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"Secret of Genesis": Unable to duplicate the conditions of the Red Tornado's original creation, T. O. Morrow is intent upon dismantling the android to learn his secret, when Aquaman, who has been searching for Morrow and the abducted Tornado with his fellow Justice League members, discovers the

Quote1 No "but," Firestorm. You'll learn soon enough that being a Justice Leaguer means giving everything you have for your friends. Until you learn that... I suggest you keep your mouth shut. Quote2
Flash

Justice League of America #193 is an issue of the series Justice League of America (Volume 1) with a cover date of August, 1981.

Synopsis for "Secret of Genesis"

Unable to duplicate the conditions of the Red Tornado's original creation, T. O. Morrow is intent upon dismantling the android to learn his secret, when Aquaman, who has been searching for Morrow and the abducted Tornado with his fellow Justice League members, discovers the villain's hideaway. Morrow blasts Aquaman with his power-scepter [1], and the Sea King is saved by mere chance, as Green Lantern finds him and brings him to the JLA satellite for treatment. The Justice League finally confronts Morrow en masse, just as he is attacked by the powerful Tornado Tyrant, who bests all the JLA members except Firestorm.

Before Firestorm can attack the Tyrant, he is confronted by the Tornado Champion, who recounts his history and reveals that it had been he who was the life-force of the Red Tornado. By tampering with the android's memory, Morrow had unwittingly freed the Tornado Champion and his evil other-self. Firestorm now reintegrates the Tornado Champion and Tyrant into the Red Tornado, causing the tornado-being to lose his memory of his separate existence (as he had when first becoming part of Red Tornado), this time voluntarily. Red Tornado revives, with only Firestorm now aware of the secret of his origin.

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Synopsis for "All-Star Squadron"

Late into the evening of December 6, 1941, President Roosevelt and Harry Hopkins attempt to contact the Justice Society of America but no one answers as their headquarters is empty. In Los Angeles, Johnny Chambers and Tubby Watts cover a charity foot race among the Flash, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman, with the Amazon winning by a nose. Wildcat (standing in for boxing champ Ted Grant, who was absent due to a head cold) presents Wonder Woman with a trophy, noting that he had been wanting to meet the three heroes. The heroes take their leave and meet up (minus Wildcat) in nearby Echo Park, where they encounter Solomon Grundy. None of the heroes have fought Grundy, yet the villain claims to have fought them before. The magic lasso is as ineffective on Grundy as G.L.'s green plasma boxing glove, and he knocks her out in one punch, then takes out the Flash by whapping him with Green Lantern. Grundy then is summoned by a mysterious voice to deliver them or "pay the penalty."

Roosevelt makes another attempt to contact the JSA with no luck. Meanwhile, in New York City, Sandman, Starman, and Johnny Thunder (with his personal Thunderbolt), are attacked at Wes Dodds' penthouse apartment, by the not-yet-notorious Sky Pirate. Johnny gets knocked out right away, so the T-bolt fades out, but Ted and Wes smack the hell out of the glazey-eyed, gray-uniformed crew of "mindless robot-men." But Sky Pirate has a gas gun which knocks them both out.

Simultaneously, Dr. Fate learns through the Orb of Nabu that Wotan has returned, despite having been defeated "forever." Wotan attacks Dr Fate's tower. Fate flies out to counterattack, despite Inza's admonishment that he is not as powerful as before, and he has indeed been significantly de-powered since changing helmets. Fate crashes into "Wotan" at high speed and they both drop. On landing, "Wotan" turns out to be The Spectre. The real Wotan, hiding nearby in the form of a tree, has set this all up, and lured the Spectre here by impersonating his old enemy Kulak. Wotan departs, taking both superheroes with him.

On a barely-charted island in the South Pacific, Ensign Rod (Firebrand) Reilly tries to dissuade his headstrong volcanologist sister Danette from her risky research, to no avail, and soon returns to his ship.

Elsewhere, in Gotham City, Superman, Batman, and Robin open a new USO club, when Zobar Zodiak bursts through the wall in his propellorless alchemical airplane. Batman & Robin charge him, but he flings some drops his Elixir of Youth on them, turning them into infants! Superman flies in, but Professor Zodiak pulls out the Philosopher's Stone, coated with green kryptonite powder, and Superman rashly grabs it, then collapses. This is his first encounter with Green K. Zodiak was expecting this ploy to turn Superman into gold, but doesn't question his good fortune, and he leaves with three prisoners. He speaks of Degaton as "the master."

Meanwhile, in Washington, an increasingly frustrated FDR calls for Plastic Man to go check out JSA HQ. Elsewhere in Washington, the Atom, Dr. Mid-Nite, and Hawkman are attacked at the Lincoln Memorial by The Monster, armed with a death-ray. He's no match for any of them let alone all of them, although he does tag Hawk and Mid-Nite, before the Atom punches him out. Unconscious, the Monster changes into an old man, mentioning the name "Degaton" as the person responsible for the attack. Then he starts to glow, and vanishes. Witnessing this from the shadows is a mysterious man in a trenchcoat and slouch hat, who then walks away "making strangely metallic sounds upon the rough concrete."

As the clock strikes midnight, Roosevelt reveals he had hoped to have the JSA ready in case of a Japanese attack. Still unsuccessful in contacting them, the president is cautiously optimistic the United States will "come through this."

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  • Invisible Plane
  • Sky Pirate's dirigible pirate ship
  • Professor Zodiak's alchemical aeroplane

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Notes

  • This is the first appearance of the All-Star Squadron. They appear next in All-Star Squadron #1.
    • The first pages of the story open with a race between the Golden Age versions of Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Flash, a reference to the cover of Comic Cavalcade #1; Interestingly, none of the stories contained in that issue referred to that race, only the cover; so it was left to Roy Thomas to imagine the circumstances that would have led to such a race: A charity race on Los Angeles Coliseum.
    • TV broadcasting is only a few months old in the USA at this point in time.
    • In this point of time, Dr. Fate isn't wearing his Helmet of Nabu, but an ordinary helmet; he was trying to avoid Nabu's influence, and so Fate's power is greatly reduced here.
    • Sandman is wearing his golden-and-purple costume; his alter ego Wesley Dodds has black hair; he has brown hair only in Post-Crisis.
    • The Monster's presence in this issue's second story is due to an act of time-travel on the part of Per Degaton. At this point in time, Jason Rogers is still a feeble-bodied industrialist, and will not embark on his criminal career until 1944.[2]
    • Professor Zodiak's presence in this issue's second story is due to an act of time-travel on the part of Per Degaton. At this point in time, Zobar Zodiak is still a master of chemistry and mechanics, and a dabbler in the occult sciences, and will not embark on his criminal career until 1948.[3]
    • Sky Pirate's presence in this issue's second story is due to an act of time-travel on the part of Per Degaton. At this point in time, Sky Pirate's criminal career had seemingly not yet begun.[4]
    • Solomon Grundy's presence in this issue's second story is due to an act of time-travel on the part of Per Degaton. At this point in time, Grundy was still lying inert at the bottom of Slaughter Swamp and will not make his debut until 1944.[5]
    • Wotan's presence in this issue's second story is due to an act of time-travel on the part of Per Degaton. Wotan's actual whereabouts at this point in time is unclear. It is known that he had been, earlier in the same year, seemingly killed in his second confrontation with Doctor Fate.
    • Presence of Kryptonite in this issue's second story is due to an act of time-travel on the part of Per Degaton. At this point in time, kryptonite was still not discovered and will not make his debut until 1949[6]. Then this is the first time Superman is affected by Kryptonite.
    • The secret identities of Wes Dodds and Ted Knight are known to each other and to Johnny Thunder.

Trivia

  • All-Star Squadron story:
    • Sandman mentions a Czech writer's term "robot" when fighting the Sky Pirate's mechanical men. The writer in question is Karel Čapek, who coined the term in his 1920 play R.U.R.
    • Recording a newsreel about the race between Flash, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman, Johnny Chambers think with himself: "I know somebody who'd give a 'em all a run for their money!" Obviously, he refers to himself, in his Johnny Quick's personna (but surely overestimating himself in relation to Flash).
    • In the year in which the story unfolds (1941), TV broadcasting is a new stuff. Libby Lawrence (secretly the heroine Liberty Belle) is already a famous TV reporter.
    • Two JSA Headquarters can be seen in this story; FDR and Harry were calling to the first one, in Civic City (where there was no one to answer the call); in Post-Crisis, the Dodds Manor, in New York City, would become the third one.
    • While Atom was holding the Monster, he mentioned: "And why you acted like it was a rematch, when we don't know you from Karloff?" Obviously, Atom was referring to famous horror movies actor Boris Karloff, who portraited the Frankeinstein's Monster.

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