For this issue of “your favorite Golden Age superheroes hate working with each other and helping people in general,” the bickering is once again the main plot. The story opens with Power Girl trying to convince Wildcat and Star-Spangled Kid to investigate a giant hole in the Earth where the supervillains were suspiciously hanging out. The subterranean creatures who come out of the hole and attack the heroes convinces Star-Spangled Kid he doesn’t want to investigate.

Power Girl has to knock him out to get him to go quietly. He had been arguing for going into the giant hole because he thought Wildcat was just being an old sexist during that first argument (of three or four throughout) with Power Girl. What changed Kid’s mind? Apparently, there definitely being bad guys in the hole. It’s unclear. The issue occasionally feels like writer Paul Levitz can’t keep track of the heroes’ petty grievances, which makes sense. The bickering never leads to anything, even when it’s potentially deadly.

But before that level of bad teamwork, there’s Bruce Wayne’s plot line. He’s now the Gotham City Police Commissioner, and he’s got city leaders upset Green Lantern is having hissy fits and causing property damage. Wayne’s conservative in his plans, cautious. He assumes bringing in Golden Age superhero Green Lantern for police questioning will lead to Green Lantern killing police officers to avoid capture. How chill.

Robin sends Wayne a telegram about how all the Justice Society members are acting like a bunch of jerks, which just confirms Wayne’s suspicions. Of the heroes being jerks and bad teammates. There’s no higher drama.

Back in the main story, Power Girl activates her distress beacon, calling the team away from a nosy Robin and their latest hospitalized teammate. Flash, Hawkman, and Doctor Fate go down to help, but then Doctor Fate leaves immediately upon arrival. Presumably, Fate knew the “Middle Earth” adventure was less important than him going to visit Commissioner Wayne and telling Wayne to relax. Wayne’s internal turmoil over his friends being a bunch of jerks is unsettling the cosmic balance.

Once the team meets up, Flash and Hawkman decide they’re not going to help Power Girl, after all. They don’t think going into the hole to investigate the supervillains was a good idea. So she can just go get killed to learn her lesson.

Things do get to a more positive resolution, but only because Levitz manages to make Power Girl wrong in her reckless behavior despite being the only responsible adult. He doesn’t write anyone chastising her for that behavior, at least, which is a not insignificant win for this strange comic book about quinquagenarian misanthropes.

If I take back the things I said about Wally Wood being mid last issue, can he come back retroactively and save me from Joe Staton and Bob Layton? We can keep Paul Levitz finding his sexism towards Power Girl and embracing it: turns out he needed Star-Spangled Kid to creep on her like a lech.

But Levitz does get a couple points for Earth-Two (maybe not when Gerry Conway was writing the book, incidentally) no longer having an apartheid South Africa. The exposition also mentions superheroes started on Earth-Two in the forties, not the fifties; maybe the extra ten years ground out the fascist, racist trash.

Anyway. Back to Joe Staton and Bob Layton. Staton’s figures are often bewildering, and Layton inks into the “curve.” There are a handful of okay close-ups, including Bruce Wayne (who seems to be a character Levitz might actually want to write; time will tell), but the bodies—and especially the extremities—are bad; real bad.

Levitz opens the issue in a flash-forward so he can wrap up the cliffhanger from last time (no Shining Knight, again; his agent obviously told him to stay away from All-Star Comics), which basically means Superman going off on his own so he won’t just save the day. Before Superman leaves, Power Girl is not nice enough to him, and she regrets it. However, she does not regret whining there are too many male heroes for her to compete with.

These character moments are nowhere near the most unpleasant. Star-Spangled Kid gropes her and gets away with it, then at one point pervs on her instead of saving Wildcat. It’s a lot. Especially since Kid’s in the silly power belt (and also, the colorist at one point gives him white outside undies), he’s just a creep—and Levitz’s lead character on that plot line.

The story has the JSA trying to save Hourman and Wildcat; the reunited Injustice Society has captured them. Injustice Society’s been after the heroes for a few issues now, starting during Conway’s tenure, and one has to wonder if their motivations were always the same. Levitz hasn’t got a lot of time for them. They’re disposable, easy-to-defeat villains, especially once Dr. Fate comes back.

Levitz also seems to like writing Dr. Fate, who he characterizes as taking over the human host with no concern for its well-being, even having Mrs. Dr. Fate plead with Fate not to leave. It’s an all-right bit.

All things considered.

The ending sets up (adult) Robin coming back into the book–maybe—while Power Girl, Kid, and Wildcat (the book’s most obnoxious grouping, presumably worse now) going on an adventure together.

Swell.