Members of the Golden Age JSA - Favorites?

[MajorHoy]

Title says it all: which members of the Justice Society of America during their original Golden Age run are your favorites?

I've was unable to include Honorary Members like Batman and Superman (even though they did participate in an issue in place of two regular members), and did not include retconned members like Miss America or Hippolyta. (Poll limit is for fifteen options.)

Here's the list of who is included:

Atom (Al Pratt)
Black Canary (Dinah Drake)
Doctor Fate (Kent Nelson)
Doctor Mid-Nite (Charles McNider)
Flash (Jay Garrick)
Green Lantern (Alan Scott)
Hawkman (Carter Hall)
Hourman (Rex Tyler)
Johnny Thunder and Thunderbolt
Mister Terrific (Terry Sloane)
Sandman (Wesley Dodds)
Spectre (Jim Corrigan)
Starman (Ted Knight)
Wildcat (Ted Grant)
Wonder Woman (Princess Diana / Diana Prince)

And, if you haven't already voted, you can choose more than one.

Just remember, these are NOT the characters in the New 52/DCYou Earth 2 comic book that we're talking about.

[Lee Stone]

I voted for the following seven:


Sandman
Dr. Mid-Nite
Hourman
Atom
Wildcat
Dr. Fate
Black Canary

Note: by the time I was introduced to the JSA, Black Canary had been written out and was in the JLA, getting the origin re-write involving Thunderbolt.
So I never actually read a JSA story with the Earth-2 Black Canary until the 1991 mini-series. And the spotlight issue where she fought Solomon Grundy is what cemented her as a fave JSA'er for me.

[steeplejack2112]

I have to be honest....it's really difficult to pick because I honestly enjoy all of these characters. I guess if I were to highlight my top two, I would go with Dr. Fate and the Spectre. I've always had a fascination with both characters!

[MajorHoy]

. . . Note: by the time I was introduced to the JSA, Black Canary had been written out and was in the JLA, getting the origin re-write involving Thunderbolt.

Back in 1983.

[Sansomon]

My favorites are:

Green Lantern (Alan Scott)
Hawkman (Carter Hall)
Spectre (Jim Corrigan)
Wildcat (Ted Grant)
Atom (Al Pratt)
Black Canary (Dinah Drake)

[Lee Stone]

Back in 1983.

That would be it... I started reading DC pretty regularly in 1983, after a year of being a Marvel Zombie.
I had read some of my brother's late 70's/earlier 80's DC and by 1983 I had gotten interested in JLA (the Perez covers really helped) and All-Star Squadron. I remember following over to All-Star Squadron with the cross-over at #14 & 15.

He had a lot of the JLA issues from 1979-up and I read pretty much all of them, then ended up trading him a bunch of my Marvel comics for all his JLAs around the time #217 came out.

Then a year or two later, I discovered DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #3, which reprinted "Five Drowned Men" and the first couple All-Star Comics featuring the "Super Squad", in my school library.

I've always been a fan of the simpler styles and the more realistic world of Earth-2, which seemed more pulp-ish and less post-atomic sci-fi, where villains could easily be gangsters or mad scientists, as well as your everyday costumed criminals.
And costumes looked like they were made of real fabric and appeared more practical.

[ThomasBlake]

For me it's always been a tie between Kent Nelson and Alan Scott, with Nelson often taking "the lead." He always says the right things at the right times, and he is pretty badass as Doctor Fate. It actually made sad he got established as dead in the New 52 Earth-2 series and his place went to a new character who lacked many of the qualities that made Nelson a compelling character. Bronze Age favorites are Huntress and Power Girl. (I can't choose between them either. Both are great when written with respect).

[ultradav]

What's really interesting here is that Wildcat is the #1 vote-getter, with Dr. Fate. Yet, he only appeared in two issues of All-Star Comics, the home of the JSA in the Golden Age. The survey says "during their original golden age run", so either he really made an impact for people in those two issues, or it's more of the long history of the JSA getting conflated for folks. Or, is just publishing history versus retconned history -- Johns & co. referred to Wildcat so many times as a "founding member" that it stuck. Regardless I love the character. I love them all, it's hard to choose.

[vartox]

It's like picking a favorite child...

If I had to narrow it down to a few I'd say Alan, Jay, Wildcat, Hawkman, Sandman and the Spectre.

[MajorHoy]

It's like picking a favorite child...

Well, not really since the poll did allow multiple responses. You can pick all of them if you choose to.

[DrNewGod]

"A Thunderbolt Bezerk" should have lasted five seconds and resulted in a tremendous cleaning bill against anyone less than The Spectre.

That said, my fave was probably an all Ancient Egypt bill: Dr. Fate, followed by Hawkman.

I think it's because I loved the original JSA so much that I'm so fond of Ininity, Inc. In spite of the latter's flaws.

[MajorHoy]

What's really interesting here is that Wildcat is the #1 vote-getter, with Dr. Fate. Yet, he only appeared in two issues of All-Star Comics, the home of the JSA in the Golden Age. The survey says "during their original golden age run", so either he really made an impact for people in those two issues, or it's more of the long history of the JSA getting conflated for folks. Or, is just publishing history versus retconned history -- Johns & co. referred to Wildcat so many times as a "founding member" that it stuck. Regardless I love the character. I love them all, it's hard to choose.

I will confess that I don't remember reading Wildcat's Golden Age JSA appearances. But, I have read a few Golden Age Wildcat stories when DC would reprint them back in the 1970s, and I always loved having the lesser-powered heroes combining forces to defeat the major menace(s) in the old JSA stories.

[andersonh1]

I like just about all the Golden Age JSAers, though I'd admit that the Atom and Johnny Thunder are my least favorite. Flash, Hawkman and Green Lantern are easily my favorites, followed by Starman, Sandman, Dr. Fate and Dr. Mid-Nite.

And thanks to the DC Archives, I have read every Golden Age JSA adventure. Mr. Terrific's one appearance is in the issue that tries to convince the reader (through a character in the story) that the Germans are bad, and warlike, and have always been that way, so Terrific is wasted in a WW2 propaganda piece. One of Wildcat's two appearances is in that story, so ditto. At least Wildcat got one more showing, and fares a little better.

[CaptCleghorn]

Fate's the single character that cab be isolated and have a fairly unique solo series. He's mystic, historic, and a great mix of common (Kent) and extraordinary (Nabu). He's capable of being a vital part of a JSA series and also heralding a solo series of his own which doesn't need any mention of a JSA.

Atom is the most relatable hero here. He came across his "powers" naturally and was short. We could all imagine being the Atom, not so much Flash or Green Lantern.

Sandman was different than other characters to start. Dian Belmont was a strong supporting character and yes, this was all built up in Sandman Mystery Theater, but it still added to his character.

Those are my three favorites.

[Burning Eyes]

Doctor Fate