FRIENDS of JUSTICE: Freedom Fighters in Justice League of America #108

Justice League of America #108 (Nov/Dec 1973)

title: Thirteen Against the Earth!
writer: Len Wein
penciller: Dick Dillin
inker: Dick Giordano
editor: Julius Schwartz

letter column: Martin Pasko
cover: Nick Cardy

Overall Summary:
The second part of the debut of the Freedom Fighters, from August 1973! The JLA & the JSA help the Freedom Fighters finally free Earth X from Nazi control.

Order of Appearance: Uncle Sam, Doll Man, Phantom Lady, Black Condor, The Ray, Human Bomb

Guest Stars:
(Although *technically* the Freedom Fighters are the guest-stars here, on the predilection that everyone is the main character of their own story let's give the FFs the spotlight, okay?)
Justice League of America: Green Arrow, Elongated Man, Red Tornado, and Batman in active roles; Green Lantern in an inactive role.
Justice Society of America: Superman, the Sandman, and Dr. Fate in active roles; the Flash in an inactive role

Opponents:
Nazi Germany's Third Reich, Adolf Hitler himself (?!)

Plot Summary:
The Justice League and the Justice Society are still trapped on Earth-X, where they have committed to helping the Freedom Fighters search out and destroy the Nazi mind control machines that are keeping all of their world enslaved. Last time we saw a group destroy the European controls; this time we join Superman from Earth-2, Green Arrow, Doll Man, and Phantom Lady as they trek up the top of Mount Fuji in Japan to destroy the machine controlling all of Asia.

The four heroes are successful in defeating the Nazi guards, but when they try to destroy the mind control robot itself, it threatens Japan with destruction by earthquake. Superman calls the machine's bluff, and the whole island begins to shake. Superman has no choice to fly off to try to keep the country afloat. After he is gone, Green Arrow and Phantom Lady continue the attack against the robot, which does not notice Doll Man shrinking into it and destroying it from inside. However, they don't notice any particular change.

At Mount Rushmore, where the Nazis have wasted no time in carving der Fuerher's face on the side of the monument, Black Condor, the Elongated Man, the Sandman, and Uncle Sam arrive to destroy the North and South American mind control machine. They have no trouble getting past the Nazi guards; when they attempt to destroy the mind control machine, however, their efforts prove ineffective.

The Elongated Man stumbles onto the truth: that the machine they are trying to destroy is an illusion. He guesses that the real machine is probably hidden behind the stony face of Adolf Hitler, so Uncle Sam happily destroys it. Similar to what happened in Japan, the heroes do not feel as if the mental control has been stopped.

The three teams reconvene back at the Freedom Fighters' hidden headquarters. The JSA and the JLA suddenly accuse the Freedom Fighters of maintaining the mental control for their own purposes. The Freedom Fighters deny it, of course, and a free-for-all breaks out.

Red Tornado, who is not affected by the Nazi mind control, realizes that his friends have finally succumbed. He is able to track the mind control energy to its source, a massive mind control relay and booster machine on a Nazi space station orbiting the earth.

Red Tornado is invited inside the satellite by the master computer. He is surprised to find a youthful Adolf Hitler there, who invites Red to reject his friends and to join the Nazi Party. Red violently refuses, which causes the Master Computer to reveal that it was actually the power behind the party for the last several years. Red fights against the robot and its android guards, and in so doing upsets the balance of the space station, causing it to fall from its orbit. This destroys the last mind control robot once and for all.

Red manages to save the robot's communication circuitry, which the JLA and JSA are then able to alter in order to contact their friends on Earths 1 and 2. The JLA and JSA reconfigure the Transmatter Cubes on their respective earths and pull their missing friends home. The story ends with Uncle Sam hoping that he and his team will meet the JLA and JSA again someday....

Review:
This is a well-plotted and well-executed conclusion to the first chapter. Often the concluding chapter doesn't measure up to the expectations of the beginning, but in this story there is no decrease in quality or characterization in the conclusion.

Last time some of the heroes went to Nazi-controlled Paris, so this time it is a hoot to see them in Japan and at Mount Rushmore. Students of history often debate whether the alliance between Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan would have survived in the long run if they had won the war; Len Wein's answer to that is that it would NOT have. It was also clever how he used the mightiest member (Superman) and the littlest member (Doll Man) to defeat the Nazi robot and save Japan.

The chapter set at Mount Rushmore is the more disturbing to Americans, of course. The idea of seeing Adolf Hitler's face carved in the side of the stone alongside Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln is disturbing enough; but we also see Nazis actually IN the United States, which is an awful thing to think about. Luckily, we get to see Uncle Sam himself lead his team against these invaders (hooray!). I also like how Wein takes his favorite characters (Elongated Man and Sandman) and gave them big slices of the action. He even lets Ralph Dibny be the one to figure out the mystery of the robotic machine.

The return of the Cerebro Ray as a forgotten or overlooked menace is well-thought out, and Red Tornado's ability to understand what is actually happening is inspired. His time in the spotlight, defeating the last Nazi mind control machine, is necessary to show us (and him!) that he isn't quite the loser that he thinks he is.

In fact, the only real criticism I have of this story is in regards to Red Tornado. The adventure started because he wanted to return to Earth 2 (the Justice Society dimension). But at the end of this story he theoretically COULD return with the JSA, but he does not. Worse yet, we never see why he makes this about-face. That's a major characterization moment that we absolutely should have seen, and each time I re-read this story I'm reminded of its exclusion.

The story ends with the heroes saying good-bye to each other. And for approximately two years, that was the end of it. But by the time I had hunted these issues down, the Freedom Fighters had their own series and this last scene was more of a foreshadowing of what had already occurred...! So join us here next week as we review Freedom Fighters #1!

Black Condor Moment

Black Condor is featured during the Mount Rushmore chapter,

but all he really gets to do is fly around and kick Nazi butt. Still, this is pretty dramatic.

Doll Man Moment

Doll Man is featured in the Mount Fuji chapter, and he gets to shine there.

He not only saves all of Japan, but he destroys the mind control machine, too.

Human Bomb Moment

The Human Bomb is not featured in a chapter in this issue, so all he really does

is stand around. However, he is shown on the cover, which is more than can be said

for four of the other main characters.

Phantom Lady Moment

Phantom Lady does not get a whole lot to do in the Mount Fuji chapter, except,

you know, save Green Arrow's life with her blackout ray.

It's later that she shows just how good she really is

by fighting Batman and holding her own!

The Ray Moment

The Ray got his moment in last issue's chapter, but he holds his own against Dr. Fate this time out.

Uncle Sam Moment

Uncle Sam is clearly the "star" of the group, with the majority of lines and scenes.

However, his best moment by far is smashing Adolf Hitler's stone face

off the side of Mount Rushmore.

BWA-DOOOM!

Best Moment

What could possibly be better than Red Tornado

punching Adolf Hitler in the face?

Worst Moment

Red Tornado finds the method for everyone to communicate to their respective dimensions,

but no mention is made as to which Earth he is going to return to. There are no

scenes between him and the JSAers, of either him saying "good-bye" to them

or of them wishing him well on Earth-1. This is a huge missed opportunity.

Freedom of Information

Although the world-famous Mount Fuji is referenced to as Fuji-yama, this is not its name. No Japanese person calls it this; its correct Japanese name is "Fuji-san."
Mount Rushmore was under construction between 1927-1941, with most of the work on the four Presidential profiles commencing between 1934-1939. So it is within the realm of possiblity that Adolf's profile could have been added within five years.

Freedom Fanmail

Letters about this issue appeared in Justice League of America #111, with comments from Editorial Assistant Martin Pasko. Click on the graphics below to enlarge them if they are difficult to read. Note that in the interim between last issue and this, someone noticed that Hawkman had left the JLA, so he was removed from the JLA Mail Room banner. Seems a little lonely without him.

Reprint Rundown

This story has been reprinted a few times, both in Justice League reprint collections and in "Crisis" Multiverse Collections. Here's a list in reverse chronological order. If you're interested, you can find some of these on kindle. If you want an actual physical copy I suggest trying instocktrades.com for the new version, or abebooks.com or hpb.com for the older editions.

Crisis on Multiple Earths 2: Criss Crossed (2022)