Having been a huge fan of the Justice Society, I was very happy when All-Star Squadron first debuted. Finally, here was an Earth-Two series where all the characters were in their prime! I loved that it gave a spotlight for lesser known characters like Johnny Quick, Robtman and The Shining Knight, and that it featured a more serious version of Plastic Man than the one I had seen before. Add to that gorgeous artwork by Jerry Ordway and covers by Joe Kubert, and you had a comic that always made it to the top of my stack. Writer Roy Thomas could sometimes get a bit wordy and bogged down by continuity minutia but his vast knowledge of the title's expansive cast more than made up for those minor quibbles. This series was clearly a labor of love for him. It's a shame that All-Star Squadron could not last after the ramifications of Crisis on Infinite Earths and I hope someday we will see a new take on the concept.
Wow, fifty story pages for only forty cents. Wish that and all the team ups you've produced on this blog could be true.
ReplyDeleteSuggestions:
The Thing and Howard The Duck.
The Thing and Darkwing Duck.
Batman and Howard The Duck.
Batman and Darkwing Duck.
And, if possible, give the lead an "issue" off and team up Howard with Darkwing.
Also, why not The Thing or Batman with Doctor Who?
Dave sez ~
ReplyDeleteAwww, yeah, that right there is a sweet cover!
Degaton was awesomeness!
Lee - I like the way you think!!!
Thing/Dr. Who and Batman/ Howard the Duck have already appeared, just check the archives!
ReplyDeleteDarkwing is tough as he is so cartoony, and it's hard to find pics to mesh with the Disney style.
As with many items on the blog, Russ, you echo my feelings with the love for the All Star Squadron. With the exception of Dave Meltzer, I think I may have read more words from Roy Thomas than anyone else in my lifetime. Yes his style is way out of vogue today, but think of all the things we learned and retained to this day with that historical minutae and attention to detail. Roy's love of his material was evident in his writing, as he deeply cared for the artform and its history. The many that followed that wanted you to know it was THEIR take on otherwise familiar characters you were buying, could have benefited from Roy's approach.
ReplyDeleteAll-Star Squadron was always on top of my pile abut Crisis did not destroy it. So the All-Stars had some replacements - the origin of the JSA was affected more by Crisis. I think Roy Thomas would find ways to 'fix" continuity as he did on that other series with young characters as he did with "Young All-Stars" (V1).
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