The Perisphere

I Regret To Inform You

2007-04-13T18:03:00.000-05:00

I regret to inform you that I am shutting down the Perisphere.

I thought long and hard on this, but some other things have popped up (including taking on more of a role over at the Superman Database and a more general comic book blog) in addition to getting back to more personal writing. Something had to go and it was either this blog or I clone myself to keep up with everything.

So to everyone that enjoyed the blog, thanks for checking me out. If you are interested in checking out my blog just go over to the Fortress of Baileytude.

Until I can get back to this, keep em' flying.

Two Week Hiatus

2007-03-29T22:06:00.000-05:00

For a host of reasons, most of them personal but also the fact that I am not as caught up on the reading as I should be, I'm taking two weeks off from posting here. Things in my personal life are not horrific, but there is a lot going on that I may relate here at some point. I apologize if anyone is disappointed, but these things tend to happen to me from time to time. I hope to take the two weeks and come up with some new material for the site that will make up for the time off.

Thanks.

Michael

Update 03-21-2007: Almost Sick

2007-03-22T21:19:00.000-05:00

I don't know if I am coming down with a cold or if my allergies are kicking in but I feel like crap right now. I almost "called in" for this week, but after seeing another comment I decided to keep to my schedule. If people are starting to check out this site/blog I want to keep it going along smoothly.

Still, feel like crap right now.

So this week I cover issue eight, which introduced one of my favorites members of the All-Star Squadron; Steel the Indestructible Man, soon to be called Commander Steel. I've read the first four issues of Steel's original series (for some reason issue five eluded me until recently) and it was one of the best books DC put out in the late eighties. Hopefully DC will reprint that series at some point.

In addition to that I have the usual Golden-Age Books for this week list. Light week, but issue four of Justice Society of America came out and it was really freaking good. I mean if that was the only book that DC put out this week that I buy I still would have been happy.

Until next week.

Golden-Age Related Books for Comic Week 03-21-2007

2007-03-22T20:55:00.000-05:00

Another week, another batch of comic books from DC Comics.

Disclaimer: These are the books DC has posted on their site as coming out on March 21, 2007. There is a slight chance that these books might not be at your local comic shop because, let's face it, DC has not been batting a thousand lately with getting their books out on time. This is not meant as a slam against DC, it's just how things have been for the past year or so.

I also claim no responsibility if your local comic shop sells out of the book if you wanted to buy it. Hold/Reserve boxes are your friend.

Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #50
Batman Confidential #4
Birds of Prey #104
Checkmate #12
Detective Comics #830
Fifty-Two #46
Flash #10
Justice Society of America #4 (Two Covers)
Showcase Presents: Hawkman Volume 1 TPB

Another light week Golden-Age wise, though if you haven't read Justice Society of America #4 yet I suggest you do do right now. It's ok. I'll wait.

Read it?

Wasn't that so freaking awesome?

Yeah, I thought so too.

I was very amused that DC used the Variant Cover for the solicitation and on their site. I understand why. It would have ruined the surprise from the end of issue three.

Still, this series is bar none the best DC is publishing right now, and that is a die-hard Superman fan saying that.

To see the non-variant cover to Justice Society of America #4 click HERE. I do warn you, if you are waiting for the trade it will spoil something major.

All-Star Squadron #8

2007-03-22T20:10:00.000-05:00

Cover Date: April 1982
Cover Price: $0.60
Release Date: January 28, 1982

Story Title: ”Afternoon of the Assassins!” -24 pages

Cover Artist: Joe Kubert

Writer: Roy Thomas/Gerry Conway (Steel sequence)
Penicller: Adrian Gonzales/Don Heck (Steel sequence)
Inker: Jerry Ordway
Colorist: Carl Gafford
Letterer: John Costanza
Editor: Len Wein

Heroes: Atom I, Firebrand II, Hawkgirl I, Johnny Quick I, Liberty Belle I, Robotman I, Shining Knight I, Steel I

Villains: Baron Blitzkrieg, Black Assassin (Scwarzer Meuchelmorder in German), Kung, Zwerg

Supporting Characters: Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Dr. Allison, Major Morton, Dr. Gilbert Giles, Gloria Giles

Memorable Quote: “I was fighting for my life- -the lives of two British commandos - - and the lives of million people I’d never know!” – Steel, The Indestructible Man

Synopsis

A Nazi agent called the Black Assassin attacks Winston Churchill while the Prime Minister gives a speech at the Halls of the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa. Liberty Belle and Shining Knight leap to Churchill’s defense but the Assassin manages to slip free and get a clear shot at his target. Suddenly the hero known as Steel comes out of nowhere and makes quick work of the Assassin. In a final attempt to kill the Prime Minister the Nazi activates a bomb belt but Steel takes the full brunt of the explosion.

Despite his wounds Steel manages to give Churchill a book before the Shining Knight takes him away to get medical attention. After finishing his speech Churchill visits Steel in a nearby hospital where Belle is trying to find some information about Steel from her fellow All-Stars. During that conversation Belle is informed that the President wants Steel brought back to Washington as soon as possible. Soon afterward a special train rockets from Canada bound for the United States.

During the journey Churchill explains that the book Steel had given him was a journal that reveals that Steel is actually Hank Heywood who joined the Marines after the German attack on Poland. In November of 1939 Heywood was returning to camp when he spotted some saboteurs trying to blow up the ammo dump. An accident caused the explosives to go off and Heywood was gravely injured. Only the brilliant researcher Dr. Gilbert Giles and his experimental medical procedures saved Heywood. In fact the process enhanced Heywood, making him stronger and faster than a normal man.

On a visit in London Steel stopped the Black Assassin from his first attempt to kill then First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill. Steel agrees to go on a mission for Churchill to kidnap Adolph Hitler. Heywood’s journal goes blank after describing an aerial battle that ended with Steel getting shot down over Germany. Elsewhere Baron Blitzkrieg and Zwerg listen in on the story as well. Blitzkrieg is pleased with how things have gone thus far and feels that his back-up plan cannot fail.

Back on the train the assassin known as Kung lands and uses his ability to transform into animal form to become a tiger. He is surprised by Hawkgirl who attacks the Japanese agent. Kung manages to overcome her and it is only the timely arrival of Johnny Quick that saves her life. Robotman takes on Kung next, but the assassin manages to slip past him and get to his intended target; Winston Churchill. Kung stalks the Prime Minister but Steel comes around just in time to once again save Churchill’s life. Kung escapes but the All-Stars and Churchill are relieved that the man known as Steel has revived.

Meanwhile Baron Blitzkrieg is incensed at Kung’s intrusion but is still satisfied that his plan is still on track, especially with his special agent. A special agent named Steel!

Notes

-The Black Assassin was a once and done villain and is never seen again.

-The speech Churchill gives before the Canadian Parliament after the assassination attempt did happen. The reason that the Parliament looks so much like the US Congress is that reference material could not be found at the time.

-Canadian Prime Minister William Lyons MacKenzie King is referred to in a caption on page seven but never shown in the comic itself.

-Steel, the Indestructible Man first appeared in the aptly named Steel, The Indestructible Man #1 (March 1978). This series came out as part of what has become known as the DC Explosion, where DC Comics released a large number of titles and back-up features all at once. Gerry Conway wrote the series with art by the underrated Don Heck and much like Conway’s Firestorm the Indestructible Man read like a Marvel book set in the DC Universe. It was a fantastic series and had the usual romantic conundrum and crazy villains. Steel, The Indestructible Man was cancelled after issue five during the DC Implosion. Issue six appeared as part of the privately circulated Cancelled Comics Cavalcade.

-Pages nine (possibly eight) through seventeen of this issue were originally intended to be part of that sixth issue. Roy decided to incorporate much of Don Heck’s penciled art and Gerry Conway’s script into the narrative. On page nine we’re given narrative captions that are “excerpts” from Steel’s journal, which was a staple of the original Steel series.

-The journal reveals that Steel was in London in his Hank Heywood identity as an aide to Major Morton. He was rather happy to be there too since he had been engaged to Dr. Giles’ daughter Gloria and was forced to end that engagement at the insistence of Giles when he found that Heywood was also the man called Steel.

-Steel was added to the series because Roy Thomas and editor Len Wein felt that a “Captain America” type character was needed for the World War II setting.

-In addition to creating Firestorm and Steel Gerry Conway also created the Punisher and has done a lot of work for the Law and Order series, particularly Law and Order: Criminal Intent where he served as co-executive producer.

- Kung first appeared in Wonder Woman #237 (November 1978) during a storyline that took place in 1943. This issue backdated Kung to 1941.

Oh my God. I really don’t know what to say about this cover. Wow.

-A Fact File page featuring Shining Knight, Robotman and Johnny Quick appeared before this issues installment of All-Star Comments.

-This month’s All-Star Comments, featuring the second logo, began with this note:

SPECIAL SQUADRON NOTE: Few DC heroes have been as much requested for “membership” in the purposefully amorphous All-Star Squadron by the letter-writing hordes as has the man called Steel, whose magazine had its own five-issue run a few years back, under the aegis of creators Gerry Conway and Don Heck. In fact, a sixth issues was completed when STEEL, THE INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN was cancelled as part of a temporary DC cutback at the time…and in many ways, it was one of the best and most important of the series. Thus Len and Roy decided to take the majority of the pages of that sixth issue---previously unprinted except in Xerox format for a very limited audience—and have it partly rewritten and totally relettered and re-inked to fit into issues 8 and 9 of ALL-STAR SQUADRON. Especially after you’ve read the conclusion of Hank Heywood’s war-diary next month, we think you’ll see why we did it. Let us know how you feel about Steel as an All-Star, okay—not that we ever doubted you would!

-After that came three letters regarding issue four.

Mark Walden of Northridge, California wrote that the series was getting better and better and that Buckler and Ordway’s art made him feel like he was re-living the Golden-Age. He then requested that Aquaman, Green Arrow, Speedy and Captain Marvel make appearances in the book. Roy replied that since it had been established that Captain Marvel had been active in the World War Two of Earth-S he would fit right in.

John K. Austin of Cheney, Washington was impressed with the level of characterization put into the characters with the possible exception of Superman, who John felt should have been cockier. His final comment was to not cancel the book. Roy informed him that there was almost no chance of that happening since the book has proven to be one of DC’s top-selling titles.

Finally, Wally Podrazik, c/o McGraw-Hill Paperbacks in New York, New York wrote in to comment on how television was presented in the title and to either directly or indirectly plug a book he had written. He wrote that while TV did exist in 1941 the programming “beast” was different than that of 1981. Coast-to-coast hook-ups were still a decade away and experimental programming was spotty at best ranging from stock film filler to cooking tips. Despite this Podrazik felt that on Earth-Two it was quite possible for Libby Lawrence to have a television news show but added that it was probably a simul-cast of her radio program. He also mentioned that broadcasting hours were cut back tremendously during 1942 and 1943. Podrazik’s final thought was to recommend that Roy play with TV in Nazi Germany where sets were quite common in public places like hospitals and carried propaganda broadcasts through 1943 in Berlin and 1944 in Paris. Roy thanked Podrazik for the ideas and the verification that Libby’s TV broadcast was possible.

-The back cover of this month’s issue contained an advert for Monogram’s Snap Tate (trademarked) models of Mattel’s famous Hot Wheels vehicles. I think most kids were issued one of those Hot Wheels Trans-Ams when they came out so I can see where a model of it would do quite well.

Update 03-14-07: So, Thursday Good For Everyone?

2007-03-15T19:38:00.000-05:00

Seems good to me. Weekends are becoming busier and busier for me, so getting the Index done works a lot better during the early part of the week. I've also taken on the task of reading reviews for the Superman Database's podcast on a weekly basis, so there's that too.

I didn't get the new dossiers done like I wanted, but I tried to make it up by having more graphics in the entry for issue #7 because I figure y'all would be too distracted by the pretty pictures to notice the lack of substance.

I have no shame. I really don't.

I did get to update the Atom dossier, so check that out if you wish too.

So between that, the entry for issue #7 and this week's list of Golden Age related books with my supposedly humorous commentary you should have a good ten, maybe fifteen minutes of content to go through.

See you next Thursday. Supposedly.

Golden-Age Related Books for Comic Week 03-14-2007

2007-03-15T18:52:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's that time of the week again. The new comics are out. Here are the ones I think are important.

Another week, another batch of comic books from DC Comics.Disclaimer: These are the books DC has posted on their site as coming out on March 14 2007. There is a slight chance that these books might not be at your local comic shop because, let's face it, DC has not been batting a thousand lately with getting their books out on time. This is not meant as a slam against DC, it's just how things have been for the past year or so.

I also claim no responsibility if your local comic shop sells out of the book if you wanted to buy it. Hold/Reserve boxes are your friend.

Crisis on Multiple Earths: The Team-Ups Vol. 2 TPB
Fifty-Two #45
Flash: The Fastest Man Alive TPB
Green Arrow #72
JLA Classified #36
Robin #160
Robin: Wanted TPB
Superman #660
Superman/Batman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told TPB
Tales of the Unexpected #6
Teen Titans #44
Wonder Woman #5

Kind of a light week actually. I mean it's kind of pricey if you buy all the trades but still, light week all around.

So what's on the schedule this week? Did Crisis on Multiple Earths: The Team-Ups Vol. 2 come out? I didn't see it in my box nor at Titan Games and Comics. If it came out I need to get it.

Superman #660 came out to as DC gets that line caught up. If you are inclined to listen to such things I will be reviewing this book for the Superman Database podcast, which should come out on Sunday. Download and listen to my "dulcit" tones as I talk up this latest issue of Superman.

How's that for a plug? I mean I'm reviewing JLA Classified #36 for the Superman Homepage (which should be up on Monday) as well, just in case you were interested.

Wonder Woman #5 comes out. This is so freaking weird. I mean really freaking weird. This issues doesn't wrap up the storyline that has been running through the past four issues, but is, in fact, a fill in before the whole Amazon Attacks stuff starts to come down the pike. The only time I've ever seen a storyline not get resolved like this was New Universe's Nightmask. Let's hope it doesn't take twenty years for that story to finish, though with the Dodsons you never can tell.

And I will throw down my bulls#$% card for the week and say while it wasn't all that bad I don't think that Superman/Batman Annual #1 is one of the greatest Superman/Batman stories ever told.

So, DC plays catch up and releases a bunch of trades. Weird week.

All-Star Squadron #7

2007-03-15T17:30:00.000-05:00

Cover Date: March 1982
Cover Price: $0.60
Release Date: December 24, 1981

Story Title: “Carnage For Christmas”- 5 pages
“Chapter II: In Battle Joined!” - 6 pages
“Chapter III: Divided We Stand” – 8 pages
“Chapter IV: Tragedy and Triumph!” – 8 pages

Cover Artist: Joe Kubert

Writer: Roy Thomas
Penicller: Adrian Gonzalez
Inker: Jerry Ordway
Colorist: Carl Gafford
Letterer: John Costanza
Editor: Len Wein

Heroes: Atom I, Firebrand II, Hawkgirl I, Johnny Quick I, Liberty Belle I, Plastic Man (Earth-2), Robotman I, Shining Knight I

Villains: Baron Blitzkrieg, Zwerg, Members of the German-American Bund

Supporting Characters: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Fala, Winged Victory, Prime Minister Winston Churchill

Memorable Quote: “This is a strange Christmas Eve; almost the whole world is locked in a deadly struggle. Let us cast aside for this night, at least the cares and dangers which beset us, and make for the children an evening of happiness in a world of storm. Let the children have their night of the fun and laughter; let the gifts of Father Christmas delight their play. Let us grow-ups share to the full in their unstinted pleasures, before we turn again to the stern task and the formidable years that lie before us…resolved that, by our sacrifice and daring, these same children shall not be robbed of their inheritance…or denied their right to live in a free and decent world. And so, in God’s mercy…a Happy Christmas to you all!” –Prime Minister Winston Churchill

Synopsis

On a dark and cold December night two figures walk down the streets of Washington D.C. They bump into Private Al Pratt and though there words are exchanged between them they continue on their separate ways. The two men duck down a side street and after saluting the wall and giving a Heil Hitler Baron Blitzkrieg doffs his trench coat and complains about the soldier. He and Zwerg meet with members of the German-American Bund and they go over their plans to kill both President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill by using a robot double of the Prime Minister when Churchill visits his American ally.

Meanwhile Al Pratt changes into the Atom and meets with President Roosevelt. After reminiscing about their first meeting when the Justice Society formed the Atom briefs the President on what his fellow Justice Society members had been doing since they disbanded the team and enlisted into the military. Roosevelt asks the status of the non-JSA members, but the Atom does not know them quite as well. Melodramatically the President has the Atom wheel him into the next room and the Mighty Mite is shocked to see the very heroes the two were just discussing. The teammates catch up with one another before Roosevelt reveals the reason he called them together. A plan has been uncovered to kill the British Prime Minister who is bound for America on a British destroyer.

The next day the All-Stars patrol the surrounding area of the U.S. Naval Base at Norfolk, Virginia. Hawkgirl, Shining Knight, Winged Victory and Liberty Belle search the skies over the Atlantic while Johnny Quick and Firebrand patrol the surrounding road and Robotman and the Atom stand firm at the Naval installation itself. They spot the Duke of York, the destroyer that Churchill is traveling on and once it pulls into port there is a tremendous explosion, which Robotman suspects to be the result of a German electric torpedo. Robotman and the Atom charge into action but are mistaken as enemies and are attacked by the British sailors.

After the mistake is cleared up Robotman spies a German U-boat and with the help of Liberty Belle, the Shining Knight and the Atom he lassos the sub and begins to pull it onto the beach. Meanwhile, in the Prime Minister’s quarters Winston Churchill is shocked when confronted by Baron Blitzkrieg and his robot double.

Back on the beach Robotman succeeds in beaching the U-boat and when the Nazis come out fighting the All-Stars are there to take them on. Once the battle is over the All-Stars stick around to see the historic meeting between Roosevelt and Churchill. Liberty Belle tries to engage the Prime Minister in conversation based on their history but Churchill doesn’t respond. She realizes something is wrong and urges Johnny to do something. He is too late, however, and the Churchill robot explodes. When the dust clears the All-Stars realize that Plastic Man had been impersonating the President all along and that both men were sage.

Blitzkrieg escapes, but is chased down by Robotman. Much to Robotman’s surprise the Baron knocks him down. The rest of the All-Stars arrive and the Baron tries to fly away with Churchill. Realizing he can only escape alone he drops the Prime Minister, who is rescued by Hawkgirl. After hitting Winged Victory with a powerful eye blast Baron Blitzkrieg is able to get away clean. Soon after Roosevelt and Churchill finally meet at the Capitol Airport.

Two days later the All-Stars are present when Roosevelt lights the White House Christmas tree and listen to a stirring speech given by the Prime Minister.

Notes

-This issue kicks off with a quote from Winston Churchill. “So we had won after all! ...I went to bed and slept the sleep of the saved and thankful.” This was taken from Churchill’s writing and was his reaction to hearing the news that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor.

-A letter writer in issue #11 would point out some discrepancies with the photo of the Justice Society that appears on the front of the Washington World from the first page of this issue. Hourman is there though he was, by the time, no longer a member and the Sandman was wearing his gas mask and suit costume. It is very likely that the editor on the World went with a file photo which showed the charter members of the JSA minus the Spectre.

-On page three Baron Blitzkrieg and Zwerg stop before a wall that bears a poster for the MGM film Nazi Agent. The film featured Conrad Veidt who plays twins, one of which is a Nazi (Baron Huge Von Detner) and the other an American (Otto Becker) forced to help a group of German spies. Eventually Otto kills his brother, assumes his identity and exposes the spy ring.

-Not only do the members of the Justice Society, including honorary members Superman and Batman, appear in the flashback detailing the group’s origin but they also appear as the Atom, who had been training to be a Tank-Corpsman in Virginia, details how his former members were doing now that they’ve joined the armed services. Hawkman had joined the Army Air Corps on the West Coast, the Sandman was trained to use a 37mm Anti-Aircraft Cannon, Dr. Fate became a paratrooper, Dr. Mid-Nite joined the Army Medical Corps, Starman was in flight training at Fort Randolph near San Antonio, Johnny Thunder joined the Navy, the Spectre has been keeping busy at home and even Green Lantern enlisted.

-The Atom refers to Hawkman as a tyro or “dodo”. A dodo was a flyer in the Army Air Corps who had not yet soloed. The term tyro (alternatively spelled tiro) means novice or beginner and is taken from the Latin word tiro meaning a young soldier or recruit. The dodo handle is amusing when you consider all the solo flying the character had done.

-The Spectre couldn’t join a branch of the armed services because he was, well, dead.

-The Hostess Ad from this issue had Batman taking down a perp who was dressed like a giant dog in an effort to steal a group of canines from the Gotham Dog Show via a hypersonic whistle. The Dark Knight Detective distracts the would be Pied Piper (the guy from the story, not the Flash villain) with some Twinkies. In all honesty this is the weirdest Hostess Ad that has been used in this series. It’s a guy in a dog suit who believes that prize winning dogs are his key to Money Road but apparently suffers from some sort of emotional disturbance that makes him stop everything to eat Twinkies. I mean I like me some Twinkies. I really do, but I would be more likely to stop because I didn’t want Batman to use that martial arts he knows to put a serious hurt on me. Between the lame dog catcher joke and the fact that this guy looks like that weird dude from The Shining I have to say that I lost sleep because of this ad.

-This also appears to be the last Hostess Ad, at least for the next five months or so. Sad. Very sad.

-The Shining Knight and Hawkgirl discuss Liberty Belle’s swimming of the English Channel. This occurred in 1940 when the boat she was traveling on to escape the Battle of Dunkirk was shot out of the water.

-When the two leaders greet each other Roosevelt refers to Churchill as “Former Naval Person,” which was the Prime Minister’s codename in their correspondence in 1940. Churchill called Roosevelt “POTUS,” which is short for President of the United States.

-Churchill would make his Marvel Universe version of this trip in Giant Sized Invaders #1 (June 1975). That book was written by Roy Thomas. Go figure.

-All Star Comments featured a new logo and two letters this month, plus a decent sized footnote section.

Mike Christensen of Rockford Illinois gushed about the atmosphere of issue three and lent his voice to the question of where Hourman was. Roy told him to keep watching and mentioned that while the first three issues dealt directly with the war the pendulum would soon swing the other way.

Bill D. Middleton of Clovis, New Mexico complimented the writing and art but also mentioned the fact that the book meshes well with what Bill considered the newfound patriotism of the early eighties. Roy comments that DC never been ashamed of its heritage and that despite dealing with America’s lapses as well as successes this would be the direction the series would continue in. He finishes by writing that jumping on bandwagons or indulging in nostalgia was never their intention; just telling fun comic book stories.

And then there was Roy’s Fabulous Footnote:

FABULOUS FOOTNOTE DEPARTMENT: Remember how we told you in our first issue that we were going to relegate most “historical” or “nostalgic” footnotes to our letters page? Well, we haven’t been doing all that much of it so far, in the interest of printing more letters, but here are a few quickies, following this issue’s page number to which they refer:

Page 3: By coincidence, the MGM film, “Nazi Agent” with Conrad Veidt was released nationwide on Jan. 21, 1942. How’s that for timing?

Page 4: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill did indeed arrive in the U.S. on the new battleship Duke of York on December 22, 1941…and was met at Washington Airport by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt that evening, after dark. We added the fog that pops up later—just as we added the Nazi U-boat and, of course, the All-Star Squadron itself. We’ve gotta have some leeway, don’t we? (And, as in out story, FDR actually served as President for over twelve years without most people ever realizing how really crippled he was. Time have changed…not in every way for the better.)

Page 6: Dala, FDR’s Scottish terrier, was the most photographed dog on earth during most of World War Two.

Page 27: Excerpts from Churchill’s speech on the While House lawn of Dec. 24, 1941, are authentic, of course.

Oh, and by the way—since those adventures didn’t occur until mid-1942 or later, this encounter with Baron Blitzkrieg is the earliest yet recorded, and precedes both those in the tabloid-sized Superman-Wonder Woman clash in ALL-NEW COLLECTORS’ EDITION Vol. 7 (1978) and the baneful Baron’s two solo clashes with out amazing Amazon in the pages of WORLD’S FINEST COMICS.

-This month’s back cover features an advertisement for Monogram’s super scale plastic truck kit, molded in authentic color even.

Update 03-07-07: It's Not My Fault

2007-03-09T00:15:00.000-05:00

My schedule got really thrown off this week so the updates were small and late this week. I really wanted to get it out on the schedule I was trying to keep, but it just didn't work out that way.

Oh well. I'll try harder for next time.

Next week I hope to have more dossiers, updated dossiers and issue seven of All-Star Squadron.

I make no promises, but I'll give it a go.

Golden-Age Related Books for Comic Week 03-07-2007

2007-03-08T23:36:00.000-05:00

Another week, another batch of comic books from DC Comics.

Disclaimer: These are the books DC has posted on their site as coming out on March 7, 2007. There is a slight chance that these books might not be at your local comic shop because, let's face it, DC has not been batting a thousand lately with getting their books out on time. This is not meant as a slam against DC, it's just how things have been for the past year or so.

I also claim no responsibility if your local comic shop sells out of the book if you wanted to buy it. Hold/Reserve boxes are your friend.

All-New Atom #9

Detective Comics #829

Fifty-Two #44

Helmet of Fate: Zauriel

Justice League of America #6

Manhunter #29

Nightwing #130

Nightwing: Brothers in Blood TPB

Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil #2

Superman/Batman #32

Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #8

Wow, Superman/Batman! It came out. It actually came out. Surprise heaped upon surprise.

Ok, I'll stop. DC seems to be trying. Maybe it's time to cut them some slack.

This is a rare week for me as I actually went to the comic shop on Wednesday. Usually I hit Titan Games and Comics on Thursday or Friday because of how my schedule works, but this was a weird week as far as that kind of thing goes, so I actually got to go on the day the books came out. Which was nice otherwise I wouldn't have gotten a copy of Captain America #25.

Yeah, I know, that's a Marvel book, but hey Cap's a Golden Age character and it was such a big deal that I had to get it.

Anyway, pretty solid week so far. 52 #44 was amazing. Simply amazing. I can't say enough how much I enjoyed it. Justice League of America #6 and Superman/Batman #32 were both great reads as well, especially Justice League which had a really sad ending. I'm reviewing both books for the Superman Homepage this week, so look for that on Monday or Tuesday. Manhunter #29 was great. I am so glad that the book is getting another chance. I'm looking forward to getting to Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters. It started out kind of fifty/fifty for me but the last two issues have really sold me on the concept and I'm looking forward to the next mini-series when it comes out.

So go. Buy comics. Have fun. Mourn Steve Rogers.

I mean they'll bring him back, but for now give the guy his due.

All-Star Squadron #6

2007-03-08T13:46:00.000-05:00

Cover Date: February 1982
Cover Price: $0.60
Release Date: November 26, 1981

“Mayhem in the Mile-High City!” -27 pages

Cover Artist: Rich Buckler and Jerry Ordway

Writer: Roy Thomas
Penicller: Adrian Gonzales
Inker/Embellisher: Jerry Ordway
Colorist: Carl Gafford
Letterer: Ben Oda
Editor: Len Wein

Heroes: Atom I, Doctor Mid-Nite I, Firebrand II, Hawkgirl I, Hawkman I, Johnny Quick I, Liberty Belle I, Robotman I, Shining Knight I

Villains: Feathered Serpent, General Saukel, Unnamed German Soldiers, Unnamed Hypnotized Minions, German Ambassador to Mexico, Herr Blume, Zwerg, Baron Blitzkrieg

Supporting Characters: President Manuel Avila Camacho

Memorable Quote: “Those bumbling fools in Berlin! They spurned my advice - - and now their plans for Mexico lie in ruins. But tonight I shall carry the war to the United States itself - - and if any verdammt masked “heroes” rise against me - - they shall be smashed by the might of Baron Blitzkrieg!” –Baron Blitzkrieg

Synopsis

The Feathered Serpent continues to rage about his plans to sacrifice Shiera Sanders and to become the master of Mexico. Both the Shining Knight and Hawkman threaten the Serpent, who views this as their attempt to stall him. Because the stars are not in proper alignment for sacrificing he tells his captives how he came to become the Feathered Serpent. He claims to have been born on the peninsula that they are now on but was educated in the United States and Europe between the wars. He returned there months ago as an archeologist and discovered the hidden temple of Kukulkan and what he considered his heritage. He found that he could read the ancient pictographs and control those who had kept their bloodlines pure.

After a short, heated exchange with General Saukel the Feathered Serpent finally gets around to the sacrifice. Shiera surprises him and manages to kick free of her restraints. Chaos reigns as Hawkman and Shining Knight finally break their bonds as well and begin to fight not only the minions of the Feathered Serpent and the Nazi soldiers. In the tumult Shiera manages to change into her guise as Hawkgirl and joins her fiancé in battle. The Feathered Serpent takes advantage of the battle to kill General Saukel as his sacrifice and gains the powers he had been boasting about. Realizing that Mexico City is in danger the heroes quickly follow the villain as he races towards his conquest.

In Mexico City the citizens are shocked to see an ancient Aztec pyramid burst from the ground. Those of pure blood also fall under the Serpent’s sway and begin to march up the pyramid. With weapons supplied by the Nazis the mesmerized pure bloods open fire on those who try to stop them. The Nazis are surprised to see Dr. Mid-Nite, Firebrand, the Atom and Johnny Quick start to fight against the spellbound pure bloods. Not far away at the National Palace the Feathered Serpent arrives to slay President Camacho and assume his place as ruler of Mexico. Liberty Belle and Robotman are there in disguise as well and protect the President after he defies the Feathered Serpent. After ringing Mexico’s proud bell of freedom Liberty Belle feels the same adrenal surge as when the Liberty Bell rings out in Philadelphia and quickly the battle turns in their favor. The Serpent charges at Belle after tossing her aside, but she manages to use his momentum against him and he falls to his death. Suddenly the real Feathered Serpent flies by and the heroes realize that the Serpent they fought was a fraud.

At the German Embassy the Feathered Serpent confronts the Nazi agents who sent the imposter to kill Camacho for their own ends. After informing them that he has is the true ruler of Mexico Hawkman, Hawkgirl and Shining Knight arrive. As the Hawks tussle with the Nazis the Shining Knight chases the Feathered Serpent back to the pyramid. He manages to take out Johnny Quick before grabbing Firebrand. Firebrand proves to be a poor hostage and uses her newfound abilities to set the Serpent’s armor and wings on fire. The two begin to fall but Firebrand is rescued by the Shining Knight. As the hypnotized pure bloods begin to come out of their trance the All-Star discover that the Feathered Serpent is really German and that he wanted to be his own power after discovering the secret of Kukulkan. He makes one last ditch effort to kill the All-Stars with a hidden bomb but Robotman and a revived Johnny Quick waste no time in getting rid of it. Afterwards President Camacho holds a celebration in honor of Mexico and the All-Star Squadron.

Later that night Baron Blitzkrieg and his friend Zwerg discuss how it is now his turn to carry the war to the United States itself and woe to any hero that gets in his way.

Notes

-This issue was the late Adrian Gonzales’ first one as penciler.

-Another reference to Indiana Jones is made in this issue, this time a direct mention of the famed archeologist himself. One has to wonder what the Earth-2 Indiana Jones would have been like. This reference is interesting also because Marvel would eventually publish the Further Adventures of Indiana Jones.

-The Hostess ad this month has the Flash fighting against Dr. Sorcery who’s plan to mess with a police department marathon is halted by the Flash’s use of Hostess Cup Cakes. After Sorcery is in police custody everyone celebrates with more Cup Cakes. Because that’s what I want to do after running a marathon; eat a bunch of snack cakes.

-The Liberty Bell that Liberty Belle rings in this story first rang out in 1810 to announce Mexico’s independence from Spain.

-President Manuel Avila Camacho was President of Mexico from 1940-1946. While he was certainly soured on the Nazis after this issue’s adventure on Earth-2 it wouldn’t be until May 22, 1942 that Mexico would declare war on Germany when German U-boats sunk two ships carrying oil.

-Nearly a decade and a half before this issue saw print Roy Thomas introduced a super-villain named Kukulcan in the pages of X-Men, who wore an outfit very much like the Feathered Serpents.

-The supposed Feathered Serpent once again claims that he will be no Quisling and adds that he won’t be a Petain either. French general Marshal Petain, who served in World War I, tarnished his reputation with the British and the Americans by heading the government of the “Vichy France” from 1940 to 1944. Vichy was the capital of the one-third of France that while unoccupied by the Germans after their invasion in June of 1940 became politically subservient to the Third Reich.

-The last page of this issue introduces Baron Blitzkrieg into the series. On a very personal note I think that outside of Axis Amerika in the pages of Young All-Stars Baron Blitzkrieg is the best villain the All-Star Squadron ever faced.

-After Len Wein explained the gaff made with the Firebrand arrow on the previous issue’s cover and suggested that the reader could cut the arrow out of this issue and paste it over the mistake (if anyone actually did this let me know) the following letters were printed in this installment of All-Star Comments:

“War Correspondent” Dave Elyea of Cheboygan, Michigan wrote in praise of the use of Per Degaton as well as re-telling the JSA’s bomb defense formula story. He also requested that the story should be retold in a special all-new ALL-STAR DIGEST. Roy let Dave down gently by telling him that outside of the JUSTICE SOCIETY DIGEST there were no plans to reprint old DC and Quality stories.

Andy Glaess of Northglenn, Colorado started out with nothing but compliments but ended his letter by pointing out that the plane the All-Stars flew in issue two was not in use until 1944. Roy copped to the mistake and, as was covered in the entry for issue two, explained that there wasn’t enough time to fix the boo-boo once they caught it.

Dan Springs of Alt Springs, Florida begged to bring Hourman into the series and ended his letter with a play on the MAKE MINE MARVEL saying from old Marvel books. Roy caught the bit and explained that they are trying to figure out the story to explain how the Hourman worked with the JSA after he quit the team.

The Comments ended with two Nostalgic Notes from Roy. They are as follows:

NOSTALGIC NOTE: We just realized that, when we listed the origins and/or first appearances of all the various heroes and heroines who appeared in the first few issues of ALL-STAR SQUADRON we forgot to include Firebrand (Rod Reilly), because he didn’t appear in costume…so just for you completists out there: There was no origin story for Danette Reilly’s non-super powered brother, but his first appearance (like that of Plastic Man and Phantom Lady) was in POLICE COMICS #1, August 1941. Now are we friends again?

ANOTHER NOSTALGIC NOTE: We just wanted to make sure that no loyal fans of ALL-STAR SQUADRON and/or the original Justice Society of America accidentally miss out on our special JUSTICE SOCIETY issue of our THE BEST OF DC/BLUE RIBBON DIGEST series, now on sale! Editor Len Wein has packaged two JSA tales which form an integral part of the background of these first few issues of DC’s newest hit—namely, “The Day That Dropped Out of Time” from ALL-STAR COMICS #35, 1947 (the deathless adventure which introduced the time-altering Per Degaton to a waiting world) and the exciting, all-important, “Untold Origin of the Justice Society” from DC SPECIAL #29, back in ’77! See? Who said you had to fifty years old in order to understand what’s going on in an issue of ALL-STAR SQUADRON? As somebody once said—we do it all for you!

-Here’s the cover to that digest. Neat, huh?

-The back cover of this issue is the same from the last one. But here it is again anyway.

Golden-Age Related Books for Comic Week 02-28-2007

2007-02-28T22:17:00.000-05:00

Or as I would like to call it The Birthday Edition of the Golden-Age Related Books for Comic Week 02-28-2007, but I won't because it isn't technically my birthday.

You see I am one of those oddities known as Leap Year Babies. I was born on February 29, 1976, so not only am I a Leap Year Baby but a Centennial Leap Year Baby to boot. So on the years where there isn't a February 29th I'm kind of in a limbo as to when my birthday should be observed, kind of like Lincoln and Washington's birthdays but without the day off from school. Is it February 28th, since that is technically the last day of February? Or, as my wife put it to me today, is it March 1st the day to choose because my mother had me the day after February 28th?

In the end I'm still another year older, so it really doesn't matter.

Besides, I have the same birthday as Superman, so how freaking cool is that?

(For those who may be curious, the Earth-2 Superman's actual birthday was February 29, 1916. I got that bit of trivia from an "interview" with both the Earth-1 and Earth-2 Supemen that was written by E. Nelson Bridwell and featured in the Amazing World of DC Comics Special Edition #1 Celebrating the Super DC Con '76, which took place on February 27, 28 and 29th of 1976. Weird little happenstance there.)

Disclaimer: These are the books DC has posted on their site as coming out on February 28, 2007. There is a slight chance that these books might not be at your local comic shop because, let's face it, DC has not been batting a thousand lately with getting their books out on time. This is not meant as a slam against DC, it's just how things have been for the past year or so.

I also claim no responsibility if your local comic shop sells out of the book if you wanted to buy it. Hold/Reserve boxes are your friend.

Action Comics #846
Batman #664
Batman Confidential #3
Blue Beetle #12
Fifty-Two #43
Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #9
Green Lantern #17
JLA Classified #35
JSA Classified #23
Justice #10
Showcase Presents: Green Lantern Vol. 2 TPB

For me it's kind of a light week comic book wise. I will definitely be picking up Action Comics even though I know the story is about to be interrupted. But Geoff Johns has done some great damage control on the lateness issue, so I'm cool. Mark Guggenheim takes over the Flash after the much panned run by Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo, so that is definitely getting purchased. Also Green Lantern is finally coming out again, which makes me happy yet frustrated as well.

You could say that it is a good week if you have the word Justice or at least the letter J in your title. JLA Classified has been really good this past arc and JSA Classified has been consistently good with the possible exception of the Steve Englehart story.

And then there's Justice, which should be awesome.

I know it will never happen because Justice has pretty much been Alex Ross' love letter to the Super Friends, but a twelve issue Justice sequel featuring the Justice Society fighting an amped up Injustice Society would be all about some cool.

Update 02-27-2007: A Day Late

2007-02-27T22:47:00.000-05:00

But still here, so I don't feel too bad about that.

What I do feel bad about is the fact that I haven't gotten another Dossier written, but I'm working on them.

So for this week all I got is the entry for Issue #5, the last for penciller Rich Buckler.

See you tomorrow for our ususal Wednesday meeting.

All-Star Squadron #5

2007-02-27T22:26:00.000-05:00

Cover Date: January 1982
Cover Price: $0.60
Release Date: October 29, 1981

“Never Step on a Feathered Serpent!” -27 pages

Cover Artist: Rich Buckler and Romeo Tanghal

Writer/Co-Creator: Roy Thomas
Penicller/Co-Creator: Rich Buckler
Inker/Embellisher: Jerry Ordway
Colorist: Carl Gafford
Letterer: Ben Oda
Editor: Len Wein

Heroes: Atom I, Doctor Fate I, Doctor Mid-Nite I, Firebrand II, Hawkgirl I (as Shiera Sanders), Hawkman I, Johnny Quick, Johnny Thunder, Liberty Belle I, Robotman I, Sandman I, Shining Knight I, Spectre I, Starman I

Villains: The Feathered Serpent, General Saukel, Unnamed Nazi soldiers, Unnamed Bundists

Supporting Characters: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Slugger Dunn

Memorable Quote: “Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - - a date which will live in infamy - - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the Naval and Air Forces of the Empire of Japan. Now matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion the American people in the righteous might will win though to absolute victory. I ask that Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack -- a state of war exited between the United States and the Empire of Japan.” –President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Synopsis

At a meeting of the Justice Society Hawkman announces his decision to enlist in the United States Army in his real identity as Carter Hall. He expects a negative response but his comrades surprise him by giving their best wishes, an act Hawkman misinterprets as them not caring all that much for him. The Atom sets him straight by admitting that they had all decided that they were going to enlist but believed that Hawkman would try to talk them out of it. They finally call the meeting to order and vote to inform the President of their intentions and to disband the Justice Society for the duration. After the meeting Mid-Nite asks Hawkman if there was any word on Hawkman’s fiancé. Hawkman replies that there hasn’t been and that he is flying to the Yucatan in the morning to find her. Mid-Nite and then the Atom decide to join him but first the trio keeps Hawkman’s promise to check in on Danette Reilly.

Meanwhile in a stone temple located in the Yucatan Peninsula Nazi General Saukel pleads his case that the order to strike must be given at once. Sitting on his throne the Feathered Serpent counters that the stars tell him the time is not yet right. Saukel believes that any further delay could end in disaster, especially since Great Britain has fulfilled its agreement with the United States and declared war on the Japanese and the fact that Green Lantern had prevented a Nazi invasion of the East Coast. The Feathered Serpent refuses to listen adding that their alliance is not for the benefit of Nazi Germany but for the glory of Mexico and that he, as the living symbol of the old ways, will usher in a new age for his homeland with the sacrifice of the captured Shiera Sanders.

Back in New York Johnny Quick and Robotman answer a request from the police to help them with a group of saboteurs on Liberty Island. The two heroes take down the bundists and continue on to Danette Reilly’s apartment where they join Liberty Belle the Shining Knight, Dr. Mid-Nite, the Atom and Hawkman. While the others discuss her condition Danette wakes up and based on something she remembered in her dreams she investigates the key that Slugger Dunn had given her on behalf of her comatose brother. The key fits a bust that opens a hidden closet and reveals her brother’s secret life.

Outside the heroes continue their discussion when Johnny Quick begins to smell smoke. They quickly realize that the smoke is coming from Danette’s bedroom and the group rushes in only to find Danette surrounded by flame and wearing a strange costume. Danette passes out leaving Robotman and Johnny Quick to rescue her and put out the flames. After coming around Danette tells them about finding out her brother was the hero known as Firebrand and the sudden emergence of her powers. After that is settled Hawkman says his good-byes as he prepares to search for his fiancé but the Atom quickly volunteers everyone to help in his quest. Danette also agrees to go much to the chagrin of the Shining Knight.

The next day the heroes, in the civilian identities, arrive in Mexico and quickly set about finding Shiera Sanders. After spotting someone wearing his fiancé’s scarf Hawkman and the Shining Knight capture the man and coerce him into leading them to Shiera. The rest of the group is led to a warehouse where they are attacked by Nazi soldiers. The battle is brief but fierce and with the help of the new Firebrand the heroes defeat the Nazis and interrogate General Saukel.

Miles away Hawkman and the Shining Knight are led to an ancient pyramid only to be felled by a hidden electrical net. Soon afterward the two heroes revive only to stare in horror as the Feathered Serpent prepares to sacrifice Shiera Sanders!

Notes

-There was a bit of a snafu with this issue’s cover. The black arrow that read “Fire-Brand!” in flaming letters was mostly black, which while direct wasn’t the whole of the art that was supposed to appear on the cover. The original arrow looked a heck of a lot like this:

Apparently there was a flub somewhere between Chemical Colors, who did the color separations on the issue, and the public with the words “Introducing” and “The Hottest New Heroine of All” getting left off.

-Sadly there was no Hostess Ad this month.

-The first scene in this issue retold events from All-Star Comics #11 (June-July 1942) where the members of the Justice Society resign and joined the armed services.

-The parallels to Roy Thomas’ run on Marvel Comics’ Invaders continued in this issue. In Giant Size Invaders #1 Roy put in President Roosevelt’s “date which will live in infamy” speech, though in the Giant Size Invaders version Roy accidentally wrote “day” instead of “date”, a mistake he rectified here.

-General Saukel talks of a Nazi attack on America’s East Coast with the aid of an experimental aircraft carrier that was thwarted by Green Lantern. This took place in Green Lantern #4 (Summer 1942), which had this awesome cover.

-The Feathered Serpent tells Saukel that he and his followers are not merely quisling-like puppets. The term Quisling comes from Norwegian leader Vidkun Quisling who helped deliver his country to the invading Germans in 1940. Soon after the word Quisling entered the lexicon in reference to someone who betrays his own people to an enemy.

The Feathered Serpent also mentions Hitler’s quest for the Ark of the Covenant (as well as the Spear of Destiny). The Ark comment is a tip of the fedora to the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark which featured some guy named Harrison Ford playing an archeologist named Indiana Jones.

-In the “Changed for Decency Department” the original art for page sixteen of this issue had a tastefully shadowed but nude Danette Reilly. Well, not exactly nude, but the original art did make it pretty clear that Danette slept sky clad. Colorist Carl Gafford was instructed to add underwear lines on this and another page before it was sent to the Comic’s Code Authority.

-After a message from Roy regarding the well-nigh unanimous positive response to the first issue this installment of All-Star Comments printed letters from the following readers:

Mike Gallagher of Memphis, Tennessee found the first issue thrilling and requested that the team have the most flexible membership ever seen.

Shepard Siegel of New York, New York realized halfway through the issue that the title of that issue was also the title of a song and asked if “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire” really played through the attack on Pearl Harbor. Roy responded that it didn’t play during the attack but got a good deal of play that night at the Pearl Harbor PX.

Steven Utley of Austin, Texas was a bit put off by the submersible aircraft carrier but was pleased by the first issue adding that Roy was one of the few comic writers that could actually write. Roy responded that he was happy to hear from a professional science fiction writer and that there were rumors at the time of a Japanese submersible carrier which could have been used to launch the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The late Jerry Bails of St. Clair Shores, Missouri wrote in to compliment the creative team on the book despite the demotion of some of his favorites like Dr. Fate, Green Lantern and the Spectre. Roy responded to this letter as well, which makes sense since the two were friends. If you weren’t aware Jerry Bails is one of if not the founding father of comic book fandom and someone who I admired and respected.

Finally Andrew MacLaney of Lansing, Missouri was very fond of Rich Buckler and Jerry Ordway’s art, which is in contrast to his feelings to Joe Staton’s work in All-Star Comics. Roy took this as an opportunity to sadly announce that this issue was Rich Buckler’s last for more contemporary pastures and that beginning next issue Adrian Gonzales would take over the penciling chores.

-Roy’s Addendum to this issue’s letters page was as follows:

Now, a few fast notes on your welcome responses to the questions we asked in #1.

1.) Nearly every DC and Quality hero we ever heard of was asked for, by at least one letter-writer—and if you and we and ALL-STAR SQUADRON stick around long enough, you’ll all get your wishes.

2.) Most readers want relatively few new heroes, unless they are minority characters or non Americans…which is what we had in mind ourselves, luckily for us!

3.) Readers seem equally divided on whether villains should be Axis-oriented or not, so we’ll keep mixing them up for the nonce.

4.) Most readers want to see more women in the group—and the introduction of Hawkgirl and Firebrand in this issue should show where we stand on that one! Keep writing, huh?

One last point: Though Roy and Rich are correctly listed as “co-creators” of the ALL-STAR SQUADRON, they want to acknowledge here what they’ve always felt—that the true inspiration for this mag, and so many others since it, was of course the original Justice Society stories edited by Shelly Mayer and written by Gardner F. Fox in the 1940’s. As far as we’re concerned each and every issue of ALL-STAR SQUADRON is dedicated to these two men—two of the most talented ever to grace the field!

-The back cover to this month’s adventures featured Challenge #8860 of Lego’s Expert Builder Series. On a very personal note I had an aunt that gave me a bunch of these for birthdays and Christmases when I was growing up. I don’t know if I had this one, but they were a ball to play with.

Well Yes, I'll Take Three

2007-02-25T01:54:00.000-05:00

Once again I get to be a standard comic book site and talk about references to my subject that are made elsewhere on the Internet. This one comes from Newsarama as part of their coverage of the New York City Con.

And I quote:

"Asked about All Star Squadron trades, Bob Wayne seemed to suggest that, based on audience response, they think they can do some large Showcase collections of the material."

As the subject of this post suggest, yes please. I'll take three.

I would prefer full color, but I'll take what I can get.

Golden-Age Related Books for Comic Week 02-21-2007

2007-02-21T20:43:00.000-05:00

Another week, another slate of books released by DC Comics, another post about the books that I think are noteworthy because of their relation to DC's Golden Age characters or DC's characters from the Golden Age depending on how you want to look at it.

Disclaimer: These are the books DC has posted on their site as coming out on February 21, 2007. There is a slight chance that these books might not be at your local comic shop because, let's face it, DC has not been batting a thousand lately with getting their books out on time. This is not meant as a slam against DC, it's just how things have been for the past year or so.

I also claim no responsibility if your local comic shop sells out of the book if you wanted to buy it. Hold/Reserve boxes are your friend.

Atlantis: Sword of Atlantis #49
Birds of Prey #103
Brave and the Bold #1
Catwoman #64
Catwoman: The Replacements TPB
Checkmate #11
Checkmate Vol. 1: A King's Game TPB
Fifty-Two #42
Helmet of Fate: Black Alice #1
Ion #11
Justice Vol. 2 HC
Robin #159
Superman #659
Teen Titans: Titans Around the World TPB
Wonder Woman #4

You may notice that I included Robin and the Teen Titans trade this week, as well as Catwoman and her trade. Well, Robin (or Dick Grayson at any rate but the character Robin) was created in the Golden-Age as was Selina Kyle, so there you go. I may not buy the books but they are worth a mention.

Decent week overall. The new Brave and the Bold premeires and I am glad to see it. Team-up books rule and the fact that George Perez and Mark Waid are involved makes it even better. I may not read as many titles as I used to, but it will be nice to read a book with Batman in it again.

Yes I do read Superman/Batman, but when was the last time we saw that published?

Speaking of books that took their sweet freaking time Wonder Woman and Superman both come out this week as well. I am quite confused by the Superman issue since I thought this was going to be the Krypto issue, but hey at least Superman is coming out. Wonder Woman...well Wonder Woman is probably about to turn around with the new writer coming on, but Wonder Woman has to be DC's biggest flub as far as One Year Later is concerned. The story isn't bad but where has it been?

DC needs to get it's act together and get their books out on time, that's all I'm sayin'.

Update 02-19-2007: New Stuff

2007-02-20T01:16:00.000-05:00

Well I'm at three weeks in a row now, which is very satisfying. I actually did four posts this week, five including this one.

First up was issue four of All-Star Squadron, which was an important issue to the series because it explained away why the heroes of Earth-2 didn't lay waste to the Axis forces five seconds after Pearl Harbor. Yeah the Holy Grail and Spear of Destiny might have been a little too convenient as a plot device to keep the heroes in check but it worked.

Next was the first entry in a new feature here at the Perisphere; the All-Star Dossiers. This feature replaces the Who's Who section I originally had and I think it is a marked improvement. I hope to add one each week with the first detailing the origin and early All-Star Squadron history of the Atom, who is my absolute favorite Golden-Age DC (or should I say All-American?) hero.

I also added a "Read Me First" post to catch people who may come to the site later up on how I do things with the dossiers.

Finally I wanted to post the very awesome variant cover to Justice Society of America #3. It's just a neat piece of artwork.

That's it for this week. See y'all on Wednesday for the New Comics Update.

For Anyone That Is Interested

2007-02-20T01:03:00.000-05:00

Here's the variant cover to Justice Society of America #3.

Click on the image to see a larger size.

A neat if not bloody cover. The comic shop I keep my hold box at and call "home", Titan Games and Comics, has started pricing their variant covers somewhat reasonably so I picked this up.

Actually I would have probably picked it up anyway because it's the Justice Society. I have two exceptions to the Not Buying The Variant Cover rule; Superman and the Justice Society.

Yeah, I'm a sucker, but I'm a sucker with a neat variant cover so I think I can look at myself in the mirror in the morning.

And I should because my hair can get really funky.

All-Star Dossiers

2007-02-20T00:11:00.000-05:00

Back when I originally conceived of this blog/site I knew that I wanted to include a Who's Who section. At that time I was content to simply re-type the original Who's Who: The Definitive Guide to the DC Universe entries in addition to including bits and pieces from a couple of Role Playing Source Books I've managed to acquire over the years. As I got deeper into making this blog my own I grew uncomfortable with doing this. Yeah there's a certain historical significance to the entries, but they weren't mine. So I decided to do something about that feeling of unease.

And thus was born the All-Stars Dossiers.

Yeah, the word dossier is a tad on the pretentious side but given the war-time setting of the book it seemed to fit. While it is going to be a bit of leg work getting all of the information together I think the end result will be more satisfying than simply copying somebody else's work.

So why have I asked you to check this entry out first before digging into the dossiers proper?

Well, as with everything I tend to do I am approaching these entries from a bizarre angle. Considering the fact that the index entries are coming out on a weekly basis it seemed fitting to have the dossiers unfold in a similar style. If the current issue in the index is number 19 then all of the entries will relate the history of the characters up until that time. The first entry is of the Atom and I posted it the same week I posted the index of issue four, so Al Pratt's history goes up to that point. Even though Al eventually married his college sweetheart Mary and developed super-powers and died during Zero Hour the entry has him listed as single, only possessing the abilities of a highly trained boxer and is very much alive. As the weeks and months go by information will be added to reflect the "current" issue.

Another thing; while everything is going to be honky dory in the beginning when the series catches up to the Crisis on Infinite Earths certain entries are going to get a bit...confusing. I do have a plan for this. When it gets to that point I'll simply make annotations regarding what is Pre-Crisis and Earth-2 and what is the "new" history. Again it could be a little disorienting but in the interest of being complete I believe I'll figure a way to do it. Eventually the entries will have what I hope to be some of the most comprehensive data on the Internet regarding these characters, which is saying something because you can find anything on the Internet. It's a challenge, but one I hope to meet.

So sit back, click on an entry (no matter how many are there) and hopefully learn something about these characters that you didn't know. As always if there are any factual errors or any bits of info you think I missed just let me know. I will cop to any mistakes I make and add the information with full credit given to the person who provides it.

Enjoy.

Atom I

2007-02-19T23:19:00.000-05:00

Real Name: Al Pratt
Occupation: Student, Costumed Adventurer
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: None Uncovered
Group Affiliation: Justice Society of America, All-Star Squadron
Base of Operations: Calvin College
First Appearance: All-American Comics #19 (October 1940)
Height: 5’1” Weight: Originally 90 lbs, now 150 lbs.
Eyes: Blue Hair: Red

Background

Origin

Nothing of his early years is known but there is one thing that is certain; Al Pratt was short. There was no getting around it. Al was one of the original “90 pound weaklings” who spent most of his early college career getting picked on by some of his larger classmates. He couldn’t even defend his girlfriend Mary when the two are mugged by a seemingly unarmed man, an act that caused Mary to end their relationship.

Soon after Al buys a meal for a derelict and tells the stranger about his feelings of weakness and frustration at the fact that he couldn’t stand up for himself much less the woman he loved. The derelict turned out to be a down on his luck former boxer named Joe Morgan. Something about Al’s story gets to Joe and he offered to train the young man in the hopes of turning him into a professional fighter. The two men travel to Pratt’s family farm and Al begins a strict regime of weight and fight training. Within a year Pratt packed on sixty pounds of muscle and became quite adept at the “sweet science”.

Morgan and Pratt parted ways somewhat bitterly after Al refused Joe’s hopes for a boxing career. Sometime later Al went to visit his ex-girlfriend Mary and arrived just in time to see her being kidnapped. He follows the intruders and after discovering their intention to hold Mary for ransom he breaks in and savagely takes out the supposed kidnappers. Mary was blindfolded and never saw who her rescuer was and when the police arrived after receiving an “anonymous” tip they find the kidnappers tied up and a calling card from someone named “The Atom.”

The Justice Society

Soon after Al designed a distinctive costume and embarked on a crime fighting career while attending college and renewing his relationship with Mary. Later Al was “drafted” by Dr. Fate into joining a group of his fellow heroes to battle Hitler (who had summoned the mythic Valkyries with the Spear of Destiny) and halt a Nazi invasion of England. The fight was taken to the lawn of the White House and despite being the only non-powered hero Al was the one who leaped in front of a blast by one of the Valkyries intended to kill President Franklin D. Roosevelt. When the smoke cleared from that particular battle the Atom joined the other heroes to become a founding member of the Justice Society of America.

As a member of the Justice Society Al fought against the machinations of Nazi spymaster Fritz Klaver and helped smash the rackets of the mysterious Mister X. The Justice Society also raised a million dollars for war orphans before dealing with the madness of Dr. Elba. They even embarked on a mission to Latin America at the behest of the F.B.I. Chief to fight German and Italian spies. Things got even stranger when a simple battle with Fifth Columnists turns into a trip to the year 2442 to help a group of scientists develop a bomb defense formula.

The All-Star Squadron

On December 6, 1941 the Atom, along with fellow heroes Hawkman and Dr. Mid-Nite, visited Washington D.C. and while taking in Lincoln Memorial the group was attacked by a strange creature known as The Monster. The heroes managed to subdue the creature but were startled when the creature turned into an old man and disappeared in a flash of light after uttering the word Degaton. The next day the Atom joined Dr. Mid-Nite at a Redskins game during which Mid-Nite noticed a large number of military officials being paged away from the game. Mid-Nite and Atom investigate and are told about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Atom joined a group of heroes at the White House where President Roosevelt asked them to form a new team answerable only to him to battle against the enemies of the United States. Roosevelt christened the group the All-Star Squadron and wasted no time in giving them their first assignment. The first mission took the Atom and his fellow All-Stars to San Francisco, where they helped calm the population during a supposed Japanese attack. The real threat was Per Degaton, who had traveled from the year 1947 to begin his quest to rule the world. The Atom was among the heroes that stormed Degaton’s undersea craft, but due to the nature of the process that brought Degaton to the past the Atom, and the rest of the All-Star Squadron, could not remember who they had been fighting or why.

Later that day the Atom traveled to Pearl Harbor with the rest of the All-Stars and joined them after they decided to take the battle to the Japanese. Before reaching Wake Island the more powerful heroes of the team came under the influence of the Dragon King’s dynamo powered by the Holy Grail. Green Lantern dropped the Atom and the rest of the unaffected heroes on an occupied island and after Liberty Belle stunned GL with a handy piece of wood the Atom fought against the Japanese forces on the island. After coming around Green Lantern scooped up the Atom and his fellow heroes in an energy construct and followed Hawkman, who feigned being under the effects of the device and lured Green Lantern and the others to safety.

Justice Society Disbands

Soon after Al decided that he could best serve the United States by joining the armed forces. The rest of the Justice Society felt the same way and at their first meeting following the formation of the All-Star Squadron the Justice Society disbanded. Despite this Al, as the Atom, joined Hawkman, Dr. Mid-Nite and several other members of the All-Star Squadron on a trip to the Yucatan Peninsula to search for Hawkman’s fiancé. Once there he and the rest of the All-Stars are caught up in a zealot named the Feather Serpent’s attempt to conquer Mexico. The Atom was there when the Feathered Serpent was revealed to be a Nazi agent and not a native to that Mexico as he had claimed.

Al then entered the service and trained to be a Tank-Corpsman in Virginia. It was while he was there that Al received a summons from the President of the United States. On his way to the White House Private Al Pratt bumped into two men and the hot headed Al had some words for the larger of the two men and their apparent lack of manners. Nothing came of the situation, though what Al didn’t know at the time was that the men he ran into were Baron Blitzkrieg and his associate Zwerg. After changing into his Atom uniform Al met with the President and briefed FDR on the whereabouts of his fellow Justice Society members.

Afterwards FDR leads the Atom into the next room where Al is surprised to see the members of the All-Star Squadron who hadn’t joined the service standing there. The All-Stars are asked to help protect Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who is scheduled to arrive in the United States to meet with the President. The next day the Atom partners with Robotman at the Naval installation at Norfolk and joins his mechanical colleague in rushing on to the Duke of York, the vessel Churchill was traveling on, when an explosions rocks that ship. While the sailors at first think the Atom and Robotman are the enemy and attack the confusion is soon cleared up. After Robotman beaches the U-boat that had attacked the York the Atom suggests to one of the officers that the All-Star should take care of the Nazi sailors that are about to begin pouring out of the sub.

Later that night the Atom is present for the supposed meeting of Roosevelt and Churchill where Baron Blitzkrieg’s plot to replace the Prime Minister with a booby trapped robot double comes to fruition in a massive explosion. The heroes believe that the President had died but are relieved to find out that Plastic Man had impersonating FDR and survived the blast. Along the other All-Stars the Atom attempts to capture the Baron but fails. Two days later the Atom attends the tree lighting ceremony and is moved as he listens to the Prime Ministers speech.

Psychological Profile

Al suffered from what is commonly known as a “Napoleon Complex”. His small stature and history of being picked on by those bigger than him gave him something a chip on his shoulder. Working with a group of men who possessed powers and weapon beyond comprehension didn’t really help matters much and while Pratt could more than hold his own he always felt somewhat inferior to the other members of the Justice Society.

In battle Al was a fierce combatant. The training he received from Joe Morgan was used to a ferocious effect and Al took on the reputation of being a scrapper. This could be used against Al, especially when he would rush into a fight without anything resembling a plan.

Powers and Weapons

Al Pratt was trained by former boxing champ Joe Morgan to the near peak of physical condition. In addition to gaining strength and agility Al became a formidable hand to hand combatant with lightning quick reflexes.

All-Star Squadron #4

2007-02-19T21:44:00.000-05:00

Cover Date: December 1981
Cover Price: $0.60
Release Date: September 24, 1981

Story Title: “Day of the Dragon King Chapter One” – 5 pages
“Chapter Two: Aftermath of Infamy!” – 8 pages
“Chapter Three: What Price Vengeance?” – 14 pages

Cover Artist: Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano

Writer: Roy Thomas (Co-Creator)
Penicller: Rich Buckler (Co-Creator)
Inker/Embellisher: Jerry Ordway
Colorist: Carl Gafford
Letterer: John Costanza
Editor: Len Wein

Heroes: Atom I, Batman (Earth-2), Doctor Fate I, Doctor Mid-Nite I, Flash I, Green Lantern I, Hawkman I, Johnny Quick I, Johnny Thunder and Thunderbolt, Liberty Belle I, Plastic Man (Earth-2), Phantom Lady I, Robin (Earth-2), Robotman I, Sandman I, Shining Knight I, Spectre I, Starman I, Superman (Earth-2), Wonder Woman (Earth-2)

Villains: Dragon King, Unnamed Japanese soldiers

Supporting Characters: Danette Reilly, Firebrand I (as Rod Reilly), Slugger Dunn, Unnamed American soldiers, Unnamed General

Memorable Quote: “We decided we’d arrive together, remember – not as the Justice Society, or as individual heroes and heroines – but as America’s newest bunch of Axis busters – the All-Star Squadron!” - Hawkman

Synopsis

The newly formed All-Star Squadron travel to Pearl Harbor and for the first time the heroes get to compare notes and talk about recent events. Two members are missing; Plastic Man, who had to get back to Washington and report to President Roosevelt and Phantom Lady, who had to find her rather worried father. When the All-Stars reach the Naval base shock and grief nearly overwhelm them as the full extent of the sneak attack becomes clear. The armed forces on the ground begin to fire on the All-Stars mistaking them for the enemy. With the help of Thunderbolt the hostilities end and the All-Stars meet with the military officials in charge. After some debate they decide, at Liberty Belle’s behest, to take the fight to the Japanese. With the exception of the Shining Knight the heroes head off to the Japanese aircraft carriers to the north.

Meanwhile Danette and Sir Justin visit her injured brother. The two run into Slugger Dunn, who leads Danette to her Rod’s bedside. He warns Danette that even though Rod is alive he is in a coma and that the doctors don’t know when he’ll come out of it.

After even more debate the All-Stars decide to head to Wake Island, believing that location is a likely target for Japanese attack. However on a small island between where the All-Stars were and Wake a Japanese base receives a visit from the Dragon King who had been sent by the High Command in anticipation of an attack by Superman and his ilk. With the help of the fabled Holy Grail the Dragon King uses a Dynamo powered by science and magic to magnify his powers and direct it. He activates the machine which sends waves of energy towards the oncoming heroes.

The effects of the energy wave are immediate. Superman, Spectre and Wonder Woman feel a sense of unease and dizziness while Dr. Fate attacks Hawkman and Green Lantern drops Johnny Quick and the other heroes he was carrying down on the island where a squad of Japanese soldiers is waiting. Superman wonders what has happened to them and where the sudden desire to see his comrades die came from. The Spectre theorizes that since he and Superman, along with Wonder Woman, are not human they have more of a resistance adding that they will soon pass under the spell of the strange emanations.

On the ground Liberty Belle uses a handy piece of wood to stun Green Lantern and allow the group to defend themselves. Back in the air Johnny Thunder takes off to attack the American forces at Wake Island with the reluctant Thunderbolt. The Dragon King watches this from his view screen taking pride in his achievement and when one of his men asks how long the heroes will be under their control he replies that the wave’s effects will last from the time they enter the energy zone until the time they leave.

Suddenly Dr. Fate chases Hawkman out of the energy zone and comes out of his murderous funk. Realizing what was going on Hawkman flies back into the zone and tricks the dominated heroes (including Green Lantern whom Hawkman convinces to grab Liberty Belle and the others) into following him to safety. Hawkman’s plan works, but the All-Stars realize that they can’t take the battle to Japan like they had planned to lest they become servants of the Axis.

Not far away the Dragon King escapes in a submarine. One of his subordinates asks why they don’t increase the range of the Grail’s power. The Dragon King calls the underling a fool adding that there are limits to their power, but only for the present. He vows that one day he will take the battle to America’s shores.

At the same time Hawkman muses on how he needs to get to the Yucatan to find Shiera, but not before he has to drop a bombshell on both the Justice Society and the All-Star Squadron.

Notes

- During the flight to Pearl Harbor Hawkman mentions the fact that he is worried about his fiancé Shiera Sanders who had been on an archeological dig in the Yucatan. This is a bit of foreshadowing to the next storyline that takes place in issue five and six.

- He also mentions the fact that he knows something about Axis activity in Mexico, which is a reference to All-Star Comics #9 (February-March 1941) where the Justice Society traveled at the behest of the F.B.I. Chief to fight German and Italian spies since the U.S. couldn’t act there officially.

-Johnny Thunder’s Thunderbolt makes his first appearance in the series, not counting the Preview in Justice League of America #193. As an entity subservient to Johnny Thunder he was never an official member of either the All-Star Squadron or the Justice Society, which is really a shame because Johnny would have been pretty useless to both groups without him.

- Libby steps forward and really takes charge in this issue, which may or may not have been a bit of foreshadowing to her time as chairwoman of the group. This particular scene is significant since Libby took on Hawkman, who was the chairman of the Justice Society.

- The Shining Knight notes that Danette is warm to the touch. This was yet another bit of foreshadowing as Danette would fully develop her powers and assume the role of the second Firebrand next issue.

-DC wanted to avoid the use of the word “Japs” despite it being rather common during the Second World War. For the first few issues they used the word “Nips” instead, which is short for Nippon, which is how the Japanese refer to their homeland.

- The Hostess Ad for this month has the Penguin using a parade of penguin puppets to distract people from noticing his theft of the Emperor’s Sword. When he stops to also steal some Hostess Fruit Pies the police nab him and reveal that they put the emperor penguins on parade and the Emperor’s sword together and used the pies as bait to catch him. On one hand it’s nice to see the Gotham City Police Department catch a criminal without the aid of Batman. On the other I wonder who came up with the idea to use the Fruit Pies. “Well you know, guys, the Penguin's fat and fat people like to eat so if we put out some pies he’ll obviously want to eat them. Take that, Dark Knight Detective!” I bet it was Chief O’Hara. He always seemed to have it in for fat people.

- Another bit of oddness surrounding this month’s ad is that fact that it was printed on a slicker paper than the rest of the issue, which is a shame because the ads should never have better production values than the story, but then again comics were printed on what amounted to be tissue paper for decades.

-Superman muses on how it had been only three years since he was the only active mystery man. This was a reference to the fact that Superman made his first appearance in the spring of 1938 and how all heroes derived from his debut.

-While mention is made of the near-simultaneous attacks on Wake Island, Guam and the Philippines as well as Pearl Harbor, but no mention is made of the attacks on British colonies in Thailand and Mayala.

- The Dragon King references Hitler’s possession of the Spear of Destiny in relation to Tojo’s acquisition of the Holy Grail. Hitler used the Spear of Destiny in an attempt to invade England, but was stopped by the heroes who would make up the founding members of the Justice Society of America. This story was told in DC Special #29 (September 1977).

- Later the Dragon King mentions Dr. Daka, who was the fictional head of the Imperial Japanese undercover operatives. Dr. Daka was taken from the 1943 Columbia Pictures serial Batman and was played by actor J. Carrol Naish.

-Despite his vow the Dragon King never appeared in another issue of All-Star Squadron.

- The bombshell Hawkman drops on his fellow heroes is his intention to retire from both the JSA and the All-Stars to join the service as revealed next issue.

- This issue sees the first appearance of the letters column dubbed “All-Star Comments”. This issue printed letters from readers of the All-Star Squadron’s preview effort in the pages of Justice League of America #193. Junior D. Kerns of Tooele, Utah both congratulates and thanks those involved for producing the series. Albert F. Feichenbach of Chicago, Illinois was glad that his initial fears about the series were unfounded and asks to see the Earth-2 Aquaman and if the Kryptonite exposure Superman suffered was the characters first. Mike Dennifer, also of Chicago, Illinois appreciated Rich Buckler’s art and puts in a request to see Steel the Indestructible Man, Quicksilver, Ultra Man and the Tarantula as either guest stars or members. Paul Baize of Glen Burnie, Maryland really hated the truncated helmet of Dr. Fate. Dan Coakley of Norwood Massachusetts was left totally confused by the time travel aspects that had not yet been revealed and wondered about the differences between Rod Reilly’s appearance in this title and his origin as revealed in Freedom Fighters #12. Dean K. Rollings of Athabasca, Alberta, Canada caught that the Flash/Wonder Woman/ Green Lantern race was a reference to Comic Cavalcade #1. Finally, Mark Lagasse of Hoosick Falls, New York felt that this was the book he was born to read and wondered how Libby Lawrence could have been on the television in 1941.

For his part Roy Thomas addressed the readers’ concerns thusly:

(1) Dunno about Earth-Two’s Aquaman for now – but this possibly was the Earth-Two Superman’s first encounter with Kryptonite. And no, he doesn’t know what did him in!

(2) Steel, Ultra-Man and the Tarantula are already penciled in for near-future appearances.

(3) The “Harry” in the preview, as revealed in issue #1, was not later Vice President Harry S. Truman, but Harry Hopkins, a friend and advisor to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt from the 1930’s till FDR’s death in 1945. “Harry the Hop” as some called him…a New Dealer who moved into the White House the day after war broke out in Europe.

(4) The “Rod Reilly” introduced in ALL-STAR SQUADRON is, of course, not the one from Earth-X who appeared in FREEDOM FIGHTERS; nor is our Plastic Man the same as any other who has appeared in comics since his original title folded in the mid-50’s. In our view, all 1940’s DC and Quality Comics Group stories occurred on Earth-Two, even though some of these events were duplicated on Earth-One.

(5) Thanks to a few old-time comics buffs for noticing that the Flash-WW-GL race was indeed the cover scene of COMIC CAVALCADE #1, 1943 (with Wildcat a bystander then too). The scene of Superman, Batman and Robin at a USO was likewise from an early WORLD’S FINEST cover. Our theory is that the old-time heroes posed for such pix occasionally to help charity or the war effort…though that doesn’t mean others of those old covers weren’t simply conjured up out of an artist’s fancy!

(6) Don’t blame colorful colorist Carl Gafford for Dr. Mid-Nite’s golden gloves (or for Atom’s red-instead-of-orange lapels). These were conscious decisions made to keep down the number of colors in those characters’ costumes.

(7) As stated in the JLA #193 insert, regular TV broadcasting began in the U.S. in the middle of 1941. So, though few people had sets at that time, Libby Lawrence’s TV news show is, so far as we know, quite possible. Anybody have any better info?

(8) One of the most-objected-to aspects of ALL-STAR SQUADRON so far has been Dr. Fate’s truncated helmet. This is the one he was wearing by 1941, though…so it stays on. (Besides, it’s all a set-up for a later plot, so keep reading.) And Sandman did indeed wear his purple-and-yellow outfit, rather than his gasmask and business suit, by this period, so that’s how we’ll be depicting him.

- The back cover featured an advert for Fast 111’s from MPC. Apparently the success of kids racing the 111’s led to a demand to build the 111. I’ve never been into models so this desire escapes me.

Golden-Age Related Books for Comic Week 02-14-2007

2007-02-14T20:04:00.000-05:00

Another week, another slate of books released by DC Comics, another post about the books that I think are noteworthy because of their relation to DC's Golden Age characters or DC's characters from the Golden Age depending on how you want to look at it.

Disclaimer: These are the books DC has posted on their site as coming out on February 14, 2007. There is a slight chance that these books might not be at your local comic shop because, let's face it, DC has not been batting a thousand lately with getting their books out on time. This is not meant as a slam against DC, it's just how things have been for the past year or so.

It's also not my fault if the shop sold out of the book either, but that's what hold boxes are for.

Batman #663

Batman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told Vol. 2 TPB

Fifty Two #41

Green Arrow #71

JLA Classified #34

Justice Society of America #3 (2 covers)

Manhunter #28

Showcase Presents: Aquaman #1 TPB

Superman and Batman vs. Aliens and Predators #2

Superman: Camelot Falls TPB

Tales of the Unexpected #5

Trials of Shazam #5

Solid week for the Golden Age crowd. Manhunter comes out again, but it looks like DC is finally giving this title the ax, which is a damn shame really because it is an awesome book. Superman and Batman vs. Aliens and Predators got on the list on a sheer technicality and frankly the only reason I'm buying is the contract I signed back in 1993 to become a lifetime Superman fan. Luckily the Superman: Camelot Falls TPB is also coming out, so once again the universe is in harmony.

The highlight of this week is, of course, Justice Society of America #3 which comes in two flavors; regular and unnecessarily expensive. The book has been nothing short of exceptional and I don't think this month will be any different.

And then there's the cover.

Is it me, or is Maxine going commando here? Not that I'm passing judgment or anything. I was just curious.

All-Star Sighting: Helmet of Fate: Sargon the Sorcerer #1

2007-02-12T23:25:00.000-05:00

I've been surfing the Internet since 1998 and in that time I've been to a lot of sites centered around comic books and comic book characters. One of the constants I've seen, especially on sites relating to the more obscure characters or those who are not currently being published, is that if that character or team is mentioned in a current book than a post is made about it on the site. It's not a hard and fast rule, just one I've seen more than once.

So in keeping with the tradition if the All-Stars are mentioned in a new comic that comic will get a mention here.

The first of these "All-Star Sightings" is from Helmet of Fate: Sargon the Sorcerer #1, written by Steve Niles with art by Scott Hampton. I've been following this series of one-shots mainly because of the Dr. Fate connection but I've rather liked what has been presented thus far. This particular one-shot gave the origin of the new Sargon, but there was one panel that I not only surprised me but put a big ol' smile on my face.

Go ahead. Click on the picture to get a better look. It's why I have a Photobucket account.

Now what surprised me more than anything was the fact that the All-Stars got mentioned at all. My take on the current attitude at DC is that they are wanting to move forward instead of looking back, which is why the current Justice Society contains new versions of older characters and even this book introduced the next generation of a Golden-Age dynasty. So the mention actually means something, which is always good.

If I spot any more of these I'll let you know. And if you see any that I miss just let me know. That's what the e-mail address is for.

Update 02-12-2007: Hey, I Did It Again

2007-02-12T22:36:00.000-05:00

Amazingly I managed to get a post up on time. This is two weeks in a row, a new record.

Nothing to be proud of but a new record nonetheless.

So this week we have Issue 3, which ends the series' first story arc. I believe the All-Stars are one of the few teams that had an origin they couldn't remember. Still everything wrapped up nicely and thus a super team was born.

In terms of the site, well I think I have finally solved my Who's Who dilemma. Instead of merely copying what DC and other sources have done I settled on a format I liked.

What new format, you ask?

Well, I thought it would be easier to do entries on the members and villains as they come along and update them as the series progresses. I'm doing this for two reasons the first being that I am indexing the issues as I re-read them, so I'm not working from the standpoint of knowing absolutely everything ahead of time. With this format everything will be in synch. The Who's Who entries will reflect the index entries, which I think will work out just fine.

The second reason is that I want the content of this site (the indexes and so on) to be written by me. I know I'm working with material created by those with much more talent than I have, but at least with the "original" Who's Who entries I'll feel like more than a mere typist. Maybe down the road I'll type up the DC stuff just for the sake of being thorough, but for now it's all me, baby.

So look for those in the coming weeks. Once I get them up you'll be able to get to them either by looking at the control panel to the right or by clicking on the character's name in the index entries.

That's it for this week. See you on Wednesday with the Golden Age Related Books Comic Week 02-14-07 update.

All-Star Squadron #3

2007-02-12T22:01:00.000-05:00

Cover Date: November 1981
Cover Price: $0.60
Release Date: August 20, 1981

Story Title: “The Dooms of Dark December!” -27 pages
Cover Artist: Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano

Writer: Roy Thomas (Co-Creator)
Penicller: Rich Buckler (Co-Creator)
Embellisher: Jerry Ordway
Colorist: Carl Gafford
Letterer: John Costanza
Editor: Len Wein

Heroes: Atom I, Batman (Earth-2), Doctor Fate I, Doctor Mid-Nite I, Flash I, Green Lantern I, Hawkman I, Johnny Quick I, Johnny Thunder and Thunderbolt, Liberty Belle I, Plastic Man (Earth-2), Phantom Lady I, Robin (Earth-2), Robotman I, Sandman I, Shining Knight I, Spectre I, Starman I, Superman (Earth-2), Wonder Woman (Earth-2)

Villains: Per Degaton, Professor Zodiak, Solomon Grundy, Wotan

Supporting Characters: Danette Reilly, Eleanor Roosevelt, Winged Victory

Memorable Quote: “As long as you’re careful how you abbreviate it.”- Superman (Earth-2), upon learning the name of the new group was the All-Star Squadron.

Synopsis

From his submerged vantage point Degaton watches on his view screen as the All-Stars fight his hypnotized pilots and patrol the streets of San Francisco. Despite this momentary snag he is still confident that his plan will succeed with the fifteen fully armed Zeroes heading for the more suburban areas to the south of the city and the fact that because of his advanced technology the Justice Society are still his captives. To ensure that latter do not pose any future problems he presses the button to destroy the island where the mystically shackled Society members are being kept.

Meanwhile Sir Justin faces off against Solomon Grundy and then against Wotan and Professor Zodiak. Sir Justin’s sword absorbs Wotan’s magic and the Shining Knight manages to hold the villains off while Danette Reilly makes her escape. He succeeds and before making his own escape he slashes at the side of the vessel allowing the sea water to pour in. Wotan fixes the damage but not before Sit Justin and Danette are both gone.

The two surface quickly and find that Winged Victory is waiting for them. Moments later the trio head back to the island to free the Justice Society never suspecting that Wotan and Zodiak are following in Zodiak’s plane. Below Degaton, after a minor argument with Grundy, reflects on the time periods he plucked the villains from; Wotan from an extra dimensional limbo in the late forties, Zodiak from 1948 while escaping from the Justice Society, both Sky Pirate and King Bee from a conveniently shared jail cell, the Monster, in his more milquetoast form, from 1944 and Solomon Grundy from the construct Green Lantern had encased him in before plunging it deep underground in 1947. Degaton’s attention suddenly turns to Grundy, who is pointing to the screen showing the All-Stars approaching over head.

With Plastic Man acting as a human drill the Atom, Dr. Mid-Nite, Liberty Belle and Phantom Lady burrow into Degaton’s ship. Mid-Nite detonates one of his “black out” bombs, which blinds Solomon Grundy allowing Mid-Nite to momentarily stun the creature. Degaton’s minions finally arrive and the ship erupts in violence as the heroes lay into the hypnotized underlings. Back on land Robotman, Hawkman and Johnny Quick face off against the approaching Zeroes. Johnny has Robotman toss him into the sky towards the plane before the metal hero takes advantage of a near-by attraction and begins to hurl cannon balls at the Zeroes.

Back on the supposed volcanic island Sir Justin and Danette are attacked by Wotan and Zodiak. The Shining Knight attempts to revive Superman but Wotan’s magic is too strong. Wotan hits Sir Justin with a slaying spell and then hits Danette with a similar bolt causing her to fall into the artificial lava. Suddenly the island erupts and the villains are sent back to their own time. Degaton watches this from his view screen and is soon shocked to see the form of the Spectre rise above the eruption as the Justice Society finally revive, along with Sir Justin and a glowing Danette Reilly. Realizing his only escape is to return to 1947 Degaton disappears and after the arrival of Robotman, Johnny Quick and Hawkman the monster known as Solomon Grundy goes back to 1947 where instead of being trapped underground he is instead stranded on the moon.

After Degaton’s ship also disappears the All-Stars are rescued by the Spectre and taken to the Golden Gate Bridge. The two teams compare notes and realize that they can’t remember whom they had just battled or why. The Spectre announces that it doesn’t matter with Dr. Fate chiming in that their immediate concern is the war. The heroes then watch, with the aid of the Spectre, as First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt delivers an address to the nation and asks that all costumed heroes close ranks and join the All-Star Squadron. The announcement gives the heroes a new resolve and in unison the group cries out to remember Pearl Harbor.

Notes

- Joe Kubert drew a version of this cover with a similar scene, but Rich Buckler managed to convince Len Wein that as interior artist he should do the covers as well. Later, with Kubert’s blessing, Roy Thomas not only used the cover as an interior page in 1988’s Young All-Stars Annual #1 but also as the cover to the trade paperback Alter Ego: The Comic Book Artist Collection. Personally I prefer the Buckler version, which should not be taken as a slam or whatever against the legendary and extremely talented Joe Kubert.

- In All-Star Comics #42 (August-September 1948) Zodiak’s supposedly alchemically powered plane did not work properly and crashed, but it seemed to work like gangbusters in this story. Maybe Degaton or his minions did some work on it.

- This month’s Hostess Ad stars the Red Tornado and relates his epic battle with a thief who uses a giant vacuum device to steal Hostess Cup Cakes. You know, the Red Tornado had some serious self-esteem problems after joining the Justice League and I can’t imagine that coming to Metropolis and fighting a guy that steals freaking cup cakes made him feel any better about himself. I mean his last line is how the Hostess Cup Cakes were the real hero. How sad is that?

- Degaton’s flashback regarding Solomon Grundy explains why Grundy was shown returning from exile on the moon in Showcase #55 (March-April 1965). Grundy had been sent to the moon in All-Star #33 (February-March 1947) and this event had been superceded by Grundy’s fourth and final Golden Age appearance in Comic Cavalcade #27 (December 1947-Januaru 1948) where Grundy not only exhibited enhanced intelligence but was buried deep underground by Green Lantern.

- Degaton’s troops were apparently mesmerized by the same drug used to turn men into human robots in the Green Lantern tale from All-Star Comics #2 (Fall 1940).

-On a personal note the image of a revived Justice Society on the supposed volcanic isle was pretty darn awesome.

- As my selection of memorable quote suggests Roy Thomas used Superman to get past the fact that the abbreviation of the team’s name could be a bit…awkward in polite circles. As the All-Star Companion Volume 2 points out, though, the proper abbreviation for the team should be the A.S. since All-Star is one word.

- The speech by Eleanor Roosevelt on the evening of December 7, 1941 actually happened sans the mention of the All-Star Squadron of course.

- The text page this issue was taken up by an All-Star Squadron Super-Villain Fact File, which detailed some important information about the villains serving under Per Degaton. The text was by Roy Thomas with art by Rich Buckler and Jerry Ordway. Just click on the image below for a more than readable size.

- The back cover this month detailed why MPC Model Cars are better than other model cars because with MPC options are apparently standard.

Golden-Age Related Books for Comic Week 02-07-2007

2007-02-07T18:29:00.000-05:00

I'm announcing a new feature here at The Perisphere. Every Wednesday I will post a list of the Golden Age related books and trades that DC is putting out on that particular week. It seems like it would be kind of fun and give me something to add to this blog/site.

So what constitutes a Golden-Age character? Well, if a character or a version of that character was published in the Golden Age then it gets a mention whether it's the character or team itself or it's a legacy character. The tie may be tenuous, but hey it's my blog so I get to dictate the terms.

I'm a benevolent dictator though, so I'll keep a free press and give out easy cheese and chicken in a biscuit on a weekly basis to every man, woman and child because there is nothing quite as good on this Earth as easy cheese and chicken in a biscuit.

I may throw in some commentary as the mood strikes me as well.

Warning; the books listed here are most likely coming out. They've been announced and posted to various sources, including DC's own site. There is a chance, however, that a book listed here will not be at the comic shop when you get there because it didn't ship, so keep that in mind.

If the book sold out before you got there, well there isn't a whole heck of a lot I can do about that.

And here we go:

-Action Comics Annual #10

-All-New Atom #8

-Batman: Year One Deluxe Edition

-Detective Comics #828

-Fifty-Two #40

-Hawkgirl #61

-Helmet of Fate: Sargon the Sorcerer

-Justice Society Volume 2

-Nightwing #129

-Outsiders #45

-Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil #1

-Superman Chronicles Volume 2

Pretty decent week from the look of it. I'm particularly looking for to Action Comics Annual #10, Justice Society Vol. 2, Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil #1 and Superman Chronicles Volume 2. I like the fact that DC is bringing back their annuals and having them have stories that matter instead of having it be part of some ill conceived crossover or poorly thought out theme. Sure the Elseworlds summer produced some neat stories as did Year One but I don't think that made up for Bloodlines or Legends of the Dead Earth.

I kind of dug JLApe. But maybe that's just me.

As much as I am enjoying Trials of Shazam I have to say that Jeff Smith's Captain Marvel story looks pretty neat. Some of the first comics I read were Superman and Batman stories from the Golden-Age, so the second volume of the Superman Chronicles is also a lock.

And I have to personally thank whoever green lit the Justice Society trades. Not only were they great stories (and this volume reprints the issues from when the series was really getting good) but now I don't have to dig into my back issues.

Plus the cover is really freaking sweet.

Awesome.

Update 02-05-2007: Things Slowly Go Back to Normal

2007-02-05T22:20:00.000-05:00

So the wife is doing better and things are, as the title to this post suggests, slowly going back to normal. I had started the index to issue two before the accident and finally got around to finishing that and then cleaning it up. So that issue is up and if all goes well I'm back on a schedule.

There have been a few changes to the blog. I've altered the look a bit and that is still a work in progress. Also I added a house ad that DC ran mentioning the All-Star Squadron to the index for Issue 0 since the ad appeared in that issue of Justice League of America. Yeah it's thin but I'm trying to be complete about this. Also I added a new feature to the notes section showcasing the Hostess ads that DC ran for years back in the day. Why? Because I thought it would be amusing, that's why.

So hopefully this is the start of regular, weekly updates.

Unless something else happens.

All Star Squadron #2

2007-02-05T20:23:00.000-05:00

Cover Date: October 1981
Cover Price: $0.50
Release Date: July 23, 1981

Story Title: “The Tyrant Out of Time!” -26 Pages

Cover: Joe Kubert

Writer: Roy Thomas (Co-Creator)
Penicller: Rich Buckler (Co-Creator)
Inker/Embellisher: Jerry Ordway
Colorist: Carl Gafford
Letterer: John Costanza
Editor: Len Wein

Heroes: Atom I, Doctor Mid-Nite I, Hawkman I, Johnny Quick I, Liberty Belle I, Phantom Lady I, Plastic Man (Earth-2), Robotman I, Shining Knight I

Villains: Per Degaton, Professor Zodiak, Sky Pirate, Solomon Grundy, Wotan

Supporting Characters: Danette Reilly, Dr. Everson, Dr. Zee, Senator Henry Knight, Unnamed Reporters, Unnamed Gangsters

Memorable Quote: “That means—before long, they may seek me out! Well, if they do, they’ll have no help from the Justice Society—BECAUSE THEY’LL ALL BE DEAD!”- Per Degaton

Synopsis

The new All-Star Squadron rush out of the White House headed for their first mission stopping only to talk to a few members of the press camped outside and to capture a gang of thugs that knocked over an armored car. Soon afterward the group is riding in an unarmed bomber with Hawkman in the pilot’s seat. With time on their hands the heroes reveal their secret identities and origins to each other. Their stories and concern over the fates of missing members of the Justice Society is interrupted by air chatter describing enemy aircraft approaching San Francisco.

Meanwhile Degaton’s craft surfaces and takes in some fresh air before returning to his prisoners, the Shining Knight and Danette Reilly. Sir Justin demands to know why Degaton is attacking the coast. Degaton decides to tell his tale, though he warns that even with his own time travel experiences Sir Justin may have trouble believing him. He relates to his captives a tale of the Justice Society and their battle with Axis spies who were attempting to abduct a gathering of America’s most brilliant scientists who were developing a bomb defense formula. Such a formula existed in the future and since the scientists were too frail the JSA travel to the future to secure it for them. Despite a successful first test of the formula Degaton, who had been acting as an assistant to one of the scientists, sabotaged the effort in a jealous rage and after a second failure the formula was discarded.

Degaton had stayed on as an assistant to Professor Zee and in 1947 the scientist continued with his experiments in time travel. Degaton shot Zee and attempted to use the device to conquer the world but was defeated by the Justice Society. Fortunately everyone, including Degaton, forgot about the incident after the timeline had been corrected. After a time Degaton realized that the bizarre dreams about conquering the world he had been having were real. This time Degaton killed Zee and used his machine to travel further into the future where he realized that with all of the technological advances a man would be a fool to try and take over the world after the end of World War Two. Degaton came up with a number of scenarios, but each time he saw the flaws they had and decided against them. Finally the time storm that had clouded the era between September 1939 and December 6, 1941 passed and Degaton realized that he could change history by tricking the Americans into concentrating on Japan instead of Germany and leaving the Americans and the Japanese fighting in one stalemate and Russia and England fighting Germany and Italy fighting another. To keep the Justice Society busy Degaton gathered some of the JSA’s future enemies to defeat them. After Degaton finishes his story Danette accidentally brushes up against Sir Justin’s sword, which frees her from Wotan’s mystical shackles. She quickly does the same to Sir Justin who reclaims his sword just in time to take on Solomon Grundy.

Meanwhile Sky Pirate leads the squadron of hypnotized Japanese pilots in an attack on San Francisco. On the ground Sandra Knight changes into her identity of Phantom Lady while Hawkman, Robotman and Johnny Quick take care of the pilots in the air. From the Sub-Sea Carrier Degaton watches Hawkman defeat his pilots and is incensed at the interference. Realizing they will soon seek him out Degaton realizes that he has to enact desperate measures and presses the button marked Volcanic Isle Detonator.

Notes

- At the beginning of this issue the reporters posted outside of the White House break into the Star Spangled Banner after the All-Star Squadron leaves. This was based on fact.

- The aircraft the All-Stars are flying in was a B-29 bomber. As a reader named Andy Glaess pointed out in a letter printed in All-Star Squadron #6 that particular aircraft didn’t go into service until 1944. Roy Thomas responded that the mistake was noticed but there wasn’t time to fix the error.

- The All-Stars revealed their origins to each other during the plane ride to San Francisco, though none of them had flowers in their hair. This was a rather neat little storytelling device and Roy Thomas’ ability to write the back of the trading card versions of who these characters were and how they came to be was rather impressive, as was Buckler and Ordway’s art on these pages.

- Liberty Belle didn’t wear a mask in her Golden-Age appearances. She let her Veronica Lake hair style hide her face.

- Sandman I, Starman I, Dr. Fate I, Johnny Thunder and Thunderbolt and the Spectre I all appear in flashbacks in this issue, much like they did in the last one. Ten will get you one that when we see them next issue they’ll be glowing and unconscious. Then again I’ve read that issue, so I guess I’m cheating.

- The Hostess Ad this month related the amazing adventure of Batman versus the Crime Director. I wonder why this guy didn’t make it as one of the major bad guys in Batman’s rogue’s gallery. Maybe it was the fact that he was brought down with the assistance of Hostess Cup Cakes.

- One of the rules I have developed for this site (and by developed I mean I made it up right now) is that I will not, under any circumstances make fun of any plot elements from the Golden Age that Roy Thomas brings into the stories either through the actual plot or flashbacks. The stories are what they are, it was a different age and it is unfair to judge those stories from a modern standpoint. This is why you won’t read any pithy comments regarding the concept of a bomb defense formula.

- This issue had two text page pieces, the first of which was a one page Fact File on Per Degaton. His height is given as 5’4” despite the fact that he appeared taller in issue one. In All-Star Comics #35 (June-July 1947)) Degaton was clearly modeled in part on Napoleon. Here’s the page:

- The second text page had this piece by Roy Thomas.

The Secret Wartime History of the Justice Society of America

Welcome to the Orientation Lecture, courtesy of editor Len Wein, artists Rich Buckler and Jerry Ordway, and myself—Roy Thomas, writer/creator of the series.

In issue #1, we promised that this time around, we’d tell you Everything You Always Wanted To Know About The World War Two History Of The Justice Society But Were Afraid To Ask. We’re here to fulfill that promise. And if we leave out anything else you want to know, be sure to let us know, okay?

The Justice Society came into existence on Earth-Two (an earth which is virtually a duplicate of our own and of the Earth-One inhabited by the Justice League of America – occupying the same space but vibrating at a different speed and thus occupying a different dimension) in 1940, as a result of events told in an important DC comics of a few years back, THE UNTOLD ORIGIN OF THE JUSTICE SOCIETY.

Its original membership roster included Hawkman, the Atom, Hourman, Sandman, the Spectre, Dr. Fate, Green Lantern, and the Flash—with Superman and Batman as honorary members. Soon afterward, Green Lantern and the Flash likewise became honorary members, being replaced by Johnny Thunder and Dr. Mid-Nite, while the Starman replaced Hourman, who took a still-unexplained “leave of absence.”

The JSA was founded partly through the efforts of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President of the U.S. from 1933 to his death in 1945. Soon afterward, it coordinated early anti-spy activities with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. The JSA fought sabotage in the days of 1940 and 1941, before war was officially declared between America and the Axis powers (Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and military-dominated Japan.)

At one time or another, the Justice Society raised million of dollars to help war orphans (ALL-STAR COMICS #7, 1941), battled Axis influence in Latin America (ALL-STAR #9), and protected America’s foremost scientists from capture or assassination (ALL-STAR #10, as recounted last issue). These events, like all events in comics, happened months before they were chronicled and published in the pages of 1940-1941 comic-books in our world.

Then, on the morning of December 7, 1941, Japan’s military rulers attacked U.S. air and naval installations at their bases at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. On Monday, Dec, 8, President Roosevelt asked for and got a Congressional declaration of war to avenge the “day of infamy.”

A couple of days later, Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy likewise declared war on the U.S., and the war which had already been raging between the Axis powers and the nations of the British Empire and the Soviet Union became World War Two.

As recounted in the first issue of ALL-STAR COMICS (#11) which was written after Pearl Harbor, the Justice Society disbanded shortly afterward. Every one of its nine regular members (except the Spectre, who was, after all, a ghost) enlisted in one branch or another of America’s armed services intending to serve their country as common soldiers, airmen and sailors. There were no thoughts of personal glory, only of preserving western democracy against the fascist threat.

Alas for their intentions, as revealed in ALL-STAR #11, published in early 1942, it was simply impossible for such heroes as the JSA to remain incognito in uniform, as opposed to costumes. One after another of them abandoned the khaki to assist America’s burgeoning but desperate armed forces. The events of ALL-STAR #11 spanned a period which, at a conservative estimate, covered the first several weeks after December 7, 1941—but by the end of the issue, America’s military leaders had seen the folly of allowing the JSA to fight individually against the enemy hordes.

Accordingly, the JSA members were gathered and asked to form a new and special group, which was to be called “The Justice Battalion,” for the duration of the war. It was to operate under direct orders from the War Department, as the Defense Department of the day was called.

The JSAers, being patriots first and heroes second, agreed—and their military careers, as such, were largely ended. Though they battled the Axis forces abroad from time to time, even storming Hitler’s “Fortress Europa” more than once, they did most of their fighting from that day forward on the American Home Front, against both Axis spies and the greed-crazed criminals who tried to benefit from the carnage of war. The last reference to the Justice Battalion as such appeared in ALL-STAR COMICS #16, published at the beginning of 1943.

The comic-book, ALL-STAR SQUADRON, was created to tell the story which the wartime ALL-STAR COMICS did not, could not tell.

These first few issues, for instance, relate events which occurred between those related in ALL-STAR #10, in which the JSA went into the far-flung future to bring back a Bomb Defense Formula, as related this issues—and the happenings related from ALL-STAR #11 forward, when the JSA temporarily disbanded and its members spent weeks if not months in the Army, the Navy, and the Army Air Corps (which was not yet a separate branch of the service in those long-ago days).

Nothing in this or future issues of ALL-STAR SQUADRON is meant to negate major events chronicled in the DC comics of the 1940’s or since. If minor inconsistencies pop up occasionally—and they inevitably will—the pop-art historians of the future may rest assured that they’ll be dealt with, sooner or later. Al things come to him who waits, and judges not.

What really matter to us, though, is the sheet enjoyment and excitement with which we hope to relate these adventures of a special group—the ALL-STAR SQUADRON—whose very existence has gone unheralded until today. “Now it can be told,” as the spy memoirs used to say.

Nothing could be more likely, given his temperament, than that President FDR would have attempted to marshal the potential power of all of America’s super-heroes by asking them all to join one greater group, responsible only to himself.

Thus, during this trilogy of stories which is complete next issue (and whose “prologue” appeared as a special insert in JUSTICE LEAGUE #193) we witness the birth of a super-group which is not the Justice Society, but which includes it…as well as the famous Seven Soldiers of Victory (the Shining Knight and company) and a host of heroes and heroines who never belonged to any other formal group.

And so, the ALL-STAR SQUADRON is born—forged in the fires of the Second World War!

One last batch of footnotes to fantasy, as promised on page 7 of this issue—a list of the FIRST APPEARENCES of the costumed stalwarts who appear in this trilogy-plus prologue, along with a listing of their SEPARATE ORIGINS, if any—and we thank JSA-ultra-fan Jerry Bails for help in this area:

Hawkman, the Flash, Johnny Thunder: FLASH COMICS #1, published for Jan. 1940.

Dr. Mid-Nite: ALL-AMERICAN COMICS #25, April 1941.

Robotman: STAR-SPANGLED COMICS #7, for April 1942 (but recounting events which happened earlier, of course).

Liberty Belle: BOY COMMANDOS #1, for Winter 1943.

Atom: ALL-AMERICAN COMICS #19, Oct. 1940.

Johnny Quick: MORE FUN COMICS #71, Sept. 1941.

Plastic Man, Phantom Lady: POLICE COMICS #1, August 1941 (no origin for the lady, alas).

The Shining Knight: ADVENTURE COMICS #66, Sept. 1941.

Superman: ACTION COMICS #1, June 1938.

Batman and Robin: DETECTIVE COMICS #27, May 1939, and DETECTIVE #38, April 1940, respectively.

Wonder Woman: ALL-STAR COMICS #8, Dec. 1941.

Green Lantern: ALL-AMERICAN COMICS #16, July 1940.

Starman: ADVENTURE #61 (no origin).

Sandman: ADVENTURE #40 (no origin).

The Spectre: MORE FUN COMICS #52, Feb. 1940.

Dr. Fate: MORE FUN #55, May, 1940, with origin in #67.

Wildcat: SENSATION COMICS #1 for Jan. 1942.

-The back cover of this month’s issue featured an ad for Tyco’s Magnum 440, a racing car that could reach speeds of 800 scale miles per hour and had a number of other features that made this the racing car to have in 1981.

Quick Update

2007-01-23T15:33:00.000-05:00

So there I was preparing last week's update when once again reality intrudes on my four-color world. My wife fell at work and broke her left femur and has since had surgery, so there won't be any updates for a week or so. I hope to come back strong and have a few issues in the can.

I apologize if anyone had started checking out the site and came back to find that the promised update wasn't there. This happens with me from time to time.

Update 01-14-2007: I'm Back!

2007-01-14T14:11:00.000-05:00

So after the holidays and a family emergency I am back making updates to the Perisphere.

Things should even out around here over the next month and I hope to get to the point where I am adding a new issue to the index as well as additions to the Who's Who section every week.

At least that's the plan. Who knows what is actually going to happen?

Next week comes issue two of the All-Star Squadron, hopefully a Who's Who update or two and a new feature spotlighting the Golden-Age related books DC is currently putting out.

Until next week.

All-Star Squadron #1

2007-01-14T12:25:00.000-05:00

Cover Date: September 1981
Cover Price: $0.50
Release Date: June 18, 1981

Story Title: “The World on Fire!” -25 pages

Writer: Roy Thomas (Co-Creator)
Penicller: Rich Buckler (Co-Creator)
Inker/Embellisher: Jeremiah Ordway
Colorist: Carl Gafford
Letterer: John Costanza
Editor: Len Wein

Cover: Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano

Heroes: Atom I, Doctor Mid-Nite I, Hawkman I, Johnny Quick I, Liberty Belle I, Plastic Man (Earth-2), Robotman I, Shining Knight I

Villains: King Bee, Per Degaton, Professor Zodiak, Sky Pirate, Solomon Grundy, Wotan,

Supporting Characters: Danette Reilly, Firebrand I (as Ensign Rod Reilly), Harry Hopkins, Nameless Drones of King Bee, President Franklin, D. Roosevelt, Slugger Dunn, Tubby Watts, Winged Victory

Memorable Quote: “I want you of the Justice Society to mobilize every one of the nation’s costumed heroes—men and women—into a single, super-powerful unit—a sort of All-Star Squadron, so to speak—responsible to no one but myself!”- President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Synopsis

With a feeling of dread Hawkman flies towards the Justice Society’s headquarters, which is intensified when he sees that a window has been left open. Seconds after entering the building something grabs his leg and he fights back against his would-be attacker. After turning on the lights Hawkman discovers that he had just knocked down Plastic Man, who was there on Federal business under orders from F.D.R. They give the place a once over and then listen to a radio broadcast, which reports on the disappearances of the members of the Justice Society.

Plastic Man wonders why Hawkman is still running around and after admonishing him for being sarcastic Hawkman tells of the battle he, Doctor Mid-Nite and the Atom had with the Monster adding that before the creature’s other form disappeared he gasped out the word Degaton. Hawkman decides that if the President wants to see the JSA they should get to Washington as soon as possible.

During the flight the two heroes are attacked by King Bee and his drones. The battle is brief and ends with King Bee disappearing in an explosion which sends Hawkman hurtling to the ground. Plastic Man’s efforts slow their fall but they still hit the ground hard and lapse into unconsciousness.

At the White House Harry Hopkins is informed that there is still no word from the Justice Society. He orders his men to keep trying.

Elsewhere Shining Knight is taking a long overdue flight with his steed Winged Victory. He spots a smoldering volcano and takes his companion down to investigate only to find a campsite before Danette Reilly confronts him with a firearm. Introductions are quickly made and Danette explains that there is something funny about the volcano, which appeared only a few days before. Sir Justin makes an opening into the mountain and find a man made cave where Professor Zodiak and Solomon Grundy find them. Solomon Grundy makes short work of the two and later, after being mystically shackled by Wotan they are brought before the man who calls himself Per Degaton. Sir Justin accuses Degaton of being an Axis Agent, a charge Per Degaton angrily denies. Degaton announces that his goal is nothing short of the world and he has come to conquer it from the year 1947!

Meanwhile it is nearly eight in the morning at the Untied States Naval Base of Pearl Harbor. Ensign Rod Reilly thanks his friend and former servant Slugger Dunn for picking him up so he could keep his appointment with Captain Hendler. Suddenly the Japanese attack the base and the jeep the two are riding in is hit. They attempt to make a run for it to Reilly’s ship, the Arizona, when both men are shot from above.

At the same time in Washington D.C. the Atom and Doctor Mid-Nite are attending the Redskins/Eagles game when the constant paging of military officials prompts the heroes to see what is going on. They are quickly informed of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the fact that the President has been trying to reach them since the previous evening. Before they can leave for the White House Robotman makes his presence known. After more introductions Robotman scoops the two heroes up and literally runs them to the White House.

Outside of the White House Johnny Chambers runs into Libby Lawrence. The sudden arrival of the three heroes spurs them to change into their own identities of Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle and they make their way inside to meet with the other heroes. Soon they are brought to President Roosevelt who informs them that he wants them to mobilize every hero in the country into an All-Star Squadron. He then orders the group to fly to the West Coast to safeguard against a possible Japanese attack. After Liberty Belle makes a quick phone call to Tom Revere in Philadelphia to ask him to ring her namesake and announces to the confused room that she is fully charged the group heads off on their first mission.

Hours later a submarine silently lurks off the coast of San Francisco. The order is sent to launch the Zeroes and watertight planes burst into the sky and fly towards the city. Inside the sub Sir Justin tells Degaton that he won’t succeed. Degaton informs the captive knight that because of him December 7, 1941 will not be a day of infamy because of the attack on Pearl Harbor but because it will be the night that the American mainland was likewise attacked by a foe that has not only conquered time but means to conquer the planet as well.

Annotations

- Hawkman, the Atom and Doctor Mid-Nite appear on the cover studying the photos of the following heroes; Wildcat I, Shining Knight (with Winged Victory), Green Arrow (Earth-2), (I’m assuming) Phantom Lady, Green Arrow (Earth-2), Johnny Quick I, Batman and Robin (Earth-2), Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy, Vigilante I, Robotman I, Doctor Fate I, Sandman I, Superman (Earth-2), Crimson Avenger I, Johnny Thunder and Thunderbolt, Plastic Man (Earth-2), Liberty Belle I, Tarantula I, Flash I, Captain Triumph, Spectre I, Green Lantern I and Wonder Woman (Earth-2). The only Justice Society member circa December 1941 not featured on the cover is Starman I.

- Dick Giordano inked this issue’s cover.

- Also Captain Triumph makes his one and only appearance in this series on this issue’s cover.

- The title of this story was “The World on Fire!” which is a reference to a recording that was apparently playing at the Pearl Harbor’s PX at the time of the Japanese attack and it has been reported that the song was played over and over that night. Some of the lyrics include “I don’t want to set the world on fire; I just want to start a flame in your heart.”

- Green Lantern, Flash, Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, Robin, Doctor Fate, Spectre, Starman, Johnny Thunder and Thunderbolt and Sandman all appear briefly in flashbacks.

- Likewise the Vigilante, Crimson Avenger, Star-Spangled Kid and Green Arrow also appear in a cameo when Sir Justin is discussing his fellow Law’s Legionnaires.

- Hawkman appeared on the splash page because he has always been Roy Thomas’ favorite Justice Society member and Golden Age hero. Hawkman was the only JSA member featured in every one of the group’s 1940-1951 adventure and Roy came within one issue of having the character appear in every issue of this series if only in a cameo shot.

- In 1941 and 1942 Plastic Man was published by Quality Comics. His first appearance was in Police Comics #1 (August 1941) along with the Human Bomb and the Phantom Lady among others. Starting with #5 Plastic Man took over the lead feature in the book and stayed there through #102 (October 1950). He also appeared in his own title starting in 1943 which ran sixty-four issues. DC acquired the character in 1956 when Quality went out of business.

- The Hostess Ad for this issue featured Batgirl trapping a group of female criminals who were impersonating a performing trio known as the Magpies. Apparently these girls had something of an eating disorder because one of them admits to the fact that they starved themselves in an effort to look like the Magpies. The moral to this ad is that if you starve yourself for days before pulling a big job Hostess Fruit Pies will be your downfall.

- Per Degaton’s appearance in this story takes place between All-Star Comics #35 (June/July 1947) and his membership in the first Injustice Society of the World in All-Star #37 (October/November 1947).

- The character of King Bee first fought the Justice Society in All-Star Comics #18 (Fall 1943).
- There was a Washington Redskins game on December 7, 1941 with quarterback Sammy Baugh playing. The game was played at Griffith Stadium and the Skins won 20-14 over the Philadelphia Eagles. Sammy Baugh’s number, 33, was eventually retired.

- In 1975 Roy Thomas created another World War II based group at Marvel called the Invaders. In that title Prime Minister Winston Churchill christened the group so with the All-Star Squadron Roy decided to have President Roosevelt name the team.

- This issue contained a one page text piece by Roy Thomas. Below is a transcript of that text page.

An Open Letter to the Readers of All-Star Squadron #1

Hi! My name is Roy Thomas, and I’m the conceptualizer and writer of the comic-magazine you’re holding in your hands.

Maybe it’s because we’re longtime friends and associates—or maybe it’s just because he’s been up to his tousled beard in editorial crises lately—but editor Len Wein has kindly permitted me to say a few words about ALL-STAR SQUADRON, its milieu and its mission , as well as about its talented artists, Rich Buckler and Jerry Ordway.

For my part, there’s almost nothing I’d rather do, since ALL-STAR SQUADRON, or something very much like it, is the single comic-book I’ve most wanted to do since I first discovered comics, a good third of a century ago. The original ALL-STAR COMICS, which introduced the legendary Justice Society of America and ran from 1940 to 1951, was and is my all-time favorite comic. And it was ALL-STAR’s successor, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, which led me to become a comics professional in the mid-1960’s, even though the fates arranged that the first fifteen years of my career were spent writing and editing for Marvel Comics.

Thus I was more than mildly-envious of my good friend Gerry Conway a few years back when he was able to revive ALL-STAR as a regular title, to compliment the JLA-JSA teamups which had become an annual institution at DC. As destiny would have it, though the 1970’s ALL-STAR fell victim to a general cutback two years ago; so I was both flattered and elated when DC’s ruling triumvirate of publisher Jenette Kahn, editorial director Joe Orlando, and coordinating editor Paul Levitz gave me a chance to write a return of the JSA!

However, a simple revival—or would have been a “re-revival’?—didn’t seem such a good idea. After all, it’s been well established that the Justice Society was formed in the forge of World War Two. Thus, even its youngest member, the original Atom, must be pushing retirement age by now. Rather, it seemed that a new mag was called for.

What new mag? The answer seemed obvious.

After all, it was from the period of World War Two—from 1938, when Superman first appeared in ACTION COMICS #1 while war-clouds hung heavy over Europe, to 1945, when the war ended—that most of the super-stars of the so-called Golden Age of Comic Book evolved. Not just Superman, but Batman—Wonder Woman—Captain Marvel – Plastic Man—all of them made their premier appearances during those star-spangled if violent days.

Thus, we speedily decided to do a magazine called ALL-STAR SQUADRON, which would feature not only the JSAers themselves, but virtually every one of the great DC (and Quality Comics Group, of which more next month) heroes from those days.

Sure, it would require a lot of work – and even a few initial many-heroed issues—to get the mag going and yet keep it from becoming a mob scene. But this way, we could play down the Earth-Two heroes who have counterparts on Earth-One (such as Green Lantern, Flash, etc.) in favor of other, quite promising characters who have been ignored or underplayed for years.

If we lost the original GL, we gained the Earth-Two Robotman; if we dropped Jay (Flash) Garrick, we picked up on Johnny Quick; Liberty Belle could stand in for Wonder Woman till more super-powered ladies came along. We even tossed in an Earth-Two version of the venerable Plastic Man, whose series in ADVENTURE was just folding, to be an FBI liaison, reporting only to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt himself. And there are lots more surprises to come!

(Oh, just one quirk to explain away, for the sharp-eyed amongst ye: For personal reasons, I begged Jenette, Joe, and Paul to let me include as regulars my two childhood favorites, Hawkman and the Atom. I’d always identified with the undersized but powerful Atom-- and I’d long had a desire to see Hawkman’s twin-beaked helmet, which had virtually never been depicted since the 1940’s, return in all its bizarre glory. And since my new and esteemed employers are benevolent despots, after all, they agreed. Perhaps they just could stand to see a more or less grown man grovel.)

Now, perhaps, a few “thank-you’s” from editor Len and myself are in order. First, a tip of our hats to our artistic collaborators, Rich Buckler and Jerry Ordway. Rich was far and away out first choice for penciler on ALL-STAR SQUADRON; and we likewise predict that newcomer Jerry Ordway will soon be a lot of people’s top choice for inker of various series, as well. A lot of reference-checking went into both this issues and our special 16-page “prevue” which appeared as an insert in JLA #193, and both guys certainly did their share—as did Mike Barr, who took time off from editing several DC titles to Xerox tons of back-issue pages for Rich and Jerry. Thanks too to consulting E. Nelson Bridwell for his comments and suggestions; Len and I yield to few in our awe of Nelson’s formidable knowledge of old comics of all kinds!

Next issue, as we await letters on both the “prevue” and on this month’s story, we’ll fill you in a bit on the Wartime History of the Justice Society—to help both those of you who are and those who are not longtime comic buffs to keep the series in perspective. We’ll show you where and how ALL-STAR SQUADRON fits into the chronology of the Justice Society itself—also how the Squadron squares with the concept of the “Justice Battalion” as the JSA was often called from 1942 until near war’s end. Rest assured, though—we’re not going to overturn forty-plus years of continuity, if we can help it!

Oh yes, and one more little innovation: We’ll even be handling the footnotes in ALL-STAR SQUADRON a little differently.

Since a series set in the early 1940’s requires a number of explanatory references not just to comics issues but to everyday events, military/political history of the period, etc… things that might be unclear to many newer or younger readers… we were worried that the mag might degenerate into a sort of Battle of the Footnotes. This, naturally, would cover up a large area of art – and also distract from the story itself.

Thus, whenever possible, if a footnote need be more than a few words long, we intend simply to refer the reader to that issue’s letters page, a part of which will be devoted each month to imparting such information as might enhance enjoyment of the story. And why not? After all, aren’t the footnotes in many a “real” book located in the back? Let us know, please, how you like this set-up… hopefully, after you’ve given it a few issues.

In fact, let us know everything you like and don’t like about ALL-STAR SQUADRON.

Which heroes/heroines would you like to see us play up more (or less) including some not yet in evidence?

Do you want us to introduce new heroes and villains, or stick to those which really existed in the old comics?

Do you want us to place the emphasis on costumed super-villains, such as Degaton, or on Axis-oriented baddies of the “Captain Nazi” strips?

Do you want to see more women, more minority heroes in the series? (Already next issue, you’ll see Phantom Lady from the old Quality group, and we have Hawkgirl and another surprise or three in store for you as well.)

We have ideas of our own on all of the above—and we’ll get into some of them next time—but it’s your vote that really counts!

One final aside: While naturally the events of the Second World War on Earth-2 didn’t totally coincide with those on Earth-One (let alone in our own space-time continuum, where no super-heroes at all appeared to bail us out of trouble, as your grandparents may have noticed at the time), we’ve tried to keep things fairly factual when dealing with the events of the war itself. Thus, there’s a lot of truth lurking behind the super-fictitious scenes of “The World on Fire!”—from the time sequence of the attack on Pearl Harbor to the paid attendance of the Redskins/Eagles football game that day.

Rich, Jerry, Len and I all had a ball working on ALL-STAR SQUADRON #1. We hope it shows—and we hope you like what we’ve done.

Thanks for listening!

- The back cover of this issue offered a membership to Icee Bear Club. Icees are awesome, by the way, but not as good as a Slurpee at 7-11.

All-Star Squadron #0

2006-12-20T11:31:00.000-05:00

Cover Date: August 1981
Cover Price: $0.50
Release Date: May 7, 1981

Story Title: “Special All-Star Squadron Preview”, 14 pages

"Cover": Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano

Writer: Roy Thomas
Penicller: Rich Buckler
Inker: Jerimiah Ordway
Colorist: Carl Gafford
Letterer: John Costanza
Editor: Len Wein

Heroes: Atom I, Batman (Earth-2), Doctor Fate I, Doctor Mid-Nite I, Flash I, Green Lantern I, Hawkman I, Johnny Thunder and Thunderbolt, Plastic Man (Earth-2, in shadow), Robin (Earth-2), Robotman I, Sandman I, Spectre I, Starman I, Superman (Earth-2), Wildcat I, Wonder Woman (Earth-2)

Villains: Monster, Professor Zodiak, Sky Pirate, Solomon Grundy, Wotan

Supporting Characters: Danette Reilly, Firebrand I (as Ensign Rod Reilly), Harry Hopkins, Johnny Quick (as Johnny Chambers), Liberty Belle (as Libby Lawrence), President Franklin Roosevelt, Tubby Watts, Winged Victory

Memorable Quote: "I’d hoped to have the powerful Justice Society with their formidable powers, standing by—forming some sort of All-Star Squadron to help out in the present emergency, but—" –President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Synopsis

December 6, 1941. The time is just past ten o’clock at night and a shadowy figure tells Harry Hopkins that the time has come. Harry asks the man if he is certain and is informed that it may be past time. He sends out the call to the Justice Society of America but that call goes unanswered.

Meanwhile three time zones away in southern California newsreel photographer Johnny Chambers and his assistant Tubby Watts film Green Lantern, the Flash and Wonder Woman running in the Race of the Century, a charitable event for the March of Dimes. Wonder Woman wins and receives a trophy from Wildcat, who is standing in for Heavyweight Champ Ted Grant. When the audience becomes a little rowdy Lantern, the Flash and Wonder Woman leave and meet at Los Angeles’ Echo Park for a late night picnic. Their meal is interrupted by Solomon Grundy who claims to know the heroes despite the fact that they have never seen him before. Even with their combined power Grundy defeats the heroes prepares to kill Green Lantern. A voice tells him not to or he will pay the penalty and Grundy reluctantly agrees.

Back at the White House the man in shadow continues his quest to contact the Justice Society. Harry suggests that they may want to get in touch the new group of heroes known as the Law’s Legionnaires. His suggestion is shot down and the quest for the JSA continues.

A half hour later in New York City Wesley Dodds, Ted Knight and Johnny Thunder watch world famous Libby Lawrence on Wes’ new television. Wes wonders if he should zip over to Justice Society headquarters to see if any urgent calls have come in before spotting a pirate ship flying outside his window. Wes and Ted quickly change into their identities of the Sandman and Starman while Johnny summons his magical Thunderbolt to investigate. Once on the ship the heroes are attacked by the crew. The fight goes in the heroes’ favor until the ship’s captain, Sky Pirate, arrives and puts them to sleep with his ancient looking gas gun.

Fifteen minutes later Dr. Fate sees that his old enemy Wotan is flying towards his Tower in Salem, Massachusetts. Despite being less powerful than he was before Fate flies towards Wotan only to collide with his Justice Society teammate the Spectre. Wotan soon appears and gloats that he had tricked the heroes into seeing their most hated enemies thus knocking each other unconscious.

On a volcanic island off near Hawaii Ensign Rod Reilly tries to persuade his sister Danette to leave with him before the volcano erupts. Danette refuses but thanks her brother for talking his naval buddies into dropping him off for the visit.

At the same time in Gotham City at the opening of a new USO club Superman, Batman and Robin are attacked by the garishly dressed Professor Zodiak. Batman and Robin rush to face him but Zodiak tosses a few drops of a liquid at then which seemingly turn the Dynamic Duo into infants. When Superman flies at the villain Zodiak produces his Philosophers Stone. The Stone weakens Superman allowing Zodiak to capture the heroes with ease.

In Washington the Atom, Dr. Mid-Nite and Hawkman visit the Lincoln Memorial. The Atom suggests that they might want to get back to their hotel room when Dr. Mid-Nite pushes him out of the way from the beams of a death ray. The heroes turn to find the Monster firing at them. The Monster charges at them and despite defeating Hawkman and Dr. Mid-Nite the Atom manages to get the drop on him. The Atom demands to know why he attacked them and as the Monster transforms into a frail old man he says the word Degaton. The Justice Society members are shocked to see the old man disappear in a flash of light.

A short distance away a strange figure in a trench coat watches the battle and listens intently to what the heroes are discussing before turning around to walk away, his feet making a strange metallic sound on the concrete.

The clock strikes midnight and in the White House the shadowy figure, revealed to be President Roosevelt, announces that time has run out. Harry asks him if he is certain that the JSA was so desperately needed. Roosevelt reminds Harry that he has read the decoded message that they’ve learned the Japanese will deliver to the Secretary of State tomorrow. The message was complete enough for Roosevelt to know that this means war.

Annotations

-This story was a sixteen page (counting the “cover”, fourteen pages of story and an ad for the first issue) preview that took place in Justice League of America (vol. 1) #193. DC ran a good number of these inserts to promote new series or new directions for existing books. Some of these inserts featured the New Teen Titans, Wonder Woman, Night Force, Blue Devil and Captain Carrot and the Amazing Zoo Crew.

-Behind the cover of Justice League of America (vol. 1) #193 was a house ad that promoted the then upcoming All-Star Squadron

-Instead of Starman the Shining Knight appears on the “cover” of this preview issue. The Knight was never a member of the Justice Society.

- Roy Thomas, Len Wein and letterer Gaspar Saladino worked together to create the logo of the “All-Star Squadron”. Their model was the logo appearing in All-Star Comics #43-57. Apparently Roy made certain a hyphen was inserted in “All-Star,” though apparently other writers and editors have left it out on occasion. The only change to the logo came in issue four where the “S” in “Squadron" went from looking like a backward Z to a more curved S.

(Original Logo)

(Final Logo)

(Original All-Star Comics logo circa issues 43-57)

-The March of Dimes race between Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Flash was inspired by the wraparound cover for Comic Cavalcade #1 (December 1942-January 1943).

-Solomon Grundy first faced off against the Alan Scott Green Lantern in All-American Comics #61 (October 1944) in the story “Fighters Never Quit”.

-Wotan first fought Dr. Fate in More Fun Comics #55 (May 1940). That was also Dr. Fate’s first appearance in “The Menace of Wotan”.

-Sky Pirate’s final Golden-Age battle with Green Lantern took place in Comic Cavalcade #25 (February-March 1948) in the story “The Roof of the World”.

-The USO gig that Superman, Batman and Robin attended was inspired by the cover of World’s Finest Comics #6 (Summer 1942).

-Professor Zodiak (also known as the Alchemist) made his first appearance in All-Star Comics #42 (August-September 1948) in the story “The Man Who Hated Science!”

-The Monster made his first appearance in All-Star Comics #20 (Spring 1944) in the story “The Movie That Changed a Man’s Life”.

-In one panel Rick Buckler apparently drew Robotman looking at the famous statue of the US flag-raising on Iwo Jima. This is a bit of an anachronism since the statue was based on the photo which wouldn’t be taken until 1945. Roy Thomas had Ordway alter it to the Washington Monument.

-Roy made his own gaff in that panel by having Robotman brace against the chill of the late-autumn wind, which wouldn’t have bothered him since he was, you know, a robot.

-The super-heroes in this story were drawn and colored to match the look of the characters from their appearances circa 1941-42. The exceptions to this were Hawkman wearing his 1946-era helmet (a personal quirk of Roy Thomas’), the red instead of orange lapels on the Atom (Len Wein insisted on this), Dr. Mid-Nite’s copper-colored gloves and boots and the Shining Knight’s chest-insignia.

-Danette Reilly shared a first name with the birth name of Roy Thomas’ wife Dann Thomas, who was also a red-head.

-The Hostess Ad from this issue features Green Arrow saving a bunch of kids from a damaged tram. Apparently Hostess Fruit Pies will distract the children enough to make them forget that they almost fell to their horrible, agonizing deaths.

-The Harry speaking to President Roosevelt is Harry Hopkins who was one of Roosevelt’s closet advisors. In addition to being one of the architects of the New Deal and directing the Works Progress Administration he was also one of the President’s chief diplomatic trouble shooters during World War II and was a key policy maker for the Lend Lease program that sent aid to the allies.

-For those of you who may not know Heavyweight Champ Ted Grant couldn’t attend the Race of the Century because he was already there in his guise as Wildcat.

-The Law’s Legionnaires were also known as the original Seven Soldiers of Victory.

-This story takes place before Wonder Woman was made part of the Justice Society in All-Star Comics #13 (October-November 1942) after the events “Shanghaied Into Space!” In that book they invite Wonder Woman to be their secretary.

-Prof. Zodiak uses Kryptonite against Superman to capture the Man of Steel. This pre-dates Superman’s first comic book exposure to the element which took place in Superman #61 (November-December 1949). The story was called “Superman Returns to Krypton!” where the rock was originally colored red.

Welcome, One and All

2006-12-08T00:26:00.000-05:00

December 7, 1941. A day that will live in infamy.

December 8, 2006. A day when the Perisphere, a site dedicated to the All-Star Squadron is launched.

Ok, so today you really can’t compare the two, but I thought it would be a dramatic and at the same time slightly humorous way to kick this whole thing off.

Hello there and welcome to the Perisphere. As was previously mentioned this site is devoted to the All-Star Squadron, the largest and to my mind the greatest team of super-heroes ever assembled. My name is Michael Bailey and I will be your host and guide through what will hopefully be a fun and informative site where fans of the All-Stars, both old and new, can come and either relive the adventures of the initially Earth-2 based heroes or learn about them for the first time.

So what can you come to expect from this site/blog? Well the answer to that can be broken down into three sections.

Indexes: Every issue of both the All-Star Squadron and the follow-up series Young All-Stars will be read and indexed. The format will be similar to the indexes published in the mid-eighties by ICG with a few modifications on my part. The synopsis will be detailed and I will try not to make them boring or long winded. Also there will be annotations, cover scans and other assorted bits of business from the individual issues.

Who’ Who Entries: This will be split up into two categories the first being pictures and text from the original Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe, which originally ran for twenty-six issues and had two Updates in 1987 and 1988 in addition to a binder format Who’s Who that DC published in 1991. I’m also throwing in entries from two Role Playing sourcebooks that I have in my possession. Even though I am basically copying information from other sources I hope that the graphics and the text will serve as kind of a shrine to the hard work of the original writers and artists.

Eventually, though, I’ll be writing original entries as I go through the series and chart what specific characters did during their time with the All-Stars. I’ll also do some research and create Who’s Who entries for the historical figures that came and went in the pages of All-Star Squadron, like President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill. I thought those would be a nice touch to the whole thing.

Articles, Reviews and Editorials: Eventually I hope to compile some detailed articles on the creation of the All-Star Squadron and the creators involved. I don’t expect to do these any time soon, but they are in the planning stages for down the road. I also plan on writing articles about the books themselves to examine certain aspects of the series and specific characters.

As for reviews, well I don’t plan on reviewing the issues of the All-Star Squadron or Young All-Stars because anything I have to say will be covered in the annotations. What I will review, though, are any new books DC publishes featuring Golden-Age characters and their descendents. Down the road I hope to do an Infinity, Inc. site and way down the road I want to do a pretty detailed site chronicling the Justice Society from the seventies until today. For right now, though I want to focus on the All-Stars so these reviews will scratch the itch I have regarding the modern adventures of the Justice Society and any other teams and characters associated with DC’s Golden-Age.

One of the problems I see down the road is dealing with the continuity problems that resulted from the Crisis on Infinite Earths. All-Star Squadron was initially set on Earth-2, a concept I love even though I came into collecting comics after it had been done away with. The reason that Young All-Stars was created in the first place was to give Roy Thomas a way to re-imagine his team after the rug got pulled out from under him. This won’t have a huge impact on the index portion of the site because everything is pretty much spelled out in the synopsis. The Who’s Who entries are another matter, but I’ve come up with something akin to a solution. As far as the entries that reprint materials from other sources just check the original date of publication and if it is on or after 1987 assume that it is Post-Crisis continuity. When it comes to the original entries I plan to structure the entries to go over both Pre and Post-Crisis continuities because, well I’m anal-retentive and I thought it would be a rather nifty thing to do.

I hope this site will be as fun for you to read as it is for me to create. I plan to update the site weekly but I may post new material at odd times once I get it done. In any case come back every Friday to check out the latest updates. As always feedback is most welcome so if you have something to say either use the comment feature at the bottom of each entry or go ahead and e-mail me at supermanearth2@bellsouth.net. I want as much interaction as possible, so if something makes you happy or upset or if you think something I’ve posted is inaccurate go ahead and let me know.

For right now though enjoy the site and keep ‘em flying.

Or something like that.