Of all the episodes of Justice League this season, this one may have been the most highly anticipated. What started out as a Justice League team up with the golden age Justice Society of America turned sour when DC told the writers they were not allowed to use the JSA. Undaunted, Bruce Tim as his writers simply made a few logo, name, and color scheme changes and created the all new Justice Guild!
During a freak accident Flash, J’onn J’onzz, Hawkgirl, and Green Lantern are all thrown into a parallel universe. On this Earth, the heroes that our Justice League read about in comics are actually real life heroes fighting crime and doing good. It’s pretty easy to see who the Justice Guild members are based on. There’s Black Siren (Black Canary), Catman (Wildcat), Tom Turbine (Mr. Terrific), The Streak (The Flash), Green Guardsman (Green Lantern/Sentinel) and Ray Thompson (amalgam of various golden age sidekicks).
The episode flips back and fourth from homage to the Golden Age of comics to a parody of it. The Justice Guild all have 1950s morals and values. You just know that just offscreen in the Justice Guild headquarters is a plate of cookies and a cold glass of milk. But it also leads to friction when Hawkgirl is asked to help serve coffee and dessert to the male super heroes.
Taking the Golden Age comic theme and running with it, the episode is filled with several laugh out loud moments. The original Green Lantern’s power ring didn’t work on wood and in this episode the Green Guardsman can’t rescue some window washers-in-distress because his “ring doesn’t work on aluminum.” Wally also has to rescue a school bus full of nuns because an out of control truck with the word TNT is racing toward them. The writers are clearly having fun and it shows.
