Justice League of America #80

Grade: VG

Issue Number: 80
Release Date: N/A
Writer:
Artist:

When Hawkgirl is found floating still and lifeless, the League must prepare for what seems to be the end-times. The Flash, on monitor duty at the Justice League of America's satellite headquarters, speaks with his wife, Picture News reporter, Iris West Allen. An alarm alerts the Flash to the presence of the Hawkgirl, hurtling unconscious through space, outside the satellite. The Flash brings the Hawkgirl on board the satellite, then summons the Justice League of America. The Atom informs the team that the Hawkman, and the Hawkgirl, were taking the Atom's girlfriend, Jean Loring, to Thanagar, for medical treatment. The Hawkgirl seems to be in a trance. Superman heads to Thanagar, while the Batman, and the Green Arrow, start an investigation in Midway City. A emergency alert comes in, drawing the Flash, and the Atom, to the Grand Canyon. As if hypnotized, a group of boy scouts are walking towards the edge of the canyon. The Flash sets up a barrier of logs and stones, but one boy still manages to circumvent it. The Flash races to the bottom of the canyon and generates a wind break, at super-human speed, to catch the boy. The scout leader accuses a man on a broomstick, of being the culprit behind the scouts' near mindless condition. The Batman, and the Green Arrow, encounter the same broomstick riding man, a Thanagarian known as Norch Lor. After a brief scuffle, Lor subdues both the Batman, and the Green Arrow. Lor returns to his spacecraft to effect repairs on the "Gehenna Box", an ancient soul-stealing artifact, which was damaged in the fight. Superman finds the Hawkman's spaceship, falling into a neutron star. With a herculean effort, the Man of Steel manages to push the craft out of the neutron's star's crushing gravity field. Near exhaustion, Superman is rendered unconscious by an emerald beam. The Black Canary continues to practice focusing her new-found power. The Batman, and the Green Arrow, return to the satellite. Nor approaches the satellite, then opens a hole in the hull, to gain entry. The Black Canary seals the hull breech, before explosive decompression hurls the heroes into space. Lor opens the Gehenna Box, stealing the souls of the Batman, the Black Canary, and the Green Arrow. The Green Lantern of Earth is brought to Oa, then dispatched, by the Guardians of the Universe, to render aid to Superman. Tomar Re, the Green Lantern of Xudar, has mistakenly taken out the Man of Steel, believing Superman to have been a threat. The misunderstanding cleared up, Superman, and the Green Lanterns, board the Hawkman's vessel. They find the Hawkman, and Loring, in the same state as the Hawkgirl. Playing back the ship's log, Superman, and the Green Lanterns, learn of Lor's attack on the Hawkman, the Hawkgirl, and Loring. Their souls now trapped in the Gehenna Box. Lor believes the universe is coming to an end, and thus is on a mission to collect, and preserve, as many souls as he can. When Lor departed the vessel, the Hawkgirl was drawn into space, eventually drifting past the Justice League of America's satellite headquarters. While Tomar Re guards the Hawkman's vessel, Superman, and the Green Lantern, continue on to Thanagar. In some inexplicable fashion, the Black Canary's sonic scream prevented the Gehenna Box from claiming her soul.The Black Canary attacks Lor, just as the Flash, and the Atom, are returning to the satellite. The Atom subdues Lor. During the melee, the Gehenna Box is accidentally hurled into space. The Atom, at great risk to himself, successfully retrieves the Gehenna Box, nearly succumbing to the airless void of space. Using the Gehenna Box, the Green Lantern restores the souls to the Batman, the Green Arrow, the Hawkman, the Hawkgirl, Loring and the boy scouts. Superman then destroys the Gehenna Box.