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  1. #1
    Boisterously Confused
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    Default (to you) How old were the JSA Founders in All-Star Comics #3

    Forget CoIE, Flashpoint, and whatever...

    Don't do any continuity-researched math either. Go with your impressions and imagination.

    Go around the table...
    All-Star_Comics_Vol_1_3.jpg
    ...how old were these guys?

  2. #2
    Astonishing Member Jekyll's Avatar
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    Nice idea!

    These guys all seem youthful
    Jay Garrick- 28
    Wesley Dodds-26
    Carter Hall- 30
    Al Pratt-25

    These guys I think a little older because they have companies to run.
    Alan Scott- 35
    Rex Tyler- 34

    No guess on the magicians
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  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jekyll View Post
    Nice idea!

    These guys all seem youthful
    Jay Garrick- 28
    Wesley Dodds-26
    Carter Hall- 30
    Al Pratt-25

    These guys I think a little older because they have companies to run.
    Alan Scott- 35
    Rex Tyler- 34

    No guess on the magicians
    Neat calls. Note tho, at the time, Hourman was merely an oft-underestimated chemist, and Green Lantern was just an ex-engineer-turned-radio announcer.

  4. #4
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    I already stated how old I think they were on July 7th, 1947--Johnny Thunder's birthday when he turned 30--over on Preferred JSA ages - 50s or 70s.

    So using those ages, let's backdate to November 22nd, 1940--this is the date that ALL-STAR COMICS No. 3 (Winter 1940) went on sale. Roy Thomas has even referred to this date in ALTER-EGO and there could be no bigger fan of the JSA.

    Since it's an established fact that Johnny Thunder was born on July 7th, 1917, he had to be 23.

    Jay Garrick is at Midwestern University in FLASH COMICS No. 1--that went on sale November 10th, 1939, but I assume his origin is a flashback to a few months earlier and he finished college by the summer of 1939, given that in the subsequent issues of FLASH Jay has moved to Keystone and begun fighting crime there. As well, in ALL-STAR COMICS 50 (on sale October 10th, 1949), the JSA go back to Midwestern and Jay honours a ten year commitment to reunite with some of his classmates. So I assume that Jay was 22 or so when he finished at Midwestern and more than a year later he's about 23 at the first JSA meeting.

    The rest of the ages are guesses, but I've favoured younger ages, for the most part, to allow them the greatest amount of years to be super-heroes:

    Atom 17
    Hawkman 24
    Spectre 23
    Green Lantern 25
    Sandman 21
    Dr. Fate 17
    Hourman 18
    Batman 22
    Superman 22

    Using the same date, this is how old the other JSAers would have been when the first meeting happened:

    Dr. Mid-Nite 25
    Starman 24
    The real Diana Prince 20--but not Wonder Woman
    Wildcat 19
    Mr. Terrific 17
    Black Canary 14

  5. #5
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    E2 Batman was canonically born in 1915, making him 25 when the JSA was formed in 1940. E2 Superman is also roughly around the same age, give or take a year or two.

    In general, I guess all of them were in their early to mid 20's.

  6. #6
    insulin4all CaptCleghorn's Avatar
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    Al Pratt was probably 19 as he was a college sophomore at the time. Judging by this, I'd guess the others were all older that. Johnny's age is set based on his birthday (7/7/17)


  7. #7
    Titans Together!! byrd156's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kelly View Post
    I already stated how old I think they were on July 7th, 1947--Johnny Thunder's birthday when he turned 30--over on Preferred JSA ages - 50s or 70s.

    So using those ages, let's backdate to November 22nd, 1940--this is the date that ALL-STAR COMICS No. 3 (Winter 1940) went on sale. Roy Thomas has even referred to this date in ALTER-EGO and there could be no bigger fan of the JSA.

    Since it's an established fact that Johnny Thunder was born on July 7th, 1917, he had to be 23.

    Jay Garrick is at Midwestern University in FLASH COMICS No. 1--that went on sale November 10th, 1939, but I assume his origin is a flashback to a few months earlier and he finished college by the summer of 1939, given that in the subsequent issues of FLASH Jay has moved to Keystone and begun fighting crime there. As well, in ALL-STAR COMICS 50 (on sale October 10th, 1949), the JSA go back to Midwestern and Jay honours a ten year commitment to reunite with some of his classmates. So I assume that Jay was 22 or so when he finished at Midwestern and more than a year later he's about 23 at the first JSA meeting.

    The rest of the ages are guesses, but I've favoured younger ages, for the most part, to allow them the greatest amount of years to be super-heroes:

    Atom 17
    Hawkman 24
    Spectre 23
    Green Lantern 25
    Sandman 21
    Dr. Fate 17
    Hourman 18
    Batman 22
    Superman 22

    Using the same date, this is how old the other JSAers would have been when the first meeting happened:

    Dr. Mid-Nite 25
    Starman 24
    The real Diana Prince 20--but not Wonder Woman
    Wildcat 19
    Mr. Terrific 17
    Black Canary 14
    Yeah I view all of the JSA as being pretty young when they all started out. I wouldn't think any of them would be out of their twenties or very close to 30.
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  8. #8
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    I made Al Pratt younger, because he was at Calvin College for such a long time.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kelly View Post
    I made Al Pratt younger, because he was at Calvin College for such a long time.
    Maybe The Atom was so busy beating up crooks, he had to retake a lot of classes.

    My guesses:
    • The Atom: 19
    • Sandman: 25
    • The Spectre: 40 (when Detective Corrigan got murdered, wouldn't matter after that)
    • The Flash: 28
    • Hawkman: 30
    • Doctor Fate: 50 (that's a toughie because his training - which I assume took a while - made him age-resistant)
    • The Green Lantern: 32
    • Hourman: 29

  10. #10
    insulin4all CaptCleghorn's Avatar
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    Did Sandman Mystery Theatre have any clue as to Wes' (and Dian's I guess) actual ages?

    If so, do we care because it was Vertigo?

  11. #11
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    Since the JSA had to be around for ten years and they don't look too old in 1950, I fudged the ages to make them as young as possible within reason. With Hawkman and Spectre they have to be old enough to get to the positions they're in--yet Jim Corrigan joined the army in 1943, so he probably wasn't that old.

  12. #12
    insulin4all CaptCleghorn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kelly View Post
    Since the JSA had to be around for ten years and they don't look too old in 1950, I fudged the ages to make them as young as possible within reason. With Hawkman and Spectre they have to be old enough to get to the positions they're in--yet Jim Corrigan joined the army in 1943, so he probably wasn't that old.
    WW2 draft registration went up to 41 (I've seen numbers from 37 to 65 for drafter registration greatest ages). I don't think it would be unreasonable to imagine a man in his late 30s enlisting.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kelly View Post
    Since the JSA had to be around for ten years and they don't look too old in 1950, I fudged the ages to make them as young as possible within reason. With Hawkman and Spectre they have to be old enough to get to the positions they're in--yet Jim Corrigan joined the army in 1943, so he probably wasn't that old.
    He's The Spectre. Pretty sure he can game the draft board

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by DrNewGod View Post
    He's The Spectre. Pretty sure he can game the draft board
    I guess so and like with Dr. Fate and Kent Nelson it's hard to say just how old they should be. But Jim joining up was when he left the Spectre series and Percival Popp the Super-Cop took over. The Voice had resurrected the actual Jim Corrigan's corpse from the grave (imagine the smell) and reanimated him and it was that Jim Corrigan who said "Sayonara" to the Spectre when he enlisted.

  15. #15
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DrNewGod View Post
    Forget CoIE, Flashpoint, and whatever...

    Don't do any continuity-researched math either. Go with your impressions and imagination.

    Go around the table...
    All-Star_Comics_Vol_1_3.jpg
    ...how old were these guys?
    I'll just go with a general +/-late 20s - early 30s for most of them except The Atom, who I'd put at around +/-20 years old since he was an undergraduate student in college.

    Doctor Fate / Kent Nelson is a bit trickier because I believe his origin story had him basically removed from actual aging normally at one point while training under Nabu.

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