Quite a classic cover.. though it doesn't reflect what's in a comic at all... it's funny, I never thought about it before, but I don't remember a desert right outside New York City. 

No origin story here (That comes much later), but we jump right in, with the Justice League fully established, including communicators and an HQ.   I wonder how many kids went looking for an earlier story, or if they were just too excited at the uber-coolness.

The story starts out with Aquaman being told by Johnny the puffer fish(I think that was his name) that a weird alien Starfish has landed, and claimed a few locals as his henchmen.  Quite a smart puffer fish.   Aquaman calls the league, and we see each of them answering the call.  Superman and Batman are too busy, but the others drop what they're doing to answer.  

Superman has a good excuse (he's out in space punching meteors), but Batman was just cruising Gotham going after unnamed 'villians' (I guess it was too much to co-ordinate the excuse with the current bat-book).  Man, was the 60s Batmobile terrible... or was that just here?  Upon reflection, this is many years before the BatGod, so  maybe he was just sparing his own ego, since alien starfish monsters are bit above his pay grade.

Turns out, they're above Aquaman's too...as he is assigned to 'look to make sure they're aren't any more) while the others deal with the starfish.   Wonder Woman seems alot less powerful than she is now, and gets pair with Martian Manhunter, which Flash and GL go off on their own.   

Green Lantern's up first, and his starfish is trying to steal an 'atom bomb' from a plane in Colorado.   One does wonder why the Air Force has planes in the air in Colorado with Atom Bombs on them.  The Starro henchmen takes down the plane, and makes off with the bomb while Green Lantern saves the pilot.   the Starro triggers the bomb (apparently in the mountains so no one gets hurt), and absorbs the energy.  Green Lantern than zaps him with his ring and wills it to turn back into a regular starfish.  One for the good guys!

Next up Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter's turn... they struggle alot more, but end up winning when J'onn takes some small meteors (see what they did there... Superman helped) and uses his 'super Martian breath' to smash them into the Starro.   It starts getting smaller, and the pummel it into submission.  Why he didn't just blow the Starro into space if he could do that, I'm not sure.  

Flash catches his in Happy Harbor, where it's brainwashing everyone in town.. except Snapper Carr.   Flash saves Snapper and wins pretty easily, then decides to keep the kid around, since he didn't get brainwashed.

Back at HQ, Aquaman sends the others out to get the main Starro, who has learned from his henchmen and has all their powers.   It very trickily turns yellow to foil Green Lantern, but Flash figures out the lime from Snapper's yard work was what saved him.  They somehow get a seeming literal ton of the stuff and bury Starro in it.. good thing Alien conquer starfish are so similar to our own!  The good guys win, and Snapper gets to be an honorary member.

Whew! That's alot in one issue!  Not much actual team work, though, just at the every end... Starro is much more menacing in his later appearances... there was never any real concern the good guys weren't going to win, and it seemed Flash, GL, or Manhunter all could have handled it themselves... we did get a little team work at the end (though it was essentially gardening), but not much to speak of.  Aquaman was almost in the Jarvis role, which was pretty hilarious.  At least they didn't have Wonder Woman play damsel in distress.  

Not the greatest story ever, but it sure does drop with potential, and it was pretty fun.

Historic Signifigance: 10/10
Story: 6/10

That looks like the Empire State Building on the cover but do they actually mention New York City in the store? Thats pretty rare for a DC comic in this era using an actual name.
I enjoyed the early JLA and Gardner Fox's writing.But it will be hard to enjoy reading these issues consecutively in a long run. There's a set pattern Gardner uses for these tales and the repetition along with over-exposure to Snapper Carr could be hazardous to your mental health

I'm going through several Silver Age series for my Alter Ego article, including Justice League, so I'll be interested in reading what y'all have to say about them. I probably won't participate much, aside from the occasional correction, since anything profound I might have to say I'm kinda obligated to save for Roy.

Cei-U!
I summon the observation post!

Of course!  I thought it was kinda neat Roy Thomas did the intro to the Omnibus... I think of him as a Marvel guy... even though I know he did lots with DC, too.   

Feel free to correct as needed, use me as a 'dumb modern fan' to compare you surely astute observations to in the article, or whatever

It could be Asbury Park on the New Jersey shore about 12 years before Bruce Springfield showed up.Or the other part of the Jersey shore before Snooki appeared

Is Snooki still around? Last I saw she did a WWE appearance (which was strangely appropriate)... I kinda thought the Jersey Shore thing was done.

I love their song 'What's its worth in the USA'