skip to main |
skip to sidebar
The return of Ultraa!
The Story: "The Super-Power of Negative Thinking!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. We find The Flash and Wonder Woman taking on Poison Ivy and Mirror Master, when suddenly that hero from another world, Ultraa, shows up to help!
The villains get away with some stolen loot, but WW explains that the stuff they stole is nearly worthless. Ultraa is so furious these bad guys would risk innocent lives to steal worthless objects he takes off to find them.
Meanwhile, the two heroes are shocked to find that the regular citizens are hardly appreciative of the JLAers saving them--in fact, they tell Flash and Wonder Woman that being around a super-powered fight is like being in an earthquake!
We follow the baddies back to the secret hideout of the Injustice Gang, where their mysteriously cloaked leader tells them these items are far from worthless! He tells them they are extra-terrestrial artifacts that, when combined, will help a race of alien overlord take over Earth!
The members of the IG--Ivy, Mirror Master, Chronos, Tattooed Man, and the Scarecrow--don't believe the story, and their leader gets furious at them for such insolence! The villains pipe down, but Chronos silently tells himself he's going to check up on this guy.
Meanwhile, as the JLA are discussing what's happened, Ultraa breaks in and shoots them with some sort of "negative ray", which he tells them gets rid of all their super-powers! The JLA doesn't believe it, until they all discover they are now, indeed, powerless! Ultraa says this is the only way to bring peace to his new home, so now it's off to find the Injustice Gang!
He shoots them with the beam, unbeknownst to them, and he believes all is well. But when they, along with the alien artifacts, start wrecking the Earth, he realizes something has gone wrong!
Ultraa tries to take on the villains directly, but the Scarecrow instills his terrorizing fear in Ultraa, so the JLA--powerless, they believe--still show up to try and help.
The JLA tell themselves that Ultraa's beam didn't so much take away their powers but their belief in their powers, so the JLA goads each other on to overcome this mental handicap. It works, and Superman delivers the final blow, via heat vision, to the alien artifacts and the IG's leader, who turned out to be...Abra Kadabra!
But what to do with Ultraa?
Roll Call: Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Red Tornado
Notable Moments: I always felt like Ultraa was primed to be the next member of the JLA, but it never quite happened.
For some reason, I also have a copy of this issue in one of those now-maddeningly-popular (read: expensive on eBay) Comic Pacs, courtesy Whitman, under the blanket title of Superman Comics:
Each comic retailed for 50 cents, so via Whitman you get two comics for 99 cents, a savings of...one penny. Gee, I wonder why Whitman had such a tough time moving these out the door?
It's the grudge match of the year!
The Story: "A Tale of Two Satellites!" by Steve Englehart, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. We open with Superman and Wonder Woman having argument about her recent, er, abrasive behavior.
It doesn't go well, and Wonder Woman storms out, quitting the JLA as she leaves!
As she arrives on Earth, she runs into Poison Ivy and Scarecrow and as she tries to stop them, she is interrupted by another would-be superhero, former Manhunter Mark Shaw now known as The Privateer!
Meanwhile WW's outburst has caused ripples of dissension in the JLA, with Green Arrow, Black Canary, Flash, and GL storming out, with Aquaman, Atom, and Elongated Man leaving to spend time with their wives. This leaves Superman and Batman to ponder...what's happening with the Justice League?
The Privateer and Wonder Woman go to dinner(!), and when he makes a gentle comment about Diana seeming a little out of it, her response is a tad disproportionate:
...you can't take her anywhere!
As Wonder Woman takes off, she is zapped by some sort of mental blast, and then someone else takes control of her, taking her to...the Injustice Gang satellite!
Poison Ivy and Scarecrow are shocked to see her, naturally, and then the real fiend behind all this reveals himself. Its...The Construct!
While members of the IG attack various JLAers, Wonder Woman shows up at the JLA satellite and that's when the big beat down begins. She manages to subdue Supes by use of her Magic Lasso, but Superman can see that the mental stress she's under is slowly killing her.
WW calls them all to the satellite, but Green Arrow smells a trap, so instead they go to the IG's satellite, and kick some more butt, destroying the satellite in the process. But when they're asked who put them up to all this, none of them can remember!
Meanwhile, Wonder Woman, no longer under The Construct's control, hugs her dear friend Superman.
Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Elongated Man
Notable Moments: Hawkgirl guest-stars in this issue, a preview of things to come!
Once again, when given a cover to draw that pits hero against hero, your average comic book artist (Dick Dillin, in this case) simply cannot resist drawing other heroes cheering one side or the other, even though, again, nothing like that happens in the story.
____________________________________________________________
Tomorrow:
That is one busy cover!
The Story: "Balance of Power!" by Len Wein, Dick Dillin, and Dick Giordano. We open with Green Lantern encountering his old foe The Tattooed Man, who mysteriously disappears just as GL was about to apprehend him!
Turns out he has been transported to the secret satellite headquarters of the Injustice Gang of the World (great name, complete with logo), which consists of the unusual line-up of Chronos (Damian, take note), The Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, The Shadow-Thief, Mirror Master, and their leader, Libra!
As Libra explains his plan to defeat the JLA, the JLA themselves compare notes, and see that the villain disappearing act has been happening to many of them in the past few days.
The JLA decides to break off into groups when they get word of these same bad guys attacking all over the world. Green Lantern and Batman tell everyone one to handle their respective foes, but Elongated Man has a fanciful idea to switch it up! This irritates Batman to no end, but the other heroes agree!
Aquaman and Green Lantern go after Poison Ivy and Mirror Master, and its here that Aquaman gets a fun moment to shine:
...sure, he's bragging a little, but Aquaman so rarely gets the spotlight I was glad to see him school Poison Ivy.
Unfortunately, just as it looks like GL and Aquaman are about to win the fight, MM and Ivy touch a button in their costumes which seems to take the heroes powers away!
The same thing happens to Superman vs. the Scarecrow, Batman vs. Chronos, Elongated Man vs. The Tattooed Man, and Flash vs. The Shadow-Thief! All of them have their powers removed, just long enough for Libra to show up and deliver the final blow.
We then find Libra, having trapped the JLA in their own little prisons back at Injustice Gang HQ, using a machine that saps their energy and puts it into him. The JLA manages to break out(of course), but as they try and stop Libra he just keeps taking in more and more energy until he grows so big that he cannot keep himself together, and he evaporates into nothingness!
This leaves the JLA stranded--without their powers--in the Injustice Gang HQ! To be continued!
Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Elongated Man
Notable Moments: I love gangs of villains vs. gangs of heroes, and it was neat to see a team of bad guys made up of unusual choices, like Poison Ivy and Shadow-Thief.
This issue comes with a two-page "Wanted: The Injustice Gang!" feature, drawn by Pat Broderick, a JLA crossword, plus a reprint of a Seven Soldiers of Victory story("Beware! The Black Star Shines!", from Leading Comics #2), a SSOV pin-up by Murphy Anderson, and the classic "Attack of the Star-Bolt Warrior!" from JLA #32.
The cover image, of Libra holding the scales of justice, is by Nick Cardy, and is so cool and dynamic I wish it had more space on the cover.
The JLA Mail Room logo changes again, to reflect the departure of Hawkman and Reddy's new duds:
