Tag Archives: DC Comics

JUSTICE SOCIETY: 1976 STORIES

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog features the return of the Justice Society’s series in the 1970s.

asc 58ALL STAR COMICS Vol 1 #58 (February 1976)

Title: All Star Super Squad

Justice Society Roster: 1st Flash, 1st Green Lantern, Dr. Fate, Wildcat, Power Girl, Star Spangled Kid, 1st Hawkman, 1st Robin and Dr. Mid-Nite

Villain: Brain Wave

NOTE: This issue of All Star Comics resumes its numbering from #57 back in 1951, when the JSA’s 1940-1951 series ended. Since then, beginning in 1963 came the annual Justice Society/ Justice League crossover stories. The JSA regained its popularity and now had its series resume. 

power girlSynopsis: Dr. Fate, Flash, Hawkman, Robin, Wildcat, Green Lantern and Dr. Mid-Nite are joined by the Justice Society’s newest members – Power Girl, Earth-Two’s equivalent of Supergirl, and the Star Spangled Kid, former member of the Seven Soldiers of Victory and now the wielder of the retired Starman’s Cosmic Rod.

After fighting eruptions of earthquakes, volcanoes and other natural disasters around the world, the Justice Society learns from Power Girl that the villain behind it all is the JSA’s archenemy Brain Wave. Continue reading

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KAMANDI: THE LAST BOY ON EARTH – HIS EARLY ADVENTURES

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero blog post will look at DC’s variation on the original Planet of the Apes. The Kamandi series was a post-apocalypse tale with animals mutated into quasi-human forms and with human intelligence.

kamandi 1KAMANDI Vol 1 #1 (November 1972)

Title: The Last Boy on Earth

Villains: Wolf-Men, Tiger-Men and Leopard-Men

Synopsis: Years after an event remembered only as The Great Disaster, a teenage male named Kamandi lives with his grandfather in the remains of a military post called Command D. (Yes, the post name inspired our hero’s name Kamandi.) 

Kamandi is rowing around flooded Manhattan and vicinity in his daily recon. When he returns to the command post he sees that anthropomorphic wolf-men have killed his grandfather.

Kamandi slays the wolf-men in turn and abandons his former home, driving off in the late wolf-men’s wagon. (Oddly, horses did not gain human form and intelligence and are still used to ride and as beasts of burden.)

kamandi and tiger menAfter some time, the young man gets caught in the middle of a large-scale battle between an army of tiger-men and an army of leopard-men, all wearing the clothing and wielding the weapons of the humans who used to rule the world.

Kamandi winds up taken prisoner by the tiger-men and their general, Great Caesar. Continue reading

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JUSTICE SOCIETY: 1950 AND 1951 STORIES

For this weekend’s light-hearted, escapist blog post about superheroes, Balladeer’s Blog looks at the 1950 and 1951 issues of America’s very first superteam in comic books – the Justice Society. These are their final Golden Age stories. 

asc 51ALL STAR COMICS Vol 1 #51 (February 1950)

Title: Invaders from the World Below

Justice Society Roster: The 1st Wonder Woman, Dr. Mid-Nite, 1st Flash, 1st Black Canary, 1st Green Lantern, 1st Atom and 1st Hawkman 

Villains: The Diamond People (should be Diamonoids)

Synopsis: In Civic City, a geyser erupts from nowhere and a nearby lake drains underground, leaving it bone dry. The Justice Society are deployed to both locations to save lives at those disaster sites.

jsa roundtableAfter that, the government briefs the team about a top secret project which has been drilling deep down into the Earth. A scientist named Charles Crillion advised against doing this because he theorized the existence of a race of diamond-hard beings who would view the drilling as a hostile act. Continue reading

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JUSTICE SOCIETY: 1949 STORIES

For this weekend’s light-hearted, escapist blog post about superheroes, Balladeer’s Blog looks at the 1949 issues of America’s very first superteam in comic books – the Justice Society. 

asc 45ALL STAR COMICS Vol 1 #45 (February 1949)

Title: The Case of the Cosmic Criminals

Justice Society Roster: Dr. Mid-Nite, the 1st Wonder Woman, 1st Flash, 1st Atom, 1st Black Canary, 1st Hawkman and 1st Green Lantern

Villains: The Cosmic Criminals

Synopsis: Professor Felix Egri uses star alignments, stellar energy and a distant nova to provide a charge of cosmic energy to 6 ordinary objects. The Rocky Castle Gang of criminals raid his lab and steal the half-dozen items and begin a crime wave with the powers granted to them by the cosmic energy of those objects. Continue reading

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JUSTICE SOCIETY: 1948 STORIES

jsa pictureFor this weekend’s light-hearted, escapist blog post about superheroes, Balladeer’s Blog goes back to the Justice Society of America, this country’s very first superteam.

Years ago, I covered the early years of the JSA, from their first appearance in December 1940 up to their December 1945 issue, which wrapped up their World War Two tales with a look at disabled veterans. Earlier this summer I covered their 1946 stories and their 1947 stories.

asc 39ALL STAR COMICS Vol 1 #39 (February 1948)

Title: The Invasion From Fairyland

Justice Society Roster: Dr. Mid-Nite, Johnny Thunder, the 1st Wonder Woman, 1st Flash, 1st Green Lantern, 1st Atom, 1st Black Canary, and 1st Hawkman  

Villainess: The Lorelei

Synopsis: Every thousand years, a portal appears connecting Fairyland to the real world for 24 hours. The Lorelei, evil ruler of Fairyland, wants to lead an army of evil figures from fairy tales to take over the Earth.

The JSA members enter Fairyland and try to stop the Lorelei, a basilisk, a griffin, a dragon, Gallifron the Ogre, tinderbox dogs and a giant from using the portal to invade Earth. Lorelei leads her army in destructive attacks around the globe. Continue reading

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FATAL FIVE VS THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES

For this weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog we’ll take a look at the early stories of the Legion of Superheroes’ archenemies the Fatal Five. For my recent review of 1970s Legion tales click HERE.

adv c 352ADVENTURE COMICS VOL 1 #352 (January 1967)

Title: The Fatal Five

Legion Roster: Superboy, Cosmic Boy, Princess Projectra, Sun Boy and Ferro Lad

Villains: The Fatal Five (Emerald Empress, Tharok, Validus, the Persuader and Mano)

Synopsis: In the 30th Century, a space entity called the Sun Eater devours a star, causing the destruction of all life on the planet that orbited it. The Science Police had charted the Sun Eater’s path and warn Earth that its sun is next on the menu for the being.

The only Legion of Superhero members that are not already away on missions are Cosmic Boy, Ferro Lad, Sun Boy, Princess Projectra and Superboy. With a mere two days before the Sun Eater arrives to feed on Earth’s sun, the Legionnaires convince the United Planets to let them recruit the Fatal Five, the collective nickname for the most dangerous criminals in the universe.

the fatal fiveThe Fatal Five are Tharok, a cyborg whose cybernetic brain makes him more intelligent than Brainiac 5; Validus, a huge purple monstrosity whose insanity drives it to perpetual violence; the Emerald Empress, evil ruler of an entire planet whose populace recently won a war to overthrow her; the Persuader, a killer and plunderer whose armor and Atomic Axe make him unstoppable; and Mano, a mutant whose hand wields energies so powerful that the hand destroyed his entire home planet. Continue reading

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DC’s LEGION OF SUPERHEROES

This weekend’s escapist, lighthearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog will take a look at the 30th Century Legion of Superheroes. DC fans are still saying I don’t cover enough DC characters, so here we go.

slsh 203LEGION OF SUPERHEROES (Superboy starring the …) Vol 1 #203 (August 1974)

Title: Massacre by Remote Control

Legion Roster: Sun Boy, Phantom Girl, Invisible Kid, Superboy, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, Mon-El, Brainiac 5, Dream Girl, Karate Kid and Element Lad

Villain: Validus

Synopsis: Mon-El, the current leader of the Legion, is outraged that Invisible Kid has been letting his relationship with a woman from the invisible dimension – Myla – interfere with his obligations to the team.

dream girl dreamsEventually, Dream Girl has a dream foretelling an imminent attack by Validus – the huge, mindless monster who is strong enough to take on entire teams of Legionnaires at once. Because Validus is usually harmless unless controlled psychically by its fellow Fatal Five member Tharok, the Legion makes sure that the cyborg Tharok is still safely incarcerated at Space Prison Complex X33.

Not only is the villain still in custody, but he has been undergoing repairs to some of the cybernetic devices in his brain, meaning he cannot be mentally controlling Validus at all.

sun boyWhen Validus ultimately attacks Legion headquarters in future Metropolis, he is routing the heroes while withstanding all their counterattacks. Invisible Kid at first seems to have abandoned his post to dally with Myla but it turns out he actually solved the problem at hand.

In the Legion trophy room, the Kid has deduced that components of Tharok’s brain that are on display (These are the good guys, right?) have activated themselves and THEY have summoned Validus to attack them. Continue reading

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JUSTICE SOCIETY: 1946 STORIES

jsa groupFor this weekend’s light-hearted, escapist blog post about superheroes, Balladeer’s Blog goes back to the Justice Society of America, this country’s very first superteam. Years ago, I covered the early years of the JSA, from their first appearance in December 1940 up to their December 1945 issue, which wrapped up their World War Two tales with a look at disabled veterans. On to 1946.

asc 28ALL-STAR COMICS Vol 1 #28 (April 1946)

Title: The Paintings That Walked the Earth

JSA Roster: Wonder Woman, Hawkman, Green Lantern, the Atom, Flash, Dr. Mid-Nite and Johnny Thunder 

Villain: Nels Farrow

Synopsis: Archeologist Nels Farrow discovered six ancient containers of enchanted paint dating back to Atlantis before it sank beneath the waves. Anything, real or imagined, that was drawn using those paints would come to life and run amok through the world.

The embittered Farrow painted six works of art that would unleash destruction and suffering. The Justice Society went into action, defeating all of the evil let loose on the world from those paintings. Continue reading

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JUSTICE LEAGUE AND JUSTICE SOCIETY VS DARKSEID, PLUS MORE (1980-1984)

For this weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog, I will review the final few crossover stories involving DC’s Justice League and Justice Society. For my review of their 1963-1969 crossovers click HERE.

jla 183JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA Vol 1 #183 (October 1980)

Title: Crisis on New Genesis

Justice Society Roster: Dr. Fate, Power Girl, the original Huntress and the original Wonder Woman (Diana Prince-TREVOR)

Justice League Roster: Firestorm, 2nd Superman, 2nd Green Lantern and 2nd Batman

New Gods Roster: Orion, Mr. Miracle, Big Barda, Metron, Lightray, Highfather and Oberon  

Villains: Darkseid, the Fiddler, Icicle and the Shade

NOTE: This crossover has the JLA and JSA teaming up with the New Gods, Jack Kirby’s creations which were kind of the third version of the X-Men and the Inhumans. His fourth version, the Eternals, had been introduced back at Marvel during his 1970s return there.

Synopsis: The planet called New Genesis is the home of the superpowered figures called the New Gods. Their arch-foe is Darkseid, ruler of the planet Apokolips. As the story begins, Darkseid is still presumed dead following his previous clash with the New Gods.

new godsThe remaining evil forces on Apokolips – led by Granny Goodness (a Kirby creation, needless to say) – have raided New Genesis and abducted most of the inhabitants, then taken them as slaves back to their own planet. They did it with the help of three Earth-Two villains – Icicle, Shade and the Fiddler – so the New Gods use the annual get-together of the Justice Society and Justice League to recruit the two teams to help them recover their kidnapped population. Continue reading

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JUSTICE SOCIETY AND JUSTICE LEAGUE TEAM-UPS: 1975-1979

For this weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog, I will review the 1975-1979 crossover stories involving DC’s Justice League and Justice Society. For my review of their 1963-1969 crossovers click HERE.

jla 123JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA Vol 1 #123 (October 1975)

Title: Where On Earth Am I?

Justice Society Roster: Hourman, Dr. Mid-Nite, Wildcat, Johnny Thunder, the original Robin (now an adult) and the original Wonder Woman (Diana Prince-TREVOR)

Justice League Roster: The 2nd Flash, 2nd Batman, 2nd Green Arrow, 2nd Hawkman, 2nd Aquaman and 2nd Black Canary (daughter of the original)

Villains: The Injustice Society (Icicle, the Shade, the Gambler, the Wizard, the Sportsmaster and Huntress) plus Cary Bates

Synopsis: Continue reading

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