Monday, June 20, 2022

Wing Command

 

There was a discussion in a comments section a while back about creating an all-winged team.  I originally thought it would be tough to do given the space that winged characters generally take up on a cover, especially with all the different candidates for such a team. I figured I would try the concept but limit it to heroes that have feathered wings, and that seemed to be more manageable.

26 comments:

Carycomic said...

A great concept, Ross! :-)

Although, I must admit, when I first saw the name "Winged Victory," I thought you were referring to the Shining Knight's horse! If such had been the case, I wouldn't have had the courage to "just look up."

;-)

Chuck said...

Since pre-Crisis Hawkman spent so much of his time with the Justice Society or the Justice League, it makes sense for Hawkwoman to shine in her own group. (Looking for the missing Hawkman could make for a good follow-up case, especially if the sleuthing required the help of Nightwing.)

jack-el said...

Ross, what a great team and cover....
Chuck, do you mean Marvel detective duo or the young guy in blue who used to work with the Darknight Detective in Gotham????
however, none of them have any real feathers so how they even fit onto this team????

Unknown said...

Hey, and this looks like the first time on a cover for Red Raven, Winged Victory, and Bluejay! Nice!!

Cavillier1970 said...

Really nice work here. Love these teams you're forging here with the heroes who share a common thread. But even better is seeing Winged Victory and Astro City getting some love here.

emsley wyatt said...

Dawnstar feeling left out.

Bob Greenwade said...

I had a similar first reaction as Cary. I think it might be interesting to learn that, in the STFU, the horse turned out to not just share the name, but actually is the superheroine, under some sort of curse!

But I think your decision to go with just feathered wings was a good one. The group looks every bit as amazing as when Winged Victory and Aragorn met along with their respective riders. I'm with Emsley, though, in missing Dawnstar in this; maybe she can join up if you ever revisit this group.

(Though I also think Dawnstar would be an interesting guest-star for the Skip Tracers!)

In trying to think of who would've been left out for having non-feathered wings, it occurred to me that a meeting between Man-Bat and the Gargoyles would have some interesting dynamics. For some reason it'd seem especially interesting to see Dr. Langstrom interacting with Hudson.

That, in turn, got me to missing some of the old ongoing rivalries you've had on here: Man-Bat and the Lizard, Harley Quinn and Doc Samson, and (especially) Ambush Bug and Deadpool.

H. H. H. said...

Horsefeathers! I said HORSEFEATHERS! Why I know of 2 horses off the double M(arvel) ranch alone, Black Knight's and Valkerie's, in the 70s would have been in immediate use.

Anonymous said...

@Bob Greenwade: why not? It worked for the Silver Age back story of Comet The Super-horse.

Wolfhammer said...

Great cover! Now have them team-up with the characters from BATTLE OF THE PLANETS.

Anonymous said...

Dear Ross: is Astro City (the Vertigo comic that introduced this version of Winged Victory) still being published by DC?

Dr. OTR said...

It freaks me out how all these guys have six limbs. As a general rule, vertebrates have only four. (Except for centaurs, of course, who not only have six limbs, they have two sets of ribcages, and four lungs. It's unclear how many stomachs they have.)

Dr. OTR said...

Whoops, slight retraction -- I just remembered that Hawkwoman straps on her wings. So she's a proper tetrapod. (I'm not sure if any of the others fall into that category.) And I should point out, for completeness, that some vertebrates (snakes, for example, as well caecilians and most cetaceans) can have fewer than four limbs. It's just the additional ones that weird me out.

Anonymous said...

@Dr. OTR: I think it was stated, in one of the "The Chronicles of Narnia," that centaurs have two stomach! An omnivorous human one and a grass-eating equine one.

Detective Tobor said...

I hate to be a party poop, ... no I don't..I have a question. Will someone be in charge of the group or will they rotate chair holding? Harvey??!? This is where they are going to need a wing and a prayer.
Ross, you're one hell of a wingman.

Anonymous said...

Astro City is now back with Image Comics. https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/astro-city

Anonymous said...

Including the backlist. And they've started reprinting the series from the start in big, thick, full colour paperbacks ("metrobooks").

Anonymous said...

Thank you, my namesakes. :-)

Unknown said...

@emsley wyatt
LOL, I know, right? But it's amazing that Ross fit as many wings on the page that he did. Sometimes when they draw Dawnstar, she has a ridiculously large wingspan. But then again, I remember that sometimes Neal Adams had a huge wingspan on Angel, also....

MarchHareSupreme said...

Interesting theme, I knew you could do it.

Bob Greenwade said...

@Anon@11:05: That's a big part of what gave me the idea.

superminibricks said...

SWIFT!!!!!

Christopher Daley said...

Fantastic cover, Ross. You knocked the leather off this one.

Zak said...

I also miss Dawnstar!

Anonymous said...

Cover of the month!

Anonymous said...

The whole summer, in fact! :-)

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