This issue features "The Most Dangerous Dreams of All" by Mike Friedrich, Dick Dillin, and Joe Giella. A writer named Harlequin Ellis (gee, I wonder who he is based on) becomes enamored of Black Canary and lapses into a mood of depression when she seems to prefer Green Arrow to him.
Suddenly gifted with the power to make his story-plots into reality, Ellis creates scenarios in which he is first Superman, then Batman, in futile attempts to impress Black Canary and eliminate his rival for her affection. Unwittingly, he draws the real Black Canary and Green Arrow into his dream worlds. Realizing what is happening, Black Canary goes to Ellis and reconciles their differences, and they part as friends.
The final panel reads, "Many are the things that a writer is forced to do by the crash-pounding of his creative soul. This story was one of them. For in writing of this man, Harlequin Ellis, I am facing the eternal mirror... for who is it that creates our heroes' ever-recurring menaces to their lives, testing every fibre of their being to the limit? Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Aquaman are just as real to me as to Harlequin Ellis-- I believe in them! I must! When Superman bursts through a monstrous boulder, it is I who flex my muscles! When the Batman looks with vengeance in his eyes on someone he hates, it is I who hate! When Aquaman dies from water-thirst, when Green Arrow faces a charging minotaur, when Black Canary looks into the eyes of another human being and sees his soul, it is I! And when Harlequin Ellis cries over the lack of returned love, it is I! Many are the things a writer is forced to do by the crash-pounding of his creative soul. This story was one of them; for there is no escape from the soul-shatter of the nova-awareness that I, in so many ways, am... Harlequin Ellis!"
The story is dedicated to science fiction and television writer Harlan Ellison. According to this issue's letter column, Ellison liked the story and requested that the character based on him have his name rather than the pseudonym that Mike Friedrich chose. Reprinted in Showcase Presents: Justice League of America Vol. 5 TPB (2011), Justice League of America Archives Vol. 10 HC (2012), and Justice League of America: The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol. 1 HC (2017).
Edited by Julius Schwartz.
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