Justice League of America Annual #2 - 1984

The biggest change to ever happen to the Justice League of America! New faces, new motivations, new leaders!

The Story: "The End of the Justice League!" by Gerry Conway, Chuck Patton, and Dave Hunt. Following what transpired in the Earth/Mars war in JLA #s 228-230, the members of the League who were present take a space shuttle to go back and see what--if anything--is left of their beloved satellite headquarters.

The various members of the team fan out and start assessing the damage. Black Canary wonders if it can be rebuilt, and Firestorm jokes "rebuild what?"

But Aquaman isn't in such a goofy mood. He takes one look at what has happened, and mutters to himself that this is the end of the Justice League:

(click to JLAify!)

Hawkgirl wonders if she heard Aquaman right. Hawkman, worriedly, says that she did.

After they return to Earth, Green Arrow suggests they start rebuilding immediately. Aquaman walks away, suggesting that even if it could be rebuilt, the team itself may not be able to be repaired. He says for everyone to meet him at the U.N. in one week.

He heads home, happy to finally see his wife, Mera. Unfortunately, she has left, leaving him a message saying that clearly his duty to the League is the most important thing in his life. She suggests he not try to find her...

One week later, at the U.N., Aquaman calls for a special audience, and makes a startling announcement:

...in just five pages, the JLA we all knew is gone.

The announcement is heard all over the world, like by an older man who seems to have massive wealth, and by fashion model Mari McCabe, who abruptly quits her job upon hearing what has happened.

At a high-rise apartment in New York, the JLA--such as it is--is deciding what to do next. They are met by a mysterious stranger, who seems to have fantastic powers!

She is revealed to be the super-heroine The Vixen, who says she is there to join up. Another new hero makes his introductions, as well, a man named Steel:

Steel comes with a new HQ, in Detroit. Its a fully-functioning base, complete with living quarters, a pool, training rooms, etc.

They are met an armed guard, who attacks them for breaking into this place. Steel busts the guy's head, and we learn that inside the suit is Dale Gunn, an old friend of Steel's grandfather, and sort of a surrogate father to the young man. Both Zatanna and Vixen like what they see.

Meanwhile, we are introduced to a young man, a street kid/grafitti artist named Paco, who goes by the name "Vibe." When he runs afoul of some gang members, he displays amazing powers that can be directed at people and shake them uncontrollably.

This little show is seen by Steel and Vixen, and Steel tries to talk Aquaman into letting the kid join. Aquaman says no, pissing off Steel in the process, but he reconsiders when Vibe walks up to their front door and Aquaman gets a first-hand lesson in what this kid can do.

The kid is full of himself, that's for sure:

On the way to meet Vibe's family, he and Steel meet another seemingly super-powered person, a young street thief that the people in the neighborhood call "Gypsy."

While Steel meets Vibe's family (and is immediately smitten by his sister, Rosita), Zatanna introduces herself to Dale Gunn, in about a forward a manner as possible:

While these two flirt, Gypsy breaks in to the HQ, setting off the security alarms!

The JLA all run to the sound, with Martian Manhunter using his shape-shifting powers to nab Gypsy. When they ask who she is, she gives them a long, implausible story. When pressed for the truth, she disappears.

Aquaman is worried none of this is going like he planned, but his doubts are interrupted by a neighborhood welcoming committee, who are throwing a block party to welcome their new neighbors:

Of course, to be continued!

Roll Call: Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Elongated Man, Zatanna, Vixen, Steel, Vibe

Notable Moments: Well, what to say? This turn of events absolutely floored me when I read it, way back in 1984. While I was *thrilled* that Aquaman was taking such a large role in the JLA, I was very unsure of these new characters.

And while I was happy to see action-hogs Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern depart, it was the removal of my other favorites, like Green Arrow and the Hawks that made me scratch my head.

I was even more confused by this passage in the annual's text page by editor Alan Gold:

...in retrospect, of course Gold was just trying to make sure comic fans didn't storm the DC offices like the mob in Frankenstein, but it left me confused. Were "The Big Ones" gone from the book, or not? And if not, what chance did these new characters have? Questions, questions!

Before we move on to JLA Detroit's (as it came to be known) first appearance in JLA proper, we'll take a moment tomorrow to try and answer some of the questions about this strange turn of events in the history of the World's Greatest Superheroes, when the JLA Satellite talks to the man himself, Gerry Conway! Be here!

Justice League of America #232 - Nov. 1984

The second part of the JLA/JSA team-up as they take on The Commander!

The Story: "Battlegrounds" by Kurt Busiek and Alan Kupperberg. Picking up from last issue, the two sets of heroes split up to try and take on the assaults of a mysterious being named The Commander.

While Superman, The Flash, Starman, and Dr. Mid-Nite return from an alternate dimension with their young charges' father in tow, Dr. Fate, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and Green Lantern have just defeated a horde of demons that appeared outside the Pentagon.

Dr. Fate has all the demons trapped in a giant mystical black blobby thing, and says he needs a mystic pentagram to contain their evil. Since there's a pentagram already on hand, he decides to bury the evil under it, an idea that tickles Supergirl:

Finally, the other heroes arrive, except not as they planned...this time, Superman, et al are on the attack!

Acting as if possessed, the heroes try and fight off their friends without doing permanent harm. At the same time, the kids' father wakes up, still under the control of the mysterious Commander.

One of the kids, a young girl named Vicky, tries to pull her father out of his "trance", but it doesn't work. She tries to get her siblings to help out, but their brother, Ian, is disgusted with this whole thing, and refuses.

Wonder Woman finally ensnares the rogue heroes in her Magic Lasso, telling them to cease hostilities. It works...for the moment.

Ian finally realizes that whoever is controlling his Dad has to be eliminated if he ever wants to settle up with him, so he joins forces with his sisters. They then combine their abilities with the heroes, which is enough to rend The Commander out of their Father's body!

The heroes think this means the Big C has had to go back to his own dimension, but Dr. Fate isn't so sure. As usual, Dr. Fate is right about these kind of things:

The Commander gives the hero a classic Super-Villain Back Story, featuring tales of conquest and how he managed to defeat everyone he could find, until there was no one left to battle!

When he met up with the mind of the old man, he used him as a portal to this new dimension, where the promise of new battles await him!

As you can imagine, the heroes don't take too well to this. As Dr. Fate and the kids try and open up a portal back to his own dimension, the other heroes team-up and try and knock him into it.

He's almost defeated, but refuses to give up. Just then, the Monitor, who has been watching all this from his satellite, peeks in on The Commander. That distracts him just a for a moment, but that is enough for him to be knocked back to his home dimension!

But The Commander refuses to go, so instead he ruptured his own form, and the portal itself, sending the heroes hurtling through different dimensions! While protected by Green Lantern's power ring, they see glimpses of things that don't quite make sense...to them:

The heroes orient themselves when they see the Crime Syndicate, still in their inter-dimensional prison bubble, and head home to Earth-1.

The JSA says goodbye, and then Mr. Champion and his kids, still with some of the powers they received from The Commander, take off as well, on an inter-dimensional vacation.

Superman doesn't think that's a great idea, but Flash insists all is well, and challenges him to a race back to the satellite!

Roll Call: Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash

Notable Moments: That little cameo by the Crime Syndicate was a nice, if sorta nasty, touch--these poor saps are stuck in this little bubble, for all eternity, basically.

There's a lot of crazy mystical mumbo-jumbo going on in this issue, so I bet my summary is a bit confusing. It reads better, trust me.

As I said with Part 1, this was the last JLA/JSA team-up, at least in the form we all recognize.

Around this time, DC released its second DC Sampler book, featuring our first glimpse of all the all-new Justice League:

...its interesting to see that there were changes made to the new JLA very late in process--in this image, Vixen is wearing a mask, Gypsy's green eye make-up is much more pronounced, making it look more like a mask, and Vibe is colored much darker than he ever was in the regular JLA book. Hmm...

Justice League of America #231 - Oct. 1984

The final JLA/JSA team-up...at least, as we knew them.

The Story: "Family Crisis" by Kurt Busiek and Alan Kupperberg. So where the heck have Superman, Wonder Woman, and The Flash been during the Martian Invasion? We're about to find out!

This issue opens narrated by an unknown being, as it surveys the history of Earth...cavemen, baseball, Batman, the Eiffel Tower, I Love Lucy, advertising...all of it.

We see this being hone in on something called "the League" and we find Green Lantern deep in space, the Phantom Stranger wandering a dimension beyond understanding, and Ray Palmer on a search to find a lost city.

We also see many of the other members of this "League" heads toward Earth as it prepares to meet up with the strange spaceship heading towards the East Coast...and less then a few moments after that, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and guest-star Supergirl arrive:

Suddenly three...children(!) arrive, claiming to need the Justice League's help! The JLAers agree, and they all disappear together.

They arrive on Earth-2, in time to see their JSA friends under attack by a group of...flying monkeys? The JLA pitch in, of course:

This strange narrator takes stock of all the heroes, deeming them all to be "obstacles"...except for Dr. Mid-Nite, whose paltry powers seem insignificant compared to the rest of his fellow heroes.

Suddenly, the flying monkeys disappear, replaced by the giant visage of a man, who demands absolute surrender!

Turns out this this man is the kids' Father, and they tell the heroes that one day, their fatherm, while working for the FBI, suddenly vanished without a trace. He then reappeared in the same ghostly form, talking gibberish about bloodlines and great power.

The kids learned that when the three of them are together, they have amazing powers, and they can seemingly "follow" their father's trail. Dr. Fate has them divide up into teams to try and find the place where the next "attack" (that the kids' father warned of) is going to take place.

One of the kids makes a random comment about the Pentagon, and the heroes, not having a better idea, head there. When they get there, they discover a horde of demons!

Meanwhile, the other group of heroes arrive in an alternate dimension, where they discover a fantastic domed city. When they make their way in, they are met by a machine that calls itself The Commander, which flashes a light at them, causing them all to live out their deepest fantasies:

...oops, looks like Dr. Mid-Nite isn't quite so useless!

The doc throws one of his blackout bombs that wakes the others up, and they find the kids father, hooked up to the weird machine. They grab him and take off, heading for home.

The other heroes defeat the demons at the Pentagon, and as they await their friends' return, we learn that this is all part of The Commander's plan! To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash

Notable Moments: Is it me, or was Supergirl written as a more interesting, captivating character just before she was bumped off? She's a lot of fun here, kinda making jokey asides during all the action. I would've loved to have seen this Supergirl maybe join JLA Detroit!

The Dr. Mid-Nite bit is a great moment; he's dismissed early on but ends up being the only one who can save Superman, Flash, and Starman! Pretty good, no?

The JLA logo gets a face-lift as of this issue, the first time in about fifteen years.

We'll be a little out of sequence tomorrow, since we'll be talking about the second part of this story in JLA #232, instead of Justice League of America Annual #2, which came out this same month.

Instead, the second Annual will be covered on Tuesday, to be followed by an all-new JLA Satellite interview with...Gerry Conway!

Justice League of America #230 - Sept. 1984

The final chapter of the War of the Worlds storyline!

The Story: "Blessed is the Peacemaker" by Gerry Conway and Alan Kupperberg. Picking up from last issue, the Martian armada has finally arrived, with hundreds of warships.

Some of them headed for Earth, while a few broke off and started attacking the JLA satellite, blasting a hole in it.

While the JLA managed to stop the Martian invader who came aboard, now they have another problem--Martian Manhunter has taken one of the JLA's shuttlecraft and blasted a hole in the satellite and headed out into space! Is Firestorm right--is the Martian Manhunter a traitor?

This issue opens up with one hell of a splash page, pertinent to the story while also playing up the broader themes of the storyline:

Turns out Manhunter is not escaping so much as he is making a kamikaze-style frontal attack right on the head Martian warship. The Marshal and Bel Juz realize that if their people learn that what they told them (that J'onn J'onzz is dead) that he might be able to rally support for his way of thinking, so they blast his shuttlecraft as it gets close.

Meanwhile, on Earth, President Reagan and the leader of the Soviet Union (unnamed, though it was Konstantin Chernenko at the time) decide to give the JLA two more hours, and then they must act.

Another group of armed Martians come aboard the satellite, where they are met by some kicks to the head by the Black Canary. At the same time, Manhunter's former love, J'en, having learned that J'onn is still alive, blasts some of her own men and steals one of their smaller ships, blasting off.

While all this is going on, the Hawks are facing their own set of Martian invaders:

...that's a nice moment with Katar and Shayera.

Anyway, as the JLA fight off the invaders on the satellite, Firestorm wakes up. Thinking his friends are dead, and its Manhunter's fault, he tears off into space after him.

We then see that Manhunter was not killed by the blast from the Marshal and Bel Juz, but was thrown into space. He was then rescued by J'en, and he awakes in her arms aboard her ship.

He is determined to still try and stop the invasion, and J'en finds her loyalties torn--she tries to stop J'onn by a pointing a blaster at him, but J'onn stares her down.

As Marshal prepares to issue the command for the entire fleet to attack Earth, he is surprised by the appearance of J'onn! With the eyes of the entire fleet on them, they decide to fight one on one. Bel Juz believes if Manhunter dies at the hand of the Marshal, it will make him look nearly invincible!

When the Marshal uses the Martian power of invisibility on J'onn, it causes J'en to question him, since that is not within the Martian's code of honor. Bel Juz's response? "What does it matter? The Marshall is above the law!"

(Ha! What a crazy, backwards people they are, letting their leaders break their own society's laws.)

Anyway, Manhunter defeats the Marshall, and when Bel Juz tries to shoot J'onn in the back, Firestorm is there to blast it out of her hand.

After J'onn talks his people out of invading, the war ends before it ever really began. A happy ending? Well, not quite:

To be continued...

Roll Call: Aquaman, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Red Tornado, Hawkgirl, Zatanna, Firestorm

Notable Moments: Maybe the Martian Manhunter's finest hour--almost all the action centers around him, and he even gets to be a romantic leading man, sort of. The last panel is so sad, no?

Like I said above, the Hawks get a lot of good moments, too. I know that the Hawks now don't resemble anything like the characters seen here, but I think I would've loved to have seen a series of Katar and Shayera, flying around in their spaceship, having adventures.

Wondering where the other JLAers have been during all this? Be here tomorrow to find out!

Justice League of America #229 - Aug. 1984

The invasion of Earth by the Martians!

The Story: "Bitter Ashes" by Gerry Conway, Alan Kupperberg, and Pablo Marcos. The invasion of Earth has indeed begun, when an orbiting space shuttle and its crew get blasted by a huge Martian warship!

Down on Earth, we see Firestorm and Martian Manhunter heading into space to investigate, and that Firestorm doesn't quite trust the Manhunter, no matter what the other JLAers say.

Some of the other JLA is down on Earth, waiting to see what happens. Green Arrow is impatient, and Aquaman quietly seethes, wishing he could be with his people in Atlantis.

Manhunter and Firestorm try and intercept the broken off front section of the shuttle as it hurtles towards Earth, but its too heavy and fast for him, and it slips by him.

That convinces Firestorm Manhunter isn't really on their side, and uses his powers to restructure the ship so it can land safely:

Firestorm tells the rest of the JLA of Manhunter's "treachery", and its Zatanna's turn to read him the riot act. When he sees the Thanagarian Hawkman and Hawkgirl pledge to stay and defend Earth to the end, Firestorm recognizes his creeping case of xenaphobia...for now.

Meanwhile, on the JLA satellite, Aquaman is talking to...President Ronald Reagan!:

(...are we sure that's not Clayface?)

Anyway, Reagan asks Aquaman where Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, etc., are, but Aquaman doesn't know, since they're not responding to the JLA distress signals. After the call ends, Aquaman's thoughts turn even darker:

The U.N. has an emergency session, where they tell the Martian leader that, evem though it might mean the end of all life on Earth, they will not surrender to the invaders' demands.

As the JLA prepares for all-out war, Hawkman and Hawkgirl are aboard their spaceship, scanning for the Martian fleet. It arrives by basically teleporting right outside their window--hundreds upon hundreds of war ships!

As some of the ships head for Earth, others break off and start firing on the JLA satellite! Their blasts crack a huge hole in its side, and the invasion is led by an armored Martian in battle gear. Aquaman and the rest of the JLA get the drop on him and knock him out. Firestorm, wondering where Manhunter is, takes off.

Back on the main Martian ship, we learn that this whole movement was inadvertently started by the woman Bel Juz, who (in a story that took place in World's Finest #212) became the Marshal's lover and inspired him to try and take over the government. She had no idea it would lead to all of this...

Firestorm does find Manhunter, and has his worst fears confirmed:

To be continued!

Roll Call: Aquaman, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Red Tornado, Hawkgirl, Zatanna, Firestorm

Notable Moments: Guest artist Alan Kupperberg did a fine job here, his penciling with Pablo Marcos' smooth inking make a nice, eye-pleasing combo.

There really is a sense of scale in this story that works well; although I wonder if Mars and Earth were about to go to war, where the heck the Teen Titans, the Doom Patrol, Batman and the Outsiders, etc. are.

This is the last issue to feature the "World's Greatest Super-Heroes" moniker on the front cover. In a few months, that title simply wouldn't fit anymore.

Justice League of America #228 - July 1984

The return of J'onn J'onzz the Martian Manhunter and a crisis that will change the JLA forever!

The Story: "War--of the World?" by Gerry Conway, George Tuska, and Alex Nino. We open on the red planet Mars, and find former JLA member The Martian Manhunter aboard a small spaceship, desperately trying to evade another ship!

As J'onn approaches his goal--Earth--we see the pursuers are his fellow Martians, including one named J'en, who we learn loves J'onn, but continues to pursue him because she believes he has "betrayed our people."

Not too far away, we find some members of the JLA aboard their satellite, going through their various paces--Green Arrow and Black Canary are doing training exercises, Red Tornado is doing a diagnostic check on his inner circuitry, etc.

On Monitor Duty this fateful day is Aquaman:

Aquaman alerts the other members of the space battle taking place before his eyes, one of them evening the odds with some clever maneuvers.

The pursued ship blasts right by them, and is headed for the East Coast of the United States. The JLAers beam down, just in time to see the Air Force hit the invading ship with some missiles!

Aquaman is annoyed that the Air Force did the whole "shoot first, ask questions later" thing, and is quite testy when the JLAers try and see their side of it:

Aquaman finds the rocket, and is shocked when he is hit by an escaping Martian Manhunter! Manhunter makes his apologies via mental telepathy, pastes Aquaman one, and takes off.

Firestorm, who has the least experience with J'onn, takes it upon himself to flush Manhunter out by converting most of the East River into steam! This works, but Hawkgirl scolds Firestorm for such a careless act. Manhunter then lands on shore, and collapses in Hawkgirl's arms.

Later, Manhunter explains what has happened--on his new home planet of Mars II, he stumbled upon a group called the Soldiers of the Red Brotherhood, a militia whose leader wants his people to conquer Earth!

As Manhunter stood helplessly by, he watched this group slowly gain power, and convince nearly all of the Martian people that this act of aggression is justified and necessary! Manhunter, who openly opposed this, became an Enemy of the State, and was chased off of Mars II.

As the JLAers try to comprehend what they're facing, a Mars ship arrives in New York. The Martians' leader tells Earth that they must surrender...or be destroyed:

To be continued!

Roll Call: Aquaman, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Red Tornado, Hawkgirl, Zatanna, Firestorm

Notable Moments: This is the big one, the story that changed the JLA forever.

Over time, I've come to appreciate the work of George Tuska, but I think even his fans would admit he and superheroes were not the best match. Having such a huge story drawn by Tuska (and then by another artist next issue) gave this three-parter a slapped-together feel that, at the time, really grated on me.

Although I was thrilled to see Aquaman getting so much to do, even if he kind of a jerk to his teammates. Of course, at the time, I had no idea this was just the beginning...

Justice League of America #227 - June 1984

The final chapter to the Fiatlux trilogy!

The Story: "Dragon Keep" by Joey Cavalieri, Chuck Patton, and Mark Alexander. On an uncharted island, robed members of the mysterious Fiatlux cult are on the run!

We see that these men were followers of Lord Arsenic, who tried (last issue) to break away from the Fiatlux cult and to eventually take it over. Now that Arsenic is gone...justice must be meted out.

Various creatures attack, crush, and/or devour these poor saps, except for two of them, who are grabbed by monstrous winged dragons and brought to the mountaintop, where they are mocked by Fiatlux's new leader, Lord Claw.

Meanwhile, on the JLA Satellite, our heroes are still trying to track down the Luciferase...and Hawkman thinks its now in Japan!

Also meanwhile, in the Perdition dimension:

Hawkman, Atom, Red Tornado, and Elongated Man make their way to Japan, and to the island where the Luciferase is, where they are immediately attacked by Lord Claw's dragons!

It's here we see Lord Claw's "origin", that he was a geneticist that was driven by nightmarish dreams to turn "feeble present-day creatures to the glory of their prehistoric ancestors!"

Our heroes defeat the dragons, and head towards Lord Claw's mountaintop retreat. At the same time, the rest of the JLA re-enters their home dimension, where they are told Lord Claw has set off the volcano on the island, in a last ditch attempt to keep the base secure from the JLA!

This triggers Zatanna, who starts talking funny and immolating Lord Claw's monsters left and right. When Black Canary nervously asks Zee how she's doing this, we see that she is possessed by Hellrazer, who has come to this dimension to take over Fiatlux!

He burns Lord Claw to a crisp, and then grabs the remaining Luciferase, which makes him grow to mountain-size proportions. The JLA tries to fight him, but it doesn't do much good.

Zatanna comes to, and recalls a spell Hellrazer himself cast while possessing her, which she uses back at him:

...I like Zee's trash-talking in the last panel.

As Hellrazer gets sucked back into his dimension, he swears he will spend the next ten thousand years "plotting my revenge on your house!"

Hawkgirl thinks Hellrazer is bluffing, but Zatanna is not so sure.

Roll Call: Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Red Tornado, Hawkgirl, Zatanna

Notable Moments: This is the last issue of JLA before things start to get really crazy.

This is also the Atom's last appearance with the team. Like Green Lantern, events in the Atom's own story line(s) remove him from the day goings-on in the DCU, so when Aquaman reforms the JLA, the Atom is not around to officially quit.

The inking for this issue is by someone I'm not familiar with, Mark Alexander. He gives the book a scratchy feel, that I didn't think worked too well for this sort of superhero story.

I read this storyline--all three issues--in one sitting sometime in April 1984. That's because, at the time, I was being punished by my parents for something I've long since forgotten, and the punishment was no comics for three months.

I can't imagine what I did that deserved that kind of bring-the-hammer-down punishment, but it must have been pretty bad. At the time, I had been to a comic shop here and there, but I was still buying my comics regularly at my local 7-11s and whatnot. So if I missed an issue, it was for all intents and purposes gone forever.

I simply couldn't live with missing any issue of JLA, so I asked my friend at the time Steven to buy JLA for me each month and store them, since my Mom probably would've noticed new books in the house.

So he sat on 'em all that time, and when the punishment was lifted, he gave them all to me at once. That was a rough three months.

Justice League of America #226 - May 1984

The mysterious case of the cult Fiatlux gets even more strange!

The Story: "Hell on Earth" by Joe Cavalieri, Chuck Patton, and Frank McLaughlin. The really gross demon Hellrazer is now free, thanks to the machinations of the malevolently stupid Lord Gravesend.

The JLAers, to their credit, try and take him on like he's Dr. Light or something, but Hellrazer uses his amazing evil powers to conjure up all sorts of creepy monsters to fight them.

Zatanna wakes up in the middle of all this, and tries to cut off Hellrazer's power "at the source", the portal to Perdition, where Hellrazer has been trapped for many centuries.

Hellrazer doesn't take kindly to this, and he wraps a tentacle around Zee, and dragging her back into the portal and his dimension, leaving Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Hawkgirl dumbstruck.

Canary notices the plume of smoke rising from the spot where the portal was is actually some sort of gateway:

...Green Arrow watches Letterman? Cool.

Back at the satellite, some of the other JLAers have shown up. They use some Thangarian doo-dad to track where the Luciferase went to--all the way to Morocco!

As the JLA follows the trail, we see members of the Israeli Secret Service on their own mission to stop the cult of Fiatlux, who is led here by another baddie, a guy named Lord Arsenic.

The ISS shoot their way through Arsenic's goons, but when they get to Arsenic himself, he dons a gold helmet and blasts many of them into dust!

Flush with evil power, Lord Arsenic kills some of his own men, just for fun, and heads out into the world...

Meanwhile, in the dimension of Perdition, Hellrazer tells Zatanna she is part of his "master plan"...as he drools on her. Ew!

The JLAers catch up to Lord Arsenic, who is now completely transformed into the evil God Set! Luckily Hawkman, Red Tornado, Atom, and the Elongated Man use teamwork to use his own power against him, defeating him.

Back in Perdition, Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Hawkgirl arrive, where they find Zatanna trussed up. They free her, but things are not quite right:

As we see an evil look cross Zatanna's face, the story is to be continued!

Roll Call: Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Red Tornado, Hawkgirl, Zatanna

Notable Moments: Hawkgirl gets a lot to do in this storyline, and I love that last panel with her.

Again, really interesting line-up for this case...all the "later" members, except for Firestorm. Neat-o!

Also interesting is to see old-time JLA inker Frank McLaughlin make a one-issue return to the title he inked for so long!

Justice League of America #225 - Apr. 1984

Hellrazer is coming!
The Story: "Let There Be Light!" by Joey Cavalieri, Chuck Patton, and Pablo Marcos. This issue opens with Ray Palmer, having just come back from his adventure in the microscopic world of Morlaidh (as related in the Sword of the Atom mini-series).

When he returns to his office in the Physics Department of Ivy University, he discovers a group of strangers surrounding some sort of glowing box! They gang up on him, throwing him out the window!

As they begin to depart, he changes into the Tiny Titan, the Atom, and attacks!

Meanwhile, we see Katar and Shayera Hall having Oliver and Dinah over for dinner, where an errant comment from Katar about the Flash's recent troubles with Professor Zoom causes Ollie to go off, leaving the two women to their own devices.

Back with the Atom, we see him get knocked out by one of the gang. As he wakes up, he is shocked to see the one intruder left behind has started to melt away, as if he was made of clay! What the? Time to call the JLA!

A meeting is held at the satellite, and the Atom explains he's been working with a substance called Luciferase (sinister name, that), which Ray believes could eventually become an energy source, a replacement for oil! Oh, no, the JLA is up against Dick Cheney!

Anyway, the Atom mentions all of the bad guys bore a tattoo, which he shows the JLA but, um, not us:

...wow, Zatanna is good! I don't see a darn thing.

Zatanna says the JLA should investigate this cult, Fiatlux, who supposedly want to rule the world (have they met Paragon?).

We then find our way to a strange meeting of this cult, and when the stolen box o'light is opened, the head loony, Lord Gravesend, seems to be able to take control of it, using it to create a wide array of shapes using bolts of energy. The crowd goes wild.

Later, Gravesend retires to his room, where we see him talking to two people, represented as translucent, floating heads(!). He tells them that with this Luciferase, he will gain control of Fiatlux. He uses it to conjure a demon, which we only see a part of, who is now freed by Gravesend's carelessness and hubris.

Some of the JLAers find their way to this meeting, and a gang of robed goons try and kill them. Hawkgirl knocks out a few dozen rows of teeth with her nunchaku, and Arrow ties up the rest. Unfortunately, they also all do the "melting away to nothing" bit.

Zatanna traces all this magic downstairs, where she sees this demon loosed! He murders Gravesend without a second thought, and then blasts Zatanna, leaving three startled superheroes:

To be continued!

Roll Call: Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Hawkgirl, Zatanna

Notable Moments: A very unusual line-up for a JLA story; no founding members participate at all in this eventual 3-part story. Maybe this was to get the readers get for the Big Changes that were right around the corner?

If that's what it was, it's not a bad idea; but I also feel like its kinda too bad we couldn't get one last "The Gang's All Here" classic JLA adventure in. Oh well.

With this issue, the book had a new editor, Alan Gold, taking over for Len Wein. Under Gold's tenure, the JLA would undergo more than change the previous 200+ issues combined.

The mistake up top, where the tattoo is missing, is obviously from some printer's mistake. I'm guessing it was done in some sort of color hold, and got left out somewhere along the way. For those of you who have this issue, is your copy missing it, as well?

Update: Thanks to JLA Fan John Trumbull, who sent me a scan of his copy of JLA #225, which does indeed feature the mysterious mark that was left off of my copy.

As you can see from my scan above, clearly the blue plate got left off at some point, since my book's pages are very yellow, while John's are more balanced. Wow, glad I finally got to see this, thanks John!

Justice League of America #224 - March 1984

Who is Paragon? Let's find out!

The Story: "The Supremacy Factor" by Kurt Busiek, Chuck Patton, and Dick Giordano. We open on an outdoor cafe, where Clark Kent, Hal Jordan, and Oliver Queen are meeting for lunch.

Ollie notices that Dinah, who was also supposed to be there, is late. Where is she?

Well, as we see, Dinah, in her guise as Black Canary, is about to stop a mugging, except...the victim is not exactly helpless. She sees him, clad in a trench coat, take on the muggers--all of them--at the same time!

Things quickly get even stranger, when the muggee starts doling out a beating far beyond what's necessary, and Canary steps in just as this guy is about to kill them.

When Canary tells him to stop, we see he's wearing a mask, and he quickly turns his attention to her. And she learns within seconds that she isn't any match for this guy, even with her Canary Cry!

Miles away, Clark Kent hears Dinah's cry, and alerts his friends. They take off, just in time to save Black Canary from taking a real beating at the hands of this strange man. I love the way this sequence is laid out by Chuck Patton:

...Superman knocks this guy off his feet, but when he takes a pause to look after Canary, he takes on one the jaw, sending him skyward!

Greens Lantern and Arrow arrive, but not before the bad guy had gotten away. Superman returns (mentioning "...happy to report the Ozone Layer is still there", a great line), but with a piece of this mystery man's coat in his hand, containing a clue.

Back at the satellite, the JLA does some investigating, and Firestorm's other half, Martin Stein, recognizes the note found as containing "Transubstantive RNA Coding", which has had great strides made in it by a Dr. Joel Cochin.

Green Arrow wants to head off and bust some heads, but Black Canary stops him, providing us with a beautiful close-up:

...Patton and Giordano make a great art team.

Anyway, Arrow, Canary, and Firestorm find Cochin's house, and its unusual in that all the windows and doors are shuttered, with no way to see in.

It doesn't take long until Cochin reveals himself, in his identity as the supervillain Paragon, who explains he has found to a way to absorb superpowers from people near him, and turn them back on the original owners!

He makes quick work of the three heroes, trusses them up, classic supervillain style, and tells them his ultimate plan is have a machine he's built eliminate 90% of the world--those he deems "inferior"--leaving him to rule the rest!

The other JLAers show up, smashing their way in, but it gives Paragon more power. It isn't until Black Canary figures out his powers work within a certain proximity, so the JLAers use their abilities from a distance, keeping Paragon without power.

He's left groggy and weak from repeated blows, until Black Canary gives him a boot in the face. The end.

Or is it? The JLAers wonder, how are they going to keep this guy in jail?

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

Notable Moments: Another fine fill-in; its revealed that Paragon's super-smarts are inborn, making him a rarity, a mutant in the DC universe.

As I said above, the combo of Chuck Patton and Dick Giordano is excellent; Giordano adds a nice edge to Patton's pencils. Too bad this was their only collaboration.

This is Green Lantern's last appearance as a member of the JLA; events in his regular title around this time (being exiled by the Guardians, then replaced full-time by John Stewart) kept him out of the book for extended periods of time.

Eventually, when the rest of the "old" JLA is officially purged from the team, Green Lantern is given a one-line mention, officially ending his time with the League.