The Multiple Murders of Mapleville! / Pursuit / Only Legends Live Forever / The Hand That Feeds the Earth / School of the Amazoids last edited by MickRory on 07/30/23 02:54PM View full history

    "The Multiple Murders of Mapleville" starring the Flash and "Pursuit" starring Deadman. The Justice Society star in "Only Legends Live Forever," in which Bill Jensen wants to take revenge on Bruce Wayne for putting him in prison, and many more tales! NOTE: this issue is available only in black & white.

    The Multiple Murders of Mapleville!

    Barry and Iris Allen stop off in Mapleville for gas. While at the filling station, a hunter, named Harold, feints coming out of the convenience store. Barry Allen picks up Harold's shotgun, intent on returning it to him. Instead, Allen feels a powerful compulsion to aim the weapon at Harold, and fire on him. Iris is aghast that her husband has just murdered a man. Allen professes his innocence, but the station manager knocks him out. Allen awakes in the town lockup. The sheriff allows Iris and Barry a few moments alone. Allen explains what really happened at the filling station.

    Allen never pulled the trigger. The gun fired itself. Moving faster than the eye could see, Allen raced to pick the buckshot out of the air before it hit Harold, but there was none. Only grey powder. Harold isn't dead. Allen is being framed for a murder that didn't happen. Understanding the situation, Allen played along, allowing himself to be subdued and incarcerated. With Iris distracting the sheriff, Allen changes into the Flash, and vibrates out of his cell. Moving so fast as to be invisible, the Flash enters every home in Mapleville, eavesdropping on hundreds of conversations.

    In this way he locates the men behind the frame job. The Flash listens intently while the two men outline the plan. Returning to his cell, Allen witnesses the sheriff fake a heart attack, conveniently falling against the cell bars. Allen removes the keys to the cell from the sheriff's belt, then heads out the back door. Allen is gunned down, by two men, as he steps into the alley. Suddenly, Allen's body vanishes. Before the men can react, the Flash grabs them. Vibrating the men at superhuman speed, the Flash begins to drive the men into the ground.

    He stops when they reveal the whereabouts of the "murder victim", Harold. Along with the sheriff, these men have been running an operation whereby wanted criminals are given new identities, and relocated to another part of the country. An unsuspecting patsy is duped into "murdering" the criminal, then actually murdered to cover the trail. The Flash picks up Harold, one thousand miles away, and turns all the involved parties over to the real authorities.

    Pursuit

    Possessing his brother, Cleveland Brand, Deadman thought to relive his glory days, as a circus aerialist, at the Hill Circus. A would-be assassin shot Brand/Deadman during his act. Brand survived the murder attempt. When Deadman took possession of the assassin's body, he found he could not control him, and thus was unable to prevent the man's suicide. Investigating the situation further, Deadman followed the corpse from the morgue to a chemical factory, where three men disposed of the body, in a vat of acid. Deadman attempted to stop them, but was unsuccessful. With the trail cold, Deadman returned to the Hill Circus, just in time to save his niece, Lita Brand and Vashnu, the fortune teller, from a burning tent.

    The Hill Circus is forced to close down until the fire marshall finishes his investigation. With no way to generate revenue, Lorna Hill, the circus' owner, contemplates selling her family business to a man named Winchell. Deadman smells a rat, and follows Winchell to a pay phone, eavesdropping on Winchell's conversation with a Mr. Solomon. Deadman remembers that the assassin's body was taken to the Solomon Manufacturing Plant for disposal. Clearly there's a link between the assassin and Winchell. Meanwhile, a man named Kronsky, having just escaped from Mr. Solomon, finds that he cannot outrun his pursuers. Solomon's men begin beating Kronsky.

    Deadman is drawn to the conflict, possibly by his patron, Rama Kushna, and possesses one of the men attacking Kronsky. To Deadman's surprise, the second man is able to quickly beat down his partner/Deadman, then resume his assault on Kronsky. Deadman attempts to possess the other man, but finds that, like the assassin, he cannot gain control of him. Deadman possesses Kronsky and manages to apply enough pressure to Kronsky's assailant's carotid artery to render the man unconscious. Deadman follows Kronsky's would-be killers back to Solomon's office. Solomon is furious, and orders his men to kill Kronsky before he reaches the Hill Circus.

    Deadman races back to the Hill Circus. Hill discovers Kronsky sneaking around the tents. Believing him to be the man responsible for setting the tent fire, Hill attacks Kronsky. Deadman erroneously believes that Hill is fighting one of Solomon's goons, and possesses her to carry on the fight himself. The moment of his possession leaves Hill off balance, allowing Kronsky to get the better of Hill/Deadman. Tiny, the circus strongman, steps in and subdues Kronsky. Cleveland and Inga Brand arrive on the scene. Inga pleads for Tiny to release Kronsky, for he is her father.

    Only Legends Live Forever

    An introductory preamble explains the origins and differences between the parallel worlds, designated "Earth 1" and "Earth 2". The emphasis is on Earth 2, delving into the formation of the Justice Society of America, in World War II, the team's eventual retirement in the 1950's, and first meeting with their parallel counterparts, the Justice League of America. The story opens with the Golden Age Green Lantern and Power Girl trapped inside an energy sphere. Power Girl"s strength proves unequal to the task of freeing them, but by fueling every last bit of will into his power ring, the Golden Age Green Lantern is able to break free of the sphere.

    Their ordeal turns out to have merely been a test, engineered by the Golden Age Flash, to prove that the, theoretically, unlimited power of the ring, could outshine the limits of Power Girl's Kryptonian strength. Power Girl is not particularly appreciative of the test results, and storms out. Upstairs, in the kitchen, the Golden Age Robin confronts the Huntress, and reveals that he knows her secret identity. In Gotham City, a man named Bill Jensen, defies all attempts at rescue, as he scales the tallest building in the city. Upon reaching the roof, Jensen demands that Police Commissioner Bruce Wayne be brought before him, or else he will level Gotham City.

    When police officers attempt to take Jensen into custody, Jensen casually swats them away, as a demonstration of his power. The Justice Society of America is called in to subdue Jensen. Power Girl attempts to talk to Jensen first, The extremely volatile Jensen gestures, and Power Girl is suddenly bound in chains. With a wave of his hand, Jensen sends her to the bottom of the Gotham River. Jensen's power quickly overwhelms first the Golden Age Green Lantern, then the Golden Age Robin and the Huntress. The Golden Age Flash avoids Jensen's attack, but, upon touching the man, is shocked into unconsciousness.

    Jensen's power makes the building sway, as he threatens to send it crashing to the ground. Commissioner Wayne arrives, and Jensen immediately attacks him. His power bolt, though, is deflected by a shield, that mysteriously forms around Wayne and his officers. Jensen accuses Wayne of framing him for murder, and ruining his life, all to achieve his promotion to Police Commissioner. Dr. Fate intervenes before Jensen can lash out again. Enraged, Jensen pours more and more of his power into his assault, eventually overwhelming Dr. Fate, and the mystic barrier he projected over Wayne, and the Gotham City policemen. In the aftermath, though, Jensen realizes that, somehow, Wayne has escaped.

    The Hand That Feeds The Earth...

    Aquaman, and Mera, return to Atlantis to find farms surrounding the great domed city. Spying a runaway plow heading for a group of Atlanteans, Aquaman has Mera protect them with a hard water shield, while he deflects the plow away from them. The operators of the plow, representatives of Universal Food Products, confront Aquaman over the damage to their equipment. The situation quickly escalates into violence, with Aquaman beating all three men into unconsciousness. Consulting with the Atlantean King, Vulko, Aquaman discovers that Atlantis has entered into a business arrangement with Universal Food Products.

    Atlantis will provide the farm lands and superior technology, with Universal Food Products taking care of the world wide distribution of product. Aquaman's prejudice against surface men colors his perception regarding the partnership. Journeying to the corporate headquarters of Universal Food Products, in New York, Aquaman waits until after dark, to search through their records. While reading the files on Atlantis, Aquaman is discovered by building security. With a last minute surprise assist from Aqualad, Aquaman fights his way through the guards and escapes the building. Returning to the sea, Aquaman, and Aqualad, head for Atlantis. With what Aquaman has discovered, it is imperative that they stop Universal Food Product's operations in Atlantis.

    School of the Amazoids

    Flying across San Francisco in her invisible plane, Wonder Woman spots a warehouse fire. Lowering herself to the ground with her Lasso of Truth, Wonder Woman witnesses a trio of costumed women fleeing the scene. With one blow, Wonder Woman bowls them all over, but they are quick to recover, and return the attack. When Wonder Woman subdues one of the women, the other two carry the unconscious body of their comrade to the cliff's edge, and jump.

    Wonder Woman is unable to determine if they committed mass suicide, or somehow survived the fall into San Francisco Bay. Wonder Woman continues on to Dr. Tammines' School For Exceptional Girls. Resuming her Diana Prince identity, she enters the school to meet up with her "little sister", Donna Troy. Prince reflects on her shared past with Troy. As Wonder Woman, she had rescued the infant Troy from a tenement fire. Taking the orphan girl to Paradise Island, Troy was adopted, raised and trained by the Amazons.

    Returning to "Man's World", Troy took on the identity of Wonder Girl, and joined the Teen Titans. Once that team disbanded, though, Troy was left with a bit of an identity crisis, and had come to this school in the hopes of "finding herself". Troy gives Prince a tour of the school. Upon meeting Dr. Tammines, Prince can't shake the feeling that she recognizes him from somewhere. Meeting some of Troy's classmates, puts the idea into Prince's mind that they're the same girls from the warehouse fire.

    Troy turns in for the night. As soon as she falls asleep, the bed begins to glow. Prince changes to Wonder Woman and moves to pull Troy out of bed. She is stopped though by Dr. Tammines, who reveals himself to be the villain, Headmaster-Mind. Tammines is backed up by the three girls Wonder Woman fought the night before, his "Amazoids". By siphoning off Troy's Amazonian abilities, Headmaster-Mind has transferred those attributes to his "Amazoids".

    A vicious fight breaks out between Wonder Woman and the Amazoids. Knocking one of them into Troy's bed awakens her. Troy assumes her guise as Wonder Girl and prepares to join the fight, but Wonder Woman stops her. Switching to psychological warfare tactics, Wonder Woman convinces the Amazoids that their power has faded. Believing her words, it becomes true. Inexplicably, Headmaster-Mind falls into Troy's bed, causing a short in the energy siphon, which sets the room ablaze. Not being truly responsible for their actions, Wonder Woman lets the Amazoids go. The two heroines depart in Wonder Woman's invisible plane.

    Notes:

    • This issue published material that was unpublished due to the DC Implosion.
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    Creators

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