Random Happenstance

I remembered the striking cover of this issue from the house ad above; so when I found this in the quarter bin, kind of had to. I may have to look now, I'm 60% sure I got that Batman & the Outsiders issue from the same bins! From Infinity Inc. #4, "The "Generations" Saga, Part IV: Origins and Outcasts!" Written by Roy Thomas and Dann Thomas, pencils by Jerry Ordway, inks by Mike Machlan; and "The Land of the Bird People!" Written by Gardner Fox, pencils by Joe Kubert, inks by Alex Dellinges.

This was still pretty early in the series; I think several of the Infinity Inc. kids might have been trying to sort out their parentage, since I don't think most of them had been mentioned in previous Justice Society stories. Jade and Obsidian were accompanying Northwind to his home, the hidden city of bird-people, Feithera; where they were going to imprison Solomon Grundy with an equilibrium-distorting weapon. Grundy claimed to know what Jade and Obsidian so far only suspected, that they were the kids of Green Lantern: Grundy hates GL, and he also hates these kids, so via the transitive property...Jade recaps what she knows of her origin: she had a relatively ordinary suburban upbringing, with the exception of an unusual green birthmark on her hand. Post-high school, she started to occasionally turn green; and her parents have to tell her she was adopted, and she had a twin brother. They couldn't afford to adopt them both, and Obsidian got the worse of that deal, with an alcoholic adopted dad. Still, he had developed shadow powers, and after Jade finds him with her powers, they begin training together, then apparently showed up at JSA headquarters the same time the other kids did.

As far as hidden cities go, Feithera is a nice one, and Northwind introduces them to his folks, a human scientist and a bird-woman. They reveal the story of the first human visitors to their city, from an old issue of Flash Comics with Hawkman. When a group of hunters get word of the hidden city, they think it will be great sport; Carter Hall thinks it would be murder, but didn't really believe the legend until the birds spread the word. Hawkman could talk to the birds, he's able to talk to the Feitherans too, and after some trouble with a double-crosser, he's able to convince them to stay safely hidden.

Northwind tells his parents he intends to return to man's world, but they are interrupted by news from there: the Feitherans immediately assume that nuclear war finally happened, but it may be worse, since Hawkman is dead! They quickly reunite with the other Infinitors in Colorado in a morgue, over the bodies of Hawkman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and the Atom; all apparently drowned. Living up to her namesake, the Amazon Fury leaps to the conclusion that the Ultra-Humanite was responsible, and has to die...He probably was, but I could definitely see Fury killing her way through the Society's then-geriatric rogues' gallery.