The 10-issue run of Justice Society of America by Len Strazewski and Mike Parobeck is one of the absolute gems of the 1990's. I was thoroughly enjoying it when it was abruptly cancelled, for some odd editorial reason. I remember being disappointed, and from the way I have read others opine about the series, I was not alone. At least the issues have been collected in TPB and on Comixology for new fans to discover.
I recall thinking the Liberty Legion was a cool team when I met them in the pages of Marvel Premiere and Marvel Two-In-One, but alas, they didn't make many more appearances over the years so they never got the chance to catch on.
Being a comics fan means often being disappointed. Between the Earth 2 title that introduced "new young different modern versions" of the original characters, and continually killing off the original J.S.A. members, I'm surprised D.C. is letting anyone over 50 be in their comics as superheroes.
ReplyDeleteIronically, The Flash tv series is doing a great job in showing how continuity can actually be used to help a series. Jay's teaching moment with the coffee cup being used years later by Barry teaching the same thing to his daughter about trying to change the past was EXCEPTIONAL on many levels.
This is going to make Whizzer jealous....
ReplyDeleteWith METV scheduling "The Flintstones" at the end of September, maybe Fred & Barney could be paired with the Three Stooges (or Fred with Moe); In one way "The Three Stooges" is like a cultured variant (think BBC sitcom import on PBS) of "The Flintstones".
ReplyDeleteI would not be opposed to a sequel to this "issue" featuring a one-on-one race between the G.A. Flash and the Whizzer.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of which: did anybody catch the Season 2 finale of KRYPTON?
Holy Flsh Gordon, Batman! Rann's been invaded by Ming the Merciless!!
Were there really that many variations of the same characters? How many Hawkman, Wonder Woman, Flash and Captain America counterparts existed in the 1940's? Who had the most altered copies among all the publishers? Superman or Flash or somebody else?
ReplyDelete@DC50: Well, super-strength, super-speed, flight, and invulnerability/healing are the four major super-powers. Superman had them all, but most of the rest of the heroes got by with one or two. Other than Captain Marvel, there weren't that many direct copies of Supes (in the 40's), but there were plenty of strong men. I'd say the most copies was Flash -- every company had at least one speedster.
ReplyDeleteOf course, by the late '70s and '80s when the DC Trinity were anointed as archetypes, everybody had their "homage" or "parody" versions.
Ross, I agree that what happened to Parobeck's JSA run was criminal, but young "I know the market better than you old fogies" editors come and go.
ReplyDeleteLiberty Legion, on the other hand, was just the result of Roy Thomas's fetish for reviving every Golden Age character published, and no other creator except for fellow ret-con freak Mark Gruenwald really cared about them.
@JJ: And God bless Mr. Gruenwald for that!
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: Ross already did that @ STF #822.
@Jay: to say nothing of Captain America pastiches.
ReplyDelete*KOFF! Patriot! Lower left! KOFF-KOFF!
How does his helmet stay on?? 😉
ReplyDelete@Daviticus: centrifugal force is with him. ;-)
ReplyDeleteunfortunately , krypton has been cancelled !!
ReplyDelete@ Daviticus It was experimental then but it was SUPER GLUE.😱
ReplyDeleteThe Flash looks like he belongs on that cover. Wizzer will be over shadowed by the Flash but he wins by his girl friend.
ReplyDeleteWait - what now?! Did I read that right?! The run is collected in trade paperback?! O_O Must. Have. back then, I was reading The Batman Adventures, this Justice Society run and Starman. Parobeck was Awesome!
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ReplyDelete@Anonymous949: those were Thanagarians. NOT the Hawk-Men of Mongo!
@Anonymous755: Rats! I was SO hoping to see Nyssa kick some Thanagarin tail feather. I mean, Rann was always portrayed in the Silver Age comics as having three suns (a la Carrg). So, hypothetically, Nyssa would've been triple-charged, in comparison to her future grandson!
@Anon: Mea Culpa. As a DC Devotee I skipped right over the Captain America reference in the original question. Oh yes, all the publishers had a American Flag character or two, from the 40's onward. And most had an underwater character to match Namor. Not too many other fire characters (ala Human Torch), though.
ReplyDelete@Jay: I know of only two, myself. The Blue Blaze, from Timely Comics. And the Blue Flame from Four Star Comics (circa 1947).
ReplyDeleteAlso Centaur's "Fire-Man" and Fox's "The Flame."
ReplyDeleteBTW, Craig Yoe has a (fairly) new book out called "Super American Heroes," about all the minor patriotic-themed heroes of the forties. There were a lot of them.
Quality's Uncle Sam would've been so proud of all those honorary nephews.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, Little Buddy might've been jealous. ;-)
What about the female folks? Are the female counterparts fairly new (from the late 50s on) or have they been there in the 40s and early 50s? Did Uncle Sam's counterpart Lady Liberty, have many ancestors besides Wonder Woman to talk about?
ReplyDelete(pre Batwoman, Supergirl, Batgirl, Miss Arrowette )
Before Supergirl, there were at least Lady Blackhawk, Hawkgirl, Namore, Yankee Girl (?), Bulletgirl, Miss America, Mary Marvel, Black Cat, Phantom Lady, Black Canary.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention Amazona and Fantomah.
ReplyDeleteIf I remember right, one of the main DC editors at the time did not like the series at all, so it got canned.
ReplyDeleteI was able to have the writer sign all of my copies at a con years ago.
Actually looking to get rid of those issues to a good home...