Posted by Darren in Comics
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 More >
Posted by Darren in Comics
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 More >
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 >
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 >
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 >
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 More >
Posted by Darren in Comics
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. More >
Posted by Darren in Comics
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 More >
Posted by Darren in Comics
“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 More >
