Note: These posts reprint material, without change, from an old depublished site. It was first published in 2016.
In today’s world, this would have been JLI #1—because #1s sell better than #8s. But back then, bigger numbers suggested importance and weight, and therefore DC continued with the numbering as Justice League became JL International.
Despite the sexist cover, “Moving Day” is actually a pretty funny, old-school comedy issue. It reminded me a lot of that old Laurel and Hardy sequence where they’re trying to move a piano. Martian Manhunter carries heavy equipment up the stairs, but the house has not been modified to support the weight so he crashes to the ceiling, Captain Atom gets frustrated by a malfunction in the security system and blows the whole thing up, and in the end the entire place is crushed by an aircraft.
But most importantly, this is the first issue with the famous “Bwahhahaha” laugh. I hadn’t realized it was Blue Beetle who started the whole thing. And the creators seem to know that this laugh will become a huge thing, a running gag, because we get a second one in the same issue…