Justice League of America - Issue 38
Featuring the twin menaces of Evil Johnny Thunder and misleading mastheads
The Justice League (aka the Justice League of America, aka the JLA, aka Justice League International, aka Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)) is a collection of the DC Universe’s greatest heroes (and also Green Arrow).
I talked about why I love the JLA in this piece here. Now I’m breaking down each and every issue of the comic book, from their very first appearance, with Atom-sized summaries. Enjoy!
PREVIOUSLY
Here we go, then. An issue of Justice League of America in which the titular JLA don’t appear at all. Some avant-garde shit for 1960s younglings. As we recall from last issue, our team were deleted from time, and they don’t reappear this issue until the very last page (Snapper Carr, one assumes, was also erased, but nobody in either universe cared enough to notice). As a result, this issue is carried by the Justice Society, six criminals borrowing the JLA’s origins and powers, a tantrum-throwing Evil Johnny Thunder, and three alien moon-monsters. Dr Fate does most of the grunt work throughout, wielding yellow-helmeted magic, while everybody else fumbles oafishly around him, eventually bringing this random nonsense to heel, like the Lord of Order he is. A proper annual crossover in which the guest stars save a team that isn’t there from villains who aren’t real, on an Earth that wasn’t supposed to exist. And it cost twelve cents! Amazing on every level.
Fun With Comics!
MVP
Sorry, folks. It’s Johnny Thunder’s Thunderbolt again. Here he is effortlessly breaking the fourth wall in the final panel years before Grant Morrison was even invented! (Spoiler: Morrison had been invented by this point, having been born in 1960, but if silly old Flash can’t be bothered to remember the name of an actual team member of the JSA, I’m allowed to be hazy on the birth dates of comic book creators.)
Top Panel
I’m an enormous fan of Evil Johnny Thunder deciding the best and only place for him to gather himself and have a bit of a think about what to do next is the moon.
You want to say ‘well, yeah, Evil Johnny, they will never find you on the moon. Your wild, panicked overreaction at least served a purpose’. But, of course, the JSA sniff out his lunar hiding spot effortlessly.
Villain Cryptic Crossword Clue
See last issue
Next Issue: REPRINT FEVER!