Today we’re going to imagine the Justice League of the 1800s. We’re talking about mixing superheroes with the Victorian Era, the Old West, and Steampunk. How cool would that be?!?!?
The Victorian Era of Britain lasted from 1837 to 1901. This happens to coincides with much of the American Old West. Steampunk is a science fiction genre where steam power is still widely used — usually in the 19th century, and often Victorian Era Britain — but with filled with fantastical technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne. Now throw superpowers into these genres and you’ve got a recipe for awesome!
If the Justice League had existed during the 1800s, I like to think Firestorm would have been from the Old West. I envision the majority of the Justice League as proper British Victorian Era heroes, but then along comes the brash young American, Firestorm. If you’ve read Firestorm’s appearances in the classic Justice League of America comics, this description would be a good reflection.
Here is a fantastic drawing of Firestorm as he might have looked back during the Old West. I absolutely love the vest, puffy shirt, and the headgear! He’s got the visual sensibilities of an aristocratic scientist of that era, but dashed with hints of a frontier cowboy. That makes perfect sense if you imagine the personalities of Professor Stein and Ronnie Raymond transplanted into the Old West. The drawing is so utterly Firestorm, and yet so utterly Wild, Wild West. This super-cool reimagining was done by Michael S Bracco. To see more of Michael’s artwork, please click here to visit SpaghettiKiss.com.
Now onto the rest of the League… A gentleman by the name of Sillof creates the most amazing custom action figures. He does this by taking existing action figures and modifying them through sculpture and paint. He specializes in redesigning well known characters and reimagines them in various time periods or aesthetics.
In this case, Sillof created a Victorian Era Justice League. He was inspired by the comic book, Gotham by Gaslight by Mike Mignola and Brian Augustyn, in which Batman of the 1880’s attempts to stop Jack the Ripper who had come to Gotham. Sillof calls this set of figures the Gaslight Justice League.
Sillof redesigned several members of the Justice League in the style of the Victorian Era. He went for a darker look and tried to give them the right period feel, but also attempted to keep the feel of the original character. He didn’t design a Firestorm Gaslight figure, so you’ll have to imagine the Old West Firestorm above standing alongside these heroes.
Click the image to enlarge. Aren’t those figures amazing!?!?!?!?
More information on these custom figures can be found at the links below:
- Descriptions of each Gaslight Justice League member as well as the Gaslight Legion of Doom on Sillof’s web site
- Gaslight Batman on the Justice League Detroit blog
- Gaslight Wonder Woman on the Diana Prince: Wonder Woman blog
- Gaslight Flash, Captain Cold, and Gorilla Grodd on the Speed Force blog
- Gaslight Aquaman on the Aquaman Shrine blog
- Gaslight Martian Manhunter on the Idol-Head of Diabolu blog
- Close-ups of the rest of the Gaslight Justice League on My[confined]Space
There you have it, the Justice League of the 1800s! Such a cool concept!
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