Justice League of America #143 - June 1977

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.
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Tomorrow:

Amazing World of DC Comics #14 - March 1977

Right around this point the JLA got their own issue of DC's odd but fun in-house fanzine, The Amazing World of DC Comics. The cover is a rarity, in that it features Dick Dillin's pencils reproduced directly.

Almost the entire issue is devoted to JLA history, starting with a brief rundown the book to this point, and followed by "The Men Behind the JLA" focusing on the men who have written the team's adventures:

Next is an issue-by-issue summary of every JLA issue, including reprint collections and the initial tryout in Brave and the Bold.

Next are the JLA's by-laws(!), where we see the official list of Honorary Members: Snapper Carr, Adam Strange, Batgirl, Martian Manhunter, Vigilante, Sargon, Phantom Stranger, Black Lantern(*cringe*),and Charley Parker.

We also have this section of the by-laws, which would become very significant later on:

(There was a very funny column by Bob Ingersoll about how, according to this by-law, Aquaman had absolutely no right to do what he did in disbanding the JLA all by himself in JLA Annual #2. While Bob is right of course, these by-laws were printed in 1977 and could've been changed between then and 1984, the Annual's publication date. Oh, and I love that all the JLA's stuff reverts back to the Wayne Foundation!)

Along with that, we have schematics of the JLA HQs:

...I like that one room, in the far left circular chamber, is called "Think Tank." Why do I think only Batman thinks he should be allowed in there?

Next are profiles of the individual members, guest-stars, and even some of the villains, followed by an interview with JLA editor Julius Schwartz.

The inside cover features a JLA cover gallery, and then the back cover features a real rarity, a rejected original cover for JLA #66 by Dick Dillin, a cover later re-done by Neal Adams:

...I can see why this got rejected. It's nicely drawn and all, but you rarely see superhero comics where its the villains that look like they're the ones outmatched.

I generally enjoy all the issue of AWODCC, because they're such a grab-bag of odd features. Nice to see the JLA get an issue all to itself!

Justice League of America #142 - May 1977

One of the most unusual JLA adventures ever!

The Story: "Return From Forever!" by Steve Englehart, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. We open with Aquaman, Atom, and Elongated Man in a relaxing moment on the high seas.

Atom is mopey because he's starting to feel his powers are useless, but Aquaman and Elongated Man try and cheer him up, by reminding him that its sometimes only their specialized powers that help, so it balances out.

Of course, all this hand-wringing comes to an end when they notice two spaceships in some sort of dogfight. One of them is blasted and falls into the sea.

It's about this time they get Green Lantern's distress signal, but they're too busy to answer it. Aquaman finds the sunken ship, and he meets the mysterious, beautiful, green-skinned Willow. Willow tells the heroes that she is being chased by something called The Construct, and they must hide underwater.

Aquaman takes them all to Atlantis, but the Construct--a giant robot--finds them anyway, and shows up on their computer monitors, demanding they return Willow in one hour or he will kill every human in the nearest city, Miami.

Willow has a particular mission to fulfill--which she won't fully explain--so she asks Atom to accompany her while Aquaman and Elongated Man head for Miami.

They each run into the Construct's robot armies, where Willow displays nearly superhuman abilties. Atom and Willow take on the Construct himself, where Atom shrinks down, gets inside the Construct, and explodes him from within.

Turns out that Willow was originally an Earthwoman, who met a man from outer space, and their union resulted in Willow being pregnant. Its this new life that will be the first of a new race, one that will "lead all humans to the stars." This is Willow's great secret, and she will remain on Earth, in hiding, caring for her soon-to-be-born child, and only the Atom will know.

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

Notable Moments: This obviously was one of my favorite issues of JLA as a kid, since Englehart took time out to feature the three least-used members. When I first opened the book up, the splash page itself told me this was going to be a different issue:

Instead of hiding the "B" characters and concentrating only on the big guns, Englehart takes the problem head on, and gives them a story where they get a chance to shine. Nice.

Willow is clearly a DC version of Mantis from Marvel's Avengers, who had just been in a major storyline courtesy of Englehart when he was writing the book. As far as I know, Willow has never been seen again. I'm surprised some writer, some where, hasn't picked up this thread...

Justice League of America #141 - April 1977

We said, no one escapes the Manhunters!

The Story: "No World Escapes the Manhunters!" by Steve Englehart, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Continued from last issue, the Manhunters are still hunting for Green Lantern, who along with Green Arrow and Black Canary, have eluded their captors for the moment.

While Wonder Woman and Flash are trying to head off an intergalactic war, Superman and Batman follow a hunch that the planet--Orinda--that Green Lantern "blew up" is, in fact, still there, but hidden. Its here that one of the Guardians explain to them the close relationship between them and the Manhunters.

Meanwhile, Wonder Woman and Flash have run out of time and air, since the Manhunter's leader The Grandmaster has encased the JLA satellite in an indestructible bubble. But Wonder Woman digs out the Dharlu (from JLA #130!) from the JLA computer and uses its abilities to break the bubble.

The JLA figures out that Orinda has not, in fact, been destroyed, and it was all a plot. One of the Manhunters--Mark Shaw--realizes he's been deceived and turns on the Grandmaster, who turns out to be an android.

There's a neat sequence with the JLA fighting the Manhunters where we get to see Batman as the unstoppable fighting man who helps figure out this plot:

...and he's outta here!

Mark Shaw is left a bit disillusioned, but tells the JLA he still wants to use his skills to fight for justice...somehow.

And while it seems the trouble is over, Green Lantern informs his teammates that he's been trying to contact Aquaman, Elongated Man, and Atom...but can't find them anywhere! To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Black Canary

Notable Moments: Not only was Dick Dillin drawing more pages now, but Englehart was throwing all kinds of stuff at him--alien races, hordes of Manhunters...Nothing Stops Dick Dillin!

Wonder Woman has been giving Flash a lot of grief in the last few issues, but here she explains that her newfound sense of liberation is butting up against Barry Allen's ingrained sexism. A neat little character trait, and it fits well with the "old fuddy duddy" personality that Barry had.

Justice League of America #140 - March 1977

No one escapes the Manhunters!

The Story: "No Man Escapes the Manhunter!" by Steve Englehart, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. In Bruce Wayne's bachelor bad, three members of the JLA are surprised (to say the least!) when a Manhunter bursts in to capture Green Lantern!

Green Arrow and Black Canary fight him, but Green Lantern mysteriously gives up immediately. The Manhunter nabs them all, plus knocking out Batman, and they disappear just as Superman and Wonder Woman arrive.

Turns out that Green Lantern is being chased by the Manhunters because, well, he accidentally blew up an entire planet. My bad!

Green Lantern, trying to save a planet in distress, accidentally allowed a force beam to ricochet, destroying it. While investigating this disaster, the JLA run into a sleazy government official who wants Lantern executed for his crime!

Turns out this Governor Tozad is secretly a Manhunter, and this is part of a plan to discredit and destroy the Guardians of the Universe! To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Black Canary

Notable Moments: Steve Englehart could cram twice as much plot in a regular-sized comic, so now that he's got a full thirty-three pages to work with, the plots are even more dense. Trying to condense them here is nigh impossible, so for the sake of brevity I'm only going to hit the highlights. You should read these issues for yourself, since they're a lot of fun!

This issue started an odd two-page feature "100 Issues Ago..." where we get super-condensed versions of previous JLA issues. Kind of like if Castle Films made comic books.

This issue's cover is penciled by Rich Buckler, who would go on to draw a lot of JLA, both covers and inside stories.

Justice League of America #139 - Feb. 1977

Nobody drew a more brutal hit or punch than Neal Adams--Hawkman especially looks like he's getting it right in the kisser!

The Story: "The Cosmic Conspiracy Against Adam Strange!" by Cary Bates, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Some of the other JLAers show up at the satellite and wonder where their fellow members are.

Turns out they are there, too, but in ghostly forms. Suddenly Adam Strange appears, and tells them that it was because of Kanjar Ro(him again?) that the JLAers are gone.

Turns out he rigged Adam Strange's Zeta-Energy so that the JLAers absorbed it from him, which keeps them in their currenty phantom-like form.

When a JLA satellite "transductor unit" is about to overheat and explode, Flash on instinct goes into action, the explosion somehow knocking him back into his regular form. Adam surmises "Perhaps seeing a teammate's life in jeopardy nullified the Zeta-Effect!"

The JLA head to the 73rd Century with Adam, where they are attacked by a military force. Between this battle and Adam Strange, the "phantom" JLAers are returned to normal. All seems well until Adam figures out that the 73rd Century Green Lantern is actually Kanjar Ro in disguise! As is usual with Ro, he's easily knocked out.

Second Story: "The Ice Age Cometh" by Steve Englehart, Dillin, and McLaughlin

The JLA arrives in Ecuador, where the country is victim to a sudden mysterious ice age!

While the JLA is saving lives, they're not doing anything to stop the brutal freeze, until they hear about three super-villains--Captain Cold, The Icicle, and (don't laugh) Minister Blizzard--are on a crime spree! Flash doesn't want the team to stop what they're doing, when Wonder Woman chastises him for not realizing the two events must be related.

The JLAers stop the villains, but that doesn't seem to change anything. Then Hawkman realizes that its his old foe, The Shadow Thief, who is behind the plot. They confront him, and he almost gets away, until The Phantom Stranger shows up to stop him.

Meanwhile, in Ecuador, the ice age has stopped. Is it because of the villains being stopped, or is it...a miracle?

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

Notable Moments: This was a form-busting issue, in that we have two separate stories. This was the first of the JLA "Giants" featuring extended page counts and extra page of letters.

"Ice Age" is the first JLA story by Steve Englehart, who would begin a year-long run on the book.

Update: As Earth-2 Chris mentioned in the comments, this is the first appearance of the classic, long-running "DC Bullet" logo. Can't believe I missed that! Bad Rob!

Justice League of America #138 - Jan. 1977

Adam Strange is back, and he's apparently mad he never got asked to join the JLA!

The Story: "Adam Strange--Puppet of Time!" by Cary Bates, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. We open the story with Adam Strange's bride Alanna making a recording of the events that have just transpired.

She starts her story when she shows up at the JLA satellite to tell the JLA that Adam is in danger and needs help!

Turns out that the Zeta Beam has been grabbing Adam and shuffling him through time. Just before he disappeared for the last time he told Alanna the real menace is in...the 73rd Century!

The JLA head into the future, where they are attacked by Adam Strange! Before they have a chance to figure out what's going on, he blasts Superman and takes off.

As the JLA tries to figure this out, they are met by Green Lantern...of the 73rd Century! Turns out that all the Zeta Beam radiation from the time-hopping has warped Adam's mind, making him fight everyone who comes near him.

They run into Adam again, but Batman figures out a way to calm Adam down, seemingly solving the problem. Unfortunately, Alanna lets us know that she and Adam have inadvertently consigned the JLAers to a living hell! To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash

Notable Moments: Its kind of funny that none of the JLA bothers to ask where or if Hal Jordan is still around in the 73rd Century. They just accept this new GL, and move on.

One of the things a little different about Adam Strange and Alanna in terms of them being an adult couple in the DCU were the hints that, unlike the more G-rated Allens and Dibnys, Adam and Alanna were really hot for each other:

...you just generally didn't see Iris Allen or Sue Dibny in bed much. Now we now why Adam Strange never misses a Zeta Beam.

One of Neal Adam's best JLA covers, I think--as exciting as you could ask for in a comic book cover.

A small change to the logo, the only time it was tried I think--red, white, and blue stripes placed within one of the words itself.

Justice League of America Paperback - 1977

Time for another special, JLA-themed release, in this case a paperback book reprinting three JLA tales, as part of a line from Tempo Books, a division of Grossett & Dunlap.

The Stories: "Skyjack at 22,300 Miles!", by Martin Pasko, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin(from JLA #130), "Takeover of the Earth-Masters" (from JLA #118), and "Winner Takes The Earth"(from JLA #119) both by Elliott S! Maggin, Dillin, and McLaughlin.

This was one of a series of paperback books released at the time, and heavily advertised in DC's titles. They starred Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Legion of Super-Heroes, and a few others.

These are some odd books, reprinting(in the JLA's case, at least) fairly recent stories in black and white and all cut up and re-pasted to fit the paperback format. But obviously both DC and Marvel thought this was a solid new venue for their comics, since they released a number of titles in this format.

As you can see, sometimes the cutting and pasting(and, since this was pre-desktop publishing, must have been a real bitch) makes for some awkward reading, like the opening splash page:

..but in other places, the format looks quite spiffy, as in this moment, where some panels have been rejiggered and to me the look is quite pleasing, in a spot illustration kind of way:

There are no other features in this book, no special extras like DC did for the treasuries and digests. Oh well, it's still a neat little volume...

The cover is by Nick Cardy, from JLA #102. Which, ironically, is not reprinted in this book!

Justice League of America #137 - Dec. 1976

Man, those are some beefy superheroes about to square off there! Superman's musculature in particular makes my head hurt.

The Story: "Crisis in Tomorrow!" by E.Nelson Bridwell, Martin Pasko, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Concluding the story from the last two issues, we open here with the two Flashes, the two Green Lanterns, Ibis, and Mercury taking on the giant Earth-S baddie Mr. Atom!

As they take him on, gravity itself starts going haywire, sending people into the skies. The Lanterns track down the source of energy doing this, which leads them to a spaceship under the command of Brainiac!

They defeat Brainiac and Mr. Atom, meanwhile Superman, going after King Kull, gets possessed by Kull's chunk of red kryptonite, which turns him mad. Uh-oh!

Johnny Thunder, who went out to round up Billy and Mary Batson and Freddy Freeman, calls in his T-Bolt to help transform the kids into the Marvel Family(since Shazam is under the control of Kull and can't do it himself), who then attack Kull and free the other Gods Kull was controlling.

The Lanterns, trying to control Superman, are failing, so Captain Marvel takes on the job, and eggs Superman on to paste him one! Superman heads towards Marvel like a rocket when, at the last moment, Billy says his magic word, which hits them both(shades of Kingdom Come!), returning Superman to normal.

They apprehend Kull, and return to their individual Earths. Wow, I'm exhausted.

Roll Call: Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman

Notable Moments: The cover is a bit of a cheat, since the fight never occurs, but I guess it's ok. It's really a cheat to have the individual heroes rooting for one hero over the other, which never happens at all. (I notice Flash and Green Lantern are not taking sides; I guess they're the super-delegates of the JLA)

I cannot imagine the effort Dick Dillin must have had to put into this story. And to make matters worse, the letters page advertises that issue of Strange Sports Stories, on sale at the same time, that featured like a million characters and was also drawn by Dillin. Ye gods!

Justice League of America #136 - Nov. 1976

A nice contrast to last issue's over-crowded cover, though the heroes shown don't represent three worlds.

The Story: "Crisis on Earth-S!" by E.Nelson Bridwell, Martin Pasko, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Continued from last issue, this time we have Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Bulletman, and Bulletgirl on Earth-S trying to save a town full of people from an erupting volcano.

WHIZ's own Billy Batson is broadcasting about the weird goings-on, including a steel building that has somehow come alive and walking on its own, while the Joker is robbing a jewelry store(this is the old, Earth-2 Joker, and he's still just robbing jewelry stores?), but he is stopped by Batman, Robin, Mr. Scarlet, and Pinky.

Then The Shade shows up, but he's defeated by the Hawks, part of him being turned to wood. Then Kull's plans for Earth-S are scuttled, so he moves on to Plan C, which is to destroy Earth-1. To be continued!

Roll Call: Hawkman--no other JLAers appear in this story

Notable Moments: I admit it...I have absolutely no idea what's going on by this point. Why do I get the feeling Grant Morrison read this comic as a kid?
Many artists, when having to draw Billy Batson and/or Captain Marvel, frequently try to subsume their own art style and go the C.C. Beck route, some more successful than others.

Dick Dillin gives it the old college try here, but Billy does sort of look like a different species than everyone else in the story.

Justice League of America #135 - Oct. 1976

That is one crowded cover!

The Story: "Crisis in Eternity!" by E.Nelson Bridwell, Martin Pasko, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Members of the JLA, JSA, and heroes from Earth-S are rounded up by someone who looks a lot like the Greek god Mercury(!) to stop a plot hatched by the evil King Kull.

Superman and the Earth-2 Wonder Woman head to Earth-2 where they take on Ibac, Blockbuster, and...The Penguin? Oh, the horror!

As they take on the Blockbuster, Ibac and the Penguin build a device--ordered to by Kull--that creates a cloud that floats over the island of Atlantis and tries to sink it back into the sea!

Luckily Superman uses his super-breath to freeze the cloud into a block of ice, which he the hurtles into space. Unfortunately, though an earthquake hits, dropping it back into the sea from whence it came.

Kull is mad his plot has been foiled, but promises even greater doom for Earths 1 and S. To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Hawkman

Notable Moments: Hawkgirl guest-stars again, as does a bunch of Fawcett heroes, like Bulletgirl, Bulletman, Ibis, Mr.Scarlet, Pinky(!), and Spy Smasher. Was Dick Dillin getting too far ahead on his deadlines?

I read this issue twice through in preparation for this post, and still couldn't figure out all that is going on. There's so many characters, so many locales that at some point I gave up and went right to the Answer Man column.

Justice League of America #134 - Sept. 1976

What a icky, clammy place to have a battle!

The Story: "The Battle At The Edge of Forever!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Continued from last issue, two different aliens use their transporter beams to move both Despero and the JLA (inside Hawkman's Thanagarian spaceship) to a sort of antechamber.

Despero takes on the JLA(wondering who the "fool-hardy freak" attacking him is--Elongated Man having joined after the last time they fought Despero), and realizes that the heroes he has imprisoned on his ship are not the real ones.

The two aliens act as though this is a game, and start transporting different JLAers all over to fight Despero, and when he defeats them they just move down the line.

It's Supergirl who figures out when, after she's knocked Despero silly, he keeps fighting, that he and they are under someone else's control. On an asteroid chunk, she confronts the two alien game masters and demands that they each pick a side, and whoever wins wins, ending this game. And even though the aliens have given Despero a force-field which shields him from harm, Supergirl throws him into orbit around the asteroid and meets up with him here:

...force-field or no, I don't know how this punch didn't reduce Despero into a pile of magenta-colored pulp.

The two aliens--the lone survivors of their race--end the issue beating each other up, still fighting over who won the bet.

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Atom, Hawkman, Elongated Man

Notable Moments: Supergirl guest-stars again, in a kind of confusing story--the two aliens, tall and lean, from last issue, seem to be the story's protagonists. And then with this issue it shifts to two other aliens, also tall and lean.

The letter page mentions that Martin Pasko is hard at work on a story where the JLA takes on The Joker, to appear in The Joker #10, which was never published, the book being cancelled with #9. I wonder how far this story got to being completed...

Justice League of America #133 - Aug. 1976

A nicely-designed cover by Ernie Chua. All eyes(!) lead to Despero!

The Story: "Missing--One Man of Steel!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Picking up a story thread started last issue, we find out where Superman has been--grabbed by an outer-space tractor beam, brought to the planet Sirkus by two residents of that planet.

He is aided by alien duplicates of Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Aquaman built by the two aliens, who explain that their planet is under attack from...Despero!

Superman and the faux-JLAers attack Despero, but he easily defeats them when he discovers there's something...odd about these JLAers, how they're not acting like the opponents he knows.

After beating the other heroes, he attacks Superman with his mental energy, turning Superman's white-hot rage against him. The two aliens see this and figure their only hope now is to summon the real Justice League! To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, with cameos by Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Elongated Man

Notable Moments: Guest-star Supergirl opens this issue, still wondering where in Rao her cousin in.

Despero is one of my favorite JLA villains, and I love how he never learns--he always has it out for the JLA!

Limited Collectors' Edition #C46 - August 1976

Let's pause for a moment between JLA issues to talk about the JLA's first(and, sadly, only) treasury-sized edition, published in between issues 132 and 133.

First off, hard to beat this cover, by Dick Giordano. As classically heroic as the JLA gets!

This book reprints two classic JLA tales, plus some fun extras. The first story is "Decoy Missions of the Justice League" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Bernard Sachs from JLA #24. The JLA takes on Kanjar Ro, so you know what that means...Adam Strange!

Next is "The JLA on TV" featuring some of Alex Toth's masterful character sheets for the Super Friends cartoon. We've got Superman, Batman, Robin, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, plus Jor-El and Lara, Green Arrow, Plastic Man, The Flash, and even the Golden Age Flash, who was written into the script by accident. Toth designed a guide for animators for the Jay Garrick version, but the mistake was caught before the animators began their work. Too bad, that woulda been cool!

Before the next story is a great JLA pin-up, also by Giordano, where we see the JLAers about to have a party. As you can see, they were kind enough to invite Adam Strange, the Phantom Stranger, Metamorpho, Zatanna, the Martian Manhunter, and even Snapper Carr:

The last story is "The Deadly Dreams of Doctor Destiny" by Fox, Sekowsky, and Sachs, from JLA #34. Another fine story, a good choice as a reprint.

DC and Giordano finished off the book with a spiffy back cover, following the front's motif but swapping out the JLA for the JSA:

So Drs. Fate and Mid-Nite are the swap-outs for Aquaman and Green Arrow? Interesting...

This was one of my most beloved treasury comics growing up, because it featured my favorite teams in advetures that, at that point, I had never read. Plus those Alex Toth model-sheets are awesome.

Clearly, you had to be a big seller to warrant a DC treasury edition--Superman, Batman, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer got the lion's share of the honor(Marvel was a tad more democratic for their treasuries), so it was cool that the JLA got their own, at least for once (though since it was all JLA stories in the Super Friends treasury comic, maybe you could say they got two).

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 #130 - May 1976

One question and one comment regarding this cover: First, you don't see a lot of scratchboard on comics covers, so points for that.

Second--just where are Green Arrow and Aquaman's legs, exactly? Bad Chua!

The Story: An Untold Tale from the JLA Casebook: "Skyjack at 22,300 Miles!" by Martin Pasko, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Set during the events of JLA #s 78 and 79, we have Hawkman explaining to Flash how JLAers are supposed to arrive at their new satellite HQ, via rooftop teleportation tubes.

At the same time, inside the building Flash and Hawkman are meeting on, S.T.A.R. Labs, your typical comic book scientist is working on something that goes horribly wrong, and a moon rock is cracked open, spilling a weird purple creature out of it, which attacks the scientist and jumps out the window.

As the two JLAers beam themselves up, the creature converts itself into a gas-like shape and sneaks into the tube, as well. Flash and Hawkman notice this, but its too late to stop it!

When they arrive, they have been morphed into three hybrid creatures, one with Flash's head, Hawkman's body, and the creature's legs, the others having all the opposite attributes! They attack the bewildered JLAers and quickly knock them out.

But instead of escaping, the creatures use the JLA library to do some sort of research, and then they start trying to pull the satellite out of its orbit and put it on a new trajectory.

Turns out the creature--named a Dharlu--was a mother, and it was following its instinct to return "home" to give birth. The JLA of course stops it, but it has a peculiarly weird ending, where the JLA traps the Dharlu inside the JLA computer, freezing it into a sort of suspended animation, where it will stay forever!

Roll Call: Superman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary

Notable Moments: It seems kinda cruel to keep this creature trapped in a sort of living death inside your computer. I mean, jeez.

According to the Statement of Ownership, Justice League of America was at this time selling about 173,000 copies per month, out of 412,000 printed! Wow, that's a pretty poor "sell-through" for what I always thought was one of DC's heavy-hitters.

The book had just been "promoted" to monthly status, for the first time in its fifteen year history, so obviously DC was ok with these numbers.

Justice League of America #129 - April 1976

This cover gives me vertigo. Well done, Mr. Chua!

The Story: "The Earth Dies Screaming!" by Martin Pasko, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Continued from last issue, the fearful Hawkman decides not to try and save his formerly-beloved Midway City.

Wonder Woman, the only JLAer not affected by Nekron-inspired fear, finds a way to override it, by using her magic lasso!

The only problem is, the bolt of energy that will destroy Midway is designed to only be stopped by Hawkman, which means Wonder Woman would have to force him to give up his life, which she can't bring herself to do!

Soon after, Flash, Aquaman, and Red Tornado arrive, Flash having also seen a vision of his death at the hands of Captain Cold. Black Canary then notices that while Hawkman is down in Midway trying to evacuate the people, he also seems to be in space heading towards Nekron's energy bolt! What?!?

Turns out that Red Tornado has dressed himself as Hawkman, to fool Nekron! The burst hits Tornado, exploding him to bits! He sacrificed himself to save the city.

While Wonder Woman uses her lasso to convince some of the JLA to fight Nekron on Earth, the Atom comes up with an ingenious plan to defeat him for good.

He has uses Greeb Lantern's ring to amplify Aquaman's telepathic power to boost the fear of death into Superman to a greater extent than even Nekron could accomplish.

So when, down on Earth, the JLA transports Nekron to the JLA satellite, he instinctively attacks Superman, who is cowering in a corner.

Unfortunately for Nekron, when he tries to absorb Superman's fear, its too much for him to handle, which stuns himself and reduces him down to his original, insect-like size. Nice job, Atom and Aquaman!

While the JLA is happy they defeated Nekron, they are saddened over the loss of their friend The Red Tornado...

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

Notable Moments: Red Tornado explodes a lot.

I loved Martin Pasko thinking outside the box here, taking Aquaman's inherent abilities and amplifying them to something not seen before with the character. Also, having Wonder Woman be the catalyst for defeating Nekron was a great way to bring her back into the JLA.

The JLA Mail Room header is changed again, to reflect the change in membership, and was drawn by Dick Dillin and inked by my old Kubert School instructor Tex Blaisdell:

Justice League of America #128 - March 1976

Wonder Woman returns to the JLA! Great Hera, about time!

The Story: "Death-Visions of the Justice League!" by Martin Pasko, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Wonder Woman shows up to the JLA satellite for her first meeting back as a member(having been reinstated in Wonder Woman #222).

But...she finds the JLA packing up its stuff, since they have decided to disband the JLA! Great Hera, what's going on here?!

Turns out all the various members of the JLA had separate visions of their violent deaths at the hands of bad guys, which has robbed them of their courage to be heroes! Only Wonder Woman is unaffected.

Meanwhile, Green Lantern is on another planet, fighting a weird creature named Nekron, who feeds off the fear of others. Hmm...

Nekron knocks out Lantern, and heads for Earth. Wonder Woman manages to talk the JLA into helping her go after Nekron. But Nekron manages to defeat them, and gets away.

As the JLA is back at the satellite, figuring out its Nekron who is "getting in their heads", he appears on TV to announce that a giant ball of fire is headed towards Midway City, and only Hawkman can stop it!

Hawkman isn't about to risk his life, so he calls Shayera and tells her to get out of Dodge, metaphorically. Wonder Woman is shocked to hear him say "Too bad about Midway--I'm going to miss it." To be continued!

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

Notable Moments: Clearly, Wonder Woman belonged in the Justice League--going through all these issues one by one, it was surprising to see just how long she'd been gone--fifty-nine issues!

The cover by Ernie Chan isn't bad, though this is one goofy-looking Atom:

They pulled out the old JLA Hereby Elects...(or, in this case, Reinstates) scroll for Wonder Woman's return, but done a little differently this time:

Justice League of America #127 - Feb. 1976

Welcome to a Hal Jordan's worst nightmare!

The Story: "The Command is 'Chaos'!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. The JLA is fighting an oddly-dressed group of supervillains, led by a masked guy in a colorful super-suit named The Anarchist.

The Anarchist holds off the JLA long(by somehow making part of the JLA's uniforms turn against their owners) enough to accomplish his main goal--kidnapping several members of the U.N., right out of the General Assembly Hall! The rest of the U.N. is less than pleased with the JLA's performance.

Meanwhile, Hal Jordan finds himself compelled to charge his ring, against his will. He switches to his GL uniform to find out the source of these commands.

Later, Clark Kent is attending a religious rally with Steve Lombard, whose broken leg is seemingly healed by preacher Simon Ellis. Clark uses his X-Ray vision and finds out that, indeed, Lombard's leg is healed!

Superman suspects Ellis and the Anarchist have some connection, and when the JLA comes to investigate, he blasts Batman, Canary, and Elongated Man, who disappeared just like the U.N. delegates did.

Lantern figures out that its Ellis that's been forcing him to recharge his ring, and has been siphoning its power. Lantern figures the only way to break the connection if he's knocked out, and there's only one way to do it--Superman!

That does the trick, and when the rest of the JLA finds the Anarchist, he and his minions are virtually powerless. Superman reveals him to be Ellis, whose plan was to capture members of the U.N., causing worldwide chaos, and hoping to fill the power vacuum with his New World Order. Ah, we've seen knuckleheads like this before!

Green Lantern wakes up in the satellite, free from the Anarchist's power. He recharges his ring, this time under his own will, in a cool panel requested to be shown by my pal (and JLA/Aquaman fan) Russell Burbage:

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

Notable Moments: This issue's JLA Mail Room is made up entirely of letters from female readers. Could any comic even do that nowadays?

Once again, the cover is a tad misleading. Oh well, that's comics.