The Justice League of America Satellite Years Appreciation Thread 2023

[witchboy]

Someone remind me. Where was Hawkwoman during JLA #200, and why wasn’t she used?

Back in the Bronze Age Hawkgirl was often missing from adventures without an explanation. At some point they said she was running the museum so Katar could be away during the times she didn't appear. It's not great, but there's the most likely explanation.

[Nomads1]

Someone remind me. Where was Hawkwoman during JLA #200, and why wasn’t she used?

Wow, it's been so long but I seem to remember the Hawks being in World's Finest during this time. I'm not sure if she disappeared or if she left Katar for some reason. But I don't believe even he knew where she was during this time. She did eventually come back and changed her moniker to Hawkwoman.

I think Katar believed her to be dead at the time. Honestly, her abscence is the only thing that spoils #200 for me. Otherwise, it'd would have been a perfect issue.

Longtime fans of the Satellite era, answer me a question: What is the deal with the Phantom Stranger being considered a member of the League? Like, when was he ever a regular, full-time member? I just don't understand why he's venerated as a member when I've never seen him participate in a single mission.

The Phantom Stranger joined the League in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA 103, a Halloween issue that guest-starred Len Wein, Gerry Conway, Glynis Wein and Steve Englehart, plus the League battling (sort of) Captain America, Spider-Man, Thor, the Hulk and others. Glynis even had the powers of Supergirl for a little while.

The Stranger was never a "regular, full-time member." But he is a member, and he shows up when he feels it necessary.

I have no idea how to attach an image large enough to read, but:

https://ibb.co/album/2Z1MNp

kdb

Well, Mr Busiek answered the question about when the Phantom Stranger joined, and I recall him occasionally stopping by over time, untill #146, when, if I'm not mistaken, he declines membership in favor of both, Red Tornado and Hawkwoman, officially joining the team.

Peace

[caj]

I think Katar believed her to be dead at the time. Honestly, her abscence is the only thing that spoils #200 for me. Otherwise, it'd would have been a perfect issue.





Well, Mr Busiek answered the question about when the Phantom Stranger joined, and I recall him occasionally stopping by over time, untill #146, when, if I'm not mistaken, he declines membership in favor of both, Red Tornado and Hawkwoman, officially joining the team.

Peace

He would actually appear a few more times after #146.

He answered the call in #150 when the entire League was called in due to Snapper Carr being discovered as the Star Tsar. He would also attend Ray Palmer's wedding in #157.

It was after Zatanna joined in #161 that he stopped appearing until #200. I know he appeared after that but I don't recall the issue #s.

[WonderScott]

I like a huge team that gets split into different combinations for missions. I’d do a main book and then have spinoff miniseries (4-6 issues) that take characters not used in that story into one of their own miniseries.

It’s a fun way to mix personalities and powers together. I wanna see:

Hawkman, Hawkwoman, Aquaman and Mera have an adventure together.

Vixen, Ya’Wara, Black Lightning and John Stewart have a mystery to solve.

Zatanna, Fire, Ice and Doctor Light do diplomatic relations for a new race of aliens.

[Cap808]

Once again, I have such fond memories of the Satellite team. While I know there are other 'build your own team' threads, I was trying to make my revised/similar Satellite team, complete with family connections - 15 strong:

Superman
Batman
Wonder Woman
Martian Manhunter
Cyborg
Starfire
Flash (Barry Allen)
Kid Flash (Wallace West)
Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)
Green Lantern (John Stewart)
Aquaman
Mera
Mr. Miracle
Big Barda
Zatanna

[JThree]

I like a huge team that gets split into different combinations for missing. I’d do a main book and then have spinoff miniseries (4-6 issues) that take characters not used in that story into one of their own miniseries.

It’s a fun way to mix personalities and powers together. I wanna see:

Hawkman, Hawkwoman, Aquaman and Mera have an adventure together.

Vixen, Ya’Wara, Black Lightning and John Stewart have a mystery to solve.

Zatanna, Fire, Ice and Doctor Light do diplomatic relations for a new face of aliens

Wish they had done that.
--jthree

[Kurt Busiek]

I think Katar believed her to be dead at the time. Honestly, her abscence is the only thing that spoils #200 for me. Otherwise, it'd would have been a perfect issue.

He didn't think she was dead, she was just missing. She'd left Earth to figure out who she was -- she'd been feeling like a sidekick rather than an equal partner -- and to find a Thanagarian armada that was lost in hyperspace. He went off to look for her. She was also wanted by the police, implicated in a slew of museum robberies.

At the time JLA 200 came out, that story wasn't over -- so Hawkman's appearance in 200 either had to be set before he left Earth to find her (about 5 months earlier, DC schedule-wise) or after they came back, so having Hawkwoman in JLA 200 there would spoil the ending.

Even if they'd been willing to do that, they very likely didn't know what the ending was at the time, or even that there was going to be an ending. That Hawkman series, in the Dollar Comics-sized WORLD'S FINEST, ended very abruptly, since WF reverted to a regular format book the following month, and all the backup strips ended except for Green Arrow. So on the last page of the story, Hawkwoman suddenly reappears, having saved Hawkman and tells him, basically, "Okay, found the armada, all fixed, let's go home." Whether she'd figured out her personal issues, how she'd saved the lost armada, and how she was cleared of the robberies were all ignored. I don't think they were ever resolved.

But the upshot was that they couldn't show her or even say where she was without spoiling the WF story, even though, as it turned out, there wasn't much to spoil.

An easy way to rationalize it all would be to say that she was busy clearing her name from the robbery charges, which would have been an immediate concern in the wake of her return -- and due to whatever personal decisions she made during that story, she wanted to tackle that on her own, rather than as a duo.

One could also decide that she'd chosen to stay away from League missions for a while, since she didn't want to backslide into being treated as a sidekick again. That was a context in which she felt she'd been diminished (and not just by Hawkman -- there's a scene in the WFC story where Superman makes it pretty clear he considers her less of an equal than he does Hawkman). That fits what got published -- she cameos in a story about a year later, then there's a story where Hawkman attends a meeting on the satellite but she only caught up in the mission because it involves using the Hawks' ship, and she doesn't actually show up on the satellite as a responding member until issue 221.

None of that's in the text, of course, but as noted, they really couldn't say anything in that issue without giving stuff away.

Well, Mr Busiek answered the question about when the Phantom Stranger joined, and I recall him occasionally stopping by over time, untill #146, when, if I'm not mistaken, he declines membership in favor of both, Red Tornado and Hawkwoman, officially joining the team.

He's in 146, but he vanishes early in the story and Reddy and Shayera don't join until the end.

kdb

[Kurt Busiek]

It was after Zatanna joined in #161 that he stopped appearing until #200. I know he appeared after that but I don't recall the issue #s.

He was in the story in 210-212 that was originally plotted and drawn as a tabloid story, before Zatanna joined, and turned into a three-parter to fill space and use the pages.

Then he had a cameo in 231, in the JLA/JSA story I wrote, but it's literally a one-panel cameo, not him being part of a JLA mission.

And then he doesn't appear in a Justice League book until a 1991 issue of Justice League Quarterly, and even that's just a background cameo.

I don't know when the next time he takes action as a member of the JLA is -- it might not be until JLA/AVENGERS 3.

kdb

[caj]

He was in the story in 210-212 that was originally plotted and drawn as a tabloid story, before Zatanna joined, and turned into a three-parter to fill space and use the pages.

Then he had a cameo in 231, in the JLA/JSA story I wrote, but it's literally a one-panel cameo, not him being part of a JLA mission.

And then he doesn't appear in a Justice League book until a 1991 issue of Justice League Quarterly, and even that's just a background cameo.

I don't know when the next time he takes action as a member of the JLA is -- it might not be until JLA/AVENGERS 3.

kdb

Great info. Thanks so much.

[WonderScott]

If I were to do a Satellite/Unlimited era Justice League-style storylines book, I’d include:

Superman, Steel, Alpha Centurion
Wonder Woman
Batman, Robin
Aquaman, Mera
Hawkman (Katar), Hawkwoman (Shayera)
Flash
Green Lanterns, Star Sapphire
Martian Manhunter
Zatanna
Extraño
Black Canary
Green Arrow
Atom
Fire
Ice
Vixen
Black Lightning
Ya’Wara
Elongated Man
Icon, Rocket
El Dorado
Doctor Light
Firestorm, Firehawk
Shazams/Captains (Billy and Mary), Isis
Catwoman
Phantom Stranger
Red Tornado, Tomorrow Woman
Adam and Alanna Strange
Long Shadow
Wonder Twins

A really big team and then have some fun playing with the personalities of six or seven characters at a time and possibly recruiting new Leaguers on the missions/adventures.

[j9ac9k]

If DC was to do any kind of "retelling" of stories from that era, I'd break continuity by folding in the Detroit Leaguers as part of the tail-end of the Satellite team, to add some diversity and also legitimize the Detroit team a bit - to say that they started out on the satellite with the others and also just to see them interact as one big team. (Vibe hanging out with Firestorm? Superman and (the other) Steel on the same team? Zatanna mentoring Gypsy or Vixen training with Black Canary, etc? I'd pay to see that)

[caj]

If DC was to do any kind of "retelling" of stories from that era, I'd break continuity by folding in the Detroit Leaguers as part of the tail-end of the Satellite team, to add some diversity and also legitimize the Detroit team a bit - to say that they started out on the satellite with the others and also just to see them interact as one big team. (Vibe hanging out with Firestorm? Superman and (the other) Steel on the same team? Zatanna mentoring Gypsy or Vixen training with Black Canary, etc? I'd pay to see that)

And maybe have Black Lightning change his mind about joining the League as well.

[MajorHoy]

If DC was to do any kind of "retelling" of stories from that era, I'd break continuity by folding in the Detroit Leaguers as part of the tail-end of the Satellite team, to add some diversity and also legitimize the Detroit team a bit - to say that they started out on the satellite with the others and also just to see them interact as one big team. (Vibe hanging out with Firestorm? Superman and (the other) Steel on the same team? Zatanna mentoring Gypsy or Vixen training with Black Canary, etc? I'd pay to see that)

But, wouldn't that negate the whole reason the Justice League Detroit team was formed in the first place?

[caj]

I know this image has been posted many times on this site but this is from artist Dick Dillin's final issue drawn before he died in March 1980. The man gave it all to JLofA up until he died.

[caj]

From JLofA #150 by Dick Dillin