Every day this month will have the five goofiest moment from a five-issue stretch of a particular comic book run. Once a week it will be the ten goofiest moments of a ten-issue stretch. Here is a list of the moments featured so far.
Today we're looking at Justice League of America #43-47, written by Gardner Fox, penciled by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Bernard Sachs (#43), Frank Giacoia (#44 and part of #45), Joe Giella (part of #45) and Sid Greene (#46-47).
As always, this is all in good fun. I don't mean any of this as a serious criticism of the comics in question. Great comics often have goofy moments (Kirby/Lee's Fantastic Four is one of the best comic book runs of all-time and there were TONS of goofy stuff in those 100 plus issues!).
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Hanging a green lantern on it...
I mention this bit from #44 more because I thought it was kind of neat - Gardner Fox actually addressing the odd coincidences that always affected Green Lantern, vis a vis bad guys always somehow having yellow to counteract him...
I'll keep you from dealing with these...
In #43, the Justice League fights the Royal Flush Gang for the first time, and Fox peppers the issue with card puns...
There's way too many for me to feature, but I figured it would be worth at least giving it lip service.
Oh, Gardner Fox and his articles...
Gardner Fox was a very well-read man, and he would use the stuff he read about to come up with plots for his stories. In #46, he decided to give Doctor Mid-Nite a new weapon. I presume he was reading up on cryosurgery (the usage of extreme cold to destroy abnormal or diseased tissue), which had only recently (at the time) become much more common with the development of apparatuses designed to spray liquid nitrogen. So, since Doctor Mid-Nite WAS a doctor, Fox used that as a jumping on point to giving him a crazy gun that could do all sorts of stuff (spelling it cyro instead of cryo).
Just like a werewoman...
In #44, a space doctor (secretly a bad guy hiding out in the body of a space doctor) notes that he was spacenapped.
While it certainly sounds good, it really doesn't make any sense as a word.
Strange connection...
In #43, the Flash's vision is affected by the Royal Flush Gang. Somehow, they decide to make his vision see everything as cubist...
What an odd idea.
5. Chill out, Batman!
In #43, the Royal Flush Gang took care of Hawkman, Wonder Woman and the Flash. First off, Superman is a bit of a jerk explaining how they must not have kryptonite or magic, since they knew better than to mess with him. Batman's reaction, though, is much odder...
Self-esteem issues, eh, Batman?
4. Stellaration...yeah, that's the ticket!
In an age known for some pretty stupid origins, the Royal Flush Gang have a particularly silly one...
Yes, the power of...cards. Suuuure.
3. Of course, an unbreakable mirror!
In #45, Flash, Green Arrow and Hawkman are facing off against the Shaggy Man. And somehow, a comment by Green Arrow gives Flash an idea...
You have to love the nonchalance of it all. "Of course, an unbreakable mirror!"
2. I'd like to teach the world to fight in peaceful harmony...
At the end of #47, while the League (and the Justice Society) fight Solomon Grundy and Blockbuster, Green Lantern comes up with a solution and it has an interesting climax...
Besides the absurdity of "if only we could get people to knock the hate out of each other," you have to love the Atom's hippy attitude - "Like peace, man!"
1. What else could it be?
But #44's classic opening page...
You might have seen that first page, but here's the context. Batman, Flash, Green Lantern and the Atom caught an alien virus, and as the space doctor from before notes...
Obviously, Fox just meant anyone they had come into close contact with, which would of course be Batman's partner. But still, it sure does read funny.