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Great, 50s sci-fi movie poster-ish cover!
The story: "The 'I' Who Defeated the Justice League!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. An inter-galactic being simply named "I" sends anonymous letters to members of the JLA to draw them out and defeat them, since he discovers their success as a team is draining his life force(huh?).
Snapper Carr figures out(yeah, ahead of Batman) that if they use the handy Amazo, residing in their sanctuary's trophy room, they can overload "I" and defeat him. Ginchy!
Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, The Atom
Notable Moments: There's a giant full-page illustration(which Sekowsky didn't do much) of the JLA beating the circuits out of Amazo, which is fun.
Aquaman gets a fairly big role in this story. I'm always happy about that.
Despero is back!
The story: "Four Worlds to Conquer!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. Despero is Back! Oh, wait, I said that...
Despero escapes the prison he was put in(at the end of JLA #1) and uses a ray to accelerate the age of some JLA members, while trapping the rest in some deathtraps. He then poses as an aged Superman and sneaks into the Secret Sanctuary, but Wonder Woman sees through that and captures him.
Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, The Atom
Notable Moments: Sekowsky excelled at drawing older people, so seeing old versions of some of the JLA is fun.
The story ends with Despero standing off to the side as the JLA decides what to do with him. How humiliating.
One of the earliest JLA back issues I ever bought--as you can see, this book is Near Mint. Ok, Near Mint-minus.
The story: "Outcasts of Infinity!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. The JLA(well, some of them) get involved with a fight on the alien planet known as Sfarl. There, a bad guy with a lot of weapons named Kraad uses a beam to disintigrate the JLAers(!!), but Atom uses GL's ring to reconsitute them, albeit all mixed together. And Ray is the scientist on the team?
Roll Call: Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, The Atom
Notable Moments: This is the first issue to feature just a small fraction of the JLA's membership, something that would continue to grow as did the team's roster.
Like I said at the top, I bought this copy simply because I could afford it--but even though it was already pretty beat up, I had to make things worse by letting a piece of tape rip off the cover(see by Diana's lasso), marker-color some pages, and fill out a form for a collector's book of stamps. Huh?
The three little Sfarlians who start the ball rolling are some of Sekowsky's best-designed aliens. Since they're not the bad guys in the story, they're given a cute look, as distinctive as any big Hollywood movie:
...somebody call Rankin-Bass!
One of my favorite covers. Even though they're under a bad-guy's control, I always like the Heroes Running At The Reader covers.
The story: "Decoy Missions of the Justice League!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. Kanjar Ro and his pointy face is back, in some crazy scheme involving his aural form, and trapping the JLA's aural forms, which traps their real bodies...luckily, always-a-bridesmaid Adam Strange guest-stars and helps the JLA defeat Ro.
Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, The Atom
Notable Moments: Even though I understood why Adam Strange never joined, I always enjoyed his guest-appearances in the JLA.
The letters page features missives from Roy Thomas(him again!) and one Dave Cockrum, who suggests a new character named "Nightcrawler" joins the JLA. No, I made that up.
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!
Part Two of the exciting first JLA/JSA crossover!
The story: "Crisis on Earth-Two!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. The JLA and the JSA break up into teams and take on the villains of two worlds, but when they capture them all, a magical trap sprung by Felix Faust ensnares them all in jail cells floating in space!
With the help of the two Flashes and Green Lanterns, they escape and dole out another around of super-team butt-kicking, this time defeating the bad guys for good. As they stand around six beaten, unconcious bad guys, the two teams promise to stay in touch.
Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, The Atom
Notable Moments: After the JLA and JSA break free, they get the drop on the bad guys and all the fighting is condensed into two beautifully crafted, clean pages:
...some of Mike Sekowsky's best work, I think. Simple yet exciting as heck.
I bought this back issue at the aforementioned "El Dorado" comic book store, sometime around 1983 or so. Yet I still went ahead and filled out the coupon for the "Task Force" toy soliders kit(only 69 cents!), as if the offer was still valid twenty years later. Kids are so literal.
The return of the Justice Society! The first JLA/JSA team-up! The first "Crisis" story!
The story: "Crisis on Earth-One!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. A team of bad guys calling themselves the (*snicker*) Crime Champions, consisting of Chronos, Felix Faust, and Dr. Alchemy(ooh, I'm scared!) tell the JLA about some crimes they plan to commit, while on Earth-2 the very same thing is happening with the JSA!
The villains trap the JLA, but they use the crystal ball they got from Merlin, no less(JLA #2), to contact Earth-2 and switch places with the JSA! This leads to the first time these two legendary teams have met. They then split up to take on the bad guys of both Earths!
Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, The Atom
Notable Moments: Oddly, Batman is not listed in the "Roll Call" on page one, though he has a large part in the story.
It's amazing, when looking back, how the smallest notions can be built into Major Ideas. Not to slight Gardner Fox--at all--while I'm sure this idea of bringing back the JSA was immediately recognized as a good one, I bet mostly it was thought of as a way to fill that month's twenty-five pages. Of course, this whole storyline would serve as the basis for the entire DC Universe, produce countless spin-offs, and the cover by Murphy Anderson would become one the hallmark images of DC Comics. Well done, fellas!
Man, that pose Green Lantern is in looks really uncomfortable. Props to Mike Sekowsky, though, for putting this much on a cover and still not make it look too crowded.
The story: "The Mystery of Spaceman X!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. An evil alien uses a giant spaceman(at left, destroying property) to absorb the energy created by giant disasters, and of course the JLA tries to stop him!
Roll Call: Superman, Batman Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, The Atom
Notable Moments: I really like "Spaceman X"'s design--classic early-60s space explorer togs that look like they came right from a Universal sci-fi movie.
Superman basically saves the day at the end; I'd say this was the unofficial start of when Superman and Batman started to dominate the book and almost always took a central role in any given story.
Classic cover by Murphy Anderson; the kind of set-up that just made you buy the comic.
The story: "The Super-Exiles of Earth!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. Evil duplicates of the JLA start a crime wave, ending with the real JLA being exiled from Earth(c'mon, won't France take them?)!
Turns out its all a plan of the nefarious Dr. Destiny, who has invaded the JLAer's dreams. They concoct a plan to return to Earth icognito, as their civilian identities--except for Aquaman, who has none. Feh.
Roll Call: Superman, Batman Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, The Atom
Notable Moments: Why Aquaman couldn't go back to Earth as Arthur Curry always bothered me--its not like there's some big Ellis Island in the sky, checking the I.D.s of people coming in from outer space(although this is the DC Universe...)! He could've put on a suit and said "I'm the son of a lighthouse keeper" and participated.
The JLA decides to expose themselves to some "Amnesium" that Supes has back in the Fortress, so they can erase their memories of each other's secret identities. Where was this during Identity Crisis?
What the-?!? What is going on here, and why are the Atom's legs so far apart?
The story: "Journey Into The Micro-World!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. The JLA--all except The Atom--gets brought to a sub-atomic world to help defeat its three invulnerable protectors that are inadvertantly destroying their world! And that's just part of the story--I had to read this comic three times to figure out just what the hell is going on!
Roll Call: Superman, Batman Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, The Atom
Notable Moments: Snapper Carr actually gets to help out in this case--even as a kid I didn't really like Snapper; I didn't understand why he got to hang out with the JLA when someone like, say, me, was so much more deserving(I was not yet aware that the JLA wasn't real).
Can the JLA defeat a villain who can become the entire JLA?
The story: "The Triumph of the Tornado Tyrant!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. A strange creature known as the Tornado Tyrant is convinced it can defeat the Justice League since it has been studying them and even duplicating their abilities by creating anti-matter versions of the JLA. But of course the JLA figures out a way to outsmart the creature!
Roll Call: Superman, Batman Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, The Atom
Notable Moments: Features cameos by Adam Strange, Kanjar Ro, and Dr.Light, as the Tornado Tyrant watches the JLA from afar in their battles. A fun touch.
This issue is also memorable to me because a sequel of sorts was done twenty years later in JLA #s 192 and 193 by Gerry Conway and George Perez. It adds so much to this story with that knowledge in the back of your head.
Wonderfully composed cover by Murphy Anderson--the eye leads you right around, back to where you started. Nice job, Mr. Anderson!
The story: "The Cavern of the Deadly Spheres!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. A villain named The Maestro uses his powers to control the Justice League...but there was one member he overlooked...the tiny titan, The Atom!
Roll Call: Superman, Batman Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, The Atom
Notable Moments: Features a real out-there final act, where we find that the previous eighteen pages never happened, and is in fact a comic-book story starring the JLA read to them by Snapper Carr! And to make it even weirder, we read that the artwork is by "Jerry Thomas"(Jerry Bails + Roy Thomas = Jerry Thomas)! Never before had a comic book so completely integrated some of its readers into the fictional world of the comic itself.
As Snapper Carr would say, "Coolsville, man!"
Man, these JLA covers are getting crowded!
The story: "Challenge of the Untouchable Aliens!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. A group of giant aliens have landed all over the world, stealing each country's most destructive weapons. And this is bad how?
Roll Call: Superman, Batman Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, The Atom
Notable Moments: Another nice villain design courtesy Mike Sekowsky; I love the alien's blocky, almost abstract yet very expressive faces.
Even with the addition of the Atom, Fox finds a way to give each JLAer a little moment, and the story has a nice, gentle "twist" ending.
The letter column header changes again, to reflect their newest member:
...obviously, DC didn't ask Sekowsky to add the Atom, since it's pretty clear he was drawn on by what looks like a felt-tip pen(to say nothing of the lack of color), probably at the last minute by someone in the offices.
Thus begins a tradition that will run a few years where DC will desperately add, subtract, and re-draw stuff on this one piece to reflect the current team, regardless of how Frankentsein-y it starts to look.
The Atom joins the Justice League!
The story: "The Menace of the 'Atom' Bomb!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. The JLA decides to vote in a new member("Adam Strange!" cries The Flash), and as soon as they vote in the Atom, all of them realize they have no idea who that is!
The JLA head to Ivy Town to investigate, but on the way they release they're starting to forget who they themselves are! Turns out its the work of the mysterious Mister Memory and his "De-Memorizor"!
Roll Call: Superman, Batman Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, and new member The Atom!
Notable Moments: Mister Memory is actually Professor Amos Fortune in disguise, a nice callback to a previous issue when that was still pretty rare in comics.
There's a sweet moment at the end, when the JLA shows The Atom his chair, and he sees that its sitting on the floor! But the Atom is too good-natured to say anything, so he decides not to complain, only for the JLA to show him the chair has the abillity to hover in the air, so he can fully participate in JLA meetings! Again, what kid wouldn't want to hang out with these people?
This issue doesn't feature the typical new-member title-page scroll, one of my favorite touches. Oh well, maybe for Hawkman...
This was one of the first back issues I ever bought. A little while after we moved to New Jersey in 1979, I discovered a honest-to-gosh comics store near our house, named El Dorado, and I begged my Dad to take me.
Once I got there, looking at an entire store filled with old comics nearly gave me a heart attack(in a good way). I checked out all the JLAs and this one was the oldest issue I could still afford. It was in better condition than this when I got it...what can I say? As a kid I was a little more careless with my books...
The story: "The Riddle of the Robot Justice League!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. An alien named Sforll(don't laugh, he's sensitive about that) kidnaps the JLA to enlist them to help him take on another alien, named Zed Brann(who later went on to star in NBC's Scrubs)who is attempting to steal a vital force of energy that helps run the universe!
For some reason, this leads to the JLA fighting robot duplicates of themselves, except for Aquaman. Since there is no water on the planet of Skarn, they didn't bother to make one of him(??). That leaves Aquaman to be the one-man cheering section for the JLA, which actually works out, since he each gives the JLAers subtle ideas how to defeat their robot challengers. Again, yay Aquaman!
Roll Call: Superman, Batman Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow
Notable Moments: As an Aquaman fan, I have to give Garnder Fox credit--he always managed to give Aquaman something vital to do, and while the stories were a bit formulaic, I appreciate his ability to tell a huge, planet-spanning story in just twenty pages or so, and still give each JLAer a moment to shine.
Another classic villain debuts--the infamous Dr.Light!
The story: "The Last Case of the Justice League!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. Snapper Carr arrives at the JLA Secret Sanctuary only to find a goofball who calls himself "Dr. Light" there, and he tells Snapper the tale he likes to call "The Last Case of the Justice League!"
Dr.Light uses his Disco Ball of Doom to send JLAers to other worlds--Aquaman to an all-desert planet, Manhunter to an all-fire planet, etc. Luckily, Superman and Batman senses something was up before they were transported, and switched identities, which helps them escape and then rescue the other JLAers.
Roll Call: Superman, Batman Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow
Notable Moments: Another longtime villain makes his first appearance--Gardner Fox was on a Stan Lee-esque run here, where with each issue he was creating a new bad guy that would go on to have a long run as a DC villain.
There's a letter by a Paul Gambaccini, who later became a famous radio and TV commentator and music producer in the UK. He never lost his love of comics though, and was tapped to write the intro to The Justice League of America Archives Vol.1.
Part 2 of the Felix Faust plus The Lord of Time plus The Demons Three epic!
The story: "One Hour to Doomsday" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. The JLA, having chased the Lord of Time into the future, try to go back by find themselves unable to return home.
They enlist the help of the Demons Three, who then try to turn the tables on them. Nice try, Abnegezar, Rath, and Ghast!
Roll Call: Superman, Batman Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow
Notable Moments: The Demons Three are now colored pink, the look they will keep for the rest of the four-color career. To help defeat the demons, the JLAers "switch bodies", and its Batman who gets turned into Wonder Woman. Awkward...
A letter writer asks--nay, demands--that the Atom join the team. As a hint, they run another letter analyzing that each current JLA member's name has a sequential number of letters--i.e., Flash has five, Batman has six, Aquaman has seven, and so on. The response is that there is no hero with thirteen letters in their name, but there is one with four--The Atom!
By the way, that last, obsessively-compiled letter is by somebody named E.Nelson Bridwell!
This issue is a veritable feast of comics history--the enduring JLA villains Felix Faust, The Lord of Time, and the Demons Three(Abnegezar, Rath, and Ghast) all debut in this one comic!
Eventually all three(six?) bad guys would find their way into the larger DCU, and specifically the tres Demons would make a memorable appearance in Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run, where they take on Dr.Fate and he immolates one of them right on the spot. Don't mess with the helmet of Nabu!
The story: "The Fantastic Fingers of Felix Faust!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. Felix Faust learns the only way to unleash these Demons Three guys is to retrieve specific magical objects, so he uses his magic powers to force the JLA into getting them for him(there's a lot of JLA-controlling-by-bad-guys in these early issues).
Meanwhile, the Lord of Time wants to get these objects, too, which causes this story to get so big that it becomes the first multi-issue JLA story!
Roll Call: Superman, Batman Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow
Notable Moments: Sekowsky's design of the three demons is way cool--they look funky and weird, with strange proportions that actually make them look otherworldly, not just humans with a fang or a horn. Also, here they are colored bone white, instead of the pink tone they are more associated with.
Felix Faust is knocked out by a school of flying fish, under the command of Guess Who. Not one of Faust's best moments.
Letter writer John Budnick of Hicksville, NY, wants the book and team to be renamed the "Interplanetary League of Justice" since he thinks it suits them more accurately. He points out, a little angrily, actually--that Superman is Kryptonian, Manhunter is Martian, and "[y]ou'd have to stretch a long point to consider Aquaman an American, and of course Wonder Woman's birthplace is the Amazon Paradise Island." Somebody call Lou Dobbs!
This snappy ad(by Ira Schnapp, of course) ran in JLA #9, announcing the big news that the book was going from six issues a year to eight, a big promotion back in those days.
When I find one, I plan to run these ads as separate posts because A)they're super-cool looking, B)they are part of JLA history, and C)it helps break up the issue-a-day thing occasionally.
I love that a comic company could give the readers a hard, on-sale date for when a particular comic was coming out. Don't see much of that nowadays...
This issue--the origin of the JLA--was one of the last I found in my attempt to complete the run. Origin issues are usually a little more sought after, so finding an affordable copy on a teenaged Roy Rogers employee's salary wasn't easy, but I finally sent away for one from a dealer who ran an ad in the newspaper version of The Comic Buyer's Guide(wow, remember that?).
Anyway, the dealer was selling this as a "very good" copy, and I when I got it was pleasantly surprised--this copy is actually in much better condition than that--nearly off-white pages, solid, no real signs of wear except the little "7" someone(probably a newsvendor) has markered on the cover. Back when I cared more about how much books were worth, I was delighted I got a book that was really worth more than what I paid, and how many times does that happen?
The story: "The Origin of The Justice League!" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs. The JLA celebrates its third anniversary, and in honor of the occasion they regale Snapper Carr and Green Arrow with the story of how they came to be!
Aliens from the planet Appellax come to Earth to battle each other and Earth's champions as a contest to see who will rule their home planet. But they didn't take into account the World's Greatest Superheroes!
Features the classic sequence of the wood alien having turned Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter into wood creatures, and they use an amazing beat of teamwork to defeat him. And the whole process is started by Aquaman! Yay!
Roll Call: Superman, Batman Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow(sort of)
Notable Moments: Obviously, the origin story was--is--a bona-fide classic, so much so that its never really been changed or altered in any signifcant way, even after forty + years. It's such a great idea--aliens come to battle on Earth, and are stopped by individual heroes who stay together for a common cause--that it seems almost mythic.
The inside cover features a full-page letter from DC, apologizing for the price of their comics going up a whopping two cents. Imagine if comic companies still ran those nowadays; they'd be running them every six months or so.
The letters page header changes for the first of many times with this issue. The original featured just WW, Aquaman, Flash, GL, and Manhunter sitting at a table. But it was changed to this:
...I think to perhaps reflect the growing participation of Superman and Batman, plus of course to now include Green Arrow and Snapper Carr. That is one funky looking Superman, by the way.
The letters page also features a missive from someone named Joe Staton. Hmmm....
