Super Powers by Erik Tramontana

As everybody reading this website surely knows, the Super Powers Collection was an action figure line by Kenner, based on the Justice League of America comics. Super Powers merchandise was everywhere in the 1980s and still shows up today, like on this sick t-shirt I bought at Target:

Dope t-shirt I got at Target

Even though I was a huge fan of the Super Friends TV show as a kid, I somehow missed out on the toys. Here is a picture of the Hall of Justice that I got at a yard sale for my kids, as modeled by Michael Keaton Batman and Swamp Thing:

"So, uh, you ever see Mr. Mom?"

But we don’t care about toys, t-shirts, or lunchboxes, we are here for the comics. And brother, were there ever comics!


DC put out three series of Super Powers comic books between 1984 and 1986. The first series was plotted by Jack "The King" Kirby and scripted by Joey Caliveri, with Adrian Gonzalez pencils and Pablo Marcos on inks. Kirby also did the covers for this series, and both wrote and drew the concluding issue, #5.

Super Powers - Kirby on covers and plot

For a long time the Super Powers series was ignored by fans -- Kirby was past his prime, it was based on a toy line, it was "out of continuity" (more on this later). I bought nearly the entire run in quarter bins over the years and they never seemed to be in short supply. And, to be fair, the first series isn't really all that great.

Darkseid grants great cosmic powers to the survivors of the gladiator games of Apokolips. These "Disciples of Doom" are sent to Earth to distract the superheroes while Darkseid’s armies take over the planet. The Disciples grant super powers to the world’s worst super-villains: Lex Luthor gets time distortion, The Penguin gets mind control, Brainiac receives the power to activate "racial memories" (yikes), while the Joker gets his own psychoactive dimension to play with. The newly-empowered villains pick fights with the superheroes (Hawkman, Superman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Batman and Robin) and lose badly.

Luthor using his brand new powers.

There are some good bits in this series, like Superman the Barbarian...

...and The Joker trapping Batman and Robin in a crazy-town dimension, but there is an awful lot of filler before we get to the main event in issue 5.

The concluding issue of the first series is raw, unfiltered Kirby and it undoubtedly blew some little kids' minds back in the day (Spaceship Earth -- We’re All On It!). Stranded in Apokolips, the Super Powers team touch a mysterious object that transports them to several bizarre worlds. The machine is "The Worlogog, a physical manifestation of time and space itself!". The Worlogog was built and controlled by Metron of the New Gods. Metron bounces the super guys around the dimensions to cover their tracks so Darkseid can't follow. Metron is going to use the Worlogog to boost the superheroes' abilities and wreck up Darkseid’s armies. Darkseid uses Boom Tubes to attack Earth at different points throughout history: Metropolis 80,000 AD, Ancient Asia, Atlantis...all defeated by Metron and the Worlogog. Metron sends the super-guys home in Brainiac’s ship, while Darkseid lives to scheme another day.

While it managed to transcend its origins as a toy tie-in at times, series 1 was just a warm up for Super Powers series 2, where things get really crazy. For the second series, Paul Kupperburg takes over as writer, while Kirby pencils and Greg Theakson inks. If you've ever wondered what a Jack Kirby JLA story would be like, you've come to the right place. This is the good stuff.

The first page has a footnote: "Takes place after The Hunger Dogs OGN". This is all the proof I need that this is 100% in New Gods continuity and therefore an official part of the Fourth World saga. After the events of The Hunger Dogs, Apokolips is no longer under Darkseid's rule and the huddled masses want to track down their former ruler and kill him. Darkseid kills some peasants and monologues that the universe will pay for this travesty. Darkseid meets up with Kalibak, Desaad, and Steppenwolf in an underground bunker. They take one last trip in a broken Boom Tube and leave Apokolips behind for good, setting down on Earth’s moon. Darkseid plans to get his mojo back by conquering Earth.

Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice, Batman informs the Justice League that five "seeds" from outer space have landed in England, Rome, New York City, Easter Island, and the Arizona desert. These space seeds are burrowing into the planet’s core, which surely can’t be good. The League splits into teams, Gardner Fox style: Green Lantern, Dr. Fate, and Wonder Woman travel to Easter Island; Superman and Firestorm head to Rome; Red Tornado, Hawkman, and Green Arrow go to Times Square; Martian Manhunter and Aquaman travel to England; and Batman, Robin, and The Flash haul ass to the desert.

The heroes learn that the seeds are, in fact, evil, and when you so much as touch them they open up a time portal and whisk everyone back into the past. This leads to great bits like Martian Manhunter and Aquaman fighting the Knights of the Round Table, Wonder Woman and Dr. Fate accidentally creating the Easter Island statues (they’re aliens turned to stone! Oh Kirby), and Superman and Firestorm fighting Roman gladiators.

Pretty expensive for a VHS tape!

One terrific bit has Kalibak strapping Green Arrow to the hood of the Boulder Bomber, which -- if you're going to do a toy commercial in your comic -- is absolutely the way to go.

The two best parts in the whole series are undoubtedly the Times Square and Arizona chapters. I have an ironclad rule when it comes to purchasing comics: if there is a dinosaur or a Frankenstein on the cover then I MUST own it. Issue 2 features Martian Manhunter fighting a Tyrannosaurus in the middle of Times Square and it's the Devil Dinosaur sequel we never knew we wanted.

If the Supergirl season finale doesn’t feature J’onn punching a T-Rex  I am never watching the CW again.

And then there is issue 5. If you ever wondered where Grant Morrison got the inspiration for Rock of Ages, look no further. In this issue, Batman hits the seed with a batarang and hordes of Parademons emerge from a time portal. The portal takes the heroes into a dark future where Darkseid has won and converted Earth into a new Apokolips. "New Las Vegas", in what used to be the Arizona desert, has become a shrine to Darkseid. If you have ever seen images from this series on Tumblr or Twitter or wherever, they are probably from this issue, because it is trippy as hell.

Rock of Ages trial run

Black light poster? Yes please.

Civilians attack Batman and Robin for wearing forbidden superhero costumes and the Parademons take the heroes to the Arena, where they have to fight The Hulk -- I mean Mongo "Crusher" Monsoon.

I wonder what would happen if Batman fought the Hulk and Jack Kirby drew it?

After defeating Crusher, the JLAers are about to be killed by Parademons when The Flash intercedes in the nick of time. They escape the arena, steal a time travel device, and get back to the past.

In the finale, issue 6, the superheroes handily defeat the henchmen and Parademons before tracking down Darkseid. A giant hologram Darkseid offers to make the heroes part of his chosen Elite Guard, but of course they refuse. The hologram hand shoots the good guys with an agonizing neural disruptor ray and traps them in a power-disrupting holding cell. Darkseid monologues that he is going to activate the seeds with an Omega Effect Amplifier and add their super powers into the mix. J’onn J’onnz shapeshifts himself into some kind of freaky non-sentient being without a central nervous system, allowing him to escape the pod and the neural disruptor ray. Once out J’onn is able to shift back to his normal form and free the others. Superman and Dr. Fate race to Earth to deflect the Omega beams, blocking them from making contact with the seeds. Desaad betrays Darkseid by sabotaging the machine. Darkseid disappears thanks to his own Omega Effect, while the other Apokoliptikans escape through the star gate. Earth is safe once again!

Proving you can’t keep a great concept down, Super Powers has seen a revival at DC this year. In addition to the Aw Yeah series for kids, Super Powers has come back as a backup strip in Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye, part of the Gerard Way-led Young Animal line. Written and drawn by Tom Scioli, the auteur behind Transformers vs G.I.Joe, Super Powers uses the toyline and Jack Kirby comics as a jumping-off point for an idiosyncratic and offbeat take on the DC Universe.

When taking notes for this write up, I spent three pages trying to summarize the plot, which is pretty impressive considering each installment is only two to three pages long. The series provides new origin stories for The Wonder Twins and Green Arrow, a look at Etrigan's past as an angel before the fall, a glimpse of Flippa Dippa’s future as an underwater archeologist with the Sea Devils, Captain Marvel Jr. crucified on the Rock of Eternity, an army of Superman clones, the arrival of The New Gods, and a Morrison-esque shattering of the fourth wall.

Best Green Arrow origin.

I want to say more about the Scioli series (plot summary, spot-the-reference, theories, you name it), but it's still available and well worth reading on your own. On my blog JLA Classified I have gushed about the Young Animal imprint and called Cave Carson my favorite comic of 2017, and I think you will agree. If you are into 1980s DC and Vertigo comics (and I know you are!) then you owe it to yourself to check it out.

Batman 89 also Dark Knight and Killing Joke with a bit of Animal Man thrown in.

You can get both Kirby Super Powers series in the Kirby Omnibus cheap on Amazon, and Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye is available wherever fine comic books are sold.

-Erik Tramontana


Erik Tramontana is a teacher, a dad, and a lifelong Batman fan. He blogs about 1990s DC comics at jlaclassified.tumblr.com

JLA/JSA 1982 Annual cross-over (aka Making Time Travel Great Again)

[Mark Belkin wants you to know that his political satire does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of DC in the 80s. -J]

A crazed arrogant fascist hell-bent on controlling the world. It’s a theme that many of us are happy is left to the past, and in our fictional stories. Not something at all that we are facing in our lives today. Ummm... and... well... why is any of this relevant today? Because DC in the 80s is reviewing the 1982 five issue storyline that happened as part of the annual Justice League of America and Justice Society of America cross-over, and they fight a time traveling would be fascist! That’s why it’s relevant. No other reason.

The Justice League of America (Earth 1) and Justice Society of America (Earth 2) cross-overs began in the summer of 1963, in Justice League of America #21 and #22, and continued until the summer of 1984, when Crisis on Infinite Earths ended every multiverse crossover... FOREVER.

Until Zero Hour? Maybe? I honestly don’t remember what happened in Zero Hour. That’s where Hal Jordan kills people, right?

I spent 2015 collecting every JLA-JSA cross over, and have every issue except Justice League of America #21 (1963). That one has been tricky to come across in decent condition AND not have someone charging way too much for it. You just know how much you would pay for a certain issue, even if you really, really want it. It’s the principle of the thing.

The 1982 cross over was extra special because it featured the Earth-3 Crime Syndicate of America who were the evil version of the Justice League of America. The group consists of an evil version of the 5 most popular Justice Leaguers. I think you can figure out the Who’s Who of which evil doppelganger is which:

No love for Barracuda, White Martian, or mustaches?

This was the first time the complete 5 person Crime Syndicate had appeared since they were defeated in Justice League of America #22, which came out in the summer of 1963. DC sat on the complete Crime Syndicate fighting the Justice League for 19 years, not using them again until 1982. Really? Maybe somewhere between Starro attack #7 and gorillas on every cover they’d find some time for this amazing plot device of an evil mirror image of the JLA, but I guess not.

The 1982 cross over was also special in that it included not only “1982 Earth-1”, but also “1982 Earth-2”, and an additional “1942 Earth-2”, and then the return of “Earth-3”, and, AND, it even included Earth-Prime. That’s our Earth! The Earth you’re in now! Where no one has superpowers, people read comic books, and ice cream sandwiches melt super-quick. Except this Earth-Prime had Superboy. And in the first issue of the crossover Earth-Prime is nuclear devastated by a comic book villain. Other than that, it’s our Earth. Speaking of comic book villains, imagine giving a guy the nuclear codes who’s kind of nutty, hates a lot of people, and is a complete megalomaniac. Hard to imagine you say? Well that’s what this cross-over was all about. Let’s begin.

Check out everyone on the left reacting at themselves get hit in the middle. Superman and Firestorm are shocked, Hawkman is all “I remember this.”

Look at that George Perez cover on 1982's Justice League of America #207. Stare at its perfectness. You can’t look at any George Perez cover from the 80’s and not want to instantly give the comic book person all your money. He didn’t illustrate the inside, which is always heartbreaking. I don’t know if I’ll ever get the “different comic book cover and inside illustrator” thing. It’s like someone singing on the single, and the rest of the album being a different singer. You always feel a bit cheated.

The story is written by Gerry Conway (Firestorm and Spider-Man fame), and illustrated by Don Heck and Romeo Tanghal. Don definitely had a Sal Buscema feel to him. Don’t know who came first and Google™ seems so far away right now. The story tries to weave in 7 different time periods on 4 different Earths. Keep up because “comic book time traveling huh?” is about to begin. This will be the part some people stop reading because it gets confusing. That’s cool.

So 1982 Earth-1 Justice League (JLA) is teleporting over to 1982 Earth-2 Justice Society (JSA) for their yearly party. At these parties Superman shows off how alpha but super-nice he is, Firestorm hits on a female JSA member, and Red Tornado struggles with "not being a real boy". Instead of the 1982 Earth 2 JSA appearing, 1982 Earth 3 Crime Syndicate appear instead! Battle ensues and Crime Syndicate wins. Meanwhile 1982 Earth-2 JSA get sent to 1982 Earth-Prime and find that it’s been destroyed by nuclear bombs! And Green Lantern’s ring tells him that it was destroyed by Per Degaton. Who’s Per Degaton?

He’s a real estate mogul who’s failed at a lot of businesses and bullies... oh wait, sorry, I mean he’s a lab assistant to a professor Zee, who along with a bunch of other scientists created a time machine in the 40’s. Per Degaton steals the time machine and travels through time, changing events, so that he can eventually take over the world. To build a wall so they can’t take errr jubbbs. Or just take over the world.

So 1982 Earth-1 JLA get sent to 1982 Earth-2 and find out the world has been taken over by Per Degaton. They travel back in time to 1942 Earth-2, but the JSA isn’t there, instead they find the "1980’s throwback to the 1940’s DC group": the All-Star Squadron. Yay! The All-Star Squadron was the idea of the all-star Roy Thomas when he started working for DC in the early 80’s. Instead of just re-hashing the JSA, he decided to use EVERY 40’s character DC owned in a new team book. He literally used ALL THE HEROES in the group.

Sarge Steel is like “I totally don’t remember being in an hour glass”

All-Star Squadron #14 had a cover by Joe Kubert, who is a legend, and interiors by Adrian Gonzalez and Jerry Ordway. Ordway is one of my top ten favorite artists, and his style shines through. The issue starts off with the 1942 Earth-2 All Star Squadron (ASS?) saluting a ruling Per Degaton right before they fight each other 'Roman Coliseum' style. It’s revealed to be a dream of Degaton, who is super whiney about remembering lost memories of his last fight with super heroes. He shoots his boss Professor Zee, steals his time machine, gets caught in a time storm and ends up in 1982 Earth-Prime. Reagan is President! Beat It is a hit song! Breakin’ 2: Electric Bugaloo has yet to come out! So Degaton goes back in time (backwards from 1982) and runs into the Crime Syndicate in limbo. Some Squad Goal meetings later, Degaton decides to go to the Bay of Pigs crisis in 1962, steal some Russian nuclear warheads, and use them to take over the world, while checking people’s religions before they enter the US to keep out a particular one. Or just take over the world.

Here Per Degaton is adding a word to everyone’s name to make fun of them. Illegal Superman, Little Power Girl, No Firebrand

The story sort of confused me from here (JLA #208). I’m pretty sure that 1982 Earth-1 JLA and 1942 Earth-2 All-Star Squadron meeting Earth-2 Franklin Roosevelt in the White House, but in future issues they made it seem like he was Earth-Prime FDR. Superman and Zatanna really sweat FDR in this one. “No wonder he was re-elected 3 times, the man is electric!” – Zatanna. I’ve seen Youtube™ FDR speeches, I liked him and all, but 'electric'? The important part of this issue is that the Russians and Castro thought Kennedy stole the nuclear warheads, and JFK thinks they hid them for a surprise attack. So JFK TOTALLY PUSHES THE RED BUTTON TO NUKE RUSSIA AND IT KILLS HALF THE EARTH’s POPULATION. Just going by what I know, I really don’t think JFK would have done that. It would take someone who is super macho about everything, with very little intellectual curiosity about the consequences. Someone who has a history of constant failures, a very thin skin, yet the bravado to do anything he wants, without much thought of the future.

In part 4, All-Star Squadron #15, the All-Stars, JSA and JLA all team up to fight the Crime Syndicate. So the math goes like this, one All-Star person, one JSAer, and one JLAer team up to fight one Crime Syndicator, each of which has a certain amount of warheads they are protecting. You’ve read comics right? 3 heroes versus 1 villain, protecting the weapon. Who wins?

In the conclusion to Justice League #209, FDR in 1942 questions whether inventing a nuclear bomb is worth it. Here’s the cover:

"Who’s world is this, the world is yours, its mine its mine its mine."

Everyone’s mouths are super open on this cover. I mean come on, it’s just one guy. He can’t mess things up that much? It’s not like Per Degaton retweets white supremacist factually incorrect memes about minorities, amiright? This issue continues the 3-on-1 drubbings, with Huntress kicking Owlman’s butt and Zatanna beating Per Degaton with the spell “Ria traped” spell. So they wipe Per’s memories and send Degaton back to 1947 and back to being a frustrated assistant. Because he won’t regain his memories or anything like that. And they put the Crime Syndicate back in time storm limbo, where they won’t escape or anything like that. And then 1982 JSA and 1982 JLA party it up. The highlight being Power Girl telling Firestorm “Put your arms around me, I need some holding. Now what was this about wanting to get me alone-?” This 5-part story ends with Power Girl totally macking Firestorm. No wonder Killer Frost is so angry.

Overall it’s a decent read. Go out and buy all 5 issues. It’s easy, got some weird moments, and has tons of characters. And I think the villain has red hair and almost takes over the world, but in the end didn’t get it done. Loser!

Join me next time when I review the story where Earth-1 Wonder Woman and Earth-2 Green Lantern face off for leadership, and even though they’re from the same set of super heroes, people refuse to back Wonder Woman if she were to win. Sure Wonder Woman is down with the Justice League and made some questionable decisions, while Green Lantern is Justice Society, and has been pretty clean in his time as a hero. But when they fought the Injustice Society of America, they did the same moves 93% of the time. Wonder Woman pretty much won, but Green Lantern is still popular with a lot of people, but they should probably start getting along because Per Degaton is time traveling and stealing nuclear warheads and stuff. I personally think Green Lantern would make a good second-in-command Captain. But that’s me.

-Mark

Mark Belkin is a freelance writer and one helluva guy. Look for more articles from Mark in the future!