Well Yes, I'll Take Three

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.