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Posts tagged Aquaman
And One Of Us Must Die!!!
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Roll Call: JLA: Green Arrow, Black Canary, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Flash, with Special Guest Star: Zatanna and Diana Prince, Wonder Woman. JSA: Johnny Thunder, Wildcat, and Red Tornado. Seven Soldiers of Victory: Vigilante, Star-Spangled Kid, and Speedy.
The Oracle opens up the issue wondering why it is that as a cosmic entity that it should care for the life of this one Earth, but care he does. The Oracle reminds us that he is bound not to interfere in the affairs of lesser beings..
We find Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Johnny Thunder in the past in the American Midwest. Before they even get their footing the two men are fighting over which one of them the Black Canary prefers. Canary rebuffs both of the overblown alpha males. The trio make it to the Native American village where they see Vigilante is being held prisoner. Arrow and Canary begin to stalk their way while Johnny says for them to wait and he calls the Thunderbolt, but the genie does not come. It is too late to regroup as a group of Indian scouts has ambushed the heroes and laid them low. The chief of the tribe awakens the intruders informing them that they will die tomorrow because the white man will steal their lands, to which Green Arrow responds “Gotta admit you’ve got a powerful argument.” Later the Chief is getting ready to execute Vigilante who is tied up in the midst of the village and the chief finds himself interrupted by a well timed arrow. In the midst of the rescue, a buffalo stampede commences and Thunderbolt finally shows up complaining that his master is off the beaten path and it took a while to find him. The Thunderbolt turns the herd into butterflies and once the four heroes are once again together the Oracle zaps them out of the area.
The scene moves to Aquaman, Wildcat, and Green Lantern who have landed back in the prehistoric days with cro-magnon men and the Star-Spangled Kid. Actually, its not really the Kid at this point that the cavemen are fighting. The kid has set up an illusion to keep the locals from invading the cave. When the heroes approach Green Lantern’s power constructs fail him due to the areas unnatural yellow fog. It is up to Wildcat to take on the tribe’s leader and get the heroes into the cave, which he does quite well. Aquaman is the first to find the Star-Spangled Kid who is suffering from a flu which is why he was trying to keep the natives away from him. A flood takes root in the caves as it pours outside and the Kid is knocked out. Aquaman and Green Lantern save the Kid and they all disappear.
The final stop on the journey of collecting the Seven Soldiers of Victory finds the Flash, Zatanna, and the Red Tornado in the realm of the villainness Circe. Here the Greek polymorpher has transformed Speedy into a centaur for her amusement. Circe comes across the three heroes who ask that she return Speedy to his original form, to which Circe agrees that the heroes will join Speedy and she enchants Speedy’s arrows so that if one hits the heroes they will turn into whatever animal they hate the most. Speedy’s arrow flies and as much as Flash dodges the arrow it eventually finds him and turns him into a slug. Zatanna fares no better as the arrow blasts through a conjured brick wall and transforms her into a hummingbird unable to speak. Red Tornado becomes a mole and under Circe’s magical direction begins to attack the Flash as Flash attacks back. Zatanna realizes in the whirlwinds being whipped up that her wings make noise and she uses the sound of her wings to duplicate her actual voice to create a magic spell to counteract Circe’s spell. The heroes then go to Circe and snatch her magic wand from her and Zatanna casts a paralyzing spell on the sorceress. With Circe out of commission, her charges revert back to the way they were originally and the heroes are zapped away and head back home.
With the full JLA and JSA assembled they count off the Seven Soldiers… Shining Knight, Star-Spangled Kid, Stripesy, Green Arrow, Speedy, Vigilante and Crimson Avenger. Everyone is here, so who is buried in the tomb? The answer:
The Unknown Soldier of Victory is my aide and companion— Wing! It was he who died to defeat the Nebula-Man and if there is any Justice in this world, he was buried where he fell— with honors!” —- Crimson Avenger
As everyone acknowledges Wing’s contribution to saving the world a voice comes out of the background, the Iron Hand who is holding Diana Prince hostage. Diana faints as the Iron Hand threatens to scatter her atoms to the winds if any of the heroes makes a move towards him. At this moment Diana turns and manages to karate chop the Iron Hand’s Iron Hand off of him rendering him fairly useless, even more so she whips him over her head and puts him in a hold and demands he reveal how to stop the Iron Hand enclosing on the Earth.
Iron Hand refuses to cooperate and so it is up to the Seven Soldiers to rebuild the weapon they used to destroy the Nebula Man. They do so but the Nebula Rod must be sent into the Iron Hand by hand which will cause whomever to deliver it to die. The heroes argue over who is going to take the Nebula Rod, but when they turn around the Nebula Rod is gone, taken by the Red Tornado
Red Tornado delivers the Nebula Rod and blows up in the process.
Wing and Red Tornado wave to the readers while they are in the sky.
Next Up: A Bit of A Sideways Step. A Wonder Woman Redux???
The Unknown Soldier of Victory
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Well here we are, Justice League of America #100. One hundred years issues prior to the day when I would pick up JLA #200 in a local market and start my comic book reading hobby that has become a rather significant part of my life today.
This book is the beginning of an expansion of the JLA/JSA team-up stories that include a third team which will be the theme moving forward for the next few stories we talk about leading up to the big Crisis story coming soon, so let’s get to it and meet our first group of guest stars, the Seven Soldiers of Victory.
We open our story as an alarm is going off at the JLA’s satellite, but no one is there to answer the phone. The JLA has decided to hold an anniversary party at their original cave headquarters and as Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Hawkman, and Aquaman are walking through musing about the old headquarters the phone rings in the abandoned headquarters and out pops the Atom.
The scene shifts rapidly to the remaining Justice Leaguers as Flash and his ally Elongated Man are wrapping up the Casino Gang. We see Martian Manhunter back on Mars rebuilding his home planet after a devastating war. Metamorpho flies away from the Stagg compound to be with his friends in the JLA while the recently duped Snapper Carr is unable to face the Leaguers following his unwitting betrayal. Adam Strange is on Rann and will be unable to join the JLA due to his Zeta beam radiation as Zatanna pops into the JLA headquarters to join the festivities. One by one the JLA show up with Batman and Diana Prince joining the group.
You’ll notice I said DIANA PRINCE there, not Wonder Woman…
Wonder Woman gets a new direction around this time and has since quit the Justice League prior to Black Canary’s entrance to the League as of JLA #75. Here, we see her billed as Diana Prince, not Wonder Woman and this change will be the catalyst for a lot of things coming down the pike very soon and we will deal with this change more in depth in a few postings.
When all the JLA and their allies have gathered they all get transported from Earth-One to Earth-Two by the mystic workings of Dr. Fate.
The assembled JSA members are Doctor Fate, Doctor Mid-Nite, Hourman, Johnny Thunder, Red Tornado, Sandman, Starman, Wonder Woman, and Wildcat.
The JSA explains that a gigantic hand is prepped to crush Earth-2 in it’s grip if the world does not surrender itself to it. The hand belongs to a villain called Iron Hand. In order to defeat the Iron Hand, the JSA attempted twice to defeat it being repelled both times. Dr. Fate then consulted his mystic crystal and it showed him a gravestone talking about the “Unknown Soldier of Victory who died so that his world would live.”
Dr. Fate was unable to divine the meaning behind the headstone but with the added might of Zatanna and Johnny Thunder’s Thunderbolt the three mystics work in tandem to achieve a greater working (this is something that will also become a recurring scenario much later in the Crisis stories).
The Oracle appears, apparently a cosmic creature that assists the heroes by telling them the tale of the Seven Soldiers of Victory.
The Seven Soldiers originated on Earth-2, but after fighting their last villain, the Nebula Man, were believed lost.
The Oracle reveals that the 7 Soldiers are lost in time in other dimensions and are no longer acting as themselves but as other entities and it is now the duty of the JLA and JSA to bring the 7 Soldiers back into this dimension to save Earth-2.
The teams are quickly picked in Justice League tradition the larger team breaks into smaller teams to solve the problem quicker. Diana Prince elects to stay behind to coordinate the effort at the JSA headquarters.
Team One: Atom, Doctor Fate, and Elongated Man
This team is taken to an existence where the Crimson Avenger has been transformed into the King of the Aztecs. While the heroes cautiously watch from a safe distance they sneak in and attempt to free the Crimson Avenger to find the Crimson Avenger is capable of zapping the heroes unconscious.
Doctor Fate and Elongated Man awaken to find themselves chained up, the Atom has managed to avoid this fate and once they are relatively alone with the Crimson Avenger the heroes free themselves with Atom and Dr. Fate taking on the Crimson Avenger and Elongated Man taking on the guards.
Elongated Man’s mystery sniffing nose keeps focusing on a glowing meteor that once Dr. Fate destroys the rock Crimson Avenger loses these new powers and comes to his senses and allies are joined.
In a small headquarters the Iron Hand, a villain of the Seven Soldiers of Victory waits as time ticks down to his deadline to take over the world.
Next Up: The Hand That Shook The World
Earth – The Monster-Maker
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Roll Call: JLA: Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Atom, Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Aquaman. With Special Guest Star: Robin, the Boy Wonder. For the JSA: Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, Atom, Hawkman, and Robin.
Out in space, a group of aliens that appear to be symbiotically bonded with their pets is travelling through the dimension between the worlds. A juvenile of the crew finds an airlock and accidentally opens it sucking the alien and their pet into outer space. The alien is A-Rym and the pet is named Teppy. As fate would have it in these Crisis stories one gets sucked through a dimensional wormhole to Earth-One and the other gets sucked into the universe containing Earth-Two. The other aliens are distraught by this because the more the pair are separated the more they will individually act out more and more irrationally.
We pick up the action in the JLA Satellite where the Leaguers are meeting as Batman arrives with an apparent dead Flash in his arms.
The scene cuts to the JSA’s Earth-Two, where Green Lantern has summoned his fellow Society members as his green lantern ring has been taken from him by one of the two missing aliens. Hawkman begrudgingly allows Robin to come along on the mission, but Robin has to remind him that he was elected a member of the JSA a while ago. We begin to see some of the “generation gap” tensions reflected at the times in the comics now.
The same scene repeats itself in the JLA when the JLA are summoned off to help Aquaman it is Batman and Green Arrow who leave the satellite for that mission. Black Canary stays behind to watch over Flash and the rest of the JLA go to New Carthage where Dick Grayson is attending college and is already on this case dressed in his Robin garb. This Hawkman grabs Robin and says that Robin might be of some use to them since Batman is not around. Again we see Robin not getting any respect on this Earth either.
Green Lantern’s ring then begins to go a bit crazy and they realize that the JSA are contacting them and the two groups of heroes compare notes. The two teams find the alien child A-Rym and attempt to subdue him, but the Robins get “injured” or in the way. Green Lantern constructs a bubble and sends them both to the Batcave on Earth-One to get out of the heroes way. Meanwhile the alien child takes out the heroes.
On the other Earth the heroes have tracked down Teppy and when Teppy gets mad he gets huge. He manages to take out both Supermen, but the heroes manage to isolate Teppy and keep him at bay while they go back to help the other heroes track down A-Rym.
Back on Earth-One, A-Rym has made his way into Slaughter Swamp and reawakens the zombie known as Solomon Grundy. Solomon Grundy begins to tear into the heroes and decides they must all die. He grabs Superman and raises him over his head ready to strike an unconscious Green Lantern at his feet at the issue’s end.
Next Up: Solomon Grundy, the One and Only!
T.O. Morrow Kills The Justice League — Today!
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Good question T.O. Morrow, but let us not count our chickens before they have hatched, eh?
Lets remember that last issue T.O. Morrow basically pwned the Justice Society of America and left them all for dead and then discovered that in order to succeed in his evil plans he had to eliminate the Justice League as well. All caught up now? Good. Lets go.
So the Justice League is having a meeting in their Mountain Cave headquarters and the entire membership is there: Superman, Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Hawkman, Green Arrow, Snapper Carr, and the Atom. Down below the main meeting room is the Souvenir Room where we see five of the Leaguers significant others waiting to surprise their lovers: Steve Trevor, Jean Loring, Hawkgirl, Midge (Snapper Carr’s Girlfriend), and Mera. During the meeting the five lovers burst into the room and plant the “kiss of death” on their targets: Wonder Woman, the Atom, Hawkman, Snapper Carr, and Aquaman. The Justice Leaguers attacked fall to the ground lifeless and their lovers turn into dust.
It is at this point that the Justice League receives a challenge to go fight some beasts that are coming to the planet now. In typical Justice League form one of the creatures is completely golden to keep Green Lantern busy while another has Kryptonite teeth caps..
Lets just ponder a second to figure out who would take the time to put kryptonite veneers on a space dragon……
Yeah, I don’t think even Lex Luthor would bother with that, but apparently T.O. Morrow had the time to perform some space dragon dentistry.. This leaves our three non-flyers (Flash, Batman, and Green Arrow) to deal with the last remaining flying beast while they are all trying to devise ways to stay in the air and nnot fall to their deaths.
The Justice Leaguers defeat the strange space beasts and head back to the Souvenir Room where T.O. Morrow reveals himself and turns the JLA’s souvenirs against them. Amazo’s body awakens, Starro animates, the Crystal Creature from Appellax reanimates and strikes the Green Bell, Dr. Light attacks with a laser gun, and the weird Super-Duper (a mix of the heroes’ DNA) attacks as well.
With the Justice League defeated, T.O., Morrow remains confident that he will triumph although he is warned that there is no way he will win if the Red Tornado opposes him.
Back on Earth-Two, the Red Tornado stirs and realizes the Justice Society members are lifeless, but could be revived with the correct energy from one of T.O. Morrow’s machines. Red Tornado then spins with enough force to get through the barrier from Earth-Two to Earth-One and discovers how T.O. Morrow took out the Justice League.
Red Tornado then summons the five real significant others: Jean Loring, Mera, Steve Trevor, Midge,, and Hawkgirl to revive their loved ones with a positive energy kiss. This leaves Red Tornado to wonder about the concept of love. With these five Justice Leaguers revived: Atom, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, and Snapper Carr to go fight and defeat T.O. Morrow with the assistance of the Red Tornado.
In short order, Wonder Woman wrecks Morrow’s machines while the men defeat T.O. Morrow’s hired goons, but the task of defeating T.O. Morrow falls to Red Tornado who does so quite efficiently leaving the would be conqueror to revive the remaining Leaguers and then Red Tornado does the same for the JSA members. Another Crisis averted.
Next Up: Star Light, Star Bright– Death Star I See Tonight
Crisis On Earth-Two
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At the end of the last issue the Justice League and Justice Society both finally meet up and decide to trade worlds in order to defeat their home turf villains who had also traded worlds.
Doctor Fate sent the Justice Leaguers to Earth-Two and the Justice Society stayed on Earth-One, while the Green Lanterns both went off together to find each team’s Flash, both of whom were missing.
Hourman and the Atom run off and appear to tackle the Fiddler, who quickly attacks the pair by animating the taxidermy samples in the mammal hall. Hourman manages to set off a beep that interferes with the sonic resonance of the Fiddler’s fiddle and the two heroes give him the old “high-low” maneuver.
The Icicle meets his match as he attempts to encase Doctor Fate in a wall of ice, but the Doctor’s magic is too strong and it looks like it is going to be lights out for Icicle when he hits a wall.
Hawkman and Black Canary meet the Wizard outside and the Wizard commands Hawkman’s wings to take off, taking Hawkman into outer space, while the Wizard animates a bunch of rocks into fighting the Black Canary. The Canary has a trick of her own up her sleeve as she sets some of the nearby brush on fire causing so much smoke the Wizard cannot see the battle, which gives Canary the chance she needs to get to the villain. Wizard is not done yet though turning the Canary into marble. When Wizard begins to get away Hawkman reappears and dashes the Wizard with his own magic wand. Hawkman had summoned birds to help him fight the Wizard’s spell and return him to Earth.
Back on Earth-Two the Justice League is working its way through its villains.
Felix Faust ends up putting the spin on Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, and the Atom, but the heroes prevail as Atom spins right into Felix’s jaw, sending the necromancer for a loop.
Wonder Woman and Batman are on the hunt for Dr. Alchemy in their Invisible Jet and Batplane when Dr.Alchemy transforms their aircraft into bucking broncos, sending Batman and Wonder Woman plummeting to the ground. Wonder Woman manages to rope one of the horses and with Batman tied to her, they get to safety until Dr. Alchemy makes the ground underneath them disappear. Wonder Woman has had enough and she borrows a spin technique from Superman to drill an escape route for her and Batman. While Batman disarms Dr. Alchemy of his philosopher’s stone, Wonder Woman seals the deal.
In limbo, the two Green Lanterns have found the two Flashes and find themselves stymied as to how to rescue their friends as their rings seem powerless to get through the bubble or to bring their friends out.
Cut to Superman and Aquaman taking on Chronos the master of time. Chronos immediately surrenders and upon his surrender, Aquaman collapses. Chronos planned it so that Superman would have to take Aquaman close to a nearby Kryptonite meteor to come back to life, but Kryptonite will harm Superman. Superman saves the sea king’s life and as Aquaman comes to he sees Superman passed out next to him. Chronos attempts to get away through the ocean, but the marine life tell the heroes exactly where to find the time twister.
The two Green Lanterns in limbo figured out that if light and sound can pass through the bubbles, the Green Lantern ring can transform their friends into photon beams and transport them out of the bubbles. (yeah, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight).
Once the Flashes are free, the real trap is sprung.
The villains counted on this happening and the heroes would be transported into this limbo dimension, trapped for all time inside cages.
While the others have cages made specially for them, the Green Lantern cage is yellow and made of wood, but that does not mean the Green Lantern’s cannot affect themselves. They shrink to get through the molecules of the cage (yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.. riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight), and then they free the rest of the heroes who return and kick the villain’s butts.
“”We saved not only Earth-One and Earth-Two–but for all we know, Earth-Three as well.” – Doctor Fate
Oh Doctor Fate, you do not know the half of it.
Next Up: Crisis On Earth-Three!
Crisis On Earth-One
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As is the tradition it’s time for the ROLL CALL:
Justice League of America – Atom, Aquaman, Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, J’onn J’onzz(Martian Manhunter), Superman, and Wonder Woman
Justice Society of America – Atom, Black Canary, Doctor Fate, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, and Hourman
versus
The Crime Champions – Chronos, Doctor Alchemy, and Felix Faust of Earth One and on Earth-Two Fiddler, Icicle, and Wizard
Firmly set at the bang up beginning of the Silver Age of Comics, this comic is the one that started the “Crisis” stories that would involve these two teams teaming up and fighting the good fight against common threats, more importantly it also gave us a few more ideas about what the idea of the multiverse means.
We had seen the two Flashes meet, and in the interim other team ups occurred, including the two Green Lanterns and the two Atoms, etc.., but this is the time when we get a bit more information on the status quo of Earth-Two.
The only Justice Leaguer who is missing from this story is Snapper Carr, who is away at college while the JLA are meeting due to challenges being issued to them by Chronos, Doctor Alchemy, and Felix Faust.
Lets just take a moment and remember the good old days of comics when all you needed was a villainous challenge issued for heroes to leap into action. In true Justice League style, the heroes split up to take on their foes. Aquaman, Atom, and Martian Manhunter go to take on Felix Faust. Batman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman take on Chronos. Flash, Green Arrow, and Superman leave to thwart Doctor Alchemy.
Over on Earth-Two the JSA has been goaded out of retirement by a challenge by their old foes, The Fiddler, The Icicle, and The Wizard. Doctor Fate presides over the meeting including adding a comment that these members of the JSA were chosen by random and that the other JSAers wished them well, including: Starman, Sandman, Wonder Woman, and Doctor Mid-Nite.
Splitting up based upon their old stories and team-ups Hawkman, Flash, and Atom go after The Fiddler. Black Canary and Green Lantern head for the Wizard. Doctor Fate and Hourman leave to put the Icicle on ice.
Needless to say the Justice League is easily eluded by the three villains on Earth-One, just as easily as the Justice Society finds itself defeated at the hand of the three villains of Earth-Two.
But where did the villains disappear to?
They went to a limbo dimension.
What? Limbo? Isn’t that some sort of Catholic thing? Yes, but in the DC Universe, limbo is a “place holder” if you will, where characters can exist while not being on any earth.
It turns out when the Fiddler was in jail after the events of The Flash of Two Worlds he and his compatriots escaped their prison using a special vibratory frequency on his sonic stradivarius that opened the doorway between worlds and the three villains wound up appearing right on the same stage that Barry Allen disappeared from in the Flash of Two Worlds story (see how it all tracks back?)
So, why didn’t the two Flashes follow their villains? Well, they did and wound up trapped between dimensions for all their trouble by these Crime Champions of Two Earths. With the Flashes trapped, the villains decide to trade worlds where they have no criminal records with the wealth they stole from the other Earth. It is not very long before the villains of the swapped worlds decide to don their villainous garb again, however, they decide to wear the garb of the other villains native to that world.
So Chronos, Doctor Alchemy and Felix Faust are now on Earth-Two and dressed as Fiddler, Icicle, and Wizard. And vice versa on Earth-One.
Whats more is the villains issue a challenge to the Justice League, which our heroes answer, only to find themselves transported via magic (as Superman notes is a weakness of his) back to their own Mountain Headquarters. The JLA uses a crystal ball given to them by Merlin to attempt to contact the Flash who tells the JLA about the villain switcheroo and urges the JLA to contact the JSA. With the JSA contacted and transported to Earth-One the hunt can commence for the villains.
The JSA arrive and transport the JLA to Earth-Two to handle the disguised JLA villains (they did such a good job before hand eh?) and the JSA stay on Earth-One to handle their own villains.
Next Up: Crisis on Earth-Two!
The Wives Club
0Lets do a little examination of the romances of the Justice League.
Superman has Lois Lane.
Wonder Woman has Steve Trevor.
Aquaman has Mera.
Batman has.. well..
Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, bad example.
Lets talk about the lady loves of the JLA.
Flash’s first wife Iris West is a reporter in the vein of Lois Lane and Flash is always there to help get her out of trouble in the nick of time. Iris is also the aunt of Wally West, who would become Kid Flash and the Flash’s sidekick.
Iris and Barry married, but one of Barry’s villains, Professor Zoom killed Iris leaving Barry to mourn his love. While brief romantic flings occured with Fiona Webb and a near disastrous pairing with Zatanna, Barry’s heart remained with Iris, who was revealed as not having been killed, but living in the future. At the end of The Trial of the Flash, where Barry was put on trial for killing Professor Zoom, Barry was exonerated and went into the future to live with Iris.. for a time.
For Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, love never seemed to be in the cards. He worked many jobs over the years but his most stable was as a test pilot for Ferris Aircraft and was instantly under the sway of the boss’ daughter, Miss Carol Ferris.
Carol and Hal flirted for ages, with that whole “co-workers don’t date” hanging over Hal’s head but Carol grew tired of Hal not being able to commit and when she was offered a violet power ring, she became the Star Sapphire, one of Hal’s biggest enemies.
Hal also had a best friend in Tom Kalmaku, nicknamed Pieface, the Inuit mechanic often covered for Hal when he was forced to leave on Green Lantern business.
When it comes to tiny problems, that was an understatement for The Atom and Jean Loring. Physicist Ray Palmer had a hard time juggling academia, super heroics, and his marriage. The marriage suffered and Jean being the good lawyer she is, divorced him and took most of his intellectual property with her. Ray became despondent and discovered a small tribe of humanoids 6″ tall and went to live with them for a bit.
After attempting reconciliation the two finally parted as amicable friends…
Martian Manhunter lost his wife and children on Mars in a fiery telepathic plague which leads him to being a truly lonely figure amongst the Justice League, but J’onn is also the JLA’s soul center.
For Elongated Man and Sue Dibny it was love at first sight, and the two became the Nick and Nora Charles of the DCUniverse. Always jetting off to solve crimes at the first twitch of Ralph’s nose.
And Sue Dibny only has eyes for the stretchable sleuth, Ralph Dibny. There’s is truly a charmed love affair.
While Green Arrow and Black Canary date and Hawkman and Hawkwoman are married, that leaves us with Red Tornado who met an employment case worker when he was trying to assimilate into human society, Ms. Kathy Sutton.
John Smith (Red Tornado) and Kathy Sutton befriend and adopt a little girl named Traya and all three of them form a wonderful little nuclear family which feeds into Red Tornado’s need to feel more human.
Zatanna flirted with the Flash briefly and she had a stage manager named Jeff for a bit that there appeared to be some.. familiarity with, and both she and Vixen briefly fought over the attentions of Mr. Dale Gunn in the Detroit JLA run, however the Mistress of Magic has yet to settle on a suitor.
For Firestorm, Danette Reilly, Firehawk seems the obvious choice for his love interest and she is for a bit, for a bit.
Next Up: I have been teasing this for a while, and now it is time. We begin discussing CRISIS talk starting with the JLA and JSA team up from Justice League of America #21 & 22. Put on your multiverse helmets, its going to get Ka-RAZY!!!!
Amazons and Atlanteans
0For the Supporting Cast of Wonder Woman and Aquaman our examination will move heavily towards those outward forces that have influenced our heroes.
Wonder Woman is first and foremost a product of her character’s origins.
After all, it is the Greek Goddesses who create the Amazons, a race of women warriors so brutalized by men that they seek to live alone in peace and harmony away from the warring men.
The basic Greek pantheon includes the following Gods and Goddesses who show up from time to time to help and/or hinder Diana:
- Zeus – Father of the Gods, the Sky, and the Ruler of Olympus, Husband of Hera and the sire of many lesser Gods and heroes. His Symbols include the lightning bolt and the eagle.
- Hera – Mother of the Gods, Marriage, and Jealousy. Hera is constantly on guard for her husband’s dalliances and acts upon them with great vengeance. Her symbol is the peacock.
- Poseidon – The God of the Oceans. Poseidon rules over the seas, the creatures of the seas and earthquakes. He is also the patron god of sailors and those who travel by ocean. His symbol is the trident.
- Demeter – The Goddess of the Harvest. Demeter is the ruler over agriculture and teaches mankind how to grow crops and tend fields. Her symbol is a bundle of hay.
- Hades – The God of the Dead. Hades is the lord of the Underworld and sees over Tartarus and the realms that beacon the dead to come to it. He is also the ruler of all that grows within the Earth, like wealth in the form of gems and ore. His symbol is the skull.
- Hestia – The Goddess of the Hearth and Home. Hestia is the most humble of the Goddesses, however she is the most worshipped as in Ancient Greece, there is always an altar to Hestia present. Her symbol is a simple fire burning.
- Ares – The God of War. Ares is the most obvious opponent to Diana’s mission of peace and is fond of stoking the fires of war. His symbol is a burning sword.
- Hephaestus – The God of the Forge. Misshapen, the forge god, is charged with making the weapons and armor of the Gods. His symbol is a hammer and an anvil.
- Aphrodite – The Goddess of Love. Aphrodite makes others fall in love and love is a powerful weapon indeed. Her symbol is the heart, the seashell and the swan.
- Athena – The Goddess of Wisdom, the Arts, Knowledge, and Defensive Warfare. Athena is one of the strongest advocates of the Amazons. Her symbol is the owl.
- Apollo – The God of the Sun, Light, Music, and Prophecy. Apollo is one of a pair of twin Gods, both excel at archery. Apollo’s symbol is the musical instrument, the Lyre.
- Artemis – The Goddess of the Moon, the Hunt, and Animals. Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo, her symbol is a bow and arrow offset by a moon.
- Hermes – The God of Travelers, Trickery, and the Messengers. Hermes is perhaps the swiftest of the Gods, often asked to deliver messages to others around the world, he is also the God charges with escorting dead souls to Hades. His symbol is the Caduceus.
- Dionysus – The God of Wine, Sexual Abandon, and Resurrection. Dionysus is a God who rules those who party and the eventual after party pain that comes from over indulging.
Diana was the first baby born to the Amazon race and born to her mother Hippolyta in an act of love and divine intervention. Hippolyta being the Queen of the Amazons also instills another aspect to Diana’s upbringing. Diana is daughter and princess which is why Hippolyta forbids her daughter from participating in the contest to enter Man’s World as their emissary of peace.
In Diana’s world, there are many other Amazons that play a part in her story, here is a short list of the ones that tend to appear repeatedly:
- Antiope – Hippolyta’s deceased sister.
- Philippus – Hippolyta’s Captain of the Guard/Amazonian Army
- Nu’Bia – A practical clone of Diana, however with African skin tone.
- Mala – A red headed warrior amazon.
The contest is brought on by the crash landing of Colonel Steve Trevor, who first sees Diana when he is partially conscious and calls her “An Angel” and that becomes his word for her for the duration as the two enter into an extended courtship.
Diana is able to keep her Secret Identity by trading on two standards from both Superman and Batman. The first trick, glasses to feign bad eyesight and to disguise her natural beauty, that trick is straight from the Clark Kent playbook. Batman’s trick is a little more intensive, but no less important, create a plausible diversion. In this case the outgoing, beautiful Wonder Woman is disguised in a more dowdy military uniform that while serves its purpose, it also removes most of the obvious feminine curves from Diana, leaving only half her calves exposed, and thus her alter ego, Diana Prince becomes another member of the Supporting Cast, if you will.
Diana’s best friend on land would have to be Etta Candy, fellow military personnel and her confidante in how to handle men. Etta is mostly comic relief for the vast part of her character history, often appearing as a shorter, chubbier woman who is keen on whopping “Woo Woo!” when she gets excited.
Classic Wonder Woman with Steve Trevor in the foreground and Etta Candy in the background.
Of course, we have already discussed Donna Troy, Wonder Girl in detail with her exploits in the Teen Titans which is the perfect segue off to Atlantis to discuss Aquaman’s supporting cast.
Again the Titans come up in the form of Aqualad and Aquagirl who serve as Aquaman’s sidekicks.
Mera, Aquaman’s wife also plays an important role in the Sea King’s world, and the death of their son, Arthur, Jr. rocked the couple for years of stories, so I will add Arthur, Jr. to Aquaman’s supporting cast.
Aquaman is the son of lighthouse keeper Thomas (Tom) Curry and a mermaid of some sort, who happened to be in the royal blood of Atlantis.
When Aquaman finally regains the throne, he is advised by Vulko, one of the wisest and most patriotic Atlanteans, who had previously acted as King, so despite their friendship there always seems to be a little tension between the two of them.
Additionally, Aquaman gains an enemy in his half-brother Orm, the Ocean Master.
Next Up: Hero Support! More Supporting Cast from the Justice League of America!
Detroit Time
0In the Detroit JLA, our new heroes are confronted with a villainous judge known as The Overmaster who gives assorted individuals super powers in order to see exactly how the native species will react. Needless to say Overmaster has frequently destroyed less than satisfactorily performing species.
Giving a chance to give the Detroit JLA to stretch its legs and really break from the previous pattern of Justice League of America stories in which the formula was rather simple.. follow it with me.
- Trouble occurs.
- A Justice Leaguer is a witness or is called in by the local authorities.
- The assessment of the threat is such that the JLA member realizes that he/she/they cannot possibly defeat the menace themselves.
- They reach for the JLA Signal Device.
- The gathered heroes assemble at the location of the incident or their headquarters for a briefing.
- The heroes either then in mass or in teams take on the investigation.
- The heroes are either altogether or individually defeated.
- A key piece of information is discovered and/or backup is called.
- The JLA goes and kicks some ass.
- End scene.
Simple right?
The problem with this plot structure is not only monotony, but it left very little room for characterization or the advancement of the heroes. The main stumbling block to this issue was the fact that life changing events were not the territory of the JLA writer, instead, those decisions rested with the Superman Editorial team, the Batman Editorial team, the Wonder Woman Editorial team, and so on and so forth.
Of all the Justice Leaguers that were fairly popular at the time, Aquaman was the natural choice to lead the team. He has recognition factor and has been around almost as long as The Trinity has been. Martian Manhunter was another great choice taking the Superman role as he had done earlier in the Justice League’s run. There was no doubt that the JLA needs a strongman character and J’onn J’onzz brings that in spades.
The JLA also needed some comedy relief and a detective, both readily available in the Nick and Nora Charles pair of Elongated Man and Sue Dibny. The JLA also was in need of some more firepower, so add Zatanna to the mix for that magical punch and some more sex appeal.
For even more sex appeal we add in new JLA member Vixen, an African American fashion model, making her the first ethnic Justice Leaguer.
Steel was added for that All-American appeal, his costume sort of looks like Wonder Woman and maybe folks will pick the book up thinking its an All-Star Squadron tie-in, which it is in essence.
Vibe follows up our ethnic round up adding the first Latino voice to the JLA and then we have Gypsy the girl of mysterious origins.
Most of this line up fit the standard super-hero tropes at the time and put it in line with other really well selling books at the time regarding a diverse cast of characters like New Teen Titans and X-Men.
So, why is it that this run of the Justice League is practically universally panned?
Now, do not get me wrong, I personally have a fondness for the JLA Detroit era, but it was a pretty severe break from the past. Gone were the stiffs of the old times (Superman, Green Lantern, Flash, Wonder Woman) and now we had the new kids who were ready to go out there and kick some ass.
Some times however, just because a formula works in another book, does not mean it is going to work on another book and I think this break was too radical from what DC fans had known before. When you pick up a Justice League book you WANT Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman… not Vibe, Steel, or Gypsy.. at least not back then.
P.S. The Overmaster and his villainous Cadre (Crowbar, Fastball, Nightfall, Black Mass, Shrike, and Shatterfist were defeated).
Next Up: Here’s Looking at You Batman!
The Martians Are Coming
0
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!