Justice League of America #12

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #12 (1962)
by Gardner Fox & Mike Sekowsky

The title of the story is “The last case of the Justice League!”: did anyone actually believe it would be?

We begin with honorary member Snapper Carr responding to the JLA’s emergency signal… sent by Doctor Light, of all people.

He’s doing this because he has already defeated the JLA and wants to tell the story. So naturally, instead of calling a journalist or crashing into a TV studio, he wants this random teenager to write down the story.

Throughout the story we’ll see Doctor Light come up with a number of utterly ridiculous light-based gadgets. But what’s the secret behind his technology?

Sounds legit.

Well he might be a bit confused about science, but Doctor Light is not dumb: he figures out that the weakest point of the JLA is Aquaman.

And that’s saying a lot considering this takes place when Green Arrow still sucked.
But the entire JLA falls into Doctor Light’s trap, including Superman and Batman who are fashionably late.

So how did Doctor Light defeat DC’s powerhouse team? By inventing light that moves faster than light.

I would question WTF does THAT mean, but he’s a doctor of… something.

Doctor Light has banished the heroes to different planets. Some are predictable, exploiting the major weaknesses.

Sekowsky’s artwork is atrocious in this, but I do like that panel with the red sun.

The other heroes are trapped on much, MUCH weirder planets. Flash, for example, is on a planet where his sense of balance doesn’t work. (????)

Wonder Woman is on a planet that scrambles your brain so you can’t move properly. That’s an amazing idea, why would you waste it like this!? And why not trap most of the others on this planet, it’s a fantastic trap that should work on all of them!!!

I mean it would’ve worked as a trap for Green Arrow too, but instead he’s exiled to a planet where wood is magnetized to the ground. Wait, WHAT!?!?

But that is nothing, NOTHING compared to the planet where Batman is trapped. A planet where rocks are made of water. Not ice, mind you… water.

Not insane enough for you? On this planet, he’s actually Superman!

Just kidding. Actually what happened is that Superman and Batman were busy with a case when Doctor Light sent the alarm: that’s why the arrived late, and that’s when Superman decided to switch costumes.

It’s a neat idea that makes zero sense in this context. We were shown Doctor Light exiling the heroes AFTER defeating the first five, so how the heck does Superman know he plans to exile them to different planets!?
And wouldn’t Doctor Light find it a little suspicious to see Superman approach him on foot!?

This leads to a chain of rescues. There was no indication the other planets were around red stars… it would make sense for Doctor Light to take that precaution, though.

The JLA goes back to Earth, where they discover that *gasp* Snapper Carr has been frozen solid!

Unfortunately Superman has to be The Worst and free him. Come on Supes, do you REALLY need this guy around!?

But no, apparently we needed Snapper to know that Doctor Light intends to steal three “mementos of light”.

Come on, that could mean ANYTHING. There’s no way the JLA could possibly figure out what the targets are THE VERY NEXT PANEL, right!?

What the… okay, leaving aside the ridiculous idea that Wonder Woman would IMMEDIATELY know what Doctor Light is after… people moved a lighthouse under the sea because they feared it would be destroyed!? What absurd kind of twisted logic is THAT!?

Alright, them randomly guessing one of the three targets is utterly absurd. But it’s not like they’re going to figure out ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?

Really. There is ONE thing related to light in the ancient world, ONE in the Middle Ages and ONE in the modern age!? COME ON!!!!

*groan*

Naturally, all three guesses are correct. And the first one is the Colossus of Rhodes.
I don’t know what is most hilarious on this panel: the way Green Lantern carries around Aquaman, or the fact that Green Arrow’s plane is yellow.

Since Doctor Light is supposed to be all about, well, light… isn’t using thunderbolts cheating?

I was expecting them to tell us he’s able to defeat Green Lantern because the thunderbolts are yellow.

A heat ray is also cheating.

But by far his most ridiculous feat is how he defeats Green Arrow. Even more ridiculous that the teleporting light that is faster than light.

Still, Aquaman and Green Arrow eventually defeat Doctor Light… still believing Green Lantern is actually dead.

But at the same time Batman, Flash and Martian Manhunter are fighting ANOTHER Doctor Light.

Credit where credit is due, the way Batman and Flash manage to defeat Doctor Light is great.

But wait, there is ANOTHER Doctor Light. You would think he would use the light of red suns against Superman, since he’s all about light… but nope, it’s Kryptonite again.

Bet you didn’t know Wonder Woman’s weakness is… Aurora Borealis.

But Superman is saved because Wonder Woman summoned her Invisible Jet… to shield him from the Kryptonite light.

The Invisible Jet. Which is INVISIBLE. Blocks the Kryptonite LIGHT.
Let me repeat that. The INVISIBLE Jet is blocking light.

They also capture Doctor Light, leading to…

So which is the real one?

NOBODY.

The real Doctor Light actually plans to use “vibrating light-impulses” to do… something against everyone on the planet.

The three duplicates vanish just in time for Green Lantern to bring in the real Doctor Light.
I am shocked, shocked I tell you, that GL isn’t actually dead.

And apparently we need to end on an unfunny Snapper Carr… I want to say joke, but is that even a joke at all?

Well at any rate, this version of Snapper Carr is definitely a joke.

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Interesting letters: a huge difference from the books under Julius Schwartz, as opposed by those under Weisinger, is that negative letters are allowed to be pretty harsh.

Interestingly, Paul Gambaccini was a frequent letter writer and claims to have invented the “Branc Echh” nickname used by Stan Lee for DC Comics.

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Historical significance: 7/10
While Doctor Light is not exactly a major player for the vast majority of his editorial career, he’s still quite notable.

Silver Age-ness: 10/10
Pure weapons-grade Silver Age-ness.

Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
Like nearly all stories of this period it oozes charm and it’s A LOT of fun… but we can all agree this story is incredibly dumb, right?

Martian Manhunter power of the day
Super-sucking!!!

Ridiculously useless power
Fish ventriloquism!!!

How close is this to the modern character?: 8/10
The costume is there; it’s surprisingly rare for JLA villains to have a consistent look from the start, but the Doctor Light costume is just perfect from the beginning.
It’s just a fantastic design. Plus look at his goatee, even if you don’t know anything about the guy you just KNOW he’s a supervillain!!!

While originating as a JLA villain and returning several times to fight them, he ended up with several appearances against multiple incarnations of the Teen Titans.
Technically he was the one to create their opposite team, the Fearsome Five.

He slowly devolved into more of a joke villain not to be taken seriously. Post-Crisis, we discovered he wasn’t actually the first Doctor Light: he took over the name and the costume of an unknown hero with an extremely short career.

His lowest point in this era was definitely being defeated by the Blue Boys, a Golden Age team of non-powered children.

That ended up having a huge impact on Doctor Light! Partly due to his deteriorating career and partly because he was being haunted by the ghost of the previous Doctor Light (!!!), he ended up volunteering for the Suicide Squad… and during the mission ended up killing a teenage superhero called Sparkler.

This led to Doctor Light developing a death wish, which he overcame during a mission on Apokolips where he decided to become a hero…

…just for him to be IMMEDIATELY killed off.

He ended up going to Hell, being revived only to immediately die AGAIN, then being resurrected A SECOND TIME and trying to rejoin the Suicide Squad… just to be summarily rejected.

All of this, while absolutely hilarious, made it nearly impossible to take Doctor Light seriously in his original form. He was revamped with a much inferior design but returned to a more menacing status quo in the 90s.

 

I really don’t like that design, but it’s a good way to make Doctor Light more threatening than his classic self.

At least that’s better than turning him into a stark raving maniac utterly obsessed with raping superhero love interests, right?

Can you imagine if they turned a corny classic supervillain into a gross caricature of an edgelord monster, and then doubled down by turning him into a zombie?

I mean, can you imagine if they went into THAT direction for Doctor Freaking Light? Nobody would be dumb enough to do it.

In my opinion, Doctor Light is at his best when he’s a dangerous supervillain with a classic “take over the world” vibe… but he’s also kind of an idiot despite his technical genius.
You can already see SOME part of that in his very first appearance!!!

I should also definitely give a shout out to his appearances on the Teen Titans cartoon, which I consider his best version after the Silver Age…

…as well as mention the OTHER Doctor Light, a hero this time: the Japanese Doctor Light, debuting of all places during Crisis On Infinite Earths.

While she never got a ton of exposure, despite joining several incarnations of the JLA, I’ve always had a soft spot for her no-nonsense attitude.