For those unfamiliar with them The Freedom Fighters, were six Quality Comics characters (Uncle Sam, The Ray, Black Condor, Phantom Lady, Doll Man & The Human Bomb) that DC bought in 1956, but which laid unused until 1973 or `74 when Len Wein used them as guest stars in Justice League of America #107 & 108, where they were first united as the Freedom Fighters on Earth-X, a world where WWII dragged on until the 1960's until the Nazis developed a mind control ray. The combined might of the JLA, JSA & FF finally freed their world.

In 1976 a decision was made to give the team their own book &, for some reason, take them off Earth-X and transfer them to Earth-1. They get branded as villains and have to run from the law, while fighting crime, and trying to find someone who can clear their name. Gerry Conway should probably get the blame for this since he edited the book as well as plotting the first issue and writing the second.

The book ran 15 issues before being killed in the DC Implosion.

Freedom Fighters #1 The Freedom Fighters
For people who should be in their 40's & 50's the Freedom Fighters don't look much older than they did in the 1940's. (Then again this nit should probably go in JLA 107 & 108.)

It's mentioned that New York looks like their own New York only without the battle damage. Ummm, the Nazis mind control ray was used 5 years before JLA #107 & this is 2 years later. Surely once the Nazis had control they would have had people clean up the damage from the war. The only battle damage would seem to be that caused by people who were resistant to the mind control effect & continued to fight back.

In this and later issues members of the Freedom Fighters refer to their own Earth as Earth-X.

Phantom Lady, who previously had no superpowers just fighting skill & a blackout ray, suddenly gains the ability to turn into a phantom. How conveeeeeeeeeeeeeenient.
The transfer from Earth-X to Earth-1 is given as the explanation & it does have a precedent, years earlier when Black Canary moved from Earth-2 to Earth-1 she gained her sonic scream (although that explanation was later retconned & made invalid). Still, of all the possible powers Phantom Lady could have theoretically gained it just seems odd that it would conform to her name so well.
Later issues would indicate that Black Condor & Doll Man had gained some psychic abilities & The Human Bomb's explosive touch was now all over his body instead of in his hands. If Uncle Sam or The Ray gained anything it was never revealed.

The artists seem to have trouble being consistent with King Samson's size. When he first appears he appears to be twice the size of The Ray, but at other points he just seems a little taller than the heroes.

A steam pipe is said to be ruptured, but it looks more like it was simply detached. No ragged edges, and when Uncle Sam puts it together it looks like it was two matching connectors. Caption says that Uncle Sam used his strength to fuse it together again which sounds fishy.

Sam calls The Ray "Mr. Terrill". They've been fighting against the Nazis for 30 years and Sam doesn't know the importance of not giving away his teammate's identity???

When talking to the New York DA, Uncle Sam says the reason they came here was that since the war ended two years ago they've become bored. Bored? Just because the Nazis have been defeated doesn't necessarily mean that there will be no villains to fight. Frankly the whole situation on Earth-X was dismissed by saying that democracy had returned, which would seem to ignore that not every country had a democracy when the war started and that there would be those who would want to fill the power vacuum. (Personally I would have preferred to have seen a series set on Earth-X, but I guess TPTB figured it might be too confusing to new readers. Pity.)

The Black Condor is said to be a mutant with the ability to fly. Somehow I doubt the word mutant would have been used in the original comics. (Later when DC wanted to have a flashback to the Condor's origin they realized that they didn't have a copy of his first appearance and had to put out a call to comic fans with that issue. So the fact they couldn't check his origin probably allowed the 'mutant explanation' to stand.)

The Silver Ghost, a rather lame villain, believes that his ancestors were cheated out of their ownership of Manhattan Island and he wants to get it back. Frankly his methods of attempting to get it back seem poorly thought out & scatterbrained.

Page 14, panel 2. The Silver Ghost's glove is flesh-colored.

Black Condor & Doll Man are fighting King Samson and the Condor says Samson is twice his size & weight (but he's not drawn that big) & Doll Man says Samson is four times his size. Doll Man is, probably, his usual 6 inches at this point which times 4 would make King Samson 2 feet tall. I guess math is not Doll Man's strong suit.

In addition to being able to turn people into solid silver I guess the Silver Ghost also has the power to levitate those 'statues' since the silverized Phantom Lady, Black Condor & Doll Man are seen floating above the ground. (Artist probably screwed up here.)

#2 Rampage!
The Human Bomb dives head first into the subway, but somehow manages to land on his feet. (No he can't fly & there was nothing for him to grab onto.)

The Human Bomb stops an oncoming subway car by holding out his hand and blowing up the front of it.
1. What about inertia?
2. Wouldn't this possibly kill the driver?

The Ray absorbs the light out of the light bulbs and the station goes dark. The problem as I see it is that lights are powered by a continual influx of energy. Maybe the Ray can absorb that energy while he's around, but once he leaves shouldn't the lights come back on?

Page 7, panel 1. The colorist goofed up. A shot of the Black Condor in costume has only his head & hands flesh-colored & the rest of his exposed body is colored white as if it's a uniform.

Uncle Sam, The Ray & The Human Bomb have to work for the Silver Ghost because he implies that he can restore the Black Condor, Phantom Lady & Doll Man back to normal. However, he doesn't offer any proof. Furthermore in the first issue the Ghost was upset to accidentally turn one of his own men to silver & acted like he was gone for good. The remainder of the FF should have refused to work for him until he could prove he could turn them back to normal. (For that matter, they never saw him turn the three into silver, so, for all they know, the statues could have been fakes.)

At the end of the issue, just before they turn them back to normal, Doll Man's right arm is in a very different position than it had been.

#3 (Untitled)
The caption says that Ted & his wife "have finally gotten what they always wanted." Somehow I doubt that Midge really wanted to be MURDERED! (Writer Martin Pasko wrote this bit of idiocy.)

An Editor's Note says, "Qward has perfected a process of turning anti-matter into plus-matter". Plus-matter??? Gee, Gerry, could you possibly have meant ordinary matter?

The Human Bomb stops Skragg's laser blast with his explosive hand. Excuse me? Shouldn't the laser have burned a hole THROUGH his hand?

When Ted was turned into Skragg, the Super Sniper (Yeesh, who came up with that stup¡d name?) his hands were replaced with laser 'nozzles'. At one point he's in a phone booth with the phone on his shoulder & dialing.
1. How did he put the phone there, he doesn't have hands?
2. The ends of the 'nozzles' look too big to fit in a dial hole. (IIRC this was before push buttons.)

Despite Skragg falling off one of the World Trade towers, at the end of the story, Uncle Sam says he doesn't think they've seen the last of this Skragg fellow. Fortunately, for fans of good taste everywhere, I don't believe Skragg ever appeared again.

When I started nitpicking this series I really didn't think I'd find so many nits. Go fig?

#3
The cover features Skragg talking differently than he usually does in the issue. In killing mode he has an odd way of talking, it was only when he wasn't in a killing mode that he reverted to talking normally.

#4 The Left Hand Of Oblivion
The cover has Phantom Lady & the Human Bomb standing on the roof of a building in the background. The problem is they appear to be giant-sized compared to the windows & roof door of that building.

Uncle Sam seems to be grasping at straws at the beginning of the story. He & the Freedom Fighters have gone to the UN hoping to be recognized as delegates from Earth-X & therefore be immune to prosecution. Somehow... I doubt it would be that easy.

DA Pearson has contacted Wonder Woman to capture the Freedom Fighters. One hero to capture a team of heroes? Wouldn't it have made more sense to contact the Justice League?

Anyway when Wonder Woman tells him that she's not a bounty hunter, Pearson tells her that she can be deported. Interesting idea. Not sure if it's exactly accurate. IIRC, at this point in time, the members of the JLA were recognized as honorary policeman around the world & the JLA had the backing of the UN. Not to mention the number of times & years Wonder Woman has put her life on the line to protect America. Might have been interesting to see what would have happened if Pearson had followed up on this threat.

When changing from Diana to WW she whirls a lariat over herself and the magic lasso's vibrations "melt away her specially treated street clothes". Melt away? Doesn't sound like she could easily put them back together again. How many changes of clothing does she keep around and where?

For some reason the writer seems to think that the ideas & attitudes of Earth-X remained unchanged since the 1940s, in particular the concept of equality between the sexes. I should imagine if WWII had continued until the `60s the idea of equality would have thrived what with all those women having to work while the men were sent off to war. Heck at some point the draft might even be extended to women as more male soldiers died. (Another idea that would have been better utilized had this been set on Earth-X.)

In issue 2 the body of the Silver Ghost had his right hand & his face in water with his left arm down the side of his body. Here the Silver Ghost's body is in more water and his left hand is in a different position.

#5 The Rise And Fall Of King Samson
On the cover Uncle Sam holds Wonder Woman's dead body. In the story she's believed dead because she's been silverized, but the cover has her normally colored.

Bob Rozakis finishes the story started by Martin Pasko. Gerry Conway is no longer editor.

Some artistic confusion on which hand Samson is wearing the glove.
Last issue & pages 1 & 2 of this issue, he's wearing it on his left hand.
On page 3 & panels 1 & 2 of page 4 it's on his right hand.
Panel 3 shows it on his left hand & Wonder Woman's silverized lasso is around his left wrist, although it had previously been put on his right wrist.
Panel 4 the glove is missing. The lasso is still around left wrist.
Page 5, panel 1, the lasso is yanked off his right wrist.
Later King Samson would once again be wearing the glove for the rest of the story.

Surprisingly when the Human Bomb's bare hand & the silverizing glove meet the explosion sends the energy back instead of turning the Human Bomb to silver. Comic book physics.

Okayyyyyyyyyy, the energy backlash travels through Wonder Woman's silverized lasso and turns her back to normal, however the lasso remains silverized. Shouldn't it have reverted back as well? WW is wearing a golden lasso later in the story. Is this a different magic lasso? Also King Samson left the lasso in three pieces, but how she put it back together is not mentioned.

The energy backlash travels through WW and the energy seeks out the only other body equipped to receive it, the Silver Ghost restoring him to life. (*Sigh* Another entry for those who should have stayed dead.) Okay, why would the Silver Ghost's body be able to receive this energy? In the first 2 issues he was just a guy who used two radioactive-powered gloves to turn things to silver. Without the gloves he had no superpower. There was really no reason for the power to 'seek' him out & give him life other than authorial whim.
Oh, and in addition to being given life, he now had increased mental abilities including telepathy, & telekinesis over anything that had been turned to silver by his gloves.

For some reason, DA Pearson's superiors (who would that be? The Mayor?) have decided to let the three imprisoned Freedom Fighters tell their story to a member of the press. Excuse me? Why on Earth-1 would anybody want to give a person charged with a crime the right to influence potential jurors by allowing them to tell their side of the story??? This is why gag orders get issued. To prevent the accused from telling their side of the story and getting public opinion on their side.

In this issue Doll Man's telekinetic abilities pop into existence.

At the end the FF have escaped capture. Surprisingly Pearson doesn't try to force Wonder Woman to attempt to recapture them, or apparently try contacting any other superhero to track them down.

#6 Witching Hour For The Warrior Wizards!
Someone had fun coming up with that title.

Uncle Sam, The Ray & Black Condor have tracked down the rest of the Silver Ghost's former gang. Some of them try to escape by jumping on some racing horse & buggies and driving around the track to make there getaway. Yeahhhhhhhh, right. You're being chased by two superheros who can fly and you decide that rather than running straight across the infield (or just taking hostages from the crowd) you have a better chance of escape by grabbing some horses & riding around the track. Surprisingly the Ray also grabs a horse & buggy, although he, at least, admits to doing it for fun when the Condor calls him on it.

In the third issue the FF thought they could prove they were coerced into helping the Silver Ghost if they captured any of his former gang. Here they capture his gang, but since the gang members don't know the Silver Ghost has been resurrected the FF feel that can't prove their innocence now. Huh?

The FF are staying at Martha Roberts' apartment. (Martha is the Earth-1 counterpart to Doll Man's late girlfriend.) Given that she was there when three of the FF escaped prison last issue & how sympathetic she seemed toward them I'm surprised Pearson didn't have people keeping her under surveillance.

The Warrior Wizards want to raise the demon Homilus to take over whichever person gets elected President in two days. Hmmm, people who didn't like the Carter presidency might argue they succeeded.

Doll Man thinks, "If this isn't Martha's, then my name is Tom Thumb!" I wonder if writer Bob Rozakis knew that Tom Thumb was the name of a Doll Man villain?
Of course, Tom Thumb was a post-war villain (Doll Man's adventures ran from 1939-1953) so did the Earth-X Doll Man ever fight him?

The fact that Doll Man had post-war adventures would seem to throw a monkey wrench into the very concept of Earth-X.
I'm not sure if Uncle Sam, The Ray, Black Condor, or the Human Bomb had post-war adventures (my source books only list issue numbers for their appearances, not months & years.) And Phantom Lady's post-war adventures don't count since that was for a different publisher than Quality & are non-canonical for DC.

Me - If Uncle Sam or The Ray gained anything it was never revealed.
Actually this issue says that Sam's powers were increased (but doesn't say how) & the Ray can now control heat as well as light because of the dimensional shift.

Me - Later issues would indicate that Black Condor & Doll Man had gained some psychic abilities
Actually the Black Condor's psychic abilities came as a result of Homilus' attack in this issue.

Uncle Sam picks up the Human Bomb by holding onto his skin. Shouldn't that have caused an explosion?

Tom Fagan (the real life organizer of the superhero celebration in Rutland, Vermont) appears different here than he did in other books. (I wonder if the artists even knew he was a real person?)

#7 The Emperor Of The North Pole!
They're walking around in the snow & Phantom Lady complains about the cold. Understandable given her skimpy outfit, however Doll Man's outfit is missing legs & sleeves & the Black Condor's outfit is even more skimpy than Phantom Lady's, but they're not complaining. (Although given that the Black Condor was raised by a giant Condor in the Andes mountains maybe he's just used to the cold?)

Okayyyyyy, the FF are sneaking into Santaland when they're discovered by the Elf (no, not the Gerber Elf) and he sends some killer toys out to stop them. Then it's revealed that a GBS affiliate happened to be on the scene and started filming & broadcasting the fight. Oddly enough the mysterious cameraman can not be seen in any of the fight scenes.

Homage/parody time. On the last page we are introduced to The Crusaders, a WWII superhero team that everyone thought were just comic book characters.
The Crusaders are based on Marvel's The Invaders.
Americommando = Captain America
Rusty = Bucky
Barracuda = Submariner
Fireball = Human Torch
Sparky = Toro

(BTW Americommando is also a nod to a WWII DC character, Tex Thompson, a.k.a. Mr. America. Mr. America & sidekick Fat Man were referred to as Americommandos.)

#8 D-Day At Niagara!
The cover has the Human Bomb firing energy bursts from his hands at Barracuda. Energy bursts are more of a Ray thing.

Fireball & Sparky create a fire cage & Sparky creates a C-shaped flare. Geez, what are they? The Flame Lanterns? (Gee, why does that sound familiar? ;-)

The Human Bomb is underwater, he takes off his glove to give Barracuda an explosive punch and he thinks that it's a good thing his suit is waterproof.

Rusty grabs Doll Man, then has trouble holding him. Doll Man explains that it is because he's still 175 pounds. He phrases this as if he's always a 175 pounds no matter what size he is. However if he didn't have some control over his weight then how could he ride pigeons, & dogs, & stand on people's shoulders, etc., etc.?

Last issue the Americommando's shield had 5 red stripes & 5 blue stripes. Here it has 3 red stripes & 3 white stripes.

#9 Blitzkrieg At Buffalo!
On the cover the Americommando's shield has 6 red stripes & 6 white stripes.

The Silver Ghost (cunningly disguised as the Americommando) has captured the unconscious Freedom Fighters and put them into a death trap. Rather than making sure that they are killed he goes off to keep his unwitting accomplices in the dark. Guess what happens?

Page 3. No full shots of the Americommando's shield, so I don't know how many stripes are on it here, but...
Panel 1. Top stripe is red, the next is blue.
Panel 2. Top stripe is green, the next is red, the third stripe is blue.
Panel 3. Top stripe is blue, the next is red, the third stripe is green.

The 'Americommando' sends the rest of the Crusaders west to try & find the Freedom Fighters, then he takes Martha to make sure the FF are dead, but no one is there. The FF are next seen encountering the Crusaders thinking that they have Martha because she wasn't at the scene of the fight. Excuse me? Shouldn't the FF & the Americommando & Martha have passed each other at some point?

NNAN. Rusty can fly?

Doll Man is standing on Rusty's chest, then Rusty sits up and Doll Man goes flying. So much for still being 175 pounds.

The 'Crusaders' reveal that they were really comic book fans recruited & given powers by the Americommando. Their real names are Lenny, Marvin, Arch & Roy. Gee, I wonder if their last names are Wein, Wolfman, Goodwin & Thomas? ;-)

Geez, what are they? The Flame Lanterns? (Gee, why does that sound familiar? ;-)

Yeah, why does it sound so familiar?

Up, up and away!

Me again - Later when DC wanted to have a flashback to the Condor's origin they realized that they didn't have a copy of his first appearance and had to put out a call to comic fans with that issue.
Actually it was the issue with Doll Man's origin (Feature Comics #27).
*sigh* Memory like a... like a... What was I talking about again?

The Human Bomb's explosive abilities are really amazing. Sometimes he'll touch a metal object & blast it to smithereens, other times he'll punch a bad guy & just knock them out. Nothing is ever said about him being able to control the force of the blast so one would assume that each contact would produce an equal blast, but apparently not.

#10 Murder In Miniature
The guest villain is... Cat-Man!
Who?
Man, DC was really pulling out all the stops to bring readers in. "Hey! Let's use a villain who hasn't appeared in 13 years! They'll love it!"
Cat-Man was basically the male counterpart to Catwoman, only, I hope, without the sexual tension between him & Batman.

The Editor's note says that the Silver Ghost tried to blast Manhattan apart. No, he didn't. A malfunctioning glove of the Ghost's was being used by King Samson and it was causing destruction to Manhattan's bedrock. The Ghost wanted Manhattan in one piece & telekinetically put an end to King Samson's using the glove. (Now if they'd said he tried to poison the people of Manhattan instead, it wouldn't be a nit.)

The Ray & the Silver Ghost are fighting, the Ray gets shot and they tumble to the forest below. Rather than simply smash the Ray's head in with a rock the Silver Ghost decides to leave his unconscious foe to die. Guess what happens?

In a flashback to Earth-X Doll Man tells Martha that the Earth-X Martha & her father had been captured by Nazi agents, interrogated & killed. The shot shows a full size Martha tied to a chair. I wonder why the Earth-X Martha didn't use her size-changing ability to become Doll Girl & try to fight/escape? Then again Martha only became Doll Girl after WWII so maybe the Earth-X version never did?

Wow! Cat-Man does have an ounce of brains. He tells the FF that he moved to Minnesota to get away from superheroes. (Now if only he had ditched the stup¡d costume & committed his robberies at night instead of broad daylight...)

#11 Divided We... Die??
On the cover Tall Tree's logo is missing from his shirt.

DA Pearson was killed two weeks earlier (issue 9) and Doll Man's already on trial??? Seems a trifle fast, even for a murder case.

The Ray regains consciousness and meets his mysterious savior who thinks the Freedom Fighters have been chasing after him. The readers are asked if we know who he is. You know, maybe if the writer had provided some freaking clue!

The Human Bomb's hand is unharmed by lightning?

Page 14, panel 3. The Human Bomb takes off his glove.
Panel 4, the glove ribbing can be seen around his wrist.
Panel 5, no ribbing.
Page 15, the ribbing is back.

Page 15, panel 2, the Renegades are not lined up, but in panel 3 the Human Bomb punches Thunder Cloud back into Tall Tree, who then falls back onto Rain-In-The-Face & Crazy Horse, taking care of the whole gang.

Not sure if this is a nit or not. Doll Man's attorney says, "I hope I hit home with that Reasonable Doubt tact!"
I'm not sure if I've ever heard the word Tact used that way before, I would have used the word Tactic myself.
Of course, no matter which word I used I wouldn't say anything at all until the jury had left the court room! No wonder it seemed like the jury only deliberated for two minutes! They overheard this pinhead talking about this Reasonable Doubt thing as if it were an excuse!

#12 Bust-Out In The Big House
3 months have passed since the last issue. Now that seems a trifle long.

Did New York have the death penalty in 1977?

It's mentioned that the JLA had tried a plea to prevent the execution. Which brings a big question. Why are only the Freedom Fighters looking for the Silver Ghost? You'd thunk that if the JLA put their minds to it they could find him & proof that the Freedom Fighters were used.

The Human Bomb says, "We have been hounded as criminals from the moment we set foot on Earth-One". No, they were greeted with suspicion at first, but they were only hounded after damaging the subway.

The Ray's mysterious savior says, "I've kept my name secret for these three months".
1. I think that was actually 3 months, 2 weeks.
2. So what has the Ray has been calling him for three months? Hey, you?

For those who care the guy is... Firebrand!
Who?
Yeah, right. He appeared in the first 13 issues of Police Comics. A bored playboy naval adventurer who fought crime in a pink see-through shirt. ("Yoo-hoo, sailors!") No superpowers whatsoever & apparently his method of traveling from Earth-X to Earth-1 didn't give him any either.
Considering the various Quality characters that could have been chosen I wonder why Rozakis brought him back?
The Earth-X versions of the Blackhawk & Plastic Man were said to be dead in JLA 107 so they weren't available, but
Alias The Spider - an archer who fights crime
Captain Triumph - somekinda superpowers
Invisible Hood - had a robe that could make him invisible
The Jester - fought crime dressed like a clown (okay, not much difference)
Joe Hercules - the strongest man in history
Kid Eternity - a dead kid with the power to summon anyone from history
Lady Luck - a green-dressed female crimefighter
Madame Fatal - an actor who dresses up as an old woman to fight crime (the only transvestite hero)
Magno - a living electromagnet
Midnight - a masked detective (a Jack Cole creation so he could be fun)
Miss America - magical powers
Quicksilver - superspeedster
Red Bee - anyone who wears a belt full of live bees to fight crime is automatically more interesting than Firebrand
Spider Widow - heroine with the ability to control black widow spiders (had teamed up with Phantom Lady before)
Wildfire - heroine who can control fire & flame
Wonder Boy - superpowerful alien teenager
Most of these characters had longer runs than Firebrand. However a later issue did indicate that another person had come from Earth-X, but the book was canceled before it could be revealed who, so maybe one of the characters could have appeared?

Firebrand also calls his homeworld Earth-X.

Doll Man is to be executed, in costume, with a full head of hair.

The execution is to be broadcast nationally. Say what? Don't authorities usually keep camera's out of the execution chambers? I just can't see any execution being filmed & broadcast.

Martha Roberts gets proof that Doll Man didn't kill Pearson & the real murderer, ADA Tulane, confesses on nationwide TV. Geeze what a wimp. Go to all this trouble to cover up your crime then confess? Sheesh.
Also Martha had two weeks before the trial. Nothing. Three months since the conviction. Nothing. Several hours prior to the execution Doll Man retells her what happened & that gives her the clue she needs to hunt down the evidence that Tulane was in the pay of the Silver Ghost. Uh, huh... nothing like waiting till the last minute to save the man you love. ("Well, like, I was busy! I have a career you know!")

#13 The Amazing Origin The Deadly Return The Startling Secret Of The Black Condor
On the cover the possessed Freedom Fighters are brownish colored, in the story they are blue.

At the end of last issue the Black Condor was normal colored, here he is blue.

Me - Although given that the Black Condor was raised by a giant Condor in the Andes mountains
Nope. Outer Mongolia, actually.

People say that the Whizzer has the weirdest origin in comics. I disagree. Sure getting superspeed from a mongoose blood transfusion is scientifically unsound, but maybe the writer thought that there was some ingredient in mongoose blood that could give superspeed (just as they used to think that mongoose blood contained a cobra antivenin).
The Black Condor on the other hand was raised by a giant condor and basically learned to fly like his condor brothers & sisters by force of will. Guess that's why the writers considered him a mutant in issue 1.

A flashback shows the Condor as Senator Tom Wright & he's not wearing glasses. In Ron Goulart's book Great American Comic Books a page of a Black Condor story is shown & he does wear glasses as Senator Wright (makes him look like Clark Kent.)

Page 10. The hole in the roof of the newsvan is missing.

Doll Man is to be executed, in costume, with a full head of hair.
That should read ELECTROCUTED. Hence the nit about not having his head shaved.

Madame Fatal - an actor who dresses up as an old woman to fight crime (the only transvestite hero)

But not necessarily the only crossdresser. Remember the original Red Tornado? A woman dressed as a man?

Excelsior!

Yep. I forgot about her. Apparently so did Mike Benton who I quoted there too.

#12
To prevent Doll Man from using his shrinking powers & escaping S.T.A.R. Labs created a limiter which blocked that power. However what about his telekinetic powers? Nothing was ever said about those. (I wonder if the writer forgot about them? Three issues later the writer had Uncle Sam comment that Doll Man hadn't used those powers in a while.)

When listing possible other Quality comics characters who could have been used instead of Firebrand I didn't list Neon, The Unknown because his ability to fire neonic blasts & fly on light beams seemed similar to the Ray. What I didn't consider was the fact that TPTB were planning to spin the Ray off into his own solo back-up series for the DC Explosion. (His solo 'series' made one appearance in the last issue of Black Lightning. I don't know if any further solo stories appeared anywhere else.)

#14 Sideshows Of Doom!
For some reason, the Ray's hair is black in this issue when previously it had been blonde. Did the artist/colorist just forget (easy to do given that the Ray rarely appeared in this series without his hood on) or did someone think that since the Human Bomb was also a blonde that the readers wouldn't know which was which when they were fighting over the Phantom Lady?

#15 Carnival Of Death
On the cover the mouthless mute alien is talking. (The aliens do communicate telepathically, but the word balloons are different from normal speech balloons).

Grungy nitpicking time. Phantom Lady thinks, 'Here I am a million light-years from home'. Obviously she's exaggerating since a million light-years would be intergalactic space and the viewscreen clearly shows them approaching a planet.

An alien thinks, 'Our warmaker will be invincible -- and with no cost of our own resources!'
Well, unless you count the resources to build the machine that will convert humans into your warmaker, fly to Earth, acquire hats & trenchcoats for disguises, get an explosive to blow up the roller coaster so it can be rebuilt as a kidnapping device, & build the base underneath the roller coaster, and to have containers to hold the kidnapped people, then fly back so you can convert these people into your warmaker. Oh, yeah, and whatever resources it will take to fly your warmaker to whatever planet you need the warmaker on.
Ignore all that and, yeah, no cost whatsoever.

Why Earth? Of all the planets they could have kidnapped people from why did they choose Earth? To the best of my knowledge these aliens were never seen before or since, so their planet can't be very close or one of the various space traveling heroes would have encountered them.
Also since they have a device capable of converting people into an invincible warmaker why not just fly to the nearest planet, which presumably would be their first target, and convert those people into their warmaker?

The basic battleplan is fundamentally flawed, of course. They want to make a giant version of themselves to conquer multiple worlds. Even if this thing is invincible its size would keep it from getting people in their little hidey-holes and when the aliens pick it up to transport to another planet, what's to prevent the people of the first planet rising up to attack the invading aliens?

Me - The book ran 15 issues before being killed in the DC Implosion.
Man, I'm really batting a thousand here. The book was actually canceled prior to the DC Implosion. A continuation of the story apparently appeared in The Secret Society Of Super-Villains #16, but I don't have that issue.

Me - Although given that the Black Condor was raised by a giant Condor in the Andes mountains
>Nope. Outer Mongolia, actually.

I thought Condors live only in the Andes, not in Mongolia??

The Black Condor on the other hand was raised by a giant condor and basically learned to fly like his condor brothers & sisters by force of will. Guess that's why the writers considered him a mutant in issue 1.

By force of will you can fly?? I wonder why nobody else can do this?

I believe the actual dialogue states he studied the way they moved & how they held themselves, then he was able to fly. Except that the human body wasn't designed to fly so that really shouldn't have done anything, hence my use of the phrase 'force of will'.

I found myself wondering some more about Doll Man's scheduled execution being broadcast on live TV and wondered why this would be a nationwide issue? Why would anyone care to watch the execution of a guy who killed a New York city DA? Heck, most New Yorkers wouldn't know who the guy was. Possibly the angle could be a superhero turned killer angle, but, as far as Earth-1 is concerned, Doll Man was just a supervillain who claimed to be a hero. There really is no news value here that would interest the rest of the country.

#1
NANJAO. The Ray changed his costume since JLA #107 & 108.
In those issues the fin on the top of his cowl was more of an equilateral triangle, while here the top curves back toward the back of his head.
There he had a starburst-type design around his neck, while here the starburst changes to a lightning bolt down his front.
There his uniform is all yellow, here his uniform is orange & yellow.

On the cover The Ray's uniform is all yellow, but inside it's yellow & orange.

NANJAO. The location of Phantom Lady's blackout beam projector changes from JLA #107 & 108. In those issues she projected the beam out of her belt buckle, here she wears the projector on her wrist. (In the late 1940's she had a bulky boxlike projector that she had to hold in her hand, and possibly kept in her purse, although not every story showed her with a purse.)

The blackout beam projector on her wrist is not drawn until the pages when she actually uses it.

JLA #107 & 108 came out in 1973 & this issue came out in 1976, but Uncle Sam says they finally defeated the Nazis 2 years ago. Now a possible anti-nit is that while the combined JLA/JSA/FF destroyed the mind-control machines 3 years ago, it took a year to defeat those Nazi troops & commanders still in existence. Unfortunately, the Editor's Caption specifically refers to the events of JLA #108.

Also Uncle Sam says, "we got our country back". Uh, Sam, the Nazis conquered the whole world, or don't you care about those other countries?

Multi-issue nit?
In JLA #108 Phantom Lady says that her improved Blackout Beam can absorb energy as well as light, saving Green Arrow from a deadly energy burst.
However in issue 11 Thunder Cloud's lightning bolts don't get absorbed by it.
Could it have absorbed the energy in the Silver Ghost's glove in issues 1, 4 & 5?
In issue 6 it might have been interesting to see if it could have absorbed the energy of the demon Homilus, but she doesn't even try.
In issue 7 she uses it on a deadly doll, but it apparently didn't absorb the doll's energy source.

In issue 14 Phantom Lady, The Ray & The Human Bomb are wearing their civvies when they are kidnapped by the mute aliens. Next issue Phantom Lady reveals that she protected herself from being turned to jelly by phantoming out. Oddly enough she is wearing her uniform in issue 15 instead of her civilian clothes.

The Ray is also wearing his uniform, but I think the costume was somehow created when he got his powers, so it might be possible for him. Years later in The Ray miniseries the original Ray tells his son (the new Ray) that he can create a costume by focusing his powers or something like that.

Also when the Warmaker is blown up, the Human Bomb reverts to his normal self, wearing his uniform, not his civilian clothes. Okayyyyyy, maybe, for some reason, Phantom Lady was wearing her uniform under her civvies (although the cape & boots wouldn't seem to fit easily), maybe The Ray can mentally create his own uniform, however, there is no way in heck that the Human Bomb could have concealed his containment suit anywhere on his person.

In issue 14 Phantom Lady, The Ray & The Human Bomb are wearing their civvies when they are kidnapped by the mute aliens.
Actually they were wearing those the first time on the roller coaster. When they were kidnapped they were wearing the circus outifts (tight legless trunks & sleeveless tops), which would make concealing any uniforms even harder.