Giant Justice League Of America The First

Today a double treat for fans, covering the 80 Page Giant #16, which was the first of DC's new version of 80 page giants, as it was also numbered as Justice League of America #39 (November, 1965), this under a cover by Mike Sekowsky, Murphy Anderson and Bernard Sachs.

The G16 referenced above reflected that there had been 15 previous volumes in the 80 Page Giant series, covering heroes from Superman, Batman, Flash, Sgt. Rock and even Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen!

But, let's look at this issue, and the Justice League stories contained within....

Brave and the Bold 28

The first issue reprinted here is Brave and the Bold #28 (February-March, 1960) where readers first met the Justice League of America as they faced "Starro The Conqueror" as presented by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky and Bernard Sachs.

This is the first time readers met the JLA and its charter members, including Green Lantern, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Flash and Martian Manhunter, with Superman and Batman (but not as active), as they faced the menace of Starro, a giant attacking telepathic starfish. 

No origin for the team was given (that would come later), but the team had gotten help from a young lad, Snapper Carr of Happy Harbor, to defeat the alien menace as it was slowly taking over the minds of all it encountered....which was enough to get the hipster an honorary membership in the team, and Snapper continued with the team, recording their missions.

Starro ended up as a trophy in the JLA cave headquarters in Happy Harbor, and the issue also had cameos by Wonder Woman's Steve Trevor and Martian Manhunter's Captain Harding, as well as introducing Snapper's dad, John, his mom, and his sister Janet (though readers would have to wait years to find out Snapper's first name is Lucas).

Brave and the Bold 30

The next reprinted story is "The Case Of The Stolen Super-Powers" from Brave and the Bold #30 (June-July, 1960) by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky and Bernard Sachs (the 29th issue of B&B also had a JLA story, which would be reprinted later), this one important for the introduction of Professor Ivo and Amazo (though, sadly, 5 of the original pages of this issue -3 to 5, 13 and 22 - were not included in this reprint).

The team was faced with double trouble, losing their powers and facing an android that possesses their powers, that of Amazo!  Professor Ivo had created Amazo, to have a place to put the powers he would syphon from these five JLAers (leaving Superman and Batman for later), as well as using the JLA to collect old animals and people for him to use in his own experiment, to create an immortality elixir for himself!  While Green Lantern stops Amazo from getting his power (using Amazo's Power Ring), and his own power to defeat the scientist, then restore the rest of the JLA's power (and return home the animals and people kidnapped), Ivo had already taken his elixir, which will allow the scientist to serve all 500 years of prison he is sentenced to!

An important note, Flash villain, the Mirror Master, made a cameo in this issue, making him the first of the JLAers individual villains to appear in a Justice League story.

Justice League of America 5

Last but not least of the reprints of this issue was the time "When Gravity Went Wild" from Justice League of America #5 (June-July, 1961) by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky and Bernard Sachs, where the team faced the dreaded Doctor Destiny in his introduction, which is the first mission of Green Arrow with the team after his induction to the team in the previous issue (with page 10, 14 and 15 not making the cut).

Green Arrow finds himself on trial by Superman, Batman and Snapper, as he was stopping the rest of the JLA from capturing their escaped individual enemies - Monty Moran the Getaway Mastermind, foe of Martian Manhunter; Captain Cold, Flash Rogue; Professor Menace, enemy of Wonder Woman; Roy Pinto the Electric Man, who had previous faced Aquaman; the Puppet Master, Green Lantern's villain and Clock King, Green Arrow's nemesis (mistakenly referred to as King Clock).  Turns out, Green Arrow's errors were planned, as he thought one of the other JLAers was an imposter, and he was right....Green Lantern had been impersonated by Doctor Destiny (whom the evil scientist was holding captive), who did this as part of a plan to eliminate the JLA by negating gravity on them...and sending them into space, though they did get saved, and Destiny was halted, as Green Lantern took advantage of the Doctor's shift in focus with the new captives, and GL escaped, saving the day.

Extras

A few other things in this issue: Covers of two issues of All-Star Comics featuring the Justice Society (one including Solomon Grundy), as well as an index of all of the Justice League's tales up to this point (including an error, with the contents of issue #40 being listed as those for #39)....priceless for kids of this era, who didn't have the internet to get history of these comics they read!

Better still, after seeing their origin in the More Secret Origins issue of the original 80 Page Giant series (#8), the giant series was now in good hands, working under the individual titles of the heroes, continuing in Justice League of America, as well as elsewhere, like World's Finest Comics, Superman, Batman and Flash, and more!

Starro JLA First Foe

Starro was the first foe that readers saw the Justice League of America face, in their premiere in Brave and the Bold #28 (February-March, 1960) by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, Bernard Sachs, Joe Giella and Murphy Anderson.


So, this is our chance to have Starro in our face....but, the safe way, not the way it was in the comics!

Starro The Conqueror

Brave and the Bold #28 (February-March, 1960) by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, Bernard Sachs, Joe Giella and Murphy Anderson premiered the alien invader Starro, as he faced off against the Justice League of America (though this wasn't their origin, that would be explained later).  Aquaman gets warned of the menace of the invading starfish, Starro, by his own finny friends, and he sends out the call to the JLA, with Flash as chairman, sending out the team to take on the 3 duplicates of Starro, with Green Lantern facing one, Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter taking on the second, while Flash goes to Happy Harbor and meets the oddly immune Snapper Carr (whose help on this case leads him to become the Justice League biographer and honorary member), while Aquaman finds the original  (who the team defeats with lime, thanks to Snapper).

T.O. Morrow Kills The Justice League -- Today

Starro's next appearance is just a small one, in Justice League of America #65 (September, 1968) by Gardner Fox, Dick Dillin and Sid Greene, where Starro, along with past JLA foes Amazo, Super-Duper, the Crystal Creature from Appellax, and Dr. Light face the team at the behest of T. O. Morrow...


...who had hatched a plan to kill the Justice Society of America the issue previous, creating the android Red Tornado (but Reddy was a good guy and a little more than just an android, so he helps undo Morrow's plan, and saves the JLA as well), in the last story of the Justice League of America written by Gardner Fox.

The Secret Of The Sinister Abyss

Aquaman faces Starro alone in Adventure Comics #451 (May-June, 1977) by David Michelinie, Jim Aparo and Liz Berube.  The secret is out, as Starro appears on the cover, but that doesn't stop the alien starfish from being a menace to Aquaman right at the worst time, while he was looking for his octopus friend, Topo, who had taken his son, Aquababy.  This Starro regenerated from a piece of the original Starro, growing strong in the polluted part of the ocean he was in, giving Aquaman the opportunity to summon fish to bring fresh water to the area, which stunned Starro, allowing Aquaman to defeat the creature (and have Green Lantern take the alien away)...

...so Arthur could continue his quest for his son in the next issue without alien interference.

The Return Of The Starfish Conqueror

When Starro returned in Justice League of America #189 (April, 1981 cover by Brian Bolland) by Len Wein, Gerry Conway, Rich Buckler and Frank McLaughlin, he was much more in your face (literally!).  Having been found by young Terry Watson following his encounter by Aquaman, the boy was possessed by the alien starfish, who then took his family as well, having them move him to a Central Park lake.  There, Starro accidentally encounters Wonder Woman and Red Tornado, who summon JLAers Black Canary, Firestorm, Green Lantern and Superman to face the alien.  Starro has a new trick this time, creating duplicates of himself which attach to the face of his foes, and dominate their minds.  By the end of this issue, Starro has conquered the JLA, and the island of Manhattan....

...with the other JLAers finding out that "Our Friends, Our Enemies" in Justice League of America #190 (May, 1981) under a cover by Brian Bolland, with story by Len Wein, Gerry Conway, Rich Buckler, Bob Smith and Larry Mahlstedt.  The rest of the Justice League (including Batman, Flash, Aquaman, Hawkman, Elongated Man, Hawkgirl and Zatanna) are called in to deal with the problem, staying safe from Starro by using repellor-discs Hawkman supplied.

Still, Starro could have won if not for the robotic Red Tornado and young Terry Watson (who got free in a freezer), which Hawkman and Hawkgirl discovered, allowing the JLA to use extreme cold to defeat the alien starfish.

The Pluto Syndrome

A menace to Earth-C (a new Earth Superman found while people on Earth-1 were starting to act like apes a special insert in New Teen Titans #16 of February, 1982 by Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, Scott Shaw, Ross Andru and Bob Smith), leading to the creation of Captain Carrot (and other super powered "funny animals" that would be called the Zoo Crew.  This led into Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew #1 (March, 1982), where Superman and his new animal allies found out that Starro was the menace behind this all!

War Zone

Starro was one of many villains to take part in the attack on the heroes in Crisis On Infinite Earths #9 (December, 1985) by Marv Wolfman, George Perez and Jerry Ordway, but Starro was just one of many villains gathered by Brainiac on his satellite, with the Conqueror not even using his abilities to take over people...and gets a punch in the eye by Superman for all his trouble...


...though Starro seems to have gotten over his cold allergy, as he seems to have no problem with the villains plan to freeze Earth-S, the home of the Marvel Family,  in this issue (or perhaps it was the cold that weakened the giant Starfish so Superman could defeat him alone).

And Beyond

A few of the highlights of Starro after the Crisis on Infinite Earths include a run in Justice League Europe starting with Justice League Europe #24 (March, 1991) (though Starro didn't appear until Justice League Europe #25, and his plan unfolded in Justice League Europe #26 to #28....all by Keith Giffen, Gerard Jones, Bart Sears and Randy Elliott), with Starro approaching the JLE to help him go home or he'll die (but ends up possessing Elongated Man, Flash/Wally West, Power Girl, Bluejay and Silver Sorceress to fight Captain Atom, Rocket Red and Metamorpho...

A slightly different version of Starro faces the Justice League (of Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Flash/Wally West, Green Lantern/Kyle Rayner, Zauriel, Wonder Woman/Hippolyta in JLA #22 (September, 1998) and JLA #23 (October, 1998) by Grant Morrison, Howard Porter and John Dell, which was only defeated by the lord of dreams, Daniel, who was helping a boy named Michael Haney (though this Starro was called "It", "it" was a conqueror, and "it"s coming was foretold in JLA Secret Files #1 (September, 1997).

Starro returns in Teen Titans #51 (November, 2007)  to Teen Titans #54 (February, 2008) by Sean McKeever, Ale Garza, Jamal Igle, Eddy Burrows, Derek Fridolfs, Jesse Delperdang, Rob Hunter, Marlo Alquiza, Julio Ferreira, Olcair Albert and Joe Prado, where a version of the Titans who had become the JLA come back in time, and Starro starts taking over minds to make things worse....

A more classic Starro returns for the 3 issue Captain Carrot and the Final Ark (December, 2007 to February, 2008 by Bill Morrison, Scott Shaw, Al Gordon, Phil Winslade and Scott Koblish), where the Zoo Crew defeat Starro but at a dire cost to them....

Starro ends up on time traveller Rip Hunter in Booster Gold #13 (December, 2008) by Rick Remender, Pat Olliffe and Jerry Ordway, where after a fight with Booster Gold and his sister, Goldstar, ends up on Chronos and Lady Chronos, with Booster ending up in a vat of Starros.  Escaping in Booster Gold #14 (January, 2009) by Remender, Olliffe and Ordway, Booster frees Lady Chronos, and the pair go to stop Rip from being infected, and find Chronos having stopped it even earlier, stopping Starro, but causing timestream anomolies...

Starro underwent his biggest transformation starting in R.E.B.E.L.S. #5 (August, 2009) by Tony Bedard, Claude St. Aubin and Scott Hanna, confronting Vril Dox and his outer space police force (who add Captain Comet, Adam Strange and Kanjar Ro for help), with forces of his own, the High Vanguard, through R.E.B.E.L.S. #9 (December, 2009), with the Conqueror's full origin in R.E.B.E.L.S. Annual #1 of 2009.

Dox finds himself at odds with the L.E.G.I.O.N. facing Starro and his forces, getting help from the Omega Men, Despero and the Dominators as well, defeating Starro for a time in R.E.B.E.L.S. #15 (June, 2010), but Starro returns for a final battle using an army of Lobos in R.E.B.E.L.S. #23 to #28 (February to July, 2011).

All in all, that's a lot of face time with Starro!