Justice League of America #195
Justice League of America #195 opens the final great JLA/JSA summer crossover trilogy before Crisis on Infinite Earths rewrote DC's cosmology, making it one of the last full-throated celebrations of the Pre-Crisis multiverse at its most expansive. It marks the debut of the Ultra-Humanite's now-definitive albino gorilla body — the form that would remain the character's signature for decades — and reintroduces a freshly reconstituted Secret Society of Super-Villains as a credible threat to heroes on two parallel Earths simultaneously. The story's structural audacity, having villains methodically neutralize heroes one by one across two worlds, pushed the annual format into genuinely serialized, multi-part thriller territory rather than the looser anthology approach of earlier JLA/JSA team-ups. Coming at the height of George Pérez's run on the title, the issue also stands as a showcase for his unmatched ability to choreograph enormous casts with clarity and dynamism.
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The issue was written by Gerry Conway, who had been JLA's primary writer for roughly eight years, with art and co-plotting by George Pérez and inks by John Beatty; Len Wein edited and Mike W. Barr served as associate editor. It went on sale June 16, 1981 and carried an October 1981 cover date. The issue fits squarely into DC's early-1980s effort to use the annual JLA/JSA slot — a tradition dating to Gardner Fox's 1963 inaugural crossover in JLA #21 — as a proving ground for multiverse-scale storytelling just as Roy Thomas's All-Star Squadron was simultaneously mining the same Earth-Two mythology in a WWII setting.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Story title: 'Targets on Two Worlds!' — part one of a three-part arc concluding in JLA #196–197.
- Cover date: October 1981; on-sale date: July 9, 1981 (GCD lists June 16, 1981 for the Direct edition — sources show a slight discrepancy between Direct and Newsstand dates).
- Writer/co-plotter: Gerry Conway; penciller/co-plotter: George Pérez; inker: John Beatty; editor: Len Wein; associate editor: Mike W. Barr.
- First appearance of the Ultra-Humanite in his albino gorilla body — the form that became his definitive Silver/Bronze Age look going forward.
- The Ultra-Humanite reconstitutes the Secret Society of Super-Villains with a cross-dimensional roster: Cheetah, Signalman, Floronic Man, and Killer Frost from Earth-One; Brainwave, Monocle, Mist, Psycho-Pirate, and Rag Doll from Earth-Two.
- Issue includes a bonus JLA/JSA centerfold pin-up by George Pérez.
- The three-issue story (JLA #195–197) has been collected in: DC Comics Classics Library — Justice League of America by George Pérez Vol. 2 (2010); Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol. 6 (2013); and Crisis on Multiple Earths: Countdown to Crisis Vol. 3 (2023).
- This crossover is one of the last pre-Crisis JLA/JSA annual team-ups; the tradition that began in JLA #21 (1963) would end by the mid-1980s as Crisis on Infinite Earths dissolved the multiverse framework that made them possible.
Cast · 40 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
During one of the annual get-togethers between the JLA and JSA, the Secret Society of Super-Villains, led by the Ultra-Humanite, plot to capture 10 heroes (5 each from each group), using the foes who know them best. If successful, this would eliminate all heroes from either Earth-One or Earth-Two when the next cosmic wave cycle hits.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).