JSA: American Nightmare

JSA: The American Nightmare

• In the heat of WWII, the story begins with a battle between the Allies and the Axis powers. The Allies are losing ground in France. The battle is going in favorite of the Axis. It is only thanks to the timely entrance of the JSA: Flash, Green Lantern, Black Cananry, Hawkman, Red Tornado, Wildcat, Zatara, and Atom Smasher that tips the odds in favor of the Allies and helps them to take the victory. The Ally forces thank the JSA for their support. They mention that they are having trouble getting an edge on their enemies due to the lack of sleep the soldiers are getting. The army is plagued by nightmares and insomnia. While Flash recognizes the tolls of war, it is Zatara who senses something is not as it seems. There are chaos magical forces at work here.

• The JSA head back to their camp. They go to sleep to rest for the night. However, their sleeps were not so restful. Each member experienced horrific nightmares. Hawkman dreams of Shiara. He wants to be with her. But shiara says, “We are not destined to be together.” Atom Smasher dreams of his uncle who says to him, “being a hero is useless. You will amount to nothing. Nothing you do matters. You’ve made no important scientific discoveries. You are small!” With that Atom Smasher shrinks in size in his dream as his uncle towers over him. Black Canary dreams she is home with her husband. She has just given birth. However, she must leave her family to fight the war. When she comes back. Her daughter is in elementary school. She keeps being taken away and she sees her daughter's life pass before her eyes. When the war was finally over she embraced her family. Her daughter, fully grown, responds, “who are you?” Green Lantern is on a date with his boyfriend when they are attacked by a homophobic thug. Green Lantern is helpless to stop it. After the attack, his boyfriend tells him “he can’t do this anymore. We can’t be together now. Maybe not ever.” In Zatara’s dream, a woman breaks the news that she is pregnant! With that, Zatara awakes from the dream and everyone else with it.

• The team discusses their nightmares (with the exception of Red Tornado who only comments on their elevated heart rates. Zatara is certain this is magic at work. Using his own magic he is able to sift through the dreams of the JSA and find connections and through lines that can connect them to the source of the magic. He determines that the magic originated from a castle in France. The team decides to go and investigate.

• As they get closer to their destination the team starts to daydream their nightmares. They are becoming more vivid illusions of their fears and they see shadows of Dr. Destiny. When they get to the castle, Dr. Destiny confronts the JSA. Dr. Destiny seems to be getting more powerful the closer they get to him. Illusions are extremely vivid. It causes the JSA to begin to fight each other! In their illusions Green Lantern sees he’s boyfriend instead of Flash and Wildcat instead of the thug who attacked them and lunges for Wildcat. Chaos ensues. Zatara finally snaps back into reality and instructs Red Tornado that he’s the only one who can stop this. Red Tornado goes for Dr. Destiny, but Hawkman, believing he’s protecting Shiara (Dr. Destiny), stops Red Tornado. Atom Smasher gets the closest, but Dr. Destiny was able to put him in a deep sleep. The JSA must escape! With the help of Zatara’s magic, Green Lantern is able to return to reality and uses his powers to carry the disheveled team to safety.

• The JSA get to safety. It is clear that confronting Dr. Destiny directly was a stupid idea. Also now they have to find a way to wake up Atom Smasher. It seems they are out of ideas until Zatara mentions that they need a Doctor of their own to help. The team is glad that Zatara knows a wizard who can help them, but Zatara mentions that he is reluctant to summon him because his Doctor pal would not be happy to see him However, he puts his conflicts aside and using his hat, summons Dr. Fate for help. Dr. Fate arrives and is still mad at Zatara but he helps Atom Smasher regain consciousness. When Wildcat asks what Zatara did to make him so angry, Dr. Fate responds that “I found him in my tower in a holy rejuvenation pool with two female guests. He filled the water with sin!” Dr. Fate decides to help the JSA in order to put the chaos and order back in balance. Their plan to defeat Dr. Destiny is to enter the dreamworld and distract Dr. Destiny while Red Tornado takes out his physical form. The plan works after a hard battle of realities in the dream world with their nightmares appearing yet again. While the team had to reenter their nightmares for a period of time, Red Tornado was able to perform the final blow and their nightmare illusions disappeared. Dr. Fate escorted them safely out of the Dreamworld.

• It is clear that the Team has much to do in order to reach a sense of peace in their hearts and in the world. Dr. Fate was able to piece together the location of TO Morro through Dr. Destiny. Their next mission is to confront TO Morro and finally end this war. Dr. Fate decided to join their efforts. With Dr. Destiny gone, the Ally forces will be able to fight better as well. Zatara will not be joining them. He says he needs to “atone for his sins.”