No, I did not get the "
Franken-Castle" hardcover. Thankfully, it was no longer available in the stores yesterday. That way, I got to save up my money for Volume Two of the "
Golden Age Flash Archives" instead! Yes, I found a copy at about half price today in my local comicbook store. The bloke in the shop was surprised anyone was even interested in these Golden Age old fogies. I told them that I'm a huge fan of DC Archives - especially the Golden Age ones. Can't wait to start reading this volume after I finish work tonight at 10pm... :)
Looking at this book brings back memories of my days teaching in an international school some years back - circa 2002-2003. I was just starting to get interested in Golden Age comics and did lots of research online on the original JSA characters. Thankfully, I got to use the internet in the computer room. Of course, the students would all be wondering why I kept doing searches for
Alan Scott, Jay Garrick, Ted Knight, etc.
Around that time, I managed to get the two archive volumes of the
Golden Age Green Lantern. I was also catching up on the
Starman and later
JSA series by James Robinson, Geoff Johns and David Goyer. But what really made me fall in love with the characters of Alan Scott and Jay Garrick was their appearances in the mini-series by Mark Waid and Barry Kitson called "
The Brave and the Bold - Flash and Green Lantern" - in which Alan and Jay co-starred in an entire issue with Hal Jordan and Barry Allen. After that, I read everything I could find on Alan Scott and Jay Garrick. What was so amazing about these old characters was that they were first and foremost human - genuinely fun-loving and good-hearted gentlemen. Alan Scott became a millionaire and a broadcasting tycoon who later lost all his wealth when his company went bust. But he retained his personality as an engineer with old-world values. Jay Garrick was a prankster much like the modern day Flash, Wally West, but without the hang-ups. He's still highly respected as one of the three elder statesmen of the JSA (the other two are Alan Scott and Ted "
Wildcat" Grant).
In fact, it's a wonder that Jay, Alan and Ted have all survived the cataclysmic events of the DCU over the past 20-30 years that wiped out their other teammates - namely,
Crisis On Infinite Earths, Zero Hour, Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis and
Blackest Night. Speaking of
Blackest Night, Jay Garrick and Ted Grant were even featured on the cover of the second issue of "
Blackest Night: JSA". Like I said, it's a wonder that these characters have remained marketable and relevant even after more than 70 years... :)
