Unca Cheeks the Toy Wonder's Silver Age Comics Web Site!
In the final analysis... it's all boils down to one simple credo: respect.
As in: respect for the diligence and/or inspiration of those who have tilled these fields before you.
As in: respect for the basic, elementary notion that Those Who Preceded You might actually -- steady, now -- have had some clue as to what the heck they were doing... and (even more vitally, perhaps) why.
As in: r-e-s-p-e-c-t for your audience... and the concomitant realization that their memories -- and, thus, their desires -- are exactly as worthy of careful and consistent custodianship as are your own.
Back in the 60's and early to mid-70's... the Silver Age DC was all about "respect."
It began with fans writing in to the writers and editors of DC at the time (Julius Schwartz; Gardner Fox; John Broome; etc.), asking: "whatever happened to the classic heroes of DC's 'Golden Age,' anyway...?"
These days -- whenever some post-adolescent reader writes in with a similar request, re: the heroes of DC's storied, glorious Silver Age -- the standard response is either: a.) a condescending chuckle, followed by a dismissive wave of the editorial hand; or else: b.) naked hostility, with much orchestrated ballyhooing from the carefully-primed peanut gallery of modern-day "history-is-bunk" fans.
The aforementioned architects of the Silver Age, however, did not --
as so many of today's hamfisted Herodotus wannabes are wont to do -- see themselves
as being set so highly in the artistic firmament that the merest rudiments
of r-e-s-p-e-c-t were, somehow, beneath them. Having reliably ascertained
that there was, in fact, a real and quantifiable desire on the part of the
older readership for new adventures concerning the legendary characters...
they promptly set about to providing precisely that.
Once again, con brio: in the end... it's all about respect.
The current editorial regime at DC Comics -- whiledue plaudits, certainly, for much of which has been (and continues to be) admirable and even visionary, re: the bulk of their efforts on behalf of their vast stable of characters -- has (for some time, now) manifested a naked hostility towards the keystone characters on whom much of their company's early success was predicated. There have been many conciliatory explanations offered as to precisely why, precisely, this should be so: an editorial staff grown increasingly younger (via the normal causes of attrition) over the years, whose members can not -- or will not -- acknowledge the indefinable allure of characters created before they first began reading comics; a steadfast (if misplaced) group belief that spotlighting such characters would, ipso facto, remove some of the luster from their own creations; and other such after-the-fact rationales, as well.
In any event: this page has been established in loving memory of these (largely) absent characters from the Golden Age of DC Comics, who -- for several magical and awe-inspiring decades, long after their initial creation and (temporary) banishment from the annals of comics entire -- thrilled yet another generation of readers anew with their exploits. It is founded, as well, in steadfast and fond admiration for the clear-sighted vision of those Silver Age editors and writers who -- placing aside their own need to establish creative "territories" of their own -- counted their custodianship of said characters as joy, and made them available to us once more.
In short: it is founded in gratitude... and respect.
The first of the Golden Age warriors to return was "the Fastest Man Alive": Jay Garrick -- a.k.a. The Flash.
In the classic tale "Flash of Two Worlds" (FLASH #123; 1st series. John Broome, writer; Carmine Infantino, artist; Julius Schwartz, editor), the (then-) modern-day Flash, Barry Allen, stumbled upon the existence of a second, "parallel" Earth: existing in the same space as our own, but "vibrating at a different speed." On this world -- where (at least, in the initial telling of the tale) it was still 1938 -- the Golden Age characters were still hale and hearty and Fighting the Good Fight.
In short order, Barry Allen met his Golden Age inspiration and namesake...
and -- just that quickly -- comics history was made.
Reader response to this epoch-making comics event was -- quite simply -- unprecedented. FLASH #123 was the single best-selling issue of the title's run up to that point, and (absent any change in the creative staff involved) it was clearly and solely attributable to the prominence of the Golden Age Flash -- Jay Garrick -- on its cover.
Within six months [see cover, above], the writer and editor brought him back for a second testing of the sales waters... with equally impressive results.
Quickly, other revivals followed suit, in other DC titles of the day. Then-current Green Lantern -- in reality, ace test pilot Hal Jordan -- metup with his own counterpart: Alan Scott, the Golden Age Green Lantern. This particular Golden/Silver Age pairing was especially successful on a purely creative level -- the two characters complimenting one another as readily as steak and home fries on a breakfast platter -- and proved to be one of the more regular and durable storytelling "engines" for the GREEN LANTERN title throughout the 1960's.
(Later on -- as the combined Golden/Silver Age "canon" was further established and explicated throughout the years -- Alan Scott was even made an honorary "member," of sorts, of the intergalactic Green Lantern Corp: a sort of cosmic "police force" of alien Green Lanterns scattered throughout the known universe, which was first established during the Silver Age incarnation of the title, and frequently utilized to ingenious storytelling effect.)
One of the most memorable of any of the Silver/Gold pairings was GREEN LANTERN #61 [see accompanying cover]. In it, a disillusioned and dispirited Alan Scott decides toutilize the nigh-limitless energies within his magic Power Ring to "wipe out every last vestige of evil from the face of the earth -- forever!"
Unfortunately, this hastily-voiced wish results in the instantaneous vanishing of every single other human inhabitant of the planet. A shaken and inconsolable Alan -- having nowhere else to turn, at this point -- crosses the dimensional boundry between the two earths and enlists the aid of Silver Age counterpart Hal Jordan in order to (somehow) negate the effects of this most profoundly ill-considered wish. A particularly cerebral and moving story, it serves as a classic illustration of the cardinal storytelling virtues of the DC comics of the period: imaginative story conceptualization and (with regards to the Silver/Gold pairings, in particular) a willingness to creatively "play" the foibles of one character against the strengths of another, often to illuminating effect.
There were also yearly "crossover" events held in the JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA (DC's flagship "team" title of the day), whereinthe memberships entire of the Justice League and their Golden Age counterparts -- the equally legendary Justice Society -- would join forces against menaces of a particularly "cosmic" scope and imminence. While these are covered, separately, in the JUSTICE LEAGUE page on this site... it is worth noting, here, that the spectacular sales success of these annual pairings led the ediorial braintrust at DC to attempt some interesting (if lesser-known) Golden Age character "try-outs" as well. Far and away the most interesting of these was the teaming up of Golden Age stalwarts Dr. Fate (a gold-helmeted, crime-fighting sorceror) and Hour Man (who ingested "Miraclo Pills" which -- for precisely one hour -- would grant him incredible strength, stamina and invulnerability [see accompanying cover].
GOLDEN AGE DC HEROES in the Silver Age
PAGE TWO (Starman, Black Canary, Spectre and
Vigilante)
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