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"Starro the Conquerer!": This story is reprinted from The Brave and the Bold #28.

Justice League of America #39 is an issue of the series Justice League of America (Volume 1) with a cover date of November, 1965.

Synopsis for "Starro the Conquerer!"

This story is reprinted from The Brave and the Bold #28.

While swimming the Atlantic, Aquaman comes upon Peter the Puffer Fish who tells him about a strange alien menace. He witnessed a gigantic creature named Starro land in the sea and use its powers to transform three starfish into oversized monsters that resembled Starro itself. Aquaman decides to call an emergency meeting of the Justice League of America, and activates the communicator contained within his A-Belt.

Wonder Woman is the first to receive the signal, and cuts short her date with Steve Trevor to respond to the call. She pilots her invisible robot plane to the Justice League's cavern headquarters. Superman is the next to receive the signal, but he is too busy in outer space smashing meteors that threaten to enter Earth's atmosphere. Likewise, Batman receives the distress call, but a crime wave in Gotham City prevents him from responding. Green Lantern is test flying a jet fighter, but sets it on autopilot, then flies off for the meeting. The Flash meanwhile, disrupts a powerful tornado, and then speeds away in response to the call. Fortunately, it is easy for detective John Jones to excuse himself, as the police chief tells him that he has earned himself some much needed vacation time. John hears the signal with his Martian hearing and flies off.

At Justice League headquarters, Aquaman tells the assembled team what he has learned of Starro. The Flash, as acting chairman for the League, delegates orders to each League member and gives them the locations of each of the Starro agent sightings. Green Lantern is to patrol Rocky Mountain National Park, while Wonder Woman and the Martian Manhunter investigate a sighting at Science City. Aquaman is to patrol the ocean depths, while the Flash himself will investigate a Starro's presence in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island.

Green Lantern charges his ring, and begins patrolling the skies over the Rocky Mountains. He sees one of the Starro agents flying through the air to attack an Air Force jet bomber. The crew of the bomber fights back, but the Starro is invulnerable to the jet's machine guns. The creature's tentacles snake inside and steal one of the atomic missiles from the bomb bay. The plane dives into a tailspin, and Green Lantern uses his ring to set it down safely. When he turns his attention back towards the Starro, he sees to his horror that the monster has detonated the atomic missile. Hal quickly envelops himself in a protective bubble and begins firing blasts of energy at the Starro's thorax. After several well-placed hits, the creature weakens and reverts to its normal state.

Starro and Science City

Starro attacks Science City!

In Science City, Wonder Woman and the Martian Manhunter arrive just in time to find another Starro spore attacking the Hall of Science. The Starro wraps its huge body around the entire building, picks it up off the ground, and begins flying through the sky with it. During it's flight, the creature uses its mental powers to absorb the accumulated scientific knowledge of everyone in the building, and the scientists inside are placed into a state of suspended animation. Wonder Woman stands on the wing of her robot plane and ensnares the edge of the building with her magic lasso. The Martian Manhunter makes use of falling meteor rocks (those that Superman missed) and uses his Martian breath to blow them at Starro. The attack is mildly successful, but it also ignites a fire on the exterior of the building. The Manhunter then uses his breath to create a suction that draws in nearby rain clouds. The rainfall succeeds in dousing the flames. Starro however, concentrates its attack on Wonder Woman. Having absorbed atomic power from its fallen cousin, it generates blasts of energy from each of its tentacles. Wonder Woman deflects the blasts with her Amazonian bracelets, and the Manhunter uses a piece of lead roof plating to protect himself. With the lasso still fastened to the building, Wonder Woman ties the other end to her plane and manages to jerk the Hall of Science free from Starro's grasp. She sets it safely upon the ground then resumes the fight with Starro. After several intense minutes, Starro finally weakens from the assault and collapses down onto the Earth. It returns to the state of an ordinary starfish. Like the other spore, this Starro's knowledge and power transfers to its third partner.

In Happy Harbor, Rhode Island, the Flash investigates the sighting of the third Starro agent. This one is using its powers to mentally control the town's populace. The Flash finds the one civilian who appears to be unaffected by the hypnotic attack – Snapper Carr. Snapper is the midst of sprinkling lime on his front lawn when he sees his family wander away from the house in a daze. They join with several other expressionless people who begin slowly walking towards Starro. Starro notices the Flash's presence and begins blasting at him with his energy attack, but the Flash is too fast for him. By encircling the creature at super-speed, he manages to trap it inside a vortex and propel him out to sea. He then begins drumming his feet on the shoreline at super-speed, causing the water around Starro to part. When he stops, the water crashes back down on top of it, rendering the creature unconscious. With Starro inert, the townspeople regain control of their senses.

The original Starro absorbs the knowledge and power of its defeated underlings and glides towards nearby Turkey Hollow. The Flash radios the rest of the League who gather together for the final showdown. With all of its accumulated power, Starro plans on taking control of the entire world. Starro learns of Green Lantern's weakness against the color yellow, and changes its own color so that it will be invulnerable to GL's power ring attacks. Flash is still curious as to why Snapper Carr was impervious to Starro's mental control. With Green Lantern's help, he learns that the lime covering Snapper's clothes was proof against the alien's power. Armed with a means for combating the monster, the Justice League gather up several barrels of lime and Green Lantern uses his ring to sprinkle it all across Starro's body. The lime hardens around him imprisoning Starro within a hard, white shell. Grateful for unintentionally providing them with the means to defeat Starro, the Justice League make Snapper Carr an honorary member of the team.

Justice League Signal Device 0002

Snapper is given the first Justice League Signal Device and honorary membership.


Appearing in "Starro the Conquerer!"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

  • Peter the Puffer Fish (Single appearance)
  • Snapper Carr's family
    • Janet Carr (Single appearance)
    • John Carr (Single appearance)
    • Mrs. Carr (Single appearance)

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:


Synopsis for "The Case of the Stolen Super-Powers!"

This story is reprinted from The Brave and the Bold #30.

While out on separate cases, each member of the Justice League find that their various super-powers fail them during critical moments of their solo adventures. Finding the whole experience fishy after battling the Mirror Master, the Flash in his guise of Barry Allen hears of crimes being committed by a super-powered criminal that mimics their powers. Calling the Justice League together, the Flash tells the others of these fantastic robberies which were used by one crook who could imitate their various super powers.

When they realize that the being that committed the super-crimes was stealing animals with amazingly long life spans, they theorize that the thief in question is attempting to make an immortality elixir. Tracking down other animals that live extended lives, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Batman, Superman and Martian Manhunter decide to go and track down the villain. Wonder Woman is the first to meet the enemy, a robot named Amazo who has duplicated all their powers.

In each instance, Amazo defeats each member of the Justice League and takes them hostage and takes them before his master Professor Ivo. Ivo exposes them all to chlorine gas to knock them out, so that Amazo can use his mimicked Green Lantern powers to erase their memories of them. However, Green Lantern inhales the gas (it being yellow in composition) and exhales it while Amazo is using his imitation power ring powers. Having not been affected by the power, Green Lantern is able to use his power ring to immobilize both Amazo and his master and free his friends.

After explaining how he overcame Amazo's imitation Green Lantern powers, the JLA turn Ivo to the authorities where he is sentenced to 500 years in prison, after the court case the JLA put the now deactivated Amazo into their trophy room as a monument.

Appearing in "The Case of the Stolen Super-Powers!"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

  • Snapper Carr
  • José Mendoza (Single appearance)
    • Jose Mendoza's Son (Single appearance)
    • Jose Mendoza's Grandson (Single appearance)
    • Jose Mendoza's Great-Granddaughter (Single appearance)
    • Jose Mendoza's Great-Great-Grandson (Single appearance)
    • Jose Mendoza's Great-Great-Great-Grandson (Single appearance)

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

Animals:

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:

Synopsis for "When Gravity Went Wild!"

This story is reprinted from Justice League of America #5.

Convinced that the Green Arrow has betrayed the Justice League and has been helping their foes while working on cases together, the JLA puts Green Arrow on trial to answer to their claims. With Batman, Superman and Snapper Carr acting as judges, the other JLA members explain the situation.

Monty Moran, known as the Getaway Mastermind, devised a way for himself and fellow prisoners Captain Cold, the Clock King, Professor Menace, Electric Man, and the Puppet Master to escape from jail. Shrinking down in size and escaping on a miniature zeppelin, the group of criminals vowed to destroy the Justice League. Upon hearing about the crooks escape, Wonder Woman, Flash and Green Arrow team up to capture three of the escaped criminals, while J'onn J’onzz, Aquaman, and Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) set out to capture the other three.

Tracking down Clock King, Captain Cold and Professor Menace, the first trio tries to stop them. However, Green Arrow fires exploding arrows that stop Flash and Wonder Woman from capturing them. While later when Getaway Master and Puppet Master were tracked down by Aquaman, Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern, the trio was also stopped from capturing those crooks by Green Arrow's intervention.

With everything told, Green Arrow reveals that he was using the arrows to save everyone's lives because of various traps, and explains that one among them is an impostor and that he kept silent until now so that he can lead them into a trap. When "Green Lantern" is revealed to be Doctor Destiny in disguise, the group tries to capture him, but he uses a special anti-gravity device to defeat the JLA and take them prisoner. Taking them to his base, the group are saved by the real Green Lantern who manages to free himself.

Appearing in "When Gravity Went Wild!"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:


Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:

Notes



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