When I would read the JLA/JSA team-ups of my youth, one character looked cooler than the rest. Wesley Dodd's non-traditional superhero garb really stood out against all the ore "modern" looks. The hat, the creepy gas mask, the green and purple combo usually reserved for villains - it all worked perfectly!
I remember those JLA/JSA stories too, and the mid-70s run of ALL-STAR COMICS with the JSA. I've been reading reprints of the original run of ALL_STAR COMICS from the 40s. I was hugely disappointed to find that they changed Wesley Dodds out of his classic costume into a standard superhero acrobatic costume a couple of years into the Justice Society. The green suit and gas mask were the single best thing about the whole team!
ReplyDeleteAn attribute of your work, Ross, that possibly gets overlooked but that's nonetheless important: the lettering does a lot to carry this cover. Nicely done.
ReplyDeleteIt was explained in a one-shot JLA/JSA team-up (during the 100 Page Giant phase of the pre-Bicentennial comic) that Dodds went back to the original pulp-ish outfit after Alexander "Sandy" Hawkins became a silicon version of Solomon Grundy.* Ten or fifteen years later, a one-shot flashback story, in All-STAR SQUADRON, explained why Dodds had switched over to the purple-and-gold outfit in the first place.
ReplyDelete*Think Marvel's Sandman with the Silver Age Hulk's IQ!
Hell yeah! Now this really really works for me. Anytime Sleepwalker can get some love, I'm all for it. You should definitely do a sequel with Neil Gaiman's Sandman next.
ReplyDeleteThat one is already on here, Dale, just click on the Sleepwalker label.
ReplyDeleteGotcha
DeleteSANDMAN for the win! I'm not really familiar with SLEEPWALKER, but this is a great cover. SANDMAN's Golden Age costume is the best. It's interesting to note that several of the original JSA members have that mysterious "nighttime" look. BATMAN, HOURMAN, SPECTRE, DOCTOR MID-NITE, and DOCTOR FATE.
ReplyDeleteIt's his mask that always intrigued me.It's too bad that they don't use Dodds a lot.
ReplyDeleteWho're they up against? Freddy Krueger?
ReplyDeleteAnyway great job on that amazing cover!
I, too, have a love for superhero costumes that rely more on regular clothing than on spandex, though these are quite few and all those that I can think of are DC: Zatanna and the Question for certain; also, arguably, the clone Superboy and Wonder Woman during her jacket phase.
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