I have never pronounced Psimon as Simon, instead as Psi-mon. It may be that with the -mon suffix, I automatically default to the Digimon style name. Or it may be that I have a son named Simon and don’t want to associate him with this loser. Of course, he is best known to me as the guy who hated being called “Brainiac” in Tiny Titans! That time he hung out with all of the other Brainiacs didn’t help his cause.

Pulsar Stargrave, in the New 52, has been reimagined as the fussy, put-upon, forced-into-service butler of Larfleeze.

Benton Grey said: “Also, I see what y’all mean about DC stretching the idea of “detective” for this title. I just read a Hawkman backup story (that was quite good), but I don’t think Hawkman is really primarily known as a sleuth!”

@Benton, the Silver Age Hawkman and Hawkgirl were certainly police officers, but no, they were not detectives in the sense we normally think of the term. Gardner Fox typically wrote them as investigators, but not sleuths.

Many years ago, Diabolu Frank and I discussed the police procedural analogues regarding our pet characters. Our conclusion was that Martian Manhunter was akin to Joe Friday (straightforward, no nonsense, only concerned with facts), Hawkman was Rick Hunter (smash first, ask questions later, but not as lethal as Harry Callahan), and Hawkgirl was Dee Dee McCall (the sassy one who works with the tough guy).

Shag, your selection of a team of your favorite characters that you mentioned a few episodes back is, almost, precisely the makeup of a DC version of the Defenders I’ve created a few missions for in my DC mod. It includes Firestorm, Blue Devil, Dr. Fate, and Aquaman, among others. That strikes me as a fun bit of happenstance.

I just started reading Detective Comics from the 70s, and imagine my surprise and pleasure when I began to recognize all of the various backup characters from this very podcast. I think I have a better reaction to the likes of Mysto after having heard him discussed here. I find these characters charming now.

Also, I see what y’all mean about DC stretching the idea of “detective” for this title. I just read a Hawkman backup story (that was quite good), but I don’t think Hawkman is really primarily known as a sleuth!