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Post by Icctrombone on Oct 28, 2015 5:51:10 GMT -5
The Golden age Green Lantern protecting the borders.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 28, 2015 22:26:06 GMT -5
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Post by Icctrombone on Oct 30, 2015 20:32:08 GMT -5
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Post by the4thpip on Oct 31, 2015 15:14:43 GMT -5
That... Cannot be helpful.
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Post by Icctrombone on Nov 2, 2015 22:36:45 GMT -5
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Post by Prince Hal on Nov 2, 2015 22:42:27 GMT -5
We all know who that witch was (or became in a retcon?), right?
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Post by Icctrombone on Nov 2, 2015 22:50:32 GMT -5
Not really. Who ?
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Post by Prince Hal on Nov 2, 2015 23:05:23 GMT -5
Zatanna in disguise, even though such was almost certainly never Gardner Fox's intention. However, the famous search for Zatara, which Zatanna undertook in a story that migrated amongst several Schwartz-edited titles (Atom, Hawkman, GL, and the Elongated Man's back-up story in Detective), reached its final chapter in JLA 51, two years after Detective 336. The gimmick was that Zatanna had created magical duplicates of each of the heroes whom she'd met on her quest, and included Batman in that group. Problem was that she'd never, ever met Batman, but of course, there was no way he could not appear as a star in that issue of JLA. (The popularity of the TV show turned JLA into Batman and his Pals for a while there.) Thus Fox and Schwartz apparently retconned 'Tec 336 so that it could safely be said that Batman had indeed met Zatanna. This despite the lack of clues, or backwards-cast spells, etc. in that original story.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2015 23:17:10 GMT -5
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Post by Icctrombone on Nov 3, 2015 5:41:55 GMT -5
Zatanna in disguise, even though such was almost certainly never Gardner Fox's intention. However, the famous search for Zatara, which Zatanna undertook in a story that migrated amongst several Schwartz-edited titles (Atom, Hawkman, GL, and the Elongated Man's back-up story in Detective), reached its final chapter in JLA 51, two years after Detective 336. The gimmick was that Zatanna had created magical duplicates of each of the heroes whom she'd met on her quest, and included Batman in that group. Problem was that she'd never, ever met Batman, but of course, there was no way he could not appear as a star in that issue of JLA. (The popularity of the TV show turned JLA into Batman and his Pals for a while there.) Thus Fox and Schwartz apparently retconned 'Tec 336 so that it could safely be said that Batman had indeed met Zatanna. This despite the lack of clues, or backwards-cast spells, etc. in that original story. Sounds like one of the first retcons. And nobody can blame Roy Thomas.
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Post by MDG on Nov 3, 2015 8:57:30 GMT -5
We all know who that witch was (or became in a retcon?), right? Less a retcon than clever storytelling--kind've like the invention of Earth-2
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Post by Prince Hal on Nov 3, 2015 9:07:25 GMT -5
We all know who that witch was (or became in a retcon?), right? Less a retcon than clever storytelling--kind've like the invention of Earth-2 Yeah, that's a way to look at it, except that I think Schwartz and Fox were concerned that the fans might notice that there had never been a meeting between Batman and Zatanna, which speaks to the notion that the fans were ever more concerned with continuity. Admittedly, it was a clever bit of legerdemain on their part, but had the story been done pre-Marvel, they likely would just have done it without an explanation, and if some eagle-eyed fan caught them, deal with it with a quip a la Mort Weisinger. Either way, one of the first moments when DC realized that fans were paying attention and perhaps, sticking around for more years than had been DC's expectation.
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Post by gothos on Nov 3, 2015 15:42:39 GMT -5
Zatanna in disguise, even though such was almost certainly never Gardner Fox's intention. However, the famous search for Zatara, which Zatanna undertook in a story that migrated amongst several Schwartz-edited titles (Atom, Hawkman, GL, and the Elongated Man's back-up story in Detective), reached its final chapter in JLA 51, two years after Detective 336. The gimmick was that Zatanna had created magical duplicates of each of the heroes whom she'd met on her quest, and included Batman in that group. Problem was that she'd never, ever met Batman, but of course, there was no way he could not appear as a star in that issue of JLA. (The popularity of the TV show turned JLA into Batman and his Pals for a while there.) Thus Fox and Schwartz apparently retconned 'Tec 336 so that it could safely be said that Batman had indeed met Zatanna. This despite the lack of clues, or backwards-cast spells, etc. in that original story. Prince Hal, I think your scenario is possible, but keep this in mind-- Throughout the whole "witch" episode in DETECTIVE, there's absolutely no clue as to who or what the witch is. I used to see this sort of "villain who pops out of nowhere" thing all the time in Robert Kanigher's books, but I think it's VERY atypical for Fox's scripts. He tended to explain his villains' origins and motives in great-- some might say excessive-- detail. This MIGHT mean that he was setting fans of the Schwartz books up for the "big revelation" in JUSTICE LEAGUE. I think it's likely that the cover-schtick was Schwartz's idea, given that it only occupies about a page or so in the actual story. I've the impression that Schwartz often obliged Fox and other stable-writers to write their stories around some cover-gimmick, and if the writer didn't really care for the gimmick, he "rebelled" by giving it only the most superficial treatment in the narrative. The famous "Riddler-punching-bag" Batman cover, also from DETECTIVE, references a scene that occupies about two, maybe three pages. Unfortunately, since there were only a piddling few interviews with Fox before his death in '86, I guess we'll never know all that much about his ways and means.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2015 22:51:39 GMT -5
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Post by Icctrombone on Nov 6, 2015 7:12:41 GMT -5
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