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Secrets behind the comics dept.
May. 21st, 2004 12:08 amBear with me, folks, I'm going to indulge in real trivia for a minute here. But I just have to share this one.
One of the joys of old comics and their lettercols is the little secrets they spill from time to time. Today it's SECRET ORIGINS #37, which features mail about the revised Post-Crisis origin of the Justice League of America. As most of the people reading this journal probably know, that initial lineup featured Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman, the Martian Manhunter, and--standing in for the editorially removed Wonder Woman--the Black Canary. While this required a little surgery on Canary's history, that had to be done anyway due to her having been split into two people post-Crisis (ask about it sometime, if you're in need of a sudden headache). And as the lady was a long-time Leaguer, a founding member of the then-current incarnation of the group, and carried strong links to the League's predecessors, the Justice Society--well, it seems, at least in hindsight, a profoundly obvious choice.
It turns out, however, that Dinah Lance was not the first name that Keith Giffen and Mark Waid (plotter and editor respectively) came up with for their empty slot. No, they were initially thinking of...Miss America.
For those of you who don't happen to be hardcore comics geeks, this doesn't refer to a beauty pageant winner; Miss America is Joan Dale, a minor 1940s heroine who had only been used once or twice since then and had no relationship whatsoever to the JLA. The idea was that at the end of the origin story, she'd sacrifice her life for her teammates and they'd put "America" in the group name in her honor. Um. Well. Yes.
Fortunately this only lasted until Keith and Mark put in a call to Roy Thomas, whose territory the Golden Age characters mostly were, and he politely informed them that he too had plans for Miss Dale, which would be somewhat disrupted if she were to die. So they abandoned the idea.
"The Justice League, starring--Miss America!" Wow. Things we never even knew we missed...
One of the joys of old comics and their lettercols is the little secrets they spill from time to time. Today it's SECRET ORIGINS #37, which features mail about the revised Post-Crisis origin of the Justice League of America. As most of the people reading this journal probably know, that initial lineup featured Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman, the Martian Manhunter, and--standing in for the editorially removed Wonder Woman--the Black Canary. While this required a little surgery on Canary's history, that had to be done anyway due to her having been split into two people post-Crisis (ask about it sometime, if you're in need of a sudden headache). And as the lady was a long-time Leaguer, a founding member of the then-current incarnation of the group, and carried strong links to the League's predecessors, the Justice Society--well, it seems, at least in hindsight, a profoundly obvious choice.
It turns out, however, that Dinah Lance was not the first name that Keith Giffen and Mark Waid (plotter and editor respectively) came up with for their empty slot. No, they were initially thinking of...Miss America.
For those of you who don't happen to be hardcore comics geeks, this doesn't refer to a beauty pageant winner; Miss America is Joan Dale, a minor 1940s heroine who had only been used once or twice since then and had no relationship whatsoever to the JLA. The idea was that at the end of the origin story, she'd sacrifice her life for her teammates and they'd put "America" in the group name in her honor. Um. Well. Yes.
Fortunately this only lasted until Keith and Mark put in a call to Roy Thomas, whose territory the Golden Age characters mostly were, and he politely informed them that he too had plans for Miss Dale, which would be somewhat disrupted if she were to die. So they abandoned the idea.
"The Justice League, starring--Miss America!" Wow. Things we never even knew we missed...
