World on the Edge of Ending
All-Star Comics #74
Cover Dated: September / October 1978
Released: 27th June 1978
Released: 27th June 1978
More page, more action! is an ironic cover image considering this would be the last issue of the (70s) All-Star Comics. For the few that don’t know the story, DC had been increasing their titles from 1977 to 1978 to try and compete with Marvel’s success at the time. But a year or poor sales meant they had to suddenly cut a number of their issues, often called the Implosion as a counterpoint to the explosion that DC was flogging all the new titles at the time. All-Stars was one of those that fell victim to the cut, though it wouldn’t be the end of the team as they’d be folded into Adventure Comics for six issues. As aside from the advantage of forty-ish years it seems crazy that they were going to cancel Detective Comics and it was only saved in the eleventh hour by a merge with Batman Family.
The issue starts with a splash page showing Hawkman and Dr Fate in the clutches of our villain for the piece, Master Summoner. In a very Lovecraftian way it seems that the stars are right and if the heroes don’t handle thing right the world will end. Very shades of Crisis though that’s a good decade away from this issue.
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More importantly, we have one of the first scenes of Kara and Helena as friends, something that’ll survive right up to the twenty-first century. Here we find Helena doing her best Carmen Sandiego treating Kara to a meal at a roof-top restaurant and helping her come to terms with her secret identity. She’s still coming to terms with being Karen Starr, which she states to herself that she’s only had for about a month (about six months real-time).
When they get a buzz from their JSA communicators they jump off to the JSA headquarters. I’ve don’t think we’ve seen so much time, two whole pages, given to relationships between two members of the JSA. Obviously, it has an effect on the two going forwards so it’s interesting to see the start of it here!
Doctor Fate explains that there are two spots they need to defend to stop the Earth from being destroyed, thanks to the warning they were given at the start of the comic. So as is the way of the JSA they’re split into two teams and go off to deal with this current crisis, the small c one this time around.
We start with Power Girl, Green Lantern and Hawkman at the (Soviet) Russian / China border where a conflict between the two has broken out. Then proceeded to try and stop the fighting, with Power Girl taking a shell for GL, and she comes out of it winded but fine after a lift from Hawkman. Alan has been dealing with an injured soldier and reminds Hawkman that looking after others is more important than looking after their own, and to his credit, Carter does apologize and say he’s been oversensitive since his kidnapping. Even Kara is pretty chill, compared to how she was, then Alan uses men instead of people. After beating up a few soldiers they then leave not noticing the green tornado forming or the green power the soldier Alan healed is now wielding.
Huntress, Dr Fate and Flash end up in Montreal where some red hooded terrorists have taken over by force a meeting for International Women’s Day (which date this to the start of March apparently). Huntress still being badass then beats up all the red hooded thugs whilst the Flash catches any bullets they’ve been firing at people. then in a move straight out of Tolkien Dr Fate bring in literal Eagles to put an end to the threat, apparently cosmic balance being out of whack enough that he can act. We then get a bit where Dr Fate mansplains to Ms Milem that ending sexism is a political act to the woman that organised the conference, despite her saying it’s no such thing. But hey back in the day comics were in no way political! Apparently, they were testing a universal translator, but it wasn’t working right until the three heroes bugger off then it goes all Tower of Babel on the women there.
In case it wasn’t obvious the Master Summoner wasn’t telling the whole truth and with the JSA having done his work for him he snatched them all to his Shadow Dimension. Apparently, he wasn’t to destroy them to stop them from helping at the crucial moment, something to do with the Hawk legacy, but working as a team they manage to stop the Summoner but this will doom the Earth.
We then see that problems are cropping up all over the Earth with the old skool JSA dealing with them, including Wonder Woman blocking bees with her bracelets! Our heroes go to work for a few pages dealing with things like asteroids, tornadoes, bat-like creatures and fish people, among others before deciding that the problem is just too big for just them they summon all of the JSA old and new to come together to deal with this Earth-shattering incident. Apparently, all they need to do is gather together and do nothing and the Earth is saved and the Summoner just leaves for millennia or so, all in a bit of anti-climax.
I can’t imagine what it would have been like at the time when the comic go cancelled,. It s also a straightforward issue with the new status quo established, the team splits up to deal with the problem only for things to get worse then the team all get together and the problem is solved through the power of teamwork. Not a terrible issue, but it’s not what you’d want to see for the last issue of a comic series, thing were different then I know but it a smidge disappointing.
Still onwards to Adventure comics!