With the years going by in comics, things are bound to change and that is for the good of them. I’m not saying that comics were bad before the bronze age era, but the late 1960s changed the way that comics were written, drawn and told, mainly for DC Comics. Although Marvel Comics had been created in its famous form in the very early 1960s, it was ahead of its time compared to its rival as the comics featured strong character, unique plots and dynamic art and layouts, which made DC Comics seem like an old dying company. This set of JLA/JSA crossovers sees a change in comics for this era, both in terms of writing and art. Although I very much tend to enjoy plots by Gardner Fox and I believe he is a true storytelling genius for comics, character becomes a much bigger part of the issues when writer Dennis O’Neil arrives in the picture, maintaining the drama that Fox put into comics while adding so much intense and clever character development. Additionally, we see a change in the art of DC Comics. Marvel had always been much more interesting in its approach in the 1960s with artists like Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby. For the JLA, Dick Dillin becomes the regular penciller on the run in 1968 and stayed with the title for pretty much every issue until his untimely death in 1980. Times were changing in comics, but how did this affect the team ups between the Justice League of America and the Justice Society of America?
In the second of a series of reviews covering every DC Crisis in the silver and bronze ages up until Crisis on Infinite Earths, I will be reviewing:
The Super Crisis that Struck Earth-Two/The Negative Crisis on Earths One-Two --- Justice League of America (vol 1) 55-56
The Stormy Return of Red Tornado/T.O. Morrow Kills the Justice League – Today! --- Justice League of America (vol 1) 64-65
Star Light, Star Bright – Death Star I See Tonight/Where Death Fears to Tread --- Justice League of America (vol 1) 73-74
Peril of the Paired Planets/Where Valor Fails… Will Magic Triumph? --- Justice League of America (vol 1) 82-83
Justice League of America issues 55-56, 64-65, 73-74 and 82-83 were published in 1967, 68, 69 and 1970 respectively, with the part ones being release in August and part twos being released in September. While half of the stories are written by Gardner Fox, the other half are written by Dennis O’Neil with art by Mike Sekowsky and Sid Greene on the first story while Dick Dillin with Sid Greene draw all the other stories, with the exception of the last story, which is inked by Joe Giella. I have read these stories in the
Crisis on Multiple Earths Volume Two trade paperback.
The Super Crisis that Struck Earth-Two/The Negative Crisis on Earths One-Two --- Written by Gardner Fox with art by Mike Sekowsky and Sid Greene
THE PLOT
On Earth-2, the home of the Justice Society of America, four random people are given superpowers by a mysterious floating black sphere and the four people named themselves How Chu, Gem Girl, Money Master and the Smashing Sportsman and they all go about comitting crimes. Meanwhile, Robin (Dick Grayson) has been accepted and welcomed in the Justice Society of America just as the team has heard of the mysterious black spheres. All of the heroes go off to fight the new villains, with Robin and Wildcat fighting the Smashing Sportsman, Wonder Woman fighting Gem Girl, Mister Terrific and Hawkman fighting Money Master and Hourman fighting How Chu. All of the heroes lose their fights and they return back to the JSA headquarters, where Johnny Thunder recommends the help of the Justice League of America from Earth-1. The JSA accept the advice and JLA members Superman, Flash, Green Lantern and Green Arrow arrive, who tell the JSA that they have been fighting similar foes to them. It is then that Johnny Thunder’s Thunderbolt explains that the black spheres have evolved in positive time to become incredibly intelligent and that they are from a dark matter universe and to survive, they had to hide themselves in the bodies of human beings at the cost of their host becoming evil. Afterwards, the JLA members decide to work with the JSA to defeat the hosts of the black spheres.
After hearing from the Thunderbolt that only four humans were controlled by the black spheres and that any other spheres sent to Earth-2 would be dead, Robin thinks that the dead spheres could have some radiation still in them which could help the heroes defeat the hosts of the black spheres. After locating one of the spheres and taking it back to the JSA headquarters, Earth-1 heroes The Flash and Green Lantern with Earth-2 heroes Wonder Woman and Hourman are elected to become infected by the sphere to find a weakness in the spheres power. A fight ensues between the heroes and the weaknesses of the hosts are found to be water, plants, wood and laughter. The heroes then split and go to take out the Smashing Sportsman, How Chu, Money Master and Gem Girl with water, plants, wood and laughter respectively. In the end however, Johnny Thunder manages to defeat all of those infected with his bad jokes and writes up some of the jokes on a sheet of paper for the JLA heroes to defeat the infected humans on Earth-1. The criminal charges are also dropped from the four infected humans from Earth-2.
MY THOUGHTS
Similarly, to what I thought about Anti Matter Man story in the last review, this isn’t one of the best JLA/JSA team ups, but there are a few good features of it. Most notably, Robin has now joined the JSA, which I think is a good idea as it keeps adding new characters to the team. This doesn’t make the meetings between the two teams boring as we get to see some new characters. Also, it is good to see Robin be an actual part of the plot as he comes up with the original idea of getting the radiation from the spheres, which was the first step to defeating the hosts of the spheres. Apart from that… I can’t think of anything else.
I’ll come out and say this right now, this is one of the worst meetings between the JLA and JSA. My main problem has to be the fact that the villains just suck. All of them are pretty unoriginal and dull, but not only that, they don’t even come across as a threat or menace the teams, which makes the story feel even more weightless and empty. Their weaknesses also just seem so random and although there is some comedic value
in it, especially the laughter, it makes the villains even worse and sillier. Also, I feel that the ending is kind of rushed as we know that there are infected people on Earth-1, which we don’t get to see. I think that Fox could have paced this story out much better as the story feels incomplete. How do you know that the villains on Earth-1 will have the same weaknesses? Also, I don’t see why the heroes decided to choose some of the most powerful heroes to test the spheres on. This is because heroes like Wonder Woman are incredibly powerful and almost invincible, making the fight impossible. This just doesn’t make any sense to me. Not only that, but due to the weird plot choices and the dull villains, this story can be a chore to read. The best thing about it has to be Johnny Thunder’s bad jokes and even they are pretty s*it. Apart from a few other crossovers which we will get to future reviews, this is by far the worst JLA/JSA team up of them all…
As I said in the last review, I’m not a fan of Mike Sekowsky as an artist. Sure, he isn’t too bad when he is inked by Sid Greene, but the art still looks dull and some of the action scenes look forced. I’ve got no problem with the anatomy or stuff like that, but the expressions on people’s faces look dull, bored and way too neutral…
Story: 3.5/10
Art: 5.5/10
The Stormy Return of Red Tornado/T.O. Morrow Kills the Justice League - Today! – Written by Gardner Fox with art by Dick Dillin and Sid Greene
THE PLOT
On Earth-2, numerous Justice Society of America members have met at their headquarters and are shocked when a hero named Red Tornado enters the room. Although the JSA don’t believe he is the Red Tornado as he looks nothing like the old JSA one, the new hero knows the identities of the JSA members. Hourman then asks to (continues after image)
take Red Tornado’s helmet off, which he agrees to, but they find that he has no face. However, the conversation is cut short as Hourman’s Crime Caster has found that a robbery is going on at a museum. The JSA and Red Tornado go the museum to fight robot robbers and although the fight is being won by the JSA, Red Tornado makes some mistakes when trying to aid the JSA and he accidentally is responsible for killing Black Canary, Starman, Hourman and The Flash. After Doctor Fate and Red Tornado mange to escape from the robots, Red Tornado is being drawn into the direction of T.O Morrow, who created the Red Tornado after hearing from his computer a recommendation to build him to commit crimes and defeat the JSA. As he recalls the story, the Red Tornado walks into T.O Morrow’s hideout and tries to defeat him, but the villain uses a futur-energy gun to deactivate the robot. T.O Morrow then asks him computers if his theft in Atlantis that he has planned would work, but the computer tells him it will succeed only if Red Tornado is there to try and stop him. After the JSA take out more robots with the help of Red Tornado, he tells the JSA members that the only way to revive their teammates would be to use a futur-energy gun. However, when Red Tornado picks up one of the guns from the fallen robots, he and the JSA are stuck by an electric force from the weapon, which knocks them all out. T.O Morrow stands over the bodies of the heroes triumphantly, but then decides to take out the JLA on Earth-1. He confronts his computer again, which tells him that his plan to defeat the JLA can only succeed if Red Tornado is there with them, which makes T.O Morrow confused.
In the JLA meeting room on Earth-1, Steve Trevor, Jean Loring, Hawkgirl, Midge and Mera, all of whom are girlfriends (and a boyfriend) of Justice League of America members arrive and kiss their partners, those being Wonder Woman, The Atom, Hawkman, Snapper Carr and Aquaman respectively. However, the kisses kill the recipients and the duplicates of the partners of the dead heroes vanish. Afterwards, the JLA receives a message from T.O Morrow, who is sending down some strange creatures to fight the JLA. The monsters are defeated by the JLA and the heroes find T.O Morrow in their souvenir room using his powers to revive JLA villains, the Diamond Creature, Amazo, Starro, Doctor Light and his light machine and Super-Duper. The JLA members are all defeated and T.O Morrow puts all of the bodies of the heroes on display. Meanwhile on Earth-2, Red Tornado wakes up and he manages to locate his creator on Earth-1. Although he gets to the JLA headquarters, T.O Morrow is nowhere to be seen. However, Red Tornado listens to a recording of his creator speak about how he managed to defeat some of the JLA members with the kisses of their partners. Red Tornado then summons all of the lovers to the JLA headquarters to revive them all. This is successful and the revived JLA heroes go with Red Tornado to defeat T.O Morrow, who is making a device which will destroy the barriers between Earth-1 and Earth-2 and destroy the two Earths. However, the heroes beat T.O Morrow and using a neutral futur-energy gun, Red Tornado revives the remaining JLA members on Earth-1 and the JSA members on Earth-2. Afterwards, the JLA ask if Red Tornado wants to join the JSA, but he declines as he wants to create an identity for himself.
MY THOUGHTS
Comparing this tale to the previous JLA/JSA team up story, this is a work of genius. Seriously though, this is an excellent story that portrays the Red Tornado excellently. In terms of the story, it is very involved and there is a great amount of interesting plot to get your teeth into. Although T.O Morrow as a villain is a little two-dimensional, his plan is very complicated and thankfully, it doesn’t follow the design of most Gardner Fox stories, that being: villain appears, heroes go to take out villain, who then defeats the heroes, the heroes do something (or nothing in some cases) to improve their chances of winning, the heroes fight the villain again and win, the end. As this story isn’t like that and the actual plot portrays the Red Tornado as the star of the story, it feels incredibly unique. The apparent deaths of the JSA feel real even though you know they’ll come back and the defeat of the JLA by the hands of T.O Morrow and his Red Tornado creation feels like a shock and it works perfectly. That is why I think it is great that the Red Tornado in the end is the real hero and although he was made by somebody who is pure evil, he wants to be a hero. This is also why the ending works incredibly well as it shows that even though he is a robot, he wants to be something more than that and he wants to be a human being. Apart from the Red Tornado, it is good to see multiple JLA foes feature in this story (even if they aren’t really real) as it makes the story feel more epic and threatening to the JLA. There isn’t really much else to say about this story. It features an incredibly interesting plot with excellent character. This is the first time we see a character in Gardner Fox’s JLA title which you can feel emotion for, and it makes the story feel much more suited to Red Tornado as a character, making this a very enjoyable story.
My only criticism has to be that surely T.O Morrow has a better method of taking out the heroes than setting their girlfriends and boyfriends on them to kiss them. I mean, it is pretty funny, but I think it seems a little bit impractical, especially for a
mastermind evil genius like T.O Morrow…
This is the first of the JLA/JSA crossovers in which artist Dick Dillin draws and compared to Sekowsky, Dillin is great as an artist as he shows great emotion, action and drama in the way he draws. One of the great highlights with the art has to be the emotion on Red Tornado’s face, yes, Red Tornado. Although he is a robot, Dillin adds so much emotion and sadness to his face while still being aware that he actually is a robot. This is the perfect way to show emotion in comics that makes readers feel emotion themselves. Not only that, but Dillin provides some excellent page layouts which make the whole story incredibly interesting to read. Honestly, I can’t really find a fault in his art here, especially when inked by Sid Greene.
Story: 9.5/10
Art: 10/10
Star Light, Star Bright – Death Star I See Tonight/Where Death Fears to Tread --- Written by Dennis O’Neil with art by Dick Dillin and Sid Grenne
THE PLOT
A group of sentient stars named the Council of Living Stars kick out one of their members named Aquarius for crimes he has committed, and his powers are greatly limited. Aquarius leaves and goes to towards Earth-2. Meanwhile, Red Tornado has travelled to Earth-1 to tell the JLA that the Earth-2 Starman found Aquarius in space but is defeated by the sentient star. Starman then fell down to Earth and was recovered by Dinah Lance and her husband Larry Lance. After becoming Black Canary, Dinah was shocked to find her husband attacking her. She took her husband down to the ground, which woke him up after being controlled. Black Canary then summoned JSA members Doctor Fate, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Superman and Doctor Mid-Nite. All the heroes tried to fight Aquarius, who has the power to take over people’s bodies, but they were shocked when they saw Aquarius come to his full power again when absorbing Starman’s Star Rod. Superman, Wonder Woman and Red Tornado then arrive, but Red Tornado is told to sit out of the fight by Superman and Wonder Woman as he has been known for accidently botching things. However, Superman and Wonder Woman fail and are defeated, resulting in Aquarius using his magical powers to erase Earth-2 from existence. Luckily, Doctor Fate used his powers to save the JSA members, but they are held captive by Aquarius. Red Tornado then travels to Earth-1 to tell the JLA, which is where Red Tornado’s story to the JLA ends. The Earth-1 leaguers agree with Red Tornado that the JSA need to be helped.
Although Doctor Fate’s power is keeping the JSA in a protective bubble, The JLA members arrive where Earth-2 once was, causing for Doctor Fate to let his bubble disappear. However, Aquarius takes advantage of this and he mind controls the JSA heroes. A fight between all of the heroes begin, with Earth-1 heroes Superman, The Flash, Hawkman, Green Lantern, Batman and Green Arrow all fight against Earth-2 heroes Superman, Doctor Fate, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Doctor Mid-Nite and Black Canary/Larry Lance respectively. However, during the fight which ends in different ways for all heroes, Black Canary is about to be killed by Aquarius using a sphere cosmic energy. But her husband Larry Lance runs in the way of the energy ball, saving his wife while sacrificing himself. Larry’s death causes the JSA to snap out of Aquarius’s control which also causes Earth-2 to come back into existence. Not long later, the JLA and JSA members hold a funeral for Larry Lance, but it is interrupted by the laughter of Aquarius. As he flies away, all of the heroes chase him into space. The Green Lanterns then come up with the plan of insulting Aquarius by calling him a coward. This caus the villain to follow the heroes into a negative sector of the universe, which kills Aquarius. In the end, the JLA say their farewells to the JSA, but Black Canary decides to go with the JLA to Earth-1, which Superman welcomes.
MY THOUGHTS
For the first JLA/JSA team up written by Dennis O’Neil, this story feels like an entire change of pace and it feels incredibly different in a great way. Not only is the main plot incredibly engaging, dramatic and just excellent, but there are some fantastic moments in the story which makes the tale incredibly memorable. The biggest one obviously being the sacrifice of Larry Lance, which is excellent and even though I didn’t know much at all about Larry Lance, his death just feels so heavy and (continues after image)
impactful. This makes Black Canary obviously very sad, which is displayed incredibly intensely and realistically, making the drama feel real. Not only that, but Aquarius as a villain is pretty good and the way he laughs at the death of an enemy may feel incredibly cruel, but it shows how much of a villain he is. In terms of the main plot, it is incredibly involved, and everything featured in the plot feels important. In fact (similarly to the last story), I believe that Dennis O’Neil conveys Red Tornado and his character in such a fantastic and emotional way, very much like how Gardner Fox did. Red Tornado clearly wants to be a hero, but the other heroes don’t treat him well and it adds a great sense of character to this story. In terms of Aquarius as the main villain, he works incredibly well and while I find his origin a bit vague, he comes across as a perfect villain for this tale. His death is also somewhat dramatic and, in my opinion, deserving. This is evidence to me how Dennis O’Neil as a writer tries to get the emotions and feelings of the readers involved in the stories and it works incredibly well here. Also, this story shows some of Dennis O’Neil’s story planning skills, as Black Canary goes with the JLA at the end of the story and sometime later becomes a star in the Green Lantern/Green Arrow series by O’Neil.
Although this is a good story, I think that the funeral for Larry Lance should have been at the end of the story rather than near it. This is because it would have tied up the story in a conclusive manor that would have felt very appropriate and suitable. And even if the funeral had to be held at that specific point in the story, it would have been nice if the heroes showed a bit more rage and emotion when Aquarius turns up and mocks the death Larry Lance. This would have made his death feel even more impactful and it would have shown the heroes at their emotional limits, especially Black Canary. Not only that, but how did the Green Lanterns know that sending Aquarius into the negative universe would kill him? They seem incredibly unsure and even they haven’t been in it. How would they have known that it wouldn’t have killed them also?
In terms of the art by Dillin and Greene, here it looks as good as ever. The emotions on people’s faces are far from dull and emotion is shown in the story excellently. Additionally, the use of dark lighting that the duo use is impressive, and it really adds to the tone of the story, particularly when Larry Lance is killed. Aspects like this make the whole story feel heavier emotionally and engaging, which is definitely a plus.
Story: 9/10
Art: 10/10
Peril of the Paired Planets/Where Valor Fails… Will Magic Triumph? --- Written by Dennis O’Neil with art by Dick Dillin and Joe Giella
THE PLOT
One day on Earth-1, Superman is on his way to the Daily Planet building, but he loses control, falls to the ground and is knocked unconscious. After the JLA locate him and take him to their satellite headquarters, Batman also becomes unconscious. This causes Hawkman to call in Green Lantern, Green Arrow and Black Canary (the reason for their absence explained by the events in Green Lantern/Green Arrow by Dennis O’Neil, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano). Meanwhile on Earth-2, Red Tornado is captured by a group of aliens known as Creators who hope to merge both Earth-1 and Earth-2 and they plan to use the Red Tornado to crumble the border between Earths as he travels between the main Earths. Although the aliens are aware of the JLA and JSA, a large group of Creators go down to Earth-2, but are greeted by Superman and Doctor Mid-Nite. However, similarly to their Earth-1 equivalents, Superman and Doctor Mid-Nite are knocked unconscious. The Flash (Jay Garrick) then arrives to fight a Creator, but he is chased by them after trying to revive Doctor Mid-Nite. The Flash is then knocked unconscious by the Creators, which causes the Earth-1 Flash to also be knocked unconscious. Meanwhile, both Earths are growing closer and closer, which causes multiple people to meet their counterparts, which causes all of the JSA members to meet together. On Earth-1, as Green Lantern, Green Arrow and Black Canary arrive on the JLA satellite, the Atom works out that the crisis is being caused by a link between the two Earths, which causes Black Canary to think that she is the link and that she must commit suicide to stop the crisis.
While the Creators are sending more devices to take out the heroes of both Earth-1 and Earth-2, the JSA are attacked by the Creator’s devices which results in some of the heroes being knocked out. Meanwhile on Earth-1, Green Arrow is arguing with the other JLA members and Black Canary, disagreeing that she must kill herself, which
causes Green Lantern to search for the link between the two earths. He is successful in his search as he finds Red Tornado being held as the link. On the streets of Earth-1, Hawkman rescues an old woman from being run over, but he then is knocked unconscious as his Earth-2 counterpart has also been knocked unconscious. Something similar happens to Green Lantern of Earth-1 as his Earth-2 equivalent is caught in a trap. After JSA take out some of the Creator’s devices, they summon the Spectre by going to a graveyard, who recommends the team goes to the border point between the two Earths, where they find the Earth-1 Green Lantern trapped along with Red Tornado. As the Spectre decides to put himself between Earth-1 and Earth-2, Doctor Fate and Johnny Thunder’s Thunderbolt attack the Creator’s headquarters in space. Successfully, Doctor Fate destroys the Creator’s headquarters which results in both Earths returning to their original places, all of the heroes returning back to their Earths and the freeing of Red Tornado. However, this is at the cost of the Spectre’s life, who is seemingly killed. As the crisis is solved, the JLA are happy that Black Canary wasn’t the link, but they mourn the death of the Spectre, who Green Arrow believes will return.
MY THOUGHTS
Compared to the previous story, this one is fairly average. In terms of the positive aspects, it is great to see the Red Tornado feature yet again as main character for the story, which works great. This is because it doesn’t make him into a throwaway character and it is clear that O’Neil wants him to be a huge part of the stories. Also, there is some great drama between Black Canary and the rest of the JLA which works perfectly with this tale. As the Atom says, it makes perfectly logical sense that Black Canary could have been the link and it provides an excellent cliff-hanger ending to the first part. Not only that, but the sudden unconsciousness of the heroes comes across as a genuine shock and it is unexpected, making the story feeling much more tense. Moreover, not only is the Spectre back, but he is in his more evil and vengeful character, which I think works perfectly. It makes him into a much more mysterious character and his death feels like a real shock, making the story have a sacrifice which doesn’t make it feel forgetful.
However, the story as a whole is pretty dull. I find the main alien villains pretty dull and boring. They don’t seem to have any reason to their plan, which makes the purpose of their plot empty. This makes the villains presence in the story seem a bit confusing as we aren’t even sure what their powers are, making them even more confusing. Apart from them, the way that heroes become knocked unconscious is a little bit confusing. I understand that if an Earth-2 hero is taken out, then the equivalent Earth-1 hero is also taken out. At the start of the story, Batman is knocked unconscious when Doctor Mid-Nite is taken out. He is apparently his equal. So why, when the JSA meet together, is Batman of Earth-2 there. Surely he is the Batman of Earth-1’s equal. This just makes everything pretty confusing and a bit of a mess. As I said before, I do like this story, but I feel I needed to be reworked a bit more as some aspects of it make no sense and I feel it needs a bit more excitement in it.
Although Dillin’s art tends to be excellent, he is inked by Joe Giella here. This isn’t the worst thing in the world, but I find that Giella’s inks over Dillin are incredibly heavy and thick, which loses some of the greatness of Dillin’s art. It still looks nice though, with the action scenes looking interesting and intense while the emotional dialogue is told exceptionally well. It’s just a shame the inks are a bit over the top.
Story: 5.5/10
Art: 9.5/10
VERDICT
Overall, this second set of the JLA/JSA meetings are just about good. Although I think the first and last story are quite dull and weak, particularly the first story, the second story featuring the second Red Tornado’s appearance is excellent and incredibly emotional. The first story by Dennis O’Neil is also a classic, with some great character moments that make it feel heavy and incredibly emotional. Although the best of these stories is excellent, there hasn’t been any other superhero teams present. Well, don’t worry because in the next set of stories, we will be seeing the heroes travel to Earth-2 to meet a forgotten group of heroes and also a visit to another Earth named Earth-X…
Stories: 7.5/10
Art: 8/10
Highlighted Character: Red Tornado
Next Review: Crisis on Multiple Earths Tales Part Three (Justice League of America (vol 1) 91-92, 100-102, 107-108, 113). Written by Mike Friedrich and Len Wein with art by Dick Dillin, Joe Giella and Dick Giordano. Expected to be published by 17/11/2019.
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