Top Team-ups

[BentonGrey]

Well, this is a simple one for me:

• Batman
• Robin (Dick)
• Batgirl (Barbara)
• Alfred
• Catwoman
• Jim Gordon

The classic Bat-Family is where it is for me.  I love those characters, I love their stories, and they are the be-all-end-all of the Bat-world for me.  I'd include Bullock and Montoya from TAS as secondary tier characters, but that's about it.

[Tomato]

Oooh, Bullock would be nice... but unfortunately he suffers from the same issues Damian does, in that there'd really only be one default look for him. It's hard to stretch one look into 5 figures.

And that, invariably, is the issue I'm having with most of the legacy characters in general. My shelf consists of 5 main versions of each character: Comic, Game, Movie, Animated, and Lego. The Movies are pretty restrictive (I have to go to B&R for Dick and Barbara, soooo happy about that I can't even tellyou), Arkham games are roughly set in the Cataclysm era (we might see Cassandra in another sequel), and the Animated series and Lego both have Tim as Robin and Babs as Batgirl.

About the only other place to go for both Stephanie and Damian would be my "comic" aka the DCUC line, and that line... well, that line in general has a very silver age feel to it(It's a love letter to the old Super Powers line), so I actually made a Dick Grayson Robin to stand beside my Bat signal logo Batman. I plan on adding Tim and Cassandra as Robin and Bat girl for that line as well, but a line of three bat girls and three robins would look a bit tacky. When I was originally planning the shelf I had intended them to all be in their adult forms (Red Robin, Oracle, etc.) but I already have Nightwing in my Titans shelf and I don't like buying the same figure more than once (and again, Dick as Robin suits the line far better regardless).

[Tomato]

or anyone still interested in what I decided on this... Much as it pains me, I decided to trim myself back to the main five: Batman, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Catwoman, and Barbara Gordon. I'm still leaving the door open for expansion to Batwoman, Cassandra Cain, Alfred, James Gordon, and Harvey Bullock later, but I'd rather buckle down and focus on finishing the characters I've started collecting for rather than having to build from the ground up. Breaking down each character:

Alfred & James Gordon- I'll probably reverse on these two first (they both have an animated series figure and a lego minifig) but I'd have to customize the movie figures and the DCUC/comic figures, and find some way to get the Arkham versions done properly to boot. Less to do with not being able to do them, and more to do with just wanting to focus on finishing everyone else first.

Batwoman- I REALLY want to include Kate in my collection, but she just has no representation in any of the forms I collect. She doesn't appear in either the films or in the Arkham series, she never got a DCUC figure nor did her Mystery of Batwoman counterpart receive a figure. I can't even find a version of her in the lego batman games, and even ventriloquist and zsasz managed to appear in lego batman ds.

Cassandra Cain- Pretty much the same situation as Kate atm, except that Cain actually does have an DCUC/DCSH figure, even if it is dreadfully expensive. I'm hopeful Cassandra will make her way into the Arkham series when they finally put out a sequel to City, but as things stand right now there's not much I can do with her.

Harvey Bullock- Harvey is unique in that, despite making appearances in almost every batman property of note now (I roughly equate the character Stephens in TDK, the cop the Joker uses to get his phone call, to that universe's Bullock) He doesn't have a single toy out there. I'd basically have to build every single version of the character, which really sucks because I love him quite a bit from both the animated series and from the comics.

[Tomato]

In honor of my recent read-through of Earth 2, I wanted to bring up a team I'm actually not really familiar with outside of basic geek knowledge, and would actually like to know more about:



Now, of course, I'm familiar with the most recognizable members: Alan Scott Green Lantern, Jay Garrick Flash, Dr. Fate, Hawkman, Mr. Terrific, etc. But my connection to the team is mainly peripheral... I enjoyed it whenever they interacted with other heroes, and I've read a few stories from the 90s JSA run, but never anything extensive... maybe a random graphic novel here or there because my dad doesn't have my "I MUST READ EACH BOOK IN ORDER" ocd. It's probably made me open to Earth 2... I don't have any preconceptions as to which characters should be in the JSA... I've read as many pre-crisis stories with E2 Superman on the team as I have post-n52 stories with Batman II, and even skimmed one book with Kingdom Come's Superman joining the team.

And so I open the floor to you all: Who belongs in a quintessential JSA, preferably in 11 characters or less.

[Cyber Burn]

For me, this would be the team to beat, I know it doesn't quite fit your "11 or less" requirement, but I really can't see cutting anyone else.

1.) Doctor Fate (Kent Nelson)
2.) Hour-Man (Rex Tyler)
3.) Sandman (Wesley Dodds)
4.) Atom (Al Pratt)
5.) Flash (Jay Garrick)
6.) Green Lantern (Alan Scott)
7.) Hawkman (Carter Hall)
8.) Hawkwoman (Shiera Sanders)
9.) Mister Terrific (Terry Sloane)
10.) Wildcat (Ted Grant)
11.) Doctor Midnite (Charles McNider)
12.) Starman (Ted Knight)
13.) Black Canary (Dinah Drake)

[BentonGrey]

I think, in terms of standard DC continuity, CB's got it down.  For my part, I always think in terms of my streamlined continuity of the DCUG, so my list looks a bit different:

1.) Doctor Fate (Kent Nelson)
2.) Hour-Man (Rex Tyler)
3.) Sandman (Wesley Dodds)
4.) Atom (Al Pratt)
5.) Flash (Jay Garrick)
6.) Green Lantern (Alan Scott)
7.) Doctor Midnite (Charles McNider)
8.) Starman (Ted Knight)
9.) Mister Terrific (Terry Sloane)
10.) Wildcat (Ted Grant)

In the DCUG, I wanted to clean up continuity, so I removed characters who needed complicated explanations to explain their existence across big periods of times or very different stories.  Thus, I cut out a Golden Age Batman, Superman, Hawkman, Wonder Woman, and Black Canary.  In turn, that left a nice, big cast that had more of a classic, mystery-man style feel to them.  I suppose I should really go back and make The Crimson Avenger recruitable...maybe Shinning Knight too.

[Cyber Burn]

I have to agree with Benton, at least partially, anyway. Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman will always be Justice League to me, so that's why didn't include them in my list. I went back and forth with the Hawks, but eventually decided to include them, I've always liked the old school JSA versions. But Black Canary just seemed like a good fit, a good balance.

[Podmark]

I'm no expert on the JSA and I'm really only familiar with the modern version of it but I always think of Jay Garrick, Alan Scott, Wildcat, Stargirl, and Mister Terrific (Holt)...and the twenty other members.

[Helix]

I like Cyber's version. I think you could also throw in Captain Marvel, Crimson Avenger, Shining Knight, Green Arrow, Spectre, Liberty Belle and Power Girl if you wanted to. I've never been a fan of Superman or Batman being on either the Justice Society or the Justice League. Superman is too powerful. He doesn't need a team. And Batman is a loner, in my mind.

[Tomato]

I've never been a fan of Superman or Batman being on either the Justice Society or the Justice League. Superman is too powerful. He doesn't need a team. And Batman is a loner, in my mind.

There's a part of me that wants to rise to this but we've been there, done that already. In this case though... grah, the part of me that fought for Supergirl being in the Titans is ringing his hands over this, but I agree: The Trinity has no place on the JSA. I think that E2's Batman might work for me in the current series, but he's also not really Batman, nor is he part of a "core" Justice Society, in much the same way as I liked the Question in the league on occasion, but he isn't essential.

I'm still roughing out my list (I'm reading through the 1999 JSA run), but so far I'm including at least:

• Green Lantern(Alan Scott)
• Flash(Jay Garrick)
• Dr Fate
• Wildcat
• Mister Terrific (Michael Holt)
• Hawkman
• Hawkwoman

Beyond that... I dunno. I'm warming up to Doctor Midnite, but other characters really aren't as "essential" to me. I talked about the inclusion of Captain Marvel when discussing the JLA, and while I still see Billy more with the Society, I make the distinction between that and being a core member of it.