Justice League of America #113 (DC)
One of the titles DC selected for the short lived "100 page" bi-monthly format was their super team comic Justice League of America which brought together the top heroes from their line-up, plus the odd second stringer. Each edition contained one new story backed up by related reprints, in this case the JSA and old JLA adventures.
Starting off with the annual team up of the JLA with The Justice Society of America from Earth 2, The Creature from the Velvet Cage readers are "treated" (if that's quite the right word to use) the tale of what happened to the Sandman's young sidekick, Sandy.
And they face up to a monster, but is all as it seems. A quite poignant tale written by Len Wein with art from Dick Dillin & Dick Gordano.
Next up is a tale from All-Star Comics #41, originally published in 1948! As much as I am aware of the historical importance of the "Golden Age" of comics I have never been particularly enthralled by these early adventures. As a child/teenager I much prefered to read new stuff. However this particular story is quite good.
The Injustice Society, the evil counterparts of the JSA, decide to have a competition to decide who should lead them by stealing the nations precious historical artifacts. Throw in the ability to brainwash our heroes the game is on in The Case of the patriotic Crimes.
The real heroes of this adventure are two women. The Black Canary and a traitor from the Injustice Society, the Harlequin who only commits crimes to attract the attention of Green Lantern with whom she is in love. Go figure. They eventually get married but that leads to tales from a later time.
The final tale in this weighty tome is a reprint of an early JLA adventure, The Cavern of the Deadly Spheres in which the heroes are roundly defeated. Except there's a twist. This tale is a challenge by the editor to see how the "real" JLA would have dealt with the situation. So it never happened.
The "Silver Age" at it's best (and silliest). Loved it!
...is it just me, or was there a bit more "humour" in comics back then compared to now?
ReplyDeleteYeah there was. As much as I enjoy a lot of modern comics, they do take themselves a bit too seriously sometimes.
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