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Posts tagged Superman
Four More Lovely Ladies
Apr 12th
Often in superhero comics it’s all men all the time, but I have a great deal more respect for the lovely women of the DC Universe who can go toe to toe with the manly men. Here we talk about four additional ones. Two with powers, two without, but all are gutsy.
Introducing Mera, Queen of Atlantis and wife of Aquaman. Mera is the queen of another dimension and she becomes King Arthur’s consort and eventual wife and mother of Arthur, Jr.
Usually the stories of “happily ever after” end at the wedding, and there is a reason for that, and almost every married couple will tell you what that is…after the wedding comes the really hard work, the marriage. There are bumps in every marriage, but losing a child has to be one of the hardest to overcome.
Mera and Aquaman fall on tough times and are separated when I started reading comics and in fact Mera had left Aquaman to return to her home dimension, but like all good couples their love continues through the hard times. Mera like most of the undersea characters has enhanced strength, the ability to exist under water as well as on land for a limited amount of time, she cannot command marine life however, but she can create and shape water into “hard water” shapes that are rather powerful. She has been powerful enough to sink a submarine with one hit. Truly, she is Arthur’s Guinevere.
Hawkgirl or Hawkwoman as she was beginning to be called when I started reading comics is Shayera Hol or Sheira Hall of Thanagar. She and Hawkman came from Thanagar together and started fighting crime in Midway City as a married couple, though as Hawkgirl she was basically the femme version of Hawkman.
Adam Strange, Hawkman and Hawkgirl/woman in the first Rann/Thanagar War.
In later versions Hawkgirl/woman is viewed as just as vicious as Hawkman, just not as strong, to make up for this Hawkgirl/woman is frequently depicted as being more agile than the bulkier Hawkman. Armed with her wings, nth metal anti gravity laced costume, and medieval weapons Hawkgirl/woman is a very powerful adversary and even joined the Justice League of America. She did not appear so far in the JLA stories because she and Carter were ALSO on the outs when I started reading and Shayera went off for some “me” time. How 70’s huh?
Time for our first non-powered female to get a spotlight here, and I think it’s overdue…
Oh Lois.. will you ever learn? The intrepid investigative reporter who doesn’t have a CLUE who Superman is? Really?
From her early appearances to Noel Neill in the Adventures of Superman show, to the time when I started reading comics, Lois went from being a doggedly determined reporter to stereotypical 50s Donna Reed/Doris Day to Mod-Fashion challenged to the 70s reliant interpretation from Margot Kidder to the 80s when she started to emerge as that strong business woman thanks to influences like Gloria Steinem and the movie 9 to 5. It is important to realize Lois was a big enough draw that she did have her own book for a long time geared towards female readers and she does show up every now and then while investigating a story without Superman around, even better if Supes happens to be off planet at the time.
Oh, and did you notice the banner on the bottom of Lois’ comic? Rose and the Thorn? hmmm…
Rose and the Thorn is one in the same. Let me explain.
Rose Forrest is a woman whose father is killed by The 100, an organized crime group in Metropolis. Rose being a tender flower “loses it” and a second personality is born, that of the avenging Thorn. Rose is unaware of anything that Thorn does as Thorn is equally unaware of Rose’s activities yet they both house the same body. Even when Batman hypnotized Thorn, she only revealed “I.. Am… The.. THORN!” Even though Batman had correctly deduced her identity. A brilliant case of Do as I Say Not as I Do from the Batman there, eh?
Thorn is originally a Golden Age villain who fought the Flash, Green Lantern, and the rest of the JSA on a regular basis.
This edginess moved DC to make the new Silver Age Thorn a bit of a bad girl as well. Not afraid to hurt, maim, or even prevent from saving a bad guy, Thorn has vowed to put all the 100 behind bars or die trying. To that end Thorn has almost unbelievable skills as a fighter with no training. She fights as if possessed and certainly fights dirty. She carries thorn like gimmicks such as thorns full of smoke screens, bombs, or just sharp. Thorn carries a barbed whip and she wears a straight red haired wig to confuse others, Rose is a blonde with short hair.
There are a ton of more lovely ladies, but next time we’ll get into some of the male guest stars!
Next Time: Air Wave, Captain Comet, and The Creeper
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!
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 Seven: Superman vs. Hawkman
Feb 12th
VERSUS
Superman vs. Hawkman, seems like a no-brainer doesn’t it? Well, lets think about this, they can both fly, they are both aliens, and that’s pretty much where the similarities end.
This part of our saga opens with Hawkman gathering some ancient weapons and streaking for Greenland and we learn that a Parabolic Arc cuts down on the distance needed to travel. See? We’re learning stuff!!!
Hawkman gets to Greenland in time to see a red and blue blur and he puts a net over the speeding Superman and gives this Superman a quick mace to the side which reveals that this Superman is actually a robot.
Hawkman had correctly deduced that Superman could not retrieve his meteor himself due to the green kryptonite and that the Superman robots are familiar with fighting off laser fire and are not so adept at resisting ancient arms like maces and crossbow bolts. After getting rid of the second Superman robot a third one lands but this one is different…
This one was the real Superman and as Hawkman’s mace is useless, Hawkman winds up on the receiving end of a Super punch sending Hawkman into the upper atmosphere. Superman grabs his asteroid explaining to the reader that he is wearing a Plasta-Lead alloy so pure it’s almost transparent, and since lead stops the Kryptonite radiation, nothing was stopping Superman at that point from running the errand himself.
Hawkman meanwhile is drifting in space, unconscious until he disappears in a beam of energy.
The scene shifts to the planet Rann. Our first alien world that we actually get to see. Rann is in the Alpha-Centauri system and we see Adam Strange and his love Alanna. Adam is an Earthman and Alanna is a Rannian. Hawkman was apparently transported to Rann via a Zeta Beam which is how Adam Strange was transported to Rann a while ago.
Adam Strange is apparently aware of the Justice League and is an ally of the JLA. The Rannian’s siphoned the Zeta Beam energy out of Hawkman’s body which automatically returns him to the Earth area. Adam makes a comment about how the Rannians are not fans of the Thanagarians after the Rann-Thanagar War.
So, not only do we have comments here about a new race, but we also have a comment about two races at war, so perhaps the Super Friends are not so benevolent after all? Hmmm? Could be, we will have to go back and see what this event is that Adam and Hawkman were involved in at a later date.
Elongated Man manages to reach Hawkman and pull him back into the satellite relatively unharmed. The narrator comments that once Hawkman and Green Arrow were enemies as well, it seems the Hawk does not make friends easily, however at this point Green Arrow is the first to come to Hawkman’s aid once he is inside the satellite.
Hawkman, who has been unconscious since Superman slugged him reveals that he failed in his mission. All the meteors have been recovered by the original JLA.
At the original JLA HQ the JLAers are still wondering why they did what they did as the seven meteors continue to glow. As the meteors crack open the final memory breaks occur and the original JLA now know who they face.
The original seven meteors apparently had programmed a hypnotic suggestion in the original JLAers to gather the seven asteroids together and it would activate seed clones inside the asteroids. The seven seed clones of the original Appellaxians make plans to begin their trial by combat against each other but first the original JLAers attack.
The original JLAers are instantly angry that they have been played for such fools, but then they forget who they are fighting. Superman is taken out with the Rock God’s now Kryptonite eye beams. The Appellaxians begin to demonstrate teamwork as the Golden Roc intercepts Green Lantern’s beam and uses it’s sonic cry to knock out GL, while the Fire Lord blasts the Martian Manhunter with his fire breath.
Batman is blinded by the reflection of the Crystal Creature causing him to fall and lose consciousness, Flash disappears beneath the Mercury Monster, unable to gain any traction to run, the Wood King sucks the moisture out of Aquaman, which leaves who?
Wonder Woman. It takes three of them to take the Amazon out.
When Batman awakes he is facing an angry Green Arrow with a notched arrow. The original JLAers make their apologies to the new JLAers. The League divided is now reunited and it’s time to take on the aliens who did this to them.
When next we meet, it’s time for a reunited JLA to kick some butt and take some names.
The JLA vs. The Appellax Conquerors
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.