Jacob Steingroot covers All Star Comics 19

Original cover by Joe Gallagher; DC 1943. Jacob Steingroot's website is here.

Justice League of America #76

Justice League of America #76 (On Sale: September 18, 1969) has a cover by Murphy Anderson.

We begin with "The Cosmic Fun-House" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky and Bernard Sachs from Justice League of America #7. Entering the fun-house of a new Happy Harbor amusement park, Snapper Carr and his girlfriend, Midge, are transported to an alien planet, from which the Justice League rescues them. Later, some of the members investigate the fun-house in their secret identities, with the result that Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and Green Arrow are captured by invading aliens from the planet Angellax – the builders of the fun-house. Two of the aliens become duplicates of Barry (Flash) Allen and Hal (Green Lantern) Jordan, and send Superman, Batman, and J’onn J’onzz into the future on a wild goose chase to capture Xotar, whom they blame for the fun-house incidents. Aquaman is then lured into a trap.

At the same time, the four captive members escape, only to be transformed into weirdly distorted shapes by a mirror device. Aquaman aids the four, and they defeat the aliens despite their altered bodies. After Green Lantern restores himself and the others to normal, and the other heroes return from the future, they again enjoy the no-longer-dangerous amusement park while they are in their civilian identities.

The second story in this issue is "The Last Case of the Justice League" by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky and Bernard Sachs from Justice League of America #12. Snapper Carr arrives late at a Justice League meeting to find the members gone and Dr. Light in their place. The villain forces him to chronicle his victory over the League in the JLA Casebook.

Capturing Aquaman, he had summoned the other members with the Sea King’s signal device, then projected them into various sidereal worlds. Aquaman had been sent to a desert planet, J’onn J’onzz to a world of fir, Flash to a planet where his balance was disrupted and his speed of little use, Wonder Woman to a place where her body refused to obey her brain, Green Arrow to a planet where strange organic magnetism rendered his weapons useless, and Green Lantern to an entirely yellow world. Superman was trapped on a world with a red sun, and Batman in a place where the laws of science didn’t hold.

What Dr. Light doesn’t realize, however, is that Batman and Superman had exchanged identities in order to trick him. Thus, Superman, in full possession of his powers, is able to escape the prison planet intended for Batman, and he rescues his fellow members.

Returning to the Secret Sanctuary, the super-heroes rescue Snapper, who alerts them to Light’s planned theft of three mementos of light. Though Aquaman and Green Arrow halt the villain’s plan to steal the Colossus of Rhodes, Green Lantern is apparently destroyed during the battle. Simultaneously, Batman, Flash, and J’onn J’onzz encounter and subdue a second Dr. Light, who attempts to steal the diamond Heart of Light, while Superman and Wonder Woman capture a third, who is making off with the first electric light bulb. These three captives are revealed to be mere images, and the real Dr. Light is about to set off vibrating light-impulses that will overcome everyone on Earth.

He is beaten at his own game by Green Lantern, who had not been destroyed at all, but had allowed his image to be blasted, while he searched for Light’s hideout and captured the villain.

This issue also contains a two-page poster of the Justice Society of America and a one-page poster of the Seven Soldiers of Victory both by Murphy Anderson. These illustrations are accompanied by a Fact File on both teams.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Justice League of America #74

Justice League of America #74 (On Sale: July 24, 1969) has a cover by Neal Adams.

"Where Death Fears to Tread" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin and Sid Greene continues from the previous issue. Banished living star, Aquarius, got hold of Starman's Cosmic Rod and used it to wipe out of existence all of Earth-Two, except for a sextet of Justice Society members. who along with Black Canary's husband, Larry Lance, are trapped in a mystic sphere of Dr. Fate's creation and the android hero Red Tornado who escaped to Earth-One and is now bringing back the Justice League.

I need to stop here for just a moment to discuss foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is a literary device where the author drops hints or clues early on in a story, the more innocuous and seemingly unimportant the better, only to have those hints come back later on as a key component in solving whatever predicament arises in the story. For foreshadowing to work, there has to be somewhat of a slight-of-hand going on, the reader must take in the information but not realize it has any importance. What Denny O'Neil does next is a bit of foreshadowing, but it is so clumsily handled that anyone reading the story can see it for what it is and it takes away something from a story that is of classic importance. Yeah, this is a classic issue for a couple of reasons, as you will soon see, but what you are going to see first is a really fumbled attempt at foreshadowing.

As the JLA traverse the dimensions between Earth-One and Earth-Two, most of the member are protected by Green Lantern's ring. Right before they complete the journey, Green Lantern makes sure he avoids the negative matter universe, whose entrance just happens to be right there, along the inter-dimensional path the heroes travel. Oy!

Aquarius is growing bored with the JSA heroes and is contemplating finishing them off when the JLA heroes pop up. Needing time to figure out what is going on, Aquarius places a mesmeric command in the air and then disappears. Seeing Aquarius flee, Dr. Fate relaxes his energy bubble and when he does so Aquarius's command to "Destroy the Intruders!" takes hold.

We are then treated to a fairly interesting eight-page fight between the JSA and the JLA. The only really important part of this fight is when Green Arrow hits Black Canary with a "stickum arrow" which covers her in a gloppy mess, adhering her to the ground (OK, since Earth-Two and everyone on it have been destroyed I have no idea to what "ground" she is stuck, but she is.). The important thing to remember is that she is stuck and can't move. OK, there is one other important thing, Green Lantern of Earth-One has used his ring to find Aquarius and bring him to the JLA.

Aquarius fights off Green Lantern's energy beams and sends some of his own back in Lantern's direction. The beams of energy coalesce into a huge multi-hued sphere, but Aquarius's aim is a little off and instead of heading for Green Lantern the sphere is heading for Black Canary. Canary's husband, Larry Lance, senses the danger to his wife and does the only thing he can think of to save her, he jumps in front of the sphere and shields her body with his own...and it kills him!

The energy released by the exploding sphere releases the JSA from the murderous command of Aquarius and it also restores Earth-Two and everyone on it, but it kills Black Canary's husband. A few hours later the combined heroes bury Larry Lance and Aquarius shows up and laughs at the anguish of the heroes.

The heroes attack Aquarius and the Green Lanterns are able to taunt Aquarius into following them in the negative matter universe where their rings protect them, but Aquarius is destroyed.
The threat ended the JLA say their good-byes and prepare to return to Earth-One, but before they leave, Black Canary, saying she can't stand the thought of living in a world full of memories of Larry, asks if she can go with them to Earth-One. Superman picks her up and the first of the Golden Age DC characters moves from Earth-Two to Earth-One. This has been reprinted in Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol. 2 TPB, Justice League of America Archives Vol. 9 HC and Showcase Presents: Justice League of America Vol. 4 TPB.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Justice League of America #73

Justice League of America #73 (On Sale: June 12, 1969) has a cover by Joe Kubert featuring none of the Justice League; those are all Justice Society heroes.

"Star Light, Star Bright -- Death Star I See Tonight" is by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin and Sid Greene. Long ago the Council of Living Stars (go figure), removes all energy, save enough to sustain him, from the star Aquarius, who is guilty of some unnamed heinous crimes. Aquarius is adrift in the cosmos for eons, till one day he spies Earth.

The Red Tornado is at JLA headquarters relating a tale of the Justice Society of America to the members at large. It starts with Ted Knight seeing some strange glow in the sky and checking it out as Starman. He blasts the glow with his Cosmic Rod, only to have the blast returned to him with increased force. The "glow" begins to form into a creature and grabs the rod from Starman's hand, leaving him to plummet to the ground, where Larry and Dinah Drake Lance have just entered Knight's observatory, bearing gifts of food.

Starman crashes through the skylight and Dinah gets into her Black Canary garb to do a quick reconnoiter of the grounds. There she is attacked by husband Larry, whom she quickly dispatches. Larry remembers nothing about attacking Dinah and sensing something is very wrong, she summons the rest of the JSA. However, each is delayed by one thing or another, having to do with inanimate objects or unexpected people, such as the small boy on the cover, temporarily gaining amazing powers. Dr Fate senses a dark force is present and attacks. Aquarius makes his presence known and that the Cosmic Rod is beginning to restore his long lost energy.

One by one the JSA attack Aquarius and each is defeated. After Superman and Wonder Woman go down in defeat, the remainder of the team attack en mass, but Aquarius claims that he is done toying with Earth and cold rays of death spread out from his body and the Earth simply fades away. But Dr. Fate, sensing what was happening erected an ectoplasmic shield around the JSA members. Fate explains that Aquarius has transported the people and objects of Earth to another dimension, where they will cease to exist if the JSA members were to die; that the only link Earth has to reality is the minds of the JSAers.

While Aquarius gloats Dr. Fate knows that they have but a slim hope of survival, for before Aquarius transported Earth away Fate sent a telepathic message to the Red Tornado, to go to Earth-One and tell the Justice League what has happened. This story has been reprinted in Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol. 2 TPB, Justice League of America Archives Vol. 9 HC and Showcase Presents: Justice League of America Vol. 4 TPB.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.