Justice League of America #228 (July, 1984)

In 1961, Vostok 1 orbited the Earth. A dying Mars took no notice.
In 1963, Project Gemini yielded the first Terran spacewalk. "On Mars, a grim decision is taken... and a once-great race prepares for a strange exodus..."
In 1969, Apollo 11 landed on Earth's moon. "On Mars, as before, no notice is taken... for now, no one is there."
In 1976, Viking 1 lands on the Red Planet... "conforming some scientists' fear that Mars is, indeed, a dead world."
In 1984, an abandoned and neglected Viking 2 found new life on Mars, or rather was found by it.

After an effective two-page build up, the action began, as J'onn J'onzz piloted a wounded spacecraft toward the blue world that was once his home away from home. Two of The Marshal's Hunters were in pursuit, but by seeming sheer will, J'onzz managed to maintain his lead. Hunter Commander demanded that the traitor be stopped before reaching his allies, and despite the love they once shared, Hunter Two privately vowed to kill J'onzz to this end. Aboard the Justice League of America Satellite, Aquaman was the first to detect the approaching vessels. Black Canary, Green Arrow, Red Tornado, Elongated Man, Firestorm, Zatanna, Hawkman, & Hawkgirl were swiftly called into action. Barely missing collision, the JLA followed the invaders down to terra not-so-firma. His ship destroyed by Air Force missiles, J'onn J'onzz splashed down in the waters near the Statue of Liberty.

Aquaman dove in to investigate, but was brushed off by an escaping figure from the wreckage that he was able to recognize through telepathy and a scant vision before it turned invisible. "...an old friend... who seems to have turned into an enemy..." The Leaguers had presumed that he was still with his fellow survivors in another star system, resettled on "Mars II." Speeding away on some unknown mission, an overzealous Nuclear Man tried to steam the Martian out of the water, only to be chastised by the fairer Winged Wonder. "J'onn's our friend, Firestorm. Something's driven him to act desperately-- but he's still our friend!" Hawkman surmised that he had been running for days without food or sleep, and even without the hotfoot, J'onzz soon collapsed into Shayera Hol's arms.

Jones was taken to the United Nations to recover, where the disbelieving U.N. Secretary heard the League's tales of Commander Blanx causing the Blue Flame of Mars to rage into an inferno that rendered the world uninhabitable. J'onzz explained that three Terran weeks earlier, he had determined the true fervor of the Red Brotherhood, a nativist, fascist collective of mostly young militiamen seeking to abandon their subsistence existence on Mars II to return to their home planet. Months earlier, a masked ally named Challenger had found an destroyed the Viking 2 rover on a pilgrimage to Mars, and the charismatic genetically-engineered militant leader The Marshal would use its intrusion as pretext for an invasion of Earth. So convincing was he that even J'onn's lover J'en had her simmering anger weaponized towards a successful takeover big against the current government within the week. Forewarned by his investigation, the Sleuth from Outer Space evaded the imprisonment and death that befell resistors, and managed to escape in a scout ship.

Shortly after recounting these events, a warship appeared outside United Nations Plaza, and Challenger emerged. This being offered to accept humanity's surrender, so that they could be interned in camps for a single generation, as a sign of Martian mercy. The Manhunter from Mars called out this plot of slow genocide, but was in no condition to resist at this time, as Earth was afforded one day to answer to the Marshal's terms...

"War -- of the World?" was by Gerry Conway, George Tuska, & Alex Nino. I've often written that DC Comics house ads featuring the covers to this debut and the final issues of this arc were among my first, in not the first, exposures to the Alien Atlas. You should have no doubt that I wish the interiors matched those glorious Martian images rendered by Chuck Patton and Dick Giordano, but I was still happy with the initial chapter of the tale that, as announced on the cover, brought the Manhunter back to comics!