Um.

[odditycollector]

So I am reading this interview with the newest JSA writer, because I have dropped the book ages ago but who knows, maybe I can be won back over. And then I get to this line:

Jay Garrick will be the center of the universe here... I think it will be interesting to watch Jay evolve and grow as a character.

Which left me scratching my head, because I am not entirely sure what that *means* in the context of Jay Garrick. If I had to pick *one* DCU character who has entirely grown into themselves, it would probably be Jay on that list. (I'd love for it to be Hippolyta, but I think the comics are against me on that one.) I'm not saying he should be a static character, or that there are no new challenges in his world for him to overcome, but the character who walks out the other side of this storyline will be in every essential the same one who walked in. Ran in, I suppose.

I'm fond of the JSA Old Guard, in part because they've been around long enough to figure out exactly who they are, separately and together. Which causes its own sort of conflict, but not one very similar to the confused teenaged portion of their membership.

Except now I have this mental image of Alan Scott being Disapproving at Jay: "You're too old to be going through a mid-life crisis."

And Jay grins at him. "If you say so. *Sentinel*."

And then Alan is Extra Disapproving, but really Jay is used to that sort of thing as they've been BFFs for SO LONG, you guys. SOOOOOO LOOOOOOONG.

Comments

[brownbetty]

…I don't really know what that means. He's, like, what, fifty in current comics canon? I mean, not that he can't have growth, or something, but I fear the idea that he is meant to 'evolve', and not only for the fundamental misunderstanding of biology it reveals.

[odditycollector]

He's older than fifty! I'm not sure how much, exactly, there was getting trapped in another dimension somewhere along the way, but canon is he fought in WWII and sometimes he talks about how his powers make him look young.

[brownbetty]

I think time-collapsium doesn't work as hard on Flashes as it does on Batman.

[odditycollector]

*lols* It doesn't work as hard on the JSA peeps, anyway. They've been known to die of old age, no joking.

[thelostglove]

I have nothing intelligent to add here, just that I nodded along with this whole post.

My strongest memories of Jay's character are when he was hanging out with Wally, and his whole deal was to be the stable adult who had stable adult concerns, and thus could afford to be generous with his time in talking the younger folks down off the ledge. Given that, I guess Mayor Jay of JSA-ville would be...different, yes. ::blink::

[philippos42]

Jay & Alan BFF's? Hmmm. That reminds me: They were in Comic Cavalcade with Harry Peter's Wonder Woman, but I don't think there were three-way team-ups.

However, let's pretend, & fit some version of a 1940's Wondy equivalent into this.