DC Database
Don't have an account?
Register
Advertisement
Register
DC Database
DC Database
129,331
pages
in: Mike Carlin/Executive Editor, Howard Porter/Cover Artist, Drew Geraci/Cover Artist,
and 29 more

JLA Vol 1 42

Sign in to edit

"Half a Mind to Save a World": Atom assists during a surgery to remove a child's brain tumor. But he discovers the tumor is a whole civilization of bacteria which have their own industry and, thus, are polluting the brain of the young boy. Before this civilization

Quote1 Okay, I'm down--about 2500 angstroms from the target. Not bad at all. Quote2
— The Atom

JLA #42 is an issue of the series JLA (Volume 1) with a cover date of June, 2000.

Synopsis for "Half a Mind to Save a World"

Atom assists during a surgery to remove a child's brain tumor. But he discovers the tumor is a whole civilization of bacteria which have their own industry and, thus, are polluting the brain of the young boy. Before this civilization gets wiped out by laser surgery, Atom invites members of the JLA to join him in shrinking down, going inside the boy, and convincing the bacteria to stop destroying their environment and save their lives in the process as well.

In their miniaturized state, Atom and the JLA try to negotiate with the bacteria's leaders, but they do not believe their story and take the heroes into custody. This is possible because in this microscopic state the powers of the JLA do not work properly. While Superman is getting tortured, Atom hopes the JLA's powers will return after their bodies got more accustomed to the situation. Thankfully, one of the bacteria's scientists takes side with the JLA. He sets the heroes free and organizes a riot resulting in the destruction of the power plant. Atom realizes that the boy's doctors now will start the laser surgery, so they need to evacuate the microbe city quickly. The JLA succeeds, but the leader remains so he can die with his old world.

Most of the team leave the boy's brain, but Superman stays behind to help the survivors of the laser surgery adjust to the new world. However, a day later, the boy's immune system wipes out all bacteria anyways, and the boy's saddened by the loss of the colony inside him. The final panel shows that perhaps some bacteria were able to survive the wipeout.

Appearing in "Half a Mind to Save a World"

Featured Characters:

Antagonists:

  • Bacteria
    • Ak-Tu-Fi
    • Jom-Ft-Vom
    • Kik-Ef-Tol
    • Li-Tam
    • Mim-Ta
    • Ra-Bee

Others:

  • Boy
  • Doctors

Locations:

Items:




See Also

Recommended Reading

Links and References
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
More Fandoms
Advertisement

Fan Feed

More DC Database