Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business Justice League Detroit - Alternate

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Peebs' Create your own Justice League Detroit, Fickles' re-plotted X-Men and Ibby's Justice League Idol got me thinking about having a second look at the plots of Gerry Conway's Justice League.

So this thread will take a look at the background to Conway's Justice League Detroit issues, present altered plots, and offer some general thoughts.

Justice League of Detroit: Conway's League

Selling his first script in 1968 at 15 years of age, Gerry Conway went on to be easily one of the most prolific writers for both DC and Marvel in the 1970s, handling most of both companies key characters.

Conway's first writing credits on the Justice League of America were in issue 125 (cover dated Dec 1975.) He became the regular scripter and co-plotter from issue 151 (Feb 1978). Conway co- plotted first with Julie Schwartz, then Ross Andru and later with Len Wein.

These teams brought us classic stories pitting the League against Starro(189-190), The Secret Society(166-168 & 195-197), Darkseid (183-185) and the return of the Appelaxians (200)

Bringing Zatanna and Firestorm to the JLA membership in this time, one of Conway's key contributions, like Denny O'Neil, was to add subplots for the characters that would carry through the issues. On the previous era Conway said "It was sort of a glorified team-up book in one sense" and the characters in their own stories, if there was continuity, that's where you were going to find it. But in the period when I was working on it, and subsequently, the concept was that the Justice League, as a team, had its own interpersonal relationships and character arcs that existed in that book."

Conway regularly added depth to the characters that had no ongoing title of their own. Green Arrow (181), Zatanna (164-165, 191), Red Tornado(192-193) and The Atom (213-215) would be among those who would benefit. The characters would be given more depth while still interacting with the more commercially successful members to the extent that Zatanna & Flash would have a budding relationship.

"...we also had the opportunity (because a number of them were secondary characters who weren't featured in their own titles) to develop storylines that were specific to Justice League. Before that, before I came on the book, there wasn't a real sense that continuity from issue to issue was really something that was possible or desired even,"? said Conway.

Although the focus on the secondary characters would grow in the period before the Detroit era, it wasn't at the expense of the other characters. From picking up on the Hawks back up series (220s) through Professor Stein (204), Green Lantern (184) to Batman against the Shaggy Man (186) there were excellent moments for all the Leaguers.

But there was a growing sense, if the letter columns are any indication, that there was a divide between those who wanted the world's greatest heroes and those who preferred the characterisation of the "second stringers"

"The problem with the JLA right now is a strong lack of continuity..." - Kevin Pratt.

"I feel more emphasis should be placed on the heroes without their own books." - Simon Clark.

"I feel that the book is being held back by the characters featured in this book being the main characters in other series." - Thomas Hunter

But there was equally strong opinion not to drop any of the Leaguers from the team, often within the same letters.

"[Aquaman's]being in the JLA is just as important as Superman's or Flash's presence. - Mike Allen

continued...

Even the editors and assistants commented. "But the feeling here is that the Man of Steel and the Caped Crusader help sell the book so don't expect them to be absent very often."

There were also those who were unlikely to be pleased by the current writing. "This one issue has revitalised my hopes for the League. Too bad it was in Swamp Thing." A reference to Alan Moore's treatment of the group.

Pressure was coming to bear on the title from other sources too. Editorial control of characters had been an issue since at least the beginning of the Justice League of America.
In his autobiography Julius Schwartz recalled that Superman & Batman were kept to a minimum in the JLA as the editors of those books feared over saturation of their characters. When publisher Jack Liebowitz heard this from Schwartz, he said "you go in and tell those sonuvabitches that Superman and Batman belong to DC Comics and not to Mort Weisinger and Jack Schiff!"

It was no different in the closing years of Conway's tenure, as he said "everybody wanted to use the mainstream characters exclusively in their own stories and to develop continuity primarily with them. Batman had his continuity, Superman had his continuity, Green Lantern, and so on. So there was an increasing pressure to find a way to both reach a younger audience, to create stronger continuity, and to get the mainstream characters out of the book because they couldn't be part of the stronger continuity."

So, to promote the focus on the team and its characterisation, and no doubt to reduce editorial turf wars, the League became a book with stronger ties between a core group of members out with the main books. This basically meant characters with significant appearances elsewhere in the DCU weren't going to be included.

To an extent, this suited the books other main goal; to catch up with the popularity, not to mention sales, of the teen Titans.

"When we developed JLA Detroit, Chuck Patton and I wanted to work with characters whose personal lives were relevant to their membership in the League. Most of the League's big guns: ?Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, et al. ?were beyond our ability to influence in any meaningful way," said Conway.

With the Titans and X-Men selling so much better than the JLA , Conway's light had probably dimmed in DC's eyes. Like generations before and after him, he would eventually depart from the company.

"The economic impetus was that JLA was no longer selling as well as it had. And the most popular book at DC at that point was New Teen Titans, so there was pressure to make the book more like New Teen Titans," Conway told Back Issue.

From issue 225, the Justice League was edited by Alan Gold and when Conway returned in 228, it was with sole writing credits. Gone was Len Wein who had been part of the plotting team through so many of the classic satellite era stories.

Wein was involved in so many key DC projects of the 1980s that his experience of transition was probably missed during the formation of the Detroit League. Wein would be involved in series that would change the League, but not as part of the core book, in both Crisis and Legends. He had already been involved with the Teen Titans group the JLD was trying, in part, to emulate, and in Batman and the Outsiders, one of the early events that led to the team's break up.

With the decisions made to transform the team, we'll look at the available membership next...

Justice League of Detroit: Process of Elimination.

Looking back through the multitude of Justice League members, it's sometime hard to imagine that the group had run for nearly 25 years amassing only 16 members. By Grant Morrison's time as writer, he had Aquaman wonder if there was anyone who hadn't been a member.



While Conway had an eye for developing personal interaction along the lines of the second Avengers line up, which had four members, the recent success of the Teen Titans had a core of 7 (Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Changeling, Cyborg, Raven & Starfire), which also reflected the original Justice League line up.

"It was part of wanting to change things to where we could get it down to a more manageable group of people in a different mindset," said Conway.

Whether they were the focus of the action or not, one criticism that has always been levelled at team books is that powerful characters, who often have solo titles, are dumbed or powered down to fit into a team setting. Marv Wolfman often had to render Kid Flash unconscious in the Titans, just to let the others reach the fight. Similar problems affected the Flash in the Justice League. Superman and Wonder Woman don't beat the League's opponent before anyone can move and Green Lantern doesn't simply contain the conflict in containment fields from his power ring.

Martian Manhunter had quit way back in 1969 while Batman had already left to join the Outsiders in 1983. Hal Jordan had spent a year in space in 1982, returning only to quit as Green Lantern shortly before the changes to the Justice League. The Atom had left for South America in the Sword of the Atom mini series in 1983. Although still in the country, the Flash was on trial for murder. The League had already voted on his membership, even as Allen mentions the chances of his appearance for future League cases.

Conway had the Elongated Man mention the natural reduction in the League's membership in recent years, stripping the team of its most powerful members.

That only left Superman, with his multiple titles, and Wonder Woman from the big guns of the original League. For all the criticism of Conway's change in line up, a lot of the work had already been done.

continued...

In planning stages well before Conway's changes to the League was the Crisis on Infinite Earths. DC were more and more willing to make considerable changes to their characters to breathe new life into them. With the Crisis they were going to reboot the entire multiverse.

"We knew that we were going to be making major changes to the DC Universe," said Conway, "and the question was, 'What will the Justice League be? "

From Crisis onwards, DC has launched almost annual Event comics containing threats that the Justice League would previously have faced. That was the primary reason they existed and this had now been removed.

With more and more emphasis on the Events, and more editorial control than in Conway's time the shuffling of the JLA's editorially mandated cast has become commonplace. Dwayne MacDuffie would later publicise the number of iterations required to get a story past indecisive editorial.

At the time of Justice League Detroit, not being able to plot the characterisation of even second stringers, must have been a new frustration. This was particularly the case since it had been Conway who kept the characters interesting throughout the satellite years.

Conway said that "the suggestion I had and other people had, was to find some way to make a core group of characters that would be exclusive to the JLA title so we could basically develop their personalities and their storylines and so on."

The way Conway found to do this was to have Aquaman tell the UN that 'the world needs a committed fighting force--a team of full time, active members, living together, training together--sharing a common purpose, a common duty... Give the league your full allegiance or give it nothing.'

This was to remove the characters with titles outside the League, bringing the team in line with the X-Men, The Avengers and the Teen Titans.

Removing those who had already gone, were unavailable or were particularly prominent in the DC books, left a remaining available cast of :-




"What Titans had going for it was cohesion as a team where the characters in the Titans interacted pretty much exclusively with each other, so you could develop storylines that involved the characters' personal lives and create drama and character development in that title," Conway would later say.

Robin was still Batman's kid partner when the Titans launched and half of their members were recognisably younger versions of DC's most popular characters. In the X-Men, Wolverine was about to break out on a career that has included him on practically every book.

The reasoning behind Aquaman's speech made or broke the Justice League of Detroit, even at that early stage.

In the letter column of #227 the editor told Thomas Hunter "you're going to like at least some of the changes slated for the JLA. You'll be seeing lots more of the members who don't have regular titles of their own, generally for the reason you offer in your letter."

Hunter's letter is a template for many of the things that the creative team were wanting to implement. It cited the Titans as a group with characters featured nowhere else, the removal of the remote HQ, that the League is held back by characters featured prominently elsewhere, and that the JLA "needs to retain the characters that can change and evolve in the book."

The characters Hunter had in mind were Green Arrow, Black Canary, Hawkman, Hawkwoman, Red Tornado, Atom and Zatanna. All had been prominently featured in previous Conway stories.

Arguably, they had already formed the core of the group that the creative team felt they were searching for, but with fewer sales.

continued...

Aquaman's idea of "living together, training together" was much more in line with the X-Men or Avengers than the success of the Titans. Robin lived in Gotham, Wonder Girl & Starfire both had careers and lived outside of Titans Tower. Cyborg also lived in NYC while Changeling had Dayton's mansion to call home.

The first member to fall victim to this was Conway's own character Firestorm. With an ongoing title containing two central characters with full lives, it was difficult enough for them becoming Firestorm let alone attending the JLA adventures. With Firestorm went a lot of the youthful optimism that the book was looking for.

The main reason for the speech was simply that several of the characters had series planned. Plans that still had a lot of optimism of being great successes attached to them.

Green Arrow had an uneven back up series in Detective. Perhaps that alone was enough to warrant his removal from the team, or perhaps it was plans to build on the 1983 mini series. Despite moaning about not tackling street level crime, Oliver Queen was now seemingly unavailable the moment the League shared that vision.

Unfortunately, with Green Arrow went Black Canary who barely appeared in the Detective Comics back up.
Canary was now relegated to Green Arrow's romantic partner rather than the more prominent character she joined the JLA as back in #74. A supporting character to a back up feature.

Green Arrow's next series wouldn't be until 1987, with Black Canary even getting to join the next version of the League as the character wasn't being used.

The other members to depart as a couple were Hawkman and Hawkwoman. Their planned mini series was released in 1985. While it took them out of circulation from the rest of the DCU, it ironically featured the new JLA. Something else else that could have been used more to the advantage of both books, had they remained.

A mini series for Red Tornado had been planned since at least 1983. Like many of these series, the hype of permanent change didn't live up to the delivery. The Tornado mini series simply made him a more content version of his old self. More than the Shadow War of Hawkman (and Woman) it prominently featured the JLA.

Having been in planning for so long, it didn't have the correct JLA, so it just featured a collection of heroes with remarkable similarities to the old line up. The mini series arrived in 1985, just in time for real changes to be made to him in Crisis.

Not that having a planned mini series was enough to remove the character. In the letter column of #335, the editor tells us that Conway was working on a Zatanna mini series. Nor was the mandate that the characters couldn't appear consistent. Aquaman was appearing in the new JLA until close to the release of his later miniseries.

But with Aquaman's speech, reader enjoyment of the second stringers went out of the title based on series that had yet to be released. By insisting the team stayed together, in practice in Detroit, this move essentially isolated the League from the rest of the DCU, as any character with involvement in the wider world couldn't be a member.

So, from the 16 Justice League of America members Conway had sufficient control of three active characters: Aquaman, Elongated Man and Zatanna.

Unlike the Titans, Conway's Detroit League began from what was left rather than being able to take the best of what had been before and build on those foundations.

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Justice League of Detroit: Foundations

Having left himself with Aquaman, Zatanna and Elongated Man, Conway brought in the only other available Leaguer: The Martian Manhunter. Judging by the letter columns the addition of the Manhunter had been on the cards for some time, with most issues weighted with letters asking for his inclusion.

However, it did pose two problems. Despite Conway's planning, DC had also agreed to rework the character as J'Emm: Son of Mars (of which more later). Conway managed to convince DC that the J'Emm character would have to be reworked instead to now be the Son of Saturn. Interestingly, this shows that Conway could hold onto characters under certain circumstances.

The second issue was with the Manhunter's suitability in the league. J'Onn J'Onzz is even more powerful than Superman, with an ever expanding list of abilities set during his early appearances in the 1950s. Not only is he vastly more powerful than Conway's other Leaguers, he duplicates the abilities of Aquaman and Elongated Man. He can also simulate the many of the elemental effects produced by Zatanna.

It was this level of power that resulted in the Manhunter being removed form the League in the first place. If one Superman was difficult to write, why have two?

Adding new members was also difficult. So many characters were already tied into other franchises.

The Titans, who the League was now trying to emulate, were very successful. This removed all of their available cast from inclusion in the League as Wolfman & Perez could call on them when needed.

The Outsiders had been created with a cast of Batman and two characters that had not joined the League in Metamorpho and Black Lightning. All three characters worked well at the lower level of threat that Conway now wanted the book to have, but would not now be available.

As the transition between League structures was before the Crisis, all of the Charlton, Fawcett and other parallel Earth heroes were out of bounds. This included the All-Star Squadron, Freedom Fighters and Infinity inc which tied up all golden age heroes and their legacies.

While it may seem that there weren't many DC heroes around at the time, there was decades of material to draw from, as the images in surrounding posts show.

The editor of the JLA had even run a poll in 1978 (issue 158) to ask the readers who they would like to join.



There were also mentions for Rex the Wonder Dog, Sgt Rock, Tin, The Freedom Fighters, Metal Men and the Teen Titans

In the same issue, the three leaguers those responding to the poll wanted out most were revealed:-



The feeling was that Batman seemed out of place, that Aquaman's powers were limited and that Hawkgirl's replicated Hawkman.

A further poll for female members was run in issue 215:-



But without the big guns and the second stringers, could a collection of any of these characters call itself the Justice League and how would it please enough readers to raise sales?

So, that's the back drop to the league, it's membership and problems at the time.

The alternate plots that follow will start from the same point: The Earth/Mars War in #228, that essentially dismantled the league at the time. It will keep key points of the run and the core Conway ideas behind the changes. But, despite much of the cast becoming unavailable (see above), hopefully it will try to stay a little closer to what had gone before.

A temporarily blank post as I've moved the index that was her up to the top

<I'm on the edge of my seat>

And that's nearly where you would have had to stay, thanks to a busted PC, router etc. luckily back up drive was still working >whew<

That panther lady would have been a great addition ... except for being crazy AND homicidal.


Suicide Squad perhaps.

So many other missed opportunities though, John Stewart needed to be in the League at this time ... especially since it led into Crisis!

I think someone wrote in quite early thinking that Reena, the cat lady, was being developed into a future member.

But apart form being crazy and homicidal, she also turned into a cat at the end I'm not sure if it was a dead cat. I don't remember seeing Roy Harper hanging around, so I take it she lived

Having some suicide squad in there reminds me of the Forgotten Heroes - I think Rick Flagg was in it with a sea devil. You could have created an alternate league with a challenger representative and a secret six one perhaps for a different sort of death defying team.

As for John Stewart, well, I wrote all this last year, so I know what's coming...

Why was the Creeper so popular back then? Did he have a series or regular guest role? (He made it in way later in JL almost I.

I forgot Reena turned into a cat. HA!

Looking forward to seeing what you do with this set up Thothkins, to be honest I don't recognise half of the people from the grid above so it'll be a learning curve for me.

It's just in the epilogue, I think, and you don't see either Reena or Max. In other words, I had forgotten too until I reread them a few years back Had Conway not been writing the revamp, Reena may have been an alternative to Vixen.




He had been kept ticking along in the odd appearance in Showcase and Bat-titles. He had a first issue special too. With Denny O'Neil clearly liking the character, he had enough push to keep turning up. The Creeper does offer something different in a team in terms of perspective and approach. But with Ryder behind him, you know he's not a complete loon, so there's some grounding there too.

From what I recall the Giffen League was planning n using the Creeper one a year or so, if not actually have him join the team.




Thanks Harbinger. The images should give an idea that there were a large number of characters, in addition to the main ones, that could have been used. I'll be posting some thoughts later on who they are and what I thought of their chances in a JLA team.

In the run up to the Justice League Detroit run, here's a breakdown of the members readers were looking for in the lettercols:-

#220 The Comics Collector seems to have outed the arrival of Vixen as early as #220. Others: Batgirl & Red Star, Wonder Twins, Jack O'Lantern, Green Fury, Robotman, Dr Mist, Metal Men, The Olympian,
#221 - Batgirl
#222 - Captain Comet, Batgirl, Insect Queen, Guardian, Bumblebee
#223 - J'Onn J'Onzz x3, Captain Comet x2, Batgirl
#224 - J'Onn J'Onzz x2, Robotman (Cliff Steele), Wonder Twins, Snapper Carr x2, Captain Comet
#225 - Supergirl (alternating with Superman), Captain Comet, (no for Batgirl, Shazams, Mera or Global Guardians), Reena (could grow on the reader)
#226 - Vixen, J'Onn J'Onzzx2, Batgirl x4, Captain Cometx, Scott Free Mister Miracle, Starman (Mikaal?) + subs of Phantom Stranger, Sargon, Supergirl and Captain Comet
#227 - Black Orchid, Captain Comet, Martian Manhunter x3, Ambush Bug, Batgirl, Snapper Carr,
#228 - Firehawk, Supergirl x2, Mera, Batgirl
#229 - Batgirl, Catwoman

Other points of interest:-

Julie Schwartz said that although letters were often interesting, they wouldn't change the direction of a book because they consisted of such a small percentage of the overall readership.

The letters here may reflect the feeling from that minority or they may have been selected to support the changes that were going through from above. I get the feeling there's a bit of both going on here.

There's definite support & praise for seeing more of the second stringers, particularly their ongoing characterisation. That support becomes a bit more focused towards what the book would look like just before it happens.

It's noticeable that it was the likes of Ollie, Dinah, The Hawks, Reddy & Zee that they were praising. Of these, only Zee would remain.

The lettercols also said that Conway was writing a Zatanna mini series. Yet, characters with other commitments weren't getting to stay.

Perhaps it was because the mini would be written by Conway. But if that was the case, why drop Firestorm from the team? The only reason is that Firestorm was sacrificed so that Conway's edict that eliminated all the others held. With Zatanna, Conway would know exactly the launch date/ progress. Something he couldn't stay in touch with for the rest of his cast.

JLA 228 (July 1984) - Target: Earth



We begin with captions of mankind's brief history of Martian exploration from Nergal, to illusionary canals and finally the bulky Voyager. This is put into perspective by the far more technologically advanced, sleeker, Challenger machine and a small humanoid group uncovering Cydonian ruins, deep in the Martian regolith. The tripodal Challenger is vaguely Victorian, with a central energy chamber and multiple powerful coils as appendages. The figures wear dusty read robes with a red flame motif. Flashes of pale skin can be seen beneath the robes.

Viewing the shifting glyphs in the ruined red lit caverns, their mission takes on a religious fervour. They will find their target on Earth.

We are introduced to the JLA on their satellite. Aquaman, on monitor duty, doubting his position, missing Mera and wondering about his lost kingdom; The Hawks reconciling following "Beasts" and "Fiatlux"; Zatanna with a slightly confused furrowed brow reading a tome, trying not to disturb the Hawks; Tornado conducting calibration tests; Elongated Man & Firestorm in the kitchen sans Prof Stein who is elsewhere; Arrow and Canary training hard in a Zero G environment.

Aquaman is alerted by the appearance of four small spacecraft battling en route to Earth. They are advanced, as the satellite's detectors barely noticed them in time. Three of the craft fire on a fourth. The damaged craft veers towards the satellite and shoots by, as those on board join Aquaman in the monitor room. The Hawks are already on their way to their own ship, when Aquaman orders them to follow with the others to where the craft are likely to land: New York. Black Canary chides Aquaman for his authoritarian tone as they follow to the teleporters.

In New York, a pitched battle is taking place between a humanoid in a space suit and two white, shape shifting horrors. They tear at the groggy, suited figure with bone spikes and rows of flashing teeth.

The League arrive and look to contain all those involved. They struggle against the changelings, who have superior strength and resilience, in addition to shape shifting ferocity.

Only when Green Arrow recognises J'Onn J'Onzz as the space suited figure, do they realise that they are up against White Martians. With Firestorm already felled by J'Onzz, Green Arrow's fire arrows and Canary's cry are particularly effective as the battle shifts in the League's favour. Keen observers may note that there's a NY billboard for something/someone called Vibe in the skyline.

As the battle ends, the occupant of the third craft is seen shifting in with the crowd, her now human face momentarily shifting to white, then green as she adapts her disguise. The two White Martians, revert to smaller, shrivelled creatures when unconscious.

A much weakened J'Onzz alerts the JLA, from the UN offices, to an impending invasion from The Red Brotherhood, using their agents on Earth. Outside, the emergency services cordon off the battle site outside.

J'Onzz is hopeful that the two the league captured were all the Brotherhood had tried to get onto Earth. Even as he tells the League this, he thinks of the face of the third agent, his former love J'En. He knows she has escaped.

As the UN secretary general dismisses the idea of Martians out of hand, J'Onzz is slightly evasive concerning the Brotherhood's reasons for the invasion. Conditions on New Mars have resulted in the takeover of a man known as The Marshal who has plans of conquest. In the Manhunter's flashback we see The Marshal and his lieutenant Bel Juz.

The Marshal has used their race history to whip up the struggling Martians into aggressors even his love J'En. J'Onzz tells them that the White Martians have gone to an ancient settlement on Mars to help consolidate their hold on their people.

As J'Onzz finishes, a powerfully built, dark suited man with a crew cut informs the secretary general about retrieving the technology from the battle site. It leads to a bitter retort about the greed in human nature from Aquaman with Hawkgirl's sympathy. Aquaman also cuts off Red Tornado's defence of the action as a scream form the secretary general's aide distracts the group.

With their enemy warned, the Martians have been forced into the open. A Martian battleship hovers near the UN building. From it, the Challenger machine descends, its legs rising above the East River.

Firestorm races to intercept it, only to be blasted away by a ray from the machine's central chamber.

An image of the Marshal with Bel Juz is projected from Challenger. The Marshal is very confident, stating they have weapons that the humans could never conceive of. An ultimatum is given to the assembled politicians. Surrender and be kept in controlled camps as the human gene pool dwindles, or be destroyed immediately.

The dark suited man orders the shutdown of as many communication channels as possible to contain any panic. The populace may not find out their planet is at war. There is considerable fear, but Earth's leaders prepare to defend their planet. A returning Firestorm wonders why the others didn't step in to stop Challenger. He's reminded bluntly by Aquaman that they are up against not one foe, but a potential army; an entire population.

Upon their return to the JLA satellite, Aquaman summons the rest of the League. Elongated Man arrives as the others were hoping for Superman. In vignettes we see that the rest of the JLA aren't coming. Hal Jordan is saving Omnicrom Ceti (Green Lantern 177); The Atom is in South America (Sword of the Atom), Batman is shown with the Outsiders having deactivated his signal device (BATO); Superman and Flash are somewhere else in space time ( DC Comics presents 73) and Wonder Woman is in the 63rd Century (Wonder Woman 318).

Having returned from visiting his wife, Sue, Elongated Man lets the others know that the news of the ship's arrival has scared a lot of people, but they don't realise a war is imminent. Aquaman is concerned about the League's recent response to crises. When questioned, Aquaman tells the UN secretary general that he does not know where the league's strongest members are and both grimly prepare for the worst: A War of the Worlds.




Roll Call: Aquaman, Zatanna, Hawkman, Hawkwoman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Firestorm, Elongated Man, Red Tornado
Support: Martian Manhunter
Cameo: Mera, Superman, Wonder Woman, Atom, Green Lantern (Jordan), Batman, Flash, J'En, Sue Dibny
Villains: Challenger, The Red Brotherhood, Bel Juz, The Marshal

Further JLA Appearances:

June 1984
Supergirl 20: The last full JLA roster make an appearance to celebrate anniversary of Supergirl's arrival
Blue Devil 1: Blue Devil gets bonded with his suit when battling Nebiros on a movie set
Teen Titans 43: Titans captured by Terminator, Terra under contract of the Hive
Blue Devil 4 (Sep): Superman, Elongated Man and Zatanna battle with Blue Devil against Nebiros. Comic states it takes place before 228.

July 1984
Sword of the Atom Special 1: Palmer returns to civilisation. Using his powers is increasingly painful due to radiation received in his sword of the atom miniseries. Loring and Palmer write a book once Palmer's decision is made to return to the jungle. Palmer is reunited with Laethwen and her people.
Green Lantern 177: As the Demolition Crew attack Ferris aircraft, Jordan is summoned by the Guardians to defend Omnicrom Ceti IV. As Ferris is destroyed, the Predator appears (in same scene as Ferris)
Teen Titans Annual 3: Terra dies

August 1984
DC Comics Presents 73: Superman and Flash cross time & space.
Wonder Woman 318: Wonder Woman in the 63rd century

My guesses;

Sargon the Sorcerer (yay!), Solovar?, John Stewart, Mikal Tomas?, a robot Manhunter, don't know, don't know

Big Barda, Lightray, Harlequinn/Duela, Bumblebee, Guardian?, Flamebird, Golden Eagle

don't know, Ultraa?, Vigilante?, don't know (but she looks awesome! drawn by Perez?), don't know, Star Sapphire, Man-Bat

Dr. Mist/Nommo (yay!), don't know, don't know, don't know, Pariah? (boo, hiss!), Catwoman, Insect Queen

Dr. Fate, don't know, Isis?, the Ray, don't know, Robotman?, Waverider?

don't know (a Challenger of the Unknown?), Shazam/Captain Marvel, don't know, Huntress/Helena Wayne?, don't know, Tin, Ambush Bug

What an eclectic line up of potentials!

229 (August 1984) - "When Worlds Collide"





Standing on the bridge of the Martian battleship with Bel Juz, a confident, almost smug, The Marshal assumes that Earth would surrender as the deadline approached. Earth chooses to defend itself and rejects the Martian ultimatum. Faced with slow death or quick annihilation, the Earth has no choice but to fight. On the JLA satellite, a jubilant Firestorm is reminded by Hawkwoman of the severity of the threat now facing the whole planet. It's nothing to be excited about.

The Marshal orders the activation of a weapon that will bring the humans to their knees and that humans are to be swept from orbit. Beside him Juz (in a priestess garb) discusses the wisdom of not killing J'Onzz or subjugating the humans earlier. An irritated Marshal strikes out at Juz, assuring her that neither will alter the outcome of the war. Juz reminds the Marshalwho helped him seize power, but is instructed to return to Mars to await their triumph. The messiah they seek will be found, the humans crushed and J'Onzz will be killed.

NASA Shuttle Explorer is attacked and crippled. On the JLA satellite we see further signs of friction between Aquaman and the league as he makes tough tactical choices with the resources they have against this level of threat. J'Onzz is still militaristic enough to think Aquaman is correct in his assessment and nods silently. Arrow remarks about Aquaman's changes since he lost his throne, only to be shushed by Canary.

A distrustful Firestorm, having been chastised by Dibny for questioning the loyalties of J'Onzz and almost the Hawks, is sent to tackle the problem of the shuttle. He saves the crew, blaming J'Onzz for the situation (a distrust going back to JLA #200). Firestorm watches as other smaller craft enter Earth's orbit. He wonders if J'Onzz's mission is designed to split the league apart.

J'Onzz, Tornado and Canary depart for Mars and the settlement J'Onzz told them about last issue. Canary's thoughts are with Ollie, whose overprotectiveness before she left caused an argument.

The others, except the Hawks who are absent, remain on the satellite preparing for an attack. They witness strikes on military targets. It's clear that something is very wrong with Earth's defences. Key sites across major powers are being annihilated without much resistance. Aquaman communicates to a UN that is on the verge of capitulation. They are being affected by something.

As Aquaman wonders about the cause, the JLA satellite is attacked. It suffers considerable damage from small Martian craft.

On Mars, the league infiltrates the secure Martian ruins, defeating white Martian horrors and another Challenger robot. Tornado struggles against the dust, but does use his amplified vision to assess the Martian positions. He wonders if his Tornado form could escape the confines of a broken android shell.

The group find secrets of the solar system pre dating mankind's development on Earth and learn that the Brotherhood's target is figure of prophecy in their religion; Flame symbolism is common. They emerge into a chamber powering the settlement, and its new occupants.

At the heart of the chamber is a large, ancient machine. Cables sprout from its surface down onto a figure suspended at its core. The figure is clearly hurt by the wires that protrude from him and the device seems to be sapping his strength and will.

J'Onzz recognises the figure from his earliest days on Earth. It is Adam Blake: Captain Comet. Blake's psionic powers are being used by the device to instil fear and weakness over Earth. The Manhunter is disgusted that a relic of the Martian civilisation could be used in such a way. J'Onzz speculates that those in the satellite may be safe, but they have to be warned about what must be happening on the Earth.

The satellite is attacked by several, small Martian vessels causing significant damage. A boarding party, with the Challenger robot at the front, enter the satellite's now silent corridors. A battered Aquaman attacks the robot, only to be thrown back through a wall. The Martians are held up by Elongated Man. He contains the Martians until Arrow's fame arrows deal with them and a demolition arrow damages the Challenger. But, in a final action, the robot manages to break through the bulkhead, reminding Dibny of the nightmares he suffered when the League dealt with Doctor Destiny (Annual #1).

Firestorm returns from saving the shuttle to see a badly damaged satellite with its atmosphere venting out into the vacuum. He thinks that the JLA are dead.




Roll Call: Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Zatanna, Hawkman, Hawkwoman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Firestorm, Elongated Man, Red Tornado
Support: Captain Comet
Cameo: n/a
Villains: Challenger, White Martians, Bel Juz, The Marshal

Further JLA Appearances:

August 1984

New Teen Titans 1: Raven departs the Titans as the power of her father grows over her. Joseph tells the others when he possesses her. Note: This is the Baxter title set further ahead, so this story will be built into the JLA run later.

BatO 13: Batman reveals his identity to the Outsiders.

Blue Devil 3: Cassidy defeats Metallo and meets Superman. STAR can't help but Superman knows someone who might, leading into #4 set before JLA #228.

Green Lantern 179: Jordan saves the people of Omnicrom. Predator defeats the Demolition Crew and meets Carol Ferris.