Post by rberman on Jan 8, 2019 6:11:36 GMT -5
JLA #87 “Batman… King of the World” (December 1970)
Creative Team: Mike Friederich wrote it. Art is Dillin and Giella.
The Story: In media res! Hawkman joins Batman in an unconscious heap thanks to a giant robot named Glugg! When other JLAers get there, Batman is back on his feet, raving about being King of the World and ordering the giant robot to attack his friends! And Glugg kills them all! But no, it was only JLA robots cleverly substituted by Green Lantern. The real Atom sneaks inside Glugg and disables him.
Traveling across the galaxy, GL, Atom, The Flash, and Zatanna find Glugg’s home planet, a ruin where they meet analogues of Marvel’s Avengers (more on this below) who have come to Glugg's planet for much the same reason as the JLA. The two teams have a Misunderstanding Fight that ends after Zatanna shows concern for a fallen foe. The heroes discuss the futility of war, and the issue ends abruptly, quoting the Sermon on the Mount (“Blessed are the peacemakers”). I guess after that, everybody goes home.
Note again how stretching out your unclenched hand is said to be a sign of peace, just like last issue.
Continuity references: GL’s ring is much less powerful than before “as shown in the cataclysmic events Green Lantern has been experiencing in his own magazine!” Have you noticed that Superman and Batman never get their books plugged?
My Two Cents: What a weird story. The first chapter is a goofy-fun Silver Age mash-up of the tropes “Why is my friend acting mean to me?” (the answer: mind control) and “Saved by robot duplicates.” The second chapter, taking them to the alien planet was narratively unnecessary; it’s just for fun. Mike Friedrich was making good on a longstanding agreement with Roy Thomas, who wanted to have a JLA/Avengers crossover event. Roy recalls:
So the Thunderers are:
Jack B Quick, the Quicksilver analogue in baby blue, is “not as fast as The Flash,” let the record show!
Blue Jay can shrink to bird size, so not as small as The Atom, or even Yellowjacket.
Wandjina, the Thor analogue with blue shorts and a red cape, may be named for an aboriginal rain god, but his appearance is more European, with a bald head, flowing blond fur on his costume, and a steel battle-axe. At least he puts the lie to last issue’s claim that aborigines are moral primitives who only know hatred.
Silver Sorceress has “Hex Power” like Scarlet Witch, and a similarly face-surrounding headpiece.
This is an uncharacteristically mopey Superman, feeling unappreciated and alienated. In all fairness, he is an alien.
Zatanna, though not in the JLA at this point, was roped into this adventure so that the Silver Sorceress could have a counterpart in the battle. She appears to have entered the JLA satellite by magic without the slightest permission. In another “out of left field” romantic moment, Superman suddenly realizes how attractive Zatanna is. Hey baby, I’m vulnerable to your magic! Talk backwards to me…
But no! It’s Green Lantern, Atom and the very married Flash who are snuggling up to Z by the end of the story. Friederich really likes her, talking constantly about her eyes and her smile. She appears quite pleased to be the centerpiece of their group hug.
Julius Schwartz grants us readers the ability to understand the language of the Thunderers. That was nice of him! But the JLA can’t understand without the help of Green Lantern’s ring.
Friedrich fulfills the “socially conscious” quota for this story with a cautionary tale about nuclear holocaust, working in a dig at those evil corporations in the process. It's also the second issue in a row with a "give peace a chance" theme, and like the Planet Monsan story involves a JLA trip to a barren planet.
I don’t believe I have ever heard Superman say “gonna” before. Or again. If you think this issue has weird captions, commanding readers to put themselves in Superman's shoes, then just wait until we get to issue #89...
Creative Team: Mike Friederich wrote it. Art is Dillin and Giella.
The Story: In media res! Hawkman joins Batman in an unconscious heap thanks to a giant robot named Glugg! When other JLAers get there, Batman is back on his feet, raving about being King of the World and ordering the giant robot to attack his friends! And Glugg kills them all! But no, it was only JLA robots cleverly substituted by Green Lantern. The real Atom sneaks inside Glugg and disables him.
Traveling across the galaxy, GL, Atom, The Flash, and Zatanna find Glugg’s home planet, a ruin where they meet analogues of Marvel’s Avengers (more on this below) who have come to Glugg's planet for much the same reason as the JLA. The two teams have a Misunderstanding Fight that ends after Zatanna shows concern for a fallen foe. The heroes discuss the futility of war, and the issue ends abruptly, quoting the Sermon on the Mount (“Blessed are the peacemakers”). I guess after that, everybody goes home.
Note again how stretching out your unclenched hand is said to be a sign of peace, just like last issue.
Continuity references: GL’s ring is much less powerful than before “as shown in the cataclysmic events Green Lantern has been experiencing in his own magazine!” Have you noticed that Superman and Batman never get their books plugged?
My Two Cents: What a weird story. The first chapter is a goofy-fun Silver Age mash-up of the tropes “Why is my friend acting mean to me?” (the answer: mind control) and “Saved by robot duplicates.” The second chapter, taking them to the alien planet was narratively unnecessary; it’s just for fun. Mike Friedrich was making good on a longstanding agreement with Roy Thomas, who wanted to have a JLA/Avengers crossover event. Roy recalls:
It’s common knowledge that one night in 1969, Denny and I were conversing at a party at my apartment when fellow writer Mike Friedrich (who was destined to become the third JLA writer) approached us and said, “You two should dream up a way for the JLA and the Avengers to meet!” Denny and I had perhaps imbibed just enough of our drinks to make that sound like a good idea, even in those days before company crossovers had become a widespread practice – so we agreed that, in prearranged, closely timed future issues of our respective titles, he would introduce an Avengers-like group of villains into JLA, and I’d toss a pseudo-JLA crime gang into The Avengers. For my part, I didn’t have to worry about editor Stan Lee looking too closely over my shoulder, so I developed the Squadron Sinister (and, a short time later, its good guy equivalent, the Squadron Supreme). Denny, alas, felt less comfortable broaching the subject of DC characters battling a bunch of quasi-Avengers to Julie Schwartz – so he fulfilled his end of our bargain in JLA #75 by having the heroes fight doppelgangers of themselves who behaved a little like Avengers: a green “Batman” who threw a trashcan lid (a la Captain America’s shield), a green “Superman” who proclaimed that he was as powerful as Thor, etc… and let it go at that. We both did what we could, in our own ways, and it was an in-joke that fans and colleagues asked us about for years to come…
With JLA #87, acting belatedly on his own suggestion to Denny and me at that party back in ’69, Mike introduced his own group of heroes who were rough equivalents to Marvel’s Avengers—including Wandjina, an Australian aborigine rain god who owed a bit visually to Marvel’s Thor. I don’t recall whether or not Mike and I coordinated appearances in each of our company’s books this time around, but if we didn’t then it’s an amazing coincidence that at the same time, over in The Avengers, I chose to introduce the Squadron Supreme – the good guy versions of the Squadron Sinister from that earlier run-in. (from a 2011 Roy Thomas essay used as the foreword to the JLA Bronze Era Vol 1 Omnibus)
With JLA #87, acting belatedly on his own suggestion to Denny and me at that party back in ’69, Mike introduced his own group of heroes who were rough equivalents to Marvel’s Avengers—including Wandjina, an Australian aborigine rain god who owed a bit visually to Marvel’s Thor. I don’t recall whether or not Mike and I coordinated appearances in each of our company’s books this time around, but if we didn’t then it’s an amazing coincidence that at the same time, over in The Avengers, I chose to introduce the Squadron Supreme – the good guy versions of the Squadron Sinister from that earlier run-in. (from a 2011 Roy Thomas essay used as the foreword to the JLA Bronze Era Vol 1 Omnibus)
So the Thunderers are:
Jack B Quick, the Quicksilver analogue in baby blue, is “not as fast as The Flash,” let the record show!
Blue Jay can shrink to bird size, so not as small as The Atom, or even Yellowjacket.
Wandjina, the Thor analogue with blue shorts and a red cape, may be named for an aboriginal rain god, but his appearance is more European, with a bald head, flowing blond fur on his costume, and a steel battle-axe. At least he puts the lie to last issue’s claim that aborigines are moral primitives who only know hatred.
Silver Sorceress has “Hex Power” like Scarlet Witch, and a similarly face-surrounding headpiece.
This is an uncharacteristically mopey Superman, feeling unappreciated and alienated. In all fairness, he is an alien.
Zatanna, though not in the JLA at this point, was roped into this adventure so that the Silver Sorceress could have a counterpart in the battle. She appears to have entered the JLA satellite by magic without the slightest permission. In another “out of left field” romantic moment, Superman suddenly realizes how attractive Zatanna is. Hey baby, I’m vulnerable to your magic! Talk backwards to me…
But no! It’s Green Lantern, Atom and the very married Flash who are snuggling up to Z by the end of the story. Friederich really likes her, talking constantly about her eyes and her smile. She appears quite pleased to be the centerpiece of their group hug.
Julius Schwartz grants us readers the ability to understand the language of the Thunderers. That was nice of him! But the JLA can’t understand without the help of Green Lantern’s ring.
Friedrich fulfills the “socially conscious” quota for this story with a cautionary tale about nuclear holocaust, working in a dig at those evil corporations in the process. It's also the second issue in a row with a "give peace a chance" theme, and like the Planet Monsan story involves a JLA trip to a barren planet.
I don’t believe I have ever heard Superman say “gonna” before. Or again. If you think this issue has weird captions, commanding readers to put themselves in Superman's shoes, then just wait until we get to issue #89...