From the cover you can tell things are ugly when heroes are battling a hero.  The Martian Manhunter makes his first appearance since JLA #200 only to be able to barely warn the Justice League that the entire Martian fleet is coming to invade Earth in a territory grab set up by one of J’onn’s military bretheren.

The Justice League fights back, but again the big guns are missing.  No one can contact Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, or Flash.  The remaining Leaguers are horribly outmatched for an army of telepaths who have the same strength levels of Superman and Wonder Woman.

Yes, its a bad day for the JLA.

Martian Manhunter comes through in the end and the JLA defeat the menace, with Martian Manhunter exiled to Earth by his own people to keep the truce.

It is at the end of this story that the only active and present active member of the Justice League of America decides the JLA must change.

Aquaman announces this in the Justice League of America Annual #2

Citing the lack of strength of the current JLA, the League is disbanded and reformed immediately after by those heroes who can make a full time commitment to the Justice League.

Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Elongated Man, and Zatanna.

However four Justice Leaguers?  Hardly a “League” is it?

That’s resolved when the Justice League is joined by Vixen, Mari McCabe with her animal mimicry abilities, Steel, Hank Heywood,  a man with a steel skeleton; Vibe, Paco Ramone, a street tough breakdancer with vibration powers, and Gypsy, a mysterious girl with stealth powers.

The Detroit League:  Zatanna, Aquaman, Elongated Man, Vixen, Martian Manhunter, Gypsy, Steel, and Vibe

The League’s Satellite era was over and a new era was beginning.  The Justice League received a few new supporting cast members.  Sue Dibny, Elongated Man’s wife joined the team in their bunker headquarters and Dale Gunn became their tech expert.  Dale reported to Hank’s grandfather, the Earth-1 analogue of Commander Steel.  Also, the locals of the Detroit neighborhood became important to the story, most notably, Mother Windom (a take on Wisdom), an elderly African American woman always willing to give sage advice to those in need.

Not only had the JLA been taken out of orbit, they had been grounded in one of the toughest neighborhoods in America.  Living among people the League’s mission was to reconnect to help everyone on their level.

Next Up:  Back to the Future and the Legion of Super-Heroes!