This weekend’s light-hearted and escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog will look at DC’s team-ups between their Golden Age superheroes – the Justice Society – and their Silver Age superheroes – the Justice League.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA Vol 1 #21 (August 1963)
Title: Crisis on Earth-One
Justice Society Lineup: Hourman, Dr. Fate, Hawkman (original), Flash (original), the Atom (original), Green Lantern (original) and the 1st Black Canary
Justice League Lineup: Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, the 2nd Aquaman, the 2nd Batman, the 2nd Superman, the 2nd Wonder Woman, the 2nd Atom, the 2nd Flash and the 2nd Green Lantern
Villains: Crime Champions (The Wizard, Icicle, the Fiddler, Chronos, Dr. Alchemy and Felix Faust)
NOTE: For people who are not really into comic book history, I’ll mention that the “Crisis” referred to here was a forerunner of so many other DC stories that start with the word Crisis. In the late 1950s DC wanted to reinvent many of their late 1930s to early 1950s superheroes.
The company’s method of adapting more “up to date” versions of their Golden Age heroes without losing the copyrights on those figures was to state that the original versions of all their old heroes came from an alternate Earth, designated Earth-Two. The Earth with the newer heroes was called Earth-One, since they were the newer, CURRENT versions.
Previously, DC had established this notion in the pages of Flash #123 (September 1961), when the new Flash, Barry Allen, first met his Golden Age counterpart, Jay Garrick. Now both “Justice” teams, the older Society and the newer League, were meeting for the very first time. Continue reading
TWO THOUSAND MANIACS (1964) – For people who’ve never heard of Herschell Gordon Lewis, I’ll point out that he’s known as “the Godfather of Gore.” And not even GOOD gore, but the obviously fake kind that makes you laugh. Add to that the inept acting, bland dialogue and quickie production techniques like you’d get in old black & white flicks and you’ll understand the man’s Bad Movie magic. 
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FLORIS (1969 and 1975) – Actor Rutger Hauer and director Paul Verhoeven first worked together for this adventure series set during the very early 1500s. The program aired on Netherlands television in 1969, then was remade – again with Hauer in the swashbuckling title role – in 1975 for German television and ran for even more episodes than the original series. 
Around the year 1502, word finally caught up with our wandering hero that his father and two older brothers had died. Floris returned home, accompanied by his adventuring sidekick Sindala (Jos Bergman), an Indian Fakir. (Floris and the Fakir was originally going to be the title of the series.) 
Floris and Sindala fought their way out of the hands of the enemy and wound up allied with Wolter van Oldenstein and his men at Castle Oldenstein. I often wonder if the 1991 film Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves took partial inspiration from the premise of Floris, with a returning nobleman fighting oppression alongside a nonwhite comrade from his overseas adventures. 
THE MONK (1796) – Written by Matthew G. Lewis. Though The Monk was preceded by other works of Gothic Horror like The Castle of Otranto (1764) and The Necromancer (1794), Lewis’ novel cranked up the supernatural elements a great deal. It also painted the Catholic clergy in extremely unflattering terms, at least in the initial edition. 
GENTLEMAN JEKYLL AND DRIVER HYDE (1950) – Educational short films are often hilarious snapshots of their era. Driver’s Ed shorts are especially vulnerable to seeming outdated given how quickly car designs can change in certain decades. 
NAIA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – Fighting it out for the National Championship in the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) were the COLLEGE OF IDAHO COYOTES and the INDIANA TECH WARRIORS (should be Hoplites). 
NCCAA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The BETHEL (IN) PILOTS (riverboat pilots) faced the CLINTON COLLEGE GOLDEN BEARS for the National Championship of the NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association) Division One. 
SKULL THE SLAYER Vol 1 #1 (August 1975) 
It is not truly the Earth of millions of years ago, because it is anachronistically populated by dinosaurs and primates that were never alive during the same time periods. The only survivors of the plane crash are Scully, a young Native American man named Jeff Turner, an African American physician named Raymond Corey, and Corey’s young research assistant Ann Reynolds. 
GRACE O’MALLEY (1530-1603) – Balladeer’s Blog takes a Saint Patrick’s Day look at Ireland’s notorious Grace O’Malley aka Grainne O’Malley aka Grania or Granuaile O’Malley. This woman was the head of the O’Malley faction in West Ireland and became legendary through her real and embellished career leading pirate crews against her enemies. 
