The first page shows various figures in conflict with their own costumes. Black Canary. Martian Manhunter. Green Lantern. Aquaman. That crowd. Barry Allen's suit is on the scene, but the Scarlet Speedster's late to the party. That's his schtick remember? A voice in a shimmering box says: "But first...tell me your story..."

Uh. Okay.

We cut to a scene in which ol' Flash makes his excuses to Iris West--he's all revved up for the first official meeting of the JLA. But when he pops his costume out of the magic ring, it bolts for the door, laughing all the way. Barry grabs a spare and takes off in pursuit. It's a closed loop. The splash page awaits!

Green Lantern subdues the costumes and J'onnz figures out pretty quickly that they've been possessed by aliens! "Aw not aliens again!" Barry whines... Meanwhile, the captives bust loose and dive into the side of a mountain. The Flash vibrates in after them--and the story proper gets under way...

The mountain speaks in blue boxes--giving a sketchy account of its origin. "Born in the collision of warring continents...Traumatic birth frenzy..." Doesn't sound like an origin to me--but what else is new? No one knows where consciousness comes from--and this rock is no exception. So there's nothing at the core, but everything in the past few billion years or so--well, that's a different story. With apologies to Prego, "it's in there". "All my days diaried in the lattice. Profound memory of stone coded in the lattice structure...Recorded in the defect lattice..."

We watch as species rise and fall upon the earth, and a strange ship full of creatures lands... They die off and their vessel crumbles. "All the fleeting fragile lives... all of it recorded here and recreated in dynamic aural sculpture..."

"Vibration is the trigger"

The Flash finds he can't take any more and extricates himself from the walls... This is the JLA and even at this early stage of their careers, they know aliens, and they know "giant silica macrochips"... Put these two things together and what do you get? Of course! The possesed costumes come in peace--they only want one last glimpse of their comrades who passed this way, so long ago. Dinah asks: "Will the canary cry do?" and lets loose. You may be sure it does the trick! The costumes fall to the ground. The Flash sums it up: "That's all they wanted--just a moment to see their lost loved ones again. My God."

Of course they move into the mountain and make it their home--wouldn't you?

"Those brief radiant sparks that live and die... filled me with their noise and their haste...filled me with the brightness of their being, lit me like a lantern...all these echoing secret grottoes...and then they were gone... I often wonder what became of [them]... Now my heart lies empty, untenanted. And I grow old in the slow light of the stars... Sometimes some small creature will pass through me...activate the lattice memory with its ultrasound...and for a moment they are with me once more...burning brief candles of life...bright and splendid...flickering...long gone. Ghosts of stone."