Thanks to all the discussions about Sam, I wanna ask if you'd be willing to do a deep dive into your field's perspective on the "John Dough VS the Justice League" thing, it's not the first time the US turned on it's superpowered protectors, nor the last, but it is one of the most fascinating, given who "John Dough" turned out to really be, which makes it seem rather surreal.
As I've repeated over and over again in these posts, the coming of the original Justice League generation broke the dam held together by the Keene Act and the social zeitgeist that summoned it all at once. One by one a new generation of heroes appeared, so bright, colorful and trustworthy in their immediate interactions with the world that people's need and love for heroes bloomed almost at once. And nearly a century of antipathy toward masked vigilantes vanished inside a single election year if not less. The Keene Act was defanged and redirected, the heroes came together and became more popular with each adventure.
But the social conservatism and moral hysteria that created the Keene Act in the first place hadn't actually gone anywhere. It had retreated after an onslaught of positive coverage but hadn't yet actually been CONFRONTED by the modern generation of heroes. Unknowingly they coasted on a wave of good vibes that was neither eternal nor immortal.
And when that moral panic returned, they would have to face it head on if their new generation was going to survive the battles of the old and continue growing!
(A panel from a illustrated tract put out by Dough and his supporters)
"John Dough" was a man who came out of nowhere with a seemingly simple epithet. He was known as Mr Average, the most normal man in America. His height, his hair color, his mannerisms, wealth, dress and interests were all considered unshakably "normal" by the collective of American society. There was not a single disquieting thing about him from any possible angle, nothing to unsettle or challenge the listener. And anyone with an understanding of American sociology or politics can smell the reactionary garbage a mile off.
Beginning to whip up a moral frenzy around the superhuman "freaks" of the Justice League, Dough was even able to recruit the League's teenage mascot Snapper Carr into his orbit as the young man struggled with the unwanted attention that came from public association with the League. Turns out way too many losers wanted to "take on" and member of the League and Carr started to be harassed everywhere he went on top of ending up a perennial damsel in distress. He became Dough's right hand man, lending credibility to his claims against the League as a seeming insider turned against them.
Dough's actual plot would begin going into action when he had Carr activate his special distress signal, brining Batman and The Atom into a trap. The Atom managed to slip away from the assault but Batman was captured and Dough took his place, although he instantly began to slip up in the role. Not only could he of course not match the Batman's famously stern personality, he couldn't get anywhere near his level of athleticism. On top of that he stumbled in his inability to recognize the Black Canary whose membership hadn't yet been publicly announced. he was able to play the ruse well enough to sucker the League into making an appearance at Dough's next rally to "answer the charges" in a public forum. Only for specialized technology hidden in the venue to prompt an outpouring of confusion and aggression in both the League and the crowd, stirring up a riot that was only averted by the quick thinking of the Black Canary.
"Batman" volunteered to testify about the event before Congress, only to begin outlining a conspiratorial plan the League supposedly held for taking control of the American government! Whipping up even further frenzy and coming inches from getting the full powers of the Keene Act reinstated. Only to of course be foiled when the real Batman burst in and swept the rug out from under the lies being sold. Publicly unmasking "John Dough" as the infamous criminal mastermind known as The Joker! Although the Joker's wider plot was foiled, he was still sitting in front of a hot mic and a running tv camera and so in a last act of sabotage as he fled he revealed the location of the Justice League's Sanctuary headquarters underneath the mountains of Happy Harbor, Rhode Island.
The Joker was confronted in said headquarters and inevitable both defeated and arrested. But the League was left with the hard realization that a large chunk of the security surrounding Sanctuary Mountain required its location to be a secret from the general public. With their young friend having betrayed them and all being burned out and exhausted by the media circus, the mountain was abandoned and the League began construction on the first iteration of a satellite headquarters that would eventually be known as the Watchtower.
While the Joker's involvement is particularly shocking, and the betrayal of young Mr Carr was of course a deep personal blow to the League itself, the most lasting after effect of this event is that it saw the League facing the public outcry and political pressure that had spelled the end of the Justice Society generation and overcome it. Those seeking to undermine the League were shown not only as politicly reactionary and misguided (Dough's stated philosophies were ROUNDLY condemned by the League, most famously in a speech by Green Arrow given in the aftermath championing the strengths of diversity and the collective strength of individual gifts put to a common cause. A mission statement the League holds to even to this day) but also openly malicious. From then on those seeking to undermine the League and other hero organizations would be met with a skeptical eye by the public who always kept in the back of their minds the idea that any act targeted against the superhero community would lead to prosperity for villains and mundane criminals alike. Not to say that the hysteria would NEVER come again but the next time it would require a mind controlling alien televangelist.
kianamaiart
2087
prguitarman
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
vaporwave
