PANIC From A BLACKMAIL BOX! In 1945, an investigative reporter is drowned in Lake Michamaw. Lost with him was a box of incriminating evidence he had compiled. Now the box is found, and industrial engineer Harold Loomis is revealed to be the son of gangster Leo Locke. Meanwhile, archeologist Homer Gridley is exposed as a former fraud. The two unite to find and take revenge upon whoever found the evidence against them and turned it over to the newspapers. Flash is drawn into the case by his brother-in-law, the editor of the paper that first published the information and he in turn involves the Justice League. While investigating, the members become involved in a gang war between the Pyrotekniks, criminals using special "fireworks" weapons, and the Bulleteers, their rivals. They capture the first gang, and discover the leader to be Leo Locke, who found the box of evidence and exposed his own son as part of a plot to trap his rivals. Now that he is in jail, he will not be able to protect Loomis as planned, so he begs the JLA to do so for him. Finding Loomis and Gridley and taking them to a safe place, the super-heroes invade the Bulleteers' headquarters, and after evading a series of traps, capture the gang.