That same week, I also picked up the latest issue of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, with this dramatic if a bit generic cover image. It was a relatively rare cover done by longtime series penciler Dick Dillin who, for whatever reason, was seldom approached to do the covers for the issues he was drawing. The title had recently passed from the editorial hands of Julie Schwartz to those of Ross Andru, not that I had noticed the change just yet. As opposed to THE FLASH, where Ross was quick to make changes in both personnel and the type of story that was being done, on JUSTICE LEAGUE he carried forward with the same creative team, and any changes in story material were just down to his individual preference as an editor. So the consistency of product that was a DC hallmark in this time was maintained.
This seems a good place to talk about the recently-departed Gerry Conway, who was in the midst of a run on the title that would last for several years now, one of his longest sustained writing assignments in the course of his long career. Gerry was one of those writers who seemed to be everywhere in the 1970s, and while he wasn’t a particular favorite of mine, he did both write and innovate several series that I really adored, and he wrote individual stories that stood out as well. But by virtue of the sustained volume that he was often putting forward, his work could occasionally be hit-or-miss for me. This is especially true whenever he would take on an assignment that he didn’t have a particular passion for. Like Jim Shooter, Gerry started in the business at a very young age, 15 years old, and he was way more accomplished as a young writer than I would ever be. Some of his foibles during this time may simply come down to youth and inexperience, whereas his highs were certainly the result of talent.
This issue was the second part of a two-part adventure in which the League was put on trial by the United Nations. As the story opens, Batman, left on JLA monitor duty, has discovered that the oxygen levels all across the Earth have risen dramatically, causing destructive fires to break out. But what can he possibly do about this situation without any super-powers like his fellow Leaguers. Speaking of his comrades, they’re gaveled back into session before the UN World Court. The key witness against them is Ultraa, the first and only super hero from Earth-Prime, our Earth, whom the League had conveyed with them back to Earth One in an earlier adventure. Ultraa believes that the League members themselves create the circumstances for destruction as much as they prevent it. He’s represented in these proceedings by lawyer Ernest Sloane. But last time, Ultraa discovered that Sloane is actually an amalgamated alien being who has put the League on trial to get them out of the way of the hivemind’s plans for Earth. Accordingly, when Ultraa is called to the witness stand, he attacks Sloane, causing the JLA members to leap to the defense of the hapless lawyer.
One by one, Ultraa is able to bat the attacks of the League aside, focusing on his ultimate goal of unmasking Sloane. He’s helped in this effort by the fact that the Superman who stands among the Leaguers is a power ring-generated image created by Green lantern to conceal the fact that Superman had left the courthouse to investigate what was causing the sea levels across the world to drop precipitously. Eventually, Ultraa is able to tear his lawyer apart, revealing him for the alien entity that he truly is. But this portion of the Over-Complex is unperturbed by their ruse being discovered. It moves to rejoin the rest of itself, and when the Flash attempt to stop it by generating a tornado vortex, the Complex zaps him before jetting off. At this point, the League splits its forces; Ultraa and the Red Tornado give pursuit to the escaping Complex, Green Lantern moves to convey Flash to medical attention, and Wonder Woman goes to check on Superman, whom the Complex creature had indicated it had earlier killed.
Meanwhile, back aboard the JLA’s satellite headquarters, Batman has geared up for a voyage across space. He’s worked out that his fellow League members and the other heroes of the world are all busy dealing with the fires and disasters around the globe, but these are merely symptoms of the actual problem–one that it falls to him to solve. So boarding a space cycle, the Masked Manhunter sets out into the void. Elsewhere, as Ultraa and the Red Tornado pursue the Complex, they come across people in danger from the widely-spreading flames. Reddy breaks off pursuit to go to their aid, telling Ultraa to continue on without him. But after the people have been saved and he’s back in pursuit, Reddy can find no trace of either his quarry or his ally Ultraa.
The title-specific subscription ad for JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA was a bit underwhelming compared to what other series had been doing. The pitch essentially boils down to, “Hey, it’s the Justice League!” without any specific emphasis on current or future storylines.
Wonder Woman, meantime, has fished the half-dead Superman out of the ocean and he’s told her what he’s worked out about what is going on. The diminishing of the oceans is a side effect of the Over-Complex’s true purpose: they’re stealing hydrogen from the atmosphere. As they do so, the water is being transformed into pure oxygen, which is what’s causing the global fire outbreak. On his own, though, Batman has uncovered the aliens’ base of operations, concealed within a rogue asteroid in orbit above the planet. Having reached it on his space cycle, he works his way inside, planning to divert or destroy it in order to shut down its hydrogen-harvesting operations.
Planetside, Green Lantern uses his power ring to reverse the process of electrolysis that is extracting the hydrogen from the water. This has the unintended consequence of causing the Over-Complex’s hidden lab to explode, destroying the hive-mind in the process. Nobody among the League gives a second thought to this casual homicide, especially not once Ultraa’s prone form is discovered not far from the detonation. The team then receives a message from the Batman, indicating that (off-panel) he was able to defeat the asteroid’s defenses, take over the concealed ship’s engines and divert it to fly itself out of the solar system. This climax gives the feeling that Gerry had maybe intended this story to be a more lengthy 22 pages and was forced to cut into it to fit it in the now-17 he had to work with. The abruptness of the conclusion keeps this from being a satisfying story–the League never really does address Ultraa’s grievances nor reckon with his salient points about the drawbacks of their operation. Conway might have been better off extending the tale another issue. But that wasn’t possible, as the yearly JLA/JSA crossover was slated to begin next month, so like it or not, this tale needed to be wrapped up here.
Rather than the typical Daily Planet promotional page, this issue of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA ran a special report concerning the winner of the second SUPERMAN THE MOVIE contest. First prize winner Darvin Metzger’s entry was selected at random by a visiting Christopher Reeve from all applicants who had correctly answered all of the competition’s questions, and he received as his prize a screen-worn Superman cap from the film. Ten second place winners each received a page of original Superman artwork drawn by Curt Swan.
The Tom Brevoort Experience 
Itās not a great story, but I have a real love for this one with how it puts Batman out of his depth and admitting heās not as good at figuring out or solving the problem in a way that just wouldnāt be allowed these days.
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There’s a scene in another Conway issue where Barry and Ray discuss that sure, Batman’s a good amateur scientist, but not up to their professional level. Unthinkable today.
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Today they just returned the Batman to his Master Scientist golden age self [ Batman#1 ( Spring 1940 ) page 2 panel 4 ]. His Timely Comics counterpart Moon-Man was a Master of Many Sciences, independently wealthy and also hunted alike by the underworld and the police( like Batman in his first appearance was — wanted by the police )
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I think I remember that one! And youāre absolutely right, youād never get away with that today either.
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I agree. Batgod is lazy writing. And in the JLA, any human is going to be at their limits or beyond them.
However, the speech on the first page felt “off” to me. Batman doesn’t have *super*-powers. But he’s the World’s Greatest Detective. That is, he is not greater than human (not a god or superintelligence), but in terms of detective-ability, he is the absolute top human.
“But what can I do — without super-powers? Lord, I’ve never felt so helpless …!”
You just said what you can do – “learn what’s causing that oxygen-surplus, and somehow reverse it”. And you’re the best person in the League to tackle that problem overall, in terms of who is doing it, and why, and then how to take the fight to them, i.e. basic detective work.
I think that last balloon there really would have been better as something like “I have to use my detective skills like I’ve never used them before!”. Urgent, but active.
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Love the Cover!!!
R.I.P. Gerry Conway
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With Gerry Conway’s very recent passing in mind, I’m recalling that for a period of time, he was far and away my favorite comic book writer – before becoming one who’s work I would avoid. Branching beyond simply reading Iron Man, the other two series I started collecting were the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. The second issue of the latter that I purchased was the death of Gwen Stacy. That storyline riveted me, with Spider-Man quickly becoming my favorite series. Conways work on that title and the FF had me picking up his other work on Thor and anything else with his name in the credits.
Although his recycling biblical stories on Ka-Zar disappointed me, a dreadful issue of Marvel Team-Up with the Man Wolf proved the last straw. How could a writer who scripted those two incredible “clicks” in Spider-Man turn out such awful writing? Conway’s return to Marvel a couple years later with Iron Man and the Avengers did nothing to rehabilitate his status with me.
To the best of my knowledge, those were the final stories of his that I read. I know Gerry Conway had talent and had later issues that allowed it to show through again.
If nothing else, this review demonstrates that ability with a fun, engaging story that hints of the “Uber-Batman” that would appear come years later yet seems to fall short of completely landing as a story. (And I realize other factors such as what Tom shared could be to blame.)
With all that mind, thinking of the wonderful moments provided to me in those early years of comic book collecting, my thanks to Gerry Conway! May he rest in peace! And my sincere condolences to his family and friends.
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I agree. Next to Mike W. Barr, I have come to realize that my favorite stories and depiction of Batman were usually written by him. The JLA’s Royal Flush Gang multipart sage in the mid ’80s were my first introduction to DC Comics and Batman’s role in that saga had a lasting impression on me. Maybe Doug Moench comes in 3rd. Gerry Conway was DC’s most “Marvelish” or “Marvel-type” writer.
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First prize in the Superman movie contest was a movie worn cape not “cap” btw. Here’s an interesting follow up story of what happened to that cape over the years. https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/film/a31334515/superman-cape-movie-memorabilia-auction/
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Second place winner in the contest got a better prize!
That cover is pretty clearly designed by Andru; one of the benefits of having him as a staff editor. But whenever I see it, my first thought is — “Hey, Batman gets a scooter. Most of the rest of them can fly, or run fast or whatever. But does Green Arrow get a scooter? Does Black Canary get a scooter? Don’t be a dick, Batman!”
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The Swan pages are a helluva second prize…. but the Superman cape (not cap) eventually sold for $200,000 after passing through a few hands… which would buy quite a few pages of Swan art.
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Gerry Conway co-created the Punisher, Ben Reilly, Firelord, Darkoth the Death-Demon, the first Ms. Marvel ( Carol Danvers ) and the Jackal, Tarantula, Grizzly, Hammerhead Jonas Harrow and for DC Comics co-created Firestorm, Power Girl, Jason Todd and the villain Killer Croc, Atomic Skull, Baron Blitzkrieg, Black Spider, Plastique. Man-Thing with Stan Lee, Roy Thomas and Grey Morrow. Werewolf by Night ( jack Russell ) with Roy Thomas, Jean Thomas & Mike Ploog. Enforcer with Don Glut and Don Heck.
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Also co-created the first Killer Frost, the first Hyena ( Summer Day ), Multiplex, Mirage ( Detective Comics#511 ), Count Vertigo, Kung( Assassin of a Thousand Claws ), The Overmaster’s Cadre ( Shrike, Crowbar, Black Mass, Shatterfist & Nightfall ), Silver Ghost, Slipknot, Spirit King, Snowman ( Batman#337 –human-yeti offspring ) and Commander Steel ( Steel ), Vixen, Vibe & Gypsy ( JLA Annual#2 ), Starman ( Mikaal Tomas ). Co-created the Demon-Druid ( who during Operation Galactic Storm/Kree-Shi’ar War was shoehorned into a giant Kree Eternal named Ultimus ( Ard-Con ) ), Dweller-in-Darkness, Man-Bull, Man-Killer ( renamed Amazon in the Thunderbolts original series ), Midas ( MTU#30 ), Mindworm, Mister Fear III ( Larry Cranston –DD#88 ), Mahkizmo the Nuclear Man, Damon Dran, Tombstone and Tempus. Definitely co-created some characters I have enjoyed.
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Gerry Conway wrote JLA stories that George Perez drew that I enjoyed: JLA#184-186 ( November-January 1980-1981 ), JLA#192 ( July 1981 — my first intro to Firestorm & Zatanna )-193 ( August 1981 ), 194-197( September – December 1981 and JLA#200 ( March 1982 — my first intro to the Martian Manhunter ).
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So the Over-Complex is stealing the Hydrogen from the atmosphere and over at Timely Comics the alien robots were trying to steal Earth’s water [ Blonde Phantom Comics#21 ( January 1949 ) Sub-Mariner story — The Metal Men of the Moon! ], over at Atlas Comics another group of aliens tried to steal Earth’s water [ Sub-Mariner#36 ( November 1954 ) Sub-Mariner 1st story — The Hidden World! — see the first page and aliens at Atlastales.com ] and at Marvel Comics another group of aliens ( Alpha Centaurians ) tried to steal Earth’s water [ Sub-Mariner#17-18 ( September-October 1969 ) — Roy Thomas story ].
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This run was a low point for me. Is this when there was a hint of A Flash/Zatanna romance?
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Pretty much the various JLA books I’ve read through the years have been not quite low points for me but I can’t recall any that really impressed me besides Englehart’s short run. Conway’s long tenure is no different but his writing very rarely moved me. There were a couple of exceptions bad and good but I can’t think of any. His stuff was generally a good way to kill five minutes for me and that’s it. i’ve read people blaming him totally for the Detroit League and its instigator leaving the book so soon but an overhaul like that had to be collaborative so I don’t think it’s fair to just blame Conway.
I do have to say this review reminded me every appearance of Ultraa after his debut was very underwhelming. I thought his debut was good and every story choice after diminished him.
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