Unca Cheeks the Toy Wonder's Silver Age Comics Web Site!
(Part 3)
I've already covered Superman, Green Lantern and (particularly) the Batman in depth, elsewhere on this site... but there were other interesting (and important) Justice League members during the Silver Age, as well.
While I won't be able to squeeze all of then in here, obviously... here are some of the particularly cool ones:
The Atom utilized his science-based ability to shrink his way down to six inches (or even sub-microscopic size) to battle injustice and whatnot in a highly entertaining (and -- frequently -- educational, as well) series written by Silver Age savant John Broome, and stunningly penciled by Gil Kane. (These series, in fact, contained some of Kane's most brilliant and innovative layouts... the happy side benefit, one presumes, from finding himself challenged monthly by the peculiar problems of proportion and perspective presented him by a hero no larger than a pencil, and summarily rising to the occasion. And then some.)
Whereas the character has had quite the hard time of it, lately -- when last seen, he had been somewhat arbitrarily (to say nothing, ultimately, of pointlessly) devolved from adulthood to callow teen status, and -- in the process -- demoted to aimless adventuring with the latest incarnation of the Teen Titans.
Here's hoping, then, that things turn around soon for the good Mr. Ray Palmer (the Atom's "secret identity") in the very near future. As a member in good standing during the Justice's League glory years (i.e., the 60's and the 70's)... he deserves better, certainly.
... as does, too, his erstwhile Best Friend in the crime-fighting game: the interstellar police officer known as "the Winged Wonder"... or else (better still) simply: Hawkman.
One of the nicest ongoing little "touches." re: the classic Silver Age character -- and one which made him (so far as I know, at any rate) unique within the annals of costumed head-busting -- was this: upon journeying to Earth in order to study our own police force's crime-fighting techniques (this was, you'll understand, in the early 1960's; the idea didn't seem so quite so ludicrous, then), the Thanagarian alien known as "Katar Hol" fell in love with our world; its rich historical pageant; and -- most importantly -- its people.
Resolving to extend his "tour of duty" here, then... he utilized his ability of soaring, unencumbered flight to do precisely the same sort of thing here as he might well have been doing back on his own homeworld: Taking Down the Bad Guys.
Now... for that neat little "twist" I alluded to, earlier: having become good and soused (ummmmm... intellectually-speaking, I mean -- !) on all things Earth-historical... the Hawkman eschewed all modern and/or technology-based gadgetry while engaged in his regular rounds of felon-bashing, choosing -- instead -- to arm himself solely with ancient earth weapons!
The familiar sight of a massive, winged man (as articulated with still-unsurpased skill by then-artist Murphy Anderson), swooping down out of the skies with (say) a halberd gripped in one hand, and a gladiator's netting trailing ominously from the other... was just another one of the delightful visual "bits" so common to (and distinctive of) the Silver Age, a la DC Comics.
One of the best loved characters of DC's Silver Age was police scientist "Barry Allen" -- the now (tragically) deceased hero known as The Flash.
Written by (the man never slept, apparently) John Broome, and penciled in the lyrical and idiocyncratic style of Carmine Infantino, each and every issue of THE FLASH was as sumptious a diet of High Adventure and high velocity as any reader of the day could possibly have asked for.
For this series, in particular, John Broome lavished histales
with Science, Science and more Science. Plot twists would revolve
around (say) the ability of a particular doomsday device to reach escape velocity...
or a villainous mastermind's attempting to capture "spent" light waves from
earth's past... or... or... and so on. Between this title and DC's METAL
MEN, a kid stood a better-than-average chance of convincingly faking his
way through an entire semester of junior high science class. 
The Flash
later surrendered his life -- in as valorous style as any super-hero ever,
either before or since -- in the (to many of us) pointless maxi-issue "epic"
with which DC Comics finally "closed the door" on its rich (and endlessly
fascinating) Silver Age cosmology: the aptly-named CRISIS.
His mantle, however, was taken up by his one-time "kid sidekick" -- the
former "Kid Flash" -- whose own FLASH series is (some comfort, here) one
of the better-written comics on the market today, with a distinctive and
pronounced Silver Age feel and flavor all its own.
Some mention should be made here -- if nowhere else -- of one of the Justice
League's "mainstay" characters: "J'onn J'onzz"...
a.k.a., the Martian Manhunter.
Originally little
more than a green-hued Superman knockoff, J'onn -- whenever not currently
"active" with the League itself -- languished in a roundelay of depressingly
unimaginative and uninspired "back-up" series' within the books of better-realized
characters... and some of whom (in all honesty) weren't even that.
Over the years, however... a sort of consensual "character by accrual" managed to build up around the good-hearted alien adventurer, and -- finally managing to set himself somewhat "apart" from his spandexed fellows by dint of pre-earth tenure history and alien outlook in common with no other major DC character at the time -- he graduated to his current status within the readership: that of a "fan favorite."
It's not quite as nice as having your own book, of course... but: on
the other hand -- it beats having to "split" a monthly with the likes
of, say, "Beppo, the Super-Monkey." Which may well have been the next
logical step, otherwise.
...and -- even though he was never a member of the erstwhile Justice League -- the temptation to include one of J'onn's old mind-bogglingly goofy "title mates" here is simply to great for me to forbear:
Robby Reed -- the youthful protagonist of the short-lived (but still legendary... or did I mean notorious...?) series DIAL "H" FOR HERO -- quite literally stumbled over an ancient artifact one smalltown afternoon, while out spelunking. Said gimcrack was, in fact, a talismanic device of unexplauned origin (to say nothing of discernible purpose).
In any event: whenever he would dial up the letters H-E-R-O on said device (... oh... did I forget to mention...? This awesome engine of heroism unleashed resembled nothing so much, in fact, as an ordinary telephone dial, with runic characters taking the place of the customary "1-2-3-etc."), young Robby would become an entirely new super-hero!
Unfortunately, however, many of these wondrous new "heroes" were simply dreadful: "the Human Starfish"... "HOWZIS, the Living Pinball Machine"... "King Kandy"... "Mighty Moppet"... I can keep this up all day, folks; lay down your arms and surrender at once. Any officers amongst the prisoners will be treated as such, as per the articles of the Geneva Convention.
And, no... I'm sorry to say: I most certainly did not "make up"
any of the "Dial" heroes referenced above. And you're just darned lucky;
I hadn't even gotten to "the Yankee Doodle Kid," yet.
The Silver Age JUSTICE
LEAGUE
PAGE ONE
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PAGE THREE
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PAGE FIVE
PAGE SIX
"MORE COMIC BOOKS," YOU SAY...?
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