Your Favorite Single Justice League/Justice Society of America Teamup Story

[j9ac9k]

Justice League of America Vol 1 183-185

The JLA/JSA “Apokolips Now” arc. Excluding Superman; this was first contact for the cast of both teams with Darkseid and the New Gods.

Great story, but man I hate that Orion was in that awful "superhero" outfit.

[Doctor Know]

Great story, but man I hate that Orion was in that awful "superhero" outfit.

No argument there. Glad that costume was short lived. Helmet Orion or bust.

[MajorHoy]

JLA 113. "Creature in the Velvet Cage." That was a story that had some character development and pathos. Most stories didn't have many changes or ramifications for the characters. I miss those days. Tragedy happened, but it wasn't constantly undone like it is today.

Also worth noting about that meeting was that it was just a single 20-page story.

If that story were to be done these days, it would be stretched into a five-or-six issue, tpb collection-friendly arc.

[The Darknight Detective]

Also worth noting about that meeting was that it was just a single 20-page story.

If that story were to be done these days, it would be stretched into a five-or-six issue, tpb collection-friendly arc.

Heh. How true, Major.

[Anodyne]

LOL - I noticed that the re-telling of Black Canary's origin (#219-220) was not included on the list. People really do hate that re-write.

If I recall, Gerry Conway gave credit to Marv Wolfman for the idea. It did not go over well.

I really feel like it was the younger Dinah having all the memories of older Dinah (like, you know, sex with daddy) that turned people off.
Short version: ewwwww.

At the time it was getting very awkward that 30-ish year old Ollie was dating 55-60-ish Dinah. They were backed into a corner, although in retrospect they could have waited a couple more years for COIE and just made the change then.

What bothered me most about that story was this: The tradition in comics is that the soul/mind/self/whatever determines a person's identity. For example, Barry and Hal were once put into each other's bodies during a crossover; but Barry in Hal's body was still Barry, and Hal in Barry's body was still Hal. In the Dinahs' story, we were supposed to see Mother Dinah giving her daughter a chance at a real life; but to me it felt as if older Dinah was regaining youth and health by hijacking her daughter's body.

[MajorHoy]

What bothered me most about that story was this: The tradition in comics is that the soul/mind/self/whatever determines a person's identity. For example, Barry and Hal were once put into each other's bodies during a crossover; but Barry in Hal's body was still Barry, and Hal in Barry's body was still Hal. In the Dinahs' story, we were supposed to see Mother Dinah giving her daughter a chance at a real life; but to me it felt as if older Dinah was regaining youth and health by hijacking her daughter's body.

You're over-thinking it.

At the time that story originally came out, DC had spent the past fourteen years saying the Black Canary who traveled from Earth-2 to Earth-1 and joined the Justice League of America was the same character who debuted in Flash Comics #86 (cover-dated August 1947).
They tried to come up with an explanation as to why the Black Canary wouldn't be a senior citizen even though she had memories in some stories that dated back to the 1940s.
What was presented in Justice League of America #219-220 did all that, but had the unfortunate side-effect of Dinah Laurel Lance thinking she was her father's wife, something DC may not have really thought about in detail.

[DrNewGod]

Another worth mentioning is 1978's Justice League of America #159-160, where the annual JLA / JSA gathering also included:

The only reason that's not my favorite (yet) is that I've never gotten to read the last issue. I was a Spinner-Rack Kid and what showed up month-to-month was inconsistent.

[DrNewGod]

I'm a sucker for Challenge of the Superfriends/Avengers Under Siege type stories, so my fave has been always been the JL+SA v. The Secret Society of Supervillians!

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The plot's McGuffin was ludicrous, but the multi-issue team smackdown was awesome! The early Perez art didn't hurt either.

[marshal88]

That's why I like the death of Mr. Terrific. It's just the two groups trapped in the satellite trying to solve a murder mystery (although I hate that Terry Sloane was killed).

problem is, while the murderer is revealed , the conclusion was never revealed until nearly 20 years later in the john ostrander spectre series.

my favorite was 'crisis on earth prime' jla 207-209 and all star squadron 14, 15. However , the crossover did felt like a few chapters were missing. In jla 207 after they beat the jla, the csa wanted nothing to do with degaton and was going to establish a foothold on earth-1, the footnote mentioned we'll see more of them in the next issue. That never happened , we didn't see what happened to them on earth-1, the rest of the jla reserves would have a hard time with them, the csa was never shown in 208 and then suddenly they were back in the past working with degaton, what gives ?

[Jim Kelly]

On another thread, someone said that the 1970s comics were so unlike more modern comics as the stories were contained and you didn't have these long elaborate stories over many issues--as if that's a short-coming in the older comics. Of course, over at Marvel, they were already having these long arcs in the 1960s--which is why I rarely touched them--because you'd have to get every issue, which meant you had to have a dependable source for comics (drugstores weren't) and you had to have enough money to afford all those comics. Also you had to have the attention span to keep up with the story over many months.

As it was, just a regular two-part League/Society team-up was asking a lot of consumers, who were mostly children with no source of income except their parents' pockets. One of the nice things about comics is that for us poor, working class children, they were an affordable source of entertainment. Once comics expected their readers to have the cash to lay out for stacks of comics just to read one story, they were catering to the millionaires' club.

Granted by the time the extended arcs did start to appear I was a fully functioning adult with a job and bills to pay. But when I look at something like the five issue JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA/ALL-STAR SQUADRON crossover, it doesn't fill me with warm fuzzy memories--it just makes me think of how much I had to invest--time, money, energy--in following that story and what a chore that turned out to be. A nice two-part team-up was so much easier on the mind and the wallet.

[The Darknight Detective]

On another thread, someone said that the 1970s comics were so unlike more modern comics as the stories were contained and you didn't have these long elaborate stories over many issues--as if that's a short-coming in the older comics. Of course, over at Marvel, they were already having these long arcs in the 1960s--which is why I rarely touched them--because you'd have to get every issue, which meant you had to have a dependable source for comics (drugstores weren't) and you had to have enough money to afford all those comics. Also you had to have the attention span to keep up with the story over many months.

If you think of the older stories as more O. Henry or Guy de Mauppasant than Victor Hugo or Leo Tolstoy in regard to story size, then the former deserve their proper respect.

[caj]

I always wondered how they picked the heroes for each team-up. I'd like to think it had to do with how each character would fit best with the story. But it's probably doubtful.

But they were usually good choices.

[Jim Kelly]

I always wondered how they picked the heroes for each team-up. I'd like to think it had to do with how each character would fit best with the story. But it's probably doubtful.

But they were usually good choices.

It seems like sometimes they would try not to have direct counterparts appearing together so as not to duplicate the same thing. But other times it was all counterparts (J.L.A. 91 and 92 being a case in point). I think they tried to give all the Society members a chance to make an appearance; however, Doctor Fate, Flash and Green Lantern saw the most action.

[Aarkus]

JLA 183, 184 and 185
Attachment 110382

^^^ This... ^^^

Virtue And Vice.

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