DC Comic Rants and Analyses

Comic Rants, Analyses, Comic Reviews, and DC TV Show Theories posted on Tuesdays 3 pm EST. Feel free to sumbit characters and comic arcs to get analyzed! Inbox is open!

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Character and Comic Master List

Characters

Obsidian here

The Spectre here

Booster Gold here

Hourman here

Dr. Mid-Nite here

Green Lantern/Sentinel pt 1

Stargirl here

Comics

Joker: Last Laugh here

Jay's Honeymoon here

Misc Analyses

The JSA and Masks here

Who are the JSA here

TV Show Theories

Stargirl Season 3 Theories here

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Stargirl Season 3 Theories

Stargirl Season 2 has opened up a variety of possibilities so here are a handful of theories that are possible and some evidence to support them. This could have some spoilers for season 2.

Return of the Seven Soldiers of Victory

Sylvester is back

We haven't seen Justin since he went off to find them

I just think it could be fun and it gives some more villain options of they do that

Introduction of more original JSA members

Sylvester is still alive which shows that fight was not as fatal as we thought it was

Charles is also alive and well

There seems to be a theme of seeing them in flashbacks before they get reintroduced

I would personally like to see Ted Grant alive and well this isn't a good reason I just want to see him in the show

Introduction of more Infinity Inc Members

Mr. Bones and Todd Rice aka Obsidian have both been teased

Jennie Lynn has been introduced

It would make sense given the current JSA team lineup

Beth's Infinity Inc costume has been teased and it means she gets a cool one

It creates a gateway to kill off Sylvester if the showrunners want to do that, creates a gateway for Charles to take on the Starman title briefly, and creates a way to introduce Jack Knight

Introduction of more reformed JSA Members

Rick and Courtney both have those costumes from that era of comics

Jakeem has been introduced

It makes a little more sense with the possible teased role of Mr. Bones

Todd has been teased

Mr. Bones is the initial villain alongside Helix

Would be in line with the Infinity Inc line-up

Evades making Todd Rice a villain which also doesn't make sense with Eclipso "dead"

More of a reformed JSA vibe with Black Adam or Mordu as a villain

Gives a chance to introduce Dr. Fate

May introduce the Hawks thanks to the Shade's prolonged appearance in the show

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Who are the JSA?

Content Warnings: Spoilers for Stargirl

Summary: The Justice Society of America has a long history, but who are the Justice Society of America in Stargirl's TV Show?

Comic Issues: Stargirl TV Show, Infinity Inc (1984-1988), JSA (1999- ), Justice Society of America (2007-2011)

The Justice Society of America was founded in World War 2. In the comics it's had a variety of members from Kal-L to Hippolyta to Thom Kallor as Starman, a man who is normally a member of the Legion of Superheroes.

In Stargirl, we're introduced to the core members of the JSA before Courtney Whitmore's: Charles McNider aka Dr. Mid-Nite, Sylvester Pemberton aka Starman, Jay Garrick aka The Flash, Ted Grant aka Wildcat, Dr. Fate who can only assumed to be Kent Nelson, Johny Thunder and the Thunderbolt, Rex Tyler aka Hourman, Alan Scott aka Green Lantern, and Pat Dugan aka Stripsey. In the picture we can also see Carter Hall aka Hawkman, Shayera Hall aka Hawkgirl, and Wes Dodds aka Sandman. After the JSA appeared to die in a battle on Christmas Eve against the ISA, the few members who did survive went into hiding.

Courtney Whitmore brought back the JSA, her team includes Yolanda Montez aka Wildcat, Rick Tyler aka Hourman, Beth Chapel aka Dr. Mid-Nite, and S.T.R.I.P.E.. We've also been introduced to Jennie-Lynn Hayden, the daughter of Alan Scott, we know the name of her twin brother, Todd Rice, and we've been introduced to Jakeem Williams and Mr. Bones.

This lineup doesn't really fit with any specific team, some of the characters are truly JSA members when it reforms in the comics. But some of these members do belong to a different tea: Meet Infinity Inc founding members Jennie-Lynn Hayden aka Jade, Todd Rice aka Obsidian, Sylvester Pemberton aka Skyman, Rick Tyler aka Hourman, Beth Chapel aka Dr. Midnight. That's right, the team we're slowly watching build in the TV show is not an iteration of the JSA, but instead Infinity Inc. When the kids of the first JSA wanted membership, their parents initially refused to grant it to them, so they set out and formed their own team. It had more members, including Henry King aka Brainwave, Al Rothstein aka Nuklon, Hector Hall aka Silver Scarab, Lyta Trevor aka Fury, and Mr. Bones to name a handful of them.

Of the members the TV show has introduced so far, two of them have never been on the JSA: Yolonda Montez and Beth Chapel. Both die while they were with Infinity Inc. Rick Tyler ends up briefly retiring from being Hourman before he would eventually go on to join the JSA. Todd and Jennie have both worked with the JSA but in recent comics, they've been reserve members and not full-time members. What happens to Sylvester? Well, he dies shortly after Pat Dugan agrees to be Infinity Inc's mechanic.

Why does anything matter? Well, no one said DC TV Shows were the most accurate when it came to their comic source material. So technically we can ignore comics and continue to take this as it's presented, but instead it becomes an interesting point for speculation if you remember that Infinity Inc was made up of the children and younger associates of the original JSA, and it makes you wonder who they'll introduce next.

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Stargirl

Content Warnings: NA

Summary: In comics, Courtney Whitmore is Stargirl, the all-American sweetheart and a member of the JSA when it reforms. In CW’s Stargirl, She’s a founding member of the reformed JSA. These Characters share the same name, but how similar are they really? WARNING: This post contains spoilers for Stargirl

Comic Issues: Justice League United, Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E, JSA, Justice Society of America (2006-), JSA: Classified(2006-), JSA All-Stars

Let’s talk comics. Courtney grew up in Beverly Hills, CA with her mom, and everything was going well for her until her mother married Patrick Dugan, aka Stripsey. They moved out to Blue Valley and Courtney was miserable. While unpacking the house, she discovered the Cosmic Converter and the costume Sylvester Pemberton used to wear. To annoy Pat, she changed the costume to fit it better and wore it to her school dance. It was there that Courtney was attacked by brainwashed students and she discovered that the belt gave her enhanced speed and strength. Courtney discovers that the reason Pat moved them out to Blue Valley was because of a tip he got from Sir Justin, a member of the Seven Soldiers of Victory, a Team Pat and Sylvester had been a part of.

Pat didn’t want his step-daughter wearing the costume at all, let alone being a hero. And this continues to be an on going battle between them. Eventually, Courtney would become a member of the JSA where she would discover that she does genuinely enjoy helping people even if it eats into her grades. As a young and impressionable hero, she became the unofficial granddaughter of the JSA Senior Statesmen and she has been an integral member of the team. Courtney has also served as a member of Justice League United, where she was involved in protecting the galaxy.

Her relationship with Pat is strained when her step-brother, Mike Dugan, shows up at their home in Blue Valley and he insists on being the one to become his father’s sidekick as the Star-Spangled Kid. This leads to the cosmic converter getting broken shortly before their home was attacked by the dragon king and Courtney ends up getting the original gold one.

Eventually, Courtney gets her own Cosmic Rod which she uses throughout her duration on the JSA and JLU. She looks up to the JSA and she willingly wants to learn from them.

Now let’s take a look at the show. In the show, Courtney is still miserable about the move from sunny California to Blue Valley, Nebraska, but her step-brother is no surprise to her as she’s been forced to share a road trip with him and his dog the whole time. They ended up making the move because of Barbara’s new job where she was unknowingly working for the Injustice Society of America.

Courtney struggles to make friends as she starts her new school and also struggles to find extracurriculars to take on. While her comic counterpart eventually became a cheerleader to keep up her lies to her mother, her show counterpart thus far has not become a Cheerleader. On her first day, she ends up sitting at a table with Beth Chapel, Rick Tyler, and Yolanda Montez.

After a rough first day, she decides to go into the basement where she discovers the Cosmic Staff and that Pat Dugan used to be a member of the Justice Society of America known as Stripsey. She also mistakes Sylvester as her father from a grainy picture in her locket of her biological father. This leads her to believe that it’s her destiny to become Stargirl, after her late father. Pat doesn’t believe she’s Sylvester’s daughter, but he humors her.

Courtney wastes no time fashioning herself a new costume out of Sylvester’s old one, nor does she waste any time making enemies out of the ISA, starting with Brainwave. In order to stop their evil plan, Courtney recruits her unwilling lunchtime companions and they reform the JSA. Yolanda becomes Wildcat, Rick takes on his father’s mantle of Hourman, and Beth becomes the new Dr. Mid-Nite. By the end of Season 1, they’ve stopped the Injustice Society and avenged pretty much every member of the old JSA who is believed to be dead.

Season 2 starts out with Courtney trying to find a reason to keep going on patrol and she initially fails until Cindy Burnham shows back up with the Black Diamond and begins to recruit the children of the ISA to form her own team.

Courtney’s paranoia is justified as Eclipso is released and they initially join forces with Richard Swift, AKA the Shade. Though the battle against Eclipso begins to tear the team apart as he feeds on their darkest fears. Courtney is the only one who seems to be unaffected by him. She almost loses all of her friends in the process.

When she finally admits to hating Eclipso after they managed to save the original Dr. Mid-Nite, Charles McNider from the Shadow Realm, Sylvester shows up and reminds her that the staff chose her because of the light inside of her. This gives her the strength to fight off Eclipso and save the world from being trapped in the shadows.

Over all, the two variations of Courtney Whitmore couldn’t be more different from the surface assessment of their full histories, instead of Courtney starting out as a hero annoying Pat, she starts out wanting to avenge the JSA. The TV Show Courtney has met characters that were already dead by the time Comic Courtney was a member of the JSA. That being said, the show isn’t an unfaithful adaption of the character, some of her important history was preserved, like her biological father being a jerk asking for the locket back and her knowing that it was just a scam, or Courtney’s main villain being Cindy Buram better known as Shiv. I’ll be interested to see how Stargirl handles Courtney’s character in the future to see how true it remains, but one thing is clear: The JSA in the show is more like Infinity Inc than the Justice Society of America.

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Obsidian

Content Warning: DC has questionable portrayals of mental illness yet again, mentions of Alcoholism and abuse

Summary: A brief character summary of Todd Rice is the son of the first Green Lantern and a founding member of infinity inc.

Comic Issues: Manhunter (2004-) #18, DC Pride 1, JSA (2000-),

Todd Rice is the son of Alan Scott (Green Lantern/Sentinel) and Rose Canton (Thorn). He’s the twin brother of Jennie-Lynn Hayden and the ‘domestic partner’ (DC just call them boyfriends) of Damon Matthews. Todd and Jennie-Lynn were conceived during the short honeymoon that Alan and Rose had. Rose faked her death in the fire that burned down their cabin and later gave up Todd and Jennie-Lynn for adoption, fearing that her alternate personality, Thorn would try to hurt the kids.

Todd grew up in an abusive home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His adoptive father was an alcoholic and you can imagine how that worked out for Todd. He met his twin sister as a teenager and the two became superheroes Obsidian and Jade, deciding to follow in the Green Lantern’s footsteps as at the time they were only assuming that Alan was their father.

Jennie and Todd were founding members of Infinity Inc, a team of heroes that was mostly full of the kids of the JSA as they had been denied JSA membership initially. Todd at one point had a conversation with Albert Rothstein who was going by Nuklon at the time and currently goes by Atom Smasher where Todd said that he was pretty certain the only people he could ever love were his sister and Al (that’s pretty gay bro).

Todd inherited schizophrenia from his mother (he was and currently is medicated for this), but the thing that actually did him in was the fact that his powers include a connection to the shadow realm. As a result, he was able to see the blackness within others’ souls. This ability gradually drove him insane. During his insanity, he began a revenge plot against both of his fathers, with Ian Karkull influencing him.

His ‘insanity’ was cured only after Todd joined forces with Eclipso and Mordru to seek vengeance against Alan (again. He failed twice). Todd retired from being a hero, which lead to some introspection and the realization that he was in fact gay. He then ended up meeting and falling in love with Damon Matthews, an Assistant District Attorney who works with Kate Spencer aka Manhunter. His powers go dormant until Jennie dies, which leads to him being a hero again but still dating Damon. Damon and Todd are trying to (or were trying to who knows with what DC is doing these days) to adopt a child together with no success due to the fact that Todd tried to plunge the world into eternal darkness. Apparently, that’s disqualifying for adoption.

Now back as a hero, he joins the JSA and serves as the security guard at their headquarters. He also has a whole plotline where he becomes a shadow-y egg and it’s a whole thing but basically, that was nullified so I won’t deal with that.

Todd and Alan are estranged at best, and they have a rocky relationship though they agree that they love each other. In DC Pride, Todd and Alan share a heart to heart where Alan explains that Todd being openly gay and happy is what gave Alan the strength to come out which is incredibly sweet when you remember that Alan lived through the 20s, 30s, 40s, etc where being openly gay was a good way to have an awful life.

Overall, Todd’s wonderful. He’s funny, he’s multitalented (the man can fly helicopters), he’s also very honest and he’s able to keep others on his toes (He joked once that he was ‘cured from being gay’ just to get to look at the expressions of the various JSA members and lemme tell you their expressions were genuinely priceless). Todd and Damon are also really cute together and DC needs to let them stay happy.

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The Spectre

Content Warning: Mentions of homophobia, the aids crisis, parental abuse

Summary: Jim Corrigan was the literal dead man walking of the JSA bound to an entity older than comprehension. A walking good cop bad cop who would judge the souls of others. That's one way to handle problems.

Comic Issues: The Spectre (1992- 1997)

James Brendan Corrigan is the Spectre, an agent of God’s Vengeance or Wrath (you can take your pick). He was the son of the fire and brimstone preacher Jebediah Corrigan, who was so abusive that Jim had the fear of God beaten out of him. He grew up traveling the country with his father, meaning he never really had friends growing up. The one friend he did have ended up dying in a storm because his father was having an affair with Rafe’s mother.

He would eventually go on to be a cop in New York City where he got engaged to Clarice Winston. Jim was a hardass who didn’t show mercy or compassion to anyone breaking the law.

In 1939, he and his fiancé were captured by “Gat” Benson. Benson killed him the way any good mobster would, he put Jim in a barrel filled with cement and then dumped him into the river. He was offered a chance to seek justice, which he took in a heartbeat, binding him to Spectre.

During World War 2, he was a member of the All-Star Squadron, the precursor to the Justice Society of America, and disappeared without a trace after the JSA temporarily disbanded in 1951.

Being dead wouldn’t stop Corrigan from being a detective, he continued his activities with NYPD, focusing more on earthly crimes as there were less cosmical threats for him to deal with after he defeated Azmodus. Jim went through a period of time where he couldn’t remember that he was the Spectre and continued to work as a detective. Eventually he would give up some of his power to Madame Xandu because it was overwhelming.

Jim would end up meeting and working with Detective Nate Kane and Amy Beitermann. Corrigan would find himself falling in love with Amy, only for her to be murdered by the man who she unknowingly infected. She and Corrigan would only be able to end up together through his eventual 'death'.

Jim Corrigan's an interesting character because he acts like a product of his time. What was really interesting was his 1992-1997 run where he does a lot but the big thing that happens is he goes to stop people from killing these two gay men and then when they ask him to do more, they rightfully accuse Jim of homophobia. So he talks to his buddy who at the time was still a catholic priest and the Priest asks him "what would you do if I told you I was gay?" Jim nopes out of there and has to wrestle with his homophobia.

I think it's interesting because out of all of the JSA members, Jim's comics are the only ones that reflect the time period in which Jim was initially created in and the period he was interacting with. Not only that but the whole point of his comics tends to be him wrestling with the problems of the day and the fact that he has to be involved in them.

Jim comes to term with his homophobia by setting it aside and that sets him off on a whole crisis of faith where he gets rightly accused of being self-absorbed because he is. Jim Corrigan quite literally didn’t trust God’s judgement (paraphrased quote) so he teamed up with the spirit of wrath to make sure punishment was dealt to the men who killed him. Then, during a crisis of faith, he wondered if maybe God was just a figment of his imagination.

Anyways, his comic run ends with him planning his own funeral so he could finally find rest, ending his time as the Spectre setting someone else up to be the host.

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Booster Gold

Content Warnings: N/A

Summary: A brief character history and analysis of Booster Gold, the greatest hero you've never heard of.

Comic Issues: Booster Gold (2007-2011)

Booster Gold, legal name Michael Jon Carter, is the greatest hero you've never heard of. To a majority of the Justice League, he's not taken very seriously as a hero and it's easy to see why. The man has had more advertising deals than most heroes, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Booster was born in the 25th century Gotham City. He has a younger twin sister Michelle Carter. His father left his mother when he was young to follow his one true love, gambling. Booster ended up getting a sports scholarship to Gotham University where he played football. When his mother needed rather expensive medical treatment, he began to gamble on his own games. He got caught and was forced to quit. He ended up working in a museum where he ended up stealing the items for his Booster Gold costume. He traveled back in time to the 21st century to reinvent himself as a superhero, determined to become a member of the greatest Justice League of all time.

He ended up joining Justice League International, a branch of the Justice League after hiring the Royal Flush gang to make an impressive interview. While he served as a member of the JLI, he met Ted Kord, the second Blue Beetle, his best friend. While the two pulled several pranks on the rest of the league, they both knew how to be serious. A post about Ted and Booster to come later.

Booster has a rather public persona as either a Jackass or an idiot depending on how good his reputation is starting to look and how he needs to knock it back. The reason for this is because Booster has the very important job of protecting the time stream, and unfortunately, history has decided that he was an idiot. The few people who happen to know better are Rani, Rip, Michelle, Ted, Bruce, and Dick.

A few things astute readers have already noticed, I haven't referred to Booster as Michael or Mikey. While a handful of people have called him that- his adopted daughter Rani and his sister. Very few people tend to call Booster by his first name whether he's in or out of costume. The few exceptions are for when he's getting lectured. Booster was actually a nickname he got when he was still playing football, when he had initially introduced himself, he meant to call himself "Gold Star" but screwed up, leading to him being "Booster Gold" instead. When Michelle comes back to the past with him, she takes on the name "Goldstar" instead.

Booster has attempted to go back to change solid time several times, this has lead to him being held prisoner by the Joker and tortured when he tried to prevent the Joker from shooting Barbara Gordon. Bruce ended up getting the pictures from that night which lead to him respecting Booster for what he does. He also tried to save Ted Kord which lead to a timeline where O.M.A.C.s and Maxwell Lord took over the world. He uses his cover as a 'fool' to protect his identity, and he succeeds. History only remembers him as a fool, but his attempts also earn him the respect of Dick Grayson as well as Bruce Wayne.

The first incident was a lesson from Rip Hunter, a time master who uses an alias to obfuscate his timeline who just so happens to be Booster's son. The second incident was a result of Booster getting manipulated by the Time Stealers because he wanted to believe Ted could be saved so badly.

Booster has often been at odds with his son when it comes to how the time line could best be protected, but an older Booster understands exactly why things had to happen the way they did. It's not a situation Rip enjoys finding himself in, but in order to preserve the time line, his father can't know, at least not at the ages that Rip has seen him so far.

In spite of Booster's externally cheerful disposition, he hides a lot of grief and anger, likely compounded by the fact that he can't really talk about it with anyone. Protecting the time line means he's had to ensure that Coast City is destroyed or that Ted Kord dies, or that 30th century Daxam is destroyed by Darkseid. All of those things have to happen, and it takes a toll on him, even if he tries not to show it.

Booster gets a lot of flack from all sorts of heroes for being an idiot, an imagine he has carefully crafted. But I think for right now, it's worth acknowledging that he is the greatest hero most heroes in the DC universe would never hear of.

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Joker: Last Laugh

Content Warnings: Cancer, Murder, swearing (on the part of the author writing the review), honestly probably more but I could not tell you what they are

Summary: The Joker is dying and taking the world with him. Meanwhile, I'm dying because there are glaring inconsistencies and I read all 46 issues only to be left feeling underwhelmed.

Comic Issues Involved: Joker: Last Laugh 1-6 written by Chuck Dixon, Young Justice 1998 #38 written by Peter David, Orion #19 written by Walt Simonson, Azrael: Agent of the Bat #83 written by Dennis O'Neil, Joker: Last Laugh Secret Files #1, Superman (1986-2006) #175 written by Jeph Loeb, Batman: Gotham Knights #22 written by Devin Grayson, Birds of Prey 1998 #36 written by Chuck Dixon, Nightwing 1996 #62 written by Chuck Dixon, Impulse #79 written by Todd Dezago, Batgirl 2000 #21 written by Kelley Puckett, Superboy 1993 #93 written by Joe Kelly, Detective Comics 1937 #763 written by Greg Rucka, JSA #29 written by Geoff Johns, Harley Quinn 2000 #13 written by Kark Kesel, Adventures of Superman (1987 - 2006) #597 written by Joe Casey, The Flash (1987-2009) #179 written by Geoff Johns, Superman: The Man of Steel #119 written by Mark Schultz, Supergirl 1996 #63 written by Peter David, Green Lantern 1990 #143 written by Judd Winick, Wonder Woman 1986 #175 written by Phil Jimenez, Robin 1993 #95 written by Chuck Dixon, JLA #59 written by Chuck Dixon, Batman 1940 #596 written by Ed Brubaker, Action Comics 1938 #784 written by Joe Kelly, The Titans #34 written by James M. Faerber

This whole plotline is all this man's fault. Anyways- more below.

The Joker's Last Laugh is a 6 main issue storyline with 40 tie-in issues. The basic premise is as follows: The Joker is told that he has a massive tumor in his brain and he's dying. The Joker then decides that he's going to take as much of the world with him as he can before he dies.

Some really batshit stuff happens in all 46 issues, and I do mean batshit. Every single villain held in this top security prison called The Slab gets Jokerized and somehow it manages to escalate from there. There is a massive prison break as the meta inhibiting collars are disabled and Jokerized villains now run rampant on the world. And while I could deep dive the plot or every issue I frankly just... do not want to. Its supervillains turned up to 11; frankly it's kinda boring. I mean the whole premise is set up in a way where you cannot really convincingly raise the stakes. It's just... all climax if you're only reading for the Joker.

There are a few interesting little tidbits that come up but they also just aren't worth the effort. What is interesting is following the Bats.

At the very beginning of issue 1, Dick manages to convince Babs to leave her many monitors behind for a while and just have a normal day. While they're out on the date this conversation comes up between them:

The issue with wanting the Joker dead specifically and what does or doesn't make something revenge is a point worth exploring. If you consider why Dick and Bruce both became vigilantes... Babs is right. They did it for revenge. Sure it's phrased as "wanting justice" but what is that if not revenge said another way?

The point Dick is making is that they don't kill, which still isn't the most accurate of statements, and an argument could be made that in the shape they've left some of their villains, death would have been merciful. And even if in their histories up until that point they hadn't killed any of their villains- they've certainly had some very dark runs where they've gotten very close before. Neither here nor there for the moment.

Babs and Dick return from their date to see the Jokerized prisoners on the screens and Babs understandably feels guilty because she looked away once. This guilt obviously stems from her trauma with how she became the Oracle (a post perhaps for another time). Bruce and Dick break into the Slab to try to run damage control and find Dinah, who went in when she saw the original feed. For some reason, there's a supervillain that can make singularities and that's a whole thing I don't even want to get into. Anyways, the Slab is sucked into a black hole, Dick, Dinah, and Bruce barely escape thanks to Ted Kord hanging around in his beetle ship.

Plot continues as plot must. The world has gone to shit. The Joker has some of his Jokerized villains try to kidnap Harley Quinn so he can forcibly impregnate her and that literally never comes up outside of the issue it's introduced it. If you read all 46 issues, the ones that focus on Harley Quinn Never Again Mention That. Instead, it mentions how the Joker just wanted her dead. I can't even be mad at that because It Just Isn't Plot Relevant.

Anyways we finally get a proper follow-up to the conversation of revenge, the only thing that made the whole arc worth reading:

We're going to ignore Dick's gravity-defying hair because... yeah. And we're going to focus on the fact that Dick still firmly believes there's a non-lethal way to handle the Joker. I mean, there isn't because DC won't let him stay dead, but the ideal is something very intrinsic to who Dick is still as a hero at this point. This clashing viewpoint with the reality of the situation is definitively interesting because yes, it wouldn't actually bring closure. Murder is bad. The analysis of the risks of letting the Joker live means that arguably... not killing him is morally wrong. By this point. Thousands have died because of the Jokerized villains, if not hundreds of thousands.

Now admittedly to have prevented this, you have to go back in time and deck the doctor who forged the Joker's test results to make it look like the Clown Bastard had cancer in the first place, but the potential for something like this to have happened was always there. In fact, every time someone has tried to show the Joker that he needed to change his ways it always catastrophically backfired. In a Spectre comic for example, Jim Corrigan discovered that the Joker Genuinely Cannot Feel Remorse. But sure, a cancer diagnosis was going to make him become a model citizen.

Then we discover that the specific compounds that made all the villains Jokerized is killing them. And no one is surprised. Harley is helping with the antidote and again, no one is surprised. It feels like an MCU movie plotline.

Issue 5 we start to get somewhere again that prompts a future interesting exchange. Tim Drake, the current Robin, has gone rogue in all of this and is seemingly eaten by a Jokerized Killer Croc. All Helena can find is Tim's costume shirt under the water next to some bones.

And in issue 6, Dick Grayson snaps. Tim's apparent death pushes Dick off whatever cliff he was hanging onto and suddenly Babs's tune changes:

Up until this point, their roles were reversed. Dick was the one reminding Babs that killing the Joker wouldn't change anything, but this? This is the line Dick had drawn in the sand.

Dick goes to confront the Joker in the church and the two have a fist fight that is very one sided, in the favor of Dick. Dick proceeds to beat the Joker to death, unaware of the fact that Tim is actually alive. His comms just got busted and he had to ditch his costume shirt to escape Killer Croc, aside from a few injuries of course.

Tim shows up at the church to try to stop Dick, and Dick initially assumes that he's hallucinated Tim's presence. When he realizes that it really was Tim, the damage had been done. Now, we don't ever see who actually resuscitates the Joker, but there are only two possibilities with how the frame is set up, Bruce or Tim. It doesn't actually say, but one can infer that Bruce is the one who resuscitated the Joker.

So objectively, Joker lost the fight with Dick, but technically, this was a win for the Joker. The world was flung into chaos, the Bats are all shaken. He got his victory. Even with a death experience thrown in there. But this frustrates me because there's a difference. Dick didn't just set out to kill everyone- he settled on the Joker. If he were to have gone after Tim's "Killer" That should have been Killer Croc, but somewhere in Dick's head he decided that Croc was just another victim, so he went after Joker.

The whole premise of this storyline is that the Joker believed he was dying and decided he wanted to take as much of the world as he could with him. Dick decided that he was going to kill the Joker in a long awaited act of vengeance. The two motivations are not the same yet the emphasis is being placed on the actions- to which case even then it is not the same. The moral standard here is not being applied equally, which is really frustrating.

To end this long rant, Joker: Last Laugh is a mediocre plotline that has only a few good things that make it worth even considering reading, but I'd save the energy for something else.

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Hourman

Content Warnings: Drug Addiction

Summary: A brief character analysis about both Rex and Rick Tyler.

Comic Issues Involved: JSA 1999-2006, JSA: Classified 2005-2008, Justice Society of America 2007-2011, Hawkman (2002-2006) #23, Hourman

Let’s Talk About The Hourmen- Specifically Rex Tyler and Rick Tyler.

Rex Tyler was the very first Hourman, he developed the drug that he called Miraclo which gave him superhuman abilities for one hour at a time. These abilities include superhuman strength, superhuman durability, superhuman stamina, and superhuman agility. Now there was technically nothing stopping Rex from taking more than one in a twenty-four hour period except for his mind as a scientist realizing that it wouldn’t be a good idea.

Miraclo wasn’t inherently addictive, it was supposed to be the super vitamin. Rex discovered that concentrated amounts of it would give him these superhuman abilities for an hour but it would then leave the subject weakened and a normal human.

When Rex joined the JSA after 11 months of being a solo hero, he further strengthened Miraclo- leading to it becoming addictive. The drug would make him anxious and talkative when he used it.

Dr. Charles McNider was strongly against Rex using Miraclo

Prolonged use of this version of the drug started to leave Rex with nasty side effects, causing him to have to take more Miraclo to try to counteract the side effects. At one point this led to him having a heart attack. It took magical intervention from Dr. Fate to save his life. He ended up retiring after that event.

Rex eventually married Wendi Harris, an up and coming actress and they had a son, Richard “Rick” Tyler. Rex was not a good father- when he wasn’t working he was being a superhero and he was arguable as addicted to being a hero as he was to the drug that gave him his powers.

There were two sources of friction between Rex and Rick: the first was that Rick had no interest in anything academic, the second was that Rex didn’t want Rick to take Miraclo at all or take up the mantle of Hourman because he knew the drug was addictive. Rex has said that he didn’t want Rick to take Miraclo until he had managed to neutralize its addictive properties.

When the JSA ended up in Limbo, Rick took up the mantle full time. By the time the JSA came back, Rick had contracted leukemia (not sure that’s how it works but okay) due to the prolonged exposure to Miraclo. Johnny Quick would later teach them how to access their powers without Miraclo.

Extant would eventually kill Rex. Rick’s sweetheart in Infinite Inc was none other than Beth Chapel, Dr. Midnight, and a massive blow was dealt to him when she was murdered by Eclipso.

Rick retired from being a superhero after that. An android Hourman would approach Rick, giving him an hourglass that would let him visit his father for a grand total of one hour in the Timepoint. The android would also cure Rick’s cancer and give him the gift to sometimes see an hour into the future.

Rick would become Hourman once again, now using a nonaddictive form of Miraclo. This would give him the chance to meet Jesse Chambers, the JSA’s business manager who also is known as both Jesse Quick and Liberty Belle. The two would eventually get married and have a son, Johnny Tyler.

Rex and Rick's relationship didn't end with Rex's death. Rex's workshop was time displaced, giving them both one hour together. During that hour, Rex and Rick have talked about how to stop various villains and fixed their relationship some. A more important conversation is one that took place when Rick was supposed to be enjoying himself in St. Roch, featured below:

Rick and Rex could not be more different from one another. For one thing, Rick learned from his father’s mistakes, managing to find himself in a happy marriage with a son instead of being an absent father like Rex was. He’s learned that he is likely to get addicted to various things, overcome that addiction, and isn’t even seen as weaker for his past addictions.

Of the Hourmen, Rick is the superior hero. And that’s the hill I will die on.

[dccomicrants]

Dr. Mid-Nite

Content Warnings: Drugging

Summary: Brief character summaries of Dr. Charles McNider and Dr. Pieter Cross

Comic Issues Involved: Dr. Mid-Nite by Matt Wagner and John K. Snyder III, Hawkman 2002-2006 issue 23-25 by Geoff Johns and Rags Morales, JSA 1999-2006, JSA: Classified 2005-2008, Justice Society of America 2007-2011

There have been 3 characters to use the name Dr. Mid-Nite. The first was Dr. Charles McNider, Dr. Beth Chapel was the second, and the third and current Dr. Mid-Nite is Pieter Cross. Now, since Beth Chapel was with Infinity Inc and not an iteration of the JSA, she’ll probably eventually get her own post. Part of the reason I am also delaying her post is because she’s a main character of Stargirl and I don’t want to walk into spoiler territory.

We will start with Charles McNider and then we will move to Pieter Cross. I love them both and they can both be in the same post for reasons you will discover.

Charles and his nurse/assistant Myra Mason had been working on a new anti-viral serum when the police knocked on his office door. McNider was told that a known gangster named Killer Maroni had attempted to assassinate a key witness and that the witness needed emergency treatment. McNider rushed over to treat the witness, and while he was operating, a thug named Mike threw a hand grenade through the window, killing everyone except McNider. Glass exploded into his eyes, permanently robbing of his sight.

McNider put himself into an intense therapy program and found that he developed more energy at night. This led to him spending several evenings practicing gymnastics and working out. During all of this, Myra ended up falling in love with him.

Since he was no longer able to practice medicine, he turned to writing determined to expose the criminal underworld. Including targeting Killer Maroni.

One night, an owl crashed into his study, causing McNider to take off the bandages on his eyes. He discovered that he could see perfectly in the dark. He turned on the lights and found himself blinded again. When he turned off the light switch, he was able to treat the owl whom he named Hootie.

With his new night vision, he made a costume and started to deal with crime more directly as Dr. Mid-Nite.

Now, Charles is interesting for a variety of reasons, but the one I want to focus on is the fact that there was a very popular theory that he was gay. Charles and Myra, despite having many storylines together and despite Myra being madly in love with him never date. They never pursue a romantic relationship. The line that is often quoted is as follows “She had love for me. It was a love doomed from the start… but I could never quite bring myself to tell her.” In an interview with one of the writers, it was cleared up that it was his dual life not him being gay. This makes sense and would fall in line with some of who Charles is but it doesn’t quite ring true (sure the official writer came out and said it but I Strongly Disagree With The Writer). Refer to the fact that Charles became a hero in 1941, held a respectable position as a surgeon, was a Captain in the Army during World War 2, and was in a mostly all-boys club also known as the All-Star Squadron and later the Justice Society of America. Yes, you can make the argument that the comics are sexist and blah blah blah- The only female members ever of the JSA for a while were Hippolyta, Dinah Drake, and Kara Zor-El. Not all at the same time.

Charles is very dedicated to his work, he knows the JSA well, and he knows Theodore Knight (He will get his own post in time), the first Starman, well enough that when Ted had a mental breakdown as he dealt with the implications of his involvement in the Manhattan project that he took up the mantle of Starman.

So, Charles McNider- A man who is too focused on his dual life to date Myra, a woman he has known for years, hangs up his costume to take on a friend’s costume until he recovers? As favors go, that’s a pretty big one. And it’s not one to take up lightly in light of Charles’s blindness without infrared goggles. Now I’ve mentioned that Charles said he never considered telling Myra his secret identity, yet he cares enough about Ted’s mental health that he took on the name Starman. I rest my case.

Charles is also on the record of saying that he doesn’t like the effects of Rex Tyler’s Miraclo and that he thinks it’s dangerous. He cares about the health of his teammates and friends.

I said earlier that Charles had some connection to Pieter Cross, and he does! The first time Charles met Pieter, he actually delivered him! Charles McNider, one of the few mentors who can say that he literally brought his protégé into the world. Charles would later go on to train both Beth Chapel and Pieter Cross.

Pieter Cross is an absolutely brilliant man, he graduated from Harvard at 19 and immigrated to America from Norway.

At some point, he moved to Portsmouth City, Oregon, and began to investigate A39, a drug derived from Venom (not the alien goo, the stuff Bane takes). Pieter found out that it was being produced by Paraeda Industries. To try to silence him, they had him knocked out and injected with A39 before putting him behind the wheel of a car. He woke up just as the car struck and killed a woman. The drug left him blind to normal light but able to see in the dark just fine.

He eventually ended up joining the JSA, specifically around the time that Todd Rice aka Obsidian aka Alan Scott’s son seemed to become a supervillain (Todd will also be getting his own post at some point). He had a short-lived relationship with Dinah Lance. You know what relationship isn’t short-lived? His friendship with the current Mr. Terrific, Michael Holt. The two play scrabble frequently together and have a very solid friendship.

Pieter Cross is devoutly Christian and Michael is a staunch atheist (this is only ironic because of how Michael ended up becoming Mr. Terrific. Different Post for a different time). They have had many genuine conversations about faith, and what I’m about to say is vitally important- Pieter has never once forced his beliefs onto Michael.

More facts about Pieter? Pieter runs a website as Dr. Mid-Nite where he provides free medical advice to registered users. He supports Sex Workers and treats them with dignity and respect, he runs a free clinic in Portsmouth to treat people, he runs a needle exchange program. What’s Not To Love About Pieter? Oh- he also developed a sober pill that allows him to drink small amounts of alcohol and not become inebriated. His owl is named Charlie after Charles McNider. When the JSA and JLA had thanksgiving together, he volunteered for monitor duty because he didn’t want to see Dinah (and Alan ratted him out). He’s also a vegetarian and he practices yoga.

[dccomicrants]

Green Lantern/Sentinel Part 1

Content Warnings: DC's questionable portrayal of mental illnesses, Internalized Homophobia

Summary: A very brief history of Alan Ladd Wellington Scott

Comic Issues Involved: Injustice Year Zero, JSA 1999-2006, JSA: Classified 2005-2008, Justice Society of America 2007-2011, DC Pride issue 1, Green Lantern 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular 2020, Manhunter 2004-2009

Let's Talk About Alan Scott. Basic background- He's the very first Green Lantern, a founding member of the All-Star Squadron; see also Justice Society of America. He's originally from Gotham City and he's often cited as the inspiration for the rest of the JSA donning costumes.

Alan Scott uses the Starheart which is powered by the mysterious green flame. He found the material and forged it into a lantern and a ring after a horrific train accident killed his lover Jimmy and he became the Green Lantern. His green flame isn't effective against wood.

He's been married twice unless we add Injustice and we can increase that number to 3. His first wife was Rose Canton, a woman who was also known as Thorn and she was one of his original recurring villains.

Rose is the mother of Jennie-Lynn Hayden and Todd Rice. Rose faked her death before Alan even knew she was pregnant and gave up Jennie-Lynn and Todd for adoption out of fear that Thorn would hurt the twins. Jennie-Lynn became a hero known as Jade and Todd became a hero known as Obsidian. Todd also happens to be openly gay and happily dating Damon Matthews.

Alan's second wife is Molly Mayne also known as Harlequin. Both Todd and Jennie-Lynn seem to like Molly for the most part, but Alan's marriage to Molly still comes with its fair share of secrets.

Both of Alan's wives were enemies of Alan's (Again- Gotham Heroes What The Heck. That's 2 of them now).

In injustice, Alan is married to Jimmy Henton- the same Jimmy that died on New Earth but we're going to ignore this for right now.

Alan is understandably estranged from both of his kids seeing as how he didn't know they existed until Todd investigated himself but that's not important presently, and both Jennie-Lynn and Todd deserve their own analyses. What's more important is historically Alan has been closer with Jennie-Lynn than he has been with Todd.

The few times people have tried to kill Alan that almost stuck involved literally removing his heart, which has been depicted as the same shade of Green that his Green Flame and Lantern are.

He is also completely composed of the Green Flame by this point, his appearance dictated by his willpower alone. And he's been shown to have a history of accidentally catching on fire.

In DC Pride, Alan finally meets Damon Matthews and has brunch with Todd, the place Todd picked used to be and still is a gay bar that Alan used to frequent back in the day. Alan goes through his experiences as a gay man in the 40s and some of the language Alan uses is antiquated because Alan Is An Old Man, but he says that Alan only felt comfortable coming out because Todd inspired him to do so. Todd posted a picture of him and Damon at pride and that gave Alan- a man who has infinite willpower, who is literally the embodiment of the Starheart- the confidence to come out as gay after all these years of being in the closet.

And I think it's so interesting that the man who inspired so many heroes was inspired by his own son when it came to being honest with himself.

This is, admittedly, a very short summary of who Alan Scott is. He has a much longer and richer history than I'll be getting into in this analysis. Keep an eye out for Part 2 of this analysis where Alan Scott's Morally Grey Past comes to light.

[dccomicrants]

The JSA and Masks

Comic Issues Involved: The Flash vol 2 161, Pat McGreal, Paul Pelletier

Content Warnings: Drug and Substance Addiction Mentions

Summary: An analysis of a conversation that happened at Jay Garrick's Honeymoon which is talked about here.

Transcript of Dialogue that is analyzed:

Alan Scott (Green Lantern): ... So Jay, I know there aren't supposed to be any secrets between a man and his wife, but... Al Pratt (Atom): Joan's known who the Flash really is for some time now, hasn't she? Jay Garrick (Flash): Well, yeah. sure. Ted Grant (Wildcat): I dunno, it seems like a... a violation of the who secret identity concept. Jay Garrick (Flash): Are you telling me that none of you have ever considered letting your girlfriends in on the game? Alan Scott (GL): Uh... no... Ted Grant (WC): [guilty facial expression] Al Pratt (Atom): I guess I thought about telling Mary once. Rex Tyler (Hourman): Of course not. Charles McNider (Dr. Mid-Nite): Not me. Jay Garrick (Flash): Sheesh. Sometimes I think guys in our line of work suffer from arrested development. Alan Scott (GL): Hmm. Jay Garrick (Flash): Oh Heck. You've probably got the right idea. Anyway, all I wear is a helmet and Joan's no dummy. She figured it out long before I ever told her

Let's break this down systematically now- Charles McNider never married his sweetheart (fans thought he was gay but no he just really wanted to protect her from his nightlife and she ended up murdered anyways so how'd that work for him?). Alan has had 2 divorces generally. With DC Pride, his lover Jimmy died in the same train crash that led to him making his lantern and that's a whole separate thing. Alan has 2 kids he didn't know about until they were adults since they were given up for adoption by his ex-wife who was also a supervillain (what is it with Gotham Heroes and marrying villains?). Ted Grant never canonically married, he had a son with a girlfriend, and after his identity was discovered his son was kidnapped and was killed in experimentation by his nemesis. He has another son that he didn't know about until Tom was an adult. Rex stayed married to Wendi but they had a very strained marriage due to the fact that miraclo was addictive and he was very much addicted to the drug. Rex's son eventually would go on to be the second Hourman. Al Pratt married his girlfriend but she was murdered when she was pregnant with their son because his identity was compromised.

At this point in time, none of that has happened. They're all in the prime of their crime-fighting careers. Nothing too major has rocked the boat.

Alan Scott was a closeted gay man who ended up having two failed marriages while being a crime fighter and before he started his career, he lost his lover to a tragedy. To Alan, ever talking about who he really is would be a giant risk because it was the 40s and he was a newsman. He had to stay respectable and he was under scrutiny.

Ted Grant was the Heavy Weight Boxing champion, a known fighter. But he also had a scandal due to other managers paying boxers to throw fights which lead to an innocent man's death causing him to put the costume on in the first place. His name was cleared but he kept suiting up because Alan inspired him. He would already be in the spotlight but he would also be safer to share his identity because he's a known fighter that people knew better than to mess with.

Rex Tyler ran a company and developed miraclo- a drug that gave him super strength for an hour that he could only take once every twenty-four hours. He had an okay reason to not say anything about his identity to try to protect Wendi because he was just some chemist.

Charles McNider was a respected doctor who was blinded in an accident- he could have told his long-time love interest his secret identity because who would ever make the connection between a blind man and a crime fighter? She would have been the safest.

Al Pratt was a college student at the time, he's the youngest person in the room and he admitted to thinking about telling his secret identity to his girlfriend. He also for the longest time didn't have any powers.

This is all very important so hang in there.

Jay unintentionally strikes a nerve because Joan knows who he is. These are all men that Jay trusts with his life and to an extent, Joan's life. They all know his identity, he knows their identities. More importantly, they're friends, and he's genuinely surprised that he's the only one who trusts the person he loves enough with his secret identity. Alan is clearly uncomfortable (on several levels), as are Ted and Charles. Rex and Al handle it the best and drop it, but in the panels, you can see that Ted, Alan, and Charles are the most uncomfortable with what they've just discussed, with Alan actually voicing it with an uncomfortable Hmm. Jay salvages the night by admitting that Alan (and thus everyone else) may be right about keeping their identities secrets but he also admits that Joan figured it out, which likely leaves the others wondering if their girlfriends may have figured out their identities already as well.

Jay Garrick because of his honesty with Joan has the healthiest marriage out of all of the JSA, even when his identity becomes public knowledge, there's never an attempt on Joan's life because she's his wife. And everyone else for one reason or another due to the lack of honesty has either a strained relationship or loses the ones they loved because they didn't share their secret identities.

In other comics, the point is brought up that they wear the masks to protect their loved ones yet their loved ones end up endangered because of the secrets of the masks.

Their reactions to Jay not keeping any secrets from Joan when contrasted with the fact that his honesty meant the longest lasting and healthiest marriage whereas their secrets while wise in the short term ultimately ended in tragedy for all of the other men present is something I think about a lot.

[dccomicrants]

Jay's Honeymoon

Comic Issue(s): The Flash vol 2 #161 by Pat McGreal, Paul Pelletier

Content Warning: N/A

Summary: A short summary of Jay's Honeymoon, a story which he told in The Flash vol 2

Jay Garrick married Joan and they decided to Honeymoon in Vegas. Jay felt a little left out at his own wedding because he couldn't very well invite the JSA that would defeat the whole purpose of them having secret identities.

So they get to Vegas and there's a knock on the hotel door. And sure enough, on the other side is a good chunk of the JSA. Pretty much all of the guys were there. The guys ask Jay if he thought he could get hitched without them celebrating it and Joan tells him to go have fun so he goes with them and they end up in a casino. They play in a private room and they talk pretty casually.

The conversation comes around to whether or not the guys would ever tell their partners about their double lives because there should be no secrets between spouses but everyone else pretty much says that it would defeat the purpose of them wearing masks; prompting Jay to basically say this is why he's the only one who is married. Jay leaves to go check on Joan. While he's flirting with his wife and debating ditching his friends for the rest of the night, the rest of the JSA gets attacked by the Fiddler and another person who I can't remember right now and knocks them all out. Jay ends up having to save all of his friends and he finally gets back to the hotel room and he's so tired he falls fast asleep.

And that is how Jay and Joan spent the first night of their Honeymoon in Vegas.