Cover dated July 2000, DC published one of their semi-regular monthly events dubbed Silver Age, a supposedly fond look back at the halcyon days of its books from the 1960s. It was spearheaded by Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn, Kurt Busiek and others. Their hearts were in the right place but their execution was a little off. The main inspiration appears to have been Justice League of America #61 as seen above where the heroes of the JLA are turned into their worst enemies. That gambit is used again but with some different villains thankfully. I mean seriously? Captain Boomerang? The Tattooed Man? Cutlass Charlie???
The festivities began with Silver Age: Secret Files and Origins with the coming of AGAMEMNO an alien dictator with the ability to "possess" inanimate objects and materials. He longs to rule the entire universe when one of his subjugated subjects tries to scare him by telling him about the Justice League who would surely stop him. Intrigued, Agamemno travels across the stars to find Kanjar Ro on his home planet of Dhor. He wants Kanjar Ro to tell him about the JLA and Earth. So we see a decidingly Post-Crisis JLA, more or less. But the Transforming Tyrant doesn't seem all that impressed with them as opponents but as allies!
On another planet, the Justice League arrive, searching for a missing Green Lantern, only to encounter another alien adversary, Despero! After a quick battle, Despero is defeated and a watching Agamemno approves, vowing to travel to Earth.
We also see a nice John Workman JLA drawing, doing his best Mike Sekowsky!
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I have these books, somewhere. I recall as being mildly asmusing, as long as you didn't look at the plot too closely. I have found,t hought, that most attempts like this to re-create the feel of a previous era's stories don't succeed completely.
The first story was written by D. Curtis Johnson and drawn by Michael Collins and Vince Russell.
Agamemno was clearly meant to be a major player with his powers of energy manipulation and the ability to send his immortal life essence into various construct forms but he was a bit too goofy looking for my tastes and didn't seem powerful enough to conquer entire worlds.
It was good to see Kanjar Ro the schemer again, sending Agamemno after the League, probably hoping that they destroy each other. Then again Despero seems lessened by his involvement here.
We see the JLA and the foes who will battle them as opposed to the crew from Justice League #61.
JLAer #61/JLAer SA/ Villain #61/ Villain SA
The differences are obvious. The Luthor and Catwoman seen here are fully entrenched in their Post-Crisis incarnations which should have detrimental effects on the latter. Even using Mister Element is problematic. There will be other actions and decisions that take place that should have consequences but do not. I bring those up as we go along.
As we see, the creators handled the conundrums of Wonder Woman and Hawkman by completely ignoring them!
Next: Flash Facts, Hawk & Dove meet the Creeper and some Dial H action!
...(SPOILER) I recall those books bringing up for the first time ever the question (without directly answering it) of " Who is Robby Reed's biological father ? " (As a teen , he lived with his Grandpa and " housekeeper " Miss Millie - Who , in the original series , is depicted as going on a cruise trip with Robby and Gramps , but anyway !!!!!!!)
I recall rather interpreting it at the time as suggesting/implying that Janos Blackhawk (Um ~ The " original " Blackhawk . Whatever his name was , anyway .) was Robby's biological Dad , though someone else , then , disagreed with me...
I remember really enjoying the heck out of this series. It was fun goofy stuff, with the villains acting more like high school rivals to the superheroes.
But that was so long ago, I don't remember a shred of the plot except the villains switching bodies with the heroes!
I think it took some of the Silver Age stuff that Morrison was only drawing on, or using as a starting point/inspiration, and made it the WHOLE point...
Next: Switch Your Partners! Doe-See-Doe! or Hey, What Am I Doing Over There??
Philip Portelli said:
Not that sadly, my friend. This mini-series wasn't the real Silver Age. It was a jerry-built mess of half-remembered Silver-Age concepts and constrained by DC's desire not to contradict its post-Crisis rearrangement of its super-heroes' histories.
Case in point: there are three errors on the cover below that show that this could not have been an actual Silver-Age-era story.
Therefore, anything stated in this mini-series has no applicability to the continuity of the genuine Silver-Age tales. They could have put the Secret Sanctuary on Coney Island; it wouldn't matter vis-à-vis the original JLA series.
First one I'm noticing is Black Canary being there.
Commander Benson said:
I'll bite. Hal is wearing his original costume, which places the story in 1964 or earlier. (Subsequently it was changed so that the green section cut in towards the chest symbol, and then again so that it also extended over the shoulders.) At that point Black Canary had not yet joined the JLA: her presence here likely reflects the post-Crisis concept that she, rather than Wonder Woman, was the League's first female member. The line-up is probably an indication this is supposed to be the JLA before Green Arrow joined, in which case Batman should not have an oval around his chest symbol since that dates from the feature's 1964 New Look. (Whether GL's costume excludes it is more arguable. Gil Kane had begun to change its look when the oval was introduced but hadn't changed it much yet.) That style of Batmobile only entered the comics under the influence of the 1966 TV show. The Silver Age J'onn J'onzz should not have that style of collar. Aquaman's trunks should be black rather than dark green, as the highlight suggests they're supposed to be here, and his shirt shouldn't have a wide neck. Anything else?
Incidentally, one of the reasons why earlier eras can't be fully recaptured is, all eras are eras of transition. Creators of a later age seeking to capture the style of an earlier one see to imitate its limitations. The good creators of the age itself pushed the envelope, and so were in the process of transcending its limitations.
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