Justice League of America #240

THE FUTURE AIN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE!

S.T.A.R. lab scientists observing the time stream discover a figure caught in it, and decide to trace his life's time-line. They discover that he is physicist Phineas Quayle, who tried to find the solution to the Great Depression by building a time machine. He did so, but his glimpses of the future discouraged him greatly. He decided that most of the world's future ills will have been caused by the plethora of super-heroes, whom he believes have destroyed the self-esteem of ordinary individuals. He cannot return to his own time, so he creates devices which can cause temporal anomalies in small areas, and feeling it his patriotic duty, creates the identity of Dr. Anomaly to try to stop the super-heroes. He observes the Justice League's latest case in a battle with the Key and identifying his most dangerous enemies, he then converts Superman, Aquaman, Hawkman, and Batman to pure energy, storing them in jars. Then he interrupts the team's monthly meeting, and battles the Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and the Atom. He has some initial success, but Superman manages to topple his jar from the shelf, and the resulting explosion distracts Anomaly long enough for the reconstituted heroes to join forces to defeat him, so he flees back into the time stream. Suddenly, Dr. Anomaly emerges in the S.T.A.R. lab, freed from his trap by the scientists' observation. When he disappears again, five minutes are gone from the scientists' lives.