6 Characters Who Should Have Had a “New Golden Age” Title

A couple years back, DC launched “New Golden Age.” It was a crossover event designed to explore the “hidden history” of heroism in the DC Universe from the Golden Age era, framed around the Justice Society of America unravelling a mystery with the Golden Age heroes and offering new stories for heroes and villains alike. The New Golden Age kicked off with a one-shot of the same name and continued primarily through the main story of Justice Society of America, but there were four tie-ins as well: Stargirl: The Lost Children, Wesley Dodds: The Sandman, Jay Garrick: The Flash, and Alan Scott: The Green Lantern. The event was well-received overall and ended, and while it concluded last October, it feels like there were more stories that could be told With the JSA having a strong comeback at the present, now would be the best time to bring it back.

DC’s “New Golden Age” was met with decent success in its time. Alan Scott: Green Lantern‘s queer tragedy resonated with so many fans in many ways. Jay Garrick’s series was a fun little adventure with a forgotten character to the fans.Wesley Dodds’s return was unexpected but a fun ride, especially after Knight Terrors. But there are other characters we’d like to see explored in a similar way so here are six Golden Age characters who we think should have had their own “New Golden Age” title.

1) Ted Grant: Wildcat

The biggest snub of the bunch has to be Wildcat himself. The man who has trained so many members of the DC universe and one of it’s best fighters pulled his punch here. Ted is a huge cornerstone for a lot of the non-superpowered heroes in DC and he should have a lot more to do. At least with Jeff Lemire’s JSA series he had some time to shine.

With how often we get flashbacks of Ted’s early days, it would have been fun to see him in his prime. He never lost it but we haven’t fully seen him cut loose. As one of the first characters fans think of as the JSA it’s sad to see he didn’t get his own story.

2) Kent Nelson: Dr. Fate

Another major hitter we have the original Dr. Fate. Always a fan favorite of many readers, there’s a lot you can show with Dr. Fate. Exploring his connection with Nabu as well as exploring his psyche as Kent Nelson would be fun to see in a series like this. Especially during his early days, which haven’t been explored a ton.

As a way to get Dr. Fate back on the bookshelves, fans wouldn’t be too upset about this. The last time it looked like Fate had a solo series was with Khalid about a decade ago. There’s plenty to explore with Fate’s past and give the fans one more book with Kent.

3) Ted Knight: Starman

Starman’s easily one of the best legacy characters in all of DC. Jack Knight’s legacy has remained intact but something with his father Ted would have been a great way to bring Starman back. It feels like he’s almost been forgotten outside of his fun and even further legacy with Stargirl. Learning more about the cosmic rod along with his technology seems like the making of a classic.

I don’t how big the audience would be for this series but it could get an interest back into Starman as a whole. Following up James Robinson’s series would be no easy task but the interest could always strike from this.

4) Charles McNider: Dr. Mid-Nite

Dr. Mid-Nite as a whole might be the most underrated DC character of them all. A super genius who regained his eyesight with his goggles seems like a classic. Most of the time now he’s relegated to background cameos in events while Beth takes over in the JSA book. Both characters need a lot more love generally, but Charles is in a weirder spot.

Exploring his origins into how he became a hero could do wonders for new readers. Most younger readers only know of Beth but should know about Charles as well and where they both came from. He might be a strange analog to Daredevil but that doesn’t make him any weaker by any means.

5) Rex Tyler: Hourman

With the ability to have enhanced strength and sense, Hourman is in a similar spot as Dr. Mid-Nite. With a lot of newer fans thinking he has time related abilities, learning of Rex’s chemistry would be great for newer fans. Maybe even a nice refresher for fans that have been around for a while and may have forgotten about him.

Another classic legacy title, Hourman has remained with the same family through the history. Exploring how it began with Rex and later went to his son and clone would be a cool thing to see that most JSA members don’t have. All in all Hourman needs some more love with how cool his design is.

6) Jim Corrigan: The Spectre

Rounding out our list we have Jim Corrigan, The Spectre. The Wrath of God personified is easily one of the most powerful entities in the DC universe. While an Elseworlds story, Kingdom Come shows us how powerful he can really be when he wants to. Ever since, he’s remained in a similar space as some of the others here but has an iconic story to his name.

Not a ton is known about who Jim was before he became the Spectre and it would be cool to see his life before that. Exploring more of his abilities on top of how he became to be would be another fun premise. Thankfully he seems to have a lot of nice guest appearances that help out his character.

Who do you think should have had a “New Golden Age” book? Let us know down in the comments.

A Modern JSA Villain Finally Gets a Major Tie to the Past