Pre-Crisis Primer: Hawkman Is Such a Chump

Justice League of America #200

“A League Divided”

Part 1

Elongated Man doesn't even bother running with the team, he just throws his head forward.

Ah, the anniversary issue: A centennial-numbered issue that is usually double- or triple-sized and used to end or begin large story arcs or celebrate the history of the character or title. This issue celebrates the history of the Justice League by having one-half of the team kick the crap out of the other half of the team.

Like any good celebration, the plot line for this issue is born from the League's first case. I'll go into this a little bit later, but this issue is complicated as far as Post-Crisis continuity is concerned; the important plot lines, as well as the League's first case, were retained Post-Crisis and this factored in my ultimate decision to include this issue. That plus the fact that it's kicking rad.

Aquaman don't shiv.

 The Justice League's first appearance, and first case as a team, had them team up against Starro the Conqueror (a giant starfish that conquers things by birthing tinier versions of himself (itself) that can mentally control people and a character I CAN'T WAIT to feature on this site), but the first case that actually brought them together was their war against the giant elemental aliens of the Appelaxian race. I will pause right now and say I love 1960s DCU concepts. Writers and Editors literally did not give a shit about things making sense by any reality-based standard, they just threw concepts on the page and called it a day. Love it. If I have to criticize anything about the Post-Crisis push that will happen later, it would be the attempt to bury or hide the sillier parts of DCU history.

Tangents aside, the Appelaxians were seven aliens each seemingly constructed of a single element: one was wood, another was crystal, another stone, etc. In order to determine who would rule their planet, the seven aliens rode on meteorites (YES!) to use Earth as their battlefield. Obviously, since this war would have devastated the planet, the 'World's Greatest Heroes' worked separately to stop the aliens before teaming up to put the kibosh on the supposed war for succession. From this the Justice League became Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter (last survivor of the planet Mars, stranded on Earth.) and Wonder Woman (an apocryphal continuity error come Post-Crisis, but we'll discuss that at the time) with an assist from Batman and Superman.

If Batman can't mock you, it's not a real defeat.

The meteorites the aliens used as interstellar transport were composed of Kryptonite, so to protect Superman, the newly-formed JLA buried them all over the planet and went about their business. Years pass and more members join the Justice League: Green Arrow (trickshot archer), The Atom (shrinking physicist), Black Canary (sonic-screamed martial artist), Zatanna (insanely-powered sorceress), Hawkman (archeologist turned winged barbarian), Elongated Man (plastic detective), Red Tornado (android with wind powers), and Firestorm (hot-headed teenager with power over the elements).

He's got wings, he can fly.

The plot is thin, but this set-up leads us to seven separate chapters (each drawn by a different artist) of an original (OG!) member (having no memory of the past few years) trying to retrieve a meteorite and being confronted by a new member. Two of these encounters: Batman versus Black Canary and Green Arrow; and Superman versus Hawkman end pretty brutally in different ways. Batman effectively tells Green Arrow he's not worth a confrontation, simply leaving him tied up in a swamp. Superman fights Hawkman and ends up punching him into orbit and leaving him there, presumably to die. Hawkman is then rescued by Matt-favorite space-pulp hero Adam Strange (archeologist with a jet pack) and sent right back to the JLA and left floating outside their interstellar satellite because Strange can't stand Hawkman.. The rest of the JLA members than have to rescue the floundering and asphyxiating Hawkman before he dies in space. Poor Hawkman.

It turns out when the Appelaxians were first defeated they left a mental command in the minds of the OG JLAers to rescue the buried meteorites and bring them together after a set amount of time. This act would then resurrect the Appelaxians. Whatever. Much like the previous Justice League story we've reviewed, the plot doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense. Predictably all 15 (!) JLA members team up and defeat the Appelaxians again, sending their remains off-planet this time just in case of any other time-delayed mental suggestions.

If Strange knew it was Hawkman, he would've left him there.

At it's heart this issue is just a re-telling of the story that originally brought the Justice League together with the added benefit of 200 issues of history, characters, and classic artists to embellish the whole affair. Anniversary issues don't have to make sense, but they do have to be a lot of fun, and this issue succeeds on that front in spades. 

Next article will be slightly different: I'm going to talk about some continuity errors we'll have from this issue concerning later Post-Crisis issues. I'm such a continuity freak, but it's OK, it's the whole reason I'm doing this thing.