Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities All-Star Squadron... a series review.

Well, after about ten years of being in storage, I found my All-Star Squadron series last night. I am gonna take my time, but I am going to use this thread as an issue review for the series from the Intial Preview to the last issue I have.

I hope.

Wow, cool. All Star Squadron was a wonderful series, especially the Ordway issues.

Looking forward to your reviews, Rick.

A-SS was one of my favorite series of that time. Roy Thomas's love for the Golden Age heroes helped and experiences in Marvel-style story telling combined to create a fresh look at their WWII adventures.

I'm also Looking forward to your thoughts, Rick.

I have all but the last few issues of this series and though it's been a long time since I read it, I remember really enjoying it at the time.

This book was my first introduction to so many wonderful DC characters - Dr Occult, Tarantula, Commander Steel, Firebrand I & II, Liberty Belle, The Whip, the Monster Society of Evil, Per Degaton, TnT & Dan the Dyna-Mite... and so many more.

Roy Thomas really loved these characters and their era and it really showed. And his strict adherence to the previously established continuity and timelines of these characters (almost obsessively so) was much appreciated by this fan.

It's a shame how screwed over all of Roy's hard work was by the Crisis. I've never read Young All Stars to see how the story continued in there though. I might have to look for it in the back-issue bin one day.

All-Star Squadron- A preamble

Fourteen. That was how old I was when the Special Preview for the All-Star Squadron came out. It's one of the books that brought me back to comics. As I entered middle school, it was decreed that I was to old for comic books. I should focus my attention elsewhere... read "girls". I had no problem with that being a good little country boy, and having had interest in them much earlier, as country boys are wont to do.
But, I also still loved those four colored wonders of imagination.

So, after a year of not buying, I was back, baby, and buying up a storm. And some little book, I forget which after all these years, held a special preview insert. The All-Star Squadron. A-SS? Well, there's a snigger-worthy name if ever there was one my pubescent mind quickly spit out. But, there it was in my hot little hands and, after years of I hate to say bland art to my eyes at DC, I now had two on-goings that had vibrant, colorful, exciting artwork. And this book had it in spades.

Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano. Giordano I was familiar with. I read Batman as a kid. How could I not be. But Mr. Buckler? I didn't know him. Still, looking back on it, the art hooked me right away. Clean lines that to this day still look great.

The cover for the insert proclaimed that because we demanded it (have you ever heard a better marketing strategy... giving customers what they want? Brilliant. Wish companies did that today with more enthusiasm.), the Justice Society was BACK. It was a Special FREE GIFT from the New DC. And they weren't wrong.

There, in slightly faded background was the US flag with All-Star Squadron blazed across it in Red, White and Blue, and a mimeographed photo of the White House centered squarely in the middle. It looked COOL. Yeah, the White House.

And below that, ranging across the insert cover, was the Justice Society of the 1940's. Green Lantern, Hawkman, Spectre, Dr. Fate, Atom, Johnny Thunder, Dr. Midnite, Flash, Wonder Woman in those old style pant shorts. They even had Superman and Batman on the cover... but they weren't with the Society except as honorary members?! (I knew this from the 70's revival which I loved to death.) What gived?

And Shining Knight? He was with the Seven Soldiers of Victory, not a JSAer at all?! And... who was the guy in the purple and yellow costume?

Well, this was different.

But, it didn't matter. I was hooked. It had my favorite characters from Earth-2 in it. (remember that concept? So very cool to my fourteen year old noggin.) The JSA. The Originals. Everything else was... well, everything else.

Don't get me wrong. I loved Legion with all my fanboy heart. They were my favorites. Kids from the future with powers? Awesome. Their own clubhouse? Spaceships. Girls in ponytails and bellbottoms? How could it get any better?

Answer, a team from the 1940's where people in America seemed to have attained a certain grace. Oh, America had it's faults to be sure. Railroad strikes, racial discontent (and rightly so), women's secondary instead of equal status in society... but, we were still a nation and a people at that time that didn't define ourselves through failure and mistakes. We were the nation that could and did get the job done. We were proud of the accomplishments of our young nation, and troubled by the failings, but working on them. We had yet to become a nation of wallowers, be it in hedonistic excess, shallow entertainment excess, or even our own excessive self loathing. We were considered a force for good in the world. And these colorful hero's represented what was the best of society to me. They were our All-Stars.

To a fourteen year old kid who, like kids everywhere, was just discovering a world outside his own skull, becoming capable of more than "me, this is about me, how does it affect me", a book about characters fighting selflessly in a war to help others, that was not a "me", stirred something in me. It's corny, I know. We aren't supposed to talk this way in this modern, sophisticated, jaded society. Everything is supposed to have a dark, dirty underbelly.

But, I had grown up around a grandfather that had been machine gunned in WWII. He fought in the Hurtgen Forest campaign (I always thought he said the Hurrican Forest, thick country accent, ya know) and crossed the Rhine River after watching the first german jet planes leaving a great plume of black smoke across the sky. And he came home in a full body cast from that war after having been machine gunned and having a hand grenade load his body with shrapnel. I knew from an early age the price many of the soldiers payed to ensure that I got to grow up in the land of the free, the home of the brave.

And this was my comic. I didn't see Sgt. Rock stories anymore, and by that time it seemed that the old war story books were on their last gasp, but this had that feel, with hero's in costume.

How could I not buy this book. Simple answer.. I couldn't NOT buy it. I had to have it. I worked for it. And I loved it.

So, to the men that created this youthful masterpiece, Roy Thomas, Rich Buckler, Dick Giordano, Jeremiah Ordway, John Costanza (who's work I loved infinitely more than George Costanza's), Carl Gafford and Len Wein, thank you from the fourteen year old fanboy in me.

And to the folks here that take the time to read what I hope will be an entertaining series, thank you for letting me ramble, and I hope you enjoy whats to come.

I remember reading a story set in WW2 with these characters with memorable scenes like the Spectre wading out into the English channel and enemy soldiers just looking at him and dying and an attack on the President by a valkyrie, who attempted to assassinate him with a magic blast from her spear, only to have it intercepted by the Atom, who miraculously survived, and stood up and said, 'Don't you know Mr. President. You can't split an atom!'

I loved that, particularly that tongue-in-cheek last line, since, at the time the Atom said that, much of the world firmly believed that to be true. (And the President would have been one of the few to know otherwise.)

WW2 set stories have a certain simple purity to them, since it's so easy to equate Nazi with 'bad-guy' and remove any sort of complication or moral ambiguity from the story. The good-guys wear the flag on their sleeves, quite literally, and the bad-guys will *never* end up pulling a Sabertooth or Venom or Catman or Blok or Black Adam and being redeemed, misunderstood or 'plucky anti-heroes.' Deadpool or Major Disaster might end up working alongside heroes, for various reasons, but Captain Nazi and Baron Blood? Not so much, and that makes them feel more like 'pure' villains.

I found the Specter, even as a kid, a bit over the top, but paradoxically loved Doctor Fate. Dr. Strange, over at Marvel, tended to get better writing, IMO, and was more active in the 'present-day' (as a Defender and in his own comics), but Dr. Fate's Egyptian roots fascinated me more than Dr. Strange's made-up cosmology with figures like Dormammu and whatnot.

Doctor Midnight was also a favorite, just a guy with a gimmick, the classic pulp style hero, carrying his own on a team with some very heavy lifters. Back in the day, that's all a 'mystery man' needed, a mask, a gimmick of some sort to even the odds, and a good right hook.

I love me some moral ambiguity or thoughtful nuanced storytelling that messes with preconceptions (the Outsiders story 'Sympathy for the Fuhrer' for instance), but there's also a warm spot in my heart for simple black and white unrealistic good vs. bad stories. It was sort of fantasy wish-fulfillment, that some flag-wearing super-American could fly over and punch Hitler in the face.

The Invaders scratched that itch in a different fashion, and, as Marvel sometimes does, grounded it a bit more by having less of the Superman / Spectre level demigods plot-contrived into being unable to actually affect the war on a significant level (the whole Spear of Destiny thing), since Namor was their sole heavy hitter, and also, IMO, did a slightly better job of showing Allied participation, with the characters of Union Jack and Lady Spitfire.

Loved me some All-Star Squadron back in the day,
Liberty Belle,Johnny Quick,Robot Man,Commander Steel,Shining Knight,Firebrand and the Tarantula are the characters I remember most from this series.

I loved Danette Reilly and I still think that she is around somewhere, alive and NOT killed off panel...

I loved the All-Star Squadron, Young All-Stars and Infinity Inc. Really miss Roy Thomas having his own world (Earth?) to play with. One of the worst things that happened with the Crisis was the loss of the parallel Earths...especially Earth 2.

Joe Kubert Covers, Jerry Ordway art...even a little McFarlane thrown in there as well. This was great stuff that just got extremely convoluted with Crisis and lost it's way through no fault of it's own.

To me, these books suffered even more from Crisis than the Legion did. While the LEgion lost Superman (Superboy)...they could have kept the charade up with the Pocket Universe. Earth 2 just got folded into Earth whatever continuity and lost three of its main heroes in the process. Plus a slew of others. Hard to rebound, and while Roy made a great effort...there was just only so much he could do wiithout starting over from square one.

I agree completely. A-SS and Infinity Inc. were not the same after Crisis. So much was lost with the destruction of Earth-2 and the removal of the Golden Age Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, et al. from continuity. The characters created to replace them simply couldn't match their icon status.

The Legion could have been left well enough alone, had DC bothered to do so. But Roy Thomas's universe was gutted and never recovered.

I could've done without the political idolization of the 40s as a better time. I didn't wear deep enough hip boots to make it any further than that, and the sweeping generalizations have left a lump larger than the carpet you swept it all under.

too bad. I was looking forward to this thread.

Which sweeping generalizations bit you the wrong way?

I'll delete anything that offended you, if you just let me know what it was. I've no desire to make anyone feel unwelcome.

Set, it may have been me he was talking too.

All-Star Squadron Special Preview Insert

"Ladies and Gentleman, Class is now in session, Prof.s Thomas, Buckler, Giordano, Ordway, Gafford, and Wein will be your course instructors."

That's what anyone trying to get into comics should hear on their first day. Because, if you want to see masterful storytelling (8 different stories/settings in just 14 pages), fantastic art (30 different main characters, backgrounds, ancillary characters, etc...) that is detailed and yet simply beautiful, this is your course right here.

Thomas writes powerfully right off the bat. Here's the setting, here's the story, here are the main characters, here are their adversaries (such throw away luminaries as Sky Pirate, Prof. Zodiak, Solomon Grundy, and the Monster), and here's how the story goes.

Flash, GL, and Wonder Woman have their first meeting in a charity race in LA. Then, about to be swarmed by a crowd of fans, they leave in a nearly invisible plane and have a picnic that is invaded by Solomon Grundy. Its really that simple, beautiful, and elegant. Grundy hates the Society and GL, a voice in his head tells him to capture them, and he does. In just five pages of story we are treated a quick introduction to the characters, we get a feel of the times (chauvanistic slighty through the lens of now, but a bit more... gallant as of the times then) and are moving on into the meat of the story, which is, someone is collecting Justice Society members, and at a startlingly rapid rate.

After the first group of GL, Flash and Wondy, we get a fast interlude of about eight panels on just about a full page combined giving us the Laws Legionaire's, Libby Lawrence, and the two mysterious men we met in the first three panels. And they were so beautifully, and skillfully woven in, that it doesn't give the impression of heavy exposition, just a part of the story.

Then we move on to the next group of JSA'ers, Sandman, Starman, and Johnny Thunder. In the space of less than a page, they are in the thick of battle with Sky Pirate and his Dirigible. The next group of JSA'ers falls... to a gas gun of all things in the hands of Pirate. Wesley goes down to a gas gun? Oh, the irony. Now thats not only a dangerous situation, but its also humorous as all get out.

Dr. Fate and Inza then, only to have Fate crash into Wotan and fall... but wait, it's not Wotan, it's Spectre, disguised by Wotan as Wotan, and Spectre falls with Fate. Wow. Only eight and a half pages in, and look what we've had so far. This isn't decompressed storytelling that fills out trades, this is flat out balls to tha walls storytelling folks. Old style comics fun at its finest, with a modern twist. Oh, and Fate was wearing the Half Helmet. Man, I miss that helmet. Fate just seemed more fun in it to me than the full on gonzo nuts full helmet.

And now, three panels, just three, basically a third of a page. A third of a page, and we now have the current Firebrand, Rod Reilly, and his sister, Danette Reilly, on an island, somewhere in the oceans, and foreshadowing of danger to come.

Next up, Superman, Batman, and Robin. Robin wasn't even a reserve member, just Batman's junior partner, and yet, here he is as well as they face off against Prof. Zodiak. Zodiak, the first Amos Fortune apparently. Earth 2's Professor Alchemy, who, along with the Philosophers stone, has the Four Wonders Of Alchemy. And we get Batman and Robin as infants after being splashed with a mysterious fluid ,and Superman taken down by the Philosopher's Stone making kryptonite. Two pages. A full scene in just two pages.

This is followed by two PANELS that now give us yet another character, cloaked in shadows, and the location of Washington DC, which leades us to Hawkman, Atom, and Dr. Midnite, and a rousing non-success in the guise of the villain Monster, a modern day (then, naturally) Jeckyl and Hyde. At the time, the arguably least powerful grouping does not fall to the... well, dorkiest threat the individual groups face. Thus, there are at least three members of the JSA heading up what we know will be a team of hero's drawing from the entire golden age spectrum.

But wait, there's more. A mysterious figure is shadowing the three JSA'ers, one with odd sounding footfalls.

But wait, there's even more, as the mysterious hand we find out belongs to one Franklin Delano Roosevelt, just a guy that was President of the United States, and the man setting in motion the things that, combined with external events, will give us the All-Star Squadron. And the date of all this? December 6th, 1941.

Class, look over this post. Eight scene shifts, 30 main characters, a tightly woven story that moves the plot along, identifies the characters and gives us a quick, dirty shot of who each one is, what they do, and a fast tease of the great art direction of the book.

Fourteen pages give us exactly what DC wanted to give us, a hot tease to whet our appetites, leave us wanting more and ready to spend money to get it.

And for me, this preview was perfect in design, story, style and execution.

It's been quite a few years since I read the series, but just starting with the preview has me wanting to read this series all over again, happy with anticipation.

The great news... I don't have to wait a month or more to read the next installment.

Great review...makes me wish I hadmy issues with me at home to follow along with you along this journey. Ah well, I'll just read your synopsis of the issues and remember when I got these issues.

I found the All-Star Squadron during the Crisis issues. I quickly went back and grabbed what issues I could. Devouring them/ It took me some years to gather the entire series, but I did...and have read through them several times.

Infinity Inc. was another series that I got into...but not as late as All-Star Squadron. I was able to gather the issues I had missed pretty easily. Young All-Stars was bought as it happened.

Looking firward to the rest of what ya got for us here.

A word of note about something you said about the preview...it would indeed have been at least 4 - 6 issues of modern decompressed storytelling to capture the events that happened in just 14 pages here. Man, there is sonmething to be said for giving a story a chance to breathe and happen naturally, but I miss the frantic nature of stories like this.

hey, a chance to breathe sometimes is nice. But I love the old feel of those stories much more. The zip and the slash, the frenetic pace that drags you along and leaves you wanting more of that adrenaline drive rush.

right now, that decompressed stuff just makes me think of watching all the slowmo parts of a movie cut to run on one after the other. If it works for you, I'm glad. I just love those old pulp style things and the rush.

I first encountered All-Star Squadron at the age of six thanks to the JLA/JSA/A-SS crossover. Looking back over the covers, it looks like I read it pretty consisently up through Crisis, missing an issue here and there.

Thinking back about the series, it certainly had its flaws (a few too many time travel/parallel earth stories as opposed to actual historical ties, among other things), but nonetheless it was definitely a fun read when I was a kid. Definitely something I'd like to re-read sometime.

I gave up several current books because nothing really happens from month to month. Sometimes it works alright...but most times it is annoying. Done in one stories seem to be a thing of the past...which is way sad.

Story decompression can work well, if done for the right reasons: when a story truly calls for something to be drawn out, such as a flashback or a character's perception of time dragging on.

If a story is decompressed just to make it fit into a trade or to keep readers buying the series or because the writer really has nothing to say, then it becomes grating.

Likewise, the frenetic pace of the preview can be done well or it can be herky-jerky without sufficient development or explanation. (Ironically, I just finished reading Roy Thomas's work in X-Men # 54-64 and 66, as republished in Marvel Masterworks. Most of these stories fell into the latter category, but at least there's the gorgeous artwork of Neal Adams and others to look at.)

As for the A-SS preview, I know I read it when it came out, but I remember nothing about it in spite of Rick's thorough summary. I was 17 that summer and had just finished my GED, and a friend and I were creating our own comic book characters, convinced that we would be the next Lee and Kirby. My attention was probably diverted into our own realm and it took awhile for A-SS to register on my radar.

"or it can be herky-jerky without sufficient development or explanation. (Ironically, I just finished reading Roy Thomas's work in X-Men # 54-64 and 66, as republished in Marvel Masterworks. Most of these stories fell into the latter category, but at least there's the gorgeous artwork of Neal Adams and others to look at"

Interesting observation. The 2nd SENTINELS story seems like it should be such a major, massive, world-shaking "event" than you'd think a MINIMUM of 6 issues would have been ideal for it to be developed fully, and logically. Instead, I'm left with my mouth dropping open, not believing that so many people in the world are just standing by while innocent people's civil rights are being so COMPLETELY and UTTERLY violated... and as a prelude to mass murder.

I often feel like that should have been the LAST Sentinels story ever done. (Or at least, the one in X-MEN #98-100.) Since then it's been nothing but endless pointless inferior repetition. Countless stories trying desperately and failing to capture the "magic" of a story that... WASN'T that good in the first place!


What happened to both ALL-STAR SQUADRON and LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES is proof that "company-wide" edicts are a bad thing. Some series should just be allowed to exist on their own terms. Otherwise you wind up with 25 years of confusion and chaos, and too few good stories.

"Who will be the heros of the All-STAR SQUARDRON"

Gracing the Cover of All-Star Squadron one is this all important question. Who ... is answered inside. But, we have a wealth of heros to choose from on the cover, a now classic that has been referenced and copied in many other places.

Three stalwarts of the Society, Atom, Dr. Mid-Nite, and future longtime leader Hawkman lean over the table, intently studying the pictures of many heros, setting the stage for the first issue greatly.

The inside splash is another now iconic shot of Hawkman, with the now much more famous "beaked" helmet winging over what appears to be the Brooklyn Bridge. As Carter heads towards the rented floor of a non-descript building that houses the rented headquarters of the Society, we get a quick gage of just how fast Hawkman can fly, having made the trip from Washington, DC to NY in over an hour, with the wind against him. See, its the minor touches, no big exploration, just, "here's how fast Hawkman can fly, and here's the story" that made the book work. Things were easy and natural, not protracted and forced. That takes skill.

The next few pages deal with Hawkman entering the headquarters of the Society and finding one of the shadowy figures from the preview special waiting to put the pinch on intruders, one gentleman by the name of Eel O'Brian, also known as the elastic fantastic Plastic-Man. Okay, I'm being generous to a character i never liked in Plas, but hey, I'm the one doing the writing.

So, over the next few pages Hawkman fills in a suspicious FBI agent, Plas, as to the happenings in Washington. Plas, in turn, cuts on the radio and they both find out about the other missing JSA'ers. Quick as a wink, they leave the Meeting Room (looked over by Wesley Dodds, one of the missing JSA'ers, Plas correctly guess's), and continue the discussion only to be assaulted by... now, hold onto your hats folks... King Bee. And after a quick battle, Hawkman is closing in on KB only to have him ... well, Explode. As in KaBoom. Plas makes the save by turning into a parachute and catching Carter before he hits the ground , but doesn't quite stick the landing and they are both knocked out.

A quick interlude gives us the Pres, Harry and several gmen talking about the possible worst day in american history. Two panels and we get filled in quickly. Dang, the man can write.

Scene shift and we get a lonely Sir Justin, the Shining Knight flying over... somewhere, with a quick history recap, when suddenly, there's a Volcano. God I love this stuff. Just say it to yourself... "flying along and suddenly, A Volcano". I'd say ya can't make this stuff up, but obviously Roy could, did, and made it fun. It also happens to be the island that Danette Reilly is on and quicker than a wink Sir J is in the midst of battle with Solomon Grundy. Well, its Grundy, folks, the template for Hulk, I don't care what anyone says. They lose... and wake up be held captive by Wotan. And then, there's Per Degaton.

Thats right. I love these fast turns. Its what makes comics fun. No standing still. And we are halfway through the first issue.

I'll get to the second half later, there's a lot to these stories and quite honestly, this post would be miles long.

but, lets just take a look. Roy and company have jumped in full force. There's no protracted setup, there's just the story already in full swing, action, adventure, thrills and chills.

Roy and Rich, credited as co-creators have swiftly jumped the story into gear and given us some great art to start with. The inking by Da' Ordster enhances what was already great, and the coloring only enhances it.

and as they say in tv, Stay Tuned.

1st issue, part deux.

When last we left off, just a couple of inches above in fact, Sir Justin and Danette Reilly had just been captured by Solomon Grundy and Prof. Zodiak and taken in front of Per Degaton, bad guy from the future, and all around Napoleon complex bantam rooster. Atom handled being short much better.

Next we scene shift to Pearl Harbor, HI and a nice shot of ships in the harbor. We once again see Rod Reilly and his pal Slugger, in dress whites, headed for pearl in a jeep. The arrive just in time for one of the (now) two worst moments in United States history, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, December 7th, 1941. The guys rush on, only to have the jeep blown up under them. Slugger's leg is injured, and as they run Slugger collapses and as Rod returns to help, he is machine gunned by a Japanese plane.

Next scene shift takes us to a hometown Redskins game in DC, with Atom and Dr. Mid-Nite in attendance. Doc notices that more than one person in high ranking places have been called out of the crowd and tells Atom that they need to follow, because somethings up.

A quick three-way phone conversation and the bombing is revealed. Atom and Doc want to immediately head to the White House since the Pres. was looking for them, but the quickest way is through a locked steel door. And this is about the only jarring element of the story. The government guys disappear,and Robotman is suddenly there, offering his help. He promptly smashes down the door, and the three head out.

At this point, two intrepid reporters, one John Quick and Libby Lawrence run into each other outside the White House. Johnny knows her as a much more well known reporter and gives us a quick recap of her life. At this point, the three amigos arrive, with the two unnoticed reporters hot in tow at the white house.

A couple of quick panels and we see that while he's a hardworking hero/reporter, Johnny can also be a bit of a hothead when zooms through the gate. At the same time, he gives the delectable Ms. Lawrence, in the guise of Liberty Belle, blond bombshell and Battling Babe of the 1940's a lift though the gates and deposits her inside, as she was stopped by the guards at the gate. They catch up with Doc and Atom, with Carter exiting to speak with them.

And as they are ushered before the Pres., he gives us the formation of the All-Star Squadron. And the Pres. sends the team to the west coast to prevent a possible Japanese attack on the mainland.

We get our first real group shot then.

Plas, Doc, Atom, Johnny, Libby, Carter, and Robotman.

The last page gives us San Francisco and a sub firing Zero's from underwater to attack the mainland. And as Sir Justin and Danette are held captive, We see Lil' Napoleon Degaton launching into a Maniacal Monolog, telling us he's not only going to conquer time, but THE PLANET AS WELL!

As I said above, only one thing, the locked door doesn't work. But, the breakneck pace of the issue works in the historical context of the events unfolding in Hawaii and DC. The nation WAS immediately, upon learning of the attack, worried about a mainland attack. The Japanese diplomats were the red herring as the decision to attack had been reached before the negotiations where done.

It just worked. And you can tell that Thomas really worked at making the story fit the events in a smooth, cohesive manner that was, while using the setting, respectful to the events.

Buckler was easily at the top of his game, and Da' Ordster, Costanza, and Gafford really worked the issues to bring about the best rendition of the story, placing beautiful, detailed yet clean art in our hands.

I loved this series, and I miss the high caliber of storytelling that went into it.

This comic was and remains an excellent example of how serial storytelling should work.

I look forward to re-reading issue two next and continuing this fun journey.

I loved that Plas was included in this book, and treated as a real hero...not just a joke character.

Loving reading your summaries of these books Rick.

I prefer Plastic Man with his Earth-2/World War II origins. So, though I *hated* him in the JLA, I could get behind his membership in the JSA.

Lord knows he would fit in that book a LOT better than Blue Devil(?!?) would.