Random Reactions to JSA #1 (very slight spoilers likely)

I picked up my comics this week! (Though I somehow managed to miss Beyond 6, which makes me sad. I'll need to grab that ASAP). But naturally the one I was most looking forward to was JSA.

So I'll post my random reactions to JSA. (They should lack enough context so as not to be TOO spoilery):

-Maxine Hunkel is made of awesome! I'm so glad to see another character so ready to just have fun with being a hero. Especially in the JSA, which tends, I think, towards dourness. Besides, as someone prone to babbling excitedly at the drop of a hat (any hat, :-)) I feel as though she is kin! :-)

-This ought to reassure a few people who were worried that Stargirl was going to end up a bubbly, brainless cheerleader for the JSA. If anything, it looks like Courtney's going to get to be the more experienced "big sister" for once. That should be awesome.

-Starman's a little more...scattered than I expected. It's not a bad thing, but I don't really know what to make of him. That schtick seems like it could get old fast. I do like his costume though.

-In context, I like the Rick-Jessie scene (from the preview) much better. Especially as Newlyweds are supposed to be obnoxiously clingy and such.

-Some interesting hints about Damage. My curiousity is piqued.

-The group conflict potential seems pretty interesting. But I wonder at Ted's whole insistance that he doesn't know this group. I mean, sure Damage, Starman, and Maxine are likely strangers, but most of the others are still the old JSA line-up, or closely connected enough (Like Jessie or Todd) that he definitely knows them.

--I guess Wildcat just wants to be emo for a while.

-No Sand in the issue, which should make me sad. However a Sandman-who-I-hope-is-Sand is in the preview at least, so I'm happy! I haven't seen my other favorite character in ages!

-Mr. America has a very odd character design, like they were aiming toward Clark Gable but overshot into Gomez Addams. Still, there's a nice old-movie quality about him, which I like a lot.

-Jay and Alan continue to be mom and dad of the group. Which makes me smile.

-And while I didn't have as much of a problem with the character selection process in JLA, I'm glad that the JSA spent a comparitively much shorter time around the characters.

-That and there's only one Red Tornado I really care to read about, and she's got a mean hand with a frying pan.

-So far, the story is good. Readable and easy to follow. Some of the dialogue is clunky, but in general, I think it's doing a good job with setting everything up. I want to see what happens next. (And the ending genuinely surprised me!)

...Can I have the next one yet? Please?

EiE: Infusing Estrogen in the JSA, Shining Knight

Please be warned, I haven't had the chance to read Seven Soldiers #1 yet, so I'm forced to consider the possibility that this will be all rendered moot when I finally get a chance to go to the comic store today.

I was thinking though, from my vantage point of only reading the mini-series, that the new Shining Knight would be a good addition to the JSA.

For me, the real criteria to be a JSA hero is to have some sort of familial or legacy connection to the Golden Age. Ystin is stretching that definition a little, as the Camelot she comes from actually predates Justin's. And the two have not, at least as far as I have read, met.

However, there are quite a few legacy heroes that haven't interacted much with their predecessor and I think it would be pretty easy to write a quick crossover story with both of them that includes some sort of symbolic passing of the torch scene. That way there's a bit more of an "official" legacy tie.

I really like Ystin and I want her to succeed as a character. That said, I think she'd be better suited for a group book at the moment as opposed to an individual. This way she can hopefully build up enough of a fanbase to warrant a new comic. Also I'd like to see how challenges like the language barrier and strangeness of the new culture impact her in a group situation.

I think as a character, Ystin would benefit from a group. It would give her some support, which as a fourteen year old (fifteen now?) in a strange world, would be very necessary. And I think the JSA would be the best choice for a number of reasons.

The JLA is a team that tends to be portrayed as very iconic. Have a huge alien invasion, it's the big guns that you call first. The trinity. They're very grandiose.

In contrast, the JSA deals with serious threats, but on a more personal, down-to-earth level. The themes of the JSA are family and legacy. Thus most of the main villains have very personal ties to members of the team. Their fights tend to take place on Earth (or a pocket dimension) and the interrelationships of the characters even start to take on a family dynamic. (Poor Jay is always stuck as the mom.)

I personally think that Shining Knight is a character that would more suit the second. In her miniseries, her fights were less earth-shattering than they were personal. Gloriana Tenebriae's exposure and humiliation of Ystin was something beyond a standard villain taunting the hero bit. Galahad as a fighting opponent was very personal in a way that the JLA tends to avoid while the JSA embraces.

In January, Ragnell posted an awesome analysis of Shining Knight #4 as symbolic of the ordeal of puberty for a young woman. I have the first comment, which I'm going to basically repeat here because I can.

The thing that makes the miniseries work so well as a puberty-allegory is how alone Ystin is. Her isolation resonates emotionally with the isolation felt during that stage of life. However, that story is told. She's passed the point of no return. Once you've crossed that stage of development, you can't go back.

So now there's no reason to be isolated. In fact, part of being a young adult is to find out your new place and new relationships with your family now that you're no longer a child. Ystin's actual family might be dead, but that doesn't mean she couldn't forge new familial bonds.

The JSA would be good for that. Making the assumption that this cover is an accurate representation of at least part of the JSA roster, she's already got a plethora of surrogate siblings to choose from. Jay and Alan will, I'd imagine, resume their semi-parental roles to the group. Ted and Carter would be something like erratic uncles.

It does make me regret (more) the loss of Hippolyta though, because out of anyone who could take the girl under her wing, she'd be a fantastic choice. Even if Camelot and Themyscira are nothing alike, she'd also understand what it's like to be a stranger in a strange land. And they could practice sword drills together!

Even so, Power Girl is no slouch in the inspiring, nurturing role model department either. And I think Courtney would really shine if she had the chance to be a big sister to another hero. Playing the tour guide to teenage life in the twenty-first century is a role that I think would suit her. Also I think she'd make a remarkably good older sister figure. Besides, Courtney wears responsibility very well.

Also the JSA is used to time travellers. While none of them are from anything close to Ystin's time, many do understand the feeling of waking up in what amounts to an alien world. If anyone could sympathize, they could.

And Mr. Terrific could so invent a translator or something until she learned the language.

I just think it would fit really well. And we need more kickass women with swords, damnit. Swords are COOL. :-)

...Hmm. Hope she lives.

A Legacy I'd Like To See...

I love the idea of Madame Fatal. I honestly do. I've never, sadly, read any of the comics themselves, but I think that it's one of the more entertaining ideas for a superhero I've ever read.

Now, being the legacy nut that I am, I really *really* want to see someone new take on the name in Richard Stanton's honor (making up for being reduced to a birdcage joke, hmph.)

It occurred to me though, honestly, in today's society, a man dressing like an old woman to stop crime is simply not edgy enough. As entertaining as *I* find the idea, my generation is a jaded, cynical bunch.

So my suggestion is to take one of those cracked out gender-shifting type plots and make it a reality. Make the new Madame Fatal a man somehow transformed or brain-switched into a female body.

Maybe borrow a page from Ghost in the Shell, and have it be an android body. The persona occupying it would be male of course. :-)

It's really easy to fuck this sort of thing up, I admit, but it could be an interesting way to play with gender perspectives. How people react differently to men and women. Things like that.

And heck, I'm a gamer, I've seen the kinds of female characters that men seem to like to play in RPGs...we wouldn't need an excuse for a very skimpy showy costume.

Okay, I admit it. I only want to make this character to poke fun at the gamer guys. :-) But I think he/she could be fun!

More Multiverse Ramblings...

Okay, now, I've finally had a chance to see this...

I haven't seen the hardcover myself, as it costs money I don't have at the moment, but these quote changes intrigue me.

I actually thought I'd be more vexed about the idea of a reformed E-2, but I'm not. This is probably though because of my own argument here.

Because they don't seem to be re-dividing Earth-New to do it. Manhunter with her very strong JSA/All-Star Squadron ties is clearly on the same Earth as the Wonder Woman that killed Max Lord. Her compatriot Obsidian is in the JSA. Mr. Terrific and Alan Scott are in Checkmate, Terrific's in Action Comics. Jay's in the Flash.

So...it's all good.

In fact, I think it could be great. Suddenly I want to know what would happen if this modern JSA that I love so much could actually meet the pre-Crisis versions...or their descendants/successors. Is there a Kal-L alive there? How does being on a different world with (probably) no JLA successors change them? Is there a Huntress and Dick Grayson there, to finally make the old fanboys happy?

Where will Power Girl decide to go?

It might be a trick. It very likely is a trick. But I'm interested nonetheless.

(As long as MY JSA, the REAL JSA as far as I'm concerned, gets to stay as forerunners and legends on Earth-new. :-) I'm biased.)

This intrigues me.

(Edited to Add: Ooo. I just had a thought. What if on Earth-2 there is a Jade still alive. What would it do to OUR Alan (that is Earth-new, no Superman in the Society Alan...I'm possessive) to find out that another version of him did not lose his child...THAT could be cool!)

Multiverse Musings: Incoherency Warning

I've always had mixed feelings about the multiverse concept. To be honest, I've always found the Silver Age crossover stories to be just a little silly. Fun, don't get me wrong, but when it comes down to it, I much prefer having the JSA and JLA on the same Earth.

I like the sense of legacy and direct inspiration available that way. Also, I like having a world where Jay Garrick can raise Barry Allen's grandson, where Hal Jordan's successor can date Alan Scott's daughter. I like the thought of the JSA as the forerunners with the JLA as the heavy hitters. It makes for an interesting balance and a sense of lineage that works much better for me than Barry Allen getting his code name from a comic book. (Wouldn't Clark or Bruce or Diana have noticed that the other comic book characters/their E-2 counterparts, had the same secret identity names?!)

That and I'd really rather not see the Earth-2 characters shunted aside, because that would get real annoying. I'd much rather see them interact, at least, sporadically, with their Earth-1/New Earth Counterparts...without the need for dimensional travel being referenced.

I'm particularly glad that at least right now, no one but Power Girl seems to remember the split Earths. This is just a personal thing, but I never liked the thought of Superman and Batman in the JSA. I think they tend to overshadow the other characters. Besides. They WEREN'T in the original JSA anyway. Hmph. I also like Hippolyta a lot, and think she's much more in spirit with the original Diana. I like that Hippolyta is remembered as Hippolyta, and that the heroism of the JSA isn't pinned on a man in blue and red tights.

But that doesn't mean I'm against the thought of a multiverse in general. Because a multiverse could be FUN. I LOVE Elseworlds. And I've always liked the "for want of a nail" sorts of scenarios. What if a character turned right instead of left?

I think they should be used sporadically though. While it's lots of fun to shove a character into a different dimension, where everything is familiar, yet different, too often loses the impact.

But it can be lots of fun! (Hal Jordan falling into a world where Parallax never struck and Kyle Rayner is eevil! I'd read that!)

Also it allows for the opportunity of some Nocturne-esque fucked up offspring possibilities to break people's brains with. (Nocturne= AU kid of Kurt Wagner and Wanda Maximoff). There's some hilarious and/or terrifying potential there. Like...what if Guy Gardner and Amanda Waller ever had a kid?

...hmm, maybe it'd be better if we just stuck to a universe for now, after all...

A Favorite Sequence from JSA 79:

Now this isn't the entire sequence of course, but it's the best part, IMO.

Especially as it really highlights how utterly useful and underestimatable Sand is. When he doesn't have "chairman" attached to his name, he goes about almost entirely unnoticed. When he does, the attention he gets is more based on that title than on him. (People like being able to shoot the JSA chairman on camera...)

That may be Nabu getting Mordru angry enough to ignore what's going on, but as we see with Johnny Sorrow, that trick is really much more Sand's style. Nabu gets Mordru to forget what exactly his captive is and set him free. That's just awesome really.

Not to mention there's something innately satisfying about watching a giant sand monster smash Mordru, as he's a character I get immense joy out of hating. And that it's all a decoy so Sand can set the others free (not shown), even better.

I always liked this issue for the teamwork displayed in both the fifth dimension and this storyarc. I was a tad irritated that the following issue focused so solely on Thunderbolt and Nabu.

Still as dissatisfied as I was with the ending, nothing beats the satisfaction from that third panel above. :-)

Is It December Yet?

Ooo! Ragnell linked to JSA preview art!!! Since JSA is the series I'm waiting most excitedly for, aside from this month's Green Lantern because it's late and I want more Hal, Guy, Manhunter shenanigans.

I have a few responses:

1. I've never particularly liked Rick Tyler. I didn't dislike him, mind. It's just my first exposure to the guy was in Hourman, where he wasn't particularly impressive. Then in JSA, where the whole Rex-Rick switcheroo thing kept me from really getting a handle on the character. (Though I liked him in Stealing Thunder.)

But in this. All of a sudden. Rick got hot. And I'm not sure how to deal with this. But I'm suddenly looking forward to that Bane versus Hourman story.

2. Proof now that Jessie Chambers is Liberty Belle. This pleases me to no end actually. From what I've seen, poor Jessie suffered tremendously from Jade-syndrome. She's the female Flash-type, but with a just different enough identity to not be a Flash herself. (Jade being a Starheart's daughter, Jessie's a Quick not a Flash). Both portrayed as a bit less competent than the male counterparts. Both portrayed with a little dash of mother-inspired abilities which never made up for being weaker. Both got involved with pretty awful stuff regarding infidelity and the like.

This though, this could be the redemption of Jessie Quick. Because it really is all about the packaging. A character is only as weak as the way you express him/her. I mean compare this for a second: a speedster who is not as fast/capable as the others with fluctuating bouts of super-strength OR:

A Liberty Belle with a extra dash of super-speed.

Doesn't one sound infinitely cooler than the other? By giving Jessie a more direct maternal tie, and emphasizing both sets of powers, the character suddenly seems a lot more formidable.

It's part of why I'd always wished they'd stuck with Jade's plant powers and worked them in tandem with the Starheart "pulse" powers. Tie it to the idea of "Green Magic" that shows up in fantasy. Green tying to nature and life. "Pulse" also carries that sort of tone. On their own, as a replacement for Green Lantern powers, the plant stuff was kind of lame. But packaged together? Emphasizing Jade as not so much a standard Lantern-type conjurer but as some sort of nature/green magic wielder? That could have been cool.

3. What the heck is going on with Grant? Or is it Al? I've heard that there was confirmation that that's Damage in the costume, so I'll go with Grant.

Anyway, this is a story related "what the heck" not a characterization gripe. I want to know why he looks annoyed or even jealous. Did something ever happen between Damage and Jessie? I'm very curious now.

4. While I shouldn't judge as I don't know the context, I could wish that the image was a bit less "Rick shows off super-strength, Jessie hangs off him adoringly." She's got super-strength too! I suppose there's probably some interesting characterization/plot reason, but the image on its own is mildly irksome to me. I might be over sensitive, admittedly.

But anyway, is it December yet?

Because it's cool!

You know what I love? When comic books publish diagrams for team headquarters.

They're always so ridiculously complex and usually downright impossible. But that's what makes them awesome. Look at the diagram for the JSA headquarters for an example:



I mean, just consider for a moment the sheer size of that thing! I mean, sure it's base is a mansion...but it's not like Wesley was terribly opulent. What the heck would he and Dian need with that much space? That's what makes it all even better.

Though I really think there should be more secret passages. Secret passages are neat!

(Scanned from the JSA Secret Files and Origins #1)

Missed Potential in Merged Earths?

You know what I've always wanted to see? More crossovers between Infinity Inc and the Teen Titans. It's something that always upset me a little about the Multiverse-turned-Universe, there were constant implausible adult cross-dimensional interactions, but we never got to see anything of the kids.

It always seemed like there'd be an interesting cross-perspective there. Infinity Inc and the Titans are vastly different teams. With vastly different styles. Maybe that means crossing over would be impossible. Still, I'd have liked something.

Even in the Universe, the only real second generation crossovers I can think of are Jade and Dinah Lance.

It seems weird to me, because there'd be really interesting ideological details to imagine. Not to mention that the existance of both teams on one world adds an interesting complexity to the Infinity Inc people.

Which came first? II or Titans? If it was II, what led them into a different direction than the Titans went? If it was the Titan team, why didn't the II people join them instead of making their own? I think there are a lot of interesting possible explanations for this: ideological difficulties, power difficulties, both teams unable to deal with the other's leadership style.

Would they have been allies? Rivals? Or in such different leagues that it never came up? This is the sort of New Earth thing, I'd really like to explore...we know how the big things, the big teams interrelate, but how does the minutia work?

There is such interesting potential in the blended universe that hasn't yet been explored.

Like with Sanderson Hawkins and Dick Grayson. I've always wanted some sort of crossover between them. I mean, when it comes down to it, they come from a very similar core idea. They're both originally Golden Agers (1940 and 1941), they're both child sidekicks to grittier heroes. Neither had powers. Both served as living symbols of hope and brightness through their costumes and identities. Both were light-hearted, cheerful wise-crackers there to brighten their heroes up while helping them kick criminal butt, and acting as sounding boards for their detective partners' brilliance. Robin was a more physical, openly cheerful sort of character, Sandy was more acerbic and tended to be better with the mental contributions.

I think it would be really interesting on that meta-level to see them interact now. Sure, they're no longer contemporaries, but that just makes it more interesting to explore the characters.

They're even the same age (give or take a few decades in stasis) which would add to the whole dynamic. Having them team up on an adventure would be interesting and a lot of fun!

Not to mention that, for whatever reason, we've never really gotten to see Sand interact much with people his own age. I'm hoping that the new line-up of Rick, Jessie, and apparently Maxine Hunkel, who all seem to be of comparative ages, would remedy this a little. Still, I'd love to see something where he gets to team up

Unfortunately, there would be a big risk to this whole thing. At their best, the characters would be able to shine in different ways. Dick's superior physical ability, Sandy's sharper detective instincts, Dick's socially adept charm, Sandy's bland adaptability, Dick's training (I imagine Bruce was rougher as an instructor than Wes), Sandy's powers. There are a lot of ways this could go well.

Of course, there are a lot of ways it could fuck up too. Especially with Dick's character in the mess he's been in for such a long time. Dick's various personal turmoils have battered the character down to the point that he's even his leadership abilities. His fighting ability seems to be shot, at the moment at least, going by his abyssmal performace OYL. It might be a very big mistake to pair him up with the JSA's ex-chairman in an adventure.

I have to admit, once I get past my initial "Wouldn't this be *cool*?!" reaction, my first thought imagining a crossover is:

"Bruce doesn't love me! Woe!"
"...okay. Um...Wes turned me into a sand monster by accident? It's okay now though..."
"... Fine, you win, damnit."

Which actually makes me snicker, but probably wouldn't be the best idea for a comic.

Still, there's other crossover potential. One thing I'd always have liked to see remedied is that we really never got to see Sand interact with people his own age. There was a bit of Team camaraderie with Al and that mess with Kendra, but really, that doesn't count. He's in a weird position in the JSA, age wise. He's too old to be terribly close to Courtney and Jakeem, too young to really fit with Alan, Jay, Ted or Carter, and his particular set of experiences set him apart from Pieter or Michael, both of whom only became heroes in their adulthood.

The new lineup looks promising. Rick Tyler's there, Jessie Chambers, Maxine Hunkel. They look about the same age, which should be interesting. But I still think there's a lot of missed crossover potential. (Surely Kyle could be roped into a team-up. Come on! King of Tears, Empire of Tears, something could be done with that! Or...hee. Roy. I don't know what they'd do exactly, but I think a Sand and Roy team-up could very well be comedy gold!)

On the plus side though, Jessie was a Titan first. Perhaps she will end up something of a bridge between younger generations. That'd be cool! Earth 2 and Earth 1 are merged yet again and I'd really like to see that played with a bit more.

EiE Infusing Estrogen into the JSA 4: Wonder Woman

This goes without saying, but I'd really like to see Hippolyta brought back as the JSA's Wonder Woman. Every other major casualty of OWAW came back after all. I want to see Hippolyta back too!

Of course, being Queen might not leave a lot of time for heroing, which might not matter so much if she's only a reserve but it'd still be nice to have a Wonder Woman there full time.

I actually suggest Donna. I've heard the argument that as a Titan, very Earth-1 character, she doesn't belong. Which I agree, IF the new Donna is that character. I don't think the Donna in Wonder Woman is written the same as the Donna we saw in those history segments at the end of 52, and it's more than just a year passing as the cause, I think.

Donna is supposed to have counterparts on more than a few Earths after all, I would be happy if this Donna were the amalgamation of a new character.

I've posted some possibilities for this new Donna before. She had been referred to as Diana's sister which might have just been an Amazon term, but I thought it very interesting that during Crisis, the Cathy Lee Crosby/Debra Winger Earth was highlighted. In that Earth, Wonder Girl had been her little sister.

My vote is still that they use the Amazonian immortality as an excuse and pace it so that Diana was born some time at the end of the 1800s, beginning of the 1900s. She might age slower than we do, which would make her still a kid when Hippolyta emerges from Themyscira to fight nazis. (I like this part of WW's background and want to keep it in the form of Hippolyta, no time travel needed.) Since we know that Hippolyta and Wildcat were...close...it would be very cool to use him as Donna's father. That way Diana is still the special baby made by the Goddesses and yet have Donna as a sister.

Even if that's not the case though, I think the WW Donna would benefit from JSA membership. Her defeat in Wonder Woman shows, I think, that she is not nearly as experienced as the Donna Troy we remember. She seems younger and less confident, she's got a lot more to learn. The JSA would be a good place for that.

She'd be a good perspective in a group. She's got a lot of Teen Titans experience. This sets her and the new Liberty Belle apart from the ex-Infinity Inc characters, as the Titans are a whole different ball game. They'd know different tactics and methods that would be useful.

She'd be good at dealing with the young characters like Jakeem and Courtney. While she's not the only one with adolescent heroic experience, she's in the best position to effectively use it with the kids. Except for the brief Young All-Stars stint, Sand had never really worked with other adolescent heroes, while Jesse doesn't really have, I think, the same empathetic tendencies. The Infinity Inc folks were all a bit older when they adventured, so it's not quite the same.

One complaint I've heard is that Hippolyta looked a bit too much like Diana, which took away from Diana's uniqueness. I've always thought the artists made an effort to differentiate them, but I can see the point. Donna though looks completely different and always has (even when she was the silly mirror twin). Her Wonder Woman costume is really different and interesting and strikingly different from Diana's.

Finally and most importantly, I think it'd be good to have her in the JSA because it would be a brand new direction for her. One much more organic feeling than all the Troia-Depowered-Titan-Whatever shifts that the character had been through before. I think having a brand new, stable setting would ensure that this character develop in ways that take her in a completely different direction than the original character. There probably wouldn't be a need for any of that nonsense ever again.

Cross-Dressers Get No Respect:

Aw, poor Madame Fatal. Dress up like an old woman to fight crime a few times and you're reduced to a Birdcage joke at Wesley Dodds's funeral. Poor guy. :-(

Wonder Woman Musings:

Over on comicbloc, there's a casual debate about Hippolyta as the Golden Age Wonder Woman.

Of course I chime in.

Anyway, my thing about the Earthiness of the Golden Age versus the Silver Age in the last post really plays into why I'm very much in support of Hippolyta as the Golden Age Wonder Woman.

Basically, as much as I love Diana, I think Marston would be very disappointed with the direction his character has taken. He designed a character full of casual strength and earthy sexuality. But our Diana really doesn't fit that. She's justice on high, pure and lofty. She's the embodiment of high ideal.

But that's not the Wonder Woman I see in the old Golden Age comics. Golden Age Wonder Woman looks like a GI Pin-Up to me. Betty Grable posing for the soldiers. She's curvy and sultry and empowered in her casual sensuality. Sure she left Paradise Island to go kick the crap out of Nazis, but that cute bit in uniform that crash landed on her little Paradise played a good part of it too. She wanted a piece of that hot little number.

Diana doesn't have this anymore. She's a bit too much like her Earth-1 counterpart, I think. They really didn't know what to do with Steve by then. I think Steve probably was partly Marston playing with a bit of wishfulfillment, being this cool suave dashing fellow that's not afraid to chat up this hot chick who could bench press his ass. Marston could write it well though because he understood the appeal, I don't think later writers did. So Steve kept getting written out while Diana evolved through her white-suited Avenger-esque incarnation and so on.

But by divorcing her from Steve Trevor and then post-Crisis removing him as an interest at all took away an important part of the original character. The new Diana is a crusader and a paladin. A holy warrior.

But the Wonder Woman that beat up Nazis...she was no lofty warrior. She was a rough and tumble, salt of the earth brawler, unafraid to get down and dirty with the boys. She was fun.

Hippolyta, at her best, embodies those qualities a lot more than Diana does. She's got that fierce, rough, hard-edged battle fury. She's sexual. Her relationship with Wildcat had the same casual power and warmth as E-2 Diana seemed to have with Steve. She's not pure like Diana, who's biggest crime, killing Max Lord was completely righteous and justifiable at the time. She made some ghastly mistakes. She's got blood on her hands and split knuckles in spirit.

In that link, there's the argument that having Hippolyta come first cheapens Diana and makes her into a copycat. I disagree. First, inheriting the role from her mother doesn't cheapen any of the fantastic things Diana's done, any of her sacrifices. Second, I seriously believe having Diana as the first Wonder Woman, ignoring the Marston original, or *worse* supplanting her with the idea that this pure, lofty ideal was fighting those nazis instead is a cheapening of the original Wonder Woman.

Hippolyta feels like Marston's design, I'm perfectly happy letting her be Marston's design. What's in a name?

Though I'd like to replace the time travel with "left the island to go fight nazis (and possibly get laid) and came back to be Queen again". It's much simpler really.

And really...who's to say that Diana is actually the counterpart of the E-2 Wonder Woman. I mean, when I saw Diana Prince giving the wise words of advice to our Diana, telling her to embrace her humanity. I didn't see Diana getting advice from herself, I saw Diana getting advice from her mother. E-2 Diana was Hippolyta in that scene more than she'd ever be our Diana.

Really...it's not like names stayed completely constant across the multiverse. If E-2 Kal-L's counterpart is named Kal-EL, why can't E-2's Diana's counterpart be named Hippolyta.

There's a deeper symmetry too...on Earth-2, you have Diana and her daughter Hippolyta. On post COIE Earth, you have Hippolyta and her daughter Diana. I've described the similarities between E-2 Diana and Hippolyta...if you think about it both Lyta/Fury and our Diana have some interesting similarities as well. They're both unusual in their births (Lyta as daughter of Diana and Steve, Diana in her clay origin), they're both very young compared to the other Amazons, they're both more academically/scholarly inclined than their mothers...

Maybe that's why Lyta ended up killed off in JSA. It's not that her backstory was too confusing...it's that, basically, she's a redundant parallel, when Diana is as much a counter of the original Fury as she is, in a way.

EiE: Infusing Estrogen in the JSA 3: A Sidekick for Wildcat?

This week's Infusing Estrogen idea came about in the replies of one of the previous posts. As I am, at this moment, too lazy to track it down, I'll reiterate the idea here.

Basically, I really like the idea of setting Holly up as a future successor for Wildcat.

I'd like to clarify, I do NOT mean that I'd support a replacement of Ted Grant any time soon. For one thing, I think that would lead to exactly the same problems we saw with poor Yolanda. It's a very bad idea to suddenly replace a popular character for someone new.

However, it must be noted that Ted is in a strange place right now as the JSA goes. He's skirting the line between Supernatural and Human in my opinion. He's a character with origins in the 1940s and a supernatural way to have existed so long, but he doesn't really share the same otherworldly quality that Jay, Alan or Carter have. He's, as described in the comments there, a normal guy with a few tricks up his sleeves.

Those tricks though have run out. In JSA Classified, Wildcat was officially dropped down to his last life. Which means that barring any admittedly likely bizarre event, Ted Grant is now mortal. Which means that he can be a Father. His name can be a legacy to pass down.

Now, since Ted is such a popular character, and really no one wants to see him leave any time soon anyway, it's important to establish a successor with a role outside of just being his replacement. I'd actually go so far as to choose an already created character for this role: Holly Robinson from Catwoman.

Personally, I don't think Selina's going to keep from being Catwoman for much longer. It's just not going to happen. She's already suiting up and I doubt that's going to stop. This means though that Holly's in danger. A second Catwoman? Can we say "Redundant Character"? As cool as it'd be to have both run around, it's never going to last forever, eventually someone's going to write a story where Holly is killed to cause Selina angst. I'm sure of it.

While I don't necessarily resent that in principle, I'd hate to see that happen to Holly. I think Holly's interesting and I particularly like her relationship with Wildcat. They've got, I think, a very personal relationship, but one that lacks the particular sexual undercurrents Ted has with Selina, for example. Theirs feels more familial, already more father and daughter.

Which is why I'd like to see Holly pulled in as a sidekick character for Wildcat. Wildcat shines when he has a student and Holly is cute and charming and could really benefit from working with the legends of the DCU. I think that it would be interesting to see her interactions with the different people in the JSA.

I think placing her in a position similar to Sandy the Golden Boy's was for Wes, it would give her a chance to establish a presence in the JSA long term, to build relationships and interactions that will strengthen her own ties to the JSA. Whether or not Ted ever does get written out himself.

I think thematically, she'd work well as a sidekick to Ted. She's a physical fighter like he is, without powers (that are applicable in a fight at least) and she's dressed up like a cat in public. Then eventually (FAR in the future), when Ted sees fit to retire, there will be a very logical successor in the wings. One that fans of the series will be familiar with and hopefully accept in the role.