Star Sapphire, Take 2

Yesterday, I shared the debut adventure of the Golden Age Star Sapphire. And today, we look at her second and final appearance of the era, from Comic Cavalcade #29 (November 1948).

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All that's left is her one-and-only modern appearance in Brave and the Bold #6 (March 2000), which provides an origin for Star Sapphire and even connects her with her Silver Age namesake.

I probably won't be posting the story here, but I encourage you to check it out when you get the chance.

Retro Debut: The Amazing Star Sapphire

After sharing the Super-Villains Then & Now retrospective the other day, I thought it would be fun to take a look at the original Star Sapphire's first appearance (All-Flash #32, December 1947-January 1948). I only have a fiche scan of the original, so these pages come from a reprint in Flash Annual #1 (Summer 1963).

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After this, Star Sapphire appears next in Comic Cavalcade #29 (November 1948) before disappearing into comic book limbo for over 50 years. And her one modern appearance (Brave and the Bold #6, March 2000) -- was more than a decade ago and probably isn't canon since the DC relaunch. So she's ripe for a comeback when Earth-2 stories start again.

Super-Villains Then & Now

Today's treat is a one-page retrospective from The Amazing World of DC Comics #11 (April 1974), which compares Golden Age villains with their modern counterparts.

Lex Luthor and the Joker are obvious and effective choices, but who would have expected Star Sapphire?

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The Carol Ferris and Secret Society versions of Star Sapphire are familiar enough to readers by 1974, but the original has only two prior appearances -- All-Flash #32 (January 1948) and Comic Cavalcade #29 (November 1948) -- and is not seen again until Brave and the Bold #6 (March 2000).

Spotlight on Adventure Comics #416

Once upon a time, DC regularly devoted whole issues of their ongoing titles to reprints (a practice now mostly reserved for high priced trade paperbacks and hard covers).

One such case is Adventure Comics #419 (March 1972), which features classic Silver Age (SA) stories starring Supergirl and Golden Age (GA) stories starring Wonder Woman, Phantom Lady, Black Canary and Merry the Gimmick Girl.

What makes this issue most notable, however, is the wraparound cover depicting DC's line up of female characters.


Who's Who (left to right, not counting inserts): Hawkgirl II, Thorn II, Platinum, Zatanna,
Big Barda, Beautiful Dreamer, Star Sapphire II, Liberty Belle, Lilith, Wonder Girl,
Merry the Gimmick Girl, Enchantress, Dumb Bunny, Phantom Lady, Cheetah, Harlequin,
Batgirl II, Black Canary, Wonder Woman (plus Supergirl front and centre on the front panel)

In the DC relaunch, we've so far seen or been promised versions of Zatanna, Star Sapphire, Enchantress, Batgirl, Black Canary, Wonder Woman and Supergirl (hope I haven't missed anyone).

No word yet on the others, but we can surely expect to see some of the Golden Age characters on the restored Earth-2.

Earth-2 in the DCnU

Word is spreading that the Justice Society of America will make a comeback as part of the new DC after all, albeit on a restored Earth-2.

On the down  side, with all the changes occurring in the mainstream DC Universe (Earth-0), there might be similar alterations made to the Golden Age heroes and their progeny. We might not even recognize some of our favourite heroes.

Personally, I’d like to see a two-pronged approach: the All-Star Squadron during the war years and the Justice Society in the modern age. That way we could see the older heroes in their prime (and hopefully the way we’re used to seeing them) and follow the next generation, too (where there’s more room for change).

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Whatever my hopes, I’m sure there will be upsets. Some characters will change. Some will die. New ones will be introduced. The status quo won’t hold.

But I still have higher hopes for Earth-2 than for most other elements of DCnU. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.



The modern JSA, pre-DCnU, as depisted by Dale Eaglesham (JSA Annual #1)