Who's This? Libra's bunch.
The facts: This team was created by new character Libra to balance the scales between good and evil, basically to counter the good the JLA was doing. The fought the team three times in the 1978, Libra himself only in the first (in Justice League of America #111, see below), and without their founder, it doesn't seem like the original Injustice Gang was viable. Other groups eventually took up the name (without "of the World" normally led by Lex Luthor, both in Morrison's JLA comic and the DCAU's Justice League animated series.
How you could have heard of them: Libra's return in Final Crisis created more attention on the original Injustice Gang, but not that much, really. A note about DC Heroes RPG players, however: One of the last adventures published for the game was a thick JLA/JLE scenario called "World in the Balance", which featured Libra (and his Injustice Gang) as the big bad.
Example story: Justice League of America #111 (June 1974) "Balance of Power!" by Len Wein, Dick Dillin and Dick Giordano
So fine, the JLA needed a team of opposites, but... the Tattooed Man? Look, I'm actually all for NOT picking the obvious creeps. It's not Joker, it's Poison Ivy and Scarecrow. It's not Sinestro, it's Tats. Even Mirror Master doesn't feel like the obvious pick for the Flash. Chronos and Shadow-Thief are better one-on-ones with the Atom and Hawkman, respectively, but where's Superman's homologue, or Aquaman's, or Wonder Woman's? So it's a weird bunch for sure, but I'm sure Character Find of 1974 Libra knows what he's doing. Let' see. I've been mocking the Tattooed Man's inclusion, but he was at least Libra's last pick. We see him get recruited and everything, teleported away from a losing battle with GL.
Following in a tradition started by the JSA, the IGW squeeze themselves on one half a round table, and have a cool patch showing the world with a dirty sock on top of the Atlantic. But before you dismiss this group of also-rans, consider that like the JLA, they TOO have a satellite HQ in orbit.
On the opposite side of the Earth and therefore TOTALLY UNDETECTABLE to Earth's heroes. Right. Now, Libra is convinced that the reason no one's defeated the JLA yet, is that they work as a team and villains don't. Makes some sense. We might, however, question Libra's Golden Age strategy of then splitting up his group, even if it also forces the League to split up. Can you divide and conquer if you're also divided? On the other hand, it makes the Leaguers think these are smaller, unrelated threats, allowing Libra to get the jump on them and show up at the last minute to zap them with stellar energy (the power of astrology!!!). So I guess Libra only needed distractions. And the JLA doesn't really take these hosers seriously. For FUN (and over Batman's objections), the heroes draw names from a hat to see who fights which morts. For example, it's Aquaman and Green Lantern vs. Mirror Master and Poison Ivy in Singapore. And with Libra's help, the villains are ready for anything, like Mirror Master using a gold-plated mirror to reflect GL's powers back at him. Ivy doesn't fare as well against a super-strong Atlantean who can break branches easily, but the villains press a button on their belts and the heroes feel drained. Nevertheless, one quick zap of the Ring and they're down.
Now essentially rinse and repeat until the entire JLA roll call is down. Superman pointlessly fighting imaginary kaiju summoned up by Scarecrow? Not necessarily a big deal, but...
I guess there's more than one way to use horoscope power. Batman, Elongated Man and the Flash are meanwhile in London fighting Chronos, the Tattooed Man and the Shadow-Thief... and doing pretty well. Montage!
Okay, not the Flash, but it doesn't matter, they're all going to be punched by Libra in the end. And TWIST! Shadow-Thief, too! He's all about balance, see, and I guess the villains were winning TOO MUCH. When we're back in his HQ, the heroes are in their own special jail tubes and he's ditched the Gang.
He reveals that he's been defeating the League with their own powers, stealing half of them for himself using his Energy-Trans-Mortifier (sounds like that turns you into a Mort, but I'm no expert, Libra, I'm just the guy looking at your number of appearances...). The Flash escapes his test tube, breaks the others out, and Libra flees by absorbing half the galaxy's energy, which does that thing that happens on a more regular basis than you'd think in superhero comics, where the villain gets bigger and bigger, more and more transparent, and merges with the universe never (or rarely) to be seen again.
Well, Libra may be stuck as a drifting cosmic intelligence, but at least, the JLA has to deal with the loss of half their powers (but that's gonna be an Amazo story, indeed, the one I used for
Who's Amazo?). I certainly focused more on Libra than any other member because they all have their own Who's Who entries, but I do wonder why the Gang got an entry while Libra didn't. It's his story and they're just pawns anyway. Too bad, because the way they get a roll call next to the JLA's on the splash page, you could imagine them with a rotating roster depending on the situation, and no Libra needed. They eventually did, I suppose, with the 90s version led by Luthor, or you might even say they're the inspiration for the Super-Friends' Legion of Doom, with Scarecrow as the only surviving member.
Who's Next? All the Earth-2 villains.
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