Tuesday, October 23, 2007

JLofA #36 & House of Mystery #150 (April 1965)


Small wonder J'Onn J'Onzz lost his cover slot, as the 150th issue had a neat looking monster that reminded me of Doomsday instead. When the greenish-brown skinned creature with spikes running down his arms, legs, and knuckles was awakened, he burst free of his chains and destroyed everything in his path. That's a lot more interesting than the Idol-Head's creating a pair of cursed paint brushes to be found by twin landscape artists. Joe Certa was joined by Jack Miller, dealing out more punishment with "The Supernatural Masterpieces!"

Posing as a swimmer, John Jones watched one brother paint a water twister, only to have it (surprise?) vanish from the canvas and come to life. Tunneling underground, J'onzz lifted the whirligig in his hands from it's narrow bottom, then burst it over the ocean. Spotting the other brother, J'onn flew in and smashed his canvas to toothpicks. Explaining his rather harsh art criticism, J'onzz learned that two completed paintings had turned into monsters. Manhunter just snagged one tentacle of the gigantic (See? Thesaurus!) "All-Seeing Seaweed" and tossed it into the stratosphere to dry out from the sun's heat.

A four winged bird-thing was freaking out a school of dolphins. "That eerie mist discharging from the underpart of the creature's wings is causing it!" Well heck, that would bother just about anyone. It spat out a protective force field, leaving J'onzz to solve this one with his Martian mind. His plan? Have the artist paint an enormous (ta-dah!) harpooned, dying whale eating the winged freak. Oooooo-kay. Sadly, this was a Zookless issue.

"The Case of the Disabled Justice League" made use of Manhunter in July 1965's Justice League of America #36, but only 17 pages in (aka "Part 3,") alongside a “B” team of Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and the Atom. J'onn missed out on becoming crippled to prove to handicapped children that disabilities can be overcome, but got the chance to beat up on the heroes that did once they fell under the control of Brain Storm. This especially dubious, cone-headed foe used mind control and the power of illusion to diguise all of the Leaguers in his sway to appear the same, so that the “B” team was unsure how to defeat any single one. Batman started using deductive reasoning where super-powers failed, his fellows followed suit, and the Manhunter ultimately popped the real Brain Storm in the jaw.

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