JLA: Year One #6 - June 1998

"Sum of Their Parts" by Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn, and Barry Kitson.

Back at Doom Patrol HQ, The Chief is trying to fix the damage the JLA has suffered at that hands of the strange purple creatures and Monsieur Mallah last issue. He jerry-rigs a robotic arm, and asks Green Lantern to try it out, but be careful:

...well, so much for that.

He does the same for Black Canary, Flash, and Martian Manhunter, leaving the League battered but undaunted. They decide to attack the Brotherhood's Power Ring-generated castle by splitting up into teams (of course). We start with Team Orange:

The other teams--consisting of Canary, Manhunter, Elasti-Girl, and Flash, Green Lantern, and Negative Man--each defeat the members of the Brotherhood they encounter, leading to the collapse of the castle.

The Brain, using the body made from JLA parts, attacks, managing to trap most of the heroes in a Power Ring death trap. Off to the side, The Flash and Aquaman come up with Plan B, which relies on the one hero not yet affected by The Brain's plan: Aquaman!

After The Brain is apprehended, the two teams had back to Doom Patrol HQ and the JLA are made whole. The heroes show their admiration for one another, with Green Lantern and Negative Man particularly hitting it off: 

...To be continued!

As you might have guessed, this was my favorite issue of JLA: Year One so far. After Aquaman not getting a whole lot to do, he gets to team up with Robotman, and save the day, ending with the two super-teams fighting for him!

The other thing I like about it is, even though this series was set to run twelve issues, writer Mark Waid didn't feel compelled to write one big story that takes up the whole series: he found room for smaller stories within the bigger series, like this diversion with the Doom Patrol. Instead of padding this team-up out, it can reach a natural conclusion and still have room for something else. In this, case, Superman!