Justice League of America #115 - Feb. 1975

Fresh from yesterday's flashback with the Martian Manhunter, this issue guest-stars the Manhunter for real!

The Story: "The Last Angry God!" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin, and Dick Giordano. Superman and Green Lantern intercept a UFO headed the satellite's way. When they stop and open it, they find...their friend and founding JLA member Martian Manhunter!

Manhunter explains that while he and his fellow Martians were colonizing a new home planet (their previous one having been trashed in an attempted coup), they were attacked by a giant creature named Korge, God of Rage!

Turns out Korge can read minds, and he taps into Manhunter's and sees the JLA. He demands Manhunter bring them to him, or he will kill all of J'onn's people! The JLA seem non-plussed by Manhunter's request, and repair his ship and head for the new Mars!

Korge defeats the JLA, one by one, until Flash figures out that Korge can read their minds, too, but only by physical contact. To save Superman in time(who is being Kryptonited by Korge) the JLA uses a machine to switch identities, so that when Korge thinks he's fighting Green Lantern, he's really fighting the Atom, and so on, and cannot mount the right defenses in time.

The story ends on a quiet moment, with Martian Manhunter thanking his old friends for helping save his people.

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Atom

Notable Moments: Denny O'Neil returned to the JLA for this issue, kicking off a semi-brief period when no one writer or writers would have a long run on the book.

This issue also features a JLA crossword, "Evil Star Over Hollywood" starring the JSA from All-Star Comics #44, a DC cover gallery, and "Indestructible Creatures of Nightmare Island" from JLA #40.

There's also a fun JLA Membership Quiz. See how well you do:

Justice League of America #83 - Sept. 1970

Man, these covers are getting crowded! Props to Dillin for composing a cool cover image, especially since he had so little space to work with.

The Story: "Where Valor Fails...Will Magic Triumph?" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin, and Joe Giella. As the heroes from both earths fall victim to the same problems(i.e., when one hero falls, the corresponding hero on the other Earth falls too), Black Canary decides to sacrifice herself, thinking that will save both Earths.
Meanwhile, Dr.Fate and Johnny Thunder summon The Spectre who they believe is the only one who can stop the two Earths from colliding!

The Spectre in fact stretches and grows, and places himself between the two worlds. The two aliens who started all this in the first place try and counter, forcing the Spectre to use up all his energy to keep the Earths apart, dying in the process!

But can The Spectre ever truly "die"?

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary

Notable Moments: This is one of those issues that featured those two-page "DC Surveys", where they're tried to find out more about their readers. These were my answers I gave at the time, around 1984 or so I'd say:

...apparenly the young Bob Kelly wasn't that interested in "Black People"(my best friend at the time was black, maybe that was it?), yet very intersted in "Romance"(I didn't have any contact with that), and somewhat into "Sports", Baseball especially. Hmm, am I sure it was actually me who filled this out?

Justice League of America #82 - Aug. 1970

That is the skinniest Superman I've ever seen!

The Story: "Peril of the Paired Planets" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin, and Joe Giella. Both Superman and Batman are felled by some mysterious affliction! Hawkman calls Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and Black Canary off leave for help, but the answer to their problems lies on...Earth-2!

Meanwhile, on Earth-2, Red Tornado runs into a spaceship(how do Reddy's powers work in airless space, again?), whose alien passengers knock him out with a laser. They talk of a plan to build a new planet, and to do that, you need energy--energy from two planets, so they rewire Reddy and send him into the void between Earth-1 and Earth-2 and use him as a sort of magnet, drawing the two worlds together, ever closer...

Then on Earth-2, Superman and Dr.Mid-Nite have the same thing happen to them that happened to the Earth-1 Superman and Batman, and when the Jay Garrick Flash falls, so does the Barry Allen one!

Thanks to Red Tornado, people start to see the other-Earth duplicates of themselves all over, causing panic! As the JSA tries to figure out what to do, our three hard-traveling heroes return to the satellite to help. Atom deduces there's some sort of mysterious connection between the two Earths, causing all this trouble.

Black Canary assumes its her, and comes to the conclusion that to solve all this...she must cease to exist! To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary

Notable Moments: Ok, I understand Aquaman was off on his quest for Mera, but this is ridiculous. When Superman and Batman are knocked out, Hawkman makes a point to say how low-power the JLA is, so he calls GL, GA, and Canary off leave. At no point does he mention Aquaman. What the heck was going on here?

Justice League of America #81 - June 1970

DC did a lot of these "locked up in a psycho ward" covers around this time. Maybe this was on the list of things that always sold comics--gorillas, the color purple, then straight-jackets. Especially when drawn by Neal Adams!

The Story: "Plague of the Galactic Jest-Master" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin, and Joe Giella(listed as "wordmaster" and "picturemasters", respectively). We open on the giddly Jest-Master, and his plan to topple Thanagar!

Also on the way to Thanagar is Hawkman and the Atom, along with Jean Loring(tied up!), who has become mad. On the way they are stopped by some Thangarian police offers and attacked!

Turns out the Jest-Master has been infecting various people near Thanagar, and this eventually happens to Hawkman, and then Batman and Flash when the JLA come to help! It's the Atom that finally defeats the Jest-Master by confusing him with this size-changing abilities(there's a lot more to it than that, trust me).

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Flash, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary

Notable Moments: Nothing like this scene actually happens in the book. Still, makes for a really good cover, doesn't it?

Green Lantern and Green Arrow are on official leave as of this issue, as they start off on their "Hard-Travelin' Heroes" bit from Green Lantern/Green Arrow.

I bought this issue--and many from around this time--at a new comics store I found a few towns away. I was just this side of too young to have a driver's license, but once I got one I made many a trip to it, and gobbled up every affordable back issue of the book I could find. I ended up almost completing the run of the book thanks to this store--yay!
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Update! A request was made to show the aforementioned "Jest-Master", so here you go!

...He doesn't quite live up to the name.

Justice League of America #80 - May 1970

Guest-starring--again-- Hawkgirl!

The Story: "Night of the Soul-Stealer!" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin, and Joe Giella. Hawkgirl is floating in space--not dead, but in some sort of hypnotized, unconcious state!

Superman has the team split up to investigate just where Hawkman is(he was last seen taking Jean Loring to Thanagar in Atom and Hawkman #45). "Black Canary, you stay here and play nurse", orders Supes.

Batman and Green Arrow are attacked by a hooded man in Midway City, and Superman finds the Hol's spaceship being drawn into a neutron star. He saves it, but is hit by some beam and knocked out!

Turns out his hooded man is a Thanagarian as well, who was picked up when his ship was adrift by Hawkman and Hawkgirl. He opened a box named the Ghenna Box, which knocked them both out.

Turns out our bad guy is convinced the universe is about to end--"all the signs are there"--and he's been collecting souls inside the crystal inside the Ghenna Box in a misguided attept to save them.

Eventually the JLA wrest the crystal from him, and return everyone's stolen souls. Superman destroys the Ghenna Box, while Green Arrow ponders a guy carrying a "The World is Coming To An End!" sign on Earth. Walter Kovacs?

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary

Notable Moments: The cover to this issue is a tad misleading. But hey, that's comics.

The letters are in on JLA #77, and the response seems to be--well, mixed. Future writer Alan Brennert loved the issue, and so did two other letter writers. The others are mixed, but there aren't any of the "I hate it, you guys suck" responses you'd get nowadays on the web. Comics fans were more polite back then.

Justice League of America #79 - March 1970

A grabber of a cover by Neal Adams!

The Story: "Come Slowly Death, Come Slyly!" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin, and Joe Giella. Continued from last issue, Green Arrow arrives just in time to save the acid-headed Batman, Black Canary, Atom, and Vigilante.

Meanwhile, Superman and Green Lantern, on a environmentally decimated far-off planet named Monsan, find a lone, dying survivor. He explains that the planet's former leader, named Chokh, ended up destroying the planet and plans to use pollution to destroy other worlds.

As their leaving, Green Lantern plans to blow the entire planet up because its a lifeless rock, but Superman stops him, saying the Monsan should remain as an example, a warning, of what not to do.

Of course, it's this Chokh guy that's behind all this, and the JLA(and the Vigilante) find their way to him. The rip off his hood, and he begins to choke on all the fresh air!

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary

Notable Moments: This issue features one of those Statement of Ownership things, so as of 1970, Justice League of America was selling an average of 253,000 copies a month, a little more than 50% "sell-through", which surprises me a little--that's not that great a number, and I always thought JLA was one DC's better sellers.

The Mail Room header is changed again, this time in a really goofy way:

DC realized Green Arrow's look was out of date, so someone grabbed a marker and added a few whiskers to Ollie's face, but left the short-sleeves and solid-green tunic alone. Whoopsie!

Plus Snapper is still on there. Some wounds don't heal.

Justice League of America #78 - Feb. 1970

Fantastic cover by Gil Kane, who you didn't see drawing the JLA much! And what's that satellite they're beaming up to?

The Story: "The Coming of the Doomsters!" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin, and Joe Giella. Superman and Green Lantern help Green Arrow put out a fire in Star City after he calls them for help. After doing so, take off. But there's a man desperately trying to get their attention who thinks to himself "The entire human race may depend" on doing so!

Supes and GL take Arrow to a rooftop, where he is placed in a tube, and suddenly finds himself whisked straight up, into the sky, and then(the details are fuzzy at this moment) finds himself in a mysterious place--the new JLA headquarters! As Batman, Hawkman, and the Atom explains, the new HQ is a floating orbital satellite in space:

While Arrow gets a tour of the new place, we go back to Earth and find our mysterious doom-sayer looking for anyway to connect to the JLA. He sees that they will be attending a charity ball, where they formally announce the addition of a new member, Black Canary.

As the mystery man tries to talk to the JLA, two other men pull out weird ray-guns and fire at Canary, but Green Lantern blocks their fire. They are then knocked out, and the JLA take the other man to their sattelite to ask him what's going on.

Turns out this guy was working as a night watchman at a factory, where he discovered the factory's owners were dumping huge amounts of pollution into the skies and the water. He took some evidence to show the authorities, when he was attacked by the cloaked men who then attacked the JLA at the charity ball.

All this heroism seems a lot for a night watchman, and he reveals that he is, in fact, Greg Sanders, formerly known as the Prairie Troubadour, The Vigilante! The JLA talks Greg into donning his superhero duds and going with them to check into this company doing all the polluting. And what's with the ray guns?

Batman, Black Canary, the Atom, and the Vigilante arrive inside the factory, only to get knocked out by gas, dragged away, then put in a net about to be dumped into a pool of acid! To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary

Notable Moments: Obviously the big news is the debut of the JLA Satellite(hey, that'd be a great name for a blog!), which would soon become of the most remembered icons of this era of the JLA.

Once again, Aquaman does not appear. You'd think the debut of the new HQ would command the Sea King's appearance. I guess you could say that since Aquaman was deep in the middle of the quest for Mera storyline in his solo book, that's where he's been during all these JLA issues. Maybe.

This story runs four pages short, so there's a back-up feature, "The Man Who Hated Science!" by Jack Miller and Joh Giunta, from Mystery in Space #6.

This must be some sort of Earth-1 version of the Vigilante, because A)he's here on Earth-1, and he's not exactly some sort of dimension-hopping hero, and B)a big deal is made when the Vigilante, and the rest of the Seven Soliders of Victory, return from obscurity in JLA #100.

Also, this is the final appearance of this version of the logo.

Justice League of America #77 - Dec. 1969

I knew it would happen sooner or later--Snapper Carr betrays the JLA!

The Story: The wonderfully titled "Snapper Carr -- Super Traitor!" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin, and Joe Giella. Snapper Carr, about to get beat up by a bunch of three-piece-suited "toughs" for being "[that] guy who pals around with freaks", is saved at the last moment by John Dough, known as "Mr. Average"--the most normal man in America!

Batman and the Atom respond to an emergency alarm set off by Snapper, and when they do, they're sprayed with laughing gas and then knocked out by Snapper and John Dough!

Batman is trapped in a death-trap, and yet he shows up at the JLA meeting a few moments later! That's because "Batman" is really John Dough in disguise! Everyone is fooled, although Black Canary wonders why Batman is looking at her like a complete stranger. That's because the JLA had yet to announce her membership to the world, so he doesn't know who she is!

The JLA attends a rally of Dough's with Snapper, where he announces "the norms" must attack the super-powered "freaks"! What the JLA doesn't know is they are being bathed in a special hypnotic beam that makes them unable to concentrate and use their powers, leaving them easy pickings for the angry mob.

Batman---the real one--escapes and then figures out who this Mr.Dough is. He interrupts a congressional hearing that the fake Batman is speaking at, revealing the JLA's plan to overthrow the government!

Batman arrives, unmasks Batman as John Dough, and Superman and Green Lantern save everyone after Dough throws fire grenades into the crowd and escapes. Green Arrow remembers it was that rat bastard Snapper who got them into this trouble, and he and the League demand answers:

...it's almost as if Denny O'Neil wrote this issue for me. Snapper is a whiny little jerk, and he risks his friends lives to basically feel better about himself. O'Neil could've taken the easy way out, made Snapper turn rogue because of mind control or whatnot, but no--Snapper is just a rotten human being.

The JLA goes after Dough, and find him in their Secret Sanctuary. After getting the drop on them, Canary knocks him out with her Sonic Cry. Dough is unmasked as...the Joker! Now, the Joker is normally creepy, but he seems moreso here, because he only appears in two panels, mouth agape, but at no point does he say anything. Weird!

Green Arrow ends the JLA's relief from solving the case by pointing out that their secret HQ has been compromised, the JLA needs to rebuild its image with the public, and their close friend betrayed them. All in twenty-three pages!

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Atom, Black Canary

Notable Moments: Denny O'Neil was putting the JLA through an amazing amount of changes, and the hits kept on coming--Snapper Carr, a traitor? It seems almost like a rejection of that earlier era of JLA, which wasn't even all that long ago.

It makes me think about how I read comics now--how would I feel if a new writer came in and made these kinds of wholesale changes in a book I loved? I'd probably have a feeling of "Who the hell does this guy think he is?", but of course here it doesn't bother me, because of all this took place before I was born. A few issues from now, we'll get to see the fans' reactions to all these new developments in the JLA letters pages...

And as a side note--this issue is the first to feature the "World's Greatest Super-Heroes" tagline as part of the book's regular logo. I guess DC figured if Stan Lee could call The Fantastic Four "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine" right off the bat, the JLA could benefit from some hyperbole, too.

Justice League of America #75 - Nov. 1969

History is made, with a new member joining! Oh, and awesome, iconic cover by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson.

The Story: "In Each Man There Is A Demon!" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin, and Joe Giella. Green Arrow opens the story as narrator, telling us that he recently has been framed by a business named, and in doing so losing his vast fortune!

Meanwhile, back at the Secret Sanctuary, the JLA is debating whether to admit Black Canary into the team. Canary grows frustrated at the all-male team's patronizing attitude towards her, and suddenly lets loose with a sonic scream, a power she never possessed before!

We return to Oliver Queen, who is subjecting himself to experiments with a Dr.Oyal, which allows a subject to peer into their subconcious! A malevolent Green Arrow springs from Ollie, knocking Oyal out and heading for JLA HQ!

When the JLAers(who figure that exposure to Aquarius' radiation caused Canary's new power) get attacked by the evil GA, evil duplicates are created of them, as well, all from the mystic residue left in each of them by Aquarius! Only Superman remains unaffected, because, as he assumes, he didn't absorb any of Aquarius' radiation. The JLAers feel despondent, not believing they can defeat themselves.

Superman gives them a super pep-talk by fighting a Superman robot, and defeating it, telling them it was an evil inner duplicate of him, too. This inspires them and they head off to fight their duplicates.

Green Arrow faces down his inner bad self by admitting that evil resides in all people, and it is the best part of them that keeps the evil side under control. This drains the evil dupes' energy, and they return to their hosts.

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, and new member Black Canary!

Notable Moments: There's no official approval of Black Canary into the team--by the end of the story, she's simply a member, recording the tale into the JLA archives with Green Arrow.

The letters page only runs three letters, one by Alan Brennert and one by Martin Pasko--a pretty damn good eventual-writers-to-fan ratio.

While the addition of Black Canary makes total sense, dramatically and otherwise, I do feel like it was a small step down, Iconic Hero-wise. Black Canary never had her own book, only her own strip in Flash Comics, and even that had ended over fifteen years earlier.

Starting with Canary, the JLA would accept heroes whose only home was the JLA, and one could make the argument it weakened the initial Knights of the Round Table concept that the team started out with.

Justice League of America #74 - Sept. 1969

Few people could convey the sheer violence from a punch as well as Neal Adams. You can feel Superman (whichever one it is) really taking one on the chin.

The Story: "Where Death Fears To Tread!" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin, and Sid Greene. Continued from last issue, the JLA arrive in outer space to help rescue the JSA and fight Aquarius, who thought he had gotten rid of the living things on Earth!

He uses his powers to take control of the minds of the JSAers, and force them to fight the JLA!

Superman fights Superman, The Atom fights Dr.Fate--and defeats him--and Green Arrow fights Black Canary, trapping her in a sticky substance(no jokes!) from one of his arrows(I mean it!). Unfortunately, he is then knocked out by Larry Lance, and when Aquarius forms himself into a ball of energy, it mindlessly heads towards the trapped Black Canary!

Canary's husband Larry notices this, and valiantly jumps in the way of it, saving his wife but dying in the attempt. The two teams take time out from fighting Aquarius to have a funeral for Larry.

Now I don't mean to be picky, but first of all, can't this wait? Also, what's the one of the two non-earthlings reading from what is presumably the Bible? I can't imagine either Kal(or Katar) are Christian, so it seems odd that he's the one officiating.

And, also, would Batman of all people really be moved to tears over the death of a guy he's probably never met before? I mean, come on, this is Batman.

Anyway, after the funeral, they go back after Aquarius, with the two Green Lanterns teaming-up, trapping Aquarius into a negative-matter universe and he explodes when anti-matter meteors hit his positive-matter body. This might seem a little nasty--killing the bad guy--but he did mock the JLA and JSA while they were buring Larry, which is a real bad-guy no-no.

Black Canary finds the memories of Earth-2 too painful, so she asks the JLA if she can come live with them on Earth-One.

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman

Notable Moments: Once again, Aquaman is the only member of the JLA not in this issue!

I don't mean to goof on the death of Larry Lance too much--in fact, because O'Neil gave his death scene so much space in the story, you do feel something when it happens. O'Neil makes you feel more from the death of this minor supporting character than a lot of comics have killing off a major hero.

Justice League of America #73 - Aug. 1969

How did Joe Kubert see into my dreams?

The Story: "Star Light, Star Bright--Death Star I See Tonight!" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin, and Sid Greene. The Council of Living Stars unanimously agrees to banish the star Aquarius and sentence him to a life of wandering the universe as punishment for Crimes Most Heinous!

Aquarius is reduced to a floating glob of nothingness, that knows only hate! It, of course, makes its way to Earth...

Meanwhile, we find Red Tornado(who showed up last issue) explaining to the JLA that Earth-2 is facing a terrible menace, causing people to mysteriously become hate-filled attackers, like a small child or even Black Canary's huband, Larry Lance!

The JSA confronts this Aquarius, who tells them that his banishment has robbed him of his self-confidence, but he plans to reduce Earth to a shambles, making him feel a whole lot better! Once that's accomplished, he'll turn his attention to the entire universe! *Gulp!*

The Earth-2 Superman, Wonder Woman, and Red Tornado tried to assist the rest of the JSA, but they are all captured by Aquarius and placed in an ectoplasmic shield, while he has transported every other living thing off Earth! Dr.Fate tries the JSA's last hope--sending a message to Red Tornado(the one hero not captured by Aquarius) telling him to go to Earth-1 and get help from the JLA! To be continued!

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Atom, Hawkman

Notable Moments: The JLAers don't do anything except sit around listening to Reddy's story. This was why he showed up in JLA #72, but because of the emergency in that issue, they left before he could tell them what had happened to the JSA. According to the Atom, it took Reddy two weeks before he could get the JLA to listen to him!

Comics went from 12 cents to 15 cents with this issue, which DC explains and apologizes for in a half-page editorial. At this point, each successive price increase would come along faster than the last one...

Justice League of America #72 - June 1969

Other than Green Arrow's way too big cap feather, this is one spiffy cover by Joe Kubert.

The Story: "13 Days to Doom!" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin, and Sid Greene. The JLA is contemplating the new Martian Manhunter statue they just built--as a way to honor all he's done for the planet Earth--when suddenly it starts shaking and explodes, courtesy of the Red Tornado, looking to make a dramatic entrance.

The JLA is pretty rough on ol' Reddy, none more so than the Atom, who, as the JLA leaves to respond to an alarm, tells Reddy "Stay in this room and don't budge! I have a hunch we'll be up to our ears in trouble, and we don't have time to play nurse-maid!" Whew! Now we see maybe why Jean left him...

Anyway, it turns out they've been summoned by frequent guest-star Hawkgirl, who tells them a room full of people--including Hawkman--have been turned to...salt!

Turns out this is the work of your classic mad scientist guy, Marmaduke Mantick(!), who was approached by a demon telling him if he can apprehend the Philosopher's Stone now on display in Midway City he will be given unimaginable powers! He does this, but he can't control it and demons begin to appear, turning Hawkman and everyone else to stone.

The JLA tells Marmaduke to re-open the pit the demons came from that the stone opened, but he says it can only be done every thirteen days(and they should believe this guy why?). Meanwhile, a grieving Hawkgirl is kidnapped!

The JLA are told the kidnappers will trade Hawkgirl for Marmaduke, but the JLA doesn't give in to kidnappers, no sir! Superman poses as Marmaduke and makes quick work of the biker gang who did the kidnapping(their leader was also turned to salt, and they're looking to de-saltify him).

They then take on the demons, trying to undo the spell, but they are fought to a standstill. But luckily a mysterious stranger makes their way into the pit, uncorking it, reversing everyone who had been turned into salt and forcing the demons back. Of course, our hero is Red Tornado, who figured as a machine was invulnerable to the demons' attacks. They all apologize for being so hard on Reddy and Hawkgirl is moved to tears, as she thanks Reddy and lays a big one on lucky, lucky man Carter Hall.

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman

Notable Moments: Hawkgirl works so well with the JLA, its sort of amazing it would take another eight years for her to join, especially since with Wonder Woman gone, there were no women in the JLA at the time!

Another issue where Aquaman is the only active JLA member not participating in the story. What did Denny O'Neil have against the King of the Seven Seas?

The two-page JLA Mail Room features letters from two young readers named Mark Evanier and Martin Pasko!

Also, the Mail Room header is changed to reflect all the changes to the team:

The Atom is still the felt-tip pen version, but now Batman has replaced Manhunter in the big chair. I guess no one wanted to ask Dick Dillin to do a completely new version, so they stuck with (mostly)Sekowsky-drawn one.

Justice League of America #71 - May 1969

No sooner did Wonder Woman leave the JLA, then they lost another founding member, just two issues later!

The Story: "...And So My World Ends!" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin, and Sid Greene. Guest-star Diana Prince runs afoul of a mysterious cloaked man wrecking the fire-eating sideshow at the circus(!) Prince and her mentor I-Ching(!!) are attending. When Prince is easily knocked aside by the stranger, she calls in the JLA for help.

The JLA show up and they learn that this mysterious stranger is...the Martian Manhunter!!

They ask J'onn where he's been, since they haven't seen him for months(he last appeared in JLA #61), and he tells them he has been trying to prevent a murderous Martian named Blanx from taking over Mars by killing its citizens and destroying its resources. He asks the JLA for help!

They go to Mars and take on Blanx's army, but its up to Manhunter to take on Blanx personally. It's grim, hand-to-hand combat, but finally J'onn defeats Blanx. Unfortunately, Blanx has wreaked massive destruction on Mars, far beyond even what he had planned, leaving the entire planet dead. Superman informs J'onn that some of his people escaped via a spacecraft that J'onn had built for just such a purpose. He resolves to find those people and bring them back to Mars to rebuild, which means he has to leave his adopted planet Earth and his friends in the Justice League:

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman

Notable Moments: Aquaman is the only member of the team not participating in this story---rats!

Denny O'Neil was affecting all kinds of change, barely a year into his tenure as JLA writer. Two powerful, founding members gone, and of course even more change was in store...

Justice League of America #70 - March 1969

Guest-starring the Creeper, with a cool Neal Adams cover!

The Story: "Versus the Creeper!" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin, and Sid Greene. The issue opens with a homemade superhero, Mind-Grabber Kid, attempting to stop some crime taking place using some sort of paralysis ray, which stops the criminals.

Unfortunately, no one notices this act of superhero-dom because on TV, the JLA is being filmed performing their amazing feats for charity! M-G Kid walks away, envious of them...

Meanwhile, busybody Batman is trying to talk the JLA into looking into this new "hero", the Creeper, who he doesn't know whether is a good guy or bad guy! Hey guys, howabout finding a replacement for Wonder Woman?

Anyway, a group of alien invaders(and this is only page five!) find themselves in communication with M-G Kid, where he tells them the planet is being menaced by a group of evil dictators, the Justice League!

The aliens find the JLA helping out the Creeper fighting off some non-costumed bad guys, which they assume to mean that M-G Kid was right! The aliens then attack and defeat Flash, Green Lantern, Atom, and Superman(wow!!). M-G Kid sees the error of his ways when these non-costumed crooks are about to murder the unconcious JLAers, and uses his ray helmet to revive Superman, who stops them.

M-G Kid apologizes to the aliens and the JLA. During the JLA and aliens' chat, The Creeper wanders off, the JLA having decided he is in fact a good guy. M-G Kid walks home, realizing he was wrong to be jealous.

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Atom

Notable Moments: The issue ends with M-G Kid, and DC asks us "Want to see more of Mind-Grabber Kid? Let us know...because we sort of like him!"

DC was apparently alone in this assessment, since as far as I know M-G Kid never appeared again. Maybe some issue of JLA Classified someday...

Justice League of America #69 - Feb. 1969

A history-making issue, as a member of the Justice League actually resigns!

The Story: "A Matter of Menace!" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin, and Sid Greene. The issue opens with a one-page wordless sequence, with a note being tossed out a window that says "Green Arrow is holding me captive and is going to kill me!" What?!?

But before we can follow that, we meet up with Diana Prince, who shows up at the Secret Sanctuary to inform her fellow members that since he has lost her superpowers(in Wonder Woman #178) that she is resigning from the Justice League! The JLAers deny her resignation but put her on a leave of absence. Nice fellas, those Justice Leaguers.

Anyway, it turns out someone is trying to frame Green Arrow for a murder. The JLA investigate, and it turns out the dead man is a supervillain, the Tattooed Man! Then a mysterious man tells Batman and Flash to meet him at the Planetarium if they want to know whose behind all this. They show up, expecting an ambush, yet someone gets the drop on them anyway thanks to a raygun.

Turns out the guy behind all this is the villianous Headmaster, who first fought the JLA way back in issue #28("The Case of the Forbidden Super-Powers!"), who reveals he didn't actually kill the Tattooed Man, just merely put him in suspended animation.

Three of Headmaster's goons dress up as the JLA, and go on a crime spree. Luckily the Atom helps the other members escape(but jamming a bad guy's gun by sticking himself in there, preventing the firing pin from going off!) and they apprehend the faux-heroes, the Tattooed Man, and the Headmaster.

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Arrow, Atom

Notable Moments: The opening page, featuring the mysterious letter, turns out to be a red herring--the note was written by kids playing "Justice League." Weird!

The sequence featuring founding member Wonder Woman resigning takes place in all of one page:

...and yet big JLA history was made--for the first time a member left the team, which would start happening with more frequency as the book went on.

Justice League of America #68 - Dec. 1968

Pretty weird cover, courtesy Dick Dillin and Sid Greene!

The Story: "Neverwas...the Chaos-Maker!" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin, and Sid Greene. A odd, shapeless, colorless creature, controlled only by instinct, called the Neverwas(introduced in an all-black and white opening page) transports itself into the heart of Midway City, causing a panic!

Luckily Hawkman is there to try and calm it down, but the creature panics and knocks the Winged Warrior out and then flees. Hawkman then decides to call in the JLA.

The JLA split up, and Superman soon finds it, where he discovers it has the ability to engulf people or objects and send them hurtling across time and space, which the Neverwas does to Superman! Aquaman then tries to fight it, where it retaliates by splitting into two Neverwases!

Finally the JLA regroup, fighting the Neverwases(Neverwasi?) to a standstill. Superman then instructs Green Lantern to collect them all using his power ring, sending them back into the dimension he came from, but with something else--a robot "toy" made from spare parts of buildings, which the Neverwas can use to entertain itself forever, which as the story ends it is happily doing.

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Hawkman

Notable Moments: A very sweet story--the nightmarish-looking JLAers depicted on the cover is how the Neverwas saw them, which is why he was fighting them. Superman using his powers to build a toy for the Neverwas was a cute touch.

Aquaman plays a large role in the story, with the third act taking place mostly underwater.

For the only time, the cover logo is put in front of a big colored box, like the comics from the 30s and 40s. I wonder why?

Justice League of America #66 - Nov. 1968

A rare, not-totally-kickass cover by Neal Adams. The first of many Neal would do for the book.

The Story: "Divided--They Fall!" by Denny O'Neil, Dick Dillin, and Sid Greene. During a JLA meeting, Superman and the rest of team get mad at Batman, Green Arrow, and the Atom, who are engaged in some shop talk. Atom even gives Supes a sarcastic response when they're asked to stop! That Ray had some guts.

Anyway, Snapper mentions the burglarly at Happy Harbor College. Most of the JLAers think that's too small a crime to get involved with, Bats, Arrow, and Atom disagree, and they split to investigate, hurling insults as they leave! Man, these Denny O'Neil JLA sure are different from Gardner Fox's!

Turns out this machine--called a Morale Machine--has been stolen by the comical Generalissimo Demmy Gog, who plans to use it to invade America! Meanwhile, the rest of the JLA back home are finding constructive uses of their awesome, god-like powers:
...Hal Jordan doesn't like bossy chicks.

Suddenly, these JLAers lose the "interest" in using their powers, forcing them to hitchhike to Habby Harbor College!

They eventually meet up with the others, and help defeat Gog and his "Dirty Half-Dozen." They resolve not to fight again(I'm sure that will stick), realizing that they truly need one another. Oh, and Snapper is there, too.

Roll Call: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Atom

Notable Moments: The first JLA story not written by Gardner Fox; O'Neil certainly went out of his way to write a different kind of tale; the goofy jokes lean toward the Batman TV-show style and its a bit jarring to see these guys fight with each other after eight years of collegial behavior.

The letters page features a letter by a "Joe Straczynski" from Matawan, NJ. Babylon 5 creator, Amazing Spider-Man writer J.M. Straczynski was born just a stone's throw away in Paterson, NJ, in 1954, making him fourteen in 1968. So it's gotta be...

The classic JLA logo makes a return starting with this issue!