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  1. #16
    Spectacular Member theboychild's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by witchboy View Post
    My understanding is that editorial thought Superman and Batman were already in enough books. A shocking attitude since popular characters get more and more saturated in the books these days.

    Gotcha! Thanks!

  2. #17
    Extraordinary Member Dr. Poison's Avatar
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    I grew up with the Silver Age satellite--era Justice League of America. I love their rogues like Amazo, Starbreaker, Shaggy Man, Queen Bee, the Crime Syndicate along with the annual team-up with the Justice Society of America. Ah, the good old days.....
    Currently(or soon to be) Reading: Alan Scott: Green Lantern, Batman/Superman: World's Finest, Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Jay Garrick: The Flash, Justice Society of America, Power Girl, Superman, Shazam, Titans, Wesley Dodds: Sandman, Wonder Woman, & World's Finest: Teen Titans.

  3. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by witchboy View Post
    My understanding is that editorial thought Superman and Batman were already in enough books. A shocking attitude since popular characters get more and more saturated in the books these days.
    This is true. Julius Schwartz was the editor on JUSTICE LEAGUE and he had introduced the Flash and Green Lantern (Hal hadn't yet got his own comic when the League made their debut in THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD 28). Mort Weisinger edited most of the Superman titles and also Aquaman (appearing in ADVENTURE COMICS). Jack Schiff edited all the Batman titles, including WORLD'S FINEST COMICS, which also featured Superman, as well as Green Arrow as a back-up feature--and Martian Manhunter appeared in DETECTIVE COMICS. Bob Kanigher edited WONDER WOMAN--and he shared an office with Schwartz. Weisinger and Schiff were worried that too much exposure for Superman and Batman would take away sales from their own titles, so they told Julie that he couldn't put those two on the cover and that they couldn't be in the main action of the story.

    Schwartz tried to satisfy them (somewhat) on the early run, but he complained to Irwin Donenfeld. I think it was Irwin by this time, as Harry Donenfeld in 1962 suffered a head injury from which he never recovered, so Irwin was now taking care of the family business. Irwin said that Mort and Jack were full of it and Julie should do whatever he wanted with Supey and Batty. Or course, when the League first started out, Schwartz was a low man on the totem pole--once his titles proved themselves with high sales, he probably had a lot more power.

    I'm ambivalent about having Batman and Superman play a larger role or not. In the early adventures, when it's mainly just the five super-heroes (plus Snapper), it makes for a compact group that's easier to write. It's clearer how the Justice League inspired the Fantastic Four, when it's just five of them.

    With the expansion of the team, it becomes more of a job to juggle all those characters (quite a challenge for Mike Sekowsky)--and usually some have to be left out. But then that adds to the variety, because there would be different line-ups in each issue. It's only around 1966 and 1967 when Batman starts to hog the covers and a lot of the action--because he was so popular at the time that putting him in any book would increase sales. Old guard readers complained about this in the letter columns. Yet there were some stories that excluded Batman (or put him in a lesser role) which shows courage on the part of Schwartz, knowing that those issues would likely have lower sales.

  4. #19
    Mighty Member LifeIsILL's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by theboychild View Post
    Awesome!! Quick question, I'm really perplexed as to why Batman and Superman were 'non-participating members' during this period? Although they sporadically appear in these issues. Care to elaborate? Thanks!!
    And a lot of the times Hawkman was their master strategist. Which makes sense....I guess. Although Wonder Woman would have been a good strategist too.

    But it was crazy how insanely smart silver age Dr.Light was. He was probably smarter than silver age Luthor.

    He was the first person to discover the Justice League's weaknesses.



    But every issue had a classic villain introduced.

    Sadly most people ignore this era of Justice League though.

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