I did a whole post on All-Star Squadron issue #1 a while back and you can read that here, if you want.
- Roy Thomas didn’t just set All-Star Squadron during WWII. Roy Thomas set All-Star Squadron during WWII AND within the continuity of the original JSA stories in All-Star Comics. This means that he was: 1) Making sure everything was (relatively) historically accurate. 2) Making sure his stories fit with the All-Star Comics stories from the Golden Age. And 3) Reinterpreting a lot of those Golden Age stories so they were more “realistic” for the times. This… is both a blessing and a curse.
This is what Roy Thomas did. This is how he wrote comics.
The blessing is that you feel a kind of immersion. You feel like you are jumping into an alternate history. All the continuity checks make the comic nerd within you jump with joy. You almost feel like he’s creating a world that you like better.
The curse is that this is REALLY restricting. Roy can’t have Superman fly to Berlin in 1941, level the place, and end the war because that did not happen historically. Also, he has to have the JSA disband in All-Star Squadron #5 so they can join the army because that’s what they did in All-Star Comics #11 after Pearl Harbor. This means that he allows his story, his creativity to be restricted by the confines of history and continuity. It also means that he spends significant time and even entire issues making it all “work.”
And, please don’t get me wrong, I love Roy Thomas and this is what Roy Thomas did. I can’t picture him doing it any other way. You would not have the same charm with a different writer setting a JSA story in modern times.
That being said, a different writer setting a JSA story in modern times would have had MUCH more freedom to write their stories and spend much less time on continuity management.
Like I said: Blessing and Curse…
- When I was a kid, it was Johnny Quick- easy. Johnny just seemed to have more attitude and charisma than the other All-Stars.
This read-through, however, I’ve had a change of heart. Now, I think Shining Knight is my favorite. He’s just soooo out of place that it works when it shouldn’t. I really loved watching him try to hold off Grundy with just his sword because: Chivalry. Of course he would… Shining Knight is not a superhero. Not really. He’s just an out of date warrior that can’t really do anything else but this in the modern world. I like that.
- I think this is an outrage. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman get taken down while Atom stays free? Atom???
Nah, just playing. It’s fine. It was obviously done so Roy could use the less powerful, lesser known JSA’ers rather than have to work within the confines of the expectations and continuity of writing one of the Trinity or the likes of Green Lantern or The Flash on a regular basis (he’d given himself enough confines by that point). And, for the most part, I get how each villain could take down their JSA’ers. Except… maybe… Zodiak. Like, okay-fine, he uses alchemy to synthesize Kryptonite and take out Superman, but… how did he get Batman? That guy???
- The villains are fine. I always love seeing Grundy and Wotan creates a hard-to-conquer mystic foil.
Per Degaton is clearly the best, though. I really love what Thomas did with Degaton here. Basically, Per Degaton only exists in the day of his origin as told in All-Star Comics #35. He gets his meddle with time idea from Professor Zee, attempts to murder the Professor, steals the time travel device, attempts an evil scheme to conquer the world, loses, returns to the moment before he has the idea, everyone forgets what happened because- time travel, and he repeats the same thing in the very same day again and again. … I love it.
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Danette Reilly- Firebrand really stands out to me. She was a fearless adventurer even before she had powers. Then, when she gets them, it’s like they were meant for her. Also, Roy Thomas’ wife was named Dann. Does anyone think Danette’s name is coincidence?
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Roy Thomas was not writing the return of the JSA. I don’t care what he thinks, that’s not what he was doing.
First: Return??? He set the story during the JSA’s heyday. They hadn’t gone anywhere.
Second: JSA??? He was writing the All-Star Squadron- a larger, more diverse group of heroes that created multiple legacies.
In a lot of ways he was doing something better than writing the return of the JSA. He was creating a new legacy of superheroics. But… no… technically not the return of the JSA.
As always, thanks for putting up with my rants! Moth, out!