandfather, Lord Kaa, was a benevolent, gentle man, but his second in command, Golitha, was anything but.
One day, a mysterious bolt of energy came from space and hit their world. Golitha went to investigate, where they were attacked:
...I love that panel: the angle, the motion, and the creature. I wish Don Heck had given this the whole page!
Anyway, no points in figuring out this creature is really the Atom, encasing in the clay where he landed. Golitha then realized this was his chance.
He kept the Atom under wraps, and came up with a device that could allow him to control the giant's mind. He then used the Atom as his one-man revolutionary force, taking control and killing Lord Kaa and the Queen.
Luckily, Kaa' son, Ikara, was sneaked out by his nurse, where he grew and started the beginnings of a resistance. The royal staff that she once had though is now in Golitha's possession, and with it, he can rule officially as Kaa's successor. The Sisterhood and the JLA prepare to get it back.
Meanwhile, Batman, ever suspicious, has gone investigating in a nearby cave, where he thinks he heard something. Turns out he was right:
After a quick fight, it turns out this monster is just a gentle giant, born a mutant and is under the control of the sisters.
The sisters and the JLA make their way in to the citadel, with Hawkman on point. They hear a blast, and turn to see their friend, floating in a pool of water, having been blasted by the Black Princess, who is in possession of Kaa's magical staff. To be continued!
Roll Call: Batman, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Red Tornado
Notable Moments: By continuing into the next issue, this becomes the longest story ever to run through just the JLA book--four parts.
There's a lot of discussion in the JLA Mail Room about who should leave, who should join--on the former, readers suggest The Atom, Red Tornado, and Firestorm go, to be replaced by the likes of Black Lightning, Madame Xanadu(!), and Captain Comet.
Shade the Changing Man is not mentioned.
Part 2 of the search for the Atom in the Microcosmos!
The Story: "The Siren Sisterhood" by Gerry Conway, Don Heck, and Romeo Tanghal. The JLA gets a peak at the source of the evil tyrant Golitha's power--their friend, The Atom!
Seeing their friend, Black Canary's memory gets sparked, and she begins to recall her old friends, an the names of those she's with.
But the celebration doesn't last long, as the Wanderer warns them that they have been found by another gang of armed guards, doing the bidding of Golitha!
The JLAers spring into action, and the guards aren't any more effective than they were the first time. In particular, Batman is his usual effective self:
Unfortunately, an even bigger, and more heavily armed, contingent of guards sneaks up on them, and next time we see the JLA they are imprisoned--along with the Wanderer--in old-fashioned stocks.
Here we meet the evil, Cruella DeVille-ish Princess Kass 'Andre, who seems to earn a special enmity from the Wanderer. She blasts Black Canary with some sort of mystical jewel when Dinah objects to Kass' flirting with Green Arrow.
Outside, a group of robed women fight their way through the guards, women who have their own set of amazing powers. As they get in, the Wanderer reveals herself to be Krystal Kaa, heir to the throne of their land.
Kaa and the other women free the JLA, and take them back to their lair, where they meet the leader, Mother Moon, who also has amazing healing powers (she heals Black Canary, who was gravely wounded in the fight to escape).
Mother Moon says they are a haven for people who don't fit in the world of violence and pain of Golitha, but Batman, being Batman, feels a little suspicious.
Back at the citadel, Golitha, who now knows he didn't kill all of the heirs to the throne, sends out his ultimate tool of destuction--a completely mad Atom! To be continued!
Roll Call: Batman, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Red Tornado
Notable Moments: I like that Batman is still Batman, wherever he is. If he hears a story that sounds too good, he doesn't totally buy in.
The JLA travels to another dimension to save one of their own!
The Story: "Into the Microcosmos" by Gerry Conway, Don Heck, and Romeo Tanghal. We open with the Tiny Titan, the Atom, seemingly lost and adrift in some bizarre sub-atomic dimension!
Back at the JLA satellite, Hawkman is telling some of his JLA friends a story, one that begins with a frantic phone call from the Atom's wife, Jean Loring.
Jean tells Carter that her husband Ray is acting very strange, like a man possessed, and he won't leave his lab. Hawkman comes to investigate, and is shocked with his good friend Ray sucker punches him!
Reeling from the shock, Ray turns into the Atom and disappears out the window. They assume he's headed for his lab at Ivy University, and they are correct.
They find Ray, who has built some monstrous machine, and now, totally mad, he disappears into it:
...I love how nutty The Atom looks in that panel. Nice job, Mr. Heck!
The JLA heads down to his lab, examine the machine, and use it to follow Ray...wherever he went!
They arrive in an unfamiliar world, with only a vague memory of who each of them are. While trying to collect their thoughts, they meet a stranger:
This woman, the Wanderer, has seen their friend. She tells them he bears the mark of Golitha, who has taken control of this land by force.
Their discussion is interrupted by a gang of giant, green-skinned monsters, who she says are part of Golitha's guard! The JLA makes quick work of them, not even exactly sure how they can do what they do.
The Wanderer takes them to a shining city named Ch'Anar, where we see that the sceptre the Wanderer has can do amazing things, like control people's minds.
They find Golitha's citadel in the heart of the city, and it bears the familiar mark of the Atom over its door. But when the Wanderer says it's been this way for over a hundred years, Black Canary says it has to be a coincidence.
Little does she know, their friend, giant-sized compared to everyone else, lies unconscious, just on the other side of the citadel. To be continued!
Roll Call: Batman, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Red Tornado
Notable Moments: This story has a little bit o'everything--superhero action, emotional melodrama (tensions in the Palmer marriage), some "City on The Edge of Forever" from Star Trek, ending with a scene right out of Gulliver's Travels. Fun.
There's the conclusion to a poll listed on the letters page, where DC asked readers what, if any, new female member should join.
Batgirl and Supergirl, with 24 and 21 votes respectively, dominated their fellow heroines, with none of the rest (like Mera, Black Orchid, Catwoman, etc.) getting anything more than two or three votes.
The exception--with seven votes--is The Vixen. Hmmm...
___________________________________________________________
The JLA appeared--sort of--this same month over in Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew #14:
...I dunno, I think I could've read a whole book like this.
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.
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...
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!
Part 3 of the JLA versus the new Royal Flush Gang...and Hector Hammond!
The Story: "The Final Hand!" by Gerry Conway, Don Heck, and Romeo Tanghal. Continued from last issue, Black Canary and Elongated Man arrive back at the JLA satellite to find a comatose Green Arrow.
But Ten is still there, and tries to get the drop on them. It almost works, but Black Canary is so pissed off she lets loose her Canary Cry, knocking Ten out.
Green Arrow is added to the list of patients at UCLA Medical Center, and Elongated Man notices the similarity to the loss of brain function the JLAers are suffering from, and what happened with Derek Reston last issue--how he "lost his mind", as well.
We then see Firestorm's other identity, Martin Stein, as he desperately tries to wake his other half up. It's only Stein that knows the real villain behind all this is Hector Hammond, since they both exist on the same ectoplasmic plane (that's fun to type).
Ten is also at the hospital, and when she almost reveals the big plan, Hammond goes ballistic and induces a heart attack in her!
Meanwhile, Batman and Flash have been called in, and are heading to the desert with Canary and Ralph to find the Royal Flush Gang's HQ. Ralph is temporarily fooled by the image of his wife Sue, and is zapped by Queen.
They wind their way through a giant maze, and each get attacked by the Gang, and are defeated. They wake up strapped to giant playing cards, which Ace blasts into the sky. Ace is ecstatic of his victory over the JLA, and finally Jack has had enough:
Jack reveals the truth about Ace, who doesn't bother to deny it, and now says the rest of the Gang are "disposable now that the League has been smashed!"
Oh, really?
Ace suddenly explodes, the victim of Black Canary's Canary Cry! Jack cut a deal with the JLA--he saves them, they save him from Ace.
Unfortunately, the JLAers are still in a coma, and Hammond reveals his real plan--to steal the brain energy from the JLAers, taking it in for himself, which would allow his corporeal form to finally move again!
This drives Martin Stein to "create" a body for himself, and he decides to open a can of ectoplasmic (see? fun!) whoop-ass on Hammond:
Stein beats up Hammond, who backs down like the little twerp he is, releasing the JLAers out of their comas.
Firestorm wonders why Martin Stein seems so happy, and Stein promises he'll tell him later. At the moment, the JLA is wondering why Firestorm is talking to himself!
Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Firestorm
Notable Moments: A solid ending, I've always liked the idea of a villain cutting a deal with the heroes to save his own skin. I also like how much of a sniveling little jerk Hammond is. Big head, little guts.
The JLA Mail Room page has letters concerning JLA #200, and the response was uniformly positive, although some take the editors to task for not having Hawkgirl involved.
Part 2 of the JLA versus the new Royal Flush Gang!
The Story: "The Cut of the Cards!" by Gerry Conway, Don Heck, and Romeo Tanghal. This issue opens with Superman entertaining some kids at a local circus by juggling...elephants!
Afterwards, he is met by Lois Lane, who grabs him and plants one on him, much more passionately than usual. Before he realizes what's up, "Lois" reveals herself to be Queen, who blasts him with some sort of sceptre.
Up at the JLA satellite, Elongated Man is trying to keep track of all these attacks on his fellow teammates, and soon Green Arrow and Black Canary arrive.
Ralph and Canary head down to Earth and find an unconscious Wonder Woman, and they take her to the same hospital where Aquaman and Firestorm are. They are all in comas, with very little brain activity showing up on scans.
Green Arrow, still up on the satellite, is shocked when he sees a strangely-dressed woman outside in space! He goes to investigate, and she blasts her way in, chasing him:
...yes, Green Arrow, Ten is now a woman (no, Ollie, you can't...you know).
Anyway, Ten catches up to Arrow, and blasts him the way the others were.
Meanwhile, Canary and Ralph are investigating the manufacturer behind the trading card components found near each of the scenes. The trail leads to Megaform Industries, and they have to bluff their way into the company's compound. Luckily, Black Canary is one the doing the persuading to the guard:
...I love editor Len Wein's Stan Lee-esque footnote.
The two sneak around, grab some normal clothes, and find their way to the company's president, Derek Reston.
Once they enter the room, Reston goes insane and attacks the two of them, raving about how they are "two of the hated Justice League!"
They manage to subdue him, and after he wakes up, he is totally calm, and has no memory of what just happened! What's going on here?
It's here we see the ghostly image of Hector Hammond, bragging about how this is all his plan, and that Reston is only doing his bidding!
To be continued!
Roll Call: Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Firestorm
Notable Moments: Great, insanely-detailed cover by George Perez (I'll be saying that a lot in the next few weeks). And even though nothing like this happens in the issue, who cares? Its still way cool to look at.
I don't know if the Royal Flush Gang sent Ten specifically to take on Green Arrow, figuring he'd be thinking with his arrows instead of his head. If they did, that's just good supervillain planning.
The JLA takes on an all-new Royal Flush Gang, who are even more deadlier than ever!
The Story: "Shuffle and Deal...with Death!" by Gerry Conway, Don Heck, and Romeo Tanghal. This issue opens up in my favorite way...with Aquaman!
We find the King of the Seven Seas and Firestorm as they cruise the ocean waves, on a beautiful, cloudless day.
Firestorm asks why Aquaman asked him to meet him here so early in the morning, Aquaman says its to give the Nuclear Man some pointers on super-heroing, just as Black Canary did in JLA #189.
Firestorm retorts "Thanks but no thanks! I know all I need to know!"
That puts a grin on Aquaman's face, and then:
Yes, Firestorm The Nuclear Man is taken down by some flying fish. And he's the one who has a solo title?
Anyway, Aquaman rescues Firestorm, and he then receives a telepathic signal about trouble ahead. They investigate, finding a giant cloud hovering over the water. Firestorm charges headlong into it, and is just as quickly hit by something, sending him hurtling out of it!
Aquaman then has his octopi friends help down the giant hovercraft he sees inside the cloud, and he rips his way into it, only to be blasted into unconsciousness as well. Who did it? It's...the Jack of Spades!
Also with him is another member of the Royal Flush Gang, Ten, who this time is a woman. Jack makes a move on Ten, who threatens to break Jack's hands off if he tries it again. Awk-ward...
The ship makes it way to the desert, to the new headquarters of the Royal Flush Gang! Here they meet the other members, King, Queen, and their leader, Ace.
We then get a brief rundown of how they all ended up here--Ten was a test pilot who kept finding her achievements belittled by sexism, Jack was a petty thief whose carelessness led to murder, Queen was an actress who couldn't stop hitting the bottle, and King was a bum facing a slow death by cancer. They were all approached by Ace, who offered them a different life if they would join this new team he was putting together.
Later, Firestorm and Aquaman are found in some fishermen's nets, and they contact the JLA. Elongated Man sends out a distress signal, and before she can answer, Wonder Woman is attacked--and defeated--by King.
Back at the Gang's HQ, Jack's inherent distrust of Ace leads him to spy on him, where he makes a shocking discovery:
To be continued!
Roll Call: Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Elongated Man, Firestorm
Notable Moments: I love that ending...as a kid reading it for the first time, I was genuinely shocked, and its sets up a nice tension for the next issue.
I always wondered, how do supervillain gangs get these massive headquarters built, anyway? I mean, do they outsource it to contractors, or is there some sort of bad guy union?
Aquaman gets a lot to do this issue, which I always enjoy, and he uses some flying fish to knock out Firestorm. That makes me laugh.
The JLA get lost in space and have to fight...Batman?!?
The Story: "Star Fall" by Gerry Conway, Don Heck, and Brett Breeding and Friends. We open with Batman, outside in airless space, making some repairs to the JLA satellite.
Suddenly there's a power surge, and a major electrical strike hits Batman, knocking him out, and he begins to float away into space.
As Hawkman prepares to head out and rescue him, plates of the satellite's bulkhead start to peel off, rupturing the life support system! Hawkman strains to hit the JLA distress signal.
Wonder Woman, Zatanna, Red Tornado, and the Atom answer the call (after we see what the others are tied up with), and within a few moments they repair the bulkhead and restore life support...but not before Batman has disappeared off their radar!
They all suit up and get into a mini spacecraft, and head for Batman's last known location. They fly the ship unknowingly right into some sort of wormhole, which transports them a great distance into another galaxy.
They find themselves face to face with a massive star cruiser, which sends out a robotic arm to grab the JLA's ship. It pulls them in, but the JLAers fight it off and make their way into the cruiser itself, its proportions bigger than anything they've ever seen.
Then some sort of robot drone approaches, and responds to the JLA's question of where are they?
It tells them of the race of the people that created it, about how they were an advanced, curious people, who sent of their own, an explorer named Ursak, out to wander the stars.
On one planet, Ursak ran afoul of the people on it, and they damaged his ship's life support system, so he put himself in suspended animation, and put out a distress call to his planet's medical ship, which came looking for him. It has been waiting a long time--approximately 200,000 years--for Ursak to show up!
And when it found the floating Batman, it assumed he was Ursak and "healed" him the best he could, basically turning him into a sort of monster!
The mad Batman attacks the JLA, who does their best to defend themselves without hurting their friend. Hawkman tricks him into charging into a massive computer board, shocking Batman unconscious, where they program the drone to return their friend back into Batman.
In the meantime, Hawkman discovered that the planet Ursak visited was, in fact, pre-historic Earth, and the transmission got garbled, so the medical ship has been waiting all this time in the wrong place!
Hawkman reprograms the ship's navigation computer, and sends it to the correct location to find Ursak, who has been waiting all this time...
Roll Call: Batman, Wonder Woman, Atom, Hawkman, Red Tornado, Zatanna
Notable Moments: The splash page by Heck is fantastic, and still makes me a little nauseous (in a good way) when I look at it:
The return of Ultraa! Let's see how he screws up this time!
The Story: "A Hero For All Seasons" by Gerry Conway, Don Heck, and Bob Smith. On the Atlantic City boardwalk, down-on-his-luck fella Joe Perry ponders the failures of his life.
You see, one time, many years ago, Perry found a sort of "wishing machine", and instead of using it to make himself rich and famous, he ended up in a battle with the Justice League, way back in JLA #31.
As he walks down the boardwalk, he notices a young man sweeping up the dirt, and is amazed to see the guy yank up a plank of the boardwalk with one hand! Yep, it's everybody's favorite loose cannon, Ultraa!
We then see Joe talking to Ultraa, trying to talk him into using his extraordinary abilities to make himself--and Joe--rich and famous. Howabout ads for health clubs?
Meanwhile, on the JLA satellite, Green Arrow and Black Canary are going through some training sessions, when they receive a distress signal. Superman and The Flash also arrive to see what's up.
The alert is from The Atom, who is at FBI headquarters, and while there he shows his fellow JLAers some disturbing footage: their old friend Ultraa going into a bank and robbing it, ripping the bank vault door right off its hinges!
The Flash spots Joe Parry in the background, and heads to Midway City to ask Hawkman for help. Partly because he was in on the case previously, and partly to shake Carter from his depression over Shayera's extended absence.
At first Hawkman turns him down, but The Flash is persuasive, and eventually he and the other JLAers head to Atlantic City to find Joe Parry's apartment.
They knock out Joe with a Concussion Arrow, but Ultraa attacks them and the battle spills out into an Atlantic City casino, one that uses giant props as a backdrop (this must be the Finger Casino they just opened up).
Ultraa takes out Superman and The Flash, and then calms down, realizing he's been duped and led astray again. As he kneels at the feet of Joe Parry, wondering how it all went wrong, he is approached with a different tack by Hawkman, having just woken up from taking a giant pair of dice in the chest:
...a nice sequence by Heck. The back and forth between the two is effective and dynamic.
Cut to: Joe Parry being convicted of conspiracy to commit theft. But where's Ultraa?
Hawkman and the JLA saw it Ultraa went where he would belong--with a tribe of Aboriginies, in the outback of Australia, just like the kind of place he came from on his home planet. Here, Ultraa is finally happy.
Roll Call: Superman, Flash, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary
Notable Moments: Patience is strained, watching Ultraa get duped into fighting the JLA again, but at least Conway knew how to end this--with Ultraa finally being put somewhere where he can't cause trouble anymore.
Replacing George Perez is not a task I'd envy for any comic book artist, and after two mediocre issues (198-199), I think Don Heck brought his "A" game here--the layouts are inventive, the storytelling effective.
The Lord of Time learns what "Kryptonian Haymaker" is in this issue!
The Story: "Grand Canyon Showdown" by Gerry Conway, Don Heck, and Brett Breeding. Continued from last issue, we open with the Lord of Time having subdued Superman, and having trapped four Justice Leaguers in the Old West, who are being trailed by his posse of robot cowboys!
While The Lord of Time is watching events unfold in the past, Superman wakes up from his Kryptonite-induced coma, and uses his X-ray vision to find the Lord of Time's chamber, which is currently invisible to the naked eye.
Meanwhile, back in the past, all four sets of superheroes and western heroes find their way to town. First up is The Scalphunter and The Elongated Man, who head into a saloon and meet Cinnamon and a woman that The Elongated Man just knows he knows:
...soon, Bat Lash and The Flash also show up, and the three of them realize they know each other.
At the same time, Jonah Hex and Green Lantern finally noticed they're being followed by the Lord of Time's robot cowboys(!), and they make quick work of them.
Then our other heroes come out to see what the noise is, and they compare notes. Scalphunter spots three more of these strange cowpokes riding off in the distance, and The Flash catches up to them. He destroys them as easily as GL did, and the group of heroes start to think this is some sort of trap.
They find their way to the Grand Canyon, where Lantern's ring alerts them to the anti-matte bubble that is approaching Earth, and headed right for them! Zatanna, Flash, and GL manage to destroy the bubble, and then the heroes suddenly vanish.
As Jonah Hex, Scalphunter, Cinnamon, and Bat Lash wonder what the heck that was about, we see the four JLAers return to their normal time and find Superman with an unconscious Lord of Time!
Turns out Superman used his heat vision to create an offshoot of the Colorado River, washing the Kryptonite away, giving Supes the opportunity to box the Lord of Time's ears.
Roll Call: Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, Elongated Man, Zatanna
Notable Moments: A truly great George Perez cover--I just love how villainous The Lord of Time looks--he'd twirl his mustache if he had one.
The story's ending seems a bit rushed--everything basically wraps up in the last two pages, but let's not be too critical. After all, tomorrow is JLA #200!
The JLA gets stranded in the Old West!
The Story: "Once Upon A Time, In The Wild Wild West" by Gerry Conway, Don Heck, and Brett Breeding. This issue starts off like no other--not with any of the JLA, or even the JSA, but Jonah Hex!
Jonah Hex is almost hit by a giant green beam, which comes from...Green Lantern?!?
We know its Green Lantern, but he does not--he's delirious, starving, and is suffering from amnesia. Hex takes pity on the oddly-dressed cowpoke, and gives him a sip from his canteen.
He wakes up that night, with some sort of vision of someone laughing, but that's all he can recall. Hex makes a campfire, not realizing they are being watched.
Cut to: Desecration, Arizona, where a confused young woman is being harassed by some scummy cowboys. They are stopped by the crimson-tressed gunslinger Cinnamon, long enough for the woman to defend herself via a magic spell! Yep, the dazed young woman is Zatanna, trapped in the Old West. I'm seeing a pattern here...
Soon we see Scalphunter running across The Elongated Man, and the West's weirdest hero, Bat Lash, who is saved from taking a bullet in the back by The Flash:
...I love how exaggerated that stance of The Flash is--it looks like a drawing from Mad or something.
Bat Lash and The Flash then make friends, after Bat sees that this oddly-dressed stranger saved his life:
...before Bennifer, before Brangelina, there was Bat-Flash.
Meanwhile, back in our time, Superman is desperately trying to find out what happened to the four Justice Leaguers. He follows their last JLA Signal Device trails to the Grand Canyon, where he discovers a giant robot!
The robot seems to know him, and when he destroys it, he finds its insides are loaded with Kryptonite radiation! Superman passes out before he can see the man behind this attack is...The Lord of Time!
The Lord of Time helpfully explains his plot, which involves the four amnesiac JLAers doing his work for him--namely, capturing an anti-matter bubble that, if harnessed, could make him Master of the World! To be continued!
Roll Call: Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, Elongated Man, Zatanna
Notable Moments: After an extraordinary hot streak (issues 189-197, in my mind), this two-parter is a bit of a step back. I don't think its a bad story, but swapping out Don Heck for George Perez didn't exactly thrill the eleven year old me that bought this issue. And while I enjoyed DC's westerns just fine, I always found them mixing with superheroes to be an uneasy fit, at best.
Nice cover, though, well designed and well colored, by Ross Andru and Romeo Tanghal.
Two...two...two stories in one issue!
The Story: "The Metamorph War" by Gerry Conway, Don Heck, and Frank McLaughlin. Continued from last issue, we have the faux-JLA (actually duplicates created by supervillain Proteus) about to rob a bank they are obstensibly hired to protect.
But as they try to get away, they are stopped by...a construction worker, an office worker, a chef, and a waitress!
No...this is not a team-up with the Village People, these are the "regular people" identities that Proteus made the real JLAers believe they are!
The real JLAers quickly discover that their duplicates are faking their powers via machines, so between that and their lack of experience, they are easily defeated.
The Flash manages to take out Proteus, who tells the Scarlet Speedster that the machine he used to do the old switcheroo is damaged due to the Flash's punch, leaving Zatanna stranded in her "other" identity as a bag lady!
He finds Zee, and connects with her emotionally, reflecting their recent romance, which snaps her out of her fog. They both admit that they maybe they work better just as...friends.
Roll Call: Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Elongated Man, Zatanna
Second Story: "The Miracle at 22,300 Miles!" by Gerry Conway, Rich Buckler, and Frank McLaughlin
Up at the satellite, the Halls are pining for their home planet, Thanagar:
While they can't return home for now, Carter reassures his wife that maybe someday they'll be able to.
Meanwhile, Ray and Jean Palmer are attending a Hanukkah celebration, where the theme of hope is again celebrated.
No rest for the Batman, however, as we find him and Black Canary busting up a ring of computer thieves! They make quick work of them, when they receive a distress call from the Hawks!
Turns out some sort of small satellite is attacking the JLA HQ, and since it has knocked out their satellite's defense system, Hawkman heads out into space to attack it head on.
Batman, Canary, and the Atom arrive, only to have the JLA's main computer--the one that controls the life support systems and the transporter beam--blow-up! This leaves them with just an hour, or they will all run out of oxygen!
The Atom heads into the system to try and repair the damage, while Hawkgirl heads to the Hawks' orbiting spaceship to get a replacement component. She does, and life support is restored.
But...the Atom reveals he couldn't fix the computer in time. Yet...the life support system continued to work the whole time. How is that possible?
The Atom says they may have witnessed a miracle, like the one that happened in a temple 2,000 years ago...
Roll Call: Batman, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Hawkgirl
Notable Moments: I really enjoyed the second story--its a neat little holiday piece, and it probably wouldn't have worked as an issue-length tale. Pairing it up with the second half of the Proteus story (another tale that really didn't need to go past its page count) was a nice move.
Our pal Rich Buckler's art for "Miracle" is just great here--I loved Shayera's pensive look on the splash page.
Tomorrow would normally be issue #189, of course, but we have two days of special posts first. Be sure to check 'em out!
Romance and shape-changing rock the JLA!
The Story: "All Things Must Change!" by Gerry Conway, Don Heck, and Frank McLaughlin. We open on a pensive Zatanna, staring out into space aboard the JLA satellite.
Her thoughts are interrupted by The Flash, who, admittedly, is in a slightly lonely, nostalgic mood.
He tells Zatanna a bit about the original days of the League, and how much it has changed over the years. He then--gasp!--makes a pass at Zatanna, who seems to respond, and then quickly changes the subject.
Zatanna shows Barry what she's been working on, a new costume! No longer a derivative of either her father or her mother, this new outfit is her own creation.
They then sit down to have dinner, and the things start to heat up, in more ways than one:
Meanwhile, down on Earth, we find Superman investigating the cause of an explosion. While underground, he runs across the supervillain Proteus (not seen since Beware The Creeper #'s 4-6!), who quickly zaps the Man of Steel!
Hours later, Superman wakes up...except now he is a normal joe named Bart McLusky! What the?!?
Proteus then does the same to Aquaman and the Elongated Man, and then Wonder Woman. Proteus is on quite a role, you'd think he might stop here.
But no, Proteus has to go for one more notch on his death ray, as he ambushes Zatanna at her home (where Zatanna thinks to herself "I can't believe Barry and I spent the entire night talking!" Uh-huh.).
Back up at the satellite, The Flash answers a distress signal:
Proteus: not detail oriented.
Now the "JLA" arrive at a big ticket jewelry store, along with the Flash, who they tell they are on a mission to guard a big shipment of rare jewels. Before Flash has time to wonder why the JLA is on such a penny-ante mission, they send him to guard the back, where he, too is zapped by Proteus! To be continued!
Roll Call: Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Elongated Man, Zatanna
Notable Moments: No matter what Zatanna said--er, thought--I was always thought that Zee and Barry..you know, did it. And while they were supposed to be on Monitor Duty, too!
After three issues drawn by George Perez, Don Heck is given a sort of try-out. He, Perez, and (in two issues) Rich Buckler will basically swap JLA art chores back and forth for the next two years or so.
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This same month, the JLA gues-starred in The New Teen Titans #4, by the boffo team of Marv Wolfman and George Perez.
...you know, I really can't believe I don't own a copy of this!
