Justice League of America #170 - Sept. 1979

The entire JLA turns out to save a burning world--" The entire JLA, huh?

The Story: "While A World Lies Burning" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Picking up from last issue, the Earth is experiencing massive fires all over, due to the increased oxygen that started occurring last issue.

While Batman remains in the JLA satellite trying to figure out what's causing all this, the trial of the five JLAers continues.

During the trial, Ultraa leaps from his chair and starts attacking his lawyer, and the JLA try to stop him. After fighting most of them all, Ultraa's lawyer assumes his true shape, the pink globby collection of tissue, which explains it rigged this whole trial as a distraction from its real plan to destroy Earth!

Back at the satellite, Batman, after calling out the other available members of the League (plus Supergirl), decides to take on the problem head on. He dons a spacesuit, grabs a small spaceflier, and heads to a "rogue" asteroid that has been orbiting Earth for a short while.

Once there, Batman discovers its not an asteroid, but a small spaceship! He gets inside...

Meanwhile, on Earth, the JLA destroys the propulsion machine that was sucking all the Hydrogen out of Earth's atmosphere, and Ultraa is knocked out during the battle. They then get a communication from Batman that he redirected the "asteroid" and sent it hurtling out of the solar system, restoring Earth's natural balance.

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

Notable Moments: Despite what the cover says, the "entire JLA" does not participate in this issue--Atom and Hawkman are mentioned to be on a mission in deep space, and Hawkgirl and Zatanna are not mentioned at all. And yet Aquaman, not shown on the cover, does appear, albeit briefly.

This issue features a nifty subscription ad for the book:

...I could mention here that Aquaman is once again not included, but I won't.

Justice League of America #169 - Aug. 1979

The JLA fights...the citizens of Earth! Plus some weird, gross putty guy. Oh, and Ultraa.

The Story: "The Doomsday Decision" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. We open with several members of the JLA...on trial!

When they ask who brought lawsuit and charges against them, they are shown it was...Ultraa! Ultraa's attorney, Mr. Sloane, accuses the JLA of holding his client imprisoned, illegally.

The Court takes the JLA into custody until the trial can start, and while they do the humiliating "perp walk", it starts a riot between supporters and non-supporters of the JLA.

The JLA uses their powers to stop the rioting, but then they peacefully surrender to the police. Ultraa, watching this from the sides, wonders if he has done something wrong, judged these people too harshly. But his attorney talks him out of his doubt...

Meanwhile, Batman is on Monitor Duty, who has discovered a disturbance in the Earth's atmosphere. He could use some help, but he remembers that "all" the JLA is busy:

...I know this is a minor thing, but this panel always bugged me. Where are Zatanna and Hawkgirl? Did no one update the JLA computers?

Meanwhile, riots begin to break out all over the world, for no good reason. This is all part of the plan by a group of globby creatures named the Over-Complex, who have assumed the form of Ultraa's attorney, Mr. Sloane!

The JLAers, from their prison cell,notice that the ocean level is dropping at an alarming rate, so Superman heads out to investigate. Green Lantern uses his ring to create a fake Superman as not to alert the guards.

While investigating, Supes is zapped by the Over-Complex, and to make matters worse, Batman now sees that the Earth's percentage of Oxygen is growing in direct proportion to the ocean's disappearance!

Meanwhile, Ultraa notices this strange creature, and follows it to see it turn into...his lawyer! Ultraa decides to follow Sloane in secret, but he doesn't notice that this creature already knows that Ultraa knows! To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Red Tornado

Notable Moments: Wow, a lot happens in this issue! And this isn't even a double-sized issue or anything.

Ultraa is a bit of a sap in this issue, so maybe it was good he didn't join the JLA--he seems easily swayed.

Justice League of America #168 - July 1979

One of my favorite covers (by Dick Dillin and Dick Giordano) leads off part three of the battle with the Secret Society of Super-Villains!

The Story: "The Last Great Switcheroo" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Continued from last issue, we see that the newly arrives JLAers (Green Arrow, Black Canary, Flash, Hawkman, and Elongated Man) are looking at their fellow JLAers a little askance.

This gets kicked into overdrive when "Green Lantern" encases the "bad guys" into a diamond-shaped prison, which "Superman" then hurtles into the sun!

Superman manages to convince them that the diamond will remain in orbit around the solar system until the prisoners can be rehabilitated, but Green Arrow knows something is wrong.

Interlude: back from last issue, we the mytserious Mr. Sloane as he frees the prisoner inside the stasis cube--and it's Ultraa!

Back at the satellite, we see Red Tornado, now fully recuperated, ready to attack the Star Sapphire, who has just beamed aboard! But before he can, Sapphire mentions her mother--Sindella--which lets Tornado realize what's been going on!

Meanwhile, at a museum for Aztec treasures, the JLA is standing guard. The true JLAers wonder why they're here, and the faux-JLAers tell them they are expecting a super-villain attack. They split up into groups, but when Black Canary is paired off with Green Lantern, he can't help himself:

This is all Canary needed, and she screams out across the museum "They're imposters!"

The real JLAers easily defeat the faux ones, since they are still inexperienced at using their new powers. They take the SSOSV back to the satellite, where Zatanna presides over the soul re-switching, having rescued the trapped JLAers earlier.

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

Notable Moments: I love that the main reason this plan falls apart is because Prof. Zoom is such a horndog. That's priceless.

Justice League of America #167 - June 1979

Part Two of the battle with the Secret Society of Super-Villains!

The Story: "The League That Defeated Itself" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Continued from last issue, we open with the members of the SSOSV, in the JLA's bodies, lounging about in the JLA Satellite.

Meanwhile, the true JLAers are trapped in a giant "stasis cube". After several failed attempts to escape, Superman (now in the Wizard's body), figures out that Green Lantern (now in Prof. Zoom's body) can use his super-speed powers to attack the cube repeatedly in one spot, which weakens it enough for it to crack open, freeing them. They find that the villains have gone, and their friend Red Tornado unconscious.

Also meanwhile, a man named Mr. Sloane arrives on a small island, heading into a small, nondescript building. Inside is some sort of stasis cube (another one!), who he says is his "client." To be continued!

Back at the satellite, the JLAers try to find the bad guys, so they send Green Lantern/Prof. Zoom to Bay Federal Prison to talk to a former SSOSV member, Hijack, where Lantern oh-so-subtly asks him where the current SSOSV headquarters is. He finds out, and Hijack is left bewildered as to what just happened.

The JLAers break their way, but are stopped by...a green arrow?!?

Turns out the "JLA members" expected this, so they called in some of the other members to get the drop on them. And even though they just apprehended some super-villains, Green Arrow is a tad suspicious over all this:

The bad guys are secure in their plan, not noticing that one of them---Zatanna/Star Sapphire--is missing! To be continued!

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

Notable Moments: Three-parters were still fairly unusual at this point, so it really gives you a sense of how big this threat is by running into three issues.

This story takes place entirely over just a few hours, all at night, which gives it--to me--an extra level of creepiness. There's something so wrong about bad guys taking over good guy's bodies. Especially since The Floronic Man (called The Plant Master here) took over Wonder Woman's body. I will say no more.

Justice League of America #166 - May 1979

The JLA takes on a team of super-foes!

The Story: "The Long Way Home" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Continued from last issue, a funeral celebration is taking place for Zatanna's mother Sindella.

This features a nice moment, where Batman relates to Wonder Woman that he feels any sort of "celebration" of death is wrong. Diana tries to reassure him, but its left unresolved. The JLA members then prepare to come home.

Meanwhile, Red Tornado, on Monitor Duty, is surprised by some unwanted visitors--members of the Secret Society of Super-Villains! He is quickly knocked out by Professor Zoom, followed by Blockbuster, the Wizard, Star Sapphire, and the Floronic Man.

The Wizard shows the other baddies their goal--to find and possess a mysterious artifact, a Griffin Statue, which has magical powers. They use the JLA's computer to find where it is.

The JLA members then arrive, see what has happened, and follow the SSOSV's trail, which was exactly what the bad guys intended! The JLA encounters them, and are defeated!

Then The Wizard uses the statue to switch souls with the JLA:

Oh boy, this is trouble! To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Red Tornado, Zatanna

Notable Moments: As a kid, I always like the Secret Society concept--villains seemed so much more formidable and scary to me when they teamed-up.

This storyline has become retroactively famous and sought-out, after the Villains United storyline that ran across the DCU a few years ago.

Justice League of America #165 - April 1979

A great cover by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez (is there any other kind?)

The Story: "A Mother of Magic!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Continued from last issue, a group of magicians, led by a man named The Highlord, claims that Zatanna's mother Sindella will die in a few hours.

When she does, Zatanna will take her place as the Highlord's slave in this dimension!

As you can imagine, the JLA doesn't take too well to this, and they engage in a battle against the Highlord and his magical minions.

But with their most powerful member, Superman, being vulnerable to magic, the fight is stacked against them, and they are quickly picked off one by one.

At one point only Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl are left, but when Hawkgirl is a victim of a sneak attack, it enrages the Amazing Amazon:

Meanwhile, we find Red Tornado tending to a recuperating Green Arrow(who was hurt fighting Allegro), and Reddy does some research to find evidence to suggest that at some point humanity split into two separate species, Homo Sapien, and Homo Magus!

Reddy and Green Arrow follow the JLA to this other dimension, where they let the others know that Homo Magus have an ingrained attraction for Homo Sapiens, which explains why the hordes the JLA has been fighting are not real people! Sindella uses her remaining life energies to help the JLA defeat the hordes, but it drains her energies so much that she dies in the attempt.

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

Notable Moments: There's a lot of magical gobbledy-gook in this issue, forgive me if my synopsis doesn't quite make a lot of sense. Though the whole "ingrained attraction" earns some laughs, as a comely wench drapes herself all over Green Arrow, much to Black Canary's annoyance.

When I was a kid, I went to a mall with my Dad and they were having one of those "sidewalk sales", and one of the dealers was selling boxes and boxes of comics. My Dad told me I could get two or three books, so I feverishly went through nearly all of them to find what I thought would be the best ones.

I remember pulling this book out of the box, and the cover looked sooo cool, it almost made the final cut. This was before I discovered comics stores, so any issue of JLA(or any comic, for that matter) I missed on the newsstand seemed like a rare artifact on par with the Lost Ark.

The issue didn't hold up once I did read it, but what could?

Anyway, tomorrow:

Justice League of America #164 - March 1979

Finally, we get to the bottom of this Zatanna/Zatara business!

The Story: "Murder by Melody!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. The JLA reconvenes after letting Allegro escape, and Zatanna suggests that sorcery is behind his abilities.

She says that his music weakens the barrier between her and her mother, so if she can get his mysterious machine, it can possibly solve two problems at once!

Allegro, meanwhile, starts to play his mad music in an abandoned concert hall, which he then broadcasts all over the Earth!

As you can see, it has the same effect on kids that KISS' music did in the 70s.

The JLA finds an ancient text that Zatanna believes Allegro learned his magic from, which she thinks has driven him mad.

They then find Allegro and Black Canary, via a spell from Zatanna, uses her Canary Cry to dispel the demons, which gives the other heroes a chance to knock Allegro out and get his Mad Synthesizer of Death.

They then turn to Zatara, who tells the story of how he met and fell in love with Zatanna's mother, Sindella.

They use Allegro's machine to open the portal to another dimension. Here they meet a sorcerer named Highlord, who has Sindella as his prisoner! He tells the heroes Sindella is dying, and when she does die, her daughter will take her place! To be continued!

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

Notable Moments: I like how the Allegro story ends half-way through the issue. There might have been a temptation to pad the story to fill two full issues, but its kinda neat how the JLA goes from one story to the other.

Justice League of America #163 - Feb. 1979

One of my favorite JLA covers, by Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano--the angle, the movement, a bad guy, fire demons--total pandemonium!

The Story: "Concert of the Damned!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Green Arrow comes home to find someone waiting for him--well, Oliver Queen--a super villian-esque guy named Anton Allegro.

Allegro plays a few notes on this machine he's carrying, which produces three bizarre demon-like creatures, who make quick work of Green Arrow.

Meanwhile, the JLA is talking to Zatara and Zatanna, and they want to know why her own father cast a spell of forgetfulness on her!

But before he can answer, Black Canary issues a distress call, telling them what happened to Green Arrow. When they arrive, Arrow tells them of his history with Allegro. Apparently he showed up at Oliver Queen's foundation (back when he was rich), looking for financial backing for his odd music, which he says the music establishment won't consider because of a conspiracy.

Queen gives the guy the bum's rush, which infuriates Allegro. Seconds later, Green Arrow is stopping a bank robbery and fires off a tuning-fork arrow in an attempt to shatter the tank(!) the robbers are using.

It works, but the arrow then went haywire:

...it left Allegro deaf for life. Oliver Queen picked up his medical expenses, but obviously something else has happened over the years.

The JLA tracks Allegro's music to a mansion, where he is using his powers to murder his ex-manager! They try and stop him, but Allegro's demons are too powerful, and he leaves, out to find his ex-wife.

Meanwhile, Zatara reveals to his daughter, under a spell of Zee's, that his wife--her mother--who he always thought was dead, is in fact alive! Zatara has tried to find her spirit, but has been unable to. Zatanna tries to do the same thing, and they see a glimpse of her, before it disappears!

Back with the JLA, we find Superman and Batman as they stop Allegro from murdering his ex-wife...sort of. Allegro thinks he's killed her, but after he manages to escape they explain it was a robot duplicate from Superman's Fortress! But...Allegro is still out there! To be continued!

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

Notable Moments: This is Hawkgirl's first JLA story without Hawkman. Cool. As we always knew, Shayera is fully-formed character in her own right.

While Allegro is quite mad, he's got a murderous glee a lot of comic book super-villains don't have, which was a tad unusual for the time.

Justice League of America #162 - Jan. 1979

That rat guy kind of makes me nauseous. Proceed with caution!

The Story: "The Creation Conspiracy!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. The JLA is helping out as S.T.A.R. Labs location--a secret one--is on fire.

Elongated Man discovers some mysterious cannisters, labeled "RNA Compound One" underneath the rubble. But when Zatanna touches it, it does something to her that knocks her out cold!

As some of the team investigates this act of sabotage, Zee recovers at the satellite. She informs Ralph and Reddy that the shock shattered some sort of amnesia spell put on her, sometime in the last few weeks!

Meanwhile, Superman, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman track the stolen compound to an underground lab, where they encounter the super-villain The Shark, this time mutated into a human/shark hybrid!

Turns out he's using the compound to create a whole race of these hybrids, like an eagle-man, a rat-man (eww!), and a scorpion-man. They fight the JLA, but luckily they manage to throw them into the Shark's evolutionary chamber, devolving them into...amoebas!

At the same time, Zee, Ralph, and Reddy visit her father Zatara's home. As they approach it, it explodes, releasing a giant spirit that Zee is able to contain. But amongst the wreckage, they find:

To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Elongated Man, Red Tornado, Zatanna

Notable Moments: See? Like I mentioned yesterday, Zatanna's been an member all of one issue, and the next major storyline focuses on her. Obviously Gerry Conway was sweet on ol' Zee.

Isn't it time the government revoked S.T.A.R. Labs' funding grants? Those guys cause nothing but trouble!

Justice League of America #161 - Dec. 1978

Zatanna joins the Justice League...or does she?

The Story: "The Reverse-Spells of Zatanna's Magic!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. The JLA has a meeting where they decide to add Zatanna to the team!

Zatanna--bearing a new costume--shows up to tell the astonished heroes she doesn't want to join! They ask Zee if something is wrong, but she says no. She doesn't want anyone's help or interference--especially not Green Lantern's! Hmm...

The team, stunned, breaks up and heads home ("What about Adam Strange?" Flash is heard muttering), but The Atom, on Monitor Duty, thinks something is fishy.

Just as Atom calls Batman to ask him for help, Green Lantern materializes in the satellite and zaps Atom unconscious! Of course, this is not the Green Lantern. This faux-GL does some research to find out more about this power ring he has, but is frustrated to find out he can't locate the power battery to charge it.

He mentions something about casting spells, and needing to neutralize the rest of the JLA, "just like I did to my old foe, Zatanna."

Meanwhile, we find Zatanna fighting a horde of demons in an alternate dimension. She is knocked out by one of them on the steps of a castle. We get to peer into the castle, where we find Green Lantern, stiff as a statue covered in cobwebs!

Batman does some investigating, and after talking to Zee's father Zatara, and figures out Zatanna's odd behavior was a ruse, and she was leaving some sort of clue for the JLAers to figure out.

The Atom wakes up, tells them what happened, and they follow the Fake Lantern's flight-path...to the mysterious city of Angkor Wat. Once there, Red Tornado is zapped by the evil Green Lantern. He then blasts the others.

Zatanna is helped out by a cavalry of soliders from different eras she called up with a spell. Once her gag is removed, she casts a spell freeing the real Lantern.

We then see that the evil GL is really The Warlock of Ys, who apparently cast a slow-burning spell that had him switching bodies with Lantern. He then put a spell on Zatanna, preventing her from directly warning anyone of Ys' plan, or even to use her backward spells. But he didn't realize Zee had freed Lantern, and they easily knock him out with a big green fist.

Epilogue: The case solved, the JLA asks again if Zatanna wants to join the JLA...which of course she does!

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

Notable Moments: The Warlock of Ys apparently set this spell when he first met GL, in Green Lantern #42. Since this was before DC started fudging with the chronological dates of the characters, that means that Ys' spell took twelve years to fully kick in. Now that's patience.

Zatanna was a fine addition to the JLA. The added female quotient was good, and her powers nicely balanced out the rest of the team, as did her relative youth. She would "jump ahead" a lot of older members, in that she would participate in a lot of future JLA stories, many more than some of the others.

I was lucky enough to meet both Rich Buckler and Frank McLaughlin at the New York Comic Con a few weeks ago, so I took the opportunity to get them to John Hancock this cover, one of my all-time favorites from the book:

Justice League of America #160 - Nov. 1978

Superheroes, bi-planes, and dinosaurs, oh my!

The Story: "Crisis from Tomorrow!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. Continued from the last issue, the Lord of Time is fretting over a program run by his super-computer that will do nothing less than destroy of all existence in just five hours!

The five time-traveling members of the JLA and JSA make their way to the Lord of Time's lair, where the computer's defense systems kick in, which include the giant dinosaur, plus a horde of lizard men!

They are defeated by the computer's sophisticated defenses, leaving the plan still in motion. The Lord of Time realizes the only hope all of existence has is the JLA and the JSA, who he hopes, now that they've "tasted defeat", will come back even stronger and more resolute than they ever would've been before.

Meanwhile, the one member of the JLA who still hasn't shown up, Aquaman, finally arrives to see how his fallen comrades are doing:

...I like how only Traya, a child orphan, is there to visit the heroes.

The doctor's mention of "others" who escaped the explosion thrills Aquaman, who thought they had died. He heads of to get some of the advanced medical diagnostic equipment she needs to tend to the heroes.

The heroes still on the case find their way to the Lord of Time by blasting through a nigh-impenetrable "reef on the sea of eternity." How do they do this? By having Wonder Woman throw a Star-Spangled Kid-charged Superman through it. These heroes don't know the meaning of the word "can't."

The heroes find their way to the Lord of Time, fight the super-computer, who tries to stop them with a giant, multi-armed robot. But it's The Elongated Man, of all people, who thins himself into the machine, destroying it from within!

Ralph wakes up in the hospital, all his fellow heroes recovered.

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

Notable Moments: Man, a lot went on in this story!

Dick Dillin didn't put a lot of moody shadows in his work, but this panel with Aquaman I thought was particularly nifty.

This was the final "Giant" issue of JLA. Starting in #161, the book would be in the regular 32-page format and stay that way until the end (except for one glorious exception).

The JLA Mail Room has two interesting tidbits: One, a mention of the upcoming JLA All-New Collector's Edition, a book that would sadly--tragically--never see the light of day as a treasury, for whatever reason. Written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Rich Buckler, it would later be re-purposed for JLA #'s 210-212.

The second tidbit was the result of a contest, asking fans to vote for their favorite potential new member. Finalists included (in ascending order) Metamorpho, Supergirl, Black Lightning, Captain Comet, and:

...so be here tomorrow to watch Zatanna join the Justice League!

What, no Shade the Changing Man?

Justice League of America #159 - Oct. 1978

As you can see from the cover, a jam-packed issue starring the JLA, the JSA, and other historical characters from the DC Universe!

The Story: "Crisis from Yesterday!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. The JLA and JSA are having their annual meeting at the swanky Club 22, located in Gotham City (presumably in one of the nicer parts of town).

The heroes are engaging in their usual chit-chat, when an explosion occurs!

Meanwhile, we find the one of the JLA's foes, The Lord of Time, going over his newest plan to defeat the JLA and JSA, by bringing five heroes from the past into the 20th Century!

Turns out that's what caused the explosion (you knew that already, didn't you?)--the arrival of The Viking Prince, Jonah Hex, Enemy Ace, Miss Liberty, and the Black Pirate!

These five heroes are confused as to why they are where they are, why they attacked these heroes, and who made them do it! So they take off to get some answers.

Individual teams of heroes meet up with our five time travelers, who again are forced to do battle. Each time, it ends up in defeat for the JLA and JSA:

Meanwhile, the Lord of Time reveals that all of existence will be wiped out in five hours by his own computer, and even he cannot stop it! To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, Flash, Hawkman, Elongated Man

Notable Moments: Most of the JLA appear in cameos during the Club 22 sequence (though no Aquaman).

The Huntress is written kinda bitchy here, where she goofs on Elongated Man and at one point uses his head as leverage to pitch herself out Wonder Woman's Invisible Plane! Now that's chutzpah!

Dick Dillin, having "missed" two issues in the last year (the only ones he would ever miss), was clearly being punished with this story by Conway, by adding even more characters to the already-crowded yearly JLA/JSA team-up.

Justice League of America #158 - Sept. 1978

The return of Ultraa!

The Story: "The Super-Power of Negative Thinking!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. We find The Flash and Wonder Woman taking on Poison Ivy and Mirror Master, when suddenly that hero from another world, Ultraa, shows up to help!

The villains get away with some stolen loot, but WW explains that the stuff they stole is nearly worthless. Ultraa is so furious these bad guys would risk innocent lives to steal worthless objects he takes off to find them.

Meanwhile, the two heroes are shocked to find that the regular citizens are hardly appreciative of the JLAers saving them--in fact, they tell Flash and Wonder Woman that being around a super-powered fight is like being in an earthquake!

We follow the baddies back to the secret hideout of the Injustice Gang, where their mysteriously cloaked leader tells them these items are far from worthless! He tells them they are extra-terrestrial artifacts that, when combined, will help a race of alien overlord take over Earth!

The members of the IG--Ivy, Mirror Master, Chronos, Tattooed Man, and the Scarecrow--don't believe the story, and their leader gets furious at them for such insolence! The villains pipe down, but Chronos silently tells himself he's going to check up on this guy.

Meanwhile, as the JLA are discussing what's happened, Ultraa breaks in and shoots them with some sort of "negative ray", which he tells them gets rid of all their super-powers! The JLA doesn't believe it, until they all discover they are now, indeed, powerless! Ultraa says this is the only way to bring peace to his new home, so now it's off to find the Injustice Gang!

He shoots them with the beam, unbeknownst to them, and he believes all is well. But when they, along with the alien artifacts, start wrecking the Earth, he realizes something has gone wrong!

Ultraa tries to take on the villains directly, but the Scarecrow instills his terrorizing fear in Ultraa, so the JLA--powerless, they believe--still show up to try and help.

The JLA tell themselves that Ultraa's beam didn't so much take away their powers but their belief in their powers, so the JLA goads each other on to overcome this mental handicap. It works, and Superman delivers the final blow, via heat vision, to the alien artifacts and the IG's leader, who turned out to be...Abra Kadabra!

But what to do with Ultraa?

Roll Call: Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Red Tornado

Notable Moments: I always felt like Ultraa was primed to be the next member of the JLA, but it never quite happened.

For some reason, I also have a copy of this issue in one of those now-maddeningly-popular (read: expensive on eBay) Comic Pacs, courtesy Whitman, under the blanket title of Superman Comics:

Each comic retailed for 50 cents, so via Whitman you get two comics for 99 cents, a savings of...one penny. Gee, I wonder why Whitman had such a tough time moving these out the door?

Justice League of America #157 - Aug. 1978

The Atom gets married! Oh, and the JLA fights The Siren.

The Story: "Till Doom Do Us Part!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, Juan Ortiz, and Frank McLaughlin. We open on the curvaceous Siren, who commands a whole team of male slaves as she declares war on the Justice League!

Meanwhile, Ray Palmer does what he's been debating over the last few issues, whether to tell his fiancee Jean Loring whether he is the Atom. He does, and Jean's mad at Ray's keeping secrets, and storms off.

At the same time, the JLA are in the satellite wrapping wedding presents. Black Canary is showing off her gift, a skimpy negligee, which Wonder Woman seems dubious about (Green Arrow = Happy, Steve Trevor = Sad).

Anyway, the festivities are interrupted when the Phantom Stranger shows up again, and warns that the Gods the JLA fought last issue ("The Fiend with Five Faces!") are not as vanquished as they thought. One of them created an illusion of themselves to fool the heroes (and the other Gods) and is still on Earth.

Some of the JLA encounter the Siren's goons, while Green Lantern and Red Tornado find The Siren herself. Who, via a magic kids, gets Green Lantern to become her slave!

She then gets GL to take her to the JLA satellite, where she uses her powers to hypnotize all the men, who she convinces to attack the women JLAers, plus guest-star Supergirl!

They fight for a while, but Supergirl is able to break through the mind control of Superman, because of his deep love for his cousin. That enabled the rest of the JLA to be freed, and its Kara and Black Canary who knock Siren out with a good shot right in the, er, kisser.

The Epilogue is Ray and Jean's wedding. Jean does show up, forgiving Ray for keeping such a secret. So let's go get hitched!:

...so it's smooth sailing for the Palmers from here on in, right?

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

Notable Moments: Ray and Jean invited The Phantom Stranger (next to Green Arrow) and Captain Comet (between Aquaman and Flash) to the wedding! Now that's generous.

The cover is by Joe Staton, who never did another JLA cover. Too bad, since Joe Staton rocks.

One other art related comment: this issue was mostly drawn by fill-in artist Juan Ortiz, with Dillin handling the opening few pages and the Palmer marriage sequence. Other than this issue's middle section and all of issue #153, Dick Dillin's JLA streak ran unbroken. Pretty damn impressive.

Experimentin' with Issuu

Justice League of America #156 - July 1978

Behold...the Fiend with Five Faces!

The Story: "The Fiend with Five Faces!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. We start this issue in a very unusual way...with Aquaman!

We find Aquaman climbing out of the water, barely able to move. He staggers his way on shore, and runs into some toughs. But even weakened, this is still Aquaman, and he dispatches them with just a couple of punches.

He finds his way to a cab, and asks to be taken to the Bristol Building. He asks the cabbie to help him to the elevator, which they take to the roof.

The cabbie leaves the mysteriously-dressed stranger there, who he recognizes as...Steve McQueen!:

While Aquaman is attended to on the satellite, Flash and Green Lantern run into a sort of wood nymph type bad guy, who seems to control the vegetation around them, which he uses to knock the two heroes out.

Aquaman tells the JLA about this mysterious being he encountered...the Fiend with Five Faces! Investigating a series of natural underwater disasters, the trail led him to a small isle, where he saw this bizarre creature, who was a statue that came alive, and then blasted Aquaman as soon as it saw him!

While discussing what to do, the Phantom Stranger appears, explaining he is there to offer assistance. Uh-oh, this must be real trouble!

Various teams of JLAers answer distress calls, where they each run into god-like beings who were once combined but now are free to wreak havoc on Earth.

The JLA manages to fight some of them off, and their leader, Tangora who tells them that this moment of freedom is to replenish their souls before they must rejoin into one being, not to cause destruction. Tangora reforms them all into one beings, the isle where they came from sinks, order is restored.

There's an Epilogue, where The Atom debates with his friends about whether to tell Jean his secret identity. Batman is against it (surprise), but Flash, Elongated Man, and Aquaman are for it. So what's he going to do? To be continued!

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

Notable Moments: The Phantom Stranger hangs around during the "Should I Tell Her?" debate with Ray, but says nothing. I think it was a lost opportunity, not to have PS say something like "Look, I've been with Joan of Arc, Queen Elizabeth, Madam Curie, Mata Hari, Ava Gardner, and Jane Fonda. I'm telling you, Ray, women can't handle dating a superhero!"

Followed by awkward silence from the rest of the team.

Justice League of America #155 - June 1978

Hmm, we've caught the JLA at a slightly busy moment...

The Story: "Under the Moons of Earth!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. We open with Ray Palmer and Jean "Trouble" Loring on an evening out, talking about their upcoming marriage.

While Ray is still torn over whether to tell Jean he's The Atom, he notices something a little odd...there are two moons in the sky! I'm no astronomer, but I don't think that's right.

The sudden appearance of two moons causing all kinds of disastrous events to occur, like earthquakes and erupting volcanoes. Red Tornado, on JLA Monitor Duty, is overwhelmed with all the requests for help.

Luckily Superman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman arrive, and head off to help out. Meanwhile, Batman meets up with Reddy in India, where they are spied upon by two mysterious aliens.

The two aliens then try and steal radioactive rods inside a nuclear plant. Batman tires to stop them, but one of them bursts into dust when hit, and the other escapes.

Supes and Lantern head to this new moon, where they run into a whole armada of aliens. After a quick fight, the leader of aliens surrenders, but tells the heroes that if they move this moon out of its new orbit, everyone on it will die!

The JLA continue saving lives, and there's a nice moment where Red Tornado drops into the ocean, exhausted from stopping an undersea volcano from going off. Batman makes sure to save his friend:

Back on the new moon, the aliens explain that they have always been there, but in another dimensional plane, and they were knocked out of it by a natural disaster that destroyed nearly everything else around them.

Meanwhile, Reddy and Bats run into more aliens on Earth's surface, including the one with the stolen nuclear rods, which he admits will be used to destroy all life on Earth! Once Batman gets them away from him (this is Batman, after all), he tells Supes and GL what he knows, and they demand the truth. What's going on here?

Turns out this new moon is actually from the past, who ended up getting knocked into the time stream because of a masive war they were fighting with a neighboring moon. They were afraid of telling the JLA the truth, but the JLA surprises them by saying they're willing to help, but moving the moon into the far future, solving everyone's problems!

The issue ends with Reddy ruminating over the fact that all this destruction could have been avoided if the aliens had just been honest. "When you expect the worst", Reddy says, "you usually receive it."

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

Notable Moments: All the JLAers appear in this issue except the Hawks. Odd. (Although this was the same month the Halls started fighting in the Rann/Thanagar War, as detailed in Showcase #101, so maybe they were a little busy!)

A fun issue, and one of the gigantic scope that comics used to have all to itself until movie special effects caught up. This issue feels like one of those super-fun Irwin Allen disaster movies of the 70s.

Justice League of America #154 - May 1978

Here's a rarity--a JLA cover drawn by Mike Kaluta!

The Story: "I'll Kill You In Your Dreams!" by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin, and Frank McLaughlin. The villainous, now-with-extra-creepy Dr. Destiny sets off a plan to kill the Justice League!

Meanwhile, we find some of our JLAers (in their civilian identities) checking out the new Gotham Starscraper Hotel, complete with TV coverage by anchorman Clark Kent.

Even though Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance are still having words over Queen's earlier chauvinist behavior (in JLA #151), they set aside their differences to have a nice "night off" at the new hotel.

This place has everything! Robot chambermaids, an artificial waterfall, even anti-gravity discs in the disco:

...wait, wait, wait--I call shenanigans. I know that Ollie and Dinah wouldn't think twice about this (hell, they'd probably go ahead and do it on one of them), but I'd say the average Gothamite would find trying to dance on a tiny disc, floating dozens of feet in the air a terrifying experience. Sometimes WayneTech R&D goes too far.

Ok, anyway, all the JLAers that night end up with horrifying nightmares, envisioning their deaths, their loss of abilities, or the deaths of their friends. Dr. Destiny watches this, amused.

Then all of those very things happen or almost happen! But the JLA figures out the only person who could do this to them is, of course, old Skeletor here. He explains his new horrifying visage, and what his plan was.

Unfortunately for him, the JLA was one step ahead of him. The Atom shrunk down and took control of the Materioptkion(whew!), and used it against Destiny, making him think he saw the JLA die! Without it, he's pretty helpess, and one good shot from Black Canary does the trick. Back to Arkham, buddy!

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Arrow, Atom, Black Canary

Notable Moments: The new look for Dr. Destiny was way cool, much more visually dynamic.

As far as I know, the Gotham Starscraper was never shown again. I wonder if Wayne Enterprises took a bath on it, after the pile of lawsuits no doubt generated by the anti-gravity dancing discs...

Planet Comic Book Radio

My episode of Planet Comic Book Radio--"Son of My 70s Show"--is now available as a podcast.

I had a lot of fun talking with pal Javier, and we mostly talk about my time at the Kubert School, treasury comics, Power Records, and black and white magazines, but other stuff finds its way into the conversation, as well.

It's broken up into three parts so you don't overload on my geeky ramblings:

Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3

Javier told me his highest rated episode was his first, when my pal Ben Holcomb was on the show. I'm hoping I at least match that, so Javier will be inspired to do another 70s-themed show (Beneath the Planet of the 70s Show, perhaps?), so please check it out!

Justice League of America #153 - Apr. 1978

The JLA takes quite the beat-down from a new foe, Ultraa!

The Story: "Earth's First and Last Superhero!" by Gerry Conway, George Tuska, and Frank McLaughlin. During a contentious JLA meeting, some members of the team begin to vibrate violently, until some of them disappear!

The JLAers find themselves transported to a planet that, well, looks like Earth...

On this planet, we see some hunters, while chasing after some big game, come face to face with a strangely dressed guy that calls himself Ultraa!

Meanwhile, the JLA arrive and people are perplexed as to these weirdly-dressed strangers are. They stumble across a bank robbery, which of course gives the JLA something to do.

I've never been a fan of George Tuska's superhero work, but there were times it was cool--I mean, I love that guy's face as he tries to escape The Flash. Priceless.

Anyway, the heroes find out that on this "alternate" Earth, they are merely characters in comic books (and they take a look at JLA #151, even!), so what do they do? Visit Julius Schwartz, of course!

The Flash tries to use Julie's Cosmic Treadmill to go home, but somehow it won't work!

Now we get to see, via flashback, who this Ultraa guy is--a lone survivor of a doomed race that was sent to Earth, and was found by an Aboriginal tribe, as raised as one of their own.

Some of the JLA then comes across a giant robot named Maxitron that is searching for Ultraa, who wants to destroy him. Meanwhile, Superman and GL run into Ultraa, there's the classic Misunderstanding, leading to a fight that luckily ends before too much damage is done.

Maxitron finds Ultraa, but is tricked when Supes and Ultraa are disguised as each other, to throw off Maxitron's plan. Ultraa then plants a good one right in Maxitron's hard-drive, causing it to self-destruct.

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

Notable Moments: The first and only time Dick Dillin would miss an issue during his extraordinary twelve-year run. Maybe it was the fourteen million other pages DC had him drawing that month.

Some superhero comic artists would add little touches of detail that made their work distinctive outside of the style itself.

For example, Murphy Anderson always drew superhero boots with little, elf-like tips at the end. George Tuska always put the time in to drawing little seams on superhero's gloves, like the ones pictured here. That always seemed like a lot of extra work to me.

Ultraa would return many times in subsequent issues of JLA; I don't know if he's ever shown up anywhere recently, however.

One last thing: on the cover, penciller Rich Buckler I thought really conveyed how much of a beating the JLA is taking from Ultraa. In particular, Batman looks like he's snapped his neck. Ouch!