Justice League of America #183-187

Justice League of America #183-187

Originally released in 1980

Written by Gerry Conway

Art by Dick Dillin (#183), George Perez (#184-6), Frank McLaughlin (#185), and Don Heck (#187)

I wanted to read a different era of the Justice League from what I'm used to.  Pre-Crisis Justice League wasn't familiar to me, particularly the material from shortly before Crisis on Infinite Earths, and this first storyline (with the three issues titled "Crisis on New Genesis", "Crisis Between Two Earths", and "Crisis on Apokolips") caught my attention.

It's an annual tradition that the Justice League and Justice Society meet by crossing the barriers between their respective Earths, and it's also usually an annual tradition that something interrupts it or makes it far more complicated than a simple meet-and-greet. (I don't know if this is annual as in real time, meaning that it happens once every twelve issues, or annual as in comic book time, where it happens whenever the writers feel like doing a crossover)  In this case, their teleporters are intercepted and representatives of the two teams are brought to New Genesis, home of the New Gods.

It's discovered that most of New Genesis's inhabitants have gone missing in the wake of Darkseid's death.  When Darkseid went to investigate the Source Wall, hoping to find information about the Anti-Life Equation, Orion blasted Darkseid, launching the tyrant too close to the wall.  The Source Wall repelled Darkseid, launching him towards Apokolips and making him grow larger and larger before the forces of Apokolips destroyed their suddenly massive leader, thinking it was an attack from New Genesis.

The forces of Apokolips have teamed up with the Injustice Society of Earth-2 to bring back Darkseid, though the Injustice Society seems to consist of three people - Shade, Icicle, and the Fiddler. (not the Riddler - this guy is obsessed with the fiddle)  Through sheer force of will, Darkseid extended part of his soul into Earth-2 and forced the Injustice Society to obey him and bring him back to life.

While trying to stop this from happening, the Justice League (represented by Batman, Superman, Firestorm, and Hal Jordan as the Green Lantern), the Justice Society (Dr. Fate, Power Girl, Huntress, and Earth-2's Wonder Woman), and the New Gods (represented by Mr. Miracle, Big Barda, Orion, and Mr. Miracle's human friend and manager Oberon) split into teams of three as they try to track the villains down.  Along the way, it's heartwarming to see the heroes bringing hope to a planet that's so thoroughly hopeless.

The children of Apokolips are so downtrodden that the simple promise by Wonder Woman that a child won't be punished any more is enough to bring that young girl to tears.  Meanwhile, another child has no idea what the concept of "love" is.  Being raised in an environment where the tiniest scraps of hope are snuffed out, and doing things like trying to grow a flower or accidentally sneezing in Darkseid's presence are enough to get someone thrown into a spike pit for three weeks, makes it all the more touching when characters like Superman, Wonder Woman, and Big Barda show the denizens of Apokolips what happiness can feel like.

Meanwhile, Green Lantern discovers High-Father of the New Gods imprisoned; going by his reaction afterwards, it's clear that he has very different feelings towards the Guardians of the Universe pre-Crisis compared to how he feels post-Crisis.

High-Father is aware of the full extent of Darkseid's plan, which Mister Miracle discovers by the end of issue 184 and reveals to Batman - Darkseid plans to teleport Apokolips to Earth-2, which would destroy Earth-2 in the process, so he can scheme and conquer without New Genesis's interference. (though I'm not sure how effective of a plan that would be, since High-Father knows of Darkseid's plan and can presumably teleport New Genesis to Earth-2's universe or send his forces there)  There's even a helpful diagram!

The Injustice Society meet Darkseid to collect their reward, but the lord of Apokolips demonstrates that "gratitude" is not in his vocabulary, and he doesn't care that his allies had no way of knowing about certain details.

Superman and Wonder Woman manage to free the children of Apokolips from the "teachings" of Granny Goodness, though Granny herself slips away.  It isn't long before karma catches up to her, though.

Darkseid's plan is thwarted, the people of New Genesis (and the Injustice Society) are saved, and everyone returns home - I'm not sure how this stacks up to other annual meetings of the two teams, but it was a fun read, even if it's a bit of a shame that the only JLA member that Darkseid meets face-to-face is Firestorm.

I wanted to keep going in order to see what an ordinary JLA issue from this time period was like; the next issue focuses on the Shaggy Man (like, no relation to Scooby Doo's friend Shaggy, man), a sasquatch-like being with regenerative powers. (Weirdly enough, despite the Elongated Man starting the story out by wishing he had a good mystery to solve, there's no mystery in this issue) This issue is dedicated to the memory of Dick Dillin - given that this is issue 186 and he had just worked on issue 183, his passing must have been sudden.

The Shaggy Man has been spotted in Russia's borders, and despite the League's general distrust of the Soviets (this was still in the middle of the Cold War), there have been several Shaggy Men over the years, with one of them being created by the League, so they might be responsible.  Either way, they investigate the situation, since they're not going to let people die to superpowered threats regardless of nationality. (even if the Flash is extremely aggressive when it comes to Communists.

The Flash and Green Lantern had defeated the second Shaggy Man, sealing him in an iceberg, but he broke loose somehow (Batman speculates that it's due to Aurora Borealis), and the Justice League members who aren't on New Genesis have to help stop him.  Batman comes up with a plan to launch the Shaggy Man into space, which is carried out pretty quickly all things considered. (I was surprised when the plan was introduced and carried out successfully with only five pages left)

These issues take place after the death of Iris West, but even with that in mind, it felt a little weird when issue 187 opens with Barry Allen flirting with Zatanna. (I'm used to him being a one-woman man)

Meanwhile, the League has to deal with Proteus, someone who can hypnotize people while changing their appearance, which he does to Superman as he makes the Man of Steel think that he's some guy named Bart McLusky.

He lured various Justice League members into traps in order to get a gang of criminals to pose as the JLA. (continuing a trend from the earliest JLA stories where the biggest threat to the team seems to be evil doppelgangers and/or the concept of hypnotism)  However, the hypnosis wears off with even the slightest bit of reminder of their old identity, leading to hilarious scenarios like this:

As the various JLA members try to track down Proteus and return themselves to normal, the Flash (the only person that a member of Proteus's group had disguised as who they hadn't captured - why they didn't pick another JLA member to disguise as is beyond me) is captured by Proteus, leading to a cliffhanger ending. While these issues followed some of the same conventions as the 60s ones (such as the teams splitting up into groups of three or four), I found them to be much more enjoyable by comparison, with the threats being the sort of situations where the Justice League would be required. The stories weren't especially deep (and Darkseid's writing felt like a downgrade from when Jack Kirby was writing him), but they were breezy and fun.