Justice League of America #191 - June 1981

For the first time in a looooong while--no Superman or Batman! Bad timing, since the JLA has to fight Amazo!

The Story: "The Key Crisis of the One-Man Justice League!" by Gerry Conway, Rich Buckler, and Pablo Marcos. We open with an unholy alliance between two of the JLA's most fearsome foes, The Key and Amazo!

Amazo doesn't like being bossed around, but the Key zaps him with a ray and tells him too bad, he has plans for him...

Meanwhile, we find Zatanna waiting for Ray Palmer in a park. She confides to Ray that she believes she is losing her magic powers!

Cut to The Flash, stopping some kidnappers aboard a train. He foils them, and stops the train--all in a day's work for The Fastest Man Alive.

Except...as he starts to run away, The Flash suddenly feels a pain in his leg and quickly he realizes...he has lost his super-powers!

Simiar events befall Black Canary and The Elongated Man. And when Ralph shows up at the JLA satellite to look into it, he finds several other JLAers there, all facing the same problem.

When Zatanna mentions bringing her problem to Ray, the Flash feels hurt:

Hawkman and an off-panel Hawkgirl do some investigating, and conclude that someone is "tampering" with the normal life-span of their powers. Hawkman also concludes the most natural culprit is...Amazo!

Back at The Key's secret base, we see him undergoing another of his painful "rebirths" into a new body. Just as this happens, the JLA bursts in, and then The Key sicks Amazo on them!

Amazo, having the powers of all of them, defeats the JLAers, and then turns on The Key for manipulating him. He's about to break The Key into several smaller pieces when, suddenly, the Atom delivers a blow to Amazo's head.

Amazo then realizes he no longer has the powers he had just a few moments ago, and a one-two punch from The Flash and Black Canary's sonic cry takes him out, reducing him to a pile of junk.

The Key, whose lifespan energies were connected to Amazo's powers, can't understand why his body isn't automatically reverting to its smaller, crippled form.

Turns out Zatanna gave some of her "life-energies" to The Key:

...a nice, sweet moment for Zee, followed by a great joke.

As the JLA shoots the pile o' Amazo into space (yeah, that'll never come back to haunt them), Zatanna and The Atom discuss the fact that she started losing her powers (hinted at in JLA #190) before The Key started his plan, so what's going on?

She informs him that there is an inherent limit to her magical powers, and that she was using them so massively during her first few months as a JLAer that she finds them now diminished. The Atom assures her, even with half her powers, "You'll never be less than first class!"

Roll Call: Flash, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Zatanna

Notable Moments: I remember at the time, this issue being a big deal, because it didn't feature either Superman or Batman.

Considering how well this issue works, I think it proved--creatively at least--that of course you could tell a good JLA story without them. I wish that this template had been used later on, when the JLA Detroit concept kicked in.

Justice League of America #150 - Jan. 1978

The return of the villainous Key!

The Story: "The Key--or Not The Key" by Steve Englehart, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. The JLA is shocked to discover the Star-Tsar is actually their old friend, Snapper Carr!

But before he has to explain, his henchmen show up and attack, distracting the heroes long enough for Snapper to escape.

The JLA splits into two teams to try and track him down, and Green Arrow is a bit worried when Black Canary chooses to pair up with their new friend, The Privateer. "You think he's gonna be a member?" Ollie worriedly asks.

Some of the team follows the Star-Tsar's energy trail, but it leads them to be attacked by a bunch of keys, which of course are the hallmark of another famous JLA villain. They all get sucked into a key-shaped black hole, and find themselves trapped in an alternate dimension, each in their own keyhole-sized jails. Here the Key reveals himself, and tells the JLA he and the Star-Tsar are in cahoots.

Meanwhile, the other JLAers visit Snapper Carr's old stomping grounds of Happy Harbor, where they run into Snapper's sister Janet and she tells them of her brother's tough post-JLA life:

...there's something about this sequence that just sticks with me. This was one of the first times I can think of a writer of a superhero comic taking on the angle of superheroes as celebrities.

The JLA is sympathetic, but that only goes so far when the Star-Tsar attacks! He manages to escape when a second Star-Tsar attacks knocking everyone out! One of them then heads for Washington, D.C., where the Star-Tsar shows up to extort money...President Jimmy Carter!

Now all the JLA are trapped by the Key, but the combined efforts of The Elongated Man and The Flash free them all--including Snapper Carr, who is trapped along with them. They find the second Star-Tsar, who is really, of course, The Key, at least that's how it seems.

The Key's malformed body prevented him from performing the physical tasks needed, so he duped Snapper into helping him. So who is the real Star-Tsar? Red Tornado knows, it's...The Privateer!

Red Tornado uses his perfect android memory to recall that, during all the crucial moments against the Star-Tsar, the Privateer was the one missing!

The Privateer tries to escape, but of course the JLA stops him. Here Mark Shaw reveals (in a full page consisting mostly of text) that while he may not be a Manhunter anymore, the taste for power is still there! All these attacks over the last few issues, involving The Construct, the Key, and Dr. Light, were all part of a plot for Shaw to gain more and more power!

His plan in tatters, the JLA carts him off, but not before forgiving Snapper, and promising him some of the help he needs (to be revealed in an issue of Superman Family, according to "Soft-Sell Schwartz"). Man, the JLA are a forgiving bunch of folks.

The issue ends with Red Tornado having a good laugh over the fact that, of all the members of the JLA, it was he who Shaw overlooked, so it only he who could've defeated Shaw's plan!

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

Notable Moments: The JLA Mail Room header, now officially bursting with members, is changed for essentially the last time to a more generic image:

Though the older header would return, in a way. But that's a few months down the road...

This was Steve Englehart's final issue as writer of Justice League of America, and a big deal was made of it:

...all in all, a solid run of issues. Changes, characterization, and lots of fun. I like how the stories are all of a piece, yet work individually as well.

Gerry Conway would take over the book with the next issue, and become, for all intents and purposes become the team's final writer.

But before we start the Conway Era, be here tomorrow where the JLA Satellite presents a word or two from the man himself, Steve Englehart!

Justice League of America #110 - Apr. 1974

Not only is this one of all-time favorite JLA stories, it's one of my favorite superhero comic stories, ever. It's--

The Story: "The Man Who Murdered Santa Claus!" by Len Wein, Dick Dillin, and Dick Giordano, with special thanks going out to "Green Lantern Fan Dufy Vohland."

We open with Superman and Batman arranging a special visit by Santa Claus to some local orphans. Santa picks up his bag of toys, enters the next room, when it explodes!

Here we're treated to one of the best JLA splash pages ever, which kicks the story off right just as any good splash page should:

...I can just hear the Dramatic Movie musical sting accompanying this image!

Anyway, a JLA distres signal goes out, and we get to see why some JLAers(like Flash, the Atom, Aquaman, and Elongated Man) can't make it, but others are, like Hal Jordan, who promptly falls in the shower, banging his head on the sink.

The power ring wastes no time in finding a replacement Lantern, John Stewart, which carts him off to the JLA satellite.

Batman shows the clue left in Santa's hand, and it leads them to a series of rundown inner city buildings to find Santa's murderer. Here the JLA faces a series of death traps, which leads each of the JLAers in turn having to sacrifice themselves to save the rest--starting with Superman, who heaves himself into a mini-Red Sun, killing himself in the process!

Black Canary is the next to die, and it's here we see the bad guy behind all this, watching the JLA get picked off, one by one...the villainous Key!

Next Batman and Green Arrow go, leaving only Red Tornado and Green Lantern, who are then overcome by the Key's army of robots. The Key begins to revel in his success...understandable, since he's managed to kill half the Justice League!

Unfortunately, the Key's victory party is cut short, by the sudden appearance of all the JLAers, safe and sound! Turns out they were all saved by...The Phantom Stranger! The Stranger went undercover as one of the Key's henchmen and helped each of the JLA only look like they were killed, so they could sneak up on the Key.

Before they can apprehend him, the Key sets off the "Doom-Bomb" implanted in his headquarters, and slips out a secret passageway. The JLA rounds up all the people living in the buildings, so they won't be killed in the explosion.

GL contains the explosion, but it still levels all the buildings. Fortunately, this GL thought ahead, and decided to give these lesser fortunate people an early Christmas gift:

The epilogue takes place back at the satellite, where the JLA are exchanging gifts. Black Canary gives Red Tornado a new costume, to help him understand the season, plus she was "tired of that grim, drab outfit you've been wearing."

Even the grumpy Green Arrow gets in the spirit, and the JLA wishes everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Green Lantern(John Stewart), Green Arrow, Black Canary, Red Tornado

Notable Moments: This is such a sweet tale; I love Green Lantern's solution at the end of the story in how he finds a way to help these poor families yet stay within the "rules" of being a Green Lantern. Ingenious on Mr. Wein's part.

This is the first issue to feature the "Here Come TV's Super-Friends!" on the cover--DC had not yet created the Super Friends comic, so this was as close as they could get.

It's also the first issue of the 100-Page "Super-Spectacular" format, which wasn't a big hit but the issues done this way remain a lot of fun, stuffed to the gills as they were with fun comic book-y goodness.

Case in point, this issue also features a Justice Society tale, "The Plight of A Nation!"(co-drawn by Carmine Infantino and Alex Toth!), a JLA crossword puzzle, "Z--As in Zatanna--and Zero Hour!" from JLA #51, a double-page JSA pin-up by Murphy Anderson, and a two-page edition of the JLA Mail Room! All this for a measly fifty cents!

I first read this story not in the original comic, but in The Best of DC Blue Ribbon Digest #22, "Christmas With the Superheroes." I remember buying this book right off the stands in Dec. 1981 at the beloved Voorhees News & Tobacco Shop.

All the stories in it are pretty good, but when I saw a JLA story where it looked like they were getting knocked off, one by one, the sale was made.

Justice League of America #63 - June 1968

This what I think Superman's dreams are like sometimes.

The Story: "Time Signs a Death Warrant for the Justice League!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and George Roussos. This story opens with a bunch of people from the future spying on a May, 1968 meeting of the Justice League!

Turns out that lockpick of licentiousness, the Key, has found a way to have complete mental control over the JLA! He sends a command to them in their Secret Sanctuary instructing them they are trapped, and in one hour they will all fight one another! For some reason, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern are the least concerned.

Turns out a future Superman is in this meeting, not the "current day" one, so he...man, does this get complicated. Suffice it to say, Superman fights off the rest of the JLA, escapes the Sanctuary, and they go all fight the Key. Whew!

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

Notable Moments: Another time when there's no appearance--of even mention--of the Martian Manhunter. Weird.

The time travelling historians plot is cute, and was homaged by Gerry Conway fifteen years later, in JLA #206. But that's a little ways away...

This is Mike Sekowksy's last issue as penciller of the Justice League of America. Sixty-three(plus three Brave and the Bolds) straight issues, an amazing run, even moreso considering how dense a lot of these issues were. Sekowsky may not have had the polish and the brilliance of a Jack Kirby(who does?), but I think the sheer consistency gave the JLA a solid identity that helped establish the team and the book as one of the mainstays of the DCU.

Of course, sixty-three issues would look like nothing compared to what was next...

Justice League of America #41 - Dec. 1965

The debut of the Key--one of the JLA's most deadly, yet goofy-looking, foes!

The Story: "The Key-Master of the World!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. The Key slips the JLA a mickey which messes with their heads and renders them unable to detect his henchmen who are committing a series of robberies. Luckily, guest-star Hawkgirl uncovers the plan and helps the JLA defeat him.

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

Notable Moments: Like I said above, the debut of the Key, one of the JLA's long-running foes. The character design is Out There, but his creepy face makes you sorta forget the weird head gear.

Hawkgirl guest stars in this issue, another of her many appearances in the book. I haven't counted(though I guess I should; that's the kind of obsessive detail blogs are for), but I think she guest-starred more than any other superhero--yet her induction into the League took another twelve years, for some reason.