Clash Of Genres

The Justice League JLA for short, is a fictional DC Comics superhero team. The League originally appeared with a line-up that included Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter. However, the team roster has been rotated throughout the years with the recognizable characters Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Captain Marvel, Plastic Man and dozens of others.

The Justice League operated from a secret cave outside of the small town of Happy Harbor, Rhode Island. Teenager Snapper Carr tagged along on missions, and was both the team’s mascot and an official member. Snapper, noted for speaking in beatnik dialect and snapping his fingers, helped the League to defeat giant space starfish Starro the Conqueror in the team’s first appearance.

Tom from the comics ate me brain-blog argued previously that the Justice League is a “clash of genres.”

That phrase might not be perfectly accurate, but it’s a good soundbite. Batman has some pulp roots (Zorro, the Shadow). The Flash and the Atom are science-heroes, powered by vaguely plausible experiments/accidents. Green Lantern and Hawkman are space-opera characters. Zatanna straddles the Vertigo line. The Elongated Man and the Martian Manhunter are different types of detectives; and at one point Booster Gold and Captain Atom were different kinds of “men out of time.” The ones I would call “pure” superheroes — for purposes of this post, “fantasy” characters — include Aquaman, Superman, and Wonder Woman.