Retro Review: JLA #76
Jun. 13th, 2004 09:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jkcarrierJustice League of America #76
November-December 1969
Reprinting "The Cosmic Fun-House" from JLA #7, and "The Last Case of the Justice League" from JLA #12
Writer: Gardner Fox
Artists: Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs
Cover and pin-ups: Murphy Anderson
Editor: Julius Schwartz
JLA #76 is the first comic I can ever remember owning. I was four years old at the time, so I couldn't really "read" it very well, but the images and characters left a strong impression on me. Several decades later, when I spotted the book in a back-issue bin, I recognized it immediately. It was great to finally be able to put all those vaguely-remembered images into a context. Sometimes our childhood favorites don't hold up well when we revisit them in adulthood. But I'm happy to report that Justice League of America #76 remains just as clever, fun, and genuinely weird as it was in '69.
The cover features large figures of Superman and Batman pointing (in fine Vanna White style) at two scenes enclosed in panels. In the first (which Superman calls "the tragic beginning"), Aquaman, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and Flash are looking at their distorted reflections in a fun-house mirror. Only their real bodies have also been twisted to match the reflections! Then in panel two (or "the terrible ending", as Batman puts it), the same Leaguers are back to normal, but are sprawled out on the ground unconscious (or... gasp!... dead?). DC was known back then for dramatic and intriguing cover scenes, which often showed the heroes in some kind of weird peril. Many times the covers were somewhat symbolic, if not outright deceptive. But in this case, it's pretty much right on, as we'll see.
The contents page is topped by an oft-used image of the JLAers charging towards the reader. I suspect the similar "marching towards the camera" scene in the opening credits of the Justice League cartoon is a deliberate homage to this shot. This version is especially interesting, because a colorist's error makes it look like Green Arrow forgot to put on his pants. ;-)
On to the stories! In "The Cosmic Fun-House", we see Snapper Carr (the JLA's resident sidekick/mascot/hanger-on) taking his girlfriend Midge to an amusement park that's just opened outside town. But this is no ordinary park... when Snapper and Midge enter the fun-house, they get teleported to an alien planet! The two are immediately attacked by monsters, but Snapper manages to fend them off long enough to summon help with his JLA signal device. Superman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman race to the rescue! There's a great panel of Superman "de-clawing" a giant bird creature at super-speed... Gardner Fox was always good at thinking up creative uses of the heroes' powers (Although a couple of panels later, Green Lantern simply "pulverizes" a stone creature with his ring-beam. Ouch!).
Once Snapper and Midge are safely back on Earth, the heroes decide they'd better investigate this crazy fun-house. They decide to take the sneaky approach, and go to the amusement park in their civilian identities. Since he has no secret ID, Aquaman stays behind at headquarters, while Superman, Batman, and Martian Manhunter go back to the alien world to rescue anyone else who may have been teleported there (Is Batman really the best choice for a space-rescue mission?). That leaves Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Green Arrow to go to the park. Since the heroes, at this time, didn't know each other's true identities, Wonder Woman points out that they may pass each other by at the park without realizing it!
Soon we see Barry (Flash) Allen inside the notorious fun-house, passing by the same gun-toting alien figures that Snapper and Midge saw. When he reaches the last room, he uses his super-speed to make himself invisible, and waits to see what happens. Suddenly, an exact duplicate of Barry walks out of the doorway! Flash invisibly follows him, but finds himself paralyzed by a glittering beam of light. The phony Barry laughs and says he knew he was there all along, because he has copied all of Flash's memories as well as his physical form.
Meanwhile, Hal (Green Lantern) Jordan is in another part of the fun-house. Like Flash before him, he reaches the last room and hides invisibly. And as before, a duplicate of Hal appears and begins to walk back through the fun-house. GL follows, only to find himself trapped when the walls begin to slide in on him. Yellow walls, naturally, which his ring cannot affect. The phony Hal knocks Green Lantern unconscious, then uses GL's signal device to lure Wonder Woman and Green Arrow into his trap. As the remaining two heroes arrive at the fun-house, they are blinded by a dazzling light. While they are distracted, a blue-skinned alien manages to grab Wonder Woman's lasso, and uses it to capture them.
Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, and Green Lantern are held in place by energy-draining circles that hover around their bodies. Two of the blue aliens stand nearby, gloating over their victory. Artist Mike Sekowsky always drew great aliens -- these guys are short, rubbery-limbed creatures with bulbous, fish-like heads. They explain that they hail from the planet Angellax, which lost a war with their neighboring planet 100,000 years ago. Their conquerors confiscated all the Angellaxians' weapons, but left their other scientific equipment intact. The people of Angellax hatched a scheme -- they created a space-probe, which would travel the galaxy, recording information on the weapons of other races in the hopes of discovering a super-weapon that would be mighty enough to defeat their enemies. Since the probe's jouney would take 100,000 years, the Angellaxians put themselves into suspended animation until it was time for the probe to return.
But when they awoke from their 1000-century year slumber, they discovered they had made a miscalculation. Instead of returning to Angellax, the probe would land on some planet called Earth. Since they had no weapons, they wouldn't be able to take the probe back by force, so they had to resort to trickery. So they built the fun-house and used the gadgets in there to duplicate the forms of Earthmen, so they could retrieve the probe. "The devices in the fun-house may seem like weapons to you," says one alien, anticipating what every reader was probably thinking at this point, "but while we could use them against the Justice League, they would have been inadequate to conquer the whole Earth!" The two aliens then leave, informing the JLAers that the energy-spirals will slowly close in on them, and eventually kill them.
Back at JLA headquarters, the phony Flash and Green Lantern arrive, and summon the rest of the real JLA to "fill them in". Faux-Flash tells the team that the fun-house was created by their old enemy Xotar the Weapons-Master, who is hiding out in the year 11,960. Superman, Batman, and Martian Manhunter fly off to the future to track him down, while the ersatz Flash and GL send Aquaman back to the fun-house, ostensibly to rescue Green Arrow and Wonder Woman.
Back at the fun-house, the four heroes are still trapped inside the energy-draining rings. The aliens left Wonder Woman's lasso lying on the floor, but it's out of reach. Green Arrow doesn't have enough room to fire an arrow, but he does manage to break the tip off one of his boomerang-arrows and throw it at the lasso, hoping to bring it towards them. It looks like the boomerang is going to fall short, but Flash vibrates his hand at super-speed, creating a wind that pushes the boomerang on its way. The lasso lands in Wonder Woman's grasp, and she uses it to pull the energy-rings off of Green Lantern. Then GL uses his ring to free the others. These elaborate, Rube Goldberg-ish escape plans were a staple of Fox's Justice League stories, again showing his talent for coming up with unusual uses for superpowers.
The freed JLAers race out of the fun-house, passing through a hall of mirrors... and the cover scene finally comes true! The mirrors twist the heroes' bodies: Green Arrow becomes a sort of superdeformed dwarf, Green Lantern's neck elongates like a giraffe, Wonder Woman becomes obese, and Flash's skull and feet become huge. Aquaman arrives just in time to see his teammates' weird transformation, and they fill him in on what's really been happening.
Meanwhile, the fake Flash and Green Lantern, along with the other disguised aliens, have retrieved the space-probe and are carrying it to the teleporting machine so it can be sent back to Angellax. The heroes, with their twisted bodies, seem helpless to stop them, but then Aquaman springs into action. Since Aquaman's powers were of limited use in most situations, Gardner Fox often cast him as a sort of cheerleader or motivator, spurring his fellow members on when they were ready to give up. Flash's giant feet are hindering his super-speed, so Aquaman "jump starts" him by spinning him around. Spinning like a top, Flash is able to knock down several of the aliens. Aquaman then helps Wonder Woman lift her swollen arm, so she can properly toss her lasso and capture more of their foes. Green Arrow's stubby arms can't draw his bow, so Aquaman helps him lie down and hold the bow with his feet, which allows him to pull the string back far enough to fire a tear gas arrow at the fleeing enemies. Green Lantern has contracted amnesia. And forgotten how to use his ring. Why this should be isn't really explained... perhaps his stretched-out neck isn't allowing enough blood to get to his brain. Anyway, Aquaman jogs his memory by reciting the Green Lantern oath: "In brightest day, in blackest night...", and GL is able to use his ring to take out the last of the aliens.
That about wraps things up. Green Lantern loads all the bad guys into a giant green rocket and sends them back to Angellax, where they'll all go back into suspended animation. Another zap from that handy ring turns the heroes back to normal. Superman, Batman, and Martian Manhunter return from their wild goose-chase and find out how they were duped (I'll bet they were embarrassed... so much for Mr. World's Greatest Detective, huh?). The space-probe is safely locked away in JLA headquarters, and everyone lives happily ever after. The last page shows the JLA in civilian garb again, this time escorting their significant others to the now-harmless fun-house. The end.
(Whew!) Some folks might say that this story is an example of everything that's wrong with superhero comics -- it's corny, far-fetched, has enormous holes in the plot, and has little in the way of characterization or deep meaning. It's also fast-paced, clever, and full of wild concepts and memorable visuals that really opened up my young, impressionable mind. Grant Morrison *wishes* he could come up with something as bizarre as the sight of the mirror-twisted JLA racing into action. It's a perfect book for kids -- colorful and exciting, with crystal-clear art and writing, and nothing even the most skittish parent could object to. And perhaps it's just nostalgia talking, but even as an adult, I can just dive into these stories and carried away on the grand adventure.
I don't have time right now to cover the second story, "The Last Case of the Justice League", but perhaps I'll write about it later. I did want to mention the two pin-ups in this issue, both drawn by the excellent Murphy Anderson. One is a double-page spread, showing the Justice Society of America, the 1940s precursors of the JLA. It's a fairly static shot -- the characters are all seated in rows, as if posing for a class portrait. But thanks to Anderson's slick draftsmanship and clever staging, it ends up being a really fun piece of art. The poses are varied and natural. Some of the characters appear to be chatting while they wait for the shutter to click. And in my favorite bit, the original Red Tornado looks askance at her android successor. Anderson even manages to suggest a scowl, which is a pretty good trick considering the Tornado has a metal pot covering her head! I love this picture to death. There's also a pin-up of the Seven Soldiers of Victory, also by Anderson. While it's nicely-drawn, it doesn't charm me quite as much as the JSA pic. For one thing, the Asian character Wing, while not as grotesquely caricatured as he was in the actual 1940s comics, is still pretty bad. There's also a text piece that gives a quick rundown on who each of the members are in both teams. Not a bad choice for a kid's first exposure to the DC Universe!
November-December 1969
Reprinting "The Cosmic Fun-House" from JLA #7, and "The Last Case of the Justice League" from JLA #12
Writer: Gardner Fox
Artists: Mike Sekowsky & Bernard Sachs
Cover and pin-ups: Murphy Anderson
Editor: Julius Schwartz
JLA #76 is the first comic I can ever remember owning. I was four years old at the time, so I couldn't really "read" it very well, but the images and characters left a strong impression on me. Several decades later, when I spotted the book in a back-issue bin, I recognized it immediately. It was great to finally be able to put all those vaguely-remembered images into a context. Sometimes our childhood favorites don't hold up well when we revisit them in adulthood. But I'm happy to report that Justice League of America #76 remains just as clever, fun, and genuinely weird as it was in '69.
The cover features large figures of Superman and Batman pointing (in fine Vanna White style) at two scenes enclosed in panels. In the first (which Superman calls "the tragic beginning"), Aquaman, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and Flash are looking at their distorted reflections in a fun-house mirror. Only their real bodies have also been twisted to match the reflections! Then in panel two (or "the terrible ending", as Batman puts it), the same Leaguers are back to normal, but are sprawled out on the ground unconscious (or... gasp!... dead?). DC was known back then for dramatic and intriguing cover scenes, which often showed the heroes in some kind of weird peril. Many times the covers were somewhat symbolic, if not outright deceptive. But in this case, it's pretty much right on, as we'll see.
The contents page is topped by an oft-used image of the JLAers charging towards the reader. I suspect the similar "marching towards the camera" scene in the opening credits of the Justice League cartoon is a deliberate homage to this shot. This version is especially interesting, because a colorist's error makes it look like Green Arrow forgot to put on his pants. ;-)
On to the stories! In "The Cosmic Fun-House", we see Snapper Carr (the JLA's resident sidekick/mascot/hanger-on) taking his girlfriend Midge to an amusement park that's just opened outside town. But this is no ordinary park... when Snapper and Midge enter the fun-house, they get teleported to an alien planet! The two are immediately attacked by monsters, but Snapper manages to fend them off long enough to summon help with his JLA signal device. Superman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman race to the rescue! There's a great panel of Superman "de-clawing" a giant bird creature at super-speed... Gardner Fox was always good at thinking up creative uses of the heroes' powers (Although a couple of panels later, Green Lantern simply "pulverizes" a stone creature with his ring-beam. Ouch!).
Once Snapper and Midge are safely back on Earth, the heroes decide they'd better investigate this crazy fun-house. They decide to take the sneaky approach, and go to the amusement park in their civilian identities. Since he has no secret ID, Aquaman stays behind at headquarters, while Superman, Batman, and Martian Manhunter go back to the alien world to rescue anyone else who may have been teleported there (Is Batman really the best choice for a space-rescue mission?). That leaves Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Green Arrow to go to the park. Since the heroes, at this time, didn't know each other's true identities, Wonder Woman points out that they may pass each other by at the park without realizing it!
Soon we see Barry (Flash) Allen inside the notorious fun-house, passing by the same gun-toting alien figures that Snapper and Midge saw. When he reaches the last room, he uses his super-speed to make himself invisible, and waits to see what happens. Suddenly, an exact duplicate of Barry walks out of the doorway! Flash invisibly follows him, but finds himself paralyzed by a glittering beam of light. The phony Barry laughs and says he knew he was there all along, because he has copied all of Flash's memories as well as his physical form.
Meanwhile, Hal (Green Lantern) Jordan is in another part of the fun-house. Like Flash before him, he reaches the last room and hides invisibly. And as before, a duplicate of Hal appears and begins to walk back through the fun-house. GL follows, only to find himself trapped when the walls begin to slide in on him. Yellow walls, naturally, which his ring cannot affect. The phony Hal knocks Green Lantern unconscious, then uses GL's signal device to lure Wonder Woman and Green Arrow into his trap. As the remaining two heroes arrive at the fun-house, they are blinded by a dazzling light. While they are distracted, a blue-skinned alien manages to grab Wonder Woman's lasso, and uses it to capture them.
Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, and Green Lantern are held in place by energy-draining circles that hover around their bodies. Two of the blue aliens stand nearby, gloating over their victory. Artist Mike Sekowsky always drew great aliens -- these guys are short, rubbery-limbed creatures with bulbous, fish-like heads. They explain that they hail from the planet Angellax, which lost a war with their neighboring planet 100,000 years ago. Their conquerors confiscated all the Angellaxians' weapons, but left their other scientific equipment intact. The people of Angellax hatched a scheme -- they created a space-probe, which would travel the galaxy, recording information on the weapons of other races in the hopes of discovering a super-weapon that would be mighty enough to defeat their enemies. Since the probe's jouney would take 100,000 years, the Angellaxians put themselves into suspended animation until it was time for the probe to return.
But when they awoke from their 1000-century year slumber, they discovered they had made a miscalculation. Instead of returning to Angellax, the probe would land on some planet called Earth. Since they had no weapons, they wouldn't be able to take the probe back by force, so they had to resort to trickery. So they built the fun-house and used the gadgets in there to duplicate the forms of Earthmen, so they could retrieve the probe. "The devices in the fun-house may seem like weapons to you," says one alien, anticipating what every reader was probably thinking at this point, "but while we could use them against the Justice League, they would have been inadequate to conquer the whole Earth!" The two aliens then leave, informing the JLAers that the energy-spirals will slowly close in on them, and eventually kill them.
Back at JLA headquarters, the phony Flash and Green Lantern arrive, and summon the rest of the real JLA to "fill them in". Faux-Flash tells the team that the fun-house was created by their old enemy Xotar the Weapons-Master, who is hiding out in the year 11,960. Superman, Batman, and Martian Manhunter fly off to the future to track him down, while the ersatz Flash and GL send Aquaman back to the fun-house, ostensibly to rescue Green Arrow and Wonder Woman.
Back at the fun-house, the four heroes are still trapped inside the energy-draining rings. The aliens left Wonder Woman's lasso lying on the floor, but it's out of reach. Green Arrow doesn't have enough room to fire an arrow, but he does manage to break the tip off one of his boomerang-arrows and throw it at the lasso, hoping to bring it towards them. It looks like the boomerang is going to fall short, but Flash vibrates his hand at super-speed, creating a wind that pushes the boomerang on its way. The lasso lands in Wonder Woman's grasp, and she uses it to pull the energy-rings off of Green Lantern. Then GL uses his ring to free the others. These elaborate, Rube Goldberg-ish escape plans were a staple of Fox's Justice League stories, again showing his talent for coming up with unusual uses for superpowers.
The freed JLAers race out of the fun-house, passing through a hall of mirrors... and the cover scene finally comes true! The mirrors twist the heroes' bodies: Green Arrow becomes a sort of superdeformed dwarf, Green Lantern's neck elongates like a giraffe, Wonder Woman becomes obese, and Flash's skull and feet become huge. Aquaman arrives just in time to see his teammates' weird transformation, and they fill him in on what's really been happening.
Meanwhile, the fake Flash and Green Lantern, along with the other disguised aliens, have retrieved the space-probe and are carrying it to the teleporting machine so it can be sent back to Angellax. The heroes, with their twisted bodies, seem helpless to stop them, but then Aquaman springs into action. Since Aquaman's powers were of limited use in most situations, Gardner Fox often cast him as a sort of cheerleader or motivator, spurring his fellow members on when they were ready to give up. Flash's giant feet are hindering his super-speed, so Aquaman "jump starts" him by spinning him around. Spinning like a top, Flash is able to knock down several of the aliens. Aquaman then helps Wonder Woman lift her swollen arm, so she can properly toss her lasso and capture more of their foes. Green Arrow's stubby arms can't draw his bow, so Aquaman helps him lie down and hold the bow with his feet, which allows him to pull the string back far enough to fire a tear gas arrow at the fleeing enemies. Green Lantern has contracted amnesia. And forgotten how to use his ring. Why this should be isn't really explained... perhaps his stretched-out neck isn't allowing enough blood to get to his brain. Anyway, Aquaman jogs his memory by reciting the Green Lantern oath: "In brightest day, in blackest night...", and GL is able to use his ring to take out the last of the aliens.
That about wraps things up. Green Lantern loads all the bad guys into a giant green rocket and sends them back to Angellax, where they'll all go back into suspended animation. Another zap from that handy ring turns the heroes back to normal. Superman, Batman, and Martian Manhunter return from their wild goose-chase and find out how they were duped (I'll bet they were embarrassed... so much for Mr. World's Greatest Detective, huh?). The space-probe is safely locked away in JLA headquarters, and everyone lives happily ever after. The last page shows the JLA in civilian garb again, this time escorting their significant others to the now-harmless fun-house. The end.
(Whew!) Some folks might say that this story is an example of everything that's wrong with superhero comics -- it's corny, far-fetched, has enormous holes in the plot, and has little in the way of characterization or deep meaning. It's also fast-paced, clever, and full of wild concepts and memorable visuals that really opened up my young, impressionable mind. Grant Morrison *wishes* he could come up with something as bizarre as the sight of the mirror-twisted JLA racing into action. It's a perfect book for kids -- colorful and exciting, with crystal-clear art and writing, and nothing even the most skittish parent could object to. And perhaps it's just nostalgia talking, but even as an adult, I can just dive into these stories and carried away on the grand adventure.
I don't have time right now to cover the second story, "The Last Case of the Justice League", but perhaps I'll write about it later. I did want to mention the two pin-ups in this issue, both drawn by the excellent Murphy Anderson. One is a double-page spread, showing the Justice Society of America, the 1940s precursors of the JLA. It's a fairly static shot -- the characters are all seated in rows, as if posing for a class portrait. But thanks to Anderson's slick draftsmanship and clever staging, it ends up being a really fun piece of art. The poses are varied and natural. Some of the characters appear to be chatting while they wait for the shutter to click. And in my favorite bit, the original Red Tornado looks askance at her android successor. Anderson even manages to suggest a scowl, which is a pretty good trick considering the Tornado has a metal pot covering her head! I love this picture to death. There's also a pin-up of the Seven Soldiers of Victory, also by Anderson. While it's nicely-drawn, it doesn't charm me quite as much as the JSA pic. For one thing, the Asian character Wing, while not as grotesquely caricatured as he was in the actual 1940s comics, is still pretty bad. There's also a text piece that gives a quick rundown on who each of the members are in both teams. Not a bad choice for a kid's first exposure to the DC Universe!
