Justice League of America #132 - July 1976

Wow, this issue guest-stars Supergirl and features an elephant wielding a mace! What more do you kids want for thirty cents?!?

The Story: "The Beasts Who Fought Like Men!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Continued from last issue, the animals and the insects of the world are getting smarter, and proving to be a tough match for the JLA.

Green Lantern manages to stop them long enough to head to the satellite to investigate, but when he gets there, his old foe Sonar is waiting for him! Sonar blasts him, plus other arriving JLAers.

Turns out it was Sonar, disguised as a S.T.A.R. Labs scientist(who the heck does the vetting over there?), who designed these credit cards.

As Sonar is explaining his plan, James Bond-villain-style, Supergirl breaks into the satellite and tries to take him out! She gets a good shot in, but Sonar manages to escape.

Turns out the JLA was playing possum so they could find out Sonar's plan. Batman realizes that Sonar has let loose something even he can't control, so they have to stop him for multiple reasons. Turns out that Supergirl has been trying to find her cousin, but couldn't do so anywhere on Earth! He has gone missing, along with Hawkman, Aquaman, Atom, Flash, and Elongated Man! But the JLA has more pressing concerns at the moment.

The JLA manages to stop Sonar, and they show him the flaw(s) in his plan--that, giving the animals human intelligence gives them all the flaws of humans, which cause the animals to fight among themselves and become unable to control!

Meanwhile, Wonder Woman, Black Canary, and Supergirl go after Queen Bee, who they have learned was actually behind this plot, even though she fell victim to it!

Tracking the brain-power link, they were able to find the missing JLAers, except Superman, who is still nowhere to be found! To be continued!

Roll Call: Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Elongated Man

Notable Moments: One last comment on the cover--typical of Batman, bringing a Batarang to a gorilla-with-a-gun fight.

I like how Conway, for all intents and purposes, ended this storyline, yet found a way to link it to the next one.

This is the beginning of DC celebrating the bicentennial, where you supposed to clip off the top of twenty-five different DC comics, send them in, and you won...a Superman belt-buckle! Having a cool way to hold up your belt doesn't make up for a pile of mangled comics, fellas...

Justice League of America #131 - June 1976

I love Hawkman up on the perch there. That's just so humiliating.

The Story: "The Beasts Who Thought Like Men!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. As Superman and Flash round up some local citizens driven into some sort of frenzy, a kid buys a comic book with...a credit card? Are we on Earth-Visa?

Nope, turns out that a strange plague has infected all the U.S. currency, driving anyone who used it mad! Riots broke out, violence occurred, so the wonderfully misguided scientists at S.T.A.R. Labs(they must have had one of those no-bid contracts with the government) came up with a personal I.D./credit card to replace all cash money!

Meanwhile, its not only the people that have gone mad, but the animals, too! Some of them seem to find their ow way out of their cages, but luckily they are stopped by The Atom and Elongated Man, who are surprised at the regular people's reaction, who seemed too sluggish and dumb not to put themselves in harm's way. The same thing happens to Aquaman, as well.

As the JLA tries to figure out this mess, a giant swarm of bees is attacking New York City. As they try to stop them, they run into the Queen Bee, who they assume is behind this. Turns out she is a victim of the "sluggishness" that seems to be affecting all human-like life on Earth.

She tells them that these credit cards have created a "sonic pattern" which is transferring brian-power from humans to animals. As she and the JLA are overcome by the bees, the Atom and Elongated Man are visiting the man at S.T.A.R. who created the cards. Unbeknownst to them, he is not what he seems and leads them into a death-trap. To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, Aquaman, Flash, Atom, Hawkman, Elongated Man

Notable Moments: Other than the whole "transferring brain-power" thing, I think the whole card-replacing-money is a perfectly workable idea, and will probably really happen one day:

...I hope that, when they do make these, Gerry Conway gets the first one.

We are now at the halfway point of the run of Justice League of America, which stopped at issue #261. We aren't exactly one-hundred and thirty posts away from the end of the blog, since there are some more ads, a few annuals, and a surprise or two(!) still in store.

But I just wanted to pause for a moment to reflect how far we've come. When I started the blog back in November 2006, even the halfway point seemed soooo far away. Thanks everybody for taking an interest in what I'm doing here!

Justice League of America #119 - June 1975

Another great cover by Dick Giordano--and what I love the most is that it's the exact same scene as the previous issue's cover, but with the predicament getting steadily worse. Plus, Batman looks pissed.

The Story: "Winner Takes The Earth!" by Elliot S! Maggin, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. These Adaptoid creatures are announcing their plans to eradicate the human race, while the defeated and wounded JLAers watch from the satellite.

Finally the other JLAers--Batman, Atom, Green Arrow, and Elongated Man--get involved, but they prove no match for the Adaptoids, so they are beamed back to the satellite for the JLA to compare notes and regroup.

The news announces that governments are toppling under the assault of the Adaptoids, and Superman, current JLA chairman, calls a "War Room" meeting of the JLA. And when Superman is in charge, he sure lets you know it:

Yes, being in charge and generally just being Superman isn't enough, he has to stand on the table and talk, literally, down to the rest of his teammates.

As they discuss strategy, the Adaptoids show up in the JLA satellite! They beat the JLAers again, when suddenly Hawkman returns, and exposes the creatures to the Equalizing plague by bringing...Hawkgirl!

This equalizes the JLAers and the Adaptoids, which gives the JLA the edge they need to defeat them. The JLA announces to the world they have done so, and Green Lantern comes by(better late than never) to transport the Adaptoids to a barren prison planet, where they immediately start building a primitive society for themselves.

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Red Tornado

Notable Moments: Elliot S! Maggin tied in the previous storyline to this one, which was neat. And bringing Hawkgirl back to Earth was needed, as well, so he got a lot of things accomplished in just this issue.

The Atom gets a chance to shine, as his scientific background helps the JLA figue out what to do with the creatures and how the JLA will adapt to have been "equalized."
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JLA Satellite fan/F.O.A.M. member Russell Burbage pointed out to me that the JLA made an appearance in Action Comics #443.

I've normally been skipping the JLA's appearances in other books, but I was able to pick up a very cheap copy and besides, that Nick Cardy cover looks like so much fun! (I had hoped to profile the book in chronological sequence--which would've been around JLA #115, but it just arrived yesterday, so please forgive me)

The story is "Clark Kent, Super-Hero!" by Elliott S! Maggin, Curt Swan(of course), and Tex Blaisdell. We open with Superman himself delivering the 6 O'Clock News on WGBS! What's going on here?

Next we see the Queen Bee and her drones robbing a bank, when they are stopped by...a flying Clark Kent?!?

Queen Bee gets away, and she heads back to her "Anti-Justice League" satellite, which looks a lot like a certain Legion of Doom would in a few years. Queen Bee has assembled a team of bad guys, consisting of Brainiac, Clayface, the Harpy(who?), Merlyn, Ocean Master, Sinestro, Chronos, and Gorilla Grodd!

Turns out these baddies have gone after the individual JLAers and defeated them(using a sophisticated plan of attack, calculating and anticipating the heroes' actions), and they are now encased in a cage of the Queen Bee's devising.

Unfortunately for them, Brainiac has not been able to defeat Superman, because he is attacking illogically, doing nothing he normally does! When a tracker he creates pinpoints where Bee's hideout is, he heads there and takes on all the villains himself.

Superman gets blasted by Brainiac, but not before he helps free the Flash, who then frees the other JLAers, who open a can of whoop-ass on the bad guys. I love these two panels in particular:

...Ocean Master and Chronos are waking up tomorrow with a headache and a broken jaw, respectively.

They wrap up the villains, and use the Queen Bee's rod to make everyone forget all that they saw regarding Clark and Superman. Done and done!

The JLA is definitely just a guest-star in this story, which makes sense since its meant to be a Superman tale, first and foremost. I like Queen Bee's line-up of villains, I wish this group had come back more!

Justice League of America #60 - Feb. 1968

A return appearance by the sexy...er, villianous Queen Bee!

The Story: "Winged Warriors of the Immortal Queen!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Sid Greene. The Justice Leaguers lose control of their bodies(particularly bad for Green Arrow) and suddently sprout wings!

Turns out they are now under the control of the Queen Bee, who now has control of the (don't laugh) Magno-Nuclear Rod, which enables her to take control of the JLA and have them help her conquer the universe! Luckily guest-star Batgirl is here to help the JLA defeat her.

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman

Notable Moments: A rare story for this period featuring every member of the JLA, plus guest-star Batgirl! I know she wouldn't have added that much, powers-wise, to the team, but I think Babs does look good among the JLAers:
Sekowsky and Greene's rendering of Batgirl is quite nice. I found this issue a little too much to handle reading it for the first time as teen--Batgirl and Queen Bee? I've always had a thing for redheads...

This story is a few pages short, so the book is filled up with a Captain Comet reprint, "The Seeing-Eye Humans!" by John Broome and Murphy Anderson.

Justice League of America #23 - Nov. 1963

Even though she's sorta goofy looking, I always liked the Queen Bee. Super-villainesses were rare enough, but one powerful enough to take on the whole JLA?

Plus she was kinda hot. Have I said too much?

The story: "Drones of the Queen Bee!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. The Queen Bee uses her powers to force the JLA to procure elements that when combined will produce an immortality serum for her!

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, The Atom

Notable Moments: Even though Superman, Batman, and Aquaman are listed in the Roll Call, they play no part in this story and show up only as the very end.

Also, the Atom misses the story entirely, because he was off having another adventure in his own book(appearing in The Atom #8, Julius Schwartz helpfully informs us), so the issue ends with Atom about to regale the JLA with the story. Weird!