Superman Defects to the Axis? Say It Ain't So!

A few years ago, I reviewed All-Star Squadron #1-3, which I think did an excellent job of jugggling a lot of characters within a complex and multi-faceted story. Recently, I was feeling kind of Golden

Age-y again and I thought it might be fun to visit the 4th issue of that series (cover-dated December 1981).

Roy Thomas is still in his Golden Age Comfy Zone as writer and Rich Buckler continues to supply excellent art work, but this issue is a little bit of a let-down from the excellent trilogy that started off the series. This time, the story feels too crowded, with too many heroes jammed into something that might have worked better with a smaller group of good guys.

The issue starts out a little slow because we get several pages following along with the heroes as they fly to Pearl Harbor, which is still reeling from the surprise attack one day earlier. This allows Thomas to get in some character interaction and small bits of characterization, but it does set a slow pace.

After avoiding some anti-aircraft fire from nervous troops, the heroes finally meet with an army general and soon decide to fly after the Japanese fleet. If they can take out the enemy carriers, they'll win the war in one fell swoop.

And that is why this story exists. Superman--even the slightly under-powered Earth 2 Superman--could easily take out most of the Axis military. With other heroes such as Wonder Woman and Green Lantern helping out as well, why wasn't World War II over by December 8, 1941?

The DC Universe had an explanation for this that is actually quite reasonable in terms of Comic Book Logic. Hitler had the Spear of Destiny, which kept superheroes from entering territory he controlled. The Japanese, it turned out, had the Holy Grail. A villain named the Dragon King explains this to his minions just before the Grail is activated.

The most powerful heroes--who happen to also be the ones powered by magic or vulnerable to magic--are quickly affected by the Grail's power, causing them to instantly change sides. 

The action stuff that follows is good, though once again it is overcrowded with too many heroes. The first three issues had a lot of stuff going on in different locations, allowing Thomas to use a large cast of characters effectively. This issue has a fairly straightfoward plot and simply doesn't need a huge cast.

Despite my complaints, the story does have fun moments and Buckler's art looks great from start to finish. Green Lantern lands the "weaker" heroes on a Japanese-controlled island, but Liberty Belle knocks him out with a piece of wood (wood being the Golden Age GL's rather unusual "kryptonite") and the B-team gets to prove their worth by taking out the enemy troops. 

Hawkman, in the meantime, manages to lure the "traitors" out of range of the Grail's influence. The good guys "win" in that they don't kill each other. But the ground rules for the war are set--no superpower heroics aimed directly at the Axis powers. The heroes will have to watch over the home front while the Allied military actually wins the war at the front lines.

I really did like the issue and I do get that establishing why Superman and Wonder Woman don't simply win the war on their own was necessary. But there are simply too many ingredients in the pot to make this a gourmet meal. 

It's interesting to compare this series to Thomas' Invaders, in which he got to throw Marvel's Golden Age heroes at the Nazis. Marvel's good guys simply didn't have the same level of raw power, so by adding a few Axis supervillains and some science fiction elements, you can then toss the Invaders anywhere inside enemy-controlled territory without wondering why they didn't simply win the war on their own. The DC Universe, on the other hand, had to set up different conditions for their version of the war. Both versions are fun and worthwhile, though, and (my complaints about this issue notwithstanding) Roy Thomas was the perfect writer for both of these series. 

Next week, we'll visit with Cave Girl once more.

Back to World War II: The All-Star Squadron

In 1981, Roy Thomas left Marvel and signed a contract with DC. Among other books he wrote for the Distinguished Competition was The All-Star Squadron, which allowed Thomas to once again play in a sandbox full of his beloved Golden Age heroes.

As with the Invaders, this was not a bad thing. Thomas is an excellent writer and never allows his love for his characters to dilute good storytelling with nostalgia-fueled sentiment. Aftter an insert preview in JLA #193 helped set up the initial story arc, Thomas' new venture into World War II superheroes was ready to begin.

The All-Star Squadron is an inspired idea. After the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, FDR asks the superheroes of the nation to form into a "single super-powerful unit" to fight the Axis. So Thomas could combine JSA members with Seven Soldier of Victory members with non-affiliated heroes with.. well, anyone who wore a costume in the 1940s and fought crime. It made for endless possibilities and a large variety of character interactions. Also included are characters like Plastic Man, who were not DC-owned superheroes in the '40s but had been acquired by them since then.

A nice touch, though, is that neither Roosevelt nor anyone else uses the term "superhero." In 1941, that term hadn't yet become common. Costumed heroes were called "mystery men" and that's how Thomas' characters refer to them in-story.

Forming this new team will be made difficult, though, by the fact that a lot of the JSA members had been kidnapped by different supervillains. And, as All-Star Squadron #1 (September 1981) gets going, Shining Knight is captured by Solomon Grundy.

The interesting thing is that the villains are all appearing in a story set several years before any of them first appeared in a comic book during the Golden Age. Is Thomas giving us a retcon? Is he--GASP--changing established comic book history?

No, he's not. Well, he's mostly not. Thomas' primary bad guy in this story is a time travelling villain named Per Degaton, who first appeared in All-Star Comics #35 in 1947.  Per Degaton has slipped back in time to 1941, bringing a huge submarine/aircraft carrier and a small army of villains with him.

So the newly formed All-Star Squadron will have its work cut out for it.

That brings us to the second issue (October 1981).

Thomas does an excellent job with story construction throughout all three parts of this premiere tale, gradually providing us with exposition while mixing in a lot of action to keep the pacing fast. The artist, by the way, is Rich Buckler, who's clean and dynamic art makes it all fun to look at.

Anyway, I'm just going to summarize Per Degaton's wonderfully complex plan. Coming back from the future with supervillains and high tech, he plans on faking a Japanese attack on San Francisco, forcing Roosevelt to ignore the Germans and concentrate all military strength against the Japanese. The idea is to create a stalemate among the superpowers that would cause enough destruction and chaos to allow Per Degaton to carve out his own empire.

The heroes--sorry, Mystery Men (and Women)--manage to foil the San Francisco air strike. Shining Knight manages to get loose while being held aboard Per Degaton's sub/carrier and cause some havoc. So Degaton, who has the captured heroes held prisoner with magical bonds on a volcanic isle, decides to blow that isle up and kill them all. He begins this process by pressing a button conveniently marked "Volcanic Isle Detonator." I guess the label is to keep him from accidently blowing up the island when he meant to just make coffee? I'm sorry, but if you need a reminder of which button is the one for blowing up an island, then you don't have the mental capacity to rule your own empire. It's got to be one of your more important buttons. You should be able to remember which one it is.

In All-Star Squadron #3 (November 1981), the action continues at a fast pace, with the story shifting between different scenes expertly enough to allow us to always follow along. There's a smoothness to the plot construction that really makes this book worth studying by any aspiring writer.

Shining Knight manages to bust out of the sub along with Danette Reilly, a volcano expert who was captured along with him (and who has been handling herself well despite having no powers). They end up back on the volcanic isle, where continuing shenanigans with some of the supervillains allow Spectre to break out of the magical bonds that hold him. Spectre, then is able to keep the other heroes there alive when the island blows up. Danette, in the meantime, falls into lava and gets superpowers of her own.

Some of the heroes who have been fighting Japanese planes in San Francisco track down Per Degaton's sub and--in an absolutely wonderful sequence--Plastic Man encases the others inside him, then forms himself into a drill to break into the sub. After more fighting, all the bad guys are defeated.

The sub, other equipment used by Per Degaton and the supervillains all fade away, returning to the future now that the plan to change history has been thwarted. The All-Star Squadron finishes their first mission, though their memory of it will fade as time resets itself.

All-Star Squadron had a respectable 67 issue run, ending not long after DC rebooted its universe and Earth-2, where these stories took place, ceased to exist (which is my biggest beef with that reboot). I think there were a couple of annuals as well. Combine that with the 41 issue run of The Invaders (along with a couple of Giant-Size issues) and Roy Thomas got to play in a genre he loved for well over 100 issues. It's a nice way to make a living.

Next week, we'll jump into the future as Thor teams up with the Guardians of the Galaxy.