What's your take on the silver age JLA?

[Old Man Ollie 1962]

DC's Silver Age pretty much ended in 1968 when most of the regular long-time creators were replaced with new voices to give DC a more "timely" feel.

For instance, I consider #65 (the last Gardner Fox issue) of JLA to be the last Silver Age issue, and #66 (the first Denny O'Neil issue) to be the first Bronze Age issue.

From 1965 to 1970 a concerted efforted was made to transition from the "banal" and "corny" direction and contemporize and cultivate characters and plots. What I displayed were the "finest" examples of a process that began before 1968.

[Lee Stone]

From 1965 to 1970 a concerted efforted was made to transition from the "banal" and "corny" direction and contemporize and cultivate characters and plots. What I displayed were the "finest" examples of a process that began before 1968.

True. I'm not disagreeing.
I probably should have said, "For me, DC's Silver Age pretty much ended in 1968 when most of the regular long-time creators were replaced with new voices to give DC a more "timely" feel."

I believe Infantino's New Look Batman and Shooter's Legion were the real start of it, but the real turning point, for me, was when DC restructured in 1968 and brought in new blood.

[Nomads1]

This sums it up nicely.

I would add, though, that my favorite Satellite era writer was Conway.
However, when he did the Detroit League it felt a bit more restricted and less grand in scope.
I think it was in part because half the team were new characters and he was having to juggle defining their personalities and background while telling his usual stories.
Prior to the Detroit League, character subplots and personal lives were mostly left to their solo books. When the Detroit League began, none of them had solo books so it was left to Conway to flesh them out for the readers.
It can be done, as Titans, X-Men and Legion can show. But jumping from doing a team full of popular A-listers with solo books to a team full of exclusive (and mostly unknown) characters was probably a bit jarring.

I think I mentioned this in another thread, but, as I said, I liked the idea of a full-time Justice League, but replacing seasoned veterans like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Atom, The Flash, etc... with green teens of the likes of Steel, Vibe and Gypsy was a terrible idea. I mean, J'onn J'onnz was clearly the strongest and most powerful (alongside Zatanna) member of the team, yet constantly had to be tonned down, as to not take the spotlight from new members Steel and Vibe. Pathetic. I do think the idea had tons of potential, although, instead of going with a second rate copy of the Teen Titans, they should have gone with mature heroes in need of spotlight. I'd find a way to fill in the slots of the founding leaguers. A superstrong and powerful alien (Superman), a master of hand to hand combat, detective and escape artist (Batman), a superstrong warrior-woman (Wonder Woman), a speedster (Flash), a king of the Seven Seas (Aquaman), a space gladiator (Green Lantern), and another super-powerful alien (Martian Manhunter). So, we could have a line-up like this:

Aquaman stands in for Aquaman.
Martian Manhunter is the perfect stand-in for himself and for Superman.
Mr Miracle gets Batman's spot
Big Barda is the perfect replacement for Wonder Woman
Vixen with her animal powers could be as versatile as the Flash, although not quite as fast.
And Captain Comet would be the best substituite for Green Lantern as the spaceways traveler, adding also quite a lot of muscle, power, scientific know-how, and even a headquarters in the form of an abandoned Secret Society of Super-Villains citadel.
Elongated Man and Zatanna could round up the membership, and add extra power to the team.

A tight, powerful and experienced unit that probably had a better shot at taking out the kind of threats a team like the Justice League was used in dealing with.

Peace

[AdamFTF]

The Silver Age Justice League is the quintessential "big-name" Justice League but also nothing like what people expect this big name League to be.

Confused? I'll explain.

People like to build up the idea of the big name JL as some assemblage of gods. Or a superhero version of the UN. A big, serious pantheon of important personages who fights gigantic threats and are led by Superman with Batman providing the group's tactical brains. The truth is, they were actually one of the most casual versions of the League I've ever read. Back then, they were basically just a club for superheroes. They hung around their Secret Sanctuary holding their little meetings and told stories from their adventures so that Snapper Carr could record them and write them down. Snapper himself, the hipster everyteen, was often an active part of missions or would provide some crazy idea that would ultimately turn the tide. Heck, once it was Snapper's birthday, so Wonder Woman baked him a cake. Apparently, she has time to bake when she's not fighting crime. As for Batman and Superman, they were usually so busy with other cases for about the first year that they rarely showed up for meetings. And the threats they fought weren't usually so big that they had to attack it en masse as so decentralized that they had to split into groups to fight all the different parts of it. There were a fair share of aliens in their early rogues gallery (Starro, Despero, Kanjar Ro, Queen Bee) and some mad scientist types (Prof. Amos Fortune, Dr. Ivo, Dr. Destiny, etc) but very few of them were world-beaters.

Now with all this, do I still suggest reading Silver Age Justice League of America? Heck, yes. Just maybe not all at once. It's just better to understand that it's more or less what a kid from the '60s imagined a club for superheroes being like. They have a secret hideout and tell stories about their adventures and have cake on their birthdays. That's what they were back then.

[warzon]

I miss the satelite years jla.dont get me wrong i love the big 7.but i also love zatanna.black canary.hawkwoman.red tornado.firestorm.hawkman.green arrow.the atom.as well.and also miss the time's when they would do the jla/jsa team ups.my idea.

Justice league team

roll call

wonder woman
zatanna
black canary
hawkwoman
vixen
mera
catwoman
dr light
maxima
ultraa
cpt atom
firestorm
red tornado
geo force
black lightning
batman
aquaman
superman
hawkman
the flash
green arrow
green lantern
the atom
bronze tiger
muhammad x