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Posts tagged Green Lantern
The Creature in the Velvet Cage
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Roll Call: JLA: Green Lantern, Superman, Batman, and Elongated Man. JSA: Hourman, Sandman, Flash, and Wonder Woman.
As our collective heroes mop up a gang of villains dressed as owls we get a little bit of dialogue about how the Earth-One Wonder Woman has now regained her super powers, but has chosen not to rejoin the Justice League at this time, but that is as far as it goes for other developments. This story is all about Sandman and a mistake.
You see Sandman started out as this very deliberately pulp oriented character in the same vein as The Shadow. He would strike from the shadows, he was well off, etc.., and once Batman introduced his protegee Robin, it became the norm for heroes to gain a sidekick. Sandman’s sidekick was Sandy, the Golden Boy. After the World War II adventures, like most of the heroes he retired due to the McCarthy era accusations of super heroes being communists.
It turns out that this was a very good cover story for Sandman. While working on a new weapon to fight crime an accident occurred and transformed Sandy into this large sand creature. Which is all the exposition you need when at the end of the fight an alarm goes off sending Sandman into a frenzy to get to his sanctum sanctorum.
Sandman had been keeping Sandy in a stasis field which he had broken and went on what appeared to be a rampage. Instead Sandy was trying to escape in order to stop a series of tremors from causing wide spread damage to New York City. The heroes believing Sandy to be an enraged monster attack him at every turn. Sandy finally found his vocal cords and this enabled him to communicate with the heroes. It turns out that Sandman had kept Sandy paralyzed for years without understanding that Sandy had just become a new form of silicon life.
Sandman walks away disheartened by his mistake while the JLA and JSA wonder if Sandman will ever be all right again.
Next Up: Where On Earth Am I?
Crisis On Earth-X
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In the JLA’s headquarters a lot of changes have occurred, for one they have inducted two new members. Flash’s best buddy the Elongated Man has joined the team followed very quickly by the newly reanimated Red Tornado. In both the JLA and JSA’s brownstone, we see the first introduction of the Transmatter Cube which will enable the members of each team to go from Earth to Earth without the need for super speed or mysticism.
Red Tornado practically begs to join the team to go to Earth-2, but is rejected by the Flash for a rather hokey reason. Reddy walks away dejected. As the teams prepare to start their yearly reunion and the JLA members step into the Cube, Green Arrow remarks that there is a bit of a breeze. The JLA and JSA transport at the same time and find themselves not on the other Earths at all, but on Earth-X.
Earth-X – Where the Axis powers won World War II and the allies were summarily defeated and subjugated.
Red Tornado had snuck into the Transmatter Cube at super speed (something he has not done since) and apologized as apparently his inclusion has set the coordinates off that the two teams were sent to this other Earth.
There is no time for recriminations however as the JLA and JSA come under assault from Nazi patrol forces.
ROLL CALL: JLA: Batman, Green Arrow, Elongated Man, and Red Tornado. JSA: Sandman, Superman, and Doctor Fate. Freedom Fighters: Uncle Sam, Doll Man, Ray, Human Bomb, Phantom Lady, & Black Condor.
The Nazi patrol demands that the heroes surrender to which Superman says “Ratzi, you have GOT to be Kidding!” and the battle is on.
The heroes appear to be winning and then the Nazi commander signals for a new weapon to be used that immobilizes the heroes. When it looks like the JLA and JSA are defeated in burst the Freedom Fighters. The Freedom Fighters manage to clean up the Nazis and demonstrate an immunity to the strange ray that the Nazis used. The fighters then smuggle their new friends in arms to a safe house to plot their next move and it is here that Uncle Sam, the leader of the Freedom Fighters explains what occurred on this Earth.
FDR had a heart attack in 1944 and the balance of power in the government center went the wrong way,, and so did the war. The USA delayed developing the atom bomb and by the time they did Germany had one as well. With nuclear standoff achieved there was nothing to be done but keep fighting until the forces decimated each other. Uncle Sam goes on to remark how many of his comrades died in battle including the Blackhawks and Plastic Man.
The Nazis created more weapons like the ray that paralyzed the heroes and the mind controlling stations that broadcast signals to keep the populace under control. The Freedom Fighters could win the fight if they could take out those signal generators, but with no idea of their location the battle has been a losing one at best. Doctor Fate uses his magic to discover the locations of the signals: The Eiffel Tower in Paris, Mt. Fuji in Japan, and Mt. Rushmore in the USA and in quick fashion teams are formed with Red Tornado staying behind so he does not bumble in the way of anyone.
In Paris, Batman, The Ray, Doctor Fate, and The Human Bomb face numerous Nazis to get to their goal. The Ray zips off at superspeed and knocks out most of the Nazis in their path, but one manages to signal for backup and the gestapo arrives to beat the Ray senseless. The other heroes show up to save Ray and in true form they are frightened by Batman’s appearance calling him Die Fledermaus!
With the backup forces dealt with the Human Bomb explodes open the area holding the mind control devices only to find a huge sentient computer. The computer scans the intruders and creates specialized assault robots to deal with each of them. The heroes defeat the robots in true teamwork fashion, but the computer overlord has one ace up its sleeve, Encephalo Waves that will paralyze anyone. So, Batman, Doctor Fate, Human Bomb, and Ray are all immobilized and helpless.
However, the four start walking towards the computer. Ever on and on in almost goosestepping fashion until they get close enough to the computer to destroy it. With the device destroyed there should have been a waking up of the populace, but everything appears to be the same.
Back on Earths 1 and 2, the other JLA and JSA members are conversing about their missing teammates. Flash suggests that they reverse the transmatter cube to see if they can find their friends and Green Lantern suggests that they may just have been killed. Oooh, what a cliffhanger, eh?
Next Up: Thirteen Against The Earth
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 Hand That Shook The World
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Roll Call: JLA: Superman, Batman, Diana Prince Wonder Woman, Hawkman, JSA: Starman, Dr. Mid-Nite, Wonder Woman, Hourman, Sandman, Mister Terrific, Green Lantern, Robin, Seven Soldiers of Victory: Green Arrow, Speedy, Shining Knight, Crimson Avenger, Vigilante, Star-Spangled Kid, and Stripesy Guest Star: Metamorpho,
The tale opens at the all but deserted headquarters of the JSA where the Earth-One Diana Prince is sitting when the JSA members Green Lantern, Mister Terrific, and Robin show up. Diana gives the heroes a run down on what has occurred so far. Great big cosmic hand threatening to crush the Earth and only the Seven Soldiers of Victory can stop this fate from occurring. The other heroes have gone off into the world of time and space to recover the time lost heroes and assemble them to prevent this catastrophe.
We go to a Buddhist Monastery where Superman, Sandman, and Metamorpho discover the valiant Shining Knight who is working for Genghis Khan and who is about to invade the monk’s home. Metamorpho turns into gas and goes to investigate and it turns out the mystical workings of one of Khan’s men has the Shining Knight bewitched to serve Khan.
At dawn, the Monguls make their move against the village and Superman is repelled by Shining Knights mystical armor and weaponry. Superman leaves the fight to Sandman and Metamorpho while he moves the village manually. Sandman gives Metamorpho his sleep gas formula and Metamorpho uses his powers to duplicate the gas and knocks out the incoming horde. Sandman then administers a concoction of Shining Knight and Winged Victory to bring them out of the mesmerism that they are in. The Oracle senses that the heroes are done and begins to take the heroes to where they need to go.
Back at JSA headquarters, Green Lantern, Mr. Terrific, and Robin leave Diana behind in order to head to the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Himalayas.
The scene shifts again and we see the Justice League’s Hawkman joined by the JSA’s Wonder Woman and Dr. Mid-Nite who have arrived in an English forest and find themselves under fire from a volley of arrows. Wonder Woman leads the charge to the bowmen deflecting arrows on the way and the trio make quick work of Robin Hood’s Merry Men. The Merry Men inform the heroes that they are here as peace-bringers and that they are not agents of the Sheriff of Nottingham. The trio team up with the Merry Men and invade the castle holding Robin Hood. In true teamwork fashion, Wonder Woman uses her magic lasso to draw the drawbridge down, Hawkman uses Little John’s staff to clear the oncoming guards, and Dr. Mid-Nite uses his blackout bombs to provide the cover needed to knock out the guards protecting Robin’s cell, but instead they find Green Arrow. Green Arrow was covering for Robin Hood while Robin recovered from some wounds he received and Green Arrow was captured by the Sheriff in the interim.
With Green Arrow and Shining Knight retrieved, the heroes grow closer to assembling the Seven Soldiers of Victory to defeat the evil Hand’s plan. The Hand is watching however and he has decided the heroes are too close and now he must take a more direct role in the proceedings.
We shift again to Ancient Egypt as the Jewish slaves are building pyramids under the lash of the Pharaoh’s guard as Batman, Starman, and Hourman arrive to watch Stripesy do the lions share of the work. As the guards try to pry Stripesy’s strength secret out of him our heroes arrive to stop the brutal beating and find themselves blackmailed into giving themselves up. Buried in the tomb of the Pharaoh’s, the three heroes are bound and left with no way out. Batman kicks the hourglass that Hourman carries off of Hourman and the glass shatters. That glass is used to free the heroes from their bonds. Hourman favors knocking the walls down until they get out, but Batman reminds him that they are standing in history and they have to be more careful than that. Batman suggests that Starman uses his connection with his Cosmic Rod that was confiscated to show an energy path out of the tomb. The heroes surface and help free Stripesy and the heroes disappear in the mists beckoned by the Oracle.
Meanwhile, back at JSA headquarters, Diana Prince is being watched by a man with a claw….
Next Up: And One Of Us Must Die!
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
Only Someone Who is Unique To Both Earths
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Roll Call: JLA: Superman, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Flash, Atom, Black Canary, and guest star Robin the Boy Wonder. JSA: Superman, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Flash, Atom, and Robin.
Back when we left off the JLA and JSA were getting their collective butts handed to them by a newly reawakened Solomon Grundy. This Solomon Grundy decided that Superman would make a good bludgeoning tool and held Supes’ body up on high waiting to wail on Green Lantern.
Superman manages to break Solomon’s grip on him by giving him one of those patented super bitch slaps to the ear which causes the zombie to drop Superman. The rest of the JLA and JSA take this moment to recover and get a relatively safe distance away from Solomon Grundy and then move in swiftly to attack which is a job for The Flash, Jay Garrick. Meanwhile A-Rym, (remember him?) has seen how the Green Lantern can bring him and his lifelong pet Teppy back together and A-Rym also attacks Solomon in an attempt to get Solomon from harming the hero. A-Rym manages to get Alan Scott’s ring and he goes off with it in an attempt to try to find Teppy.
Back in the Earth-Two Batcave, the two Dick Graysons mull their postiions. One with the JSA and still treated as nothing more than a sidekick, the other new to college and beginning his path that will lead him to become leader of the Teen Titans and eventual independence as Nightwing. With Robin of Earth-One’s costume damaged, the Earth-Two Robin offers him a different outfit and the two set off in costumes that are hybrid bat/robin uniforms.
On the JLA satellite, Black Canary and Iris Allen watch over a feverish Barry Allen. On Earth-2, Hal Jordan makes Alan Scott a new temporary power ring and the two Green Lanterns recite the oath. The Lanterns go off and confront Solomon Grundy while the Hawkmen decide to take on the task of dealing with the alien youth.
The Hawkmen confront A-Rym as the Robins both show up and it becomes apparent that the youth is quite strong and is able to take care of the Hawks with ease. The finesse of the Robins however is more than a match for A-Rym as their superior teamwork and training manages to incapacitate A-Rym enough to overpower him. A-Rym also is suffering the pain of being separated from Teppy for so long that it is becoming increasingly more difficult for him to act rationally or to stave off the agony he is feeling.
The two Green Lanterns combine their might to stop Solomon Grundy as Hawkman returns Alan Scott’s ring which the heroes recovered from A-Rym, but it takes the two Robins to figure out that the JLA and JSA need to bring the two aliens together because they are dying. When they do a miraculous thing occurs and the two aliens recover instantly. Reunited with their family the aliens go back home wary of space joyriding. The Hawkmen apologize to the Robins for their arrogance and all is well with the world for a time.
Next Up: The Unknown Soldier of Victory
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!
Where Valor Fails…Will Magic Triumph?
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Roll Call: JLA: Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Atom, Black Canary, Superman, Hawkman, Batman, and Flash JSA: Spectre, Dr. Fate, Wonder Woman, Red Tornado, Hourman, Starman, Hawkman, Johnny Thunder & Thunderbolt, Green Lantern, Superman, and Dr. Mid-Nite.
We pick up where we left off with Black Canary deciding that she must die to save the two universes from colliding and their demise.
The World Builders decide that the JSA has been enough trouble to them so far and have decided to go ahead and attack the Justice Society directly. On Earth-One, Green Lantern goes to investigate what might be causing the universes to merge and he discovers that Red Tornado is being held in stasis and that the android is the focus of the attack and not Black Canary. Green Lantern cannot resolve this as the Earth-Two Green Lantern falls to the traps of the World Builders, so too does the Green Lantern of Earth-One. The same effect occurs to Hawkman as well and so it goes.
Black Canary on the JLA Satellite is ready to set the transporter to scatter her atoms across the galaxy ending the threat to the universes.
Doctor Fate and Johnny Thunder & Thunderbolt are all that are left of the JSA and they teleport away to enlist the help of The Spectre. The spirit of vengeance used to be mostly man but seems to grow ever distant from mankind and more seeking revenge. Dr. Fate is able to persuade the Spectre to save the worlds with them and they do so, by using the Spectre to keep the worlds apart it appears that the heroes win the day, though Spectre may have perished in the act of saving the worlds.
Once the worlds are free Dr. Fate and Johnny Thunder & Thunderbolt go to take care of the World Builders. This frees Red Tornado, Green Lantern, and the previous heroes who were at death’s door, although it seems The Spectre may not have survived, how does one kill a ghost?
Next Up: Earth — The Monster Maker
Peril of the Paired Planets
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We open our tale with Superman flying through the clear skies of Metropolis and all seems well with the world until he plows into the Daily Planet building, goes through the building, and eventually falls into the subway system where he lies comatose. Hawkman and Flash come to his aid and get him to the new JLA Satellite Headquarters orbiting at 22,300 miles above the Earth in Geosynchronous orbit. Joined there by Batman and the Atom the Justice Leaguers begin to diagnose Superman’s condition with Batman deducing it must be magic that affected the Man of Steel with no Kryptonite or Red Sun radiation nearby. As Batman reveals this, he is attacked by an unknown force and rendered unconscious and dying. Hawkman goes and calls the rest of the Justice League: Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and Black Canary to help the JLA out.
And where *ARE* those three heroes? Appearing as the “Hard Traveling Heroes” in the new Green Lantern/Green Arrow series of course:
Anyway, the scene shifts to Earth-Two, home of the Justice Society of America and the wayward android Red Tornado who is visiting outer space bemoaning his inability to fit in amongst humans due to his android body. He runs across a group of aliens and attempts to communicate with them and the aliens capture Red Tornado. The aliens are basically planet killers and then creators. In order to build a planet they must destroy two planets. Well, here are two planets separated by the vibrations that keep the universes of Earth-One and Earth-Two separated and Red Tornado who possesses the ability to go in-between the worlds is the perfect being to use to cause the destruction of both worlds.
On Earth-Two we see Superman and Doctor Mid-Nite attacked and subdued in ways that appear to be the same way that Superman and Batman were on Earth-One, except on Earth-Two we see the planet building aliens are responsible. The same fate befalls the Flash of both worlds when Jay Garrick confronts an alien he is captured by a constricting net, Barry Allen on Earth-One is attacked and bound by an unseen force mimicking the net on Earth-Two. The Atom and Hawkman of Earth-One have been running tests and they determine that there is some force ripping the two worlds asunder and it must have some sort of focus point that has vibrations on both earths. Black Canary comes to a bone chilling conclusion. She is the nexus point. She must die.
Next Up: Where Valor Fails, Will Magic Triumph?
Where Death Fears To Tread
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So, last time the JSA were basically being held prisoners by the banished evil star known as Aquarius and only the Red Tornado had escaped and traveled to Earth-One to enlist the help of the JLA to combat the menace.
Roll Call: JSA: Superman, Black Canary, Doctor Fate, Green Lantern, Doctor Mid-Nite, Wonder Woman, Red Tornado, and Larry Lance (Black Canary’s husband). JLA: Superman, Green Lantern, Batman, Hawkman, Atom, and Flash.
The JLA travels into the new limbo-like universe where Aquarius is holding the JSA hostage. Time is apparently moving quicker here than in the normal universe as a nearly exhausted Dr. Fate thinks to himself that he has been keeping himself and his teammates alive for two weeks but he is nearly at the edge of his stamina and cannot continue much longer.
We get an interesting piece of DC Cosmology from Green Lantern Hal Jordan who thinks to himself…
“Though I’ve made this trip so many times– it always awes me! We’re at the center of nothingness, midway between being and non-being… I’ve got to be very careful at this point! We’re approaching the entrance to the universe of negative matter. If we were to slip through that gap,, we’d probably be instantly annihilated. When positive matter from our universe as much as touches negative matter, it causes an explosion that makes an H-Bomb look like a firecracker!” – Green Lantern, Hal Jordan
The arrival of the JLA causes Aquarius pause as the star does not understand how more mortals could exist in this universe. Aquarius mentally commands the JSA members to defeat the JLA and a battle royale begins. Superman of the JSA takes on the Superman of the JLA. It is Doctor Mid-Nite who picks Batman as his foe, but Batman is ready and takes the good doctor by surprise. The Flash dodges mystic bolts from Doctor Fate while the Atom sneaks into Fate’s ear to cause him significant discomfort. Dr. Fate’s mystic bolt goes far off course and strikes the JSA’s Wonder Woman and her lasso ensnaring the heroine who loses her powers when she is bound by a man. Flash then knocks Doctor Fate out, and accidentally sends his cohort The Atom reeling as well. The two Green Lanterns are fairly evenly matched in battle as Green Arrow fires his “stickum shaft” at the Black Canary trapping her in some gluey goop leaving her unable to move. Larry Lance sneaks up on Green Arrow and knocks him out for having attacked his wife. However, the scene has now been set. With Black Canary trapped Aquarius begins sending out deadly balls of energy to kill those who threaten him and with the Canary unable to dodge the ball she is a goner. Larry leaps in the path of the ball and saves his wife, but the price is his life.
When Larry Lance sacrificed himself to save Black Canary that moment freed the JSA members of the mental commands of Aquarius. While life goes on in the worlds, Dinah Lance can only mourn the man she loved. The two Green Lanterns need to renew their strength to get everyone home and so they recite their oath together. The JSA and JLA leave the limbo land and go back to Earth-Two to bury the honored dead, only to have Aquarius show up mocking their grief. IT falls to the Green Lanterns to taunt Aquarius into that area of the limbo universe near the negative universe. Aquarius in a fitful rage does not realize what has happened until he is caught in the gravity well and is unable to break free.
Aquarius enters the negative universe and blows up ending his threat forever.
Back on Earth-Two, the JLA ready to depart, but Black Canary asks that she take them with her as the pain of the loss of Larry is too great to stay on Earth-Two and that a new start is needed. Superman carries Black Canary through the barrier and we believe she joins the Justice League in the next issue…
But we know the real story now, don’t we?
Next Up: Peril of the Paired Planes!