I'm looking at the keyword list for past sets. Some have the keyword Justice League of America and some just have JLA. Are they the same or is it different?

They are different. Were were told that the words had to be exactly the same in order to count.

JLA is not the same as Justice League of America.


There are still outstanding questions, though, for which I've been waiting o hear an answer. Mostly these deal with caps. For example, as currently defined, Hydra is not the same as HYDRA.

Really? That seems silly.

JLA needs some serious errata-ing. Unfortunately, nothing in the recent FAQ/errata posting.

Not any sillier than 'Armor' vs 'Armored', really



Poor Iron Lad

Seriously, keywords are a big mess at the moment. It's best not to think in terms of what's "accurate", but just go with the actual printed text.

For instance, one silly thing I realized about Mutations and Monsters:
Beast does not have the Avengers keyword, despite the fact that he is still a reserve member and gets called in from time to time (such as in Avengers vol 3 #56).
Morph, on the other hand, gets the Avengers keyword, as he was a member of the Avengers in his home reality.

Keyword assignment seems very arbitrary.

Has it been officially said that Hydra and HYDRA are different?

It has been said that they must match exactly. That's as far as we've gotten. Ask your local judge how he'd rule.

Other odd ones are the typo keywords.

There's a guy alone on the Injustive Gang. There are a couple of members of the Legion of Super Villians who can't be friends with the guys on the Legion of Super Villains.

Another fun one is L.E.G.I.O.N (E Valor) vs L.E.G.I.O.N. (Lobo).

In that case, there were figures in the Justice League set that had Justice League of America(not bolded) as their keywords. The Starro Slaves have Justice League of Americaand it's bolded. Would those be the same?

Until there is an official and specific ruling I'd say that HYDRA/Hydra, L.E.G.I.O.N/L.E.G.I.O.N. and Justice League of America/Justice League of America are the same. You have to use some discretion when looking at these. These are obvious typos/overlooked format issues and are 99.9% meant to be the same.

Armor and Armored? Well, they are completely different words and should be treated as such. I could see a distinction between the two, but in the case of Iron Lad I think it's a mistake.

Yeah, the keywords are a little wonky in areas. JLA is obviously meant to represent the Morrison team from his run on the series. Justice League of America I believe is representing their newest series. And just Justice League is their earliest incarnation. But I could definitely be wrong if someone has a more concrete interpretation.

But proofreading does need to get better on these. And some need to be consolidated in sharper groups. Like Avengers and West Coast Avengers is fine as they were really seperate teams, but JLA, Justice League, and Justice League of America are generally some of the same people on both teams, as they just teamed up in different time periods.

Complicated yes, but if you're going to have JLI, Justice League Antarctica, Justice League Task Force, and a few others, its too much. Shorten it to JLA and be done with it. Let's face it, most Justice Leaguers have been showing up with other teams at any given time, they just may not be a mainstay member.

Earliest group: Justice League of America. Silver Age. Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, Ray Palmer. Later on, Ralph Dibny, Zatanna Zatara, J'onn J'onzz. Ends with the Detroit League, Gypsy, Vixen.
Next: Justice League. Existed for six issues between the Legends crossover and the establishment of the JLI. Captain Marvel, Dr. Fate, Batman.
Next: Justice League International. Same team as the JL, without Fate and Marvel, with Captain Atom and Rocket Red. Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Mr. Miracle. Overlaps with...
Next: Justice League America and Justice League Europe. Note the lack of the word "of" in the title. Each was a separate branch of the JLI. Mostly the same members as JLI above. Guy Gardner, Fire, Ice. Animal Man, Metamorpho, Power Girl.
(For one annual: Justice League Antarctica. A ploy to get G'Nort and the Injustice League guys out of the JLI's hair by putting them a world away. They fought killer penguins. No, really.)
At some point in here: Justice League Task Force.
Next: JLA. Morrison's run on the book, "the Magnificent Seven." Wally West, Kyle Rayner, Aquaman. Broke up over the Identity Crisis villain mindwipe ruckus.
At the same time as mid-to-late JLA: Justice League Elite.
Next: Justice League of America (again). The current lineup.

Folks who don't know the League might think that it's always Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and a few other A-list characters, but historically it's a coin flip. The original League disbanded when the big guns couldn't commit themselves to a full-time League commitment, leading to the J'onn, Ralph, Zee, Aquaman "Detroit" League. The JLI was all second-stringers plus Batman and J'onn at one point. The Elite was mostly unknowns, plus Green Arrow (and Major Disaster).

--hope that helps.
wyld

Ah, but where do the assumptions end?

We were specifically told that L.E.G.I.O.N. is not the same as LEGION. So what do we assume about S.H.I.E.L.D. and SHIELD?

It's certainly a mess.

And wyld, the earliest league does include Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman now, although they were not founding member sin current continuity, and joined later.