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ellen_fremedom is right and the DCU's North America has a smallish version of the Western Interior Seaway. It would explain why Metropolis, Gotham, and Opal City have *ports*. Possibly it's a drowned Mississippi River, like the real-world Chesapeake Bay is a drowned riverbed. And no, I don't take it as canon that Metropolis is in Delaware (because it would overflow the state!) nor is Gotham in New Jersey. And Opal City definitely isn't in Maryland, unless it's on the Eastern Shore, but that still doesn't account for pirates, puritans, *and* cowboys in its history.
Superman is pretty lucky that he grew up in Kansas and probably speaks with a Midwestern accent. It's the 'default' American accent, and wouldn't be remarkable. And I'm kind of wondering what a Gotham accent sounds like -- something East Coast? or more like Chicago? Whatever it is, Booster's should be off by 500 years -- he should be unplaceable, to the point that he might not even sound American his first few years in the 'present'. And Alan Scott's accent should not only be the upper class version, but full of old and disappearing quirks; especially since Alan isn't quite comfortable in the present, even though he's lived through his life in a fairly linear fashion, instead of time-jumping around like some people...
And his son Todd Rice should sound ... well, like someone from Wisconsin, though mildly -- he grew up in Milwaukee, which is a large city, and has lived outside of it in NY and California since he left at 18. But he certainly shouldn't sound anything like Alan, which would be another point of contrast, and possibly conflict if Alan wants Todd to 'improve' his lower-class accent.
Actually, the entire JSA might be fun to set a linguist loose in. Not only do you have the Old Guard, but Sand's accent is only a few years out from 1941 NYC upper-crust, and the younger members range from New York (city *and( upstate), Nebraska, Georgia, Wisconsin, Kansas, Louisiana, Krypton of an alternate dimension, and a non-Solar planet in the 30th century...
Oh, and if the JLA have been graverobbing to get the bodies of the supervillains that are stored under their headquarters (seriously, the first Icicle is listed. Wally and Piper went to his will-reading way back when. There's no way his family didn't have him buried!), they deserve to have it come back and bite them on the ass.
I loved VILLIANS UNITED because Gail Simone had the supervillains joining Luthor's Society because they were afraid of the JLA mindwiping them after it was revealed that they had *done* it in IDENTITY CRISIS. Catman beating down Green Arrow for his arrogance in assuming that he was a 'good guy' in spite of his complicit in what amounted to mind-rape was *cherry*!
Also, if Barry Allen thinks that finding Avernus is going to be easy, he's underestimating how the Rogues have grown in his absence. If he thinks finding it is *wise*, he's being deliberately obtuse. The Rogues can, will, and *have* killed to recover the bodies of their dead. They won't hesitate to do it again, even if it means going up against the JLA. And if it becomes know that *that* is what the conflict is about, I expect a number of morally ambiguous characters to come against them, not to mention the JSA, who are pretty much moral bedrocks compared to the JLA.
ellen_fremedom is right and the DCU's North America has a smallish version of the Western Interior Seaway. It would explain why Metropolis, Gotham, and Opal City have *ports*. Possibly it's a drowned Mississippi River, like the real-world Chesapeake Bay is a drowned riverbed. And no, I don't take it as canon that Metropolis is in Delaware (because it would overflow the state!) nor is Gotham in New Jersey. And Opal City definitely isn't in Maryland, unless it's on the Eastern Shore, but that still doesn't account for pirates, puritans, *and* cowboys in its history.Superman is pretty lucky that he grew up in Kansas and probably speaks with a Midwestern accent. It's the 'default' American accent, and wouldn't be remarkable. And I'm kind of wondering what a Gotham accent sounds like -- something East Coast? or more like Chicago? Whatever it is, Booster's should be off by 500 years -- he should be unplaceable, to the point that he might not even sound American his first few years in the 'present'. And Alan Scott's accent should not only be the upper class version, but full of old and disappearing quirks; especially since Alan isn't quite comfortable in the present, even though he's lived through his life in a fairly linear fashion, instead of time-jumping around like some people...
And his son Todd Rice should sound ... well, like someone from Wisconsin, though mildly -- he grew up in Milwaukee, which is a large city, and has lived outside of it in NY and California since he left at 18. But he certainly shouldn't sound anything like Alan, which would be another point of contrast, and possibly conflict if Alan wants Todd to 'improve' his lower-class accent.
Actually, the entire JSA might be fun to set a linguist loose in. Not only do you have the Old Guard, but Sand's accent is only a few years out from 1941 NYC upper-crust, and the younger members range from New York (city *and( upstate), Nebraska, Georgia, Wisconsin, Kansas, Louisiana, Krypton of an alternate dimension, and a non-Solar planet in the 30th century...
Oh, and if the JLA have been graverobbing to get the bodies of the supervillains that are stored under their headquarters (seriously, the first Icicle is listed. Wally and Piper went to his will-reading way back when. There's no way his family didn't have him buried!), they deserve to have it come back and bite them on the ass.
I loved VILLIANS UNITED because Gail Simone had the supervillains joining Luthor's Society because they were afraid of the JLA mindwiping them after it was revealed that they had *done* it in IDENTITY CRISIS. Catman beating down Green Arrow for his arrogance in assuming that he was a 'good guy' in spite of his complicit in what amounted to mind-rape was *cherry*!
Also, if Barry Allen thinks that finding Avernus is going to be easy, he's underestimating how the Rogues have grown in his absence. If he thinks finding it is *wise*, he's being deliberately obtuse. The Rogues can, will, and *have* killed to recover the bodies of their dead. They won't hesitate to do it again, even if it means going up against the JLA. And if it becomes know that *that* is what the conflict is about, I expect a number of morally ambiguous characters to come against them, not to mention the JSA, who are pretty much moral bedrocks compared to the JLA.
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I agree. That would make a great genfic, actually.
I've always placed Gotham in a sort of...quantum holding pattern around NYC's tri-state area. Like, Bludhaven is *very* Connecticut-y to me, with the whaling history and everything. The fics I've read that mention a Gotham accent (or several) tend to go with the NJ setting, but I'm like you in that Jersey just...doesn't feel right. Gotham's such an amalgam in my mind of NYC and Boston and, well, *itself*, that I can't place it definitively in our universe.
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Unfortunately, I'm not good enough at accents to actual write it, though I do want to add some disagreement over Todd's accent to my list of "Things that Alan and Todd do not talk about, by order of the chairwoman, except they totally do..."
Bludhaven isn't supposed to be the nasty part of New Jersey?
I swear that it would be so much easier if they just didn't acknowledge the real-world cities existed.