A CROSSOVER MISCELLANY PT. 5

 I might well have placed this post under a title like ENSEMBLES ASSEMBLED, but I chose the above series-title instead because the premise is rooted in some of the crossover-notions I've introduced here.

For instance, in A CONVOCATION OF CROSSOVERS PT. 2, I mentioned that a solo Golden Age character, Miss Victory, had been inducted much later in the Bronze Age super-team Femforce, and that I did consider this to be at least a static crossover, because Miss Victory had accrued a certain stature in her original appearances.

This led me to the realization that team-features as a rule fell into three ensemble-configurations.

The one most popular during the Golden Age was The Inclusive Ensemble, in which a team was composed entirely of protagonists who had their own features. A few of these teams were one-shots, as with this Black Cat story, but the most memorable such teams were the long-lived ones like THE MARVEL FAMILY and THE JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA.

Less prevalent in the 1940s was The Exclusive Ensemble, whose members all debut in the same team-feature and for the most part remain confined to that feature. The best known example would be THE BLACKHAWKS, none of whom appeared in other features, though one member, Chop-Chop, appeared for several years as a humor feature-- but this was always in magazines wherein the BLACKHAWKS were the stars. 

The last type was barely ever seen in the Golden Age, and I term this the Semi-Inclusive Ensemble, in which either one featured character gains a group of new characters to share the spotlight. I only know of one in the period, THE GIRL COMMANDOS. A solo character, "Pat Parker War Nurse," had appeared on her own for about eight stories, and then the editors put her in a girl-group for the remainder of her career. Much later, though, comics from the Bronze Age onward began cobbling together new teams out of characters who had appeared elsewhere, often in failed solo features.

ADDENDUM: On reflection, there are probably a lot more Exclusive Ensembles than Inclusive ones in the Golden Age, but many of the former were short-lived, and even those that enjoyed longish runs have been forgotten. A few old comics fans may recall Jack Cole's "Death Patrol." But "Red, White and Blue?" Or "The 3 Xs?" Not so much.