Justice League of America #196 (November 1981)

Back in November 2018, I reviewed Justice League of America #195 (October 1981). It was a multiversal adventure in which the Secret Society of Super-Villains captured some the members of the main superhero teams of two worlds: Earths One and Two. But there still some left to catch. So, how does tha go down? Let's find out in Justice League of America #196!

The cover is a George Perez piece, and naturally, it's quite awesome. It shows the Ultra-Humanite standing triumphant over the heroes. A nice detail I like is that he's standing right over Kal-L, the Earth-Two Superman. It does make sense, as the two were enemies for years. But then again, that's Perez for you. He's good with little details like that.

"Countdown to Crisis!"

Writer: Gerry Conway

Penciler: George Perez

Inker: Romeo Tanghal

Colorist: Carl Gafford

Letterer: Ben Oda

Editor: Len Wein

Executive Editor: Joe Orlando

The story begins with the Secret Society gloating over their success in capturing some of the target heroes of Earths One and Two.

It's here we get a bit of a recap of the previous issue. Basically, the Ultra-Humanite discovered that if ten particular superheroes from Earths One and Two were removed from the space-time continuum, the cosmos would get unbalanced. And the cosmos would rebalance itself by removing all the superheroes of one of these Earths. Ultra-Humanite claims to his villainous compatriots that he is unsure which of the Earths will lose their defenders. In actuality, he does know: his native Earth-Two.

"Gotta make sure everyone is caught up. That's common courtesy!"

This new Secret Society has managed to capture Wonder Woman and Black Canary of Earth-One, and the Hawkman of Earth-Two. Three down, seven to go. We check in on the Psycho-Pirate (You may remember him from my Crisis on Infinite Earths reviews) is on the Gotham City of Earth-Two. It's here that Hourman in his regular identity of chemist/businessman Rex Tyler is attending a dinner.

"Am I really...that boring?"

Rex announces a little film to promote his company's environmental initiative. The Psycho-Pirate knocks out the film projectionist and puts his face on the screen. Using his power to manipulate emotions, the Pirate causes the audience to laugh, and then flee in terror. Rex is unaffected, because he's not looking at the screen. He switches to Hourman.

"Prepare for an hour of pure, unadulterated American-made PAIN!"

Hourman easily beats down the Pirate, until the emotion-manipulator uses a small crystal device to make his face appear everywhere.

"Aw, no! His ugliness is on EVERYTHING!"

With nowhere to flee, Hourman is forced to gaze upon the Psycho-Pirate's tired expression...and off to dreamland he goes. Night night, Rex. Pleasant dreams. Four down, six to go. One detail about this fight I really liked was that there were captions telling the time. It makes sense for Hourman as thanks to his Miraclo, he has superpowers for one hour. Clever bit there. We then switch to Gotham City's Earth-One counterpart. The Dark Knight swings over the night skies, when he spots a bright light erupting from the top of the tallest building in the Midtown area.

"Aww, Bullock got drunk and broke the Bat-Signal again, didn't he?"

The light erupts in intensity, causing Batman to fall. The Signalman has struck! However, the Caped Crusader was able to save himself by swinging into a movie marquee in front of a crowd of people. He then notices flashes of light blinking around him like they're trying to communicate in Morse code or something. It's the Signalman's newest trick: strobe lights that affect people's nervous systems, allowing him to take control of people's minds. His order to the crowd? Clip Batman's wings.

"Hey hey HEY! It wasn't MY fault Batman v Superman was so terrible!"

The crowd overwhelms the Gotham Guardian. Five down, five to go. We jump to Keystone City on Earth-Two. Jay Garrick, this Earth's Flash, races to the docks for a meeting. He got a call that a tipster wants to give him some information. The tipster tells the Original Scarlet Speedster that the Rag Doll is hiding out on a ship called the Lazy Sue. The tipster is actually a disguised Monocle, and the trap is set.

Jay searches the ship, and can't seem to find the limber malefactor...until he realizes that since the Rag Doll is a contortionist, he can hide in places most people can't. The vile villain tries to ambush Jay from within a pipe, but Jay dodges it. He pursues the villain until he gets hit with an explosion, knocking the old hero into unconsciousness. Six down, four to go.

Back to Earth-One! In particular, Ivy Town in New England. The police call on the Atom to help deal with the Floronic Man. He's holding hostages in, naturally, the Ivy Town Arboretum. The Mighty Mite and the former human horticulturalist fight, but the former Jason Woodrue is able to get the win thanks to some mutated vines and special knockout pollen. Seven down, three to go.

And we jump to Earth-Two! Yeah, we're doing a little Earth ping-pong in this story. One Jonathan "Johnny" Thunder has won a little prize, and he's come to pick it up.

"I feel like I'm being tricked, but hey! Free suit!"

Aberhombie and Fitch. Was that the Earth-Two version of Abercrombie and Fitch? When coming to collect, he accidentally summons his genie, the Thunderbolt. You see, Johnny can summon the Thunderbolt by saying the phrase "Cei-U". However, it's pronounced "say you", so he can end up literally summoning the Thunderbolt just by having a casual conversation. The Thunderbolt notices that everyone else in the store seems still. Quiet. Like they were mannequins. The genie realizes that everyone is under a hypnotic spell. Johnny didn't notice because he...is not very bright. You see, despite his being a member of the JSA, Johnny's solo adventures tend to be more comedic because of this.

The Thunderbolt discovers the villain Brainwave, but gets torn apart by his mental powers. With the Thunderbolt out of the way, Brainwave then tries to fry Johnny Thunder himself. Thunder is able to find his Thunderbolt seemingly trapped in a bottle of cleaning fluid.  The man tries to flee his genie, but it's an illusion created by Brainwave. And with that, another hero is captured. Eight down, two to go.

We next go back to Earth-1, all this multiverse hopping is giving me a headache. One Ronnie Raymond is preparing to enjoy some TV at his home with his best gal, Doreen Day. The tube puts out a special bulletin from Plot Convenience News: Killer Frost has escaped jail, and she's rampaging in Manhattan. Ronnie heads outside and transforms into Firestorm (dragging Dr. Martin Stein out of the first decent meal he had in months). The two-in-one hero engage the ice maiden. She keeps trying to blast Firestorm, but she seemingly can't hit him...or can she?

"Agh, my buttbone!"

Yup, she was icing up the ceiling to make it collapse on the matter manipulator's head. Nine down, one to go. Back on Earth-Two's Metropolis, Kal-L, aka the Original Man of Steel, is investigating vandals at the zoo, when he gets attacked by the Ultra-Humanite.

Before his eventual battle against Godzilla, King Kong got a warmup against Superman.

The two fight, the brain-swapping mad scientist using gorillas and elephants against the elder Kryptonian. Ultra-Humanite gets one up on Supes by using Kryptonite spray. And with that, it's done. All ten heroes are collected. At the new Injustice Society's headquarters, the heroes are placed into special stasis tubes. Cheetah wants to tear out their throats, but they have to be alive when they're sent to limbo. The tubes are part of a centrifuge-like device. The story ends with the Ultra-Humanite activating the device. It spins faster and faster, until it activates a space-time warp, and the trapped heroes are sent to limbo.

When being transported into Limbo, please remember to keep your limbs inside the capsule at all times.

This story was enjoyable...despite not much seemingly happening. Seriously. All that really happened in this story was a bunch of heroes got captured. Perez does make the fight scenes really look spectacular, with nice storytelling and flashes of character. I did admittedly get a bit annoyed with the constant going back-and-forth between the two Earths. It's just something that bugged me personally, it's not hurting the story. I don't know why. I would have also liked to see some more interaction between the villains. Would have helped with foreshadowing to maybe hint that the Earth-One villains didn't really trust the Ultra-Humanite. After all, he was lying about which Earth would lose their heroes...

It's worth the price of admission alone, but this comic is really best when read as part of a trade than on its own. Luckily, you can find it if you track down the 2013 trade paperback Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol. 6. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves, and each other. Stay safe, stay home, stay healthy, wash your hands often, and wear a mask! Join me next time, when we join the Dark Knight as he has some trouble with...the night...