skip to main |
skip to sidebar
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 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.
