"The Day Up Was Down" starring the Flash, "Requiem for a Deadman" starring Deadman, "To Everything There Is a Season" featuring the JSA. Wonder Woman stars in "Slave of the Queen Bee," and don't miss "Invaders From Above" starring Aquaman!
"The Day Up Was Down"
Abra Kadabra is caught littering in Central City Park. When Abra Kadabra is asked to pick up his trash, he enlarges the wadded paper ball, and tosses it at the arresting officer. The rookie cop returns to his precinct house, with the giant paper ball, to much teasing from his fellow law enforcement officers. Alerted to the presence of his old enemy in Central City, Barry Allen switches to his guise as the Flash. As the monarch of motion vibrates through the forensics laboratory wall, he is shocked to discover that all of Central City is upside down. The Flash attempts to apprehend Abra Kadabra, but is tripped up by rapidly enlarging marbles. Abra Kadabra continues on his way, with every citizen of Central City applauding him as he passes. At a nearby playground, the Flash practices playing basketball until he can condition himself to handle super speed maneuvering upside down. Returning to police headquarters, Allen opens up the giant wad of paper, and finds that's it's a torn out page from a phone booth. An indentation under the address of a local television station, clues Allen in to Abra Kadabra's destination. Arriving at the television station, Abra Kadabra commandeers the canned applause machine, and turns the volume way up. Abra Kadabra basks in the applause from the machine, giving the Flash the opportunity to knock Abra Kadabra out. With the future "magician" unconscious, Central City reverts right side up. Law enforcement agents from the 64th century arrive to take Abra Kadabra into custody. As a charitable act, the Flash allows the vain criminal to keep the applause machine.
Requiem for a Deadman!
Wandering the streets of Gotham City, Deadman suddenly feels an irresistible compulsion to travel to Psi-Lab One, a S.T.A.R Labs research facility. There, a seance being conducted by four scientists forces Deadman to appear. Deadman's appearance causes the room to burst into flames, imperiling two of the scientists. Deadman possesses Dr. Ted Brooks, and uses his acrobatic acumen to rescue Dr. Annabelle Lee. As the research facility was built on the site where Boston Brand was assassinated, the four research scientists believe Deadman to be behind the series of "accidents" that have befallen the facility.Deadman decides to remain on the premises to get to the bottom of the mystery. The next day, Lee is nearly killed, again, when the computer terminal she is working at short circuits and explodes. Deadman takes possession of Dr. Conrad Cabal. Deadman/Cabal accuses Lee of being behind the acts of sabotage, as she is the only one of the group who refused to believe a poltergeist was responsible for their ills. As they argue, the ceiling suddenly collapses upon them. Deadman/Cabal is quick to rescue Lee. Deadman/Cabal postulates the theory that Lee is the poltergeist, subconsciously using heretofore hidden telekinetic abilities to plague the facility. Though skeptical, Dr. Jessica Trent uses hypnosis to put Lee under, in an attempt to open a path to her subconscious. Suddenly, the room begins to shake. Deadman dives into Lee's body, to personally probe her subconscious mind. As he nears Lee's Id, Deadman is forcibly ejected from her subconscious by a dark shadowy form.
The ordeal has left Lee in a vegetative coma, and she is moved to Beekman General Hospital. Overhearing Brooks and Trnet's plan to conduct another seance, this time in order to destroy Brand, Deadman returns to Psi-Lab One, intent on re-possessing Cabal. The doctor, however, is ready for him. Though he cannot see Deadman, he can sense his presence. Cabal reveals that Lee is the poltergeist, but it is Cabal who telepathically controls her telekinetic abilities. Cabal is an omnipath, with the ability to control other psychics. His abilities also allow him to psychically attack Deadman, which he does. Deadman flees. The three scientists begin the seance anew. Deadman fights against the overwhelming urge to return to Psi-Lab One. Returning to the hospital, Deadman dives back into Lee. Cabal, however, is waiting for him. With Cabal's focus on destroying Deadman, Lee's subconscious mind is able to free itself from Cabal's control. Merging with Deadman, Lee/Deadman strikes out at the omnipath. The psychic backlash torches Cabal's physical body, which severs his psychic form from all ties to the mortal world, leaving it adrift in the void. In gratitude, Lee offers to try to build a psychic link to the spirit world, in order for Deadman to interact with the mortal world. Cabal's spectacular death, however, caused Psi-Lab One to burn to the ground. With all their research lost, there's nothing Lee can do for Deadman.
To Everything There is a Season...
Eschewing a rare night on the town with Dick Grayson, Helena Wayne, and Karen Starr, Ted Grant instead spends his evening strolling down memory lane. Grant returns to his old neighborhood bar, and runs into an old fighting acquaintance, Jock Tanner, now a drunken bum. Grant pays a visit to his old gym. A young boy asks Grant if the gym is ever going to re-open it's doors. When Grant says "no", the boy, dejectedly, walks away. Suddenly, the night air is pierced with the sounds of screams. Switching to his guise as Wildcat, Grant investigates the commotion, coming across a mugging. The ex-prize fighter wades into the four criminals. Age, however, has caught up to Wildcat. He is close to being overwhelmed by the four assailants, when the young boy returns, and lends a hand. Grant is reminded of the night he came across the heavy weight champion of the world being attacked by criminals, and how he, too, had stepped in to save the champ, an act that directly led Grant to become Wildcat. Wildcat reveals his identity to the young boy. Deciding to retire his masked identity for good, Grant resigns from the Justice Society of America and re-opens his gym. From this point on, Grant will begin educating the neighborhood kids in the sweet science of boxing.
Slave of the Queen Bee
In order to save the minds of a group of N.A.S.A. scientists, Wonder Woman has allowed herself to be enslaved by the Queen Bee. When the Queen Bee, reveals her ambition to steal the minds of every person on Earth, Wonder Woman rescinds her surrender, and attacks the would-be world conqueror. While Wonder Woman is more than a match for the Queen Bee, she is unable to split her focus between the alien criminal, and her swarm of bees. Overwhelmed by the swarm, Wonder Woman is stung by thousands of bees, and slips into a coma. Her body is found by N.A.S.A , in the desert outside of Houston. Wonder Woman is transferred to a local hospital. Within her subconscious mind, Wonder Woman fends off giant bees with a flaming sword, a symbolic conflict of her body's struggle to overcome the bee venom threatening to shut down her heart. Meanwhile, the Queen Bee begins her mission to absorb the minds of the human populace. Her first victims are the members of the Justice League of America. Queen Bee's hive ship attacks the Justice League satellite, absorbing the minds of Superman, Batman, Hawkman, the Flash, and the Green Arrow. Wonder Woman recovers, seconds before the doctor can administer a stimulant, that, in fact, would actually have killed her. Boarding her invisible plane, Wonder Woman heads off to confront the Queen Bee. Boarding the Queen Bee's hive ship, Wonder Woman spins her lasso of truth at rapid speed, creating a vibratory frequency that lulls her bees to sleep. Struggling against the Queen Bee, Wonder Woman hurls the alien dictator into the hive ship's mind collector, robbing the Queen Bee of her mind. With the Queen Bee defeated, Wonder Woman restores the minds of the Justice League, as well as the N.A.S.A scientists.
Invaders From Above
As Aquaman approaches Atlantis, he is suddenly, forcibly, slammed into the sea floor, by a mysterious force from the surface. Investigating, Aquaman encounters Stavros Markos, a Greek shipping tycoon. Markos is spearheading Operation: Detox, A U.N. sanctioned program to remove pollutants from the oceans. While Aquaman supports the program, the operation is being conducted too near to Atlantis, and threatens to bring harm to the inhabitants of the great domed city. Markos, however, refuses to move his operation to another part of the sea. Already the city's power station has been knocked out, leaving Atlantis in darkness. Aquaman summons lantern fish to illuminate the city streets, and discovers looters, from the surface, raiding the museum. Aquaman joins the Atlantean guard in repelling the looters. Aquaman summons sharks to rout the looters, only to be informed that the royal palace is also under assault. Aquaman's octopi allies prevent the assassination of the KIng. Aquaman returns to the surface to confront, Markos. Aquaman exposes Markos' scheme to sack Atlantis, but as they are in international waters, no court in the world will hear the case against Markos. Though Operation:Detox has been exposed as a front for subjugation, Markos suffers no penalty, and vows to return.
Notes:
- This issue contains material that would have been published if not for the wave of cancellations in 1978 which has come to be known as the DC Implosion. It contains material that was to be published in Showcase.
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