Justice League of America #148 (1977)
Writer: Martin Pasko “with an assist from Paul Levitz”
Pncils by Dick Dillin
Cover by Rich Buckler
Looks like the three teams are having a disagreement on who gets top billing.
Also I kind of love that the cover has to boast featuring 19 super-heroes… when it’s that low only because it’s not using the entire Legion roster of 23 active members!
Green Arrow realizing superhero life is WEIRD.
Last time I neglected to mention we were not actually dealing with Mordru in person, but with his astral projection. I didn’t even notice that detail in the 14 page infodump.
Surprisingly enough, the Demons Three have different plans for Earth: one wants to leave it alone, another one wants to get rich, and the last one wants to rule. I don’t find them interesting enough to try remembering their names, but I really like this idea.
Each demon chooses a group of heroes to fight one another, and they winner will decide what will happen to Earth. As much as I like Mordru… couldn’t we have skipped the entire first part and done this from the beginning? This is a much better premise for a three-way crossover!!!
Ah yes, the great Superboy-Wildfire rivalry. You know, the one that lasted a whole issue?
“Not even the demons can fly under their own power”? The same demons who one-shot Mordru, brainwashed both the JLA and the JSA, transported them across time and space, and even disintegrated Doctor Fate for a couple of panels? THEY CAN’T FLY!?
(that was a shapeshifting Chameleon Boy, by the way)
Nineteen superheroes and this is the best action we have, people. NINETEEN.
Mordru’s first appareance was technically his second fight with he Legion because the first fight was in an untold story, and now that he’s brought back he’s not returning from any issue we know of but apparently was re-trapped in another untold story.
He’s an evil alien wizard, why is Mordru’s chronology so needlessly complicated!?
Sorry, I was wrong earlier: THIS is the best action this story has to offer!!!
Black Canary doesn’t know anything about the Legion. She’s not even from the same universe (she’s from Earth-2 despite being in the Justice League… it’s a long story).
But somehow she knows Saturn Girl is a telepath.
All that effort to redeem Mordru’s status as a powerhouse uber-villain… and he’s immediately shelved in the second part. Talk about underwhelming!
Considering how this crossover has been treating them, is it really a surprise that the Legion loses to the other two teams?
First the whole condescending attitude from part 1, now this… is it just me or does this comic have some weird fixation on ageism?
Also it doesn’t make much sense: the JLA resists mind control better than the JSA because most of its members are younger… but the Legion, who is younger than anyone else, doesn’t?
(I’ll ignore the fact that age shouldn’t be a factor for Wildfire since we’re talking about magic)
The Legion “wins” one of the fights because Green Lantern and Power Girl fake losing to Wildfire.
Yeah, because a pity win is going to make Legion fans love this story.
Considering the Legion is working for the demon who wants to leave Earth in peace and the Justice League KNOWS this… the best course of action should be to throw all the fights, isn’t it?
Nope! Apparently it took Black Canary’s “brilliant deduction” that it’s best to have a three-way tie.
With all the teams faking a tie, the demons begin fighting each other.
Two of the demons defeat each other, and Doctor Fate takes care of the third one by repairing the 30th century remains of the JLA satellite to imprison him.
Why is escaping from the satellite a problem!?
Because the satellite had absorbed the magical energy of the relics, for… reasons, I guess?
Guys, I’m really lost here.
I cannot emphasize enough just how underwhelming it is to have 19 unique personalities and superpowers in the same story and do absolutely nothing with them for a whole 34 pages.
Also: not only I thought Power Girl would be taller, but how short are Black Canary and the Legion girls considering they are all wearing heels?
I don’t know why Green Lantern bothered to erase the events of this story from everyone’s memory, it’s not like they learned anything.
Unless he specifically wanted them to forget THIS moment:
Historical significance: 0/10
Quite irrelevant for everyone involved.
Silver Age-ness: 8/10
Fewer grandiose power demonstrations, but just as much magical nonsense.
Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
This was bad. The Demons Three were interesting villains and the premise had potential, even more than the plot of part 1… and then the comic doesn’t do anything with it!
Seriously, nineteen characters and zero meaningful interaction!!! Off the top of my head, a list of things we could’ve explored or at the very least MENTIONED:
-the Legion’s perspective on meeting legendary heroes
-the Legion having no clue about the Justice Society, since they probably don’t know them
-the Justice Society’s perspective on meeting future heroes (I don’t think they have time travel stories as much as the JLA)
-the Justice Society wondering if there is an Earth-2 equivalent of the Legion
-Braniac 5’s distaste for magic
-Someone from the Justice League finding it weird that there’s a Brainiac who is a hero
-Power Girl’s perspective on meeting a team of people younger than her, since she’s by far the youngest of the Justice Society
-Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad, who HAVE met the adult Superman, talking to Wildfire
-Considering it’s the 70s, Black Canary or Power Girl noticing the team from the future has more than one girl
-Superman fighting ANYONE ELSE and not always Wildfire (at least use Ultra Boy!!!)
-Anyone mentioning the Legion has several visibly alien members (the only one from the other teams COMBINED is Martian Manhunter)
It took me like five minutes to come up with the above. It’s not that hard, guys!!!!
We are legion
23 Legionnaires
6 reserve members
Interesting letters: I just had to look ahead in the following issues to see what the readers were thinking.
From #115: there are a couple of positive letters, but most are disappointed.
Also from #152:
Not all the letters are negative, but it seems to me that the story was not really well received even by JLA fans.