Justice League of America #79

Justice League of America #79 (On Sale: January 27, 1970) has a nice cover by Neal Adams.

This issue has the book-length by "Come Slowly Death, Come Slyly" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin and Joe Giella. Continuing from last issue, we have Superman and Green Lantern on the desolate planet Monsan seeking a clue to the identity of the Doomsters, while Green Arrow is being forcibly removed from the office of the Star City City manager and Batman, Atom, Black Canary and the Vigilante are being slowly lowered into a vat of something pretty vile. As luck would have it though the two guards escorting Green Arrow are not cops and don't particularly like the City Manager, so they let Green Arrow go.

Racing back to the Doomsters' plant he gets there just in time to jam the machinery lowering his pals into the vat of icky stuff. He revives his teammates just in time to take on a cadre of Doomsters who, when overwhelmed by the JLA, lock themselves into the inner workings of the plant. That ends up being a disguised rocket that the Doomsters use to blast away from the JLA.

Meanwhile on Monsan, Superman and Green Lantern find a survivor who with his dying breath tells the tale of one of their leaders, Chokh, who when the industrial might of the planet so fouled the air came up with a way of altering Monsan physiology so that they could breathe polluted air and thrive of poisoned water. But the alteration not only modified their bodies, it warped their minds, turning them into Doomsters, who want nothing more than to spread the pollution of Monsan to other worlds.

back on earth, Batman radios Hawkman in the JLA satellite and tells him he must stop the alien spaceship above Star City. Using his Thangarian space cruiser, Hawkman is going to use a gravity beam on the flying building when it explodes exposing the sleek battleship hidden inside. The Doomsters jam Hawkman's controls forcing him to abandon his ship which they then blast in half. Realizing the the Earth people are more threatening than they thought the Doomsters drop pollution canisters all around the globe and then send out a warning message to the people of Earth that they have one hour to make peace with themselves, before they are inundated with "total pollution."

The JLA assemble in their satellite just as the returning Superman and Green lantern recover the wounded Hawkman. Once he is safely in the JLA satellite Superman and green Lantern begin a full attack on the Doomsters' spaceship, defeating the aliens. However, Chokh escapes and penetrates the JLA satellite where he captures Black Canary. Batman and Green Arrow try to stall him by telling Black Canary how much they appreciate her and Green Arrow even says that he may be in love with her.

Chokh is finally defeated by the Atom and later Arrow tells Canary that he meant what he said, but she says she is not ready for a new relationship just yet, but is happy that they saved the Earth. Arrow looks at the soot and ash spewing from some plants in the background and says, "Did we? I wonder..." Reprinted in 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 #78

Justice League of America #78 (On Sale: December 11, 1969) has a more than slightly misleading, though nicely-drawn cover by Gil Kane.

We begin with "The Coming of the Doomsters" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin and Joe Giella. In Star City Green Arrow assists a night watchman at a factory on the docks shooting it out with a group of armed thugs, using a Flare Arrow to throw some light on the situation. When the arrow hits the water it erupts in flames and Arrow signals for some JLA assistance. Answering the call is Green Lantern and Superman who make quick work of the flames now threatening the city. Once the fire is out they disburse, not hearing the plea of the watchman to talk about something that the watchman says may hold the key to the future of the entire human race.

Green Lantern and Superman take Green Arrow to, well, to New York (not called by name of course) to the top of the building which houses DC Comics (also not called by name of course) to show him the Thanagarian relativity beam system (think Star Trek-like transporter device) which the JLA has installed there. Superman explains that since their headquarters was compromised by the Joker in Justice League of America #777, they have built a new headquarters and Green Arrow in now standing in the doorway. The transporter energizes and Green Arrow is teleported to the new JLA satellite headquarters 23,300 miles above New York in a geosynchronous orbit, where the rest of the team is waiting for him.

The JLA are to appear at a charity event that night and down earthside the watchman is making his way toward it when he is the victim of a drive-by shooting. He avoids the gunfire though and returns his own, blowing out a car tire and sending the car into a pole. When the thugs extract themselves from the wrecked car, the watchman is gone, but they now think they know where he is going and their conversation makes it clear that they are not from Earth.

Meanwhile, at the charity event the JLA are introducing the crowd to Black Canary when the watchman arrives, followed closely by the two goons from the car. Canary attacks using her judo and Green Lantern protects her from the goons' alien weapons. As the thugs go down Superman jumps on their bodies shielding everyone from the self-destruct blast of the thugs, now revealed as androids of some sort. The watchman grabs the alien weapons and he and the JLA retire to a more private facility, their orbiting headquarters.

The watchman explains how he was hired on by the new factory in town and was assaulted by the amount of pollution the thing put out. When he asked workers what they were producing, no one seemed to know. The watchman soon realized that the product the factory was making was pollution and he stole some papers proving it. Some "men" from the factory chased him and that is where Green Arrow found him. The watchman introduces himself as Greg Sanders, who used to go by the name of the Vigilante, but gave up that life years ago. Now of course, since the Vigilante from the Golden Age was from Earth 2, this is actually the first appearance of this character. So, not only has Denny O'Neil given us the new JLA headquarters this issue, he has introduced a new DC character as well.

The stolen paperwork includes a star map and Superman and Green Lantern head off to explore that end of the story. The rest of the JLA head off to the factory, except for Green Arrow who wants to have a "conversation" with the Star City City Manager, where it seems the City Manager knows the factory only makes pollution and doesn't care as it provides jobs and taxes and that is all that matters. He has Green Arrow thrown in jail Personal aside here: as the husband of an ex-City Manager, the person you might find with that sort of attitude would be a Mayor, i.e., a politician, not a City Manager, who is governed by a whole set of ethics that politicians know nothing of.

Meanwhile the rest of the JLA have made a quick stop at a western goods store and purchased the makings of a new Vigilante costume. Along with that and the alien guns, the Vigilante is back in business. While at the same time on the alien world pointing at by the stolen paperwork Green Lantern and Superman find a desolate destroyed ash-can of a planet where once a vibrant civilization existed.

At the factory the JLA and the Vigilante are confronted and eventually overwhelmed by the alien automatons. As we leave for the month they are being lowered into vats of bubbling, noxious death! This tale has been reprinted in Justice League of America Archives Vol. 9 HC and Showcase Presents:Justice League of America Vol. 4 TPB.

The back-up story is "The Man Who Hated Science!" by Jack Miller and John Giunta and reprinted from Mystery In Space #6.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

DC Special #5

DC Special #5 (On Sale: August 14, 1969) has a cover by and about Joe Kubert. This is the second of the DC Special issues honoring a specific artist and it is too bad they did not continue with these. In a way it is sort of a cross between a reprint book and a fanzine, though it is mainly a reprint book.

We begin with "The Cartoonist -- at Home" a four-page introduction by Joe Kubert of Joe Kubert and which I thought was very well done. It has lots of humor, introduced us to his family (including later to be artists Adam and Andy Kubert). the script is funny and has a wonderful cameo by Russ Heath, who calls to say he won't be able to finish his story on time, but he is working hard and hasn't slept for days. Russ is pictured at the Playboy Club with a blond on his arm.

I loved the style Kubert utilized for this one, great stuff indeed.

We begin the reprints with Sgt. Rock in "Eyes of a Blind Gunner" by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert and reprinted from Our Army At War #113. Easy Company is attacked while crossing a river. Wild Man takes out a plane with his bazooka, then gets dumped in the river with Sgt. Rock and Jackie. Together the trio take out a tank. Jackie and Wild Man then form a team.

When Easy awaits a supply drop, they are ambushed. The only weapon they have to rely on is a machine gun. Jackie and Wild Man are set on guard duty with the gun, when another attack occurs. Jackie is blinded by an explosion, and Wild Man's hand are injured. Wild Man uses his eyes to guide Jackie in firing the machine gun. Together the two soldier successfully hold off their attackers.

Next is "Rider of the Winds" also by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert and reprinted from Showcase #2. This short tale is of an Indian boy, Eagle feather, who was given his name when Rider of the Winds, a giant eagle caught a feather during the boy's naming ceremony. As the boy turns 14 he is told to guard over the tribes flock of sheep. One day one of the lambs gets stuck in quicksand and Eagle Feather wades in and tosses the lamb to safety, but is himself stuck. Rider of the Winds appears and Eagle Feather grabs one of his wings and is pulled to safety himself.

But while this was happening Black Lightning, a mountain lion, slaughters five of the sheep. Eagle Feather is disgraced and the whole village holds him in shame. He seeks the council of a wise man who tells him that he must defeat the bearer-of-that-disgrace, Black Lightning in order to remove his shame. Eagle Feather tracks Black Lightning down ans with the help once again of Rider of the Winds is able to kill the big black cat and regain his standing in the tribe.

That is followed by Hawkman in "Menace of the Matter Master" by Gardner Fox and Joe Kubert and reprinted from Brave and the Bold #35. While attempting to turn base metals to gold, chemist Mark Mandrill discovers the secret of Mentachem, a chemical which gives him control of any material in its natural state. He creates a directing wand, and uses the material to steal a half-million dollars from an armored car, then creates an army of meteor men to loot the Midway City Art Center. Tipped off by Commissioner Emmett, Hawkman and Hawkgirl battle the rockmen, but Matter Master intercedes, and escapes with the treasures by directing helicopter blades at them.

The criminal trips up, however, when directing flowers to steal a parchment from the museum, as Hawkman’s acute sense of smell comes to the force in time to track these flowers to Matter Master’s underground lair, where he and Hawkgirl capture him.

Next is a two-page spread by Joe Kubert of a number of characters he has drawn over the years, each done in the style he used "back in the day." This spread features Doctor Fate, Johnny Quick, Hawkman, The Flash, Wildcat, The Vigilante, Sargon the Sorcerer, Zatara and Firehair.

We end with Viking Prince in "Threat of the Ice King" by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert and reprinted from Brave and the Bold #18. Kubert's work on this strip is just beautiful. Jon, the Viking Prince, continues his quest to complete the twelve tasks of Thor in order to regain his throne. His travels bring him to the domain of the Ice King on a mission to awaken a rose. Jon fights his way past the Ice King's two-headed bear and other dangers until he reaches the castle. Inside he finds a sleeping maiden which he awakens with a kiss.

The woman is the rose princess who was placed in a trance by the Ice King. Jon's kiss broke the spell. He then faces the Ice King himself who has the power to freeze men. Jon prevails in the duel, then escapes the castle with the rose princess. With the rescue, he completes the fourth task of Thor.

Edited by Joe Kubert.