Justice League of America #114 - Dec. 1974

No sci-fi or fantasy based comic book or TV show can resist the ol' "turn 'em into cavemen" plot!

The Story: "The Return of Anakronus!" by Len Wein ("Aided and Abetted by: Felton Marcus"--who?), Dick Dillin, and Dick Giordano. The heroes of the DC are manning the phones for a charity fundraiser, which is being watched at home by everyone's favorite ex-mascot, Snapper Carr.

Suddenly Snapper's TV explodes, having been blasted by a funny-looking bad guy named Anakronus, who tells Snapper he will help him get revenge on the JLA!

Turns out Anakronus was behind the Lord of Time's plot to defeat the JLA, waaaay back in issue #10! Escaping before he was discovered, Anakronus watched in horror as the JLA destroyed his life's work.

He demands payment, so he calls in to the charity to ask for the money the JLA just collected! He gets Green Arrow on the line, who of course thinks the guy is a kook(which he is) and hangs up! Snapper tries to grab Anakronus' gun, but gets a crack to the head for his troubles.

Anakronus tells Snapper a story about how, after the Lord of Time fight, he managed to defeat the JLA all by himself(featuring a sequence starring the Martian Manhunter), but Snapper isn't quite buying it, since, if he defeated them and devolved them into cavemen and then amoeba, how are they around today?

Anakronus' lame answer of "Uh, I guess it wore off" prods Snapper to call back, and this time drop enough hints that the Atom comes through the phone line, followed quickly by the Elongated Man and Red Tornado, who quickly disarm him.

Turns out Anakronus is, in fact, just a kook with a fake ray gun and a made-up story. As they carry him off to jail, Snapper listens to the charity announce it hit its target of over ten million dollars!

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Atom, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Red Tornado

Notable Moments: Sadly, this was Len Wein's last issue as the regular JLA writer. This story is silly, but enormously fun, and is respectfully dedicated to Gardner Fox. As it seems most commenters here agree, Wein's run was action-packed, full of characterization, and fast-moving. Its unfortunate it was so brief, though Wein would return as editor.

This issue also features a JLA crossword, "Just A Story" starring the JSA from Comic Calvacade #18, a "Super-Hero Boots" puzzle page, a JLA trivia quiz, and a gallery of former JLA guest-stars, and "Crisis on Earth-Three" from JLA #s 29 & 30.

I shouldn't pick on Snapper too much here--he actually serves a purpose in the story, and, sand his dated 60s lingo, he's much less annoying. Man, Len Wein was a great writer!

With the reprints of the 60s JLA stories, occasionally DC made up "Next Issue" ads to fill those empty half-pages left vacant by Cap's Hobby Hints and such. They were generally nondescript, though I did think this was one spiffy: