The Brave and the Bold #28 Facsimile Edition (2022)

STARRO THE CONQUEROR

While swimming the Atlantic, Aquaman comes upon Peter the Puffer Fish who tells him about a strange alien menace. He witnessed a gigantic creature named Starro land in the sea and use its powers to transform three starfish into oversized monsters that resembled Starro itself. Aquaman decides to call an emergency meeting of the Justice League of America, and activates the communicator contained within his A-Belt.  Wonder Woman is the first to receive the signal, and cuts short her date with Steve Trevor to respond to the call. She pilots her invisible robot plane to the Justice League's cavern headquarters. Superman is the next to receive the signal, but he is too busy in outer space smashing meteors that threaten to enter Earth's atmosphere. Likewise, Batman receives the distress call, but a crime wave in Gotham City prevents him from responding. Green Lantern is test flying a jet fighter, but sets it on autopilot, then flies off for the meeting. The Flash meanwhile, disrupts a powerful tornado, and then speeds away in response to the call. Fortunately, it is easy for detective John Jones to excuse himself, as the police chief tells him that he has earned himself some much needed vacation time. John hears the signal with his Martian hearing and flies off.  At Justice League headquarters, Aquaman tells the assembled team what he has learned of Starro. The Flash, as acting chairman for the League, delegates orders to each League member and gives them the locations of each of the Starro agent sightings. Green Lantern is to patrol Rocky Mountain National Park, while Wonder Woman and the Martian Manhunter investigate a sighting at Science City. Aquaman is to patrol the ocean depths, while the Flash himself will investigate a Starro's presence in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island.  Green Lantern charges his ring, and begins patrolling the skies over the Rocky Mountains. He sees one of the Starro agents flying through the air to attack an Air Force jet bomber. The crew of the bomber fights back, but the Starro is invulnerable to the jet's machine guns. The creature's tentacles snake inside and steal one of the atomic missiles from the bomb bay. The plane dives into a tailspin, and Green Lantern uses his ring to set it down safely. When he turns his attention back towards the Starro, he sees to his horror that the monster has detonated the atomic missile. Hal quickly envelops himself in a protective bubble and begins firing blasts of energy at the Starro's thorax. After several well-placed hits, the creature weakens and reverts to its normal state.  In Science City, Wonder Woman and the Martian Manhunter arrive just in time to find another Starro spore attacking the Hall of Science. The Starro wraps its huge body around the entire building, picks it up off the ground, and begins flying through the sky with it. During it's flight, the creature uses its mental powers to absorb the accumulated scientific knowledge of everyone in the building, and the scientists inside are placed into a state of suspended animation. Wonder Woman stands on the wing of her robot plane and ensnares the edge of the building with her magic lasso. The Martian Manhunter makes use of falling meteor rocks (those that Superman missed) and uses his Martian breath to blow them at Starro. The attack is mildly successful, but it also ignites a fire on the exterior of the building. The Manhunter then uses his breath to create a suction that draws in nearby rain clouds. The rainfall succeeds in dousing the flames. Starro however, concentrates its attack on Wonder Woman. Having absorbed atomic power from its fallen cousin, it generates blasts of energy from each of its tentacles. Wonder Woman deflects the blasts with her Amazonian bracelets, and the Manhunter uses a piece of lead roof plating to protect himself. With the lasso still fastened to the building, Wonder Woman ties the other end to her plane and manages to jerk the Hall of Science free from Starro's grasp. She sets it safely upon the ground then resumes the fight with Starro. After several intense minutes, Starro finally weakens from the assault and collapses down onto the Earth. It returns to the state of an ordinary starfish. Like the other spore, this Starro's knowledge and power transfers to its third partner.  In Happy Harbor, Rhode Island, the Flash investigates the sighting of the third Starro agent. This one is using its powers to mentally control the town's populace. The Flash finds the one civilian who appears to be unaffected by the hypnotic attack – Snapper Carr. Snapper is the midst of sprinkling lime on his front lawn when he sees his family wander away from the house in a daze. They join with several other expressionless people who begin slowly walking towards Starro. Starro notices the Flash's presence and begins blasting at him with his energy attack, but the Flash is too fast for him. By encircling the creature at super-speed, he manages to trap it inside a vortex and propel him out to sea. He then begins drumming his feet on the shoreline at super-speed, causing the water around Starro to part. When he stops, the water crashes back down on top of it, rendering the creature unconscious. With Starro inert, the townspeople regain control of their senses.  The original Starro absorbs the knowledge and power of its defeated underlings and glides towards nearby Turkey Hollow. The Flash radios the rest of the League who gather together for the final showdown. With all of its accumulated power, Starro plans on taking control of the entire world. Starro learns of Green Lantern's weakness against the color yellow, and changes its own color so that it will be invulnerable to GL's power ring attacks. Flash is still curious as to why Snapper Carr was impervious to Starro's mental control. With Green Lantern's help, he learns that the lime covering Snapper's clothes was proof against the alien's power. Armed with a means for combating the monster, the Justice League gather up several barrels of lime and Green Lantern uses his ring to sprinkle it all across Starro's body. The lime hardens around him imprisoning Starro within a hard, white shell. Grateful for unintentionally providing them with the means to defeat Starro, the Justice League make Snapper Carr an honorary member of the team.