Christmas Countdown: Justice League of America #74

A few days ago, I came across the cover to the above comic book on Rip Jaggers Dojo. Upon seeing this it took me back to the late 1960's (perhaps 1970) when my brother had this comic. I normally don’t chase down comics or buy them online but, on this occasion, I made an exception and managed to purchase a very nice reading copy. The Christmas connection? well it’s an early festive purchase to myself. Below are some pages to go along with the stunning Neal Adams cover above:

This issue continues from issue 73 where a living star called Aquarius uses his power (and Starman’s power rod) to attempt to erase the entire Justice Society of America from existence. Of course, this paves the way for a classic JLA / JSA fight. As is the norm with these types of storIes there are various team ups with members of the JLA fighting the JSA when Aquarius uses his powers to pit members of both teams against each other. The main event in this fun tale is that Larry Lance, Black Canary's husband is killed saving his wife’s life. This snaps the JSA out of Aquarius' control and eventually the 2 Green Lanterns defeat Aquarius. Black Canary realising that she has nothing to live for on Earth 2 now that her husband is dead, asks to join the JLA on Earth 1. The rest is of course comic book history.

I was surprised that this issue was a landmark JLA edition which reintroduced Black Canary into the Earth One Universe, perhaps that is why this issue was a favourite of my brothers as he would probably have swopped this for a couple of other US comics. Whatever the reason I’m glad I managed to pick this one up. Although I wasn’t a massive fan of US comics as a 9 year old, only a few years later I would be searching out newsagents for any American comics that I could find, and at this time the JLA was my favourite title. Perhaps this very issue started that intertest in the JLA for me.

Favourite covers: Justice League of America issue 67

The first time I saw the above comic ( cover by the wonderful Neal Adams) was back in 1968/69 when my brother swapped it for 2 Batman comics ( a regular activity back in the day was swapping comics). It has remained one of my favourite covers ( and comics) since that day.

This issue featured the stories that introduced the Atom, Green Arrow and Hawkman to the JLA from issues 4, 14 and 31 by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky.

Favourite comics: Justice League of America issues 100

Published in June 1972 (with a cover date of August) the above issue of Justice League of America (cover by Nick Cardy) was my first and the tenth JLA/JSA “crossover” which as luck would have it also coincided with the 100th anniversary issue of the JLA. The story “The Unknown Soldiers of Victory” written by Len Wein and drawn by Dick Dillin and Joe Giella was the first part of a 3 part story arc that would take place over issues 100-102. JLA issue 100 has remained one of my all time favourite US comics since the day I first purchased it in my local newsagents after school on a rainy afternoon in November 1972. After all these years I can still remember the excitement of seeing that cover on the spinner rack sporing the banner "33 heroes" many of them being characters I had never seen before. I was in fanboy heaven!

The story itself revolves around the 100th meeting of the JLA where the members are holding a special gathering. However no sooner does the meeting start than they are summoned to Earth 2 by the Justice Society of America to assist them in battling a giant hand that is about to crush their planet. Struggling to win the batttle Dr Fate contacts Oracle, a cosmic entity who informs them that the only way to defeat the giant hand is for them to find the Seven Soldiers of Victory as only they can defeat the menace. As the Seven Soldiers of Victory have been disbursed over various time periodsof Earth’s pasts the Oracle transports the JLA/JSA in teams of three to find the members of the Seven Soldiers of Victory.

This was a pretty special issue packed with golden age heroes many of whom I had never heard of before but I thoroughly enjoyed seeing them illustrated by (then) modern artists.

The story would continue in issues 101 and 102 which to this day I have still not managed to read. One day I will track down those 2 issues and find out how it all ends. I do know that the Red Tornado plays a major role having read JLA issue 106.

Covers from DC Wiki

Comic Book Memories: Justice League of America issue 106 & Weird War Tales issue 14

Anyone that reads this blog will know that I have treaded this road before but the older I get the more I seem to have to rely on certain triggers to remember events from my past. Of course I don’t need a back issue of Superman to remember those big lifechanging event no, it’s those little inconsequential events that seemed so unimportant at the time but now mean so much more to me that I crave. One such trigger event happened to me last month when I was driving to the town I used to live in around the early to mid-1970’s to help a family member move some (52!) heavy slabs . As it was early I thought I would stop off and get coffee and cakes for them so on seeing a coffee shop I parked outside the shop and as I got out of my car I was hit by an overwhelming sense of Déjà vu. As it turned out I had taken the exact same trip nearly 50 years ago with my dad in 1973. On that day in June 1973, my dad had driven me to school but for some reason we had arrived early and he suggested that we go for a cup of tea at this very same coffee shop. Of course the shop had changed a lot since then as it was now a very trendy upmarket coffee shop, back in 1973 it was a pretty basic (but nice) tea-room with a newsagents attached to it. Anyway, after my dad and myself had our tea I was pottering around the newsagent where I spied the above issue of JLA (along with Weird War issue 14) which my dad bought for me.

Back to 2022, and after I had completed my slab lifting I drove home and immediately headed to the loft to look out my 49 year old copy of JLA 106 (my copy of Weird War isn't the same one my dad bought me in 1973) and to try remember that day in more detail. It's amazing what memories an inanimate object can stir up as on opening the pages below I remember that this day in June 1973 was the last day of school before we broke up for the summer holidays, someone at my school nabbed my copy of Weird War, it was also my best pal Jim’s last day at this school as he had moved to a different town, and best of all I remembered the great chat and laugh I had with my dad at that tea room and seeing his big toothed smile. I still miss that big smile of his, but at least I can see it again in my mind’s eye when look at JLA 106.

This story always seemed to me to be DC's attempt to make the Red Tornado into their version of the Vision. And while it was a pretty decent comic for its time DC's attempts here were miles behind the stories that Marvel were telling in the Avengers. Still for all that I always enjoyed the JLA comics at this time, they had a charm and excitment of their own that has always appealed to me.

In the story itself, following the exploits in JLA 105 the Red Tornado is caught up in an explosion that hurled him from Earth-2 into Earth-1 where he is voted in as a Justice League member. Now possessing facial features that he believes were melded for him by a blind hermit ( when in fact it was all a ruse by his evil creator T. O. Morrow) the Red Tornado takes on the secret identity as John Smith, and goes looking for a job where he meets an employment counsellor Kathy Sutton and they soon become romantically involved. The Scarlet Witch and the Vision this is not.

Favourite Comics: Justice League of America Issue 94

Justice League of America issue 94 was released in the US in November 1971 but as US comics used to take (at least) 6 months to arrive on our shores it wasn’t until around May 1972 that I first spotted this issue on my way home from school. My normal routine before heading home after school was to pop into some of the newsagents in the town just to see if there were any new US comics on sale as titles seemed to appear on the spinner racks out of the blue. On this day on entering the local RS McColl’s newsagents I spotted JLA 94 and upon seeing that the cover was by my all-time favourite artist Neal Adams, I quickly handed over my 7p and stuffed it into my school bag for later consumption as I ran to catch the bus home.

The splash page of this issue is a superb Neal Adams creation that requires that you spend time taking in the facial features of the League of Assassins leader before turning the page. Sadly Adams only provided 4 pages of art in this issue (and the cover) providing a framing sequence of sorts between the pages of the regular JLA artists Dick Dillin and Joe Giella.

The story by Mike Friedrich is a good solid tale where the Green Arrow is pitted against Merlyn an archer and a member of the League of Assassins who is tasked with assassinating Batman. Of course as can be seen from the cover Deadman makes an appearance (a character synonymous with Adams) who had learned of the planned attempt on Batman's life and had taken over Aquaman to warn him.