A dc /marvel/temporal comics merged universe

[Davies]

I'm pretty sure that Opal City is meant to be an ersatz Seattle (real world nickname: the Emerald City.) I'd be tempted to identify Hub City with Portland, as the latter is also the inspiration for Sin City. But Atlanta might also work.

Edit: It seems that there are several American cities that are nicknamed "Hub City", and I'm not sure which of them (if any) inspired Dennis O'Neil's urban backdrop for the Question. (The Question was originally based in "Crown City", for that matter ...)

[greycrusader]

I thought of Opal as the counterpart to Boston, perhaps because I semi-remember there being a reference to it being close to Ivy Town, which I always pegged as the equivalent to Providence, R.I., or some other relatively well known New England city. Was there anything pointing to it being closer to the West Coast?

Hub City seemed to be in the Illinois/Michigan/Minnesota/Wisconsin area, but I'm not sure the exact U.S. state was ever specified.

All my best.

[Ken]

I thought of Opal as the counterpart to Boston, perhaps because I semi-remember there being a reference to it being close to Ivy Town, which I always pegged as the equivalent to Providence, R.I., or some other relatively well known New England city. Was there anything pointing to it being closer to the West Coast?

Hub City seemed to be in the Illinois/Michigan/Minnesota/Wisconsin area, but I'm not sure the exact U.S. state was ever specified.

All my best.

Hub City was Chicago. Basically freight and rail systems in the U.S. radiate out from Chicago like a wheel. Lookup "railroad hub of the U.S."

Ivy Town was clearly supposed to be an Ivy League school. Leaving out the ones that are in large cities like Harvard and Columbia, that makes the counterparts being someplace like Yale (New haven, CT), Princeton, or Cornell (Ithica, NY) likely. Or Dartmouth in New Hampsire. Providence would map to to Brown. At 190K people might a little large for a town, but it would work.

[NoOneofConsequence]

Realistically, all of these place names are akin to the kingdom names Robert E Howard used in his Conan stories. They evoke a certain place and feel without being tied down to the real world facts of that place. Trying to actually map them somewhere specific is always going to be completely subjective.

[greycrusader]

I thought of Opal as the counterpart to Boston, perhaps because I semi-remember there being a reference to it being close to Ivy Town, which I always pegged as the equivalent to Providence, R.I., or some other relatively well known New England city. Was there anything pointing to it being closer to the West Coast?

Hub City seemed to be in the Illinois/Michigan/Minnesota/Wisconsin area, but I'm not sure the exact U.S. state was ever specified.

All my best.

Hub City was Chicago. Basically freight and rail systems in the U.S. radiate out from Chicago like a wheel. Lookup "railroad hub of the U.S."

Ivy Town was clearly supposed to be an Ivy League school. Leaving out the ones that are in large cities like Harvard and Columbia, that makes the counterparts being someplace like Yale (New haven, CT), Princeton, or Cornell (Ithica, NY) likely. Or Dartmouth in New Hampsire. Providence would map to to Brown. At 190K people might a little large for a town, but it would work.

Hub City certainly makes sense, Ken-I think I was a bit uncertain back in the day because DC already had the Blue Beetle series set in Chicago, so...why not just both? Though obviously the whole schtick with the Question book back in the day was how utterly corrupt Hub City was, while Blue Beetle's Chicago was more of a "realistic" depiction, with both good and bad. I guess its was similar to how Metropolis is the idealized NYC and Gotham represented New York City at its' worst, with elements of Chi-Town's bad old days mixed in as well.

All my best.

[Ken]

Hub City was Chicago. Basically freight and rail systems in the U.S. radiate out from Chicago like a wheel. Lookup "railroad hub of the U.S."

Hub City certainly makes sense, Ken-I think I was a bit uncertain back in the day because DC already had the Blue Beetle series set in Chicago, so...why not just both? Though obviously the whole schtick with the Question book back in the day was how utterly corrupt Hub City was, while Blue Beetle's Chicago was more of a "realistic" depiction, with both good and bad. I guess its was similar to how Metropolis is the idealized NYC and Gotham represented New York City at its' worst, with elements of Chi-Town's bad old days mixed in as well.

All my best.

BWHAHAHA!!!! As someone who lives about 70 minutes from Chicago, I'd have to say the depiction in Blue Beetle was idealized and the depiction of Hub City in The Question was more realistic.

The DC Blue Beetle series came out right in the wake of the Crisis, and in that brief moment in time DC was down on all of its fictional cities, save Metropolis and Gotham. For instance, Wally's Flash series was set in NYC for a year or two. The post-Crisis, pre-Hawkworld Hawkman and Hawkwoman relocated to New Orleans from Midway City for no clear reason, etc.

[greycrusader]

Random pointless setting idea riff:


Metropolis (replacing NYC), home over the years to Doc Savage, Superman, Spiderman, Daredevil, Black Lightning, and the TMNT.

Gotham City (replacing Chicago), home to the Shadow, Dick Tracy, Batman.

Coast City and Star City (replacing the greater LA area), home to Zorro, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, the Fantastic Four/Future Foundation, Blue Devil, Wonder Man, Tigra.

Central City (replacing Columbus OH), home of the Spirit, the Flash.

Keystone City (replacing Philadelphia), home of the golden age Flash and post revival Captain America.

Midway City (replacing St. Louis), home of Hawkman and Hawkwoman, Doom Patrol.

Dakota City (replacing Detroit), home of Icon, Static, the Green Hornet

Gateway City (replacing San Francisco), home of Wonder Woman, the Spectre, both versions of Mr. Terrific, the Green Turtle,

Jump City (replacing Oakland), home of the Titans,

Hub City (replacing Milwaukee), home of The Question and silver age Blue Beetle.

Evergreen City (replacing Seattle),

National City/Civic City (replacing Washington DC), home of golden age Justice Society

Fawcett City (replacing Indianapolis), home of the Marvel Family,

Ivy Town (replacing New Haven CT), home of the Atom

I'll add a few:
Calvin City: Princeton, NJ; Golden-Age Atom and maybe Infinity Inc or the New Warriors

Capitol City: Arlington, VA, or alternately Georgetown, the "upper-crust" suburb outside Washington, D.C; Wonder Woman operated here.

Opal: Either Boston. MA or Baltimore, MD; home to the Starman family, the Shade (when he's not globetrotting), Namor when he was still semi-heroic

St.Roche: New Orleans; the modern-day Hawkman and Hawkwoman adventured here for awhile

I'd probably cast Coast City as San Francisco and make Star City the LA/Hollywood analogue

All my best!

[Ares]

Based off of this image from way back when, Milestone's Dakota was around the Chicago's neck of the woods.

[Ken]

Wow. So Paris Island is an island in the Kankakee River. Who knew?