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127,497
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in: Gil Kane/Cover Artist, Dennis O'Neil/Writer, Dick Dillin/Penciler,
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The Best of DC Vol 1 31

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"In Each Man There Is a Demon!": This story is reprinted from Justice League of America #75.

The Best of DC #31 is an issue of the series The Best of DC (Volume 1) with a cover date of December, 1982.

Synopsis for "In Each Man There Is a Demon!"

This story is reprinted from Justice League of America #75.

Green Arrow and Black Canary recall the tale of the Justice League of America's latest adventure:

Faced with corporate corruption in his civilian guise and petty crime as the Green Arrow, Oliver Queen begins to have an identity crisis, unsure of who he really is: Oliver Queen investor, or Green Arrow super-hero. Meanwhile, the Justice League of America is meeting in their secret headquarters with their new unofficial members, the Black Canary. They are recounting their recent adventure on Earth-Two against Aquarius and wonder if the battle against the magical living star had any ill effects on the group when suddenly the Black Canary unleashes a sonic blast that knocks all the other JLA members present for a loop.

Elsewhere, Green Arrow has sought out the help of a psychiatrist to figure out his identity problem. The psychiatrist hooks Oliver up to a device called the "ID Actualizer" that will determine which personality is more dominant. Suddenly (as a side effect of his battle against Aquarius) exposure to the device causes Green Arrow's dark side to manifest in a physical body and fights the two of them off. Boasting that the real Green Arrow is powerless to stop him, the evil Green Arrow doppleganger goes off to cause trouble around the city. Green Arrow surprisingly finds that the boast is true.

Black Canary 0050

Black Canary's Motorcycle debuts

Back at JLA headquarters, the League members attempt to scan the source of Black Canary's new powers and deduce that she must have gained them from being exposed to the magical powers of Aquarius. When activating the device it also causes the residual magic in all the JLA members. Superman proves unaffected however evil duplicates of Hawkman, Atom, Batman and Black Canary are created and are joined by the now arriving evil Green Arrow. Because they are beings of magic, and their good counterparts are powerless to stop them, they are able to pummel Superman before leaving the scene to cause havoc.

In order to encourage the other Justice League members to get the motivation to fight their evil selves Superman puts on a ruse having one of his Superman Robots pose as an evil doppleganger which Superman is able to defeat in battle. The Justice League members go after their dopplegangers and best them in combat. When Green Arrow runs into his, he finds that he is unable to prevent his evil self from robbing a jewelry store due to the fact he wasn't present during Superman's "pep talk." It's not until he listens to the pleas of the elderly jewelry store owner and his wife that he gains the confidence to fight his evil self and best him in combat. With all of the evil doppleganger's defeated, they merge with their counterparts returning the heroes to normal.

Like this, Green Arrow and Black Canary end their recording of their latest adventures with the Justice League.

Appearing in "In Each Man There Is a Demon!"

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  • Dr. Oyal

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Synopsis for "Specter in the Shadows!"

This story is reprinted from Justice League of America #105.

The Justice League elects the Elongated Man to membership, and he immediately involves them in the case of a group of pliable putty-beings who are stealing seemingly useless objects. As the League splits up to deal with the putty-men, a mysterious figure follows them, and saves them when they are in danger. He rescues Flash, Green Arrow, and Atom from a mine disaster in the town of Desolation, helps Superman and Black Canary in Motor City, and comes to Green Lantern's aid on the California coast. The Elongated Man, however, disappears in an undersea battle with the pliable robbers, and is presumed dead. The JLA members trail their foes to a giant mechanical hive in the Florida Everglades, where they discover that the Elongated Man has merely disguised himself as one of the putty-men to infiltrate this hideout. The mystery man again appears, prevents the hideout from self-destructing, and is revealed as the Red Tornado, who had been thought dead since his destruction of the giant hand-menace in the recent adventure with the Justice Society.

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Synopsis for "Wolf in the Fold!"

This story is reprinted from Justice League of America #106.

Revealing that the explosion thought to have destroyed him actually hurled him into Earth-1, and that he is unable to return to Earth-2, the Red Tornado is voted in as a Justice League member. Now possessing facial features that he believes were molded for him by a blind hermit who had befriended him, Red Tornado takes a secret identity as "John Smith," and goes looking for a job. Employment counselor Kathy Sutton befriends him, and soon becomes romantically involved. All are unaware that the android is once again the pawn of his creator, T. O. Morrow, who had also been the "blind" hermit sculptor. Unknown to him, a mechanism in the Tornado's android body will affect his JLA signal device the moment he first uses it, causing the entire Justice League to be destroyed. Morrow's computer-forecaster has predicted that, in 28 days, either he or the JLA will cease to exist, thus prompting his scheme for their destruction. Morrow's men therefore commit crimes, hoping to cause the Red Tornado to call his comrades for aid, but the Justice League members deduce the scheme, and fake their own demise in order to trap him. As they take him into custody, the 28 days elapse, and Morrow, inexplicably, fades out of existence.

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Synopsis for "The Reverse-Spells of Zatanna's Magic!"

This story is reprinted from Justice League of America #161.

Zatanna Zatara (New Earth) 042

New Outfit

During an important Justice League meeting at the JL Satellite, the team elects Zatanna the Magician as its newest member, but before they could even think about informing her, she appears at their meeting, wearing a new and different costume and calling herself Zatanna, the Sorcerer. With her new costume and attitude, Zatanna violently refuse the honor and talks negatively about Green Lantern before leaving.

The whole team is distraught about the new Zatanna, but without much else to do, they return to their activities. The Atom, however realizes a vital clue that Zatanna might have left deliberately for them. When he tries to warn Batman about his discovery, Atom is knocked unconscious by Green Lantern, who proceeds to search information about the Green Lantern Ring. Batman had listened Atom's call and when the communication cut, he decides to investigate.

Batman seeks out Zatanna's father, Zatara, and discovers that everything Zatanna had said at the meeting had been reversed, even to the words of her usually backwards mystic incantations. When he also discovers that the "Green Lantern" who had attended the meeting was an impostor, Batman, together with Green Arrow, Atom, Red Tornado, and Black Canary, follows the trail of Zatanna to the other-dimensional world of Ys.

Meanwhile, Zatanna has traveled to this world to rescue the real Green Lantern, who was trapped by the Warlock of Ys. The Warlock had taken Green Lantern's place in order to conquer Earth. While in the planet, she has to overcome a demon army with the aid of Ys's human inhabitants and after defeating them, she rescues the real Green Lantern. Finally, the Justice League join Zatanna and Green Lantern and they defeat the Warlock for good. In the aftermath of the situation, Zatanna agrees to join the Justice League.

Appearing in "The Reverse-Spells of Zatanna's Magic!"

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