Published: March 1982
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Story Featuring Justice League
Wrap-around cover.
A brief history of the Justice League of America.
Located on the interior front cover and interior back cover.
A recap of the origin of the Justice League of America.
George Perez and Brett Breeding are credited with 35 pages in this issue (pages 1-5, 12-14, 20-21, 33, 39, 45, 51-72). This issue recaps origin of the JLA and features individual chapters where the members fight each other drawn by the artists of the characters of the 1960s.
As Firestorm sits bored during monitor duty, the satellite is invaded by the Martian Manhunter, who is after an Appellax meteor. After he is easily defeated by the Manhunter, Firestorm calls in the other members of the League. The gathered heroes quickly realize that none of the founding members answered the alert and Green Arrow figures out why: they are gathering up the seven meteors from Appellax from the JLA's first case. The new members then split up, each determined to stop one of the founding members.
Although she is a member of the Justice League during this time, Hawkgirl [Shayera Hol] does not respond to the summons because she and Hawkman are separated (as of World's Finest Comics #274 [December 1981]) and she is in outer space trying to rescue the Thanagarian armada.
The Red Tornado tracks down Aquaman and almost stops him from retrieving the meteor. But during the battle, the Phantom Stranger intervenes to ensure Aquaman's success.
Although not mentioned, the Phantom Stranger is also a part-time member of the Justice League during this time.
Zatanna locates Wonder Woman at Paradise Island, but is unable to stop the Amazon Princess from retrieving the Appellax meteor.
The Atom travels to Zimbabwe to stop Green Lantern from gathering another Appellax meteor, but is unsuccessful.
"Zimbabwe" is spelled "Zimbabwie" in this story.
The Flash easily defeats the Elongated Man, gathers his Appellax meteor and returns to the Justice League's original headquarters where the other founding members are waiting. They discover the headquarters in ruins and have no memories of anything after their first adventure together as a team.
Batman outsmarts both Green Arrow and Black Canary and takes the Appellax meteor. Both teams meet in their respective headquarters wondering what will happen when the seventh meteor in found.
Hawkman stops two Superman robots from getting the Appellax meteor, but can't stop the real Superman from getting it. As Hawkman drifts into space unconscious, he is mysteriously teleported away.
The final two aliens are quickly defeated by the team of Atom, Firestorm, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter.
Flash and Aquaman defeat the Glass Man, while Red Tornado and Elongated Man put out the Fire-Lord.
Where individual efforts against the aliens previously failed, teamwork proves to be the key to victory for the Justice League.
When the seven meteors are brought together, the seven aliens of Appellax are reborn in their cloned battle forms. Seeing them reborn restores the memories of the Justice League's founding members, but the aliens quickly defeat the heroes. The newer members find the older ones and all join forces to defeat the rampaging aliens.
The Justice League gathers up the remains of all the alien clones and the meteors, sending them into the sun to be destroyed. J'Onn and Snapper return to their lives and Green Arrow decides to rejoin the Justice League.
© 2026 Dollar Bin Longbox. All data courtesy of the Grand Comics Database.