Another in a series of collections on the various Crisis events faced by the Justice League of America and the Justice Society of America....and, with this series of team team-ups, additional parts of the DC Universe were added to each grouping!
Let's dive into them!
Earth -- The Monster Maker
It also started off with the scene on the cover, injuring the Flash, and dealt with a lost boy and his dog, but they were interdimensional beings, who were symbiotic, so needed each other to survive. The Flash (E-1) was injured by the dog (Teppy) by New Carthage (the college home of the E-1 Robin, the Teen Wonder). The JLA goes to fight the animal there, where they are joined by the JSA, who had fought the boy (A-Rym), with he taking on the E-2 Green Lantern at Slaughter Swamp. After eventually capturing the dog, the E-2 Flash and E-1 Superman head to Earth-2, bringing along the rest....to find the boy getting help from.....Solomon Grundy!
Solomon Grundy -- The One And Only
While Barry Allen Flash recovers in the JLA Satellite (aided by Black Canary and Iris Allen), the JLA and JSA fight A-Rym and Solomon Grundy, with the two Robins taking a break as the E-1 Robin has a damaged uniform (and gets a new costume for a bit from the E-2 Robin, as designed by Neal Adams, and both dealing with their Batman problems, as well as battling the authority of their respective Hawkmen), then with the help of the Hawkmen, stop A-Rym, while the Green Lanterns stop Solomon Grundy, and the teams reunite A-Rym and Teddy, and see they get back to their own people.
Meanwhile, Batman and Green Arrow find Aquaman (which leads into the next new issue after a JLA Giant, wherein the JLA faces the new villain Merlyn, and his ties with Deadman and the League of Assassins!).
The Unknown Soldier Of Victory
The entire JLA (plus a few friends) gather at the JLA's original mountain headquarters for their 100th meeting (with cameos by absent Martian Manhunter, Snapper Carr and Adam Strange), when the JSA suddenly brings them to Earth-2. The JSA explain that the Earth is being destroyed by a menace called the Iron Hand, and are looking for help. Dr. Fate, with the help of Johnny's Thunderbolt and Zatanna summon the cosmic being Oracle, who explains that the Hand can be stopped by the same device that the Seven Soldiers of Victory used to stop the Nebula Man. Green Arrow asks...."who are the Seven Soldiers?"....and finds out they were a group of Earth-2 heroes who disappeared after their battle with the Nebula Man in the 1950s (including his own Earth-2 duplicate), leaving behind a tomb to the unknown Seven Soldier.
Dr. Fate, the E-1 Atom and Elongated Man are sent to get the Crimson Avenger in Mexico in the time of the Aztecs, as readers find out that the current Iron Hand menacing the world is the original Hand who faced the Seven Soldiers!
The Hand That Shook The World
Diana Prince (at this time, the depowered E-1 Wonder Woman), is alone at the JSA HQ, and explains to late arrivals Mr. Terrific and the E-2 Robin and Green Lantern what has been going on. Meanwhile, the E-1 Superman, E-2 Sandman and Metamorpho go to get the Shining Knight from Genghis Khan as he invades China; the E-1 Hawkman and E-2 Wonder Woman and Dr. Mid-Nite help Little John free the E-2 Green Arrow (who was filling in for Robin Hood); and the E-1 Batman with Hourman and Starman free Stripsey from Egyptian slavery building Khufu's tomb.
The three JSAers leave Diana at their HQ to help people on their Earth and find out who is in the unknown Seventh Soldier tomb.....and the Iron Hand shows up at JSA HQ....to deal with Diana!
And One Of Us Must Die
The cosmic Oracle bemoans that he is not allowed to interfere in man's destiny, as the E-1 Green Arrow, Black Canary and E-2 Johnny Thunder and his Thunderbolt save the E-2 Vigilante from American Indians and their bison in the old West; Aquaman, the E-1 Green Lantern and E-2 Wildcat deal with cavemen and a flood rescuing a flu bug bidden Star-Spangled Kid; and the E-1 Flash, Red Tornado and Zatanna free the E-2 Speedy from the ancient sorceress, Circe.
But, that's Seven Soldiers! Who is in the tomb?
It was the "eight" Soldier....Crimson Avenger's partner, Wing, who used the Nebula Rod to stop the Nebula Man, and was buried by monks who found him in the Himalayas. The Iron Hand now reappears, trying to kill Diana, but she uses her judo to stop him, accidentally breaking his control device to stop the menace to Earth. Android Red Tornado takes the Nebula Rod to stop the new menace, theoretically sacrificing himself for all (though later events prove that not true).
Crisis On Earth-X
True, the Freedom Fighters are made up of old Quality heroes Human Bomb, Phantom Lady, Doll Man, Uncle Sam, the Ray and Black Condor....except they are living on Earth-X, a world where the Nazis won World War II.
Using new Transmatter devices, the JLA and JSA prepare to cross Earths, with the E-1 Batman, Green Arrow and Elongated Man heading to E-2, and the E-2 Superman, Sandman and Dr. Fate go to E-1....a breeze disrupts the machine while the two Flashes operate the devices on their respective Earths....that breeze being the revived Red Tornado, trapped on Earth-1 after events explained in the previous issue when Reddy joined the JLA. The six heroes find themselves on Earth-X, fighting Nazis. The Freedom Fighters find the heroes, and explain the world is ruled by mind control devices created by Hitler....and they all must work together to destroy the multiple devices.
Thirteen Against The Earth
The combined heroes work together to take out the rest of the mind control devices, and learn that Hitler, on this Earth, even conquered Japan, turning on his Axis ally. This sets up a chance for the last mind control device to work on the JLA and JSA, forcing them to battle the Freedom Fighters....but Red Tornado is also immune, and is able to control Hitler (or his android copy), and defeat it and the last mind control device, finally freeing Earth-X from Nazi control (and the computer brain that controlled all this was sufficient to use to connect to the Transmatter Cubes, to allow the JLA and JSA to return home with help from the E-1 Green Lantern and E-2 Flash).
The Creature In The Velvet Cage
The JLA (Superman, Batman, Green Lantern and Elongated Man) meets the JSA (Flash, Hourman, Wonder Woman and Sandman) fighting the Horned Owl Gang, and discuss the E-1 Wonder Woman regaining her powers (but still not rejoining the JLA, taking on 12 Labors to prove her worthiness to herself), when Sandman abruptly leaves....the teams follow to find him at his home, with a wrecked caged room. Sandman explains that his young partner, Sandy Hawkins, didn't leave him years ago, but instead was transformed into a silicon monster by Sandman's new Silicoid Gun. Wes had kept him in a cage and gassed unconscious to keep him safe, and shredded his purple and yellow costume after this failure. The teams pursued the monster, catching him, finding out that Sandy's initial madness had faded, and he was no threat.
A pretty important run of JLA/JSA team-ups, revealing not only a lot of DC Multiverse history, but positioning new events and happenings for later issues, building on its foundations and showcasing what was already there.
A truly special batch of stories, as new events were followed up on (especially in All-Star Comics when the JSA was revived, and the Star-Spangled Kid joined and Robin got a new costume)...
I still think giving us an Earth-Q would have been better than Earth-X and the nonsensical idea that the Nazis ever could have won WW2.
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