Stargirl Season 2 - Discussion ( Spoiler Warning)

[Nerys Myk]

Yeah once he had that pen he pretty much suddenly sported the same colors as it's previous user.

I'll give the writing staff credit fF TVor doing a nice little twist with respect to who ends up getting this pen and the genie like entity inside it. I was pretty much a Marvel comics fan the entire time I read comic books, and only delved into DC a little bit here and there, so I was completely unaware of this particular character until he showed up in this episode.

I am aware that DC merged / co-opted a lot of characters from the old Charleston comics line into their comics universe back in the day. I assume "Johnny Thunder" was one of them?

Johnny’s an original JSAer, going back to their first adventure. Charlton did have a character called Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt. DC thought they had to rights to him as part of the Charlton deal, but it turned out he was creator owned.
The JSA is a bit odd in that it's characters came from two comic book lines: Detective Comics (DC) and All-American Comics. (AA). The Flash, Green Lantern, The Atom, Hawkman and Johnny were all AA characters, as was Wonder Woman. Hourman, Doctor Fate, Sandman, Starman and the Spectre were DC characters. IIRC they shared a distributor and cross advertised. All-Star Comics was produced by the AA team and when there was a brief falling out the DC characters were replaced by AA characters, which resulted in Wildcat and Mr Terrific joining the team. Later DC bought AA outright.

 

[Christopher]

I am aware that DC merged / co-opted a lot of characters from the old Charleston comics line into their comics universe back in the day. I assume "Johnny Thunder" was one of them?

Nope, he was a backup character in Flash Comics from its very first issue in 1940, the same issue that debuted the Flash/Jay Garrick and Hawkman/Carter Hall. As I mentioned above, Black Canary originated as a guest character in the Johnny Thunder series, but was so much more popular that they cancelled it to give her a solo feature.

As Nerys said, all the JSA characters in this show are from the original Golden Age JSA comics. The show draws heavily on Roy Thomas's '80s comics All-Star Squadron and Infinity Inc., the former of which continued the JSA's 1940s adventures on Earth-Two while the latter told the adventures of their children in 1980s Earth-Two (until it was merged with Earth-One in the Crisis).

 

[LaxScrutiny]

Nope, he was a backup character in Flash Comics from its very first issue in 1940, the same issue that debuted the Flash/Jay Garrick and Hawkman/Carter Hall. As I mentioned above, Black Canary originated as a guest character in the Johnny Thunder series, but was so much more popular that they cancelled it to give her a solo feature.

As Nerys said, all the JSA characters in this show are from the original Golden Age JSA comics. The show draws heavily on Roy Thomas's '80s comics All-Star Squadron and Infinity Inc., the former of which continued the JSA's 1940s adventures on Earth-Two while the latter told the adventures of their children in 1980s Earth-Two (until it was merged with Earth-One in the Crisis).

Looking back, Roy Thomas created so many great storylines and defined so many characters, his contributions were increadible.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Who the hell does Shade sound like? It’s driving me nuts.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Who the hell does Shade sound like? It’s driving me nuts.

Every Englishman ever
I was thinking Richard E. Grant, actually.

 

[Thestral]

I have to say, this episode has me really wanting to get ahold of the rest of James Robinson's Jack Knight Starman series. And reread the John's-era JSA.

I was a little worried that they were just gonna have the unseen Jakeem be an Easter egg and have Mike use the Thunderbolt, but once he made that last wish I knew what was gonna come next. Jakeem doesn't seem to be the same cocky guy as he is in the comics but then... Beth is completely unrecognizable compared to her comics counterpart too.

ETA: forgot to say too I'm glad that they're going with the "morally ambiguous" version of Shade.

 

[Christopher]

ETA: forgot to say too I'm glad that they're going with the "morally ambiguous" version of Shade.

So he's a Shade of gray?

 

[Commander Troi]

Looking back fondly at how the JSA was handled in Smallville. Still, I'm enjoying the series and willing to look the other way on this.

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Thanks for the clip! I had stopped watching Smallville by then so I missed that.

 

[Commander Troi]

This was a terrific episode! I'm really enjoying this show. I need to see if the person whose Infinity Inc. issues I read is watching. I also need to tell my friends with teens that this show (as well as Superman & Lois) is okay to watch with their kids.

The photos in the opening flashback were fantastic. The b&w pic was of the Seven Soldiers of Victory, which was Sir Justin's original group. That gives me hope we'll see him and his story again. The color pic of the JSA featured Johnny Thunder, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Flash, Hawkman, Dr. Fate, Thunderbolt, Wildcat, Hourman, Starman, Sandman, and Dr. Mid-Nite. So many possibilities!

I wasn't sure about Gaffigan, but he really nailed Thunderbolt's personality, as well as giving him a bit more depth in the scene with Pat. I also was unsure how Thunderbolt would go from Mike to Jakeem, but they did it in such a simple and perfect way, I was really happy.

@Mr. Adventure - Shade is played by Jonathan Cake, who has done a lot of stuff, but in genre he did 2 eps of Legends of Tomorrow and several voices for the Star Wars: The Old Republic video game.

I love that Lea Thompson is directing! I've been seeing a lot of women moving from acting to directing in recent years and I can't help but think it's a Good Thing.

Apparently, Lea had them improvise the "building the perfect wish" scene. As someone who has been enslaved in D&D from an ill-phrased wish, I appreciated that.

 

[Aragorn]

Stargirl has promoted

Spoiler

Sportsmaster and Tigress

to series regulars for season 3.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

Thanks for the clip! I had stopped watching Smallville by then so I missed that.

Smallville's on Amazon Prime. I rewatched the entire series last year when I was stuck at home because of a COVID lockdown. That story arc was arguably the best of Smallville. I fondly remember Carter Hall calling Oliver Queen a jackass and slamming his face into the meeting table. You'll be looking for season 9.
ETA: Oh, and Courtney/Stargirl is in it too. Written by Geoff Johns.

 

[cylkoth]

Smallville's on Amazon Prime. I rewatched the entire series last year when I was stuck at home because of a COVID lockdown. .

In the US, HBO Max has it, for anyone interested. ( Amazon US has it in the pay per view section-$1.99 per ep/$29.99 a season, and not in the Prime Video subscription tier)

 

[LaxScrutiny]

In the US, HBO Max has it, for anyone interested. ( Amazon US has it in the pay per view section-$1.99 per ep/$29.99 a season, and not in the Prime Video subscription tier)

Thank Dog I'm in Canada. Although, I think 4 bucks for "Society" and "Justice" is worth the price of admission. They're standalone so no worries. "Society" was a two-hour episode, so it's a movie length story by Geoff Johns about the JSA that was amazing.

 

[Commander Troi]

Stargirl has promoted

Spoiler

Sportsmaster and Tigress

to series regulars for season 3.

I'm rather surprised by that.

 

[JD]

In the US, HBO Max has it, for anyone interested. ( Amazon US has it in the pay per view section-$1.99 per ep/$29.99 a season, and not in the Prime Video subscription tier)

It didn't come up on HBOMax when I just searched for it, but it is on Hulu.
I thought this last episode was pretty good, the stuff with Mike and Thunderbolt was a highlight. After spending so much time on the sidelines, it was fun to see Mike get in on the superhero stuff for a little while. It was pretty much inevitable that Mike was going to screw up somehow. The scene with them trying to figure out the exact wording of the wish to find The Shade was funny.
I'm wondering if they are setting something up with Thunderbolt's pen's new ower, or if that was just a little epilouge to let us know where he ended up.
It took me a little while to realize Jim Giffigan was the voice of Thunderbolt, after seeing his name in the credits, I kept expecting him to pop up onscreen.
I'm curious why The Shade is after Eclipso's crystal.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I'm curious why The Shade is after Eclipso's crystal.

It's a powerful weapon in the wrong hands and just about everyone is the wrong hands. Shade in the comics plays for both sides, choosing which one as the circumstances require it.

 

[Christopher]

Well, anyone who uses judo to fight Shade should be careful of their aim. It's not nice to throw Shade at other people.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

Well, anyone who uses judo to fight Shade should be careful of their aim. It's not nice to throw Shade at other people.

Judo's never let me down yet. My preference is to throw someone into a concrete wall, or a fire hydrant, or in front of a speeding garbage truck. You take what opportunity you're presented with.

 

[Commander Troi]

Shade in the comics plays for both sides, choosing which one as the circumstances require it.

What we call in D&D "True Neutral" or "Everyone Hates You and Wants to Kill You."

 

[LaxScrutiny]

What we call in D&D "True Neutral" or "Everyone Hates You and Wants to Kill You."

My favorite situation. It's the least boring, after all.

And at least you know who your friends aren't.