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Robbie Parry
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Posted: 12 April 2018 at 5:04pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply

Let's discuss team names in DC and Marvel titles! General thoughts welcomed.

I always liked how DC had a league, society, etc. I like how we had Infinity Inc., Justice League of America, Justice Society of America, Teen Titans, etc. Very eye-catching names. The only one that never quite worked for me was society. It seemed, I don't know, small-time. When I hear the word "society", I think of a stamp-collecting society in a town, a coin-collecting society, etc. At least league sounds important/global, e.g. League of Nations.

Although I enjoyed various Marvel team names, they can be slightly generic and aren't unique. The Patrick Macnee/Diana Rigg THE AVENGERS series predates the comic team (and I never really got the sense Cap/Iron Man/Thor/etc. were actually avenging anything); the Defenders isn't unique, either, there was a legal series called that, plus we have the likes of the Defenders of the Earth; and as for the Champions, not only was there an ITC series called THE CHAMPIONS, but Champions can apply to sports teams, business champions, etc.

The quality of the books will always be the most important thing (and I sure did enjoy the black and white reprints of THE DEFENDERS, which were reprinted in Marvel UK's RAMPAGE). But as far as team names go, I did find DC Comics' team names a tad more exciting and unique.

Thoughts?
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Michael Casselman
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Posted: 12 April 2018 at 5:51pm | IP Logged | 2 post reply

I kinda like that Society has a 'smaller' sound to it. It hearkens back to the days when membership in a group kinda meant something, instead of the vague, late-80s-to-present notion that "everyone is a member of TeamX unless otherwise stated".
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Brian Floyd
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Posted: 12 April 2018 at 10:02pm | IP Logged | 3 post reply

Justice Society of America is my favorite super-hero team name, period.


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Eric Smearman
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Posted: 13 April 2018 at 1:19am | IP Logged | 4 post reply

Always was more of a DC guy but I really loved Marvel's
"one word" team names. Avengers, Defenders, Invaders, etc
seemed punchier to me than Justice League/Society of
America or Legion of Super-Heroes.
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Matthew Wilkie
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Posted: 13 April 2018 at 2:48am | IP Logged | 5 post reply

Always liked Alpha Flight but think JB wasn't a fan. For me, it was suitably different to any other team name that it added to their uniqueness

My other favorite title of the 80s was New Mutants but always thought it an odd team name - pretty sure they referred to themselves as it within the story.
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Robbie Parry
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Posted: 13 April 2018 at 3:02am | IP Logged | 6 post reply

 Michael Casselman wrote:
I kinda like that Society has a 'smaller' sound to it. It hearkens back to the days when membership in a group kinda meant something, instead of the vague, late-80s-to-present notion that "everyone is a member of TeamX unless otherwise stated".

I can understand that logic. I don't think I'll ever grow to like the name, but I appreciate where you are coming from.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 13 April 2018 at 6:01am | IP Logged | 7 post reply

Julie Schwartz used to say "society" sounded like a group of old ladies -- a line I borrowed in GENERATIONS.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 13 April 2018 at 6:13am | IP Logged | 8 post reply

Always liked Alpha Flight but think JB wasn't a fan.

•••

Strongly dislike "Alpha Flight" as a name. When they were my fan characters -- some of them, anyway -- I bounced back and forth between calling them the Guardians ("We stand on guard for thee") and the Canadian Shield (after an ancient mountain range around Hudson's Bay). Marvel didn't like either of those, or the name Guardian for their leader.

So, after much back-and-forth, Chris named the group Alpha Flight, and their leader Vindicator -- "flight" being a British term, and "Vindicator" being a British aircraft -- both without my approval. In fact, I asked what Chris thought Canada needed to "vindicate".

sigh

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Robbie Parry
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Posted: 13 April 2018 at 6:16am | IP Logged | 9 post reply

I will say this: the acronym JSA rolls off the tongue more naturally than JLA (in my humble opinion). 
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John Byrne
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Posted: 13 April 2018 at 6:34am | IP Logged | 10 post reply

For me, the opposite. "JSA" sounds kinda harsh
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Robbie Parry
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Posted: 13 April 2018 at 6:50am | IP Logged | 11 post reply

The other thing is that JSA reminds me of Jobseeker's Allowance, a form of social security paid in the UK (it's been around since about 1996). So when I hear JSA, I think of welfare, social security, etc.

I should add that jobseeker is one word so the acronym should be JA, surely?
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Peter Martin
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Posted: 13 April 2018 at 7:29am | IP Logged | 12 post reply

I tend to agree that the Marvel team names like the Defenders, the Avengers and the Champions were not really tied to the group's identity particularly, just dynamic-sounding-labels that could really have been interchangeable. But they did sound exciting, which I think the Justice Society of America doesn't.

The X-Men is just about the coolest name ever though, and very much tied to the group. It gets my gold medal.
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