Comics discussions, with flair…
Posts tagged Green Lantern
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!
A guy, a mutant, and a creeper
Apr 14th
Time to introduce a few more guest stars that are always good for some great stories and the first one has a connection to our Green Lantern, Hal Jordan.
Air Wave is Lawrence Jordan, Larry to his friends and spent a great deal of his time with radio technology, so much so that he was able to ride telephone wires on skates and pick up all sorts of short wave transmissions allowing him to overhear dastardly plans of saboteurs during World War II. Recruited by FDR, Air Wave joined the All-Star Squadron and served bravely during wartime. Larry was eventually murdered just as he was handing over the reigns of Air Wave to his son, Harold Jordan who goes by Hal Jordan. For the record the Hals, Green Lantern and Air Wave II are cousins of each other and Green Lantern Hal Jordan is the nephew of the original Air Wave.
While the next Air Wave used his dad’s equipment, at some point Hal no longer needed the artificial equipment to fly, turn into radio waves, and travel at the speed of sound. And speaking of Hal Jordan, Green Lantern… here he is fighting our next “guest star”
Captain Comet, a mutant man born with a four lobed brain which gives him super speed, super strength, flight, and all manner of other outer space cosmic powers started off in Strange Adventures and eventually migrated to this book, The Secret Society of Super-Villains which enjoyed some success due to the Super Friends and the Legion of Doom series. The Captain is still around and streaking throughout space and is typically seen in stories with Green Lantern, Hawkman, and Adam Strange. And speaking of strange….
The Creeper folks is one of the stranger heroes out there. Investigative reporter/tv celebrity Jack Ryder was shot and then operated on in order to save his life, but the doctor implants a device that when Jack presses it, it turns very straight laced, conservative talk show host into a cackling, maniacal hero with amazing speed, strength, and an acrobatic fighting style that drives most villains bats. His coloring should remind you of one particular Batman villain.. the green hair is a hint.
Adding a dash of chaos into the stiff man of steel or the dark night detective’s lives is always a good thing, for a little bit at least.
Next Time: We hit some WWII guest stars that don’t wear capes and tights. The Blackhawks, Haunted Tank, Sgt. Rock and Easy Company.
Runaways and Social Relevance
Apr 2nd
There comes a time in comics when socially relevant stories will creep into what many people consider “funny books.” The most notable of these from the DC Comics stable is from the title Green Lantern/Green Arrow by Denny O’Neil as writer and Neal Adams on art duties.
Well, Batman has Robin right? If Green Arrow is an analogue of Batman, it would follow that he would have a sidekick as well, yes? In fact, our entire conversation tonight is about the original five sidekicks and the character that ties the new story in New Teen Titans with the past is this character, Speedy.
Roy Harper became Green Arrow’s sidekick ages ago and is almost as old as Robin is in DC lore. Eventually all the sidekicks at the time would team up in Brave and the Bold for adventures. Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad at first, then joined by Wonder Girl, and finally Speedy joined the Terrific Teens in this issue below..
The issue of Green Lantern/Green Arrow was published in 1971, a year that has already seen the civil rights movement be fairly victorious, woodstock has happened, hippies are all over the place and not just in Haight-Ashbury, yet Dr. Frederick Wertham and the self-imposed regulatory committee of the “Comics Code Authority” whose seal appeared on almost every comic published by a mainstream publisher after the Senate investigation into how comics are corrupting our youth had forced our characters into this vanilla world where really they could not act like human beings would. They showed an almost zombie like obedience of the law, no officials in power were portrayed as corrupt, and everything almost always had a satisfying if not happy ending.
You will note that the Green Lantern/Green Arrow comic was published WITHOUT the Comics Code Seal of Authority. A major “whoa” back in the day.
When faced with the reality of the world around them.. drugs, Vietnam, political corruption…it becomes very difficult to hold super-heroes who are such cardboard cutouts to a realistic standard of portrayals of how things really are in the real world. You’ve seen this before on shows like G.I. Joe, Masters of the Universe, and Super Friends, where our heroes give a handy lecture at the end of the adventure in order to teach us kids at home that we should “stay in school” or “lying is bad” or other such axioms of every day life. This nugget of morality was put into every cartoon show almost back in the day to make sure the cartoon had “educational value.” Same with comics.
For DC Comics this policy ended with this Green Lantern/Green Arrow run. The Green Lantern title was changed and Green Arrow was given equal billing as a co-star bringing along his supporting cast of Black Canary and Speedy along for the ride. The era of relevance began really with this panel that opened up the tenor of this series.
The very real issue of the time hits Green Lantern hard and he finds he does not have a good answer for his past actions. Does he truly care more for alien races than his fellow man with a different skin tone?
Feel free to mull on that one for a bit, however GL isn’t the only one with a problem here. GA has neglected his fatherly duties and his sidekick Speedy has been hooked on heroin. Whether for the high, the need for attention, the thrill of doing something “bad” Speedy’s addiction becomes one of Roy’s defining character traits. GA is unable to really deal with the reality of the situation and leaves Speedy in the hands of Black Canary who sees Speedy through the worst of his withdrawals. Roy cleans up his act and becomes an advocate for kids trying to get off drugs in addition to working for the government part time doing spy work.
When the Titans reformed, Speedy and Aqualad were not among the original members sought out by Raven to assist her with the team.. and while we will cover Aqualad a little later, Speedy comes into the picture in New Teen Titans #26…
This issue introduces our heroes to the very real threat of Organized Crime, Drugs, Teenage Prostitution, Parental Shunning, and Violence. The story follows a group of kids who have run away from home hoping that New York City will take care of them somehow. Of course, that’s not the case and its a sour apple for many of these kids. Hooked on drugs and living in poverty these kids really have no chance on the mean streets. The Titans do manage to save a few of them and get them to shelters or even back home, even so, it is a drop in the bucket as more Runaways show up at the bus station at the end of the story for the cycle to be repeated endlessly.
Meanwhile #26 does feature the first appearance of Tara Markov or Terra. Terra is a villain who seems unsure of herself and not really committed to her mission. She has a run in with Changeling and then takes off for the hills only to be fought by the entire team in #28. Terra reveals to the Titans that she is a pawn of a terrorist organization that wants to use her to commit crimes. The Titans defeat the organization with ease and Terra sticks around for the time being. Speedy sticks around for a few issues after the Runaways story as well and then who should show up at the Titans’ front door? Frances Kane. From She’s Possessed!
Nothing like a possessed girlfriend showing up on your doorstep, eh?
While the Titans seem to be gathering another sinister force has targeted the Titans.
But before we get to that we must hop into the Time Bubble and meet C.O.M.P.U.T.O.
Next Time: The Legion and Why Brainiac Five seems determined to kill his comrades.
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!
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!!!
Justice League Reunited
Feb 13th
Well, the JLA is reunited and they break off into teams to go beat the bad alien conquerors into submission, so let’s get to it, shall we?
Team One: Batman, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Zatanna take off to fight the Crystal Creature, the Wood King, and the Mercury Monster in the woods of the Vermont forest.
The Appellaxians are already battling each other as Superman and Hawkman swoop in to break it up. The Wood King sticks his roots into it again and manages to grow an offshoot that catches Hawkman. Superman avoids the sneak attack and collides with the Wood King and smashes him into so many splinters. Unfortunately Superman failed to think ahead and the Wood King’s sap was full of Green Kryptonite.. (when will he learn?) Wonder Woman uses her golden lasso to pull Superman out of harms way of the other aliens while Green Arrow uses a saw arrow to trim the root still choking Hawkman.
While this drama is going on, Zatanna has encased the Mercury Monster in a bubble of super heated oil causing the monster to evaporate. Mercury boils at 357 degrees Celsius, so make a mental note, do not tick Zatanna off. Black Canary is running a decoy pattern on the Crystal Creature while Batman puts a batarang through the creature’s back side. Never turn you back on the bat.
Team Two: Aquaman, Elongated Man, The Flash, and Red Tornado
Off the Irish Coast a fisherman spotted the monsters going toe-to-toe and though the Fire Lord is much larger than the Glass Golem, they both seem fairly unharmed when the Leaguers show up. The Glass Golem blinds the Flash but fails to notice Aquaman who bursts out of the water behind him and drags him down into the depths. The Glass Golem’s last thoughts were of why the Fire Lord didn’t warn him, but one less contestant in their contest works for him, doesn’t it? Aquaman crushes the Glass Golem while Elongated Man decoys the Fire Lord using the class stretchy guy trope of taunting the villain. This gives Red Tornado the opportunity to create a vacuum around the Fire Lord to put him out. The victorious leaguers stand on the beach as the scene shifts to team three.
Team Three: Atom, Firestorm, Green Lantern, and the Martian Manhunter
As the Rock God and the Golden Roc are making a mess of NYC ala Godzilla and years before 9/11 entered our national vocabulary Firestorm makes the exclamation…
“Hey, this is New York! You’re wrecking My City!” As Firestorm uses his atomic restructuring powers to rebuild what the aliens have demolished, Green Lantern creates a jack hammer and takes out the Rock God with very little than a thought. Martian Manhunter had been holding off the Golden Roc but now needed assistance from the team. GL creates a cannon and Atom crawls into it and is fired towards the Golden Roc’s head. Atom impacts the creature and distracts it long enough for Martian Manhunter to seal the deal.
15 Leaguers vs. 7 Alien Conquerors.. victory to the JLA.
The Epilogue features Green Lantern and Red Tornado traveling to the dumping ground of every comic book story, the Sun. They toss any and all remnants of the Appellaxians into the sun to burn up, no longer keeping anything for a trophy. I hope there was not another subliminal suggestion that will send our heroes into the Sun digging for remnants of these creatures, heh.
Back on the satellite the Martian Manhunter and Snapper Carr say their goodbyes to their old comrades, with J’onn J’onzz contemplating coming back to the Justice League..someday.
Then Green Arrow begins to make his exit as Hawkman pleads with Green Arrow to stay with the League as they need him. Green Arrow rethinks his decision and rejoins the JLA ending some tension with Black Canary and the rest of the Justice Leaguers.
All in all, a very satisfying initial story, eh? Lots of heroes, conflict, wrapped up in a nice, neat bow at the end. Which brings me to Fanboyism #1
Fanboyism #1: Fans loving watching their heroes fight one another.
It’s just the way of things, which hero is better than who? It doesn’t matter what the answer to the question is, in this story all the original JLAers won, and the new JLAers lost, but that does not mean there isn’t a case to be made that any of the new JLAers wouldn’t have won against their older compatriots had the circumstances been different. So I would venture that no matter the two characters in conflict, any hero could beat another hero given the correct set of circumstances.
There will be naysayers to this theory however, who will say “Batman is prepared for everything.” or “Flash is so fast he can do anything.” Could be… but again, I could give a scenario that an equally savvy Wonder Woman or Atom could take either of those characters out, again it is about the circumstances of the fight.
One thing though.. did you notice who was a mainstay of the Super Friends cast who was not in this story…
Usually the back half of Batman and… So in this DCU, where exactly is Robin and what is he up to? We’ll take that up next time as we discuss the sidekicks.
Round Four: Green Lantern vs. Atom
Feb 8th
VERSUS
The scene opens in former Rhodesia now Zimbabwe, General Matawbe picks up the phone and out pops our favorite Physics professor with size and mass changing abilities The Atom. First off, a personal note for diversity. Huzzah!!! We have discovered different nationalities and individuals of color! General Matawbe being fairly high up in the Zimbabwe air force has a good bit of authority and is exhibiting none of the “angry black man” characterization that most mainstream African American characters exhibit.
Secondly, this is how The Atom gets around, he shrinks into the good old rotary phone, or even new fangled touch tone phones and travels by riding the sound waves to his new location. Personally, I know that sounds really hokey, but it’s kind of cool as well. Very Matrix, eh? The Atom explains to the good General that he needs to borrow one of the Air Force jets.
The General is apparently familiar with The Atom and agrees but only to come along for the ride. As the General and The Atom make their way in the jet towards the coordinates, a strange green light surrounds the jet in a hand and flings the jet far away. Yes, that would be the Green Lantern’s power ring at work there and convinced, even overconfident, that he has taken care of the threat, Green Lantern continues to dig for the meteor. Atom however interrupts him with a great one liner…
Yes, I believe The Atom just called Green Lantern a jack ass. It fits. As a test pilot Hal Jordan is Lucky Lindy, Evel Knievel, and Maverick rolled into one with a magic ring. Thank God he has no Chuck Norris in him, yet. So while GL is laid out like a turkey, the Atom makes the same mistake that Firestorm, Reddy, and Zee made, he tries talking the original JLAer down from his mission.
This gives GL the time to blindside Atom from behind and put his happy shrinking butt into a bubble. By the time the Atom escapes from his prison by shrinking to microscopic size, GL is long gone with the asteroid.
Back at the JLA’s satellite HQ, the Atom reappears to report his failure. The new Leaguers commiserate over their losses and good news Red Tornado is just fine as he shows up out of the sick bay. Reddy remarks that the old JLAers think of the new members as unknown enemies and it gives the older JLAers an edge the new JLAers may not be able to overcome.
Too true.
So far the new kids are getting their asses handed to them.
Speedsters against stretchers are up on deck…
Next time: The Flash vs. The Elongated Man
In the beginning… there was the Justice League of America
Jan 30th
“Darren… this makes no sense!”
These are the words that a young friend who had probably not really picked up a comic before. The volume he had chosen was “The History of the DC Universe” written by Marv Wolfman and drawn by George Perez. I just looked at him and said
“You should have seen the DC Universe BEFORE that book came out.”
I feel like I understand the DC Universe (DCU) fairly well and it’s nothing against the Marvel guys across the way, but I had the cash for one universe and DC won, probably due to their presence on tv back when I was growing up.
Theoretically, I understand the DCU because I started out when I did, so I am supposing that if we do the introductions of characters back when I met them hopefully some of that understanding will rub off on the non-readers out there. So, if this fictional universe is going to make any sense to someone who has never delved past the surface let’s start off with my beginning as a DC fan.
You are now taking a college prep course.
JLA 101 The Basics
So, let’s start at the beginning as to when I encountered my first DC comic book.
Super-Friends was no longer on the air as much, I had become aware of the concept of “the rerun” and it annoyed me. I went looking for other things to read. Anything about heroes, villains, epic battles of right versus wrong, that was what drew me to literature. I delved into books about Greek myths, King Arthur, and Robin Hood. After all, there was no Harry Potter back then, instead it was Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach and E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web that were the popular books in school at the time.
Then one day, for my birthday, I went to the local Magik Market ™ and was going to get a slurpee with the last of my birthday money. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted the famed circular comic book rack. In the era before the direct comic market, most comics were shipped to convenience stores, mom and pop drug stores, and grocery stores. On the racks I saw Superman, Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, but I didn’t have a lot of money and comics were 60 cents back then. A major financial commitment for a kid without an allowance. I had $2 dollars on me. So I could get 3 comics plus tax. Then I saw it.
The Justice League of America. Those are the Super-Friends, right?
To me, they were. I would not realize this at the time but it was not just any issue of Justice League, it was #200. It has a wrap-around cover. It features no less than 17 heroes on the inside and it was easily triple the size of the other comics featuring only one character.
Sold!
I got back to the car and my father yelled at me. I was supposed to get a Slurpee not a comic book. But it was my birthday and my money, I spent it the way I wanted. My mom defended me and my younger brother wanted to read the comic. This family dynamic would continue until my senior year in high school. But, more about that later.
I opened the gorgeous cover drawn by George Perez. Prounounced (PAIR – ehz). I was treated to a very short retelling of the origin of the Justice League in which the icons of the DC Universe fought seven aliens from the planet Appellax who came to use Earth as their arena for trial by combat. It seemed as if I could hear the Super-Friends music ringing in my ears.
So, let’s just introduce the first characters in the DC Universe that I ever met.
Superman – Rocketed from the doomed planet Krypton, orphaned Kal-El was raised in Smallville, Kansas by Jonathan and Martha Kent with good old Midwestern American values. As his body took in the rays of Earth’s yellow sun his body gained the abilities to be “faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.” He is known as the “Man of Tomorrow”, “The Man of Steel”, and “The Big Blue Boy Scout”.
Wonder Woman –The only daughter of the Amazon’s queen Hippolyta, won a contest to become the Amazon’s ambassador to Man’s World to teach peace, love, and respect for all humankind. Wonder Woman’s purpose is right out of the theme song of the Lynda Carter TV Show “Make a hawk a dove, stop a war with love, make a liar tell the truth.” In her satin tights, fighting for our rights, Diana is not only a role model to all women in her iconic status as the most recognizable female super hero, but she is the undisputed mother of all super heroines. There may have been some older than her, but she is undoubtedly the one with the most staying power.
Batman – The Dark Knight. The origin is classic. A young boy goes to a movie (typically Zorro is showing in the origins) with his parents and upon leaving the movie in high spirits his parents are accosted by a mugger. The mugger shoots and kills his father and mother leaving the boy alive and alone in a single street light. Raised by his family’s butler, Alfred, the young Bruce Wayne vows to wage a never ending battle for justice. He uses an image that will strike fear into the hearts of the superstitious that of a Bat. He trains his body and mind to perfection and becomes the scourge of the Underworld. The Batman.
Aquaman – King of the Seven Seas. Born cursed with blonde hair the son of a lighthouse keeper and a mermaid, Arthur Curry is torn between his two heritages. He is able to move through water as fast as Superman can through air or Flash can on land. He commands all the marine life within range of his telepathy. His body can withstand pressures that would crush lesser beings. He can see through the darkest oceans. Forget all that. He is KING OF ATLANTIS. Aquaman gets a bad rap and is easy for others to make fun of, but he is KING OF ATLANTIS! He commands a force of warriors and mystics that should make you think twice to even go near the ocean. His King and Diana’s Princess give the JLA more than a touch of regal respect.
Green Lantern – When Green Lantern of Space Sector 2814 Abin Sur was dying he landed his space craft in the Mohave Desert on Earth and commanded his ring to find a worthy successor. It sought out a human being who knew no fear. That being was Hal Jordan, test pilot. Hal accepted the ring and became a member of the Intergalactic Police Force, the Green Lantern Corps. With the ring he can create constructs as long as he wills them into being. He is Aladdin with a proverbial genie on his finger and his cosmic adventures rival any of those experienced in the sci-fi genre.
The Flash – Barry Allen, a consistently late police forensic scientist was working in the lab one evening when a lightning bolt struck him and a wall of chemicals bathing him and made him The Fastest Man Alive. The Flash controls all of his molecules and can pass through solid objects, run up the side of buildings, and can cross an ocean before he has time to sink. He was C.S.I. before C.S.I. was cool.
The Manhunter from Mars or more commonly known as The Martian Manhunter also known as John Jones or J’onn J’onzz. If Superman is the ideal, Wonder Woman is the heart, Batman is the brain, the the Martian Manhunter is the soul of the Justice League. Pulled from Mars after his race was eradicated in a fiery plague, J’onn assimilated into human culture as a detective and used his Martian gifts to change his shape, telepathy, flight, super strength, and Martian vision and breath to fight crime as the Martian Manhunter.
These seven are the founding members of the Justice League of America (JLA). From Left to Right: Green Lantern, Flash, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter as done by Alex Ross.
Yes there is a lot more to say about these characters. Entire encyclopedic volumes have been written about some of these characters, but I am not here to overwhelm. Just enjoy the visuals of the logos and the seven heroes together for now. When next we meet, we will encounter the non-charter members of the JLA.