Choosing the four to five teams for a new Vs. System set is a fun opportunity for a lead designer to do a lot of research, and by that, I mean read a lot of comic books. Choosing which teams to use is usually pretty easy. Choosing which characters to use is much more difficult and time consuming. However, in the case of the JLA set, choosing the second hero team to accompany the JLA was the toughest decision, and it gave me a crazy idea.

But first, the JLA team itself. Tackling the JLA as a team was quite an undertaking. The number of superheroes who have been on the team at some point is huge, as nearly every hero (and a few villains) in the DC Comics catalog has spent an issue or three with the League. Representing DC Comics’ foremost team with just 26 character slots was tough. I’m sure Mike Hummel had similar fits with the Avengers set. Everyone who follows the team has a favorite era they want to see covered. I decided that since this was the first time the JLA would see print in Vs. System, the original 1960 lineup would be my Field of Honor. That’s why Barry Allen ◊ The Flash, Scarlet Speedster; Hal Jordan, Hard-Traveling Hero; and Wonder Woman, Princess Diana are in there. Wonder Woman, Avatar of Truth was later written out of the team’s origin story and replaced by Black Canary in a retroactive continuity shift.

 

 

With that as a base, I wanted to include a lot of the other early League recruits like Dinah Laurel Lance ◊ Black Canary, “Pretty Bird”; Katar Hol ◊ Hawkman, Thanagarian Enforcer; Oliver Queen ◊ Green Arrow, Hard-Traveling Hero; and Ray Palmer ◊ The Atom, World’s Smallest Hero. Speaking of bases, the team made camp at the Happy Harbor Rhode IslandSecret Sanctuary, where they took in Snapper Carr, JLA Mascot. At the end of the ’60s, the team took up residence at a new orbiting Satellite HQ after Snapper unwittingly betrayed the Sanctuary’s location to The Joker. Joining them in this “Satellite Era” were Elongated Man, Ralph Dibny; Firestorm, The Nuclear Man; Red Tornado, John Smith; Shayera Thal ◊ Hawkwoman, Thanagarian Enforcer; and Zatanna, Zatanna Zatara.

In the early ’80s, Aquaman, Arthur Curry decided to Disband the League. The Satellite HQ had just been destroyed during the Earth-Mars war, and some members were angered that other members were frequently missing Roll Call. Aquaman then decided to Reform the League and base it in Detroit. This was another New Era for the team, but it was short-lived and not too popular. From this era, I added Gypsy, Cynthia Reynolds to the team. You can see Vixen in the art for Reform the League, but she didn’t make the cut as a character card.

The team was disbanded by Martian Manhunter in the late ’80s and was later reborn with a more international flair, but I’ll get to that in a minute. The next incarnation of the “get back to basics” JLA was in the late ’90s and was written by Grant Morrison. This was a very popular era, often referred to as the “Big Guns Era.” This era added characters such as Plastic Man, Eel O’Brian; Connor Hawke ◊ Green Arrow, Son of the Archer; Zauriel, Guardian Angel; and John Henry Irons ◊ Steel, Steel-Drivin’ Man. It also added The Watchtower, a base befitting the World’s Greatest Heroes. This moon base featured a Teleport Tube and several Monitor Womb Stations.

While it was tempting to add the Magnificent Seven’s Wally West and Kyle Rayner to the team, Kyle had just been seen in the Green Lantern Corps set, and Wally will be seen soon. Also, I didn’t want too many Lanterns or Speedsters on the team, as I wanted to do something new and interesting with the team instead of just featuring huge Wall of Willpower and speedster effects. This decision allowed me to include two copies each of Aquaman and Wonder Woman. It was important to be able to do this for the ally power-up theme. That, and those two may or may not get their own set. Who can say? Aztek was also on my original character list, especially with his importance to the Mageddon/WWIII storyline, but he didn’t make the cut because he’s just not a big enough name when compared to the other characters from the era.

I added John Stewart, Emerald Architect to the team over Kyle, partially because Kyle had three cards in GLC and John had just one. We’ll see a JLA version of Kyle eventually. Faith, “The Fat Lady” and John both joined the JLA in 2003. I wanted to add a couple of very recent characters to have some from each era represented. Hey, a lead designer gets to throw a few curveballs.

But that’s nothing compared to splitting the JLA in two. In the late ’80s, writers Giffen and DeMatteis recast the JLA and made it a humorous series. Any comic where the laugh BWA HA HA HA HA! was frequently seen and where the characters set up a casino on an island named Kooey Kooey Kooey is already pretty funny. The series started out under the Justice League title, but soon the title was changed to Justice League International. The idea was that having the name “America” in the title made the team sound nationalistic, when in fact they were there to save the world. But in the early ’90s, the JLI renamed itself back to the JLA. It seemed that America needed a team of its own after all. But a League with an international flair was still in order, so the Justice League Europe was formed and kept the laughs coming. The JLI and JLE’s tongue-in-cheek approach and generally lower-powered heroes were such a departure from the serious iconic heroes that I saw some light in them. The two more internationally minded teams were essentially two sides of the same two-headed nickel, both born from a need to serve the world and yuk it up.

The JLI was founded by Batman, Hidden Crusader; Captain Marvel, Billy Batson; Dinah Laurel Lance ◊ Black Canary, Blonde Bombshell; Dr. Fate, Kent Nelson; Guy Gardner, Egomaniac; Martian Manhunter, J’onn J’onzz; and Ted Kord ◊ Blue Beetle, Heir of the Scarab.

After orchestrating a Staged Attack on the UN Building, Maxwell Lord, Financier got the team UN Recognition during a UN General Assembly. They soon set up a JLI Embassy in many of the world capitols. The embassy in London was nicknamed The Castle because it was one, and it was haunted by a wandering suit of armor. Maxwell was often Running Interference for the team, solving problems for them behind the scenes but also causing just as many. Maxwell, without permission, got Kimiyo Hoshi ◊ Dr. Light, Starlight Sentinel to join the team by giving her a Justice League Signal Device.

After a Membership Drive, they added Booster Gold, Michael Jon Carter; Captain Atom, Nathaniel Adam; Fire, Beatriz DaCosta; General Glory, Joseph Jones; Ice, Tora Olafsdotter; Scott Free ◊ Mister Miracle, Man of a Thousand Escapes; and Tasmanian Devil, Hugh Dawkins. Oberon, Micro Manager was Mister Miracle’s manager from his escape artist show days, and he became an administrator for the team.

To show their true international colors, Rocket Red, Manhunter Sleeper, a “hero” from the Soviet Union, became a member. However, as if his version name wasn’t enough of a clue, the JLI soon discovered that Only a Friend Can Betray You. He did, tossing about a few Plasma Blasts, but he was defeated and replaced with a real Soviet hero, Rocket Red #4, Dmitri Pushkin. The Manhunter version was Rocket Red #7, for those keeping score at home.

Justice League Europe was formed to maintain an international League presence after the JLI became the JLA again. This formation added Bluejay, Jay Abrams; Crimson Fox, Vivian and Constance D’Aramis; Metamorpho, Rex Mason; Power Girl, Karen Starr; and Silver Sorceress, Laura Cynthia Neilsen to the international roster. Around the same time, Martian Manhunter started up the Justice League Task Force, for which he hand picked members of the various Leagues for specific missions based on their skill sets.

The JLE title ran for 68 issues, but the team never had enough members to fill a Vs. System roster, so I merged the two international teams into the Justice League International for the set. The merger ensured that the team would have enough recognizable characters, and there’s always Safety in Numbers. The JLI is certainly the better-known team name, and it ran longer, so it seemed the natural choice. I very diplomatically asked permission of DC Comics to do this, and they approved.

Speaking of diplomacy, since the JLI spent time in embassies around the world, members of the embassy support staff got some face time in the comic panels. Catherine Cobert, Embassy Chief; L-Ron, Robot Companion; and Sue Dibny, Charismatic Coordinator were often around. These guys made the cut in the JLI team over notables such as Aquaman, Hal Jordan, Huntress, Lightray, Orion, and Wonder Woman. The JLI likes to play off-curve and doesn’t need too many powerhouses, especially ones who have been seen elsewhere. And who doesn’t like to see office workers slug it out in combat?

While there are certainly many other characters that are deserving of slots in either or both of the teams, we had to save some interesting ones for future legacy content. In a couple of weeks, I’ll talk about the themes of each team, which should provide some understanding of why I wanted to use certain characters over others. So, stay tuned.

Next week, I’ll delve into the Injustice Gang and the Secret Society. Whether or not I’ll be able to include every single card from those teams in the text of the next article remains to be seen. Send questions or comments to mhyra@metagame.com.