Justice Society of America favorite members: from Golden Age through 1998

[MajorHoy]

With 66 people having voted,

* The Flash (Jay Garrick) = 37 votes
* Doctor Fate (Kent Nelson) = 36 votes
* Green Lantern (Alan Scott) = 33 votes
* Wildcat (Ted Grant) = 26 votes
* Power Girl (Karen Starr / Kara Zor-L) = 25 votes
* Hawkman (Carter Hall) = 25 votes
* The Sandman (Wesley Dodds) = 23 votes
* Hawkgirl (Shiera Sanders Hall) = 22 votes
* Black Canary I (Dinah Drake Lance) = 21 votes
* Huntress (Helena Wayne) = 20 votes

All others still have less than 20 votes at last check.

[CaptCleghorn]

Calling those three "The Trinity" strikes me as wrong.
Ted Grant was never a regular/full member during the Golden Age. He appeared in just two issues of the All Star Comics run.

Now, Hawkman (or possibly The Atom) I could see in place of Wildcat in a JSA "Trinity".

If there is a "trinity" for the JSA, they are Flash, Green Lantern, and Hawkman. Those three are similar in status to Cap, Iron man, and Thor with Marvel's Avengers and they've also been referred to as a trinity for the Marvel team.

[DrNewGod]

Until looking at this list, I suddenly noticed what a binary crew the JSA was. You had the Power Girls and GLs on one pole and the Huntresses and Wildcats on the other, with nothing in-between.

[EmeraldGladiator]

Dr Fate Kent Nelson a favorite iteration of a character unlikely to see the light of day like Captain Marvel (Mar-vell), and the LSH (Levitz/Retroboot), because everyone thinks they can do it better but time is revealing they can't.

[achilles]

Until looking at this list, I suddenly noticed what a binary crew the JSA was. You had the Power Girls and GLs on one pole and the Huntresses and Wildcats on the other, with nothing in-between.

Eh, there's Hourman, a lower to mid tier powered type during his hour. And after the OP era, you get others as well.

[DrNewGod]

Eh, there's Hourman, a lower to mid tier powered type during his hour. And after the OP era, you get others as well.

Hourman's one of my faves. But he was so infrequent a presence he almost didn't count.

Still, between Hourman and the (post-super-strengthened) Atom, you have a point.

[The no face guy]

If you subtract the heavy hitters who are often on the JLA (Black Canary, Hawkman) ect....and consider Alan and Jay as givens....for me it comes down to....

Sandman
Dr. Midnight
Wildcat

ps, you forgot to put Hourman on the list.

[MajorHoy]

. . . ps, you forgot to put Hourman on the list.

Define "forgot to".

Did you not go back to read any previous explanations of how this poll was created?

[MajorHoy]

With 75 people having voted so far,

* The Flash (Jay Garrick) = 43 votes
* Doctor Fate (Kent Nelson) = 40 votes
* Green Lantern (Alan Scott) = 39 votes
* Wildcat (Ted Grant) = 32 votes
* Hawkman (Carter Hall) = 31 votes
* Power Girl (Karen Starr / Kara Zor-L) = 29 votes
* The Sandman (Wesley Dodds) = 29 votes
* Hawkgirl (Shiera Sanders Hall) = 24 votes
* Huntress (Helena Wayne) = 24 votes
* Black Canary I (Dinah Drake Lance) = 22 votes

All others still have less than 20 votes at last check.

[MajorHoy]

By the way, I may wrap this up sometime later this month and have the top 7 (possibly top 8) go up against the top 7 (or possibly top 8) from the JSA/Justice Society of America Poll: favorite members (from 1999-2008) thread / poll:

https://community.cbr.com/showthread...rom-1999-2008)

[Jim Kelly]

It says a lot about the Jay Garrick character that he still remains so popular with so many. Makes me think that maybe Donenfeld and Liebowitz miscalculated when they canned the Flash. I guess, because they still had Johnny Quick in ADVENTURE COMICS, they thought no one would miss the Fastest Man Alive. But Julie Schwartz must have realized what no one else could see at National, that the Flash was one of their top characters and needed to make a comeback.

[DrNewGod]

It says a lot about the Jay Garrick character that he still remains so popular with so many. Makes me think that maybe Donenfeld and Liebowitz miscalculated when they canned the Flash. I guess, because they still had Johnny Quick in ADVENTURE COMICS, they thought no one would miss the Fastest Man Alive. But Julie Schwartz must have realized what no one else could see at National, that the Flash was one of their top characters and needed to make a comeback.

It's hard to say, but Jay Garrick enjoyed a lot of advantages his other comrades did not post-JSA returns. When the JSA were brought back from their Asgardian exile, nobody had as handy a reason to play a role in their successors' title as Jay did in the Flash.

From the time he launched in his own title, Wally West Flash had always had a bit of missing-mentor pathos to his story, and Jay made a well-fitting surrogate grandfather figure for Wally, and his growing band of speedster buddies. Alan Scott, for contrast, didn't have the kind of near-familial connections with Hal Jordan, John Stewart or Guy Gardner that Jay had with Wally, and none of those GLs stories would have been as well-served by a mentor figure as the Flash was.

So I don't know that it's a case of the GA Flash being better designed or more conceptually durable than some of his contemporaries. It may be that he just happened to fit another character's story in a way that helped build an additional fanbase for him, beyond the nostalgiasts.

[MajorHoy]

With 85 people having now voted,

* The Flash (Jay Garrick) = 49 votes
* Doctor Fate (Kent Nelson) = 45 votes
* Green Lantern (Alan Scott) = 43 votes
* Wildcat (Ted Grant) = 37 votes
* Hawkman (Carter Hall) = 33 votes
* Power Girl (Karen Starr / Kara Zor-L) = 32 votes
* The Sandman (Wesley Dodds) = 31 votes
* Huntress (Helena Wayne) = 26 votes
* Hawkgirl (Shiera Sanders Hall) = 25 votes
* Black Canary I (Dinah Drake Lance) = 24 votes
* Dr. Mid-Nite (Charles McNider) = 20 votes

All others still have less than 20 votes at last check.

[MajorHoy]

Well, I avoided doing this yesterday since it was April Fools Day, but with 85 people having voted, the top seven characters to receive votes in this poll are:

* The Flash (Jay Garrick) = 49 votes
* Doctor Fate (Kent Nelson) = 45 votes
* Green Lantern (Alan Scott) = 43 votes
* Wildcat (Ted Grant) = 37 votes
* Hawkman (Carter Hall) = 33 votes
* Power Girl (Karen Starr / Kara Zor-L) = 32 votes
* The Sandman (Wesley Dodds) = 31 votes

In eighth place with 26 votes is Huntress (Helena Wayne), so she misses the cut-off point.

I've also tallied up the votes for the JSA/Justice Society of America Poll: favorite members (from 1999-2008) thread/poll. Probably later today I'll create a new thread/poll combining the results of the two polls.