Cavern of Deadly Spheres!

Justice League of America #16

December 1962

In a Nutshell

Snapper Carr reads fan mail.

Roll Call

Ain’t nobody doing nothing this month, because there ain’t nothing needing doing. 

The first two chapters of this issue tell of the JLA’s confrontation with the Maestro, a music themed villain whose hypnotic music can force people to dance. Everyone pitches in to battle the Maestro’s minions, with the exception of the Atom, who fails to think of a clever way to stop bank robbers while performing a traditional Russian folk dance.

The second half of the book explains that none of that actually happened. The League have simply been listening to some fan fiction dreamed up by a JLA fan named Jerry Thomas. Jerry believes he’s come up with an inescapable death trap for the League, and wants to know if they can think of a way out. They can’t, but the Atom points out a plot hole in the set-up, so everyone can sleep easy knowing the Cavern of Deadly Spheres is only a crazy make-em-up.

The Scorecard

There’s no contribution credit for anyone this issue, which means the top performers have now fallen below the 75% threshold.


Team Member


Tenure

Cover Appearances

Story Appearances

Contribution Rating

Green Lantern

19

19

100%

19

100%

14

74%

Martian Manhunter

19

17

89%

19

100%

14

74%

Flash

19

19

100%

19

100%

13

68%

Aquaman

19

17

89%

19

100%

12

63%

Wonder Woman

19

19

100%

19

100%

12

63%

Superman

19

3

16%

17

89%

10

53%

Snapper Carr

19

1

5%

19

100%

8

42%

Green Arrow

13

12

92%

13

100%

6

46%

Batman

19

3

16%

17

89%

4

21%

Atom

3

3

100%

3

100%

3

100%

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Outcasts of Infinity!

Image
Justice League of America #25 February 1964 In a Nutshell Kraad the Conqueror is bored. He has discovered that teleporting a trio of alien scientists to random planets is hilarious, and the fact that those planets later blow up as a result of his pranks only adds to the fun. Fully half the Justice League disagree. Roll Call We appear to be entering a new era here, as this is the first issue where only a small subset of the League shows up for the mission. In this case, it is Superman , Wonder Woman , the Flash , Green Lantern and the Atom who are attending the regular JLA meeting. Batman and Aquaman are said to send their regrets, while Green Arrow , the Martian Manhunter and Snapper Carr get the “and the rest” treatment. The five participating members all contribute to Kraad’s capture, even when handicapped by an untimely swap of body parts. But it’s the Atom I would like to focus on here, as we’re seeing an odd trend emerge. This is the third time in the twelve issues since he ...
Read more

The Super-Exiles of Earth!

Image
Justice League of America #19 May 1963 In a Nutshell Doctor Destiny creates evil dream duplicates of the Justice League, and the real JLA are framed for their crimes. Exiled from Earth, the real Leaguers are forced to seek answers in their civilian identities. This issue shows the first instance of the Leaguers learn each others’ secret identities, but that knowledge is undone at the story’s end. Roll Call The first half of this book involves the Leaguers getting their hindmosts handed to them by their dream duplicates. Chapter 3 begins with them trapped in a prison deep within the Earth.  Oliver Queen offers the idea to use their combined will power on Hal Jordan’s ring to overcome the evil Green Lantern’s trap. Diana Prince suggests they could disorient the dream duplicates, causing them to lose control of their bodies. Ray Palmer suggests he could shrink down and, aided by John Jones’ Martian breath, enter the duplicates’ brains to perform impromptu lobotomies. Superman us...
Read more

Challenge of the Weapons Master!

Image
The Brave and the Bold #29 April 1960 In a Nutshell Xotar, a criminal from the 120th century, travels 10,000 years into the past just to pick a fight with the Justice League. Once he learns which of his awesome future weapons can defeat the JLA, Xotar can return to his own time to battle the Intersolar Police. This turns out to be a bad plan. As a rule, I’m not fond of stories where the good guys are just responding to a direct attack by the bad guys. I like my heroes to be proactive. To capture my interest, our heroes have to be voluntarily putting themselves at risk to help others. When all they’re doing is defending themselves, it’s hard to argue that they’re really making a contribution. And of course, contribution is what this blog is all about. In the JLA’s battle with the Weapons Master, we have two choices. We can either say that everyone contributed, or that no one did. It’s perfectly valid to note that, if the JLA did not exist, there would be no threat here. So my first incl...
Read more