I'll start with a small thing: When Judy Garrick appears at the end of Justice Society of America #5, her logo is just her "civilian" name, and not "The Boom". I wonder if DC is quietly abandoning that moronic codename. On one level, she doesn't need a codename at all, but on another level. I don't know why she can't just be another "Flash". I mean, we've got her Dad, Barry Allen, Wally West and Avery Ho using the name already, what's one more?
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I cannot stand these changes to the Golden Age characters. Why add changes to what has been written and is continuity for over 80 years? And it is a definite change, not even a Retcon or EYKIW. I've said it before, I'll say it again; if you want new characters, CREATE NEW CHARACTERS. Don't just change things up for change's sake.
But I read the first issue and I'm not interested in any case. YMMV.
I never had a problem with Jay Garrick having a daughter. I always thought that more of the Golden Agers should have had kids.
To the point of JSA'ers having kids - sure. Infinity Inc. showed that it worked. But making wholesale changes at this point just rubs me the wrong way, I guess.
Continuity (as we knew it) is a thing of the past and has been for some time. "Earth-2" remains untouched in a corner of my mind. Having said that, I don't object to the idea of a "Judy Garrick."
Why does it depress me so that you're right?
Because you care.
I wonder if DC is quietly abandoning that moronic codename.
God, I hope so. They could explain it away as something she came up with when she was 10, and outgrew it. Not only are there multiple Flashes, there are multiple Kid Flashes -- "Flash" is THE NAME as established by Jay Garrick, and it should continue. Maybe as Ms. Flash or Flash Girl or Flash in the Pan, I don't care. The others would call her "Flash" in conversation, and that's who she is.
I cannot stand these changes to the Golden Age characters.
Some I do, some I don't.
I liked it when they revealed that Alan Scott had been gay all along: it added a wrinkle to a formerly bland hero, and it made sense, given his constant rebuff of Harlequin (and lack of any other gf). Now I'm interested in reading some of his GA adventures from his perspective, now that we know he was in the closet. How did he manage the expectations of others that he'd be interested in girls? Who else knew? (I bet Jay Garrick did.) What steps did he take to keep his secret? It's a story that can't be told with modern characters.
I liked it when they established that Wesley Dodds' dreams were inspired by Morpheus, specifically because Dream was imprisoned at the time, forcing his power into unexpected channels. It ties in neatly with Gaiman's Sandman, and gives Dodds a raison d'etre for fighting crime, and for his motif. Dodds did talk about dreams, but it was a pretty flimsy motivation in 1939; now it has weight.
I liked it when we learned of Ted Knight's heretofore unknown sons, because we got the great Jack Knight Starman series out of it.
I loved Sandman Mystery Theatre.
I loved that brief series of one-shots (I think there were three) where Bruce Wayne, Dr. McNider and, I think, Rex Tyler acted as secret agents in Europe, and wore 1930s-style homemade leather outfits and used homemade gear when they went into action. I can't remember what it was called, but it was done in a film noir style.
I like the implication that Starman I and Black Canary I had an affair, and that Black Canary II might be their daughter. If nothing else, it explains the team-up in Brave and Bold #61-62. As a boy, it seemed odd to me that Starman seemed to act more like Black Canary's husband than her actual husband, Larry Lance, did, who was confined to the fringes of the story.
OTOH, most of what we learned in Infinity Inc. I hated, and I've wiped that series from my mental hard drive.
I've always hated it when they throw up their hands and just outright kill off the JSA, which they've done at least nine times (Last Days of the Justice Society, The Golden Age, Smallville, Legends of Tomorrow, Stargirl, Infinite Crisis, Zero Hour, Flashpoint, Earth 2 #1).
There are more thing I hate that they did with the JSA, but I'm not thinking of them right now. I try to forget them!
I never had a problem with Jay Garrick having a daughter.
I don't know the circumstances, but I also like Jay Garrick having a daughter. He always seemed the dad type, and he was the first JSAer we knew of who got married. (I'm not sure Wesley Dodds and Dian Belmont ever did. I'm sure Carter Hall and Shiera Sanders did, but I don't remember if and when we learned that.) It suits him.
I always thought that more of the Golden Agers should have had kids.
Me too.
Had kids: Alan Scott (Jennie Lynn-Hayden, Todd Rice), Ted Knight (David and Jack Knight), Dinah Drake Lance (Dinah Laurel Lance), Carter & Shiera Hall (Hector Hall*), Rex Tyler (Rick Tyler)
Did not: Al Pratt, Kent Nelson, Charles McNider, Jay Garrick, Johnny Thunder, Jim Corrigan, Ted Grant, Wesley Dodds, Terry Sloane
Batman I and Wonder Woman I had kids, but they were revamped away, along with their Golden Age existence. (And Superman's.)
*Is Hector Hall still in continuity? I know he died and became the Jack Kirby Sandman. But I don't know if that still counts. I don't know if Lyta Trevor is still around in any form.
"Is Hector Hall still in continuity?"
Hector Hall became Dr. Fate for a while, post-Sandman. I don't know if that's still in continuity, but I liked that version.
On another note entirely, I think several JSA characters have plausible reasons to still be vital and active:
Fortunately, these are also the most interesting of the bunch. For a while there, Geoff Johns was establishing that a number of the "normal" JSAers were dying off due to old age. I remember funerals for Sandman and the first Black Canary. Johnny Thunder had Alzheimer's and was in a home. That was fine with me; they were just punchy types who weren't very interesting anyway. And most had been replaced by legacies. I don't know how much of that has held up through multiple reboots, but it would be OK with me.
I do think they can and should establish that Wonder Woman was in the JSA in the '40s. I understand why they had to write out Batman and Superman, but Diana's immortal, so why couldn't she be there? John Byrne did this weird thing where Hippolyta went back in time to be the JSA's Wonder Woman, but that was unnecessarily complicated. Hippolyta is also immortal, so she didn't have to travel through time to be in the 1940s. She was already alive on Theymyscira in the '40s -- and so was Diana. Why time travel? Why a substitute? Just have Diana debut in 1941, like she did in the comics, and join the team (one without Superman and Batman).
To me, the "trinity" of the JSA is Flash, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. Yeah, you can substitute Hawkman for the Amazing Amazon -- he was, in fact, in every All-Star story -- but I'd rather not. That All-American trio is the jam for me.
Hey, can you tell I like the JSA?
I seem to recall a relatively recent sotry (perhaps in the wake of her movie) that established that Diana did come to "Man's World" in the 40's.
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