So yesterday, we were hanging out in the comments section, trying to figure out in which states the DC universe's fictional cities were, when Lazarus Lupin jokingly said they were probably in the 7 (actually 10) states Obama added during a campaign interview. Oh what a difference a flub makes! But since we know from JLA/Avengers that the DC Earth is bigger than ours (and Marvel's), and because the writers have been either shy or contradictory when it comes to even naming the state any of their cities are in, the conclusion is easily drawn:DC Earth contains Obama's America!
After all, in addition to extra cities, DC Earth has lots of countries we don't - Qurac, Biyalia, poor retarded Markovia - but no extra states or provinces? (I know I felt like I'd walked onto DC Earth when Nunavut was created here in Canada.) Fictional locations have a big gap between counties and countries that is hard to understand. Let's fix that. I've chosen 10 cities to be placed each in their own new, fictional state. YOU name the states (and maybe where they go on the map) and I'll pick my favorites for inclusion in a new 60 state map of the United States to be featured on this very blog next week. Nothing to win but the honor.
So here are the DC cities that really deserve their own states.
1. Metropolis
2. Gotham City (and Blüdhaven)
3. Central City
4. Keystone City (across the state line from Central)
5. Midway City
6. Coast City
7. Star City
8. Gateway City
9. Fawcett City
10. Opal City
I'll give you guys a week, and I might even participate myself! Until then, signing off from the real 51st state (if you can take it from us, Mike Sterling!)..
Comments
Looking at Wikipedia's article on the etymology of US state names, I see some trends in the naming. We've got states named for people (Washington, Georgia, Hawaii), Native American tribes (the Dakotas, Alabama, Iowa), foreign places (New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire) and lots and lots of rivers, lakes and other water features (Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota). And you get a fair few cardinal points thrown in: West Virginia, South Dakota, North Carolina.
There are also some states that never existed, like Franklin, Muskogee and Deseret.
So how about this for a representative sample of fictional states:
Jefferson
Hancock
Alonquin
Sioux
New Cardiff
New Cambridge
North Iowa
South Colorado
Avon
Hudson
Now, as to where they would all go, I leave that to others better versed in such things. But it's a start!
Sion the Silver State
2. Gotham City (and Blüdhaven)
Sherrinforth or Holmes
3. Central City
Kiowa
4. Keystone City (across the state line from Central)
Lakota(h)
5. Midway City
Earp
6. Coast City
Gold Coast
7. Star City
Newcastle
8. Gateway City
Morales
9. Fawcett City
Beck
10. Opal City
Charters or New Perth
1. Metropolis
Is the virtual entirety of the small state of Drake, named after the British adventurer-explorer-privateer, located south of NY..
2. Gotham City (and Blüdhaven)
New Norway, the name was retained even after the British took over the colony. Located North of NY.
3. Central City
4. Keystone City (across the state line from Central)
Keystone City, Kansas. Central City, Missouri. According to DC.
5. Midway City
In Michigan according to the folks at DC.
6. Coast City
According to wikipedia, Coast City is actually located in a real state from its very beginning in the comics, California.
7. Star City
Nova Albion, a state between California and Oregon.
8. Gateway City
The major port of Nova Albion.
9. Fawcett City
Centralia, the Crossroads State, in the center, more of less, of the US.
10. Opal City
In the small state of Henrietta located between Maryland and Virginia and named after the wife of Charles I.
1. Metropolis - Plymouth, on the NE seaboard (north of New York)
2. Gotham City (and Blüdhaven) - New Wales (if the Duke of York gets a state, so should the Prince of Wales)(south of New York)
3. Central City - Sioux (Lakota would be more correct for the western branch of the Sioux, but it would be fitting that the US would use the archaic name the Lakota themselves don't use for a state)
4. Keystone City (across the state line from Central) - Platte (both Sioux and Platte somewhere around Kansas/Nebraska, south of the Dakotas)
5. Midway City - Tippecanoe (between Illinois and Indiana)
6. Coast City - North California (north of Californa, natch)
7. Star City - Columbia, south of Oregon.
8. Gateway City - Also North California (Coast City would be the capital)
9. Fawcett City - Superior (somewhere around Minnesota/Wisconsin, near Lake Superior)
10. Opal City - Chesapeake (somewhere on the Eastern seaboard, near Chesapeake Bay)
That said, I'll put "Haukins" up as a possible state name, named after DCU-specific Revolutionary War Hero Tom Haukins (Tomahawk). "Lynn" is also a possibility along those lines, for Bess "Miss Liberty" Lynn, but (1) naming a state for a woman that early is lesss likely, (2) I'm not sure if her Identity was revealed ever or early enough for that to work, and (3) It's not a great sounding state name.
Lazarus Lupin
http://strangespanner.blogspot.com/
art and review
Hub City is based on East St. Louis, Illinois. I don't know if Mr. O'Neil had always planned it that way, but the Sun-Times ran a series of articles on the corruptness of ESL, from the mayor on down. I bring this up as a way of considering that a fictional city might indeed share a commonality with a real one. ESL is not considered a suburb of STL, in fact, there are bigger town surrounding it. So the idea of Gotham gaining some of NYC's population yet be in NJ seems valid.
A good part of lower Illinois has the Shawnee Nat'l Forest, so I could see a state named Shawnee. I'd see how shaving some of the blockier states like Iowa, the Dakotas, Washington and Oregon might give us a few extras. Or part of two,in the case of Star City, have the state be a part of WA and also of OR.
Founded by a group of settlers wanting to start a homestead to raise cows, bees and brew, the little settlement grew to encompass an entire territory of industrious workers.
When tasked with applying for Statehood, Governor Christos Balaban decided to reach back to their roots and name the state after the Greek god of Cattle, Husbandry and Beekeeping, Aristaeus.
The new State was called Aristas.
Opal City is in Haukins, already explained.
Star City I'll put in Rosslynn (named after both Betsy Ross and Bess Lynn).
Gotham City is a large city in but not the capital of the state of Gotham, of course.
Metropolis is in Franklin (an East coast version of that state, not the traditional one.)
Central City and Keystone city are in Houston and West Texas, because that's the only place where things can be that big.
Coast City is in Olympia
Midway City is in North Iowa
Fawcett City is in Drake
Gateway City is in New Jerusalem
Metropolis, New Troy (see below; with parts of NYC's population.)
Gotham City, NJ (going with my impulse to make this a concentrated version of Newark and the surrounding cities, also with part of NYC's population. Nearby Blüdhaven is equivalent to New Brunswick, NJ.)
Central City, MO (apparently the canon DCU version of Kansas City MO)
Keystone City, KS (same for KS)
Midway City, Superior (in place of Sault Ste. Marie, MI)
Coast City, CA (in place of Long Beach, CA)
Star City, Sierra (larger version of Sacramento, CA, reaching to the coast)
Gateway City, Sierra (larger version of Eureka, CA)
Fawcett City, WI (in place of La Crosse)
Opal City, Chesapeake (a larger Cambidge, MD. I like the idea of Opal taking the place of Providence, RI, given its sometimes Lovecraftian flavor, but the general idea is that it is a Mid-Atlantic city.)
TBC…
Chesapeake – Cool name "borrowed" from Teebore. Consists of western Maryland and the Virginia portion of the Delmarva Peninsula. Capital: Salisbury.
Franklin – Eastern Tennessee and parts of Virginia and North Carolina in the Appalachian Mountains. Capital: Asheville.
New Troy –comprised of most of real-world Suffolk County, NY. In the DCU New York City has about a quarter of the population of the real-world city. The four outer boroughs, as well as Nassau County, are much greener and much less densely populated. Capital: Metropolis.
Oneida – state carved out of the Military Tract of central New York State, located around Lake Oneida. Originally intended to be named "Arcadia," since the township names are based mostly on classical Greek and Roman names, but support in the NY State Legislature was only possible once the area's Iroquois heritage was recognized. Capital: Syracuse.
Polk – comprising the area of the Gadsden Purchase, as well as the southern border of New Mexico. Its unusual shape gives it the unwelcome nickname "the Shovel." Capital: Tucson.
Puerto Rico – In the real world. an associated free state. Capital: San Juan.
Sierra – Northern and eastern California. The border runs roughly from the area north of San Francisco and Oakland, down the center of the state, and turning East again between Sequoia and Mojave National Parks. A large part of the populations of the real-world San Francisco-Oakland area is in nearby Star City. Capital: Star City.
Sioux – Name "borrowed" from Eric TF Bat's post. Made up of the eastern counties of the Dakotas. Capital: Sioux Falls.
Superior – The Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Mostly parkland, but fueled by its large insurance industry. Capital: Midway City.
West Texas: Roughly the area west of both the 100th parallel and the northernmost part of the Nueces River. Capital: Lubbock.
... but who'd want to live in a constant state of Paine?