JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #152
On Sale November 28, 1977
Written by Gerry Conway
Penciled by Dick Dillin
Inked by Frank McLaughlin
Edited to Julius Schwartz
Cover by Rich Buckler
ROLL CALL: Superman, Batman, Hawkman, Elongated Man, Red Tornado and Hawkgirl
Our Hostess as is the Joker in "Clowning Around" located inside the front cover
and now..."2,000 LIGHT YEARS TO CHRISTMAS!"
Three travellers are going across the great void of space, each of them carrying a gift. As they near Earth they are struck by some sort of space warp and fall to the planet's surface. As they are knocked out, their gifts fall away landing in three locations around the world. On board the JLA Satellite, Superman, Batman, Hawkman and Elongated Man are losing a poker game to Hawkgirl. Red Tornado thinks he saw three shooting stars and heard a scream in space, the rest of the team doesn't believe him. Just as Hawkgirl asks what a royal flush is, an alarm goes off telling the team that something is entering the planet's atmosphere. It has detected three shooting stars or meteors and the team apologizes to Red Tornado. Superman wonders if Red Tornado could be right about the screaming too and goes back to the game. Elongated Man mentions that this is the night before Christmas Eve.
One pouch lands in Georgia in a river near an Ajax chemical plant. It is a flask and some of the fluids it contained are leaking out. Truman Ajax is in the process of throwing an environmentalist protester out of his office. As he watches the protesters mill about the front gate, he takes a drink of tap water. The water looks slightly more sparkly than usual. In the Middle East a little girl named Traya is running away from explosions during a battle. She finds a glowing globe near a pouch that seems to be magic. In British Columbia, the thrid pouch has landed and seems to contain some sort of bread. A deer comes by and has a bite just as he's shot at by some hunters. He grabs a piece of the glowing loaf in his mouth and runs away. In Peru, someone else has noticed the objects that have fallen from the sky...
Harcourt Fenton Mudd!
I mean Major Macabre! He goes off to find the three objects of immense power. But first, he kills one of his flunkies for not having his spy information monitored costing him time. Meanwhile, the JLA learns that those three meteors are causing trouble in the areas they landed in. Teams are made and we're off!
Superman and Red Tornado arrive in the Middle East. They see three jets attacking the city below when two giant hands come from the ground and crush them. Superman saves the pilots and Red Tornado flies to the source only to hear a child sobbing. He sees Traya with a globe and she uses it to crush another jet plane. Red Tornado tries a friendly approach, but she smacks him with a giant battering ram. Batman and Elongated Man arrive in a deserted Georgia town where all communication to the outside world has ceased. As Batman investigates some greenhouse plants, Elongated Man is attacked by the townfolk. They have been turned into some sort of mud monsters. Batman tries to pull Elongated Man out of the mob, but he is struck from behind. And Batman fans write a bunch of complaint letters. The Hawks arrive in the mountains of Canada and notice hunters fleeing and shooting at something in the forest. Hawkman uses a device that measures radiation and notes that whatever is coming has a lot of it and is a giant. Out of the trees bursts a large centaur like creature. Hawkman tries to blast it with a Thanagarian Impulse laser, but it shrugs it off and smacks him down with its antlers. Hawkgirl tosses a net on it and fires a tranquilizer at it. She gets caught by a kick from the creature and is also knocked out. The drugged creature also falls to the ground.
Major Macabre then flies in with his jet to take the magic bread from the giant creature. Superman is flying toward Red Tornado when he sees soldiers sneaking up on Traya and her globe. They fire at her and the globe blocks the bullets. She fires back with the globe and the soldiers vanish. Superman uses his xray vision to look inside the globe and there is no mechanical component inside. He deduces it's magic just as the globe catches him in a giant vise. Red Tornado wakes up and tells Traya that he is alone and afraid just as she is. He asks her to please trust him and she drops the globe and runs over to him. The vise disappears, but Superman is knocked out by a much larger Major Macabre. He has tasted the alien bread and it has made him larger and as strong as Superman. Red Tornado tries to pick up the globe, but Major Macabre steps on his arm and his hand falls off. He flies off with the globe and no longer needs his jet. Back in Georgia, the mutated protesters are explaining their actions to a trapped Batman and Elongated Man. Elongated Man stretches out a finger to try to free Batman from a printing press, but accidentally turns it on. Elongated Man uses the distraction to get free from the mutants, but he thinks he's taken too long to free Batman. However, when he arrives back at the printing press, he finds Batman has already escaped. The heroes run toward the river as Batman explains he thinks there is something in the water. They find a sparkling area in the river, but Major Macabre blasts them from behind and takes the flask.
The heroes gather back in the satellite with Traya in tow. Hawkman is fixing Red Tornado's arm as the heroes try to figure out how to defeat the suddenly powerful Major Macabre. They are also worried that the creator of these evil weapons has also made his way to Earth. He talks to Traya and she thinks the globe was helpful not evil. Red Tornado ponders that the artifacts may not be the problem after all. Red Tornado proposes a plan to find the alien creator and then find Major Macabre and allow him to defeat the JLA. At his HQ in Peru, Major Macabre is about to drink from the flash to attain ultimate power when it is knocked from his hand by a crossbow bolt fired by Hawkgirl. (Why do we need Green Arrow on the team again?) Five members fight Major Macabre and he proves too much for them. However, this distraction has allowed Red tornado to get the artifacts. Major Macabre chases after him, but he is blasted by the aliens from the beginning of our story. As the power leaves Major Macabre, Red Tornado gives the artifacts back to the aliens. They are thankful for recovering the artifacts and mention that these gifts are much too powerful for a planet filled with creatures that are too warlike.
An hour later the heroes and Traya are on the satellite and watch the alien travelers depart. They healed the people in Georgia and the stag in Canada before leaving. Red Tornado refers to them as "three wise beings waylaid on a journey to destiny." He continues, "Consider the similarity Ralph. Three wise ones bearing gifts following the beacon of a star 2000 light years away.! Who may say that history cannot repeat itself on some other world far off in our galaxy? For the universe is vast, with countless races under the eye of God. And so long as any being lives in fear, a new Christmas Day must always dawn." He walks off with Traya as the rest of the team looks off at the aliens in wonder.
Merry Christmas!
JLA Mailroom: There was mostly favorable reaction to #147 and the three team teamup.
JLA Mailroom Extra: More membership discussion and the results of the JLA popularity poll.
STORY: B+
For me, this is one of Conway's best. The ending is about as close to Linus' speech as you're going to find in a comic book.
ART: B+
Mr. Dillin, it's been an honor looking at your art again.
COVER: B
Good one from Buckler, but where was Wonder Woman inside?
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: B-
Traya would go on to be adopted by Red Tornado and Kathy Sutton and was featured in the Young Justice comic.
Anyone else want to take the JLA to issue #200? And maybe all the way to Annual #2.
I think for my next thread, I'll just bounce around from era to era and comic to comic. Who knows what I'll read next? I do have one in mind a thread that will go in order for a single comic, but that will have to wait for next year.
Thanks to everyone for reading!
UP! UP! AND AWAYYYYYYYYY!!!!
