Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice…

(Originally published in The Cincinnati Enquirer on March 25, 2009)

Featured on Huffington Post, MTV.com and BoingBoing among others.

UNION TERMINAL A MODEL FOR SUPERHEROES’ STRONGHOLD

By Alex Shebar

Without a doubt, the world’s greatest superheroes need the world’s greatest headquarters.

It must be a towering structure, massive in size and design. Something that displays not only power, but grace – a building that captures the essence of the heroes as they save the world time after time.

You would think a building like this would be impossible to find in real life.

You’d be wrong. It’s in your backyard.

In 1973, the now-classic cartoon “Super Friends” premiered on ABC. It was the first show to group the world’s most powerful DC Comics heroes: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and more.

Unlike the comics, where the group met in a satellite in space, the show grounded them on Earth in a building called the Hall of Justice.

A building based on Cincinnati’s Union Terminal.

The resemblance is undeniable, from the massive arch to the carved pillars. They are nearly identical, right down to the colossal fountain leading to the front entrance.

While the similarities are striking, the hometown connection has been lost in the generations since the show premiered.

“There have always been legends,” said Douglass W. McDonald, president and CEO of the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal. “You do Google searches for Union Terminal and you get these funny little hits, but nothing confirmed.”

Drawing from the past

“Super Friends” was created by cartoon studio Hanna-Barbera, famous for shows like “Tom and Jerry” and “The Flintstones.”

William Hanna and Joseph Barbera first teamed in 1937 and established their cartoon studio in 1957. In 1967, it was sold to Taft Broadcasting Co., a media conglomerate located in Cincinnati.

Taft had a hands-on relationship with Hanna-Barbera. It opened Kings Island in 1972 with a Hanna-Barbera theme.

The company also worked with Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera to create new cartoons.

“They came to Cincinnati once in a while,” said Dudley Taft, former CEO. “We would have company meetings and some of them were here.”

When creating “Super Friends,” the producers wanted a grand headquarters for their heroes.

The job was given to Al Gmuer, background supervisor for Hanna-Barbera for more than 30 years. Using his knowledge of architecture, he sketched out a building that almost resembled the finished product.

“Mine had more windows,” Gmuer said.

The drawing was then given to the network, including Joe Barbera, where it was turned into the Union Terminal look-a-like that’s known today, he said.

Gmuer isn’t sure why they redesigned his building to look like Union Terminal. He doesn’t give the Hall of Justice much thought today.

“In the long run, I hated that building,” he said. “The way it’s designed, it was not easy to draw. I had nightmares about that damn building.”

Union Terminal in peril.

The local connection for the Hall of Justice is not only based on a “where” but also a “when.”

Only a year before the show’s Sept. 8, 1973, premier, to borrow the thematic tone of “Super Friends,” the fate of Union Terminal was in jeopardy.

The building had been created as a monumental train station by architects Alfred Fellheimer and Steward Wagner in 1933. It was designed in an art-deco style that’s still critically praised today.

Yet, on Oct. 16, 1972, the train station was decommissioned, and there was talk of destroying the building – nearly 11 months before it would be immortalized as the Super Friends’ headquarters.

“Anyone in Cincinnati would have been aware that the city might have lost the building,” said Ruby Rogers, director of the Cincinnati Historical Society Library.

The rest of the world, though, would have been unaware of this potential loss.

In fact, because Union Terminal remains a relatively obscure building nationally, it’s only helped to make the Hall of Justice such a powerful pop-culture icon, said Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture.

“Someone knew of a great building with a wonderful visual look that reeked of the power and energy it was designed for,” he said “It also wasn’t overused like, for instance, the Chrysler Building. It wasn’t a cliché.”

Getting animated

There is something grand about Union Terminal. Its larger-than-life aura often makes it so that visitors to Cincinnati, and even longtime residents, have a hard time believing this art-deco icon is located in the middle of the Midwest.

Perhaps that’s why people have instinctively accepted it as the Hall of Justice. The building seems to combine the best elements of superhero mythology: the power of Superman’s fortress, the vastness of Batman’s cave, the magnificence of Aquaman’s palace.

“It seems like a place superheroes would live,” said John Hitchcock, writer and comic-book historian.

That connection is not lost to those who grew up with the show.

Rick Brooks, owner of Rockin’ Rooster Comics in Covedale, said he’ll have months where no one will bring it up, and then a week where he’ll talk about it day after day.

“Sometimes, people will even come in from out of town and they’ll say something,” he said.

Of course, it all goes back to the cartoon.

“Super Friends” clearly holds a place in people’s hearts, but by no means should it be called a quality show, Thompson said. The animation is almost as bad as its cheesy storylines and dialogue.

Still, there’s a relationship with audiences. Either a person is overwhelmed with childhood nostalgia, or there’s a retro-appeal later generations appreciate.

“The show’s message and storyline, well, it’s a little corny, but it is very ’70s great,” said Ruben Procopio, head of Masked Avenger Studios, a superhero-focused film studio in Los Angeles.

It’s that heartfelt attachment that still sells merchandise today. The original cartoon was released on DVD in 2005. Only months ago, in January, the second volume of “The All-New Super Friends Hour: Season One” was put out. This was a 1977 rebirth of the original ‘73 show.

The first shot of its opening credits? The Hall of Justice.

“Everyone in the world knows Union Terminal,” said Bob Justice, manager of Queen City Comics in Fairfield. “They just think of it as the Hall of Justice.”