Comics discussions, with flair…
JLA
Seven Soldiers
Aug 20th
The Seven Soldiers of Victory are a group of characters bound together in the Golden Age on Earth-Two, where the Justice Society hang their hat and their roll call has some familiar names.
Green Arrow and his sidekick Speedy and the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy are four that we have talked about previously which leaves us three new heroes to introduce. Just remember this is Earth-TWO.
The Crimson Avenger is Lee Travis, a newspaper man of the late 30s and early 40s in the Golden Age. He first emerged as a shadowy figure skulking in the background to dole out justice to those who needed to be stopped and were unable to be stopped by conventional means. The Crimson Avenger is a striking figure in his early costume evocative of the pulp heroes of the day, but eventually will adopt a red and yellow costume with a sun motif on his chest that is more evocative of a traditional super-hero costume.
Crimson Avenger is assisted by an able Asian martial artist named Wing. One of the Crimson Avenger’s trademark move is appearing from the midst of a cloud of crimson smoke. Crimson Avenger despite his athleticism is a normal human being possessing no super powers… for now.
Sir Justin was one of the younger knights in King Arthur’s court who was sent to go on a quest to vanquish an ogre. On his way to do his duty, Sir Justin was set upon by highwaymen and in the resulting melee Sir Justin pierced a tree that had been the prison of the great mage Merlin.
Grateful that Sir Justin removed the prison, Merlin imbued the knight with many gifts. Sir Justin’s armor is practically impenetrable by man made weaponry, his sword is capable of slicing through all manner of obstacles, and his horse, Victory, was given wings and renamed Winged Victory.
Justin continued northward with his new abilities and while he did the deed to the ogre, he and his horse were buried alive in an avalanche where they lay dormant in suspended animation until the early 40s when Sir Justin was discovered and he reemerged to defend the United Kingdom from Hitler and the powers of the Axis.
Greg Sanders is a country music singer who is the latest in a line of family heroes. While the first Sanders that we know of lost his life in battle with native Americans while fighting for expansion of the West, his descendant and Greg’s father became a sheriff out in the West. When Greg’s father was murdered, he took it upon himself to avenge his father’s death and became the Vigilante. Wearing white jeans, cowboy boots, a blue cowboy shirt, a red bandana around his neck and his face as a mask, and topped with a white hat the Vigilante strikes a very imposing silhouette. Vigilante was often helped by an Asian assistant named Stuff who was very good with ju-jitsu.
Greg is a normal human with a mastery of the lariat and his six-shooters. He is an expert horseman and motorcyclist and is sometimes seen with his trusty guitar.
The Seven Soldiers of Victory, also known as Law’s Legionnaires, were all operating individually when a villain named The Hand received word that he was terminally ill. The Hand decided to go out with a bang and gives his plans to various other villains who are all confronted by and defeated by the individual 7 Soldiers.
Angry beyond belief, The Hand invites the heroes to his home which is a lot like 13 Dead End Drive, a trap in every corner for he plans to kill them all. The heroes of course team up to defeat the villain and Sir Justin, probably longing for a new round table, suggests the heroes become a group.
Together they all serve as members of the All-Star Squadron during World War II but in a fight with the Nebula Man, Crimson Avenger’s assistant Wing was killed and the 7 Soldiers were lost in the time stream until the above comic book where the 7 Soldiers appeared again.
Next Up: We’ve talked about them before, but now we’re delving into the history of the Original Teen Titans!
Welcome to the Wild West
Jul 23rd
With the waning of super-hero popularity in the 50s with the end of the war, western themed heroes had found their way into America’s hearts. Comics were then as they are now a reflection of the popular trends of the time
So, from left to right in this Justice League story is Bat Lash, Cinnamon, Jonah Hex, and Scalphunter facing our modern day gunslingers, Flash, Zatanna, Green Lantern, and the Elongated Man.
Most of the Wild West characters have the same set of sensibilities. A matter-of-factness about them that modern sensibilities consider blunt or even rude. Most know how to use a gun, survive in the harsh climate of the West, ride horses, etc.
From there the skills get a little more diverse. Some are excellent trackers, while others are more educated and can do something we take for granted, read. Some are gamblers and others have had extremely hard lives and are not trusting of anyone near them making allies a very difficult prospect.
Bat Lash is a colorful character cut from the Mississippi riverboat card sharks. Always an eye for a profit or a pretty gal, Bat Lash is more a rogue than the typical white hats of the Wild West, but his heart is in the right place.
Cinnamon, the first female law in the Wild West, her father gunned down when she was a girl she swore to bring the bad men to justice. In addition to be a fine shot, Cinnamon uses a sheriff’s badge shuriken. She’s well aware she is attractive but she does not tend to play on that too much, preferring to be thought of as “one of the men” in a male dominated field.
Scalphunter is known as Kee-Woh-Noh-Tay or originally Brian Savage if you please. Brian who was kidnapped as a child by Kiowa indians was raised by them and learned their ways. An excellent tracker and woodsman Scalphunter is the mix of both worlds, the white man who is an Indian.
Jonah Hex, the most famous of the DC Wild West heroes. Jonah has led a cursed life. Born to an abusive father and abandoned by his mother who could no longer take the father’s abuses, Jonah’s dad eventually sold him to members of the Apache nation. Jonah learned the way of the Apache and excelled at tracking and hunting. Jonah won his “freedom” from the Apache tribe but had spent so much of his formative years with them he decided to stay.
His second family betrayed him when sent on a raiding party a fellow brave and romantic rival to the affections of the chief’s daughter knocked Jonah unconscious. Jonah awoke in the midst of another raiding party of white men and Jonah was shot. Saved by a trapper, Jonah joined a third family for a while until he finally enlisted in the confederate army.
As time moved on, Jonah realized that he could not stay true to the Confederate army as he too had been enslaved when he grew up. Leaving the Confederate army and turning himself in to Union forces, the Union soldiers held Jonah and used him to raid the rest of his regiment. Shortly thereafter, Hex was the instigator of the Fort Charlotte Massacre. The Union soldiers had planned to kill all the Confederates but they needed the Rebels to stage a breakout, which they forced by withholding food. All the Confederates were killed except for Jonah who managed to survive to kill the Union commander of the post.
Jonah eventually found his way back to the Apache settlement, only to discover the rival brave had since married the chief’s daughter. The chief, not knowing why Jonah was alive, since his son-in-law had told him Jonah had died, demanded the two fight in a duel. The dishonest brave again sabotaged Jonah and instead of using Native American weapons, Jonah had to use a knife, which killed the brave.
The chief was disgusted with Jonah and had the other braves hold Jonah down where he was branded with “the mark of the demon” giving Jonah his distinctive scarring.
Jonah then headed to the closest place he could with a bar, to drink himself into oblivion, he discovered a man outside assaulting a woman. Jonah flash-backed to his dad’s rage at Jonah’s mother, and instantly shot the man dead. The sheriff then brought Jonah some gold and told him he could make a lot of money chasing down bad men. And the most famous bounty hunter of the DCU was born.
Next up: We’ll finish up the Wild West heroes… Nighthawk! Johnny Thunder! Pow-Wow Smith, Madame .44, and El Diablo!
Calling the Ethnic Super Friends
May 10th
Oh, you know who I’m talking about…
Apache Chief, Black Vulcan, Samurai, and El Dorado. The 70’s answer to diversity.
As you probably can tell Black Vulcan looks an awful lot like Black Lightning and that is who he is modeled after. According to legend, the name, costume, and some of the specific powers were changed from B.L to B.V. in order to hold down royalty payments for B.L.’s creators. Not sure if that’s true or not, but it’s been around the comicverse enough to mention it.
Apache Chief has appeared in a “new” version called Manitou Raven that does not appear until 2002. Whiel Apache Chief was pretty clear with his power to enlarge himself with his magic word “Inik Chuk”, Manitou Raven appears as an ancient shaman/medicine man character steeped in the magicks of his people.
Samurai has appeared in comics briefly off an on, but mostly Samurai here serves as a substitute for Red Tornado since his mode of transport is to convert or enshroud his lower body with a tornado like form in order to travel. Uttering his mantra Samurai could also turn invisible on occasion, and one assumes that he conducted himself by the code of Bushido and had martial arts training, but you would rarely see this on a kid’s tv show in the 70s.
El Dorado is the correction.. “oops, we forgot the Latin character” damn. And THIS is what we got? Some sort of Aztec vegas show boy outfit for a hero who could teleport, create illusions, and basically had whatever strength was convenient for the cartoon he was in.
It really torqued me that all of the new Super-Friends were all male, but there was a little seen additional female Super Friend, who wasn’t Hawkgirl, though she occasionally appeared..
Rima, the Jungle Girl, is a South American tarzana if you will, and is typically in SuperFriend adventures with Wonder Woman or Batman and Robin. Using her jungle wits and a vine lasso for transportation, Rima protects the Rain Forest and it’s denizens from poachers.
Now all of these heroes were nice to be included in the very Anglo-Saxon Super Friends, but really? Was racial and society advanced a bit by what now look like horribly dated stereotypes?
Well hold onto your hat folks, because here comes THE GLOBAL GUARDIANS!!!!
Banded together from all those countries around the world that no super-heroes would ever need to go to or the Justice League needs to recruit from, the members of The Global Guardians are united to defend all the other countries on the Earth.
As much as the JLA would love to say they are all about the Earth as a whole, lets face it, for the most part, they aren’t for just Earth.. they are for Earth, but for America first. So what happens when Ireland, Brazil, or South Africa need super powered assistance?
Lets start with these characters, shall we?
Seraph, Chaim Lavon of Israel, possessor of the Staff of Moses, the Mantle of Elijah, and the Ring of Solomon, Chaim is Israel’s guardian against the forces of evil.
Green Fury, Beatriz da Costa of Brazil, a super spy/super model who inhaled a toxic fume and gained the ability to breathe green fire. She can change her clothes by swirling the fire around her and she can fly by breathing fire out of her nose propelling her forward.
Rising Sun, Isuma Yasunari of Japan, able to fly, absorb and project solar energy.
Olympian, Aristides Demetrios of Greece, wears the Golden Fleece which gives him the abilities of all those famed warriors who sailed on the Argo.
Little Mermaid, Ulla Paske of Denmark, is a mermaid that can walk on land on two legs and then can form a fish tail in water and survive under water for at least a day. And no, she’s not related to Ariel, stop asking!
Jack O’Lantern, Daniel Cormac of Ireland, is a man who was given a mystic lantern by the faerie folk, the lantern allows Jack to fly, project flame, illusions, teleport, and other assorted tricks.
Next Up: MORE Global Guardians of course! You didn’t think you had seen the last of them?
Batman and the Outsiders
Apr 1st
In the Super Friends days Superman and Batman are best buddies. Calling each other “chum” and going off on adventures together in comics as well as cartoons. This complete and utter friendship upon reflection… really does not make a whole lot of sense.
The two men are opposites in almost every conceivable way.
Superman gets his powers from the sunlight. Batman works at night as urban myth. Superman instills hope. Batman instills fear. Superman is invulnerable. Batman is completely human.
However, there are some similarities between the two men.
Both lost their parents. Clark was too young to know his real parents and had a surrogate family growing up. Bruce saw his father and mother gunned down in front of him in Crime Alley. Both have very strong senses about right and wrong. Clark’s was instilled by his midwestern upbringing and Bruce’s instilled by his father’s example and his desire to make sure what happened to him never happens to another child.
Superman will do anything to protect his friends and so would Batman. Their methods however do not always compliment each other. Superman favors “by the book” actions, while Batman is not afraid to dangle a crook over a ledge to get some information. Superman frequently jumps in head first relying on his invulnerability and powers to protect him. Batman plans, he calculates, he does his homework, and he strikes when and where he can be the most effective. While Superman is the bulldozer, Batman is the laser.
With that in our minds we turn to the largest schism in the Justice League’s history, when Batman quits the JLA.
Batman’s right hand man at Wayne Enterprises, Lucius Fox, was in the country of Markovia when a civil war broke out. Lucius was captured by the rebels. If you were Batman, what would you do? You would get your friend, the invulnerable juggernauts of the Justice League and you would go get Mr. Fox, wouldn’t you?
Not so fast. The Justice League in Batman’s absence promised the United Nations that they would not interfere with what is going on in Markovia as it is an internal country matter and had not spilled over into inter country conflict, which the JLA rarely got involved with anyways.
Batman is incensed. He tells the JLA off, flips them the Bat-Bird and leaves the JLA satellite in disgust.
So, now you are Batman, you have to invade a country and extract one man. How do you pull off this bit of Bat-Magic? Better yet, how do you pull off this bit of Bat-Magic AND piss off the Justice League at the same time?
Simple answer. Only two characters had previously turned down Justice League membership. Call them to help you out.
First up is Metamorpho, the Element Man. Adventurer Rex Mason was doing some Indiana Jones business in an Egyptian tomb and was exposed to some magical rays from The Orb of Ra. The rays caused him to go to sleep and when Rex Mason awoke, he was an elemental freak. He had the power to create any element naturally found in the body. Sounds dumb right? Have you seen all the elements in your daily vitamins? Go ahead, look. There is some wicked cool elements in that list. Phosphorus is my personal favorite.
Rex did not react to this change very well and was labeled all sorts of words most of which are synonyms for “freak.” Rex’s long time girlfriend Sapphire Stagg stood beside him however, much to the chagrin of Sapphire’s overprotective father Simon Stagg.
Rex rejects the JLA’s offer of membership and appears off and on in guest starring roles until this book where he finds a place on Batman’s team.
Second is Black Lightning, Jefferson Pierce, who holds the distinction of being DC’s first black super-hero with his own title in the 1970s. Riding the wave of blaxploitation, DC introduced Black Lightning who wears a fake afro and affects a ghetto/street accent when he’s a hero, yet in his secret identity, Jefferson is a high school teacher, educated and eloquent. Black Lightning has the ability to generate electricity from his body.
When he was approached by the JLA, they tested him under duress to see if he would snap and he didn’t. The ruse revealed Jefferson said some choice things to the JLA about their lack of faith and that he didn’t want to join their “jive turkey” club anyway as he did more good in Suicide Slum in Metropolis than in space. An argument that would be repeated by Green Arrow and Batman later.
The Outsiders introduced us to three new heroes as well.
Halo is a girl who Batman finds in some ruins and she is unconscious. When she wakes up she freaks out and a halo of light appears around her body. Halo can cover her body in energy of different colors that all have different effects.
- Red Aura = Heat Beams
- Orange Aura = Force Beams
- Yellow Aura = Bright Light
- Green Aura = Stasis Beams
- Blue Aura = Illusion Power
- Indigo Aura = Tractor Beam
- Violet Aura = Makes Halo Unconscious.. hmmmm?
Katana is a mysterious woman of Japanese descent who assassinates one of the rebel leaders in front of Black Lightning and then disappears in the night. She carries a Japanese katana and appears to be highly skilled in martial arts. While Katana is alone there is another disembodied voice near her, but we do not know who it is or where it comes from. This gives Katana an air of mystery as well as an automatic conflict with Batman.. she WILL kill if she deems it necessary. Operating basically via the Code of the Bushido or Samurai code, Katana appears blood thirsty and vengeful.
Geo-Force is Prince Brion Markov of the recently usurped Markov family. Brion was receiving his powers, the “Geo-Force” that is his family’s birthright from Dr. Helga Jace. Brion has the ability to create lava blasts from his hands to propel him through the air and he has the strength of the Earth itself. Brion is killed by the villain of the piece, Baron Bedlam and put in the ground, which nurtures Brion and brings him back to life.
The heroes win of course and a new team is forged with Batman as the leader. His own Justice League to mold in his own image. Take that Supes!
Meanwhile… it’s really interesting that Geo-Force should appear at this time, because over in Titans…Terra is rising.
Next Time: War Heroes!
Three Key Figures
Mar 30th
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 scheduled mini-series, so there is not a lot of juggling to do when it comes to the “B” tier.
Well, for a period of time for JLA the writer at the time had to juggle a few things.
- In Green Lantern’s book, Hal Jordan had been exiled into outer space and so could not appear in JLA stories after #200 until that plot point was resolved around JLA #220 or so.
- The Atom had a new mini-series coming up called The Sword of the Atom which would rock the character and change his status-quo for a while to come.
- The Flash was undergoing a murder trial, so could he really be involved in the JLA while that was going on?
- The Batman quits the League to go to another team book title.
So Mr. Conway did what many would do knowing the limitations. He wanted to tell a story with Green Lantern and Flash in it and he did so by using that “untold tale” tactic. 
Notice we get a little Phantom Stranger action in this one as well. Sweet! This story is set prior to Zatanna joining the JLA, explaining her and Firestorm’s absence from such a big story. It turns out our heroes are forced by aliens to gather certain objects for aliens, but it turns out the aliens only want this one man who apparently has all the dna code of the world locked inside of him. Needless to say our heroes win all is saved. This carried our heroes through issue #210-212, leaving us time to go have some fun with the Atom in the microcosmos.
The Leaguers are attempting to find the Atom, which is like finding a needle in a haystack at the best of times. Batman, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Black Canary, and Red Tornado go after the wayward physicist and meet some crazy sword and sorcery societies which looked like a “pilot” episode for a new comic that did not materialize.
Unfortunately, the Flash is soon voted out of the Justice League.. notice that this takes place in Flash’s comic, not in JLA itself. Due to the fact that Flash is soon to be put on trial for killing a super villain named Professor Zoom, the JLA discover that he is a liability and since he has asked the JLA not to interfere, they have no choice but to expel him until his name is cleared.
Meanwhile, the tale of Atom in the Microverse may not have gone over very well, but Atom in a sword and sorcery sort of existence DID sell. Sword of the Atom is one of this Atom’s most popular incarnations. Take a Physics professor and add some native beings about 3″-6″ tall, and well, he becomes their default protector. Atom seems to not be as JLA involved after this direction pushes his character more towards Conan and less towards shiny sci-fi.
Next Time: Batman does it for himself!
Demons Three and Felix Faust
Mar 25th
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 of one of the Justice Leaguers in the story.
Meanwhile in the wings.. Felix plots and plans for his next grab at power…
Next up: We handle a flashback and the microverse, but more importantly three big Justice Leaguers leave the team.
Justice Society of America – Roll Call I
Mar 10th
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 along with a brand new introductory character. Since Superheroes as a genre were not commercially successful, most of those heroes went into mothballs until the powers that be decided it was time for superheroes to stage a comeback.
When that comeback occurred it featured a new character, new costume, new powers, new origins… the only thing that stayed the same consistently from character to character was the name of the hero.
With that in mind, we need to go back to the Golden Age a bit and spend some time with these heroes and heroines of the Golden Age.
The American propaganda was very important back in the days of WWII. For morale of the troops overseas and as a cheap entertainment for the kids at home. Remember, basics were scarce, so people typically read a comic and then sent it along with their magazines and newspapers to paper drives, along with scrap metal, old tires, nylons, anything to help with the war. People grew victory gardens to save money while dealing with war rationing. A coca-cola for Christmas was considered a splurge due to the sugar shortage.
So kids, needed their heroes just as much as the boys overseas. And here they are the roll call of the original JSA.
The Flash is Jay Garrick is a college student who inhales fumes from a hard water/heavy water experiment and when he awakes he discovers he can move at super speeds and he has amazing reflexes. He is easy to recognize due to the Hermes/Mercury helmet he wears.
(Barry Allen Flash of Earth-One on the left and Jay Garrick Flash of Earth-Two on the right.)
The Spectre is Detective Jim Corrigan who was murdered by mobsters. His body became infused with the “spirit of vengeance” and he became The Spectre. The Spectre starts off as just a man in an outfit with ghostly abilities, but he evolves eventually into one of the most powerful forces in the DCU as the “Wrath of God.”
The Spectre in one of his spooky tales in the Silver Age.
The good doctor who is a master of the mystical arts is Dr. Kent Nelson a son of an archaeologist who was in Egypt discovering all sorts of hidden treasures, unfortunately Kent’s father died leaving young Kent to be raised by a being named Nabu. Nabu is an ancient Egyptian sorcerer whose spirit lives in the Golden Helmet of Doctor Fate. When Kent puts on the Helmet, the power and personality of Nabu take him over to an extent and he becomes an agent for the Lords of Order to fight the never ending power of Chaos magicks.
(You have to admit, the helmet is a pretty intimidating look.)
Green Lantern is Alan Scott of Gotham City and is a top radio man in the business. Radio, right? According to comic book legend Alan was supposed to be named Alan Ladd (Aladdin?) but then a real Alan Ladd began to appear in movies and the name was scrapped. Alan’s ring and lantern are formed out of a mystical rock called The Starheart. He must charge his ring every 24 hours just like that other Green Lantern, however he has no connection to the space faring Green Lantern Corps except in name only. He was named an honorary member of the Green Lantern Corps after many duties he had performed over the years in the Earth-One universe. Unlike Hal, Alan’s ring was immune against wood, not against the color yellow.
Next time: More Classic JSA members!
Crisis on Earth-Prime
Mar 8th
Okay, we’ve eased into the idea of alternate earths correct?
Previously there was Earth-One, the earth where all our characters exist and…
Earth-Prime, the earth where all of us gentle readers live in a non-super powered world.
Well HANG ON FOLKS! We’re about to blow that idea up to the ceiling.
Just take a look at this cover.
Here are the keys I would like to point out:
- The 20th Annual team-up of the Justice Society of America and the Justice League of America.
- Guest starring the All-Star Squadron
- And who are those quasi familiar villains coming out of that cube?
All good questions… now, just park it for a second.
The Justice Society is the precursor of the Justice League. Originally published back in the 1940s primarily for kids and to be shipped overseas for the boys far from home. The Justice Society fought all sorts of Nazi saboteurs and their own super-criminals.
In the 40s most heroes veered on the “pulp” style of masked mystery men. The only main DC characters published at the time who did not appear in the JSA were those with their own adventures like Superman and Batman as those characters were “too busy” in their own books.
After the world had vanquished the Axis threat, superheroes waned in popularity due partly to not needing heroes so much any more during the idyllic late 40s and 50s. Additionally we can thank Dr. Frederick Wertham who wrote a snappy little dissertation called “The Seduction of the Innocent” in which comics (and a number of other things) are blamed for juvenile delinquency.
So, in the interim, the JSA declined and basically went away while the genres of the Wild West comic and Space Adventure (sounds very Toy Story, doesn’t it?) soared in popularity. The only characters to continue throughout this drought were Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman with Aquaman and Green Arrow appearing in backup features.
Eventually, Editor par excellance Julius Schwartz decided it was time to bring back the Super-Heroes. Instead of resurrecting the older heroes, he took their names and with various creators around DC Comics twisted them into origins that were less mystical and more scientific to relate to the new Atomic Age.
This is basically the break down of the Golden Age of Comics and the Silver Age of Comics.
The Golden Age heroes exist on an Earth called Earth-Two. They were active during World War II.
The Silver Age heroes exist on an Earth called Earth-One. They are active in the present day, for this story that is 1982.
Additionally on Earth-Two the Justice Society heroes got older, added some more modern characters, and exist in the present in 1982.
The JLA and JSA have met each other for 20 years at this point starting with this iconic comic.
NOW.. do you notice anything about this cover that looks.. odd?
Yeah, that’s Black Canary up there with the JSA, not the JLA.. WTF is going on here???
Well, okay guys, just calm down. There is a lot of things going on here and we’ll touch on all of it eventually. Here’s what you need to know.
DC COSMOLOGY:
Earth-One: The home of the Silver Age characters. These are the characters we read in “modern” comics and their official starting point at this point is the 1950s in the Atomic Age.
Earth-Two: The home of the Golden Age characters. These characters started in and around WWII but continue into the present day as well.
So, that’s all well and good. let’s go back to the next point…Who is the All-Star Squadron?
The All-Star Squadron is a World War II group that was formed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on Earth-Two as a draft action to enlist every mystery man or woman into the service to combat the Axis threat. Formed and then disbanded after WWII concluded the All-Star Squadron includes every Golden Age hero that DC Comics owns, but their stories tend to focus on the five heroes shown above: Liberty Belle, Johnny Quick, Robotman, Firebrand, and Commander Steel.
Now, we also have to address those pesky villains coming out of the Transmatter Cube.
Ultra-Man, Superwoman, Owl Man, Johnny Quick, and Power Ring, together they are The Crime Syndicate from Earth-THREE!
On Earth Three, everyone who is good on Earth-1 is EVIL on Earth-3 and everyone who is EVIL on Earth-1 is actually good. The one hero left on Earth-3? Lex Luthor. The villains correlate directly to Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, The Flash, and Green Lantern.
Wait! Darren, there can’t be two Johnny Quicks and two Green Lanterns? ARGH!!! Slurpee headache!!! Don’t worry, here.. breathe into this paper bag. Nice and slow.
Since, I have more than blown your mind with this nugget of DC history. So, rest your swollen noggins my peeps.
Next Time: The All-Star Squadron and The Spear of Destiny!!!
Enter the Royal Flush Gang
Feb 22nd
So.. you’re thinking to yourself.
“The Royal Flush Gang? You have GOT to be kidding me.”
Nope. The Royal Flush Gang. Interesting premise and over the years the writers tend to get more inventive with them and because they are villains, they are more changeable than our heroes. They are a natural team in a world populated with Brainiac, Cheetahs, and Jokers.. well, could this card themed group really have been far behind?
The Royal Flush Gang employ weapons based on their card motifs. Spade shaped grenades, illusion scepters, lasers, hypnosis, and they ride flying cards. Come on, Flying Cards! It’s like surfing!
Aquaman and Firestorm open up our adventure on the open seas, where Aquaman is giving Firestorm a test. While Firestorm is a JLAer, he’s still the rookie and so the other Leaguers try to help him along a bit with his training. Unfortunately, the two JLAers are ambushed by people wearing outfits that look like playing cards and they are riding playing cards. Weird, huh?
Before long, many JLAers fall to the Royal Flush Gang. Superman. Wonder Woman. Green Arrow. All the JLAers who are zapped by the Royal Flush Gang’s weapons go into a sort of debilitating coma.
We eventually get to meet the Royal Flush Gang.
Ten is a female Hal Jordan, disgusted with the open sexism in the field of test pilots. Jack is a gigolo who stopped at nothing to get a score. Queen is a washed up actress looking for the role of a life time. King is a “King of the Road”, a hobo dying of cancer. Finally Ace is revealed as a robot working for an unnamed master who has hand picked his Royal Flush Gang due to their moral failings.
The JLA enters the House of Cards to fight the Royal Flush Gang and all of them fall but Black Canary whose wiles have turned the Jack against the rest of the deck. With the Flushers in custody all Black Canary can do is hope that the rest of the JLA snap out of it.
(nice to let the ladies have the bed, eh? who says chivalry is dead?)
No fear however. Firestorm’s body may be still but his mind’s half isn’t as Professor Martin Stein sees the unseen mastermind, a Green Lantern villain named Hector Hammond. Hec is a man born with a freakishly large head that gives him grand psychic powers. Professor Stein and Hammond fight on the astral plane and Hector is banished and without Hector around to suck up the energy of the JLAers, they all awake safe and sound.
Next up, we’ll check and see why those Titans are having fights with Russian heroes, living statuary, and the Disruptor.
Ultraa and Alternate Earths
Feb 17th
Okay, well in the second JLA story I ever read, it was a very simple done in one story which featured JLA members Superman, Flash, Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, and Black Canary versus a misunderstood hero that has been around and been not an enemy of the JLA for the most part, but is a character that tends to let his naivety get in the way of his ability to do good things.
Ultraa is the hero in question, the man with the bright red hair and purple outfit.
And as you can tell, he packs quite a punch.
Now, this story is fairly simple, Ultraa duped by a con man named Joe Parry is tricked into helping Joe commit some robberies and the JLA gets involved as the police can’t handle Ultraa. Ultraa realizes at the end that even though Joe offered him friendship it was not worth his soul and recants. All is forgiven, for the most part.
Now, the REAL juicy part of this story is that Ultraa is not from the Earth that our heroes are from, but instead is from an Earth designated Earth-Prime.
Okay, here is where we get our first piece of DCU Cosmology.
There are multiple Earths in the DC Universe, all are vibrating at slightly different rates and have slight to major differences in their histories.
The Earth that the heroes we have been talking about to this point are all from Earth-One. On Earth-Prime there are no super-heroes on Earth-Prime and in Ultraa’s first appearance he self-exiled himself to Earth-One as he perceived his Earth as not ready for individuals with powers.. yet.
Earth-Prime in DC Lore is the world in which, we, the readers exist. Instead of writers and artists and other comic pros being insanely talented original people (which they are) on Earth-Prime apparently the writers go to sleep and dream and while they dream they see the adventures of the other Earths.
It also turns out that Ultraa was rocketed to Earth as an infant from his dying home world, he landed in Australia and has super-strength, super-speed, and stamina. Hmmm. he sounds familiar, doesn’t he? So is Ultraa the Earth-Prime universe version of our Earth-One universe Superman? It seems that way doesn’t it?
So, let’s make this really simple.
Earth-One: Our modern day heroes such as the Justice League or the Teen Titans.
Earth-Prime: No active super-heroes and the location of the readers of DC Comics.
Now, the implications of all this is an unlimited amount of variations for the writers and artists to draw from in order for stories to occur that couldn’t normally in a world that strongly mirrors our own.
The downside? Well.. the unlimited amount of variations for the writers and artists to draw from in order for stories to occur that couldn’t normally in a world that strongly mirrors our own.
It’s a double-edged sword.
Instead of just ONE world to keep track of, there are now two here, Earth-One and Earth-Prime. And a lot of different writers working in the same universe possibly telling conflicting stories.. leading to a complicated continuity.
Are you still with me here? I’m betting your eyes just glazed over.
Go get a drink. It’s okay. I’ll wait.
The next few JLA stories were fairly simple, a done in one sci-fi story in which Batman turns into a monster and the other JLAers attempt to cure him, don’t worry, Bats is fine.
Next up: A 3-part epic of the Justice League of America versus the Royal Flush Gang. Our first real villain team!