https://justicetrek.podbean.com/e/jt001-space-invaders/
FOES OF EVIL!
ENEMIES OF INJUSTICE!
TO THE MIGHTY HEROES OF
THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA
ALL WRONG-DOING IS A MENACE TO BE STAMPED OUT --
WHETHER IT COMES FROM OUTER SPACE --
FROM THE WATERY DEPTHS OF THE SEVEN SEAS --
OR SPRINGS FULL-BLOWN FROM THE MINDS OF MEN!
BANDED TOGETHER TO FIGHT ALL FOES OF HUMANITY,
THE MIGHTIEST HEROES OF OUR TIME BATTLE THE MENACE OF…
STARRO THE CONQUEROR!
The story begins with Aquaman swimming in the Atlantic as his friend “Peter the Puffer Fish” warns him that a giant alien starfish landed in the ocean and transformed three Earth starfish into replicas of himself in order to aid in his conquest of the planet. Aquaman rises out of the water to summon his Justice League colleagues. Wonder Woman has no trouble blowing off a marriage proposal from Steve Trevor to hop into her plane - still called the robot plane at this point even though it is invisible (or at least transparent) - to heed Aquaman’s summons. Superman on the other hand is tied up protecting Earth from a meteor storm, even as Green Lantern has no problem ditching the experimental rocket plane he is flying in mid-air to fly off on JLA business. Meanwhile Batman chooses not to join the JLA’s fight to focus on two unnamed archenemies who have joined forces to loot Gotham City, as he apparently felt the police weren’t up to the task of apprehending a couple of looters. The Flash had no trouble dissipating a tornado before heading to the JLA’s “modernistically outfitted cavern” headquarters, and the Martian Manhunter was simply free to report for Justice League duty as he was on vacation at the time. When the four heroes arrive at their HQ, Aquaman briefs them on the situation and then the team chairman - the Flash - dispatches them to fight Starro’s three deputies.
First Green Lantern flies out to the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado where he encounters a gigantic flying starfish seizing an Air Force jet-bomber in mid-air. The jet-bomber’s pilot and co-pilot attempt to fight the starfish but the creature appears to shrug off their bullets as it reaches through the fuselage to grab the atomic bomb housed inside the plane. As the creature flies off with the a-bomb, Green Lantern must first save the plane and pilots, making a makeshift landing ramp in the mountains. GL flies off in pursuit, but as he nears the starfish, the creature does the unthinkable and intentionally detonates the atom bomb! We now see an incredible test of Green Lantern’s weapon as the power ring is able to generate a protective force field around the hero. After the blast subsides, Green Lantern flies after the starfish, dodging the energy-beams the creature is able to project and aim at the hero. Finally, GL is able to direct his emerald energy at the creature’s eye, willing his opponent to return back to its original starfish shape and size.
Next Wonder Woman and John Jones fly out to a place called “Science City” where they encounter Starro’s second deputy - much larger than the first - picking up a large building named the “Hall of Science” and then flying off. Although the first, smaller, starfish deputy did not have any dialogue this deputy lets the readers know his mission, which is to absorb the knowledge of the scientists within the building. The readers are treated to another mid-air battle as Wonder Woman stands on the wing of her plane and uses her magic lasso to grab one of the giant starfish’s tentacles, but the creature is so surprisingly strong that it jerks the Amazon off of her plane. Meanwhile J’onn was in the upper atmosphere looking for a weapon to use against the creature and he finds the remnants of the meteors that Superman has been destroying since the beginning of the story. J’onn uses his Martian super-breath to aim the meteor fragments with terrific force at the star-colossus, causing the creature to fly away. Wonder Woman and J’onn catch up to the creature and land on the roof of the Hall of Science, when the creature attacks the heroes with its nuclear energy blasts. Wonder Woman is able to deflect the energy beams with her wrist bracelets made from the hardest metal known… “Amazonium”! J’onn on the other hand is able to fashion a lead shield from the roof of the building to shield himself from the radiation of the nuclear beams.
The two heroes then began to use better strategy against the creature, with Wonder Woman bracing herself on the Hall of Science roof as she mentally controls the robot plane to pull both the building and the creature carrying it through mid-air in the opposite direction while at the same time J’onn attacks the creature’s eye. This ploy succeeds in both getting the Hall of Science back on the ground and in weakening the creature to the point where it is unable to fly away as it collapses on terra firma, unable to act any longer.
Next the Flash has raced to the town of Happy Harbor, to discover that Starro’s third giant-starfish deputy has entranced every person in the entire town, with one exception. A lad named “Snapper” Carr discovers after three hours of spreading turf-builder, lime, and sodium chlorate on his family’s lawn that his mom, dad, and kid sister are walking like mindless drones to the center of the town, where the creature is giving instructions. The creature notices that young Mr. Carr is not entranced and fires one of his energy beams at the lad, although the Flash is able to race ahead of the beam and rescue the boy. Flash places “Snapper” at a safe distance and then races back to Starro, dodging the energy beams along the way, before he begins to run circles around the creature just as he ran circles around the tornado at the beginning of this story. This allows Flash to disorient the deputy, who then flies off in search of water to be used as a hiding place, coming to rest in a nearby lake. The Flash however is able to use his super-speed abilities to move the water in the lake in such a way that the giant starfish is uncovered, and then move the water in such a way as to pummel the creature into unconsciousness. During this time “Snapper” has driven to the lake in his jalopy, and then he and the Flash race back to the town of “Happy Harbor” where they discover the townspeople are no longer entranced. Snapper’s dad tells the Flash that the Starro-deputy had ordered them to proceed to a place called “Turkey Hollow”.
We next see the original Starro, hovering over land as he explains that each of his deputies was actually able to complete their missions. The first starfish-deputy, before it was defeated, was able to absorb the nuclear energy from the atom bomb blast and then transfer that energy back to the original Starro. The second deputy was able to absorb the scientists’ knowledge and transfer it back to the original Starro before it too was defeated. And the third deputy was able to transfer the knowledge of how to entrance humans, giving the original Starro the knowledge he needed not just to conquer Earth, but to conquer the entire universe!
Just then arrives Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, and J’onn J’onzz. Starro swiftly attacks the most powerful member on the scene, Green Lantern, first with a mental beam and then by turning itself yellow so the power ring energy will be unable to affect it, as there is an impurity in the ring that renders it unable to affect anything colored yellow. Next Starro fires a mental beam at young Snapper, to no effect. Green Lantern analyzes Snapper and determines that he is covered by an invisible layer of calcium oxide aka lime, the same lime he was spreading on his family’s lawn earlier. Theorizing that the lime was what protected Snapper from Starro’s entrancement ability, Green Lantern gathers several barrels of lime and powders every inch of the giant starfish with the substance while at the same time J’onn J’onzz uses his super-breath to hurl additional lime gathered by the Flash at the would-be conqueror, with the result that the giant starfish is imprisoned in an unbreakable lime shell.
Afterwards, the League members (including Superman and Batman) and Snapper gather at their headquarters and reward the young man for aiding them by inducting him into the League as an honorary member, even giving the lad his own official Justice League signalling device so he can be alerted to emergency meetings. The story closes with the words:
WHAT STRANGE AND EVIL FORCES WILL THE ALL-STARS BE CALLED UPON TO BATTLE NEXT? DON’T MISS THE NEXT ISSUE OF… the JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA!”
WHAT STRANGE AND EVIL FORCES WILL THE ALL-STARS BE CALLED UPON TO BATTLE NEXT? DON’T MISS THE NEXT ISSUE OF… the JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA!”
