#there’s so much material with the JSA. I’ll have to read a few comics of them and write something more elaborate

[stealingyourbones]

Danny gets flung into an alternate dimension and crash lands directly into a Justice Society of America meeting.

[yarnzipangirl]

Stargirl E1 - First Impression

So I, of course, am a DC Universe subscriber so I got to watch Stargirl today instead of waiting until tomorrow.  TLDR - I’m SUPER pleased with it so far, because while it’s not mindblowing television like something akin to the 2019 Watchmen series, it’s good and solid and endearing and it loves it’s source material.

(very minor spoilers below)

First of all, I want to give props to the opening section where we watch the ‘demise’ of the Justice Society.  This, unlike certain other live action dramatizations, give this ‘destruction’ the respect it deserves.  This is a major event and so many members of the team get to either cameo or have their contributions seen and acknowledged.  Alan Scott may not be seen, but you watch an explosion of green fire and you know where it came from.  Wesley Dodds isn’t mentioned by name, but he’s among the fallen you see.  Jay isn’t seen, but there’s a charred helmet.  Lots of these little call backs and references, a reminder that these characters exist and fought, little treats for people who know the canon.  

Wildcat, one of the few we see outright, looks SO right I was just squealing in my seat.  I’m sincerely looking forward to watching Ted get his due (...we’re not talking about what Arrow did with him) and a quick view of Dr. MidNite also makes me excited for how Beth is going to take over there.  Also Hourman!  Already being more effective than he was the last time he showed up in a CW show... (Okay, okay, putting down the bitter...)

Joel McHale was definitely the ‘...whaaaat?” casting for me when it came to Sylvester Pemberton but I think he pulled it off pretty nicely and gave his own little signature flare to it as well.  The scene between him and Stripesy did make me laugh, which was no doubt helped by having seen the full run of Community recently.  I get the feeling they’re going to be blending a little bit of Jack into his characterization, but they still shifted him into ‘Starman’ well while keeping his Star-Spangled Kid roots.

The Cosmic Staff is definitely a slightly different thing than the comics have it, but I found the changes charming and the simplification of it’s origins entirely reasonable; for all that I love the comics, I wouldn’t say I’m a comics purist so much as I ask that they at least care about what they’re shifting and smushing as opposed to using something from a wiki article they read once to fill a plot hole in a narrative they already planned.  This definitely felt like they were changing things for an interesting narrative for the Stars, a woefully underloved superhero group since like... the 90s.  If we get more Stars of all stripes (badum ching) in comics or elsewhere, I’ll be a happy girl.

Courtney was... honestly really good.  Some of her early character points are the kind of thing I find a hard sell for appeal but the actress sold it and charmed me in spite of that.  She feels very teenager, as do the rest of the kids that are going to take up the JSA mantles; unlike some shows about teenagers, they don’t feel like a bunch of 20 somethings in designer clothing and bad haircuts.  I’m curious to see what they’re doing with Yolanda for plot and I thought Beth, what we saw of her, was adorable.  Rick... oh shoplifting Rick... I’m curious what they’re going to do with you.

The villains definitely seem interesting and the frame for the plot is very cool.  It’s an interesting set up in Blue Valley, and I don’t want to talk about it too much other than to say that there’s quite a few pieces that aren’t quite... right and they’re clearly not quite right for a reason as you keep watching.  The plot stuff is actually intriguing!  

Luke Wilson as Stripesy is... WAY more appealing and genuine and sweet than I was expecting and I care more about him than I thought I would.  Things I never thought I’d say: I feel like I care a lot about him and his family and that’s good acting and good writing!

The graphics are pretty darn nice, definitely on the higher end and just above the usual CW stuff, and both the fight scenes and the gymnastic bits are really neat and just enjoyable to watch.  The staff looks good and so does Courtney.  As do some of the powers and things we’ve seen.  I’m excited to see more.

All in all, it was an absolute treat.  While it’s clear that this story can only cover so much of the pieces of what I love about the JSA and the Stars, it feels like they’re giving enough nods to the fans of both to say ‘look, we know, maybe we’ll get to it if we have time’ because they’re focusing to make the plot feel right as opposed to ‘we don’t care, we took what we wanted from these stories, fuck you if you care about it’.  It feels like they want to tell more stories here, want to give us more, care about those of us who love these characters already and give us little extra things and not just to throw us scraps.  It was a good feeling and I feel like already, the JSA are in good hands.

...now all they have to do is go find Sand in Wesley’s basement and I’ll call it my favorite TV show ever.  *cough*

All in all, great stuff, can’t wait for more, totally pleased, high high hopes.  9/10