Not being a traditional DC follower, I haven’t heard of most of these characters before they showed up. So Shiv has built-in blades and a rapid healing factor. Any Canadian-ness?
Other than her original appearances in Stars & STRIPE and in the first Injustice Society storyline from the Johns/Goyer/Robinson JSA ruin, I don’t think Shiv has appeared at all. She might have been an even match up for Courtney as the Star-Spangled Kid, but was pretty outclassed by her as Stargirl.
Really deep DCU Easter egg: When Jordan Makhent/The Icicle talked about the small towns he visited traveling across America for the Foundation, he mentioned Littleville and Hatton’s Corners, both of which have ties to DC young hero history. Littleville was the home of Robby Reed, the original wielder of the H Dial from “Dial H for Hero”. Hatton’s Corners was where the Teen Titans had their first mission.
I said before that Stargirl seems to be based on Courtney’s origin series from the Stars & STRIPE comic. I’m going to list some things from the series that have shown up on the show, and then put how these things played out in the comic book. Some of these were answered in this week’s episode.
- The Dragon King. He had flunkies and minions, but his primary ally was his daughter Shiv, whom he experimented on extensively to give her powers. Shiv was revealed to be a supporting cast member
- Courtney has a locket keepsake of her long-gone father she attaches great importance to.
- Head cheerleader/alpha mean girl Cindy Burman makes Courtney’s life at school difficult.
- Stolen/Hijacked satellite dishes
- A mysterious, scruffy janitor with the name Justin who seems to keeping an eye on people.
FWIW, the Golden Age JSA members (I.e. not counting honorary members or retcons) NOT shown as JSA members in the show are:
Wonder Woman
The Spectre
The Atom
Sandman
Black Canary
Mr. Terrific
Pretty sure Sandman has been shown.
sorry if i screw this up; new stuff always confuses me…
loved the easter egg in pat’s garage.
the green car from action comics 1
You are indeed correct. He’s right there in there photo.
Wasn’t Superman in the JSA at one point?
Has Hawkman been referenced at all in the show? He was one of the original founding members of the Golden Age JSA, but I don’t remember him being mentioned at all on the show.
In the original Golden Age run, no, or at least not exactly. Batman and Superman were “honorary members” but never actually appeared - it was apparently an unwritten editorial rule that any character with their own ongoing title wouldn’t appear in a JSA story.
In the retcon of the 1970s and early 80s, Earth-2 Superman was a member of the All-Star Squadron, which was “affiliated” with the JSA, but he was never a formal member of the JSA.
In the post-Crisis, pre-New 52 continuity, Earth-22 Superman (the Earth depicted in Kingdom Come) briefly crossed over into the main timeline and joined the JSA.
In the New 52 continuity, Earth-2 Superman was a member of the Earth-2 JSA.
In the current continuity, I think they’re back to Superman never having been a member of the JSA.
Hawkman is too complicated. To quote an excerpt of an article that I can’t find all of.
“Thanagar’s champion, Hawkman can talk to birds. He also can’t talk to birds. Sometimes, he can’t even speak normally at all! Even if he could talk normally, or to birds, there are no birds on Thanagar, because it does not exist. Hawkman was sent here to study Earthly police methods, because Thanagar’s own methods suck! That’s OK though, because Thanagar still does not exist! Yet it is populated by peaceful barbarians! Who are stupid, and also warlike!”
Flash and Green Lantern were actually written out of the JSA after they got their own solo titles, and were replaced by Starman and Dr. Mid-Nite, but the editor decided to bring them back pretty quickly. Wonder Woman was not written out after she got her own title.
Superman and Batman were already so popular by the time All-Star Comics launched that the editor decided they didn’t need extra exposure. Also, the company at that time was basically two companies (National Periodical, colloquially known as Superman-D.C., and All-American) which operated under the same roof, but had their own titles and editors. All-Star Comics, although it was meant to be a showcase for character from both companies, was an All-American title, and most of the more popular JSAers (Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, Black Canary, Wildcat) were from the All-American side.
The Seven Soldiers of Victory were created not only to copy the JSA, but it was a National Periodical title and was launched to solely feature characters from the National line of books.
Renewed for season 2, dumping DC Universe.
I’m a little uncertain about the timeline here - I guess Pat could put Courtney in the car, run over to Mike and tell him that Courtney isn’t feeling well and needs to go home (or something) and then get into the “accident” but it’d be nice to have a line or two clarifying (or did the CW cut a scene?). Nice scene with Courtney and Shiv though.
Pat didn’t need to say Courtney was driving. (I’m not sure people with learner’s permits are supposed to do that after dark anyway.) He could’ve said she wasn’t feeling well and he was driving her home when she let out a horrible groan. He took his eyes off the road instinctively to look at her and skidded into the light pole. That would’ve made more sense.
“Don’t call me Dragon King. I’m Doctor Ito; Dragon King is my father.” I may have mistranscribed this.
Other notes about tonight’s episode - Brainwave used a a whole tape each day even when some of his recordings are only a minute long - wasteful!
One additional argument for recruiting Brainwave, Jr.: someone who is in the JSA is a resource the ISA doesnt have (even if he does nothing for the JSA directly)
No fights or anything spectacular, but a compelling episode nevertheless. As befits the title “Brainwave”, the writer eschewed the physical and went for the psychological. Great stuff!
So are they going to tell Courtney’s mom?