I always wondered about the decision to put the Justice League in a cave as their first headquarters. I mean, that kind of locale made sense for batman, given his motif and its location under his mansion, but a gathering of the greatest superheroes on earth seemed to demand something a bit less rustic. I found the satellite to be a much more suitable gathering place (and I still miss it).
I first "joined" the League during the satellite years! one of the first comics I picked up was the infamous Black Lightning hazing issue and then from when Firestorm joined on. I had followed George Perez from The Avengers over and then on to New Teen Titans.
ReplyDeleteThe headquarters is all part of the success of any team...Avengers Mansion, The Baxter Building, Titans Tower...
A cave... in the side of a mountain... in Rhode Island?
ReplyDeleteI'm not from the USA, but in real life isn't that state actually rather... flat?
As a born-and-bred New Englander, I can tell you that you're 100% correct, Simreeve. The highest point in all of New England is Mount Washington, New Hampshire, at 1,917 meters (almost a mile-and-a-half). Whereas the highest point in all of Rhode Island, Jerimoth Hill, is only 247 meters (not even a quarter-mile)!
ReplyDeleteSo, if DC were to place "Mt. Justice" in Connecticut or Massachusetts, just _over_ the border from RI, it would be their most sensible piece of ret-conning in the last thirty years.
Grant Morrison wrote a great story explaining the mountain headquarters in Secret Origins #46.
ReplyDeleteGreat cover as always Ross. Here's one directly inspired by you...
http://gwhitmore.deviantart.com/art/Legends-of-the-DC-Universe-vs-Galactus-617645528
Gregg
The cave was more like a clubhouse where the gang could hang out together and maybe answer some fan mail. This was before they became a quasi-military group.
ReplyDeleteHoy
Excellent rendering! I remember these covers. The Silver Age debut of Dr. Light (with that teleportaional Light-Wave Projector). And Dr. Druid's recruitment of the Avengers to help Dane "the Black Knight" Whitman liberate the extra-dimensional island of Avalon from the Fomorians.*
ReplyDeleteIf there were a real-life story to go with this team-up, however, I wonder who would be the super-villain. Arthur Light, perhaps? Using a sentient energy form to take over Iron Man's armor via the uni-beam disc on his breastplate? As I recall, two of Spidey's Marvel Team-Ups used a similar gimmick (i.e., the disembodied Lightmaster mind-controlling Quasar and Dazzler).
*Except for Shellhead, of course, as ferrous metals are disruptive to Druidic magic!
ITEM: Oh, that's just a PRETTY cover! Three sources and they all look great together!
ReplyDeleteITEM: Ross, I'm not sure, but I think that the cover most of the JLA is from was done by Carmine Infantino, inked by Neal Adams. Might be wrong, though.
ITEM: No one in the silver age ever said that the JLA headquarters was in Rhode Island. Snapper Carr lived in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island, but he had to travel quite a distance to get to JLA meetings; they modified his car so that it was an aircraft and didn't take an irregularly long time to get to meetings.
ITEM: If you're looking for a villain for this piece, I believe the Construct fits the bill nicely.
The Secret Sanctuary was retconned to Rhode Island in the late 1980s, long, long after the JLA had abandoned it. That was a silly move, IMO.
ReplyDeleteNice cover but "Iron Man would have been crushed like an empty Coke® can and beaten by four of the five depicted and likely by Batman too!
ReplyDeleteThat " Uni Beam" may have stopped Ultimo but not the Justice League of America !
( I said that last paragraph with my fist's on my hips, chin up and chest out )
Anonymous is right. Green Lantern, alone, could ring up a giant can opener for the red portions of Iron Man's armor!
ReplyDelete@BB: I agree. The more sensible move would have been to follow Anon #1's suggestion. Base the mountain in CT or Mass. just over the _line_ from RI!
ReplyDeletei loved the jla satelite...i miss it too.
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