The sixth JLA/JSA team up is wild. Professor T.O. Morrow creates a second Red Tornado, who thinks he si the only Red Tornado, and we get to see what the first RT looked like…
Yes, it was a female robot named Ma Hunkle. Crazy 1960s comics, man.
This crossover was also a creative crossover: Gardner Fox left the JLA after writing 65 issues, and Denny O’Neil took over. Denny would go on to be a legendary writer of Batman, but this is early O’Neil, so I’m really interested to see what his writing was like fifty plus years ago.
Also, artist Mike Sekowsky had departed a few issues earlier. Dick Dillin became the permanent artist, and he stuck with the title for a whopping 22 years (all the way to issue #183)! That’s got to be a new record!
Also, fun little fact: 1ith #66, the logo reverted back to its original one with the stars and the shield-like border.
Ma Hunkel was not a robot, just a large, loud woman. She was a supporting character in the ‘Scribbly’ strip in the 1940’s. Her costume was one of the inspirations for ‘Forbush-Man’. She did appear in a couple of panels of a Justice Society tale — the JSA was chasing some crook into her neighborhood and came upon her wailing on some minions with her frying pan.
I never knew all that….