Well, this is it. For the final times in the original multiverse, the JLA, a group of heroes from Earth-1, and the JSA, a group of heroes from Earth-2 meet yearly and find themselves battling against villains, whether they be on their own, in groups or cosmic entities that simply want to destroy the multiverse. In these last four tales from the 1980s, a group of JLA and JSA heroes accidently find themselves on Earth-Prime, a bleak and destroyed Earth. Not only that, but throughout these tales, the heroes meet new faces and heroes, such as the All-Star Squadron, a coalition group of all of the Golden Age superheroes during World War Two. The heroes of the JLA and JSA also meet the Infinity Inc, a group of heroes from Earth-2 who are the descendants of old JSA members. Although the heroes tackle problems in the multiverse, they also learn of the strange and true origin of Black Canary, but while all the heroes are on their quests in the multiverse, a strange man monitors them… and he is The Monitor…
In the sixth and final 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:
Crisis on Earth-Prime --- Justice League of America (vol 1) 207-209, All Star Squadron 14-15
Crisis in the Thunderbolt Dimension/The Doppelganger Gambit --- Justice League of America (vol 1) 219-220
Family Crisis/Battlegrounds --- Justice League of America (vol 1) 231-232
Last Crisis on Earth-Two/The Final Crisis --- Infinity Inc (vol 1) 19, Justice League of America (vol 1) 244
Before getting to the release dates for the shorter stories, the Crisis on Earth-Prime five-parter was published in two titles, with parts one, three and five being published in the Justice League of America (vol 1) title and parts two and four being published in All Star Squadron. While all parts were released fortnightly due to two titles, parts one and two were released in October, parts three and four in November and part five in December, all in 1982. Moving on, Justice League of America (vol 1) issues 219-220, 231-232 and (Infinity Inc 19)-244 were released in 1983, 84 and 85 respectively, with the part ones being released in October and the part twos being published in November. Finally, I have read the Crisis on Earth-Prime story in the Crisis on Multiple Earths Volume Six trade paperback and all of the other stories through their
original issues, which DC should have compiled and released as Crisis On Multiple Earths Volume Seven years ago, but now that were are past all of that, let’s get on with it… it will be a long one…
Crisis on Earth-Prime --- Written by Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas with art by Don Heck, Romeo Tanghal, Adrian Gonzales, Jerry Ordway and Sal Trapani
THE PLOT
On Earth-2, JSA heroes Green Lantern, Doctor Fate, Starman, Power Girl and Huntress all prepare to teleport to Earth-1 to meet the JLA. On Earth-1, Superman, Hawkman, Aquaman, Zatanna and Firestorm prepare for the Earth-2 heroes to arrive, but instead of the JSA arriving, the Earth-3 villains known as the Crime Syndicate arrive on Earth-1. While the villains manage to defeat the JLA and thank a person known as Per Degaton for getting them to Earth-1, the JSA are stuck between Earth-1 and Earth-2 due to a trap imposed by the Crime Syndicate. Luckily, Doctor Fate manages to break free and the heroes end up on Earth-Prime, an Earth where the heroes are comic book characters. When the heroes walk around and explore a destroyed and lifeless city, only finding some strange organisms, Green Lantern works out that the holocaust here was caused by a villain known as Per Degaton, a world tyrant and ruler. Meanwhile on Earth-1, Superman and the rest of the JLA wake up and rebuild parts of the destroyed JLA satellite, but also find that the escape shuttles have been taken by the Crime Syndicate. The JLA then decide to use the transmatter cube to go to Earth-2, but when they arrive at the JSA headquarters, they find that it has been destroyed and abandoned for a long time. After Hawkman finds that the calendar in the destroyed headquarters still reads 1942, the heroes leave the building and find that the Earth has statues to and is being ruled by Per Degaton and that the year is actually 1982. Then, the heroes get a lot of attention by fearful civilians and guards from Per Degaton try to defeat the heroes, resulting in the heroes winning, but Superman decides to take the JLA heroes and himself to 1942, where they find the JSA headquarters as it should be. However, when the heroes hear somebody coming into the room, they think it is the JSA, but they are shocked to find the All-Star Squadron instead, consisting of Commander Steel, Firebrand, Johnny Quick, Liberty Belle and Robotman.
On Earth-2 in the 1940s, Per Degaton rules the planet and he holds a huge public fight, with all the heroes fighting each other. However, during the brawl, a man named Professor Zee shouts towards the heroes and tells them to overcome Degaton’s power over them, resulting in the heroes fighting Degaton and eventually beating him. However, Degaton then wakes up from this dream and thinks of ways to take over the world like he used to. He decides to go to Professor Zee’s lab, which holds a time machine and after killing the professor, Degaton travels to 1982, accidently on Earth-Prime. After getting into a fight with a market stall seller, Degaton demands to know where the superheroes are, but he is shown that they are comic book characters. Degaton then escapes in the stolen time machine and arrives in between Earth-1 and Earth-2, where he finds the Crime Syndicate members all trapped in their Green Lantern prison. Once Degaton manages to move his time machine into the prison, instead of killing him, Owlman tells his villainous friends that maybe they should listen to Degaton, who has a plan for the villains. Together, all of the villains travel to Earth-Prime again, specifically in Cuba, 1962. The Crime Syndicate steal numerous Soviet Union missiles before disappearing with them. This causes the tensions between the USA, Russia and Cuba to become high, which was Degaton’s plan. Degaton then senses the Crime Syndicate members creeping up on him to take his plans over, but Degaton teleports the villains to 1982 on Earth-2. Speaking of which, on Earth-2, the All-Star Squadron have a duel with Nuclear, the Magnetic Marauder, which ends with the villain escaping. Due to this, the Earth-2 heroes head back to their base at the JSA headquarters, where they are shocked to meet heroes from the Earth-1 team, the Justice League of America.
After the All-Star Squadron find the JLA in their base, a huge fight breaks out and after some time, Superman shouts loudly with his powers to end the duel. Once everyone begins to get on with each other, Commander Steel explains that President
Franklin Roosevelt created the All-Star Squadron to help the war effort. Superman then explains that he and the JLA are from Earth-1 and that they are forty years ahead of them and that an actor known as Ronald Reagan is President of the USA. Superman then speaks about the events up until this point and how Per Degaton is involved. Suddenly, the phone rings and the heroes are ordered to visit President Roosevelt, who has a mission for the heroes. He tells the heroes that a strange electronic device known as a TV projector (which obviously didn’t exist in 1942) was sent to the White House. The projector begins playing a video from Degaton, who is actually live and can hear everyone who is watching the broadcast. Not only that, but the villain broadcasting to all of the world leaders along with the President such as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and many more. Degaton tells everyone that he has got the Soviet missiles he stole from 1962 and he is planning to test them tomorrow. While President Roosevelt tells the heroes to find Degaton and the missiles, on Earth-Prime, the JSA heroes from earlier search the destroyed city, where they find a group of mutated humans, who are defeated thanks to Doctor Fate, Huntress notes that the mutated people kept referring to somebody as the “mad one”. Sometime later, the JSA heroes find a human being who is blind. After Doctor Fate absorbs the memories from the blind man, he displays them on television. The broadcast is from 1962 from President John F Kennedy, who speaks about the Cuban missile crisis. Afterwards, President Kennedy speaks with Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev, who thinks that the missiles being stolen is a CIA plot. Then, President Kennedy decides to fire missiles at Cuba, causing a worldwide holocaust that kills billions and made others mutate. After watching that, Doctor Fate realises that Per Degaton was the cause of the holocaust. Back on Earth-2, Superman and the heroes go to watch Degaton’s missile test. Once Degaton’s missile hits the ocean floor, Zatanna is forced to protect the ship while Superman and the rest of the heroes find a bubble appear out of the ocean. On closer inspection, the heroes find that inside of the bubble is the JSA heroes, who has somehow got from Earth-Prime to Earth-2. Degaton watches this with his men and he swears he will obtain world domination.
While Degaton and his men are surprised that the JSA has arrived on Earth-2, those same JSA heroes speak to the other heroes about what they discovered on Earth-Prime and after Doctor Fate and Zatanna clean up the nuclear area, all of the heroes return to President Roosevelt, but find that Degaton is leaving another live broadcast for all of the world leaders to see. Degaton tells the world leaders that he has missiles ready at three hidden locations around the planet and after five hours, they will all launch and take out a major continent, that is unless the leader of a country resigns, effectively giving in to Degaton, which President Roosevelt considers if the heroes fail. Afterwards, Superman, Doctor Fate and Robotman go into space where they find Degaton’s satellite. However, Robotman begins to tear about the ship and finds a lead box which has some green kryptonite in it. This causes Superman to become unconscious and then, Ultraman from the Crime Syndicate arrives and grabs the kryptonite as he can use it power himself. A fight against Ultraman occurs while at first the villain seems to have the upper hand; Superman wakes up and defeats Ultraman. Superman then quickly flies after Robotman, who is heading closer to the atmosphere of the Earth, resulting in the metallic hero beginning to burn, but luckily, he is saved. Meanwhile, Aquaman, Starman and Liberty Belle find an island near Japan that has been taken over by Degaton’s troops. Although the heroes take out Degaton’s guards, Superwoman is also there, and the heroes fight her. Luckily, Aquaman floods the part of the island where Superwoman is, and she is defeated while the heroes also disable Degaton’s first missile. Near the United States of America, Hawkman, Huntress and Johnny Quick locate the second missile due to high levels of radiation nearby, but when they find the missile, it is guarded by Power Ring, who accidently launches one of the missiles but luckily, Johnny Quick dismantles it before it can hit its target and explode. Meanwhile, Degaton is furious that some of the missiles have been deactivated and that the Crime Syndicate has failed him, and he shouts in his rage that he will destroy all of the Earths.
All of the heroes that have taken out their missiles return to the White House and President Roosevelt, who is happily informed by the heroes about their successes. However, an aide to the President tells the heroes that although 24 missiles have been recovered, 3 are still remaining. Hawkman and Doctor Fate then think about how Earth-2 could become like Earth-Prime. Meanwhile, Firestorm, Power Girl and Commander Steel go to Switzerland, where they find Degaton’s men there. After escaping from the attackers, Power Girl finds Johnny Quick from the Crime Syndicate, but after some time, he is defeated. Suddenly, one of Degaton’s men launches the missile, but luckily, Commander Steel dismantles it and all of the heroes return to the White House now that all of the missiles have been dealt with. Superman then finds that Degaton’s hideout is actually in the Pentagon in 1982. At the same time, Green Lantern and some of the heroes visit the then alive Professor Zee, who understands from the heroes that Degaton will steal his time machine and use it for his own evil needs. Zee then shows the heroes the prototype for his time machine, which Green Lantern and Zatanna tinker with to make it work completely so that the heroes can travel to Earth-Prime, Cuba in 1962. While Green Lantern and the heroes notice something travel in the sky towards the not yet stolen Soviet missiles, Superman and the rest of the heroes go to the Pentagon, where they find Degaton and his men. While Robotman manages to capture Degaton, Huntress is surprised to find Owlman there and after a fight, the villain is defeated. Back on Earth-Prime, Green Lantern and the heroes find the Crime Syndicate arrive to take the missiles away so that Degaton can use them (and kick off this story’s plot), but thankfully, the heroes defeat the Crime Syndicate. Due to this, Degaton’s men vanish from history and so do all of the heroes. Everyone ends up back on their respective Earths, with the Crime Syndicate still being kept in their prison Green Lantern bubble. Afterwards, with no memory of Degaton’s (continues after image)
missile plot as it didn’t happen, the All Star-Squadron continue their heroic duties on Earth-2 during World War Two and on Earth-1, the JLA and JSA meet up yearly once more.
MY THOUGHTS
My God that was a long ar*e plot. In fact, with the obvious exception of Crisis on Infinite Earths, this is by far the longest pre-New Earth JLA/JSA multiverse crossover. It is kind of hard to begin to speak about this story, especially due to its length and sheer amount of plot surrounding it. I guess let’s start at the beginning. The story perfectly begins with what seems to be a regular JLA/JSA story really, with the exception of the Crime Syndicate returning, which is certainly different as this is their first time coming back since their debut in the second JLA/JSA crossover I believe, one crossover which will always be one of my favourites, but anyway, the story begins pretty normally, but well. It’s only when we get to Earth-Prime when we see the true severity of Per Degaton. This part of the story really sets the scene for me as just from the page where you see the destroyed city on Earth-Prime, you can see that this plot is going to be seriously dark. Not only that, but aspects of the destroyed city such as the mutated people, the Cuban missile crisis and the rocky relationship between the USA, Cuba and Russia fits perfectly. It almost feels like this aspect of the story is ahead of its time, especially for a DC Comic. That being said though, while Conway did write for both DC and Marvel, writer Roy Thomas is the strange one for that as he began his career at Marvel in the 1960s, with the nickname Roy “The Boy” Thomas, fitting perfectly with Stan “The Man” Lee. Thomas was always seen as somebody who adored Lee, his writing and the Marvel characters, but it came as a shock to most fans at the time that Thomas was leaving Marvel and going to DC Comics instead. And speaking of Roy Thomas, you think he certainly loved to gloat and write about was history, not just real history but also the fictional history of comic book characters and teams. Enter the All-Star Squadron, a coalition of sorts between the JSA and numerous other heroes during the Second World War, which I think is a suitable and great idea. Incredibly and suitably, Thomas incorporates characters that we aren’t familiar with and we don’t get any direct duplicates of character, which does make the old Earth-2 heroes feel unique. When all the heroes unite and meet the President at the time, Franklin Roosevelt, you get a greater sense of history and it makes the story seem even bigger than it is. From here onwards, we deal primarily with Per Degaton, who really begins by stealing a time machine and using the Crime Syndicate, which makes the story bigger and better as it incorporates more characters. The goals of Degaton are pretty regular, but it does make for the usual part of any JLA/JSA crossover, which means that the heroes all split up to fight different villains and, in this case, deactivate and capture missiles. This works well here and in the story’s favour and we see great moments, particularly during the fight between Ultraman and Superman with Doctor Fate and Robotman, which gives more information and spotlight on Robotman, who is the character that I and probably a lot of other JLA fans have never heard of or seen before. These split-up sections of the story also reintroduce readers to the Crime Syndicate again, which I think was desperately needed and it works perfectly for this story. The ending of the story works well in terms of its time-travelling aspects as once the Cuban missiles are up back in their place, you would just expect everything to simply go back into place of how it once was. At the very end however, I did like how the JLA and JSA meet up again, as it kind of ties the story back to the start, which was the whole goal of both of the heroic groups to begin with and due to that, you get what I think is a satisfying end. I think the best thing about this story has to be how Earth-Prime is displayed as it gives the reader a vision of how Earth-2 could so easily become like that. It makes the whole threat of the story real and not only that, but when you see the mutated people, it adds more and more to the overhanging pressure on the heroes and how they MUST take out the missiles and Per Degaton. Like I mentioned before, I think Conway and Thomas write history incredibly well here, whether it be real history or DC history. This is not only due to the extensive list of characters here, but it is also due to the real use of history, such as mentions of world leaders and Presidents in the years of 1942, 1962 and 1982. Although I’m not the greatest fan of Per Degaton as a villain, one of the best moments for his character has to be the dream sequence at the start of part two, which really shows how powerful
his character is along with a subtly displayed sense of ego.
Like I said before, I think that Per Degaton isn’t that great of a villain and quite honestly, I think he is the most boring aspect of the story. This is primarily due to how dull his goal is and how he doesn’t seem to have much of a character. He seems to want world domination, power and all the rest of it just because he is evil, nothing more. Yes, there is a bit of variation in the story with Degaton stealing the time machine, but still, he just comes across as evil for the sake of it. Speaking of it, the time travelling aspects of the story are good, but they can become easily jumbled and confused. Don’t get me wrong, I like time travelling done right and for the most part it is done right here but combining time travel and the multiverse is a bit of a deadly mix to me. There are times in the story where you get can confused about the difference between Earth-2 and Earth-Prime and it can also be hard to work out whether certain scenes take place in 1942, 1962 or 1982, but I guess that is where the Presidents of the USA help. Not only that but, one of my favourite aspects of this story which kind of brings it down to me is the historical background and storytelling, particularly when Thomas is writing the All-Star Squadron title sections. Just to be blunt, Thomas is incredibly wordy writer. He goes into great detail about history and there are times where there is just flat out too much talking. This does sort of apply to certain parts of the Conway stories, but overall, it makes the pacing of the story feel strange and downright slow in numerous places. It can be easy to be bored by this story and despite its great idea for a plot, huge amount of characters and other aspects that I have mentioned previously, I don’t think this will ever by one of my real favourites of the JLA/JSA crossovers due to its slow pacing and incredibly long winded storytelling, making me think that this story could have been three parts, four at most.
Starting with the Justice League of America (vol 1) issues, the art by Don Heck, Romeo Tanghal and Sal Trapani is pretty good. While the angles of storytelling and finishes may look a little regular and boring, I think that visually it is pleasing and quite interesting. That being said, the art by Adrian Gonzales and Jerry Ordway is very nice. To me, while it can be a bit messy in some areas, the art fits perfectly with the All-Star Squadron characters, plots and setting.
Story: 7.5/10
Art: 9/10
Crisis in the Thunderbolt Dimension/The Doppelganger Gambit --- Written by Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway with art by Chuck Patton, Romeo Tanghal and Pablo Marcos
THE PLOT
One day on Earth-1, the two Flashes team up to take out a group of criminals. Afterwards, they head to a teleport tube to get back to the JLA Satellite, but before the two speedsters can join the other heroes, a pink lightning bolt hits the Earth-1 Flash. The pink lightning plot reveals himself to be Johnny Thunder’s Thunderbolt, who then tries to kill the Earth-2 Flash but fails and retreats. Meanwhile on the Satellite, the JLA and JSA heroes are all speaking to one another when suddenly, they all notice a pink thunderbolt in the room, which nearly kills Firestorm. When the pink thunderbolt reveals himself as Johnny Thunder’s Thunderbolt, heroes try to stop him, but they fail, and the Thunderbolt retreats again. Then, the Earth-2 Flash enters holding his counterpart’s body and he and all of the wounded heroes are taken to their beds to heal. Afterwards, the Earth-2 Flash wonders why the Thunderbolt just attacked heroes from Earth-2, causing Black Canary to think about her time on Earth-2 and how it
ended when her husband Larry Lance was killed, resulting in her joining the JLA. Once Starman calms her down, Huntress notes that Superman and Wonder Woman have also been taken out, causing her to think that Johnny Thunder may be behind the attacks, which Black Canary doubts. Suddenly, the remaining JLA heroes find out that groups of Earth-1 and Earth-2 villains are causing trouble on Earth-1 and all of the heroes go to take them out, but Black Canary stays behind and Starman does too. Using his cosmic rod, Starman takes Black Canary to the Thunderbolt Dimension to find the cause of their problem, but they are attacked and held captive but the Thunderbolt, who then takes them to Johnny Thunder of Earth-1 (who last appeared as a villain in the third JLA/JSA crossover), who presents Black Canary with a floating see-through box that contains the bodies of herself and her dead husband Larry.
While the heroes on Earth-1 go to fight the six villains, Sargon the Sorcerer appears and tells the heroes that he wants to help them. While at first some heroes are cautious of Sargon, he reveals that the Thunderbolt has trapped the Spectre in the body of Jim Corrigan permanently and as he is an ally of the Spectre, Sargon wants to help the heroes. Therefore, all the heroes split up to take out the villains. Meanwhile in the Thunderbolt Dimension, the Earth-1 Johnny Thunder reveals he has his Earth-2 equal held prisoner and after Black Canary asks about her duplicate in the coffin with her dead husband, the Thunderbolt explains that both the Earth-2 Johnny Thunder and Black Canary used to team up with each other, but once Johnny decided to say goodbye to the Thunderbolt forever, Black Canary took Johnny’s place in the JSA, making him angry at Black Canary. When the JSA ended in the 1950s, Dinah and Larry had a baby girl named Dinah as well, but one day, the villainous Wizard found out that Dinah was Black Canary, but Dinah Jr screamed at the villain with her super powered scream, causing massive damage. This resulted in Dinah visiting Johnny so that the baby could be kept safely forever in the Thunderbolt Dimension. Dinah comes to the conclusion that the girl trapped in the see-through box is her daughter, but before the Thunderbolt can explain further, the evil Johnny Thunder turns the attention to the heroes on Earth-1 against the villains. All of the heroes duel the villains, with the Earth-2 Flash and Hourman fighting Chronos and the Fiddler, Red Tornado and Huntress fighting the Icicle and Doctor Alchemy and lastly Sargon and Power Girl fighting the Wizard and Felix Faust. During the fights, the Earth-2 Johnny Thunder breaks free and punches his evil counterpart in the face, defeating him. Once all of the heroes defeat their villains, Superman and the Spectre arrive in the Thunderbolt Dimension, where Superman tells Black Canary that the Black Canary she was taking back to Earth-1 after the Aquarius duel was in fact her mother, but on the way to Earth-1, she became ill and began to die due to poisoning from Aquarius. Black Canary’s mother was taken to the Thunderbolt Dimension, where she is held in a coma like state forever, but her memories were transferred over to her daughter’s body, who then became the Black Canary that joined the JLA. In the end, the Spectre tells Black Canary that her mother and father loved her. Everyone then leaves the Thunderbolt Dimension, with Black Canary jokingly telling Superman that she wants to be the one to tell Green Arrow about her mother.
MY THOUGHTS
Just to point out right now, this whole story is a retcon. In fact, let’s begin with the whole Thunderbolt thing. For starters, I think that the introduction to the story is certainly engaging and it basically throws you right in at deep end. We start with the Flashes taking out some criminals and then after that, the Earth-1 Flash is attacked and then the Thunderbolt attacks continue, focusing on the JLA and JSA. This I think is great as it makes the threat of the story more direct and it certainly makes it feel impactful, especially because the Thunderbolt is a heroic character. But moving on, let’s talk about the main thing here, which if the f*cking huge change to Black Canary’s origin. So, we learn here that the Black Canary we have been seeing in the JLA is actually the daughter of the one in the JSA. Although I kind of do question this retcon and why it was needed, I can think of a few reasons why and not only that, but I actually kind of like it. It supplies shocks to the story and classic of Roy Thomas, it also changes the information we know, but not in such a way that we have to relearn everything as in the end, the memories from Black Canary’s mother go into the body of Black Canary, which is quite convenient. But yeah, I think this retcon works pretty well and it works perfectly a as character piece for Black Canary, as she has always come across as an interesting and good character. Apart from that, it is great to see the return of the Earth-1 Johnny Thunder, who last appeared in the Crisis on Earth-A story nearly two hundred issues before this. He is as evil as he was before and still as stupid. This shows that Conway and Thomas were huge fans to remember this particular JLA/JSA.
I think that the first part of the story is good. To me however, the second part of the story is much weaker and that isn’t covering the parts with Black Canary, which admittedly take up most of the issue, but I think that the parts featuring the six villains from either Earth-1 or Earth-2 come across as rather pointless. Yes, they are the same villains that featured in the first ever JLA/JSA crossover, but in terms of the story, I kind of think that they were rather pointless here. The same goes for Sargon the Sorcerer, who doesn’t do much of anything here. In fact, the same goes for the Spectre. I mean, I love the guy, but he doesn’t add anything. Apart from the pointless
character, I do like the retcon as I said, but for a first-time reader, it certainly does come across as confusing and why the hell would Johnny Thunder of Earth-1 be
interested in Black Canary and her origin?
The art by Patton, Tanghal and Marcos is quite good. However, he does have the same problem as Don Heck, meaning that the art can look a bit too generic and there isn’t much that is distinctive about it, but it tells the story well and it is pretty understandable.
Story: 8/10
Art: 7.5/10
Family Crisis/Battlegrounds --- Written by Kurt Busiek with art by Alan Kupperberg and Rich Buckler
THE PLOT
While numerous JLA heroes are on their way back to the JLA Satellite after a recent mission, Superman, Wonder Woman and Supergirl are summoned by the Flash to the satellite to speak about a court case he is involved in and how he is finding it difficult to find trust in anyone as the Flash. Suddenly, an explosion occurs, and three young people tell the JLA that they need their help. The JLA members are taken to Earth-2 by the people, where they team up with some JSA members to take out some strange winged monkeys. Once all the monkeys disappear, a vision of a man appears in the sky, who tells the heroes that he is sending a second attack soon. Afterwards, Superman confronts the three people who sent the JLA heroes to Earth-2, who tell the heroes that their father is Doctor Champion. However, one night, their father disappeared in a puff of smoke and after some time worrying, he appeared to his children in a cosmic ghost-like form and he appeared to be controlled by some strange force. Due to that, the people contacted the heroes for help. Back to Earth-1, while the heroes split themselves into groups, with one going to other dimensions to look for Doctor Champion, the other heroes to the Pentagon, where the heroes find a group of more strange flying creatures. Meanwhile, the heroes in the strange dimensions eventually find a strange machine that feeds all of the heroes their perfect worlds, but luckily Doctor Mid-Nite manages to destroy the machine. The heroes find that the machine is linked to Doctor Champion’s brain, but once he is freed, the people living in the dimension become angered. Luckily, the heroes and Champion escape the dimension while the heroes at the Pentagon defeat and trap all the flying creatures.
While Doctor Fate and the heroes at the Pentagon bury the trapped creatures, who were sent to Earth-1 by somebody known as The Commander, they are all being watched by a woman named Lyla and the Monitor, who explains that Doctor Champion became possessed by the Commander, who senses that the Monitor is watching him. While this is going on, the heroes from the strange dimension return, but they begin to fight the other heroes. Doctor Mid-Nite explains to Doctor Fate that he hasn’t been affected as he is blind to the light energy that fed the heroes their perfect world. During the fight, Doctor Champion appears, possessed by the Commander and although one of his children tries to get him back to his senses, it doesn’t work. Meanwhile, Doctor Mid-Nite uses some gadgets of his to snap the heroes out of the control of the Commander and together, the heroes manage to get the Commander out of Doctor Champions body, but the villain escapes. However, just as Champion hugs his children, the Commander appears in the sky and begins to cause chaos all over Earth-1. He also explains that he is a destroyer of worlds and that he has destroyed thousands of them. However, this doesn’t stop the heroes as thanks to some form of ritual between Doctor Fate and the Champion family and the heroes for just bashing the sh*t out of the Commander, the villain is defeated. In the end, the JSA heroes go back to Earth-2 and the Champion family is reunited.
MY THOUGHTS
Righty, before I get to the bad things about this story, which there are a lot of, I must say that the best thing here is appearance of the Monitor and Lyla, who are crucial parts to the Crisis on Infinite Earths series. I like their inclusion here as it basically hints at the huge event coming up and yes, I know that Marv Wolfman incorporated
the character in New Teen Titans first, but still, I think this is excellent foreshadowing.
This story sucks. I mean, everything about it is just either plain bad or boring, but more so the latter of those too adjectives. The main plot featuring the most boring villain ever, the Commander is pretty stupid, boring and utterly tasteless. Out of all of the people that the Commander could possess, why the f*ck does he choose a scientist? He could have become a world leader to blow up other countries and not only that, but near the end of the story, we see the Commander in his true form and he seems to be pretty strong like that, meaning that surely he could have just attacked Earth-1 directly without even taking over anyone’s body. Speaking of which, it can be unclear in this story what Earth is being attacked. One moment, the JLA are on Earth-1 and then they go to Earth-2 to help the JSA, but then surely they must go back to Earth-1 as at the end of the story, the JSA teleport back to Earth-2, but the story never tells us that. While there is some happiness in the reunion between Professor Champion and his children, I find all of those character incredibly boring and they all quite honestly lack any unique or interesting character. Also, there are loads of parts in this story which just don’t make any real sense. For instance, the f*cking flying monkeys, the different dimensions that the heroes go through and then there’s that strange light machine that the Commander uses against the heroes to make them see their perfect worlds, which is fine, but I have no clue how light can cause that. What you have to remember is that this story is written by Kurt Busiek, who ends up writing Astro City and Marvels, two of the most popular comics ever to be published in the superhero medium. I’ll just finish on this, I don’t know how or why DC didn’t get rid of him after this and I don’t know why Marvel hired him later, but in both cases, I’m glad they did.
One similarity between Alan Kupperberg and his brother, Paul (who wrote Doom Patrol, Checkmate and more) was that neither of them were particularly good. Kuperberg’s art here is really ugly here. Whether it be down to inks by Buckler or just the bad pencils to begin with, I think the whole thing is pretty ugly to look at. There are lines all over the place which I think are pretty unneeded and the way that people look is certainly strange, but I will say that he did manage to draw a story that I found to be a chore to read and he managed to tell the story well enough for me to understand it. Still, I don’t like it.
Story: 2/10
Art: 5/10
Last Crisis on Earth-Two/The Final Crisis --- Written by Roy Thomas, Dann Thomas and Gerry Conway with art by Todd McFarlane, Steve Montano, Joe Staton and Mike Machlan
THE PLOT
On Earth-2, Infinity Inc heroes Fury, Northwind, Nuklon, Silver Scarab and the Star-Spangled Kid rush into hospital with Jade, who has been badly injured on a mission against the villain known as Helix. After the heroes all argue about Helix, Doctor McNider (Doctor Mid-Nite) arrives and tells the doctors that Jade needs immediate
medical attention. After Jade is put into a bed to be healed and after a lot of talking (Roy Thomas for you), the heroes notice that the sky has turned red. Once the heroes go outside to inspect the sky further, an old man recognises the Star-Spangled Kid from when he was younger. Once the Star-Spangled Kid leaves to tell relatives of Jade that she is okay, Commander Steel arrives and he explains that he was once a superhero, but after an injury he had to give it up. The hero then explains that he is going to Earth-1 as the JLA has been taken over by what he thinks are a group of young super villain. This is because the JLA line up changed since the last crossover and that the JLA are now based in Detroit. Suddenly, Jade arrives, now seemingly better and together the members of Infinity Inc goes to Earth-1. Meanwhile, numerous members of the JSA meet up to speak about the red sky, which Doctor Fate senses will lead onto worse things. On Earth-1, the Infinity Inc heroes have arrived in Detroit and they meet the JLA, now consisting of Martian Manhunter, Elongated Man, Zatanna, Vibe, Gypsy, Vixen and Steel. Commander Steel notices that Steel looks exactly like him and after the JLA Steel realises that Commander Steel is his grandfather, a fight between the two of them begins. This causes everyone else to start fighting each other, but the JLA escape and the Infinity Inc go and look for them.
In space, the JLA recall their fight with the Infinity Inc. Vibe is confused about the concept of the multiverse and while Elongated Man explains it to him, the Infinity Inc are still in Detroit, but Northwind tells the other members that there is nothing at the JSA base to suggest that the new JLA are villains like Commander Steel said so. However, Steel from the JLA is being rebuilt by a robot painfully, which is something that Commander Steel ordered. Meanwhile, Martian Manhunter tells the JLA heroes that they are going to Earth-2, which they do thanks to transmatter device. While is this going on, in Detroit, the sky is still red, storms are occurring and a crisis is happening, but the Infinity Inc are still too busy looking around the JLA headquarters, but they find that Nuklon has been attacked and after some time of complaining about the young heroes, Commander Steel becomes shocked to find that the JSA has arrived. Commander Steel runs away from the Earth-2 heroes, but he is also cornered by the JLA and Steel. Steel becomes angry with his grandfather as he was made to be just like him and due to that and his anger, Steel fights his grandfather while everyone watches. But after some time, all of the heroes, both from the JLA, JSA and the Infinity Inc leave to deal with the Crisis going on outside, leaving Steel to angrily knock his grandfather unconscious. Steel then stands over the body of Commander Steel, who has been defeated.
MY THOUGHTS
This is it. The last JLA/JSA crossover and before I go on a bit of a rant, I must say that Martian Manhunter is probably the best character here. Want to know why? Not only is he the only original member of the JLA, but just because of his powers and character. I have always like Martian Manhunter and not only that, but characters like Elongated Man work well in this story. In fact, JSA heroes like Doctor Fate work quite well here and the whole Crisis on Infinite Earths thing going on at the time certainly creates a threat, even if the real threat of is two stupid robots fighting each other.
Before I get to that, what bothers me the most here is the fact that this story clearly takes place during the early events of Crisis on Infinite Earths and while (thanks to hindsight) we know that this will be the last ever JLA/JSA crossover for the original multiverse, surely all of the heroes would be taking care of the red skies and Crisis instead? I mean, it just comes across as such a huge and evil event, but instead, the heroes are fighting each other over two almost identical robots, which takes me onto that, Commander Steel and Steel are both such ar*e. Seriously. These characters here feel incredibly dull and I really don’t care about either of them. I don’t care about Steel as a character because he doesn’t have one, and neither does his grandfather, or any of the Infinity Inc characters. Yes, I am a bit misinformed here as this is the only issue of the title I have ever read, but I got so much more enjoyment out of Thomas’s All-Star Squadron title as it had good characters and it felt retro. I understand that the Infinity Inc is meant to be the descendants of the JSA, but I don’t really find any of the characters interesting. And here’s another catch, the JLA aren’t the JLA here, but rather Justice League Detroit, which is certainly a bleak and terrible time for the heroic team. We have a line up with some older members, those being Martian Manhunter, Elongated Man and Zatanna, but we also have Steel (sh*t), Gypsy (stupid), Vibe (annoying) and Vixen, who is the only good character out of the new JLA heroes and here she barely gets an appearance. Also, the JSA have an incredibly brief cameo at the start and then race in like they are the second coming or something. Furthermore, the plot, oh the plot, is purely terrible as it basically is something f*cking family feud between two of the most moronic robots that have ever been published in a comic book. Like before, Roy Thomas is wordy and its f*cking shows here. There are pages and pages of dialogue here which just comes across as pointless, especially when it is all coming out of the mouths of dull characters. I could go on for hours about this story, but this post is long enough anyway, plus, we have something else bad to talk about…
Okay, Staton and Machlan aren’t the best artists, but I accept them as they tell the story well enough. But to me, the worst thing about this story as whole is the art by Todd McFarlane. Yeah, the man who co-found Image Comics and created Spawn.
Yeah, the art and writing was dire in those too, but here, this is early McFarlane and while he is inked by Steve Montano, who sort of tidies up the rookie artist and makes him look a bit more presentable, one thing that cannot be changed dramatically by an inker is the page layouts, which are horrendous and a like an explosion at a pillow factory. There is just so much stuff and crap everywhere. Tiny panels all over the page. Observe how some panels are just boring zoom in shots to create false drama. Watch how some pages have so many panels that there is no clear way or reading the story. Witness how characters pull faces as if bones in their body have been broken and as if muscles in their face have been moulded like clay. For f*ck’s sake is this horrible.
Story: 3.5/10
Art: 3.5/10
VERDICT
Overall, these last JLA/JSA are very mixed indeed. The five-part Crisis on Earth-Prime is good, but incredibly slow paced and dialogue heavy. While I like the retcon story with Black Canary (despite its problems), I found that the Family Crisis story and that last tale featuring the Infinity Inc to be a complete chore. There isn’t any art here which I would class as fantastic, with the best artists being Adrian Gonzales and Jerry Ordway (possibly along with Don Heck) and the worst artists being utterly terrible. Yes, I’m looking at you Todd. It is clear to me that those later issues of the Justice League of America (vol 1) title are certainly a weak point., but I’m going to stop before this drags out for any longer. Well, you all know what’s coming next, so I’ll see you then… for the end.
Stories: 6.5/10
Art: 6.5/10
Highlighted Character: Black Canary (Dinah Lance)
Next Review: Crisis on Infinite Earths (Crisis on Infinite Earths 1-12). Written by Marv Wolfman with art by George Perez, Dick Giordano, Mike DeCarlo and Jerry Ordway. Expected to be published by 29/12/2019.
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