Posted by Darren in Comics
Ahh, it’s good to be back home. I had a great time on vacation and now it’s time to dig into some plot points regarding our heroes in the Justice League of America.
When you regard continuity in a comic book universe, there are several ways to stage a story that does not fall chronologically into the greater continuity. The first is the “flashback” often referred to as the “untold” story or tale. Then there is the “What if?” genre, where you can tell stories about these characters, but that these particular stories are separate from the regular continuity of the characters…such as Clark Kent landing in Russia vs. the U.S.A., interesting concept, but it’s not the way the origin plays out for the “real” version of the character.
When juggling the myriad characters in a team book, it is important to keep in mind that your “A” tier characters are going to bring in the money, but really the main changes to those characters should take place in their own books and let those changes later be reflected in the team book. For the “B” characters, changes can occur in the team book as there is no regular place that they appear outside of a More >
Posted by Darren in Comics
Back in the world of the Justice League they are wrapping up a meeting at the JLA Watchtower when they five of their members are set against their old foes The Demons Three.
The three higher ranked demons of what passes for Hell in the DCU are called Abnegazar, Rath, and Ghast. They were originally summoned up in an old JLA tale by a more recurring foe, a Felix Faust.
Felix, you see, is a man who above all else craves power and dominion, not over petty things such as money, but knowledge, for all knowledge is power. Felix gathered the three mystical items required to summon the demons up from the earth in exchange for knowledge and the power that mystic knowledge would give. The Green Bell of Uthool, The Red Jar of Calthyos, and the Silver Wheel of Nyorlath.
The demons raised Felix found himself with power enough to cause the early Justice League some significant challenges…
The JLA of course take care of the demons and all returns right with the world, which of course we as readers know because the story is being told in flashback by a dad to a son who is visiting The Flash Museum. Apparently the dad and son are descendants More >
Posted by Darren in Comics
In our last conversation we got a small glimpse of two new teams.
The first being Night Force.
Night Force really is not that much of a team but more of a mastermind named Baron Winters who manipulates people to do what he needs done. Whether the Baron is trapped in his home of Wintersgate Manor or if he simply chooses not to leave, his manor has doors that lead to all sorts of places, times, and dimensions. The Baron summons people to him to help combat the forces of evil magic. Now, that does not mean that the good Baron is all that good. Baron Winters is cold, aloof, and only the results tend to matter. If that means a pawn or two gets sacrificed, so be it.
While Night Force is a footnote in DC History now, the Baron creeps in from time to time just to remind you that there are forces beyond your imagination out there. Rest well.. if you can.
The Omega Men (top row: Kalista, Primus, Harpis; middle row: Tigorr, Nimbus; last row: Demonia, Broot)
The Omega Men are a bit more popular with the mainstream crowd as anyone watching movies in the 80s can tell you, a group of space faring rebels? Yup. More >
Posted by Darren in Comics
I breezed over the first few issues that I collected of the New Teen Titans primarily because they seemed to be mostly filler issues. We did get the introduction of recurring character Frances Kane, the return of the Russian Red Star—formerly called Starfire, and the appearance of a DC villain of some importance named Dr. Light.
All that was well and good, but now we come to some really good stuff with the Titans, in fact two of their most insidious villains. Brother Blood and Blackfire.
Wow, a preview of a new series called Night Force! Wonder what that’s all about huh?
Brother Blood is a charismatic religious cult leader of the Church of Blood while Blackfire happens to be Starfire’s older sister Komand’r on Tamaran.
Our story opens when Cyborg gets a call from his ex-girlfriend.. a girl who left him due to his disfiguring accident. She is scared, but unable to talk. Vic’s girlfriend has gotten herself roped into the Church of Blood and has realized how very wrong it is. Marcy is eventually found dead. Robin does his homework and finds out the connection between Marcy and the Church of Blood and the Titans decide to infiltrate the Church to see what they can discover.
Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid More >
It’s an ordinary day for the JLA and the JSA in 1982 as each group preps to enjoy their annual get together which is typically set for Thanksgiving. When you know nothing has gone wrong yet, that other shoe is about to fall.
The other shoe is time travel. So far we’ve dealt with stories that are fairly lineal with only the Legion of Super-Heroes going to Smallville to pick up Superboy and go to the 30th Century and back. Consider those your training wheel for time travel that I am now forced to take off the bike to see if you can keep your bike out of the ditch.
As our heroes (Aquaman, Firestorm, Hawkman, Superman, and Zatanna) await their guests the Justice Society of America, the Justice Society on Earth-Two (Doctor Fate, Green Lantern, Huntress, Power Girl, and Starman) enter the Transmatter Cube which transports people from one Earth to another. Unfortunately deviltry is afoot! Instead of the JSA, the Crime Syndicate appears and makes quick work of the JLA. The Crime Syndicate then leave the JLA’s satellite for Earth-One to start to take over this planet, and they do not seem to fond of a gentleman named Per Degaton.
The JSA members meanwhile have materialized in 1982, but not More >
So we have been over who and how the All-Star Squadron formed and what their focus is in WWII on Earth-Two. With all that covered we are going to briefly go over the main five All-Stars.
Libby Lawrence is a journalist and a patriot. Naturally athletic and of course not suitable for battling the forces overseas, Libby takes it upon herself to be inspired by the Liberty Bell and quite possibly the bomber The Liberty Belle and becomes a bombastic woman of mystery.
Whenever the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia was struck her belt buckle which was made out of the missing piece of the Liberty Bell would give her an increase in strength, speed, and stamina. Eventually, Libby would gain some sonic powers thanks to a Nazi villain and the actual Liberty Belle. Libby is the first female super-hero to hold the chairmanship of an organization historically, but since her position was awarded in the 1980s, its hard to say that this decision was not in part influenced by the Women’s Liberation movement.
(Those pants are called Jodhpurs, handy for trivia nights at your local bar.)
Johnny Quick is Johnny Chambers who works as a newsreel photographer. You must be saying, “Well, I sure hope he met Libby at More >
Posted by Darren in Comics
When you think about it, when you have one set of characters that mimic your main set of characters you can take that group that is not the main group and take risks with them. The characters can grow, evolve, even die without an impact to merchandising. At least in 1982 to think that one day they would kill off a character as main as Batman was impossible. But a copy of Batman on another earth? Well, that could be entirely plausible as we will see.
Tonight we examine the “new kids” of the JSA at least as of 1982.
Yes, Robin, but the Robin of Earth-Two. Dick Grayson has grown up, become a lawyer, district attorney, and ambassador to the United Nations. Having grown up in Batman’s shadow all his life, Dick needed to get out from underneath the shadow of the Bat. Eventually he would wear a costume combining both his Robin colors and the Batman’s motif. He also went by “the Ex-Boy Wonder” to further distance himself as a man, not a boy.
Batman of Earth-One, Robin of Earth-Two, and that is the original Batwoman, Kathy Kane in this issue of Brave and the Bold.
Sylvester Pemberton picks up the mantle of Starman More >
Posted by Darren in Comics
We wrap up our JSA Golden Age roll call with six new members, though some seem like we have seen them before. Let’s also keep in mind the JSA had Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman on its rolls, however Supes and Bats were reservists and WW served as the secretary. Since there are no changes in those three characters, they aren’t going to receive separate entries here. The only difference in them at this point is the era that they are active which begins in the late 1930s onward. With that said, here we go.
Dr. Charles McNider is an accomplished surgeon which is amazing since he’s blind. Well, he wasn’t blind when he learned how to be a doctor, he was working on a gunshot victim when one of those wily ubiquitos mobsters lobbed a grenade in, killing the victim and permanently blinding Charles. One evening an owl crashed into Charles’ window at home (just like what happened to Bruce Wayne, isn’t it?) Charles discovered that while he was fairly blind in the light he could see perfectly in darkness. Charles’ “sidekick” is the owl Hooty, making him one of the few heroes to have an animal as a crime fighting partner. More >
Posted by Darren in Comics
Here we go continuing our look at the JSA.
Carter Hall, same name as our Silver Age version is NOT a Thanagarian, but rather the reincarnation of an Egyptian Pharaoh named Khufu. Khufu and his bride Chay-ara were murdered back in ancient Egyptian days and cursed so that they would live life after life after life. Doomed to find each other and fall in love all over again, however at some point when their love was at its zenith, they would each be murdered again to be reincarnated once again and the cycle repeats itself. In this time Carter and Shiera Hall married and had children and carried on crime fighting careers as Hawkman and Hawkgirl.
Gee, that’s funny. You would think if there is a Golden Age version of Hawkgirl, there would be a Silver Age one..? There is a Silver Age version, we’ll get to her shortly.
Hourman is Rex Tyler and he is a renowned chemist and has invented a drug called Miraclo. Miraclo will give Rex increased strength, speed, and stamina for.. (wait for it).. one hour. Eventually, Rex develops a dependency upon Miraclo and he becomes one of the first comic characters with a drug dependency issue, though not the More >
Posted by Darren in Comics
Now, we’re here on Earth-Two and the counterpart to the JLA is the JSA. Not only the counterpart, but also the predecessor of the JLA. Back when I started collecting comics characters used to be numbered by order in which they appeared, so the original Green Lantern was Green Lantern I but he was from Earth-2. I am not going to do that here.
If any hard core comic book fans are reading this, I probably just moved to the heretic column. Oh well, I’ve been called an abomination before, and it will happen again, so bring it.
What I am going to do is typically use the character’s name and their real name to distinguish which character that we are talking about.
For the five heroes that kept being published from the Golden Age through to the Silver Age…
- Superman
- Batman
- Wonder Woman
- Aquaman
- Green Arrow
Only three of them joined the JSA. Wonder Woman was the secretary and Superman and Batman were honorary members. Neither Aquaman nor Green Arrow joined the JSA. Additionally between the Golden Age to the Silver Age no significant changes were made in the character regarding name, origin, powers, m.o., etc.., While some of these may have evolved over time there was not a distinct change that occurred More >
