Retro Review: All-Star Squadron #31-67 By Thomas, Jones, Clark & Others For DC Comics!

All-Star Squadron #31-67, Annual #3 (March 1984 – March 1987)

Written by Roy Thomas (#31-42, 45-67, Annual #3), Dann Thomas (#55)

Plotted by Roy Thomas (#41, 43-44)

Co-plotted by Dann Thomas (#46, 51-54, 58-60)

Scripted by Paul Kupperberg (#41, 44), Mike Baron (#43)

Research by Dann Thomas (Annual #3)

Penciled by Rick Hoberg (#31-35, 38-39, 57, Annual #3), Rich Buckler (#36, Annual #3), Arvell Jones (#37, 41-46, 50-55, 57-60, 67), Richard Howell (#40, 57, Annual #3), Todd McFarlane (#47), Mike Clark (#47, 50-51, 53-54, 56-58, 60), Mike Harris (#48-49, 56, 61), Al Dellinges (#52), Tim Burgard (#55), Ron Harris (#59), Tony DeZuniga (#62), Michael Bair (#63), Wayne Boring (#64, Annual #3), Don Heck (#65), Alan Kupperberg (#66), Jerry Ordway (Annual #3), Carmine Infantino (Annual #3), Don Newton (Annual #3), Mart Nodell (Annual #3), George Pérez (Annual #3), Keith Giffen (Annual #3)

Inked by Mike Machlan (#31, 63, Annual #3), Bill Collins (#32-35, 38-43, Annual #3), Richard Howell (#36-37, 57), Mike DeCarlo (#38), Pablo Marcos (#44-46), Vince Colletta (#47-51, 53-60), Tony DeZuniga (#49-50, 53, 56, 59-67), Alfredo Alcala (#52, 54, 57), Al Dellinges (#52), Tim Burgard (#55), Rick Hoberg (#57), Jerry Acerno (#58), Mike Gustovich (#59), Frank Giacoia (Annual #3), Joe Giella (Annual #3)

Coloured by Gene D’Angelo (#31-35, 37-47, Annual #3), Carl Gafford (#36, 48-67)

Spoilers (from thirty-six to thirty-nine years ago)

I’ve really been enjoying reading All-Star Squadron in order for the first time ever. The first thirty issues of the series established the team as a collective of just about every American hero active during the Second World War. The team’s creation coincided with the attack on Pearl Harbour, and the heroes, who are basically unable to help the war effort overseas because of Hitler’s use of magic, banded together to help with things at home, mostly taking on saboteurs and whatever else might happen.

Roy Thomas used this series to fix some issues in DC’s continuity, massaging the original Golden Age stories that featured these characters into the history of Earth-2. He took whole issues to rewrite existing stories, and wove together a clear through-line for dozens of characters.

Where I left off with the last column, the team was preparing for its first general meeting, as they prepared to move into the Perisphere at the old World’s Fair grounds as their base. Artist Jerry Ordway had left the book to launch Infinity Inc., and they’d announced that Rick Hoberg would be taking over as artist.

The core members of the team had taken back seats to the Justice Society over the last few months, so I am looking forward to returning to that crew. I know that the Crisis on Infinite Earths basically undid everything that Thomas was working on with this series (I wonder what the office politics of that time were like), and am curious to see how Crisis played out in these pages.

Let’s find out together.

Let’s track who turned up in the title:

The All-Star Squadron

Hawkman (Carter Hall, Justice Society of America; #31-32, 35-42, 44, 46, 50, 52, 60, 64, 67, Annual #3)
Hawkgirl (Shiera Sanders; #31, 35, 44, 46, 50-51, 53-54, 57-60, 67, Annual #3)
The Ray (Freedom Fighters; #31-35, 50, 60)
Black Condor (Freedom Fighters; #31-35, 50, 60)
Robotman (Paul Dennis, fka Bob Crane; #31-32, 38-44, 46-50, 53-54, 57-60, 63-64)
Commander Steel (Hank Heywood; #31-32, 38, 50)
Johnny Quick (Johnny Chambers; #31-35, 38-42, 44-46, 50-54, 57-61, 64-65)
Tarantula (Jonathan Law; #31-32, 38, 41-44, 46-47, 50, 53-54, 57-61, 64, 66, Annual #3)
Phantom Lady (Sandra Knight, Freedom Fighters; #31-35, 41, 44, 50, 60)
Firebrand (Danette Reilly; #31-35, 38-44, 46-51, 54-55, 57-60, 64)
Robin (Dick Grayson; #31, 35, 41, 54, 59, 60, Annual #3)
Speedy (Seven Soldiers of Victory; #31, 56, 59-60)
Dan, the Dyna-Mite (#31, 59-60)
Sandy (#31, 51, 53-54, 57-60, 64)
Star-Spangled Kid (Sylvester Pemberton, Seven Soldiers of Victory; #31, 56, 59-60)
The Atom (Al Pratt, Justice Society of America; #31-32, 50, 54, 57, 60, 64, 67, Annual #3)
Manhunter (red suit; #31, 59-60)
Vigilante (Greg Sanders, Seven Soldiers of Victory; #31, 56, 59-60)
Crimson Avenger (Lee Travis, Seven Soldiers of Victory; #31, 53, 56, 59-60, 64-65)
Manhunter (domino mask; #31, 50)
Starman (Ted Knight, Justice Society of America; #31-35, 41-44, 47, 50, 57, 60, 64, Annual #3)
Liberty Belle (Libby Lawrence; #31-35, 38-46, 50-54, 57-61, 64)
Superman (Clark Kent; #31-32, 36-37, 53-54, 57-60, Annual #3)
Sargon the Sorcerer (John Sergeant; #31-32, 59-60)
Zatarra (#31, 59-60)
Johnny Thunder (Justice Society of America; #31, 50, 53, 58, 60, 67, Annual #3)
Whip (#31, 59-60)
Batman (Bruce Wayne; #31-32, 35-37, 41, 54, 59-60, Annual #3)
Sandman (Wesley Dodds, Justice Society of America; #31, 50, 55, 60, 64-67, Annual #3)
Spectre (Jim Corrigan, Justice Society of America; #31-35, 50, 59-60, 67, Annual #3)
Wonder Woman (Diana Prince, Justice Society of America; #31-32, 36-37, 45-46, 50, 57, 60, Annual #3)
Wildcat (Ted Grant; #31, 53, 59-60)
Dr. Mid-Nite (Charles McNider, Justice Society of America; #31-32, 50, 56, 60)
Plastic Man (Eel O’Brian; #31-32, 35-37, 50, 60)
Guardian (Jim Harper; #31, 43-44, 50, 54, 59-60)
Air Wave (#31, 59-60)
Green Lantern (Alan Scott; #31-32, 36-42, 45-46, 50-54, 57-60, 67, Annual #3)
The Jester (#31, 50)
Dr. Fate (Kent Nelson, Justice Society of America; #31-32, 47-51, 53-54, 57-60, 67, Annual #3)
The Human Bomb (Freedom Fighters; #31-35, 50, 60)
The Red Bee (Freedom Fighters; #31, 33-35)
T.N.T (#31, 59-60)
Flash (Jay Garrick; #31-32, 36-37, 45-46, 53-54, 58-60, 65, 67, Annual #3)
Green Arrow (Oliver Queen, Seven Soldiers of Victory; #31, 56, 59-60)
Mr. America (#31, 59-60)
Wing (#31, 56, 59-60, 64)
Mr. Terrific (#31, 59-60)
Stripesy (Pat Dugan, Seven Soldiers of Victory; #31, 56, 59-60)
Shining Knight (Sir Justin, Seven Soldiers of Victory; #36, 48-50, 53-54, 56, 59-60, 62)
Hourman (Rex Tyler, Justice Society of America; #38-42, 44, 46-51, 53-54, 57-60, 67, Annual #3)
Amazing-Man (Will Everett; #40-43, 46-47, 50, 53-54, 57-60)
Doctor Occult (Osgood Armsby; #53-54, 57, 59-60)
Thunderbolt (#53, 58, 60, 67, Annual #3)
Aquaman (#59-60)

Villains

Baron Blitzkrieg (#32-35, 45-46)
Tsunami (Miya Shimada; #33-35, 42-43)
Captain Kizo Nishino (Japanese Navy; #34)
Major Zwerg (#35, 45-46)
Captain Marvel (#36-37)
Adolf Hitler (#36-37, 49-50, 60)
Reichsmarschall Hermann Goring (#36)
Joseph Goebbels (#36)
Hans Gootsden (#36-37, 50, 60)
Phantom Empire (#38-40)
Real American (#38-40)
Dr. Doog (#41, Annual #3)
Prince Daka (#42-43)
Kung (#42-43)
Sumo the Samurai (#42-43)
Night (#44)
Fog (#44)
Zyklon (#45-46)
Wotan (#47-49, Annual #3)
Mr. Mind (Monster Society of Evil; #50-51, 53)
Oom (Monster Society of Evil; #51, 53-54)
Mr. Who (Monster Society of Evil; #51, 53-54)
Ramulus (aka The Nightshade, Monster Society of Evil; #51, 53-54)
Nyola (Monster Society of Evil; #51, 53-54)
Shadow-Creatures (#52)
The Dummy (Monster Society of Evil; #53-54)
Per Degaton (#53)
Star Sapphire (#53)
Deathbolt (Jake Simmons; #53)
The Ultra-Humanite (#55)
The Sense-Master (Dr. Brett; #56)
Mekanique (#58-60)
Blunderbore (#62)
Funnyface (#64)
Ace-Deuce (#66)
Fritz Klaver (#67)
Ian Karkull (Annual #3)
The Catwoman (Annual #3)
Sieur Satan (Annual #3)
Alexander the Great (Annual #3)
The Lightning Master (Annual #3)
Zor (Annual #3)
The Tarantula (villain; Annual #3)

Guest Stars

Midnight (Dave Clark; #31-32, 50)
Uncle Sam (Freedom Fighters; #31-35, 50)
Doll Man (Freedom Fighters; #31-35, 50)
Hourman (Rex Tyler, Freedom Fighters; #32-35)
Red Torpedo (Jim Lockhart, Freedom Fighters; #32)
Miss America (Joan Dale, Freedom Fighters; #32)
Neon the Unknown (Freedom Fighters; #32)
The Invisible Hood (Kent Thurston, Freedom Fighters; #32)
Magno, the Magnetic Man (Freedom Fighters; #32)
Neptune Perkins (#33-35)
Captain Marvel (Billy Batson, #36-37, 51-52)
Intrepid (William Stephenson; #36)
Captain Marvel Jr. (Freddy Freeman; #36-37)
Mary Marvel (Mary Batson; #36-37)
Shazam (#37, 52)
Amazing-Man (Will Everett; #38-40)
The Monitor (#40)
Harbinger (Lyla Michaels; #40, 50-51, 53-54)
The Newsboy Legion (#44)
Frank Sinatra (#44)
Miss Liberty (Bess Lynn; #45, 54-55)
Blackhawk (#48-50)
Chuck (Blackhawks; #48, 50)
Andre (Blackhawks; #48, 50)
Chop-Chop (Blackhawks; #48, 50)
Olaf (Blackhawks; #48, 50)
Hendrickson (Blackhawks; #48, 50)
Stanislaus (Blackhawks; #48, 50)
Doctor Occult (Osgood Armsby; #49-50)
Spider (Freedom Fighters; #50)
Edgar Bergen (voice of Charlie McCarthy; #51)
Harlequin (Molly Scott; #53)
Pariah (#53)
Power Girl (Karen Starr, Infinity Inc.; #53)
Zatanna (Justice League of America, Earth-1; #53)
Red Tornado (Justice League of America; #53)
The Black Pirate (Jon Valor; #54-55)
Justin Valor (#54-55)
The Roving Ranger (Jeff Grahams; #54-55)
Don Caballero (#54-55)
Walt Trigger (Trigger Twins; #54-55)
Wayne Trigger (Trigger Twins; #54-55)
The Silent Knight (#54-55)
The Viking Prince (Jon; #54-55)
The Golden Gladiator (Marcus; #54-55)
Valda, the Iron Maiden (#54-55)
Nuklon (Infinity Inc.; #54-55)
Saganowahna, aka Super-Chief (#54-55)
Strong Bow (#55)
Arak (#55)
Cyclotron (Terry Curtis/Kurtzberger; #55)
Billy Gunn (Vigilante’s assistant; #56)
King Arthur (#62)
Merlin (#62)

Supporting Characters

Gernsbek (fka Elektro the Robot; #31-32, 38, 53-54, 58, 65)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (President of the USA; #31, 36, 39, 60, 65, Annual #3)
Captain Rick Cannon (#33, 35, 60)
Tom Revere (#33, 42, 45, 60)
Winston Churchill (Prime Minister of England; #36-37, 48-49)
Gloria Farley (#38)
Jake Everett (Will’s dad; #38-40)
Rachel Lindsay (Will Everett’s fiancee; #39-40)
Lula May Everett (Will’s mom; #39-40)
Doris Lee (#41)
Henry Knight (Senator; #41)
Woodley Allen (FBI; #41)
Professor Davis (#41)
Ed Reilly (Firebrand’s father; #44)
Nabu (#47)
Inza Cramer (#47, 50)
Brad Farley (#50)
Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia (Mayor of New York; #50)
Rod Reilly; #50)
Tubby Watts (#50, 65)
Joan Williams (#54, Annual #3)
Terri Kurtzberger Rothstein (#55, 64)
Joan Carter (#58, 63)
Chuck Grayson (#59-60, 63)
Olga (Tarantula’s housekeeper; #66)
Dian Belmont (#66)
J. Edgar Hoover (Director of the FBI; #67)
Lois Lane (Annual #3)

Let’s take a look at what happened in these books, with some commentary as we go:

Issue thirty-one marks the debut of Rick Hoberg as artist, and also expands the All-Star Squadron’s roster to about fifty heroes, which must not have been easy to draw. It opens with a mystery man called Midnight, who is basically Will Eisner’s Spirit, running through the Manhattan night, being pursued by Nazis in full uniform. He makes it to an elevated subway train, and we see that he’s working hard to protect the safety deposit box he’s carrying, and hopes that the All-Stars can help him. Hawkman and Hawkgirl are flying together, talking about how they’ve both mustered out of the military (so soon?). They are approached by two more flying heroes – The Ray and Black Condor – who accompany them to the Perisphere. Along the way, we learn that Black Condor was raised by “a flock of wild condors in outer Mongolia”, which might be one of the oddest origin stories of all time. They enter the Perisphere, and are greeted by Elektro the robot, who calls himself Gernsback. Commander Steel and Robotman bring them into the meeting room, where we see dozens of heroes gathering. The kids – Robin, Speedy, Dyna-Mite, and Sandy chat, while Star-Spangled Kid explains to Atom that the Seven Soldiers of Victory are happy to meet the JSA, having promoted Wing to fill in for Shining Knight, who didn’t come. The two Manhunters meet (one was a Quality hero) and have some animosity. Starman talks to Phantom Lady, who is his cousin. Liberty Belle reveals her new costume (gone are the jodhpurs, and she’s adopted a cape), and tells Hawkman that it’s time to run the meeting. She blows off Johnny Quick’s advances. Johnny Thunder asks Whip why he doesn’t use a fake accent anymore. The meeting comes to order, and we get four pages of roll call before Belle comments on the absent heroes. Shining Knight is in England, Amazing-Man is on sabbatical in Detroit, and they weren’t able to contact Aquaman. She also says that the Blackhawks send their regards. President Roosevelt greets the group via television, encouraging them to continue to protect the homeland. Some heroes talk about joining the war effort overseas, but the meeting is interrupted by Uncle Sam. The Nazis are somehow on the same train as Midnight, and he tries to get away from them again. As he runs across the top of the train, he shoots at them, and one drops a grenade, derailing the train. We see one person stumble away from the wreckage. Uncle Sam explains to the heroes that he’s always been fighting for America since the Revolutionary War, but admits he hasn’t done much since the Great War. He explains that he was fighting Nazi spies when his powers opened a vortex into another world for him. On that world, Hitler was having a lot more success, and since there were no heroes there, he came back and recruited some from Earth-2. He took Red Torpedo, Magno, Miss America, Neon the Unknown, The Invisible Hood, and Hourman back with him, but they all died there. It took Sam ages to make it back to Earth-2, and now he wants to return with even more heroes. Spectre and Sargon question if this alternate Earth even exists, and the heroes quickly divide between people who want to help and the ones who think they should finish off the Nazi threat one Earth-2 first. It is not surprising that the most vocal heroes on Sam’s side are Human Bomb, Red Bee, Black Condor, Ray, and Phantom Lady, given that they go on to become the Freedom Fighters. While the debate continues, we see Midnight entering the World’s Fair grounds. Liberty Belle is about to ask for a vote when Midnight stumbles in and collapses. Phantom Lady opens his safety deposit box, and inside it they find Doll Man, who appears to be dying.
Many of the heroes that stuff the pages of issue thirty-one disappear in this issue, which is still very packed. Many of the All-Star regulars, and some of the newer additions gather around Phantom Lady, who is holding the unconscious Doll Man in her hand. Others gather around the collapsed Midnight, who is being seen to by Doctor Mid-Nite. Green Lantern’s ring starts to revive Doll Man, so attention turns to Uncle Sam. Wonder Woman provides her lasso to make sure he’s telling the truth, and he launches into his story. He says that when he went to Earth-X, as we are calling that other world, he was attacked by ‘steel helmets’, Nazi sympathizers, and he received a vision of his own Earth, during Per Degaton’s first attack on the All-Star Squadron. Realizing that Earth-X needed his help, he returned to Earth-2 and put together a team of heroes. These were Red Torpedo (he has a submarine), Miss America, Neon the Unknown, The Invisible Hood, and Magno the Magnetic Man. He felt he needed someone with experience, and recruited Rex Tyler, who had just stepped down as Hourman to work on a ray that would have him the same power-inducing powers as his miraclo pills. Hourman didn’t trust Sam at first, but when he met the other members of the team, he decided to join them (after referencing some sort of secret mission he undertook for President Roosevelt). Hourman gave the team the name Freedom Fighters, and they went through one of Sam’s warps, where they ended up in the air over the Pacific. Miss America used her powers to turn an albatross into a big glider kite they could stand on, but then they saw Japanese planes coming to attack somewhere. They engaged the planes. Miss America turned one of the planes into Red Torpedo’s sub, and he shot some fighters down. As the heroes gathered on the sub, thinking the fight over, a Zero swooped down and shot at them all, then making a kamikaze run into the sub. Sam drifted away on some wood, believing that the others were all dead. He ended up in Hawai’i, where he was believed to be insane and got locked up. Sam knew they’d managed to save Pearl Harbour on Earth-X, but felt guilty for having killed his new friends. He had another vision of an attack on the American mainland, and believes that it will be tomorrow, which is why he returned to Earth-2 to recruit more heroes. Midnight volunteers to tell his part of the story, and explains that he’d met Doll Man while tracking down Uncle Sam (it’s not stated, but since Midnight is a reporter, presumably he wanted to interview him). They entered Hourman’s lab just as the team was teleporting away, and they dove into the vortex of red, white, and blue. It let them out in occupied Paris, where they saved a man and woman from some Nazi soldiers. They turned out to be part of the Resistance, and the two heroes joined up with them, fighting for months before learning that the Japanese were about to attack America. They sent Doll Man to spy on Nazi headquarters, where he saw Baron Blitzkrieg (Midnight’s explanation of how he figured out who he is makes no sense, if he’s been on Earth-X since the All-Star’s first adventure). Doll Man was attacked by a rat, which the Baron noticed, and as the little hero was pulled away, he ordered his men to attack them. They fled, ending up on the roof of Notre Dame Cathedral. The Baron (it’s not clear if this the same man from Earth-2, or an Earth-X analogue) pursued, shooting the Resistance woman that was with the heroes. He also blasted Doll Man with his eye beams. Midnight stood at the edge of the roof, and saw Uncle Sam’s vortex open nearby. He jumped in, followed by some Nazis, and ended up in the New York of Earth-2, which puts us back at the start of the last issue (he found the safety deposit box he carried Doll Man in). The various All-Stars start to talk about what to do, and Liberty Belle decides they should send a task force back to Earth-X. Doll Man, who knows the location of the Japanese attack, wakes up and is about to tell them it will be Santa Barbara when the radio reports that a rash of sabotage has happened in the cities associated with various All-Stars, and that they believe something is going to happen in Santa Barbara, after reports of a submarine sighting. With this news, Liberty Belle still decides to send some people to Earth-X, with Black Condor and Phantom Lady volunteering. Spectre volunteers to take them all there, even though he stated before that he didn’t believe that Earth exists. Liberty Belle wants to go to California with Starman, Firebrand, and Johnny Quick while other heroes head back to their own cities. Midnight wants to join Uncle Sam, but Mid-Nite insists he goes to the hospital. We see that Ray, Doll Man, Human Bomb, and I think Red Bee are joining Sam as well. Spectre starts to take them between worlds, but the ‘heavenly voice’ that turned Jim Corrigan into the Spectre forbids him to leave. The new Freedom Fighters arrive on Earth-X to see that the Japanese attack has begun.

The Spectre is given permission, from God, who seems pretty vengeful and capricious (or maybe each alternate Earth has its own God?), to watch what the Freedom Fighters are up to on Earth-X. They have arrived at an oil refinery near Santa Barbara, which is under attack by Japanese Zeroes, who are providing cover for a land invasion. The Freedom Fighters rush in to help the paltry number of soldiers defending the place. Phantom Lady makes herself invisible, while Red Bee releases the swarm of bees he keeps in his belt (seriously). Human Bomb demonstrates his explosive powers, while Ray redirects bombs to fall on the Japanese crafts. Black Condor tosses pilots out of cockpits, and Doll Man jumps around hitting Japanese invaders in the face. Having stopped the invading forces, the team heads out to attack the Japanese destroyers out at sea. Spectre is told again that he can’t do anything to help, as it might damage the multiverse. God’s voice departs, leaving Spectre between worlds. He turns his attention to Earth-2, and sees that Starman is approaching Santa Barbara with the Liberty Belle, Firebrand, and Johnny Quick. Johnny and Libby get into it again, and she ends up revealing that she’s been exploring her feelings for Rick Cannon, an intelligence officer who helped her escape France. She tells Johnny because they are headed to meet with Rick. They arrive at the same oil refinery as on the other Earth, but instead of finding Rick, find signs of a scuffle. Liberty Belle and Starman head off to follow the footprints they find, while Johnny and Firebrand head out to search the area. We learn that Firebrand can fly on her own power. They spot a houseboat and land on it, finding it deserted. They are soon joined by Neptune Perkins, a web-footed mystery man who needs to stay in salt water because of the lack of sodium in his body. He tells them he was searching for a missing Coast Guard ship, and then spies a periscope coming out of the water. The three heroes leap into action. Starman and Libby land on a rooftop, and somehow use the gravity rod to see or hear what is happening inside. Ted mentions that they are in the Japanese part of the city, but Libby reminds him that there is no proof that Japanese-Americans support the Emperor. Inside the building, a woman named Miya talks to a bunch of issei and nisei, while holding Captain Cannon hostage. She wants them to join her in fighting against America, but the people, who all know her, do not want to get involved. She removes her coat to reveal that she is a supervillain calling herself Tsunami. The men turn on her, and an old man refuses to tell her what to do. She decides to leave with Cannon, and when he argues with her, she lifts him over her head. Liberty Belle touches the signal on her belt, so Tom Revere rings the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, charging her up. Starman uses his gravity rod to rip the roof apart, and they attack Tsunami. She’s very strong, and manages to knock the rod from Starman’s hand. She’s about to throw a large wooden crate at them, but the old man gets in the way. Tsunami leaves, and Starman is not able to find her once he gets outside. The old man is Miya’s father, and he dies. Spectre wants to return to Earth-2, but can’t get there either. When he activates his powers to help him get home, he somehow creates a problem that has Earth-X and Earth-2 moving towards one another. On Earth-X, the Freedom Fighters reach the Japanese destroyer, and as they try to route the soldiers on it, they discover that Baron Blitzkrieg (who is strangely missing the mouthpiece on his helmet) is there to help the Japanese. He has Hourman chained to the mouth of a large artillery cannon, and threatens to fire it and kill him.
Firebrand, Johnny Quick, and Neptune Perkins are unable to find the submarine periscope they just saw, so Perkins, who is able to hold his breath for seven minutes, dives down to look for it. He finds a Japanese sub and starts to approach it. In the air, Johnny gets impatient and decides to swim down himself. He passes Perkins and gets close to the sub, which catches him in an automated net. When Perkins starts to pull him free, they are both electrocuted. Firebrand tries to dive down to see what’s going on, but realizes she can’t do anything and returns to the houseboat. A little later, the Captain of the sub addresses Johnny and Neptune, who are tied up. The Captain, Kizo Nishino, explains that he was once humiliated by some Americans when he fell into a cactus on a beach, and gets upset when Johnny laughs too. The Captain orders the sub to surface and begin shelling the oil refinery on shore. Spectre is stuck between Earth-2 and Earth-X, which are trying to collide into one another. On Earth-X, the Freedom Fighters confront Baron Blitzkrieg, who threatens to kill Hourman. We see that Hourman is sweating heavily and appears unwell. The Ray flies towards the Baron, and the Freedom Fighters follow, starting a fight with him and the crew of the Japanese destroyer. Red Bee releases his last bees, and Phantom Lady blinds many soldiers, including the Baron. He freaks out about this (which confirms that he’s the same Baron from Earth-2, who already dealt with one bout of blindness). Human Bomb takes off his glove, preparing to end the fight, but gets knocked over and detonates the floor around the other Freedom Fighters. The Baron recovers his sight and knocks out Phantom Lady with his eyebeams. We learn that Red Bee is missing, but the others are taken prisoner. The Baron taunts Hourman, pointing out that he’s going through Miraclo withdrawal after so many months without it (really, it’s been like three months – shouldn’t he be recovered by now?). On Earth-2, Tsunami arrives on the sub through a torpedo hatch, and it’s clear that she and Nishino don’t agree. She reacts to the presence of the two heroes, which lets Johnny know that she fought his friends. The sub surfaces and starts firing on the oil refinery, which is protected by a force field. Starman is there, creating the shield with his gravity rod. Firebrand flies Liberty Belle to the sub, and they start to fight the soldiers on it. It submerges again, so Danette flies off with Libby. The Captain is upset that he failed in his mission, and Tsunami suggests they take back Quick and Perkins; Nishino wants to kill them instead. His officer’s gun melts in his hand, and we see that Starman, Libby, and Firebrand have made it onto the sub (the gravity rod is just about as magical as a Green Lantern ring in this run). There is fighting, again, and the two captives are freed. Perkins punches a sailor whose gun goes off, grazing Johnny’s temple and hitting something important in the sub. It explodes, and we only see Libby and Johnny surface. He’s unconscious, but she is able to swim him towards a buoy. Libby is not happy to see that Tsunami is bringing a tidal wave down upon them.

Baron Blitzkrieg has his captives taken to an island off the coast of Santa Barbara while the Spectre continues to push Earth-2 and Earth-X apart, while asking for help from the ‘Almight’. On Earth-2, Tsunami’s tidal wave attack on Libby and Johnny is foiled by the arrival of Starman and Firebrand, who also survived the sub explosion. Tsunami dives away, and while Starman rescues some of the sailors from the sub, Firebrand offers to take the other two back to shore. Johnny is still annoyed that Libby has a relationship with the Intelligence officer so he storms off, and Firebrand flies Libby back. Tsunami feels dishonored, but prepares to complete her mission by wrecking the oil refinery and drowning the heroes with one big tsunami. Neptune Perkins grabs her though, dissipating the wave, and they start to fight. Liberty Belle is happy to see that Rick is waiting on shore (he says that Starman and Firebrand rescued him before, but like, Libby was there too so that’s weird). It’s clear that Libby is not sure how she feels about him now, but her thoughts are disrupted by a lightshow in the sky, similar to the Northern Lights. We see that Spectre is having even more problems holding the two Earths apart, but then realizes what the problem is. He’s concerned though, because he has no solution to this problem. On Earth-X, Baron Blitzkrieg has the Freedom Fighters chained up in the ruins of a castle (there are so many castles in this series). Phantom Lady asks the Baron how he came to be on Earth-X, and he talks about how Nazi scientists weren’t able to fix his vision after his last run-in with the All-Stars, but that he was able to detect Uncle Sam returning from Earth-X to Earth-2, so he used his ability to control his bodily energy to bring himself to that world, where in a matter of hours he was able to gain the trust of the Nazi establishment, and went to Paris to see if he could find the masked men there. He had his confrontation with Midnight and Doll Man, and then joined the Japanese for their attack on Santa Barbara. He decided to use his mind to contact Zwerg on Earth-2 to arrange a series of attacks there at the same time to help keep that planet’s heroes from learning of the same attack. We see Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Batman, Robin, and Plastic Man are all fighting at this same time. Once the Baron arrived on the Japanese aircraft carrier, he discovered Hourman and decided to learn the secret of his Miraclo pills, but so far, Hourman isn’t sharing anything. Rex explains that his pills only work on his metabolism, and mentions that he was trying to incorporate black light in his Miraclo ray, but couldn’t get it to work. This catches Phantom Lady’s attention. The Baron decides to start executing the heroes, beginning with Sandra, but before he can, Red Bee turns up and hits him with a piece of wood. We learn that Red Bee survived Human Bomb’s explosion, and swam to the island. Uncle Sam is happy to see Red Bee survived, and his despair lessens. While Baron beats on the Bee, Ray uses his powers to knock one of Phantom Lady’s bracelets so it bathes Hourman in its light. The Baron beats the Red Bee badly, then smashes him against a rock. Hourman, having had any residual Miraclo in his system activated by the black light, breaks free and attacks the Baron. The Baron is still too strong for him, but his actions inspire Sam so his strength grows, and he breaks free too. He attacks the Baron while Hourman frees the others. They confirm that Red Bee is dead. Some Nazis show up and start shooting so the team takes them on while Sam fights the Baron. They notice the same curtain of lights in the sky, and the Baron realizes that it’s time for him to leave. He grabs three loyal Nazis and uses his powers to return to Earth-2. Spectre appears to the heroes and explains what he’s been up to. He says that the only way to save the two worlds is to restore balance between them, so the heroes need to leave immediately, but because the Baron took three Nazis with him, three people need to stay behind. Sam, Ray, and Black Condor all volunteer, but the others want to stay as well. Spectre takes the rest back, although Phantom Lady promises to return (which makes sense, because we know that later the Freedom Fighters will be reunited on Earth-X). On Earth-2, Tsunami pauses in her fight with Neptune because there’s something about him that intrigues her. She decides to return to Japan, and swims off in a hurry. On the shore, Baron Blitzkrieg shows up with his Nazis, right in front of Liberty Belle. The Baron is immediately struck blind again (that doesn’t make a lot of sense, suggesting it’s all in his mind), so he releases a burst of light and they disappear. The others rush up to Libby, and Johnny finds it awkward that Rick is there. Libby and Rick talk quietly for a moment, and Johnny turns to leave, but Libby calls him back and kisses him. Hourman, Human Bomb, Doll Man, and Phantom Lady appear, and they tell everyone what’s happened. Libby notices that the sky is normal again. The Spectre arrives and tells them about Red Bee’s death.
Annual #3 fits here, storywise, although it’s just the framing sequence that matters in that case, as the rest of the issue deals with an older JSA case which has been hinted about a few times. The issue features a wide variety of artists, including some Golden Age artists like Boring, Infantino, and Nodell, as well as some big stars like Pérez and Giffen, as well as the usual All-Star stable. Tarantula stumbles while chasing some saboteurs in New York, and is almost killed but Wonder Woman happens by and saves him. After catching the bad guys, they look at the lockbox that Tarantula tripped on, and discover some old newspaper clippings that reference the Justice Society. They take the file back to the Perisphere, where Wonder Woman has set up her Magic Sphere. Feeding the documents into it causes it to show a Justice Society meeting from about a year before, attended by Hawkman, Spectre, Dr. Fate, Green Lantern, Hourman, Johnny Thunder, Sandman, and Atom. The team had planned on raising one million dollars for war orphans, with each member of the team explaining how they raised their $100 000 (some of these rewards seem pretty unlikely). Johnny Thunder had boasted that he would raise the last $300 000 himself, but came up short. He made a wish for his Thunderbolt to take care of it, and he brought Superman, Batman, and Flash, all with their money in hand. Green Lantern and Dr. Fate flew to take the money to President Roosevelt, but when they got to his bedroom (it was late at night), they found two shadows threatening him. The heroes turned the shadows back into men, and we learn that they were sent by the villain Ian Karkull, whom Fate had turned into a living shadow in an earlier adventure. The two men burned up in front of them, leaving behind a note listing some places and some known villains. They decided that this was a case for the whole Society, including their guests. They split up the list, with most of the heroes choosing to face their own old villains, and they set out, with Johnny getting left behind. At the same time, Karkull sent his group of villains – Dr. Doog, Catwoman (in her original cat-headed dress costume), Sieur Satan, Alexander the Great, The Lightning Master, Wotan, Zor, and The Tarantula – to complete their mysterious missions. Superman went after Lightning Master, ran across Lois Lane, and needed Johnny Thunder’s help to save the day. We see that Hawkman (with Hawkgirl), Spectre, and Atom and Sandman were able to take down their targets easily. The Flash went to an army base where he ran into Joan Williams, his girlfriend. Together they stopped Sieur Satan from drilling under the base or something. Batman and Robin stopped Catwoman from disrupting a movie shoot in Hollywood (did they drive across the country?). In the end, she shot another operative of Karkull’s, saving Batman, before passing out from shock. Green Lantern faced Wotan, whose actions ended up causing the death of a young boy by a tree. Hourman was almost at the end of his Miraclo-powered hour when he faced off against Dr. Doog, who had powerful ray things in his lab. Starman, who was not yet a member of the JSA, happened by and helped Hourman. Dr. Fate’s story was a little hard to follow, as he rescued a boat and then went to Karkull’s house, which was made of flesh. Fate had to call on Nabu to defeat Karkull – he summoned a flash of light that burned away the shadows, and which summoned the entire Justice Society, including their guests. They attacked and defeated Karkull, who released dark figures that ended up entering all of them. Fate was injured, and as he recovered explained to the others that Karkull talked about having “captured time”, which Fate and Spectre believed was given to all present. The Spectre speculated that this would extend all of their lives. Hourman decided to take a leave to figure out how to fix the side effects of his Miraclo, and Starman put his name forward to take his place. Green Lantern also decided to step down as chairman, as he was feeling guilty about the kid who died. Fate also talked about how he could feel Nabu taking him over, and retired to Salem to figure out what to do. The remaining members of the team decided to keep this mission secret, and went home. We see that they left a file identical to the one that Wonder Woman has behind. In the present (aka 1942), Wonder Woman and Tarantula discuss this adventure and how it helps fill in a lot of gaps in the story of the Justice Society. Tarantula looks at the newspaper clippings, wondering why Karkull would have been interested in these people. As they leave, we can read the headlines, which are about Dwight Eisenhower, Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Lyndon Johnson, and Jimmy Carter. This was a pretty involved comic, and might be one of the best examples of Roy Thomas’s laser focus on continuity, and need to explain the vitality of the JSA members appearing in Infinity Inc. in the 1980s.

A group of All-Stars (Flash, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, Superman, Green Lantern, and Batman) are watching a newsreel in a theatre together in Washington DC that shows footage of a Super-Nazi, whom we can identify as Captain Marvel, supporting a Nazi bombing raid on London. The Captain destroys the fighters that are defending the city, and the heroes can easily see how strong and bulletproof he is. When Shining Knight flew up on Winged Victory to confront him, Marvel broke his lance and shrugged off a swipe of his enchanted sword before knocking Justin off his horse. Luckily, the horse caught him, and Marvel departed. The newsreel continues to show the efforts of the Blackhawks in the fight overseas. Superman is more upset by the others about this footage, given how close Captain Marvel’s powers match his. They leave the theatre and find Plastic Man is there to escort them to the White House. Plastic Man reminds them that if they were to go to Europe, they would fall under the sway of Hitler’s Spear of Destiny. Superman stops at a newsstand, where he looks at an issue of Captain Marvel comics, showing the others. There is some disbelief that there is a connection, but Superman, increasingly saddened by these events, decides to fly to England instead of meeting with the President. The others head to their meeting, and don’t hear a pair of kids yelling for them to wait. In Berlin, Adolf Hitler meets with Göring, Goebbels, and others. His plan is to have Captain Marvel devastate London so that England will surrender and he can turn his attention towards Russia. Captain Marvel joins them, and it’s clear that he’s very much under Hitler’s sway, but even still, he balks at the idea of taking human life. Hitler knows that Superman is coming, and wants Marvel to destroy him. News comes that Superman is approaching, Hitler brandishes the Spear of Destiny in the air, and Marvel swears his loyalty to him. One of Hitler’s advisors mentions that they will maintain the loyalty of Hauptmann Wunder (Captain Marvel) so long as they keep Billy Batons prisoner – we see that he’s tied up in a darkened room, although this raises some questions for me, as I didn’t know the two characters could exist separately. At the White House, President Roosevelt talks about having censored the newsreel they just saw out of concern for morale, and introduces the heroes to William Stephenson, codenamed Intrepid, his secret liaison to England. There is a briefing we don’t get to see, and soon the All-Stars are headed for England in Wonder Woman’s plane and via Green Lantern’s ring. Superman arrives in London, and has to dodge some anti-aircraft flack. He finds the hospital where Sir Justin is recovering, and goes to see him. They don’t talk for long before they hear more explosions. Superman flies out to find Captain Marvel approaching, and they immediately start to fight. Superman tests his powers, recognizing that they match those in the comic he just read, and Marvel gets in a good punch that sends Superman to the ground just as the other All-Stars arrive. Captain Marvel prepares to level London, but is grabbed by Green Lantern. Their fight is brief, as he tries to use his ring energy to withstand Marvel. When he sees the others approaching, Marvel turns and starts to cross the English Channel. The heroes pursue him, but soon Wonder Woman and Green Lantern start to act strangely. Batman yells to Hawkman to stop GL, and he takes control of the invisible plane, returning to British airspace. Everyone gathers in some wreckage to discuss how those who are vulnerable to magic can’t cross into Hitler’s territory. The two kids we saw before approach, wanting to talk to them. To make it easier, they yell out their magic words and transform into Captain Marvel Jr. and Mary Marvel, although the heroes immediately assume they are with Captain Marvel.
The All-Stars prepare to grab the two new Marvels, and both Superman and Captain Marvel Jr. show poor judgment, escalating things. The two Marvels end up grabbing Superman by the arms and lifting him into the air, which prompts Wonder Woman and Green Lantern to grab them. While there are still high tensions, the heroes start to talk to each other, and we learn that the three Marvels were flying on their own Earth, not long after Captain Marvel first got to know Mary Marvel, his twin sister. A bolt of energy hit the Captain, and he disappeared. The other two went to consult the wizard Shazam, who told them that he was taken to another Earth. They figured out how to follow (they don’t say how, nor is there any discussion of the fact that the same multiversal travel almost collided two worlds in the last story). Flash figures out that when Captain Marvel arrived, he ended up getting taken over by the Spear of Destiny. They want to go to Berlin to confront the Captain, but recognize they need to leave Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern behind. The two Marvels turn back into regular kids, so the Spear won’t affect them, and Plastic Man turns himself into a giant dirigible to transport them (Batman, Flash, and Hawkman are going too). The others hang back, to stay out of the Spear’s influence, and to defend in case Marvel returns. They manage to make their way across Europe without being noticed, and fly directly to the Reichschancellery. They sneak in, and while they’re looking for Captain Marvel, they do think about taking out Hitler (and like, if it’s this easy, why haven’t they?). They manage to find Billy Batson who tries to warn them. Captain Marvel bursts through the wall, with Hitler behind him. A soldier holds a gun to Billy’s head, and Billy explains that when he was hit by that lightning on his Earth, he found himself in a lab, separated from his alter ego who immediately fell under Hitler’s sway. We learn that Gootsden, the engineer we saw in the last issue, is the one who developed the machine that brought Marvel to them. Hitler forces Freddie and Mary onto some platforms, and Gootsden’s machine separates them from their alters as well. With the whole Marvel Family under his control, Hitler orders them to take a new powerful bomb to London. The heroes take advantage of a distraction Billy causes to attack, and escape with Plastic Man again acting as a dirigible. In London, Superman is brooding over what happened, and then senses that the Marvels are coming. He flies up to meet them, with Green Lantern and Wonder Woman helping. Captain Marvel tosses the bomb at the House of Commons, and the three All-Stars just manage to catch it and have it explode in the air. The Marvel Family move in to attack them. At the same time, Plastic Man has reached the coast of France (I’m not sure how he’s traveling so quickly), and is fired on by Nazi emplacements. He’s hit, and collapses, dropping his passengers into the English Channel. He manages to make himself into a liferaft, and Hawkman and Flash start to push him towards England. Some Nazi e-boats come after them, and both Flash and Plas are shot. The Germans prepare to shoot them from the boat, but Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and the three Marvels arrive and rescue them (it seems that Billy, Freddie, and Mary made it far enough out of the Spear’s influence to free their alter egos). Everyone gathers on one of the Nazi boats, and the Marvel Family find it strange to be with their regular selves. They all say their magic words at the same time and are transported back to their own world. Superman is still bothered by not knowing if Captain Marvel could beat him in a fight, but also assumes they’ll be friends if they meet again. This storyline really raises the question of why the non-magic based heroes aren’t doing more to end the war, given how easily Flash could have killed Hitler in this issue, or why they aren’t, at the least, doing more to defend London during the Blitz).

Issue thirty-eight’s cover would not be printed today, as it shows Amazing Man being burned at a cross by a Ku Klux Klan-themed villain called ‘The Real American.’ There are scenes of racial violence in the comic as well. Robotman and Commander Steel are in Manhattan, trying to stop a flamethrowing tank from getting away during a bank robbery. Robotman has to rescue a radio reporter, which puts him in front of the flamethrower turret, which melts his legs. Steel rips off the top of the tank and tosses the drivers out, stopping it before it crushes Robotman. He’s about to carry Robotman back to the Perisphere so he can get his legs fixed when he hears a radio broadcast coming from a nearby car. Lady Lorelei is an Axis agent broadcasting in America. She reports on the fight the two heroes just had (that seems like she gathered the information in a hurry, and also mentions that the Nazis have captured Captain Brad Farley. Steel picks up Robotman and starts running, telling him he needs to do a personal errand immediately. He leaves Robotman in an alley and goes to knock on a door. It’s answered by Gloria, his former fiancee, now the wife of Captain Farley. Steel reveals himself as Hank Heywood, and promises to find her husband (who is also the father of her unborn child). Hank carries Robotman to the Perisphere, where we are given a small cut-away view of the All-Stars’ base. Steel talks about how hard things must be for Robotman, and then they notice Liberty Belle coming out of Johnny Quick’s room. They try to avoid talking about what they were obviously doing, and then explain that they’ve put together a newsreel for Hourman to bring him up to date with everything that happened while he was on Earth-X. Robotman (who is fixed and charged already) and Steel decide to join them. Tarantula and Firebrand arrive at the same time as Hourman. The newsreel covers the events of Pearl Harbour through to the Ultra-Humanite’s attack. Hawkman and Green Lantern arrive carrying a newsreel of their own. They greet Hourman, explain what happened in England with Captain Marvel, and then settle in to watch GL’s disturbing newsreel, which is expected to be censored. This film, made by Alan Scott, shows how in Detroit, white residents have been demonstrating outside vacant houses set to be inhabited by Black people (the Sojourner Truth homes are about to open). A car drives by and the two Black men in it are attacked. One man runs away, but the other is caught and beaten. Some Ku Klux Klan analogues in the Phantom Empire arrive on the scene, chain the man to a cross and douse him in gasoline. The All-Stars watching the newsreel recognize the man as Will Everett, Amazing-Man, who turns into the metal from his chains and escapes. Green Lantern thinks the All-Stars should head to Detroit before people move into the homes to help protect them. Liberty Belle agrees, but Steel stops her, explaining that he’s heading to Europe to try to find his ex’s husband. The other heroes, except for Tarantula, prepare to leave, with GL and Hawkman first planning a quick trip to Washington to update the President on what happened in London. The All-Stars have upgraded the Trylon, an obelisk attached to the Perisphere, so that it now contains their own plane, the All-Star Special, built by Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy. They launch. In Detroit, the hero of the Phantom Empire arrives; he’s dressed in red, white, and blue, with a white mask and cape, and calls himself the Real American.
Arriving in Detroit, the five All-Stars (Robotman, Johnny Quick, Hourman, Liberty Belle, and Firebrand) enter a diner with a very all-white vibe to it. They face some hostility, which gets worse after Firebrand finds a sign advertising for men to “help the white people”. One man almost puts his hand on her, but Robotman grabs him. Things get more tense, and the n-word is used (it’s honestly become so shocking to see that in a comic). The heroes learn the location of the Sojourner Truth Homes, and split up, with Johnny and Libby go looking for Will (they have a page from the White Pages to guide them), while the others head to the site of the protests. We get a bit of a history lesson on how the war effort has fueled migration from the South. On a stage, the Phantom Empire’s emperor talks about the Real American, and how he wants to make sure that no Black people move into the community. He brandishes a whip as a weapon, and when someone in the crowd disagrees with him, he pulls him on stage and demonstrates how strong he is. Hourman, Firebrand, and Robotman watch this, but don’t do anything. The American leads the crowd away, and Danette uses her powers to extinguish the cross they left burning. Johnny and Libby arrive at a company dorm where they find Rachel, Will’s fiance. She is not happy that he’s gotten involved in the strife, but Will’s mother supports the fact that Will and his father have gone to move their stuff into their new home. Rachel, Libby, and Johnny have a conversation that’s designed to show the state of race relations in 1942, with the two heroes making excuses for the fact that President Roosevelt hasn’t done more to address discrimination. Rachel is skeptical that they really want to help Will, and they head out. At the edge of the Sojourner Truth neighbourhood, white protestors block the Black counter-protestors, with a bunch of white cops standing between them. Johnny and Libby are in their civilian guises, reporting, but Libby gets into an argument with a 1940s Karen type. Will’s father, Jake, gets tired of waiting and moves his moving van forward towards the crowd. Bricks are thrown, and the white crowd opens the back of the van, finding Amazing-Man waiting inside. He turns into the material of a brick that’s thrown at him, and starts fighting the crowd. Johnny and Libby do a quick change and move into the crowd. Robotman, Hourman, and Firebrand do the same, and the heroes try to keep the two sides separate from one another. This is when the Real American shows up, and Danette finds his voice familiar. Soon the American and Amazing-Man are fighting, with Will finding himself a bit outmatched. He sees Johnny and Libby and dismisses their help, and their request that he stop fighting. Will ends up hitting Johnny, but is cracked over the head by a cop’s baton. Real American declares victory. The cops bring Jake over to the heroes, and they end up defending Will’s arrest, because he broke the law. The crowd disperses, leaving our heroes to think about what happened. In Washington, President Roosevelt tells Green Lantern and Hawkman that there’s nothing he can do about all the racial tension. The two heroes decide to head to Detroit to do what they can.

Hawkman and Green Lantern arrive in Detroit, and find another skirmish between Black and white Detroiters popping off on the street. The Real American arrives at the same time they do, and while our two heroes immediately wonder if he can be trusted, they end up helping him push the sides back. Alan takes a wooden projectile to the head, and the police start to throw tear gas canisters at the Black protestors. As the crowds disperse, GL and Hawkman talk to Real American, and Hawkman notices how loud his voice is, assuming he’s using a microphone to amplify it under his hood. Alan doesn’t agree with the American’s philosophy and starts to argue with him, but Carter starts to see his side of things. When Alan flies away, and Carter follows, his head clears, and he realizes that he was being influenced. Firebrand turns up, and leads them to a church where many of the people who were barred from moving into their new homes have gathered. Liberty Belle and Johnny Quick are helping tend to the wounded (Robotman and Hourman are there too). Libby mentions that she found the Real American persuasive, and Rachel, Will’s fiancée, is unhappy, claiming that the police are going to kill Will. Things get heated, and the people in the church turn on the All-Stars, so they retreat and gather in a ring construct in the sky. They listen to the news over a radio, and learn that there have been many Black people arrested for their part in the ‘riots’. Libby believes that most people are good, and they head to the police station where Will is being held. The Real American is outside, whipping up a crowd, and the All-Stars aren’t affected by his persuasiveness, they think because of GL’s energy bubble. The leader of the Phantom Empire watches from a nearby cliff through binoculars as the All-Stars enter the station. They tell the cops that they want to see Will, and are taken to him. He’s wearing a straight jacket that prevents his hands from touching anything other than cloth, making it impossible for him to change his form. Johnny talks to the police captain about the likelihood of Will getting lynched, and the captain defends law and order, while things get even more heated outside. The All-Stars go outside to try to calm the crowd down, but they want Will’s blood. The Real American starts to give a speech (which we luckily don’t have to read), and starts to get through to the heroes. Inside, Will starts to doubt that he might have killed someone in the riot, and even the other Black men locked up start to side with the Real American. Rachel, who is on the sidelines watching with Will’s mom, also starts to think that Black people are in the wrong. It’s only Robotman who appears immune to the American’s influence (even Green Lantern is agreeing with him now). The crowd decides to lynch Will but Robotman goes to free him, and then pulls off his ears and puts them over Will’s. Will turns to metal, and Robotman starts broadcasting a loud recording of Lewis Carroll over some bullhorns to drown out the Real American. This shakes his hold on the All-Stars, and Will starts to fight the American. It’s a pretty intense fight, and it ends with Will turning human to deliver a final blow that drops the Real American to the ground. His speech gets very strange, and Will realizes that he might have a bomb strapped to him. He grabs the American’s steel whip, turns into metal, and then manages to block the ensuing explosion from hitting the white people in the crowd. It’s revealed that the Real American was a very high-tech robot. The Hidden Empire’s emperor slips into a building and uses a very high-tech communication device to contact the Monitor, who is in another dimension. We learn that the Monitor sold the American to the Hidden Empire, but the Monitor, who in his earliest incarnation was used as a weapons seller to villains, dissolves his contract with the Hidden Empire; his communication device disappears. Johnny Quick confronts the emperor, chasing him and revealing that he’s the guy who runs the diner where the All-Stars had a confrontation last issue. He knocks him out and helps himself to some free coffee. Later, after all fighting has stopped, Will talks to Libby and Carter. He accepts Libby’s offer to join the All-Star Squadron, figuring he can be a more visible influence on the country. To wrap things up, Robotman explains that Green Lantern was only immune to the Real American when using his ring. The All-Stars board their plane and leave Detroit.
The All-Stars are returning to the Perisphere in their All-Star Special, when Firebrand notices a man falling from the sky. She jumps out of the plane to catch him, and discovers that it’s Starman. She grabs his cape, but being new to flying, needs help from Hawkman and Green Lantern to save him. They and the others enter the Perisphere carrying the unconscious Starman, and find Tarantula waiting for them. They put Ted on a table to examine him, and Firebrand is surprised to learn his identity. Tarantula starts to think about Ted’s story, basically turning the rest of the issue into an issue of Secret Origins. We see that Ted was a rich guy who hung out with his girlfriend Doris, but was generally bored and wanted a more exciting life. While at a fancy dinner club, the band tried to rob the patrons, but Batman and Robin arrived to stop them. Ted ended up helping a little but felt rebuked by Batman. Later, he went to see his cousin Sandra, who showed him that she had a secret lab where she was tinkering with some inventions made by someone named Professor Davis, who gave them to her before he disappeared. Sandra was working on the black light projectors (which would later allow her to become Phantom Lady). Ted is interested in the gravity rod, which was not yet operational. He took it home and used his knowledge and interest in telescopes to find a way to charge it with stellar energy. He learned how to use the gravity rod to fly and project energy. He called Sandra and learned that some gunmen tried to kidnap her father, Senator Knight, but Sandra stopped them. Sandra’s upset that Ted didn’t help her with the black light projectors, and hung up on him. Ted decided to become a hero himself, left a strange message for the FBI, and took Doris out to dinner planning on telling her this. While they were out, someone started to take remote control of energy infrastructure across the city. The FBI agent who received his message decided to contact him (I guess the Gravity Rod also takes cellphone calls), so Ted went to meet him in a shack in the country. Starman learned of the attack on the city, and used his gravity rod to track the stolen energy to a bunker in a mountain. He took out the guard, and led him into the facility. The villain behind all of this, Dr. Doog, fired energy at them, and the guard was killed. Ted fell through a trap door and fell a great distance (except he used his rod to float down). He discovered Professor Davis at the bottom of the fall, tied to a chair. He freed him, and they were confronted by Dr. Doog, who had some kind of hypnosis powers, which didn’t work on Ted because of the gravity rod. He fought Doog’s underlings and blocked a blast from Doog’s ultra-dynamo, which he then destroyed. Doog tried to run away but fell down his own trap door (even though they were at the bottom of it, so this must be another trap door). Ted flew Professor Davis right through the mountain, blasting a hole ahead of them with the gravity rod. Later, he went to see Doris. Back in the present (aka March 1942), Ted wakes up and warns the other All-Stars that an attack is coming from the Japanese.

Issue forty-two opens with Starman flying over the Hawaiian islands when he discovers a pair of Japanese bombers appearing out of nowhere. He manages to destroy one bomber, and diverts the payload of the other. That bomber carries Prince Daka, who has a device that generates an invisibility field around the airplane. He’s able to use it to transmit some kind of energy that sends Starman reeling into a mountain. As he loses consciousness, he has his gravity rod fly him to New York, which puts us where we found him last issue. Prince Daka continued to New York, where he now meets with three powered beings that will help him meet his goals. They are Kung, who we met in an early issue of All-Star (he can change his shape into that of any animal), Sumo the Samurai (he’s a big, strong guy), and Tsunami, whom we saw recently in this book. Prince Daka wants them to help him retrieve the weapons of some super beings, starting with Starman’s gravity rod. He intends to attack the Perisphere to get it. At the Perisphere, the gathered All-Stars listen to Ted’s story, and he realizes that he’s been unconscious and flying for a whole day. They are concerned that the invisible bomber could be anywhere in America by now. Green Lantern announces he has to get back to the army, and Johnny Quick also leaves. Hourman asks Firebrand out, and they arrange to go to the party her father is hosting on Friday; this makes Tarantula a little jealous. GL takes Hourman to Manhattan, and Hawkman also departs. None of them see that Daka and his crew are in the bushes outside. The rest of the All-Stars hang out, speculating on where that plane could have gone, and checking to see if any other All-Stars are closeby. The only other ones in the NY area are Sandman, Manhunter (red suit version), and Guardian, none of whom have any useful powers. Starman, Amazing-Man, and Firebrand end up talking about the question of whether Japanese-Americans can be trusted, and Will and Danette are annoyed by Ted’s views. Liberty Belle and Robotman talk about this, but then Robotman senses an attack and protects Libby from an invisible threat. He’s quickly cut into pieces, and Firebrand is drenched by water that comes out of nowhere. Ted gets grabbed by a pair of floating gorilla hands, and thrown against the wall. Kung grabs the gravity rod, and the Japanese attackers make themselves visible. Tarantula tries to get the gravity rod back by knocking Kung against some furniture. Sumo almost cuts him, but Will steps in to fight the bigger man. Tarantula gets the gravity rod, tossing it to Libby. Tsunami grabs her cape and manages to lift her over her head, but in Philadelphia, Tom Revere rings the bell, and Libby gets stronger. Libby tosses the rod to Will, who turns to rubber to evade Sumo’s sword. He bounces around for a bit, but ends up getting stretched by Sumo and Tsunami. He tosses the rod back to Libby, who is surrounded by the villains. She is grabbed by Kung, who has turned into a snake, and decides her only course of action is to smash the gravity rod against the wall. She throws it, but it’s caught by the invisible Prince Daka, who reveals himself. He orders his underlings to kill all of the All-Stars, which Tsunami finds dishonorable, although Sumo feels the need to obey, and Kung is happy to have this chance.
Prince Daka orders that the All-Stars be killed, and just as Sumo is going to reluctantly behead Amazing-Man, Guardian jumps through the hole in the wall and blocks his katana with his shield. Guardian smashes Tsunami’s head against the wall by accident, and stays out of Sumo’s way. Daka is about to blast him with the gravity rod, but Firebrand has recovered and fires a blast at his hand. Starman retrieves the rod, and there’s a stand-off. Kung has Liberty Belle captured so Daka, recognizing that he can’t win here, proposes that he leave with Libby and that at the Bronx Zoo later, he’ll return her in exchange for the gravity rod and Tsunami, so long as Starman doesn’t come. Daka then disappears, and the others leave. Starman makes sure they’re all gone. Tarantula ties up Tsunami when she starts to put them down, and we learn that Robotman was able to signal for help, which is how Guardian knew to come to their aid. Tsunami continues to taunt the All-Stars, and the team starts to figure out what they should do. Ted does not want Daka to have the gravity rod, but also feels like a failure and that Libby’s fate is his fault. Firebrand takes the rod and says she’s going to do what Daka wants. She grabs Tsunami and flies to the roof of the Perisphere. Tarantula follows, disagreeing with her. They argue on the roof, and it gets physical when he tries to take the rod away. Tarantula falls off the roof, but is caught by Amazing-Man. Tarantula prepares to continue the fight, but Guardian and Amazing-Man back Danette; Tsunami is impressed with their sense of honour, placing their friend above all else. Robotman, who is putting himself back together, Tarantula, and Starman stay behind as the others leave in the All-Star Special. Prince Daka and his people bring Liberty Belle to the Bronx Zoo and prepare for the All-Stars. The hostage exchange proceeds, but as Tsunami and Libby approach each other, Tsunami realizes that Daka has set some kind of trap, and she knocks Libby down and kicks away a bomb disguised as a stone. Tsunami is disgusted by her leader’s lack of honour, and the two sides attack. Libby, who is tied up, knocks Tsunami over in an attempt to retrieve the gravity rod. The fight is pretty evenly matched, but Daka gets the rod as his invisibility belt shorts out. Sumo points out that they’ve won, but Daka prepares to blast the All-Stars with the rod. Sumo smacks it out of his hand with his sword, and gives it to Firebrand. Sumo tells Daka that he doesn’t have honour. Kung turns into an elephant and tries to bury the heroes under a wall, while also freeing Tsunami (because apparently when he becomes an elephant, his trunk is full of water). Daka, Kung, and Sumo escape, but Tsunami stays behind. She tells the All-Stars that she won’t follow a leader without honour, but she also hates that the US government is rounding up Japanese-Americans. She takes off, and Libby lets her go, saying that she has to respect that she behaved honourably.

Johnny Quick carries Liberty Belle through the streets of New York as they rush to make their train to Philadelphia. Once they’ve boarded, Johnny falls asleep. Jim Harper, the Guardian, has taken Starman, Hawkgirl, Hawkman, and Robotman, in their civilian identities, to go watch some of the Newsboy Legion participate in a boxing match. Jim’s mentee, Scrapper, wins his bout and they all head out on the town. Hourman arrives at Firebrand’s apartment building in costume, as she requested. At her door, he’s greeted by Sandra Knight, Phantom Lady, in Danette’s costume. Tarantula is there too, and Rex learns that they’re all going to a costume party at Danette’s father’s, and that he is meant to swap costumes with Jonathan. Rex is a little disappointed that his first date with Danette is going to be so public. They arrive at the party, which is very packed. Ed Reilly, Danette’s father, introduces himself to her friends, and they are left with the impression that he’s nervous about something. He’s also very vocal about his views of the war, which despite his position as a steel magnate, he’s unhappy to be part of. After he leaves, the heroes chat about Ed’s dislike of the British (he has Irish parentage). They’re impressed with Frank Sinatra’s singing. Rex and Danette head out to the balcony to be alone, but are rudely bumped into by a strangely dressed pair who seemed to appear out of the fog. Rex and Danette start dancing, and she asks him to take things slowly. The new guests take Ed aside, and once in his study, confront him. We learn that Ed has been slowing down the war effort on purpose, but not since Pearl Harbour. These two Germans, Night and Fog, have powers, and want to intimidate Ed. Rex tries to kiss Danette, and she has to tell him again she wants to move slowly (it is their first date). They head back inside, and Jonathan and Sandra warn them that Ed might be in trouble. Night explains her and her brother’s origin to Ed (they were experimented on by Hitler after he signed a secret decree to stamp out the Reich’s enemies, and have been targeting Germany’s enemies). Fog grabs Ed and holds him out the window. He drops him just as the heroes, now in their proper outfits, burst into the room. Firebrand flies out the window, rushing to catch her father, while the others start to fight the Germans. Danette catches him, but as Night and Fog are shown to defeat the All-Stars one by one, she struggles to break her father’s fall. He crashes into a ledge, and she lands on top of him. Hourman sees no choice but to take the Miraclo pill he has stashed in his belt, despite his vow to not take it anymore. Fog picks up Phantom Lady and tosses her out the window, but Rex is just able to catch her ankle. He struggles to hold her as the enemies approach him, but then the Miraclo kicks in and he’s able to use his strength to save Sandra and knock Fog across the room. He turns on Night, who envelops him in darkness. Danette’s father knows he’s going to die and admits to her that he worked with the Nazis, due to his hatred of the British, and says he wants her to stop them. Fog is about to kill Hourman but Danette flies into the room, throwing flame everywhere. The others start to recover as the room goes up in flames. Tarantula gets through to her, making her realize the damage she’s doing and she absorbs all of the flames before collapsing. Hourman also falls over. Later, they watch as Danette’s father’s body is brought out of the building, and Danette explains to a detective that Ed was targeted because of his involvement in supplying steel to the war effort.
Issue forty-five begins strangely, with the flag-draped Miss Liberty attacking Hessians working for the British during the American Revolution. She blows up a bunch of them that are dragging a large bell up the side of a hill for some reason, causing the bell to fall towards her. Liberty Belle wakes up from this bad dream on the train to Philadelphia. Johnny Quick sees to her, comforting her and, as the train arrives in town, running her out of there. She shares that she’s had this same dream many times, and believes it’s because her ancestor, Bess Lynn, was Miss Liberty, who fought alongside Tomahawk and Dan Hunter. They head to Independence Hall, and pause outside. Libby explains that Tom Revere, the man inside, is the closest thing she has to family since her father died, and that she wants Johnny to meet him. Johnny is unsure that he’s good enough for Libby, but she makes it clear that she loves him. They enter and meet Tom, but their conversation is cut short when a wall comes crashing down. Baron Blitzkrieg, the diminutive Major Zwerg, and a blue-suited villain named Zyklon enter. The Baron admits he is still unable to see properly. Tom rushes to strike him, and the Baron hits him clear across the room. Johnny rushes over to catch the older man, but is blocked by Zyklon, who is as fast as he is. Tom hits the wall hard, and Libby realizes that he’s dead. Some guards move towards the Baron. Libby hits Zwerg and then punches the Baron, hurting her hand on his armor. Even though he can’t see her, he’s able to find her by her speech, and they start to fight. Libby tries to avoid him by running up some stairs, but he pulls down the whole staircase (it lands on Zwerg, who is trapped). He grabs Libby and throws her across the room. Johnny is just able to catch her, and he takes off, hoping to stay ahead of Zyklon, who chases them. When Johnny tries to fly them away, Zyklon creates a whirlwind that Johnny can’t escape. He tosses Libby clear and falls to the ground. He an Zyklon fight at a great speed, but it looks like the German speedster is getting the best of our hero. Zylkon leaves Johnny lying on the ground, in pain. Libby falls into a pond or lake, and is surprised to be helped by Flash, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman, who just happened to be closeby. They take her back to the Hall, where they see that Blitzkrieg has taken off with the Liberty Bell. They pull Zwerg out of the staircase wreckage, and Libby cradles Tom’s dead body. Johnny arrives and it’s clear that he feels very defeated. He tries to comfort Libby, who feels very guilty (the Baron revealed that they’d followed her there). She admits that she’s not fit to be a hero or member of the All-Stars, and takes off her mask, announcing that she’s resigning from the team. Johnny beats himself up for all that’s happened and takes off to cry in private. The other heroes try to figure out why Blitzkrieg wanted the bell. We see that he’s taken it to a nearby secret lab. He tells Zyklon that the next time the bell is rung, it will fix his eyesight and destroy an American city.

Hawkman is chairing a meeting of the All-Stars (Johnny Quick, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Hourman, Firebrand, Tarantula, Amazing-Man, Robotman, and Hawkgirl are in attendance). They talk about Liberty Belle having quit, and what happened last issue. They want to track down Baron Blitzkrieg. We see that Johnny is feeling sorry for himself, and that Tarantula is worried about Firebrand, given that it’s only been a few days since her dad died. Johnny ends up getting mad and taking off, but we see that’s a ruse so he can go visit Major Zwerg in the hospital to get information from him. When he arrives, he finds that Libby, in her Libby Lawrence identity, is threatening the small man. Johnny intervenes, and they manage to scare Zwerg into admitting everything. We get a recap of the Baron’s first run-in with the All-Stars, and an explanation of how Firebrand has caused him to suffer from hysterical blindness. Zwerg tells them what the Baron’s plans for the Liberty Bell are, and they are about to go together. A large noise outside gets Johnny’s attention, and he rushes into action to stop a burning cab from blowing up the full city bus it just crashed into. Johnny creates a cyclone to pull away all the oxygen from the flame, but gets hit by a piece of debris and crashes into an alleyway. Hawkgirl ends up flying Libby, now back in uniform, to Philly. It’s interesting that Johnny mentioned before that Libby doesn’t like Shiera, but as they fly and talk, she starts to reassess her. In an old church in Philadelphia, we see that the Baron has attached the Bell to a scientific device that he’s tied beneath. He explains that when lightning hits the Bell, its vibrations should cure him of his blindness. As a storm begins, Libby and Shiera enter the church quietly, and start smashing equipment. Zyklon runs around trying to stop them, and starts beating on Libby. Shiera is able to get a good hit on Zyklon, and we see that Johnny and Flash are rushing to the city. Shiera gets Zyklon to run at her at full speed, and they knock each other out. Libby tries to dismantle the equipment strapped to the Baron’s body, and that’s when the lightning outside hits the Bell. It funnels energy into the Baron, who can see again, and he’s about to smash Libby. Lightning hits the Bell again, causing it to collapse. Just before it crushes Libby like it did her ancestor in her dream, she reaches her hand up and soundwaves throb out of her arm. She uses them to toss the Bell at the Baron, knocking him down. When Zyklon rushes at her, she sends him flying right into Johnny and Jay as they enter the church. Johnny knocks out Zylkon, and Libby explains a little of what happened. In that brief moment, Blitzkrieg and his lackey escape through a hole in the floor, disappearing into a network of tunnels under Philadelphia. Libby checks on Shiera, thanking her for her help and apologizing for underestimating her before. Johnny and Libby tell each other how much they love one another, and the rest of the All-Stars finally arrive to help with the clean up.
Issue forty-seven features some of the first art Todd McFarlane ever drew for DC, and was supposed to be an issue of Secret Origins, but got moved up in the schedule and placed here instead, to get ahead of Dr. Fate’s upcoming series (I’m guessing that’s the Keith Giffen miniseries, and not the post-Crisis ongoing). Firebrand, Tarantula, Hourman, Robotman, and Amazing-Man are hanging out at the Perisphere, commenting on how Liberty Belle has disappeared after the events of the last couple of issues. Starman and Dr. Fate arrive, and Fate says that he wants to tell Tarantula his story for his book. They go somewhere private, and Fate starts to tell his story (which has already been recapped in this book). We learn that as a twelve year old, Kent Nelson accompanied his father, Sven, to an archaeological dig of an Egyptian-style pyramid in the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur. They were the only two to enter the pyramid, and while Sven studied the alien-looking text he found on a wall, Kent explored, discovering a perfectly preserved giant-sized man. Acting on a hunch, he pulled a lever, releasing a gas that restored the giant to life. Running back to his father, Kent found him dead. The man explained that a poison gas killed him, and that to make up for it, he would teach him secrets of the universe. Kent fought against this, running from the pyramid as it collapsed. Nabu helped him bury his father and then started to train him after mentally influencing the boy. As years passed, Kent learned to levitate himself and objects, became very strong, and learned magic. Nabu had him use his powers on him, breaking open his form and revealing that Nabu is actually an energy being from the planet Cilia. He learned that Nabu came to Earth and was worshiped, and fought as a Lord of Order against the forces of Chaos. Nabu told Kent that he would be a host for Nabu, and gave him his cape, amulet, and helmet. He also gave him the name Dr. Fate. Fate was sent to Alexandria, where he discovered that someone had attacked a local guide and kidnapped the woman he was taking on a tour. He used an orb to find the villain, who seemed familiar. He tracked him down and entered his lair, where he found Wotan, who knew him, had strung up Inza Cramer as his prisoner. Wotan clearly knew more about Fate than Fate knew about himself, and when they fought, Wotan gained the upper hand, sending him out of his lair. Inza tried to reason with Wotan, who didn’t know why he kidnapped her. He took her and left. Fate attacked again, but Wotan was more powerful, doing harm to the new hero. Once Fate collapsed, Wotan let Inza go, and she ran to him, taking off his helmet. She was surprised by how young he was, and started to weep. One of her tears fell on Kent’s face, and this revived him. He put his helmet back on, and unleashed his powers on Wotan, disintegrating him and then flying over to destroy the tower he was using as a base. Fate, whose whole demeanor changed once he put the helmet back on, spoke to Inza, who offered her friendship and help in grounding him in reality. They flew off, and Fate finished by explaining that they have been together ever since. He mentions the way the helmet controls his mind, and why he’s gotten rid of it (which we’ve already seen in this run). Without it, he’s just got flight and strength going for him. Hourman, Starman, and Firebrand interrupt to tell them that they just got word from Winston Churchill that the All-Stars are needed in England. Churchill specifically asked for Spectre or Dr. Fate to come, so Fate agrees to go. Starman heads off alone for the Justice Society meeting he and Fate were originally going to together.

The Shining Knight is flying towards the area where Camelot once was, and while exploring some ruins, comes across a man dressed as a knight. The knight doesn’t speak, and attacks Sir Justin. Justin knocks off his helmet, and is shocked to see King Arthur, just as he remembers him. He promises to follow him if he were to speak to him, but instead Arthur punches him in the jaw, knocking him out. A day later, four All-Stars – Hourman, Robotman, Firebrand, and Dr. Fate – are crossing the Atlantic in a plane, responding to Prime Minister Churchill’s summons. Danette is welding new rocket jets to Robotman’s back, and as they approach London, they see it is getting bombed by Germans. The team confers briefly, and sees the Blackhawks, independent fighter pilots, swooping in to defend London. Firebrand, Fate, and Robotman jump out of the plane to help, leaving Hourman behind to feel ineffective. Robotman’s new rockets don’t work properly right away, but soon he gets the hang of it. Firebrand doesn’t want to kill anyone, but works at taking down the planes. The pilots in the All-Stars’ plane talk to Hourman, who feels pretty useless as he watches Dr. Fate fly through aircraft. Soon the German bombers are destroyed and the German fighters are turning back. The team gathers at the same aerodrome as the All-Stars, and they meet one another. Their conversation is cut short by the arrival of Winston Churchill, who takes them all someplace more remote to talk. We learn alongside the team that Sir Justin has vanished, and that there is a strange area of England that has been cut off from the outside world. Churchill tells them that he sent Justin to investigate, and didn’t hear from him again. The heroes, with Blackhawk (but not his other pilots) head to the same area, and notice evidence of both mystical and scientific interference in the area. They find a new-looking yet still ancient castle waiting for them, with a variety of Medieval-looking knights standing around. A wizardly type, clearly intended to be seen as Merlin, fires energy at the approaching heroes, forcing Blackhawk to land. Robotman and Firebrand are taken down by the wizard as well. When Dr. Fate punches him, he knocks off his head, revealing it to be a robot. It explodes. When the smoke clears, Arthur approaches Fate, and reveals that he’s really Wotan in disguise. Wotan wants revenge on Fate for sending him and Ian Karkull into Limbo. We learn that Wotan is controlling Sir Justin, and he orders him to kill the All-Stars.
Wotan repeats his order for Shining Knight to kill the All-Stars. Sir Justin doesn’t see the decency in this, and Wotan argues with Dr. Fate that he’s not really working for Hitler, just working with him. He blows up the remains of Blackhawk’s plane to show his power, and then has Shining Knight attack. Fate punches Winged Victory, but gets kicked by the horse, which feels like getting punched by Superman. Sir Justin’s sword is able to cut Fate, who is supposed to be invulnerable. Wotan stops Justin from killing him, and when Fate comes to, he’s trussed up in a metal contraption alongside Robotman and Firebrand. Wotan talks about his plans, and explains how after he was sent to Limbo by Fate, he managed to escape, emerging where Camelot used to be. He used his magic to hide the ruins as he created drone-beings to rebuild the castle for him. We see he has another prisoner – Doctor Occult, the ‘ghost detective’ whose appearances predated Superman’s. We learn that Occult, who doesn’t have powers but uses a ‘mystic symbol’ to do a lot of things, was captured by Wotan’s robots when he investigated the area. Wotan pauses all conversation to have a video conference with Adolf Hitler, who expects that Wotan’s King Arthur robots will be able to take control of England and get it to surrender to him. Wotan signs off from Hitler, and looks outside, where the British military is gathering. He sends out his knights, and has them bring his captives as well. A large image of King Arthur is broadcast into the clouds, and then the knights attack. The captives watch as the robots cut through the soldiers. Back at command, Winston Churchill is surprised by what is happening, but holds off on sending in bombers to destroy the area. One of the knights is about to kill a soldier, but is stopped by Hourman. We learn that as Blackhawk’s plane was crashing, Rex took a Miraclo pill (his ray wasn’t working), and was able to save Blackhawk before the plane exploded. Rex was knocked out for a while, and now doesn’t know how much time remains in his ‘hour of power’. He continues to fight against the robot knights. Wotan sends Sir Justin to finish off the soldiers, but when he sees the Union Jack flag, he is confused, and Wotan’s spell starts to wear off him. He realizes that Wotan is not Arthur, and punches him out. He frees the others. Hourman continues to fight the robots, but his hour runs out and he is left weak. As one knight approaches, he takes a second Miraclo pill, and, his strength regained, fights back. He feels like he’s about to have a heart attack, and he collapses. Doctor Fate rushes over to him and flies him off to a hospital.

Issue fifty is double-sized, and features the beginning of a long run of tie-ins to Crisis on Infinite Earths. It opens with Hawkman arriving to a meeting of the Justice Society/Justice Battalion, where he finds everyone (Wonder Woman, Johnny Thunder, Doctor Mid-Nite, Starman, Spectre, Sandman, and The Atom) in attendance except for Dr. Fate, whom they figure is still in England. As their meeting begins, we see that some German-speaking men have been waiting for them, and have prepared the meeting room with sealed windows and doors. The Germans start drawing the oxygen out of the room, and as the heroes talk, they start to pass out. The Spectre is the only one who doesn’t succumb, but then he too collapses. The Germans enter the room and debate just killing them, but they feel they should follow their plan. They load them into a truck and drive to New Jersey, where the engineer Hans Gootsden has arranged a number of rockets that are much more advanced than anything the Germans have. Gootsden explains that this plan has been in motion since Pearl Harbour, and that the plans for the rockets were purchased from an alien. They load the JSAers into one rocket each, and launch them into space with the plan of sending them to different worlds. Instead, the rockets vanish, and Gootsden tells the others to keep that a secret. At the same time, Harbinger arrives on Earth-2, and as she crosses time and dimensions, her arrival sends out shockwaves that send the rockets to different dimensions. She feels that her mission is too important to worry about consequences like this, and she continues on her mission. At the same time, Commander Steel climbs the walls of the Reichs Chancellery, still looking for his former fiancée’s husband, Brad Farley. As he looks through a skylight, he sees that Gootsden is communicating with his assistant over the phone, who assures him that everything involving the rockets worked on his end. Two SS men bring Farley to the assistant, since he can speak English and they want him interrogated. Farley insists he knows nothing of Dr. Giles’s formula, which seems like a good time for Steel to drop in. He gets knocked out from behind though. At the same time, in New York, Mayor LaGuardia is hosting a huge war bond rally at Madison Square Gardens, with the All-Star Squadron (Robotman, Shining Knight, Hourman, Tarantula, Amazing-Man, Dr. Fate, and Guardian) in attendance. We see that Sandra Knight and Danette Reilly are selling the bonds in their civilian identities, and that Danette’s brother Rod is there, still recovering from his injuries. Doctor Occult is also there. Hourman tells Tarantula about how Fate took him to his tower in Salem and used his magic (he still has access to it while in the tower) to remove the Miraclo from Rex’s system, thus curing him. Rex believes he can never take another pill though, or he could die, and now he’s suffering a bit of an identity crisis. Sandra tries to get Danette to go on a double date with her and Jonathan again, but Danette’s not sure if she’d rather take out Rex or Sir Justin. Danette secretly uses her powers to help light a stove in the kitchen, while Occult dances with Sandra. Fate and Robotman both have a weird feeling. Time seems to stop around Danette, and she’s approached by Harbinger, who wants her help and to bring her to the Monitor. Harbinger changes her into her costume, and when they touch, they both seem to disappear. No one notices a shadowy figure watching them. They fly through the roof, but Harbinger hits a barrier that won’t let her leave Earth-2. She realizes that it’s because of the machinery the Monitor sold Gootsden, so Harbinger uses her powers to punch through the barrier, not caring that it makes the machine Gootsden’s assistant is standing over explode. This gives Steel the chance to break his bounds and fight alongside Farley. They take out all the Nazis in the room, and Steel gives Farley directions to a safehouse. He tries to save the assistant, who is caught in some Kirby krackle coming from the machine. When he touches him the machine and the two people disappear. Farley makes his way out of the building. Everyone at the Gardens feels a little weird, and Rod explains that someone has taken Danette. Occult tells them that his mystic symbol thing can feel energy above them, so the All-Stars fly upwards (the non-flyers are in the All-Star Special). Sandra changes into her Phantom Lady gear, not realizing that Plastic Man is the wall she’s changing behind. They rush to catch up to the All-Stars, but are stopped when a large image of Uncle Sam, Black Condor, and The Ray appears through a portal in front of them. Sam needs help on Earth-X and asks them to come. The two Earth-2 heroes confer for a moment, and then go through the portal. Rod sees them leave, and considers joining them as the original Firebrand, but figures he’ll have his chance when he heals more. In the void between worlds, they join the other heroes that Sam has recruited – the Blackhawks, Doll Man, Manhunter (and his dog), Midnight, Human Bomb, Jester, and someone called Spider who is new to these pages. In Boston, Libby Lawrence and Johnny Chambers are getting married, with only Tubby Watts and Shiera Sanders there to watch. They leave in a convertible on their honeymoon, but don’t get far before Green Lantern pulls their car into the air to rush them to where Harbinger is trying to leave with Firebrand. They aren’t able to catch them before they pass through a time barrier, but they decide to rush in after them, holding the portal open with Libby’s sound powers and GL’s ring energy. The rest of the All-Stars (who would have been a lot closer, but nevermind) arrive as the portal closes. Robotman and Fate are caught in the energy backlash and start to fall, but Tarantula, Amazing-Man, and Shining Knight are able to catch them. Alan, Johnny, and Libby emerge over New York, but it is different from their city. They see someone flying towards them that shocks them. Steel finds himself in a different Reichs Chancellery, and assumes he’s in another dimension. He decides to just accept that and start a new life on this world (apparently his story continues in Infinity Inc. #19). The All-Stars on Earth-2 gather to discuss what’s happened, and Occult tells them that Phantom Lady and Plastic Man have left as well. Occult’s symbol is telling him that something is very wrong, and none of them notice a flying microphone hovering above them.
A couple walks through New York, speaking of getting married before the man ships out, when they see a glowing stone float in front of a monstrous statue. The statue comes to life, calling itself Oom, and attacks the man. The woman passes out, and Oom is about to kill her when a floating microphone/helicopter device gets his attention. Mr. Mind, who is piloting it, recaps Oom’s fight with the Spectre, which ended with him trapped in the statue form. Mind threatens to turn him back into stone, compelling him to leave with him. Dr. Fate flies Hourman to the Justice Society’s meeting room. They are surprised to find the team not waiting for them, and instead find Mr. Mind’s vessel, Oom, and three other villains sitting at the table, with Hawkgirl their prisoner. The Monster Society of Evil introduces itself. We have Nyola, a Hawkman villain, ramulus, who used to be called Nightshade, and Mr. Who, whose stupid name leads to Kent and Rex doing a comedy routine before Oom gets angry. Shiera bites Nyola’s hand, but gets slapped for it. Fate fights Who, who can become bigger, while Ramulus’s control of plants soon has Rex tied up, unable to reach the Miraclo pills that could kill him. Soon everyone is taken down, and left prisoner of the Monster Society, but Rex thinks he can see help in the shadows across the street. Mr. Mind narrates his story. He’s the caterpillar ruler of another world, he loved radio broadcasts from Earth and decided to visit. On the way, he crossed paths with Harbinger and Firebrand (which means he would have only come in the last few hours). He tracked down his radio hero, who turned out to be a ventriloquist’s dummy (Charlie McCarthy, which I can’t believe was a big deal on the radio ever). Feeling disappointed, he decided to go see the JSA, but their meeting room was empty, so he decided to recruit villains from their case files, and rule the world. He gathered these monsters (again, there’s no way he could have done all of this in the amount of time that’s passed). His story done, he decides it’s time to kill the heroes they have, but Sandman’s sidekick, Sandy, comes swinging into the room to save the day. He’s quickly cornered, but Shiera is able to free herself, and Hourman is able to use Sandy’s cable gun to get out of the building, even though he’s left hanging outside. Oom throws Sandy out the window, but Shiera catches him. Dr. Fate is left alone, and soon Oom proves too strong even for him. Oom is about to kill him, and uses a previously unrevealed power to teleport them to the Moon, his home. The other heroes stand on the roof, and try to figure out how they’re going to deal with this situation. The last page recaps what happened with Green Lantern, Liberty Belle, and Johnny Quick, who find themselves over a different New York. We see who was approaching them last issue, and it turns out to be Captain Marvel.

Green Lantern assumes that Captain Marvel is attacking them, and captures him in a bubble before realizing that they are all about to be attacked by Shadow-Beings. Cap explains that he’s been fighting them all day, ever since the skies started to turn red (I’ve always had an issue with the Crisis happening simultaneously in each time period, as that suggests that the Crisis was always happening). The Shadow-Beings form a dark thunderbolt, and striking Cap, turn him back into Billy Batson. Green Lantern catches him, while Johnny Quick flies Liberty Belle towards one so she can try her new sonic powers on it. She disassembles one of the Shadow-Beings, but they all quickly form into one giant Shadow-Being, threatening the whole city. Green Lantern’s ring and his oath manage to disperse them for good, and the heroes gather on a rooftop to figure things out. Cap hasn’t seen Firebrand anywhere, and when he learns that Libby and Johnny just got married, they decide to go eat together. Cap takes them back to Billy’s place, offering his bed to the newlyweds for the night. Alan wants to talk to Cap, but then realizes that his ring has run out of its charge, and that he can’t recharge it while in another dimension. He asks Cap to fly him to China so he can look for the meteor that his lantern is carved from. They find it in an area not held by the Axis, so they don’t have to worry about the Earth-S version of the Spear of Destiny. The glowing green rock is just sitting outside a building, which seems unlikely, but Alan has no problem charging his ring off it. Cap tells him that he’s prepared to share some information with Alan now that he trusts him, and they head back to Fawcett City. Libby wakes up in Billy’s bed, with Johnny snoring next to her, and we learn that she’s had strange dreams about what’s happening in the Crisis on Infinite Earths series. She looks out the window and is freaked out to find Alan and Cap just floating there. Once she’s woken up Johnny and they get dressed, Cap leads them into the abandoned subway station that leads to the brazier he needs to light to summon the wizard Shazam. Shazam knows how to help the All-Stars get back to their world, but makes it clear that Cap has to stay behind. He sends a ball of magic fire to lead them home, and the three heroes fly after it (with Alan pulling Libby along). They end up on a massive mountain (which we know is the Rock of Eternity), and Alan pauses to pick up a piece to take home with him, since his ring appears to have an affinity for it. An arrow manifests out of his ring, and they follow it into a portal. Back in the subway station, Shazam lets Cap know that they’ve left, and he feels strange about not being able to go with them, but also is happy knowing that he’s his world’s best hero.
Issue fifty-two contains a backup story billed as Interlude One, featuring Hawkman. The art is credited to Al Dellinges, but says that he’s “utilizing the Golden-Age drawings of Joe Kubert”, which makes me wonder if he’s done some collage work. Anyway, Hawkman’s rocket approaches Saturn, but in another dimension. Once he’s there, we get a weird story where he meets some guy named Aka and helps him get to a woman who can help him overthrow some guy named Hora who has taken over the planet or something. Carter can somehow communicate with alien birds in this story, and can also reprogram the rocket that brought him there to take him home. It’s weird and hard to read.
The Monster Society attacks a prison, with the goal to free one particular prisoner, in as destructive a way as possible. Mr. Who grows to a great size and starts pulling off the cell door when Superman flies in, breaking Who’s glasses and maybe his jaw. The Monster Society attacks him and they fight for a bit, all while one of Ramulus’s plant tendrils reaches into the cell. Mr. Mind teleports his crew away, and Superman is surprised to learn who they freed. Back at their base, the members of the Monster Society are surprised to learn they freed The Dummy, a magical animated ventriloquist’s dummy, who shows signs of not being fully on-board with Mr. Mind’s world conquering plans. The others quietly let him know that they also don’t agree with Mr. Mind and plan to turn the tables on him. Superman arrives at the Perisphere, and finds that Tarantula, Sandy, Amazing-Man, Hawkgirl, Hourman, Shining Knight, Robotman, and Dr. Occult are all there. Tarantula updates Superman on what’s happened with the JSA, how Dr. Fate is missing, and how three others went after Firebrand. They decide to split up and investigate, leaving Hourman behind to try to contact more All-Stars. They put in a quick call to the Crimson Avenger, who is with the rest of the Seven Soldiers of Victory, but their call is disrupted. Shining Knight decides to go speak with them. Sandy and Hawkgirl team up, and the rest all leave. At the Monster Society’s base, the ‘monsters’ stand up to Mr. Mind, and reveal that they’ve summoned Oom back to the Earth. Oom smashes Mr. Mind’s vessel, tossing it out of the building, and then tells his new team that he also wants to conquer the Earth. Mr. Mind works to regain control of his Mindtripper and spots a dimensional vortex. He aims for it, and passes Green Lantern, Johnny Quick, and Liberty Belle. He ends up on Earth-Shazam, and thinking it without heroes, decides to conquer it (I like how Thomas has set up the next few years of classic Captain Marvel stories with this). Flying through a void, Green Lantern sees a flash of colour, and sees that Libby and Johnny are absorbed by it. He’s not able to enter the same portal that took them. They show up on the Monitor’s vessel (not that we are told this), where a number of heroes from Earth-1 and Earth-2, but from the 1980s (and some Legionnaires from the 31st century) have gathered. They find Tarantula and Amazing-Man, and have to prove to one another who they are. They see Green Lantern, but don’t quite figure out that he’s forty years older (and with his wife). Harbinger and Pariah address the crowd, and soon our heroes are on Earth-1 with some other heroes, trying to stop a massive tornado that is spewing out lightning. Johnny isn’t able to stop the tornado by spinning, and Wildcat (from the 80s) is trapped in tendrils of energy. Libby has to choose between trying to catch Johnny and saving Wildcat, and ends up using her sonic powers to free the older hero with some help from Tarantula. Amazing-Man is able to stop Johnny’s fall by turning into rubber, and Johnny Thunder, Dr. Fate (both from the 80s) and Zatanna use their magic to stop the tornado. The Flash (older Jay Garrick) joins Johnny, and they realize that Red Tornado was at the centre of the tornado. Green Lantern tells Johnny that Harbinger needs him for a mission, and he’s surprised to learn that his partners, in addition to GL and Power Girl, will be Per Degaton, Star Sapphire, and Deathbolt. They rush into a portal, while Liberty Belle watches him go.

Many All-Stars are patrolling, searching for any of their missing comrades, while Hourman is playing Gin Rummy with Gernsback and feeling low at the Perisphere. He checks the computer to see if there’s any news, and is surprised to see Green Lantern enter through the roof, bringing Batman and Robin with him. They fill each other in on recent events. Elsewhere, the newly renamed Society of Oom walks down a street. We see that the skies have turned red, and the villains are not happy to be following Oom’s lead. Oom for his part trashes a car and swallows the moon stone that could absorb his soul. Elsewhere, Flash rescues Joan Williams from a train and then rushes to the Perisphere, where he joins the others (Amazing-Man and Tarantula have returned from their patrol). They’re all still trying to figure out what’s going on and what they should be doing when they feel an Earthquake. The Monster Society has arrived and is tearing things apart. Nyola is bringing down lightning while Mr. Who has grown to be bigger than the Perisphere. He pulls it from its place and starts to roll it. The heroes (other than Hourman) emerge and start to fight back. The All-Stars get the upper hand, but as Green Lantern is pushing Oom against a wall with his ring, the Dummy jumps on Alan, knocking him out and freeing Oom. There is a blinding white light, and Amazing-Man and Tarantula disappear (we know where they went – to last issue). Oom prepares to kill Hourman after he tries to help the stunned Green Lantern. The Dummy tells Alan he can stop Oom by focusing his green energy at Oom’s chest, and so he ends up making the moon stone he ate explode. Flash saves Hourman, and the Dummy is about to attack the weakened Alan, but Dr. Fate appears out of nowhere to stop him. Fate explains that he was left for dead on the moon, but was somehow able to suck oxygen out of some rocks (seriously) and then fly home. The other heroes return, and they all look at the sky, wondering if they’re going to make it through this Crisis. We see Harbinger address all the heroes again, and then see that Firebrand has been given a special mission. She’s been sent to Earth-2’s Cape Canaveral, in 1985, and put in charge of a team of characters from eras that came before her own. With her are The Black Pirate and his son Justin, The Roving Ranger, Miss Liberty, Don Caballero (who talks about his sword as if it’s a person), The Trigger Twins, The Silent Knight, The Viking Prince, The Golden Gladiator, and Valda, the Iron Maiden. Danette wanted to go there to check on Terri Rothstein/Kurtzberger, whom she knew as Cyclotron’s baby, and is Nuklon’s mother, but is confused as to why she needed to bring all these heroes with her. As they walk towards the Space Center, they notice the red skies and how strange things are. Danette gets tired of walking and flies ahead, only to see a small group of Indigenous horsemen attacking Nasa’s facility, seemingly led by a guy with a buffalo head.
The various Indigenous warriors attack the men guarding Cape Canaveral, and Firebrand leads her group in an attempt to stop them. Firebrand throws fire at the men on the ground, but is knocked out of the air by Saganowahna, the man with the buffalo mask (his name translates to Super Chief). The Roving Ranger is attacked by a man named Strong Bow, and is saved by the Trigger Twins. It becomes clear that the heroes from different eras will not kill anyone. Valda, the Iron Maiden, is surprised to find Arak, the star of Roy Thomas’s other title. It’s clear they have a complicated Batman/Catwoman kind of thing going on, and we learn there’s a reason why all these Indigenous people are there and fighting. Firebrand tries to stop Saganowahna from destroying the rocket launching facility, and he fights back. She realizes that his powers come from the glowing rock he’s wearing on a necklace, so she removes it, leaving him to fall from the sky. She manages to catch him and slow his fall, but they both crash into the ground. One of the warriors comes to kill Firebrand, but Saganowahna stops him. At this point, the guards start firing on both groups, and the heroes realize they’ve been fighting on the wrong side. They join the Indigenous warriors, and start to fight together. Inside the facility, we see that the Ultra-Humanite, in his 1980s white ape body, is trying to use the space shuttle to escape. The problem is that the NASA program manager is refusing to give him the navigation codes he needs to pilot the ship. That manager is none other than Terri Rothstein, whom All-Star readers remember as Terri Curtis (now retconned to be Kurtzberger), the infant daughter of Cyclotron that Firebrand and Atom promised to look after. She gives in when Ultra threatens to kill one of her fellow scientists, and Ultra smacks her across the face. At this point, Cyclotron turns up, and Ultra calls him by the last name Kurtzberger instead of Curtis. Cyclotron explains that he was pulled away from the moment before his death and brought here. He blasts Ultra, who blasts him back. Ultra takes Terri hostage, and even though he doesn’t know who she is, Terry lets him escape. The heroes arrive, and Firebrand is surprised to see her former lover still alive. They talk and bring each other up to speed. Danette reveals that Ultra just took his daughter, and shows him a picture she has of Nuklon and Atom (who is now wearing a costume very similar to Cyclotron’s). They rush after the white ape, and tosses Terri away from the shuttle. Terry saves her, but Ultra mindblasts him and they fall. Terry maneuvers so he breaks Terri’s fall as the space shuttle launches. Terry is dying again, and fades back to the time of his actual death. Danette absorbs the rocket blasts caused by the launching shuttle, and manages to save Terri. As she recovers, Terri explains that while Ultra installed death rays on the shuttle, the navigation codes she installed will send him into the sun.
Issue fifty-five has a Sandman backup story, based on a story from 1942. Sandman’s rocket takes him to an alternate Uranus, where there are crystal people. I could really only skim this story, but Sandman ends up wearing a glass helmet and stopping someone named Kafta from doing something, and is given crystals that will cure mankind from mental diseases. He leaves in a rocket powered by mini-crystals, and wonders why he’s connected to dreams.

Issue fifty-six adapts a 1942 Seven Soldiers of Victory story. It opens with Shining Knight flying Winged Victory to Philadelphia to meet up with the other Soldiers. He flies over a bar where a metal robot with very skinny legs (this is noteworthy later) kidnaps a criminal named Mickey. Sir Justin notices the robot loading the man into a truck, and decides to follow to see what’s going on. He follows to a waterfront warehouse, and after breaking in, gets knocked out by the robot. When he comes to, he can hear a discussion in another room. Mickey and four other men are waking up from some sort of operation, and each of them finds their senses enhanced well beyond what is normal. They are joined by the robot and a man in a glass dome calling himself The Sense-Master. He explains that he’s paralyzed, and is speaking to them telepathically through the robot. He says that they’ve been transformed by Dr. Brett’s hormone extract, and now he wants them to use their enhanced senses to steal five jewels for him, after which he will pay them a lot of money. The robot comes to the room Sir Justin is in, and triggers a trap door, tossing him into the river beneath the warehouse. He’s able to use his sword to cut his bonds and swim to shore, despite his heavy armor. He calls for the Seven Soldiers of Victory, who all come in their unique vehicles to track down the criminals. Mickey, who has enhanced hearing, tracks down the woman he’s supposed to steal from, the pianist Alice Howard. The Crimson Avenger and Wing follow him as Mickey and Alice, who are now maybe in love, go to a broadcast station so she can play the piano. She asks him to hold her diamond necklace for her (the diamond is as big as her hand), but some other guy that the Sense-Master sent snatches it, and while CA and Wing follow, he’s able to escape via blimp and take the diamond to his boss (why would anyone need to enhance Mickey’s hearing for this?). Sir Justin follows Fingers O’Fallon, who has enhanced touch. Fingers disguises himself as Merlin to infiltrate a party thrown by Don Coty, and gets into his safe to steal his giant topaz. Sir Justin punches out Fingers, but a trained bird gets the Topaz and takes it to Sense-Master. Star-Spangled Kid’s parents (and Stripesy’s employers) own the emerald ring that the “Human Bloodhound” is after. He manages to get the ring through some elaborate scheme involving a schooner, a fake dead whale, and a fake ring that plays out in four panels. Leo Palate, the guy with taste powers, heads to the remote mountain-top home of a former child actor who lives reclusively because he’s put on some weight. Vigilante and his friend Billy Gunn try to stop him, but the cook in the mansion also works for Sense-Master and steals a sapphire. Green Arrow and Speedy try to stop Eagle-Eye Nelson from stealing a garnet that a circus master wears on his tie, but Eagle-Eye gave the garnet to a trained dog when they weren’t looking. Some of the crooks return to Sense-Master’s other hideout, looking for their payment, threatening to break the Sense-Master’s breathing booth if he doesn’t comply. The robot gets angry and smashes the glass, then electrocutes them. The Seven Soldiers enter the room as the robot takes off his head, revealing he was Dr. Brett, the real Sense-Master (the guy in the glass booth was a dummy) all along (despite having much thicker legs than the robot he was wearing). He explains that the five gems belong in a statue that he stole from Africa, and when he puts them all in place, the statue’s gullet opens revealing the Lifestone, which can bring stone things to life. Brett escapes through a secret passage and drives off in a car that’s faster than the flying rocket cars that SSK and GA own. They follow him to Rockefeller Plaza, where he makes the statue of Atlas come to life and fight them. While they all struggle with this, Vigilante tackles Brett, making him drop the Lifestone. It turns Brett into stone, and Vigilante uses it to restore Atlas to a dead statue, then he drops the Lifestone into a river (there are no rivers near Rockefeller Plaza). That Mickey guy and Wing turn up out of nowhere (but there’s no sign of Billy Gunn) as the Seven Soldiers decide that they don’t need to get Mickey in trouble with the cops, and that it’s time to focus on the red skies issue (this is the last of the Crisis tie-ins, but other than some red skies, it’s also not a Crisis tie-in).
In the backup to #56, Doctor Mid-Nite lands on another dimension’s Neptune, where he finds plant people that are suffering from measles. He uses their technology to create a vaccine for the whole planet, and they reward him with some books that they think he can use to reprogram the rocket that brought him, which he then flies home.
It’s rare for DC comics to have Statements of Ownership, but #56 contains the first one for this series, dated October 1985. It reports an average press run of 195 000, with average newsstand returns of 124 000. I’m not sure how this business model survived for so long.
The All-Stars that were pulled away for the Crisis (Liberty Belle, Johnny Quick, Firebrand, Amazing-Man, and Tarantula) return to the ruins of the Perisphere, where they find Dr. Fate, Superman, Dr. Occult, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Sandy, Robotman, and Hourman are standing around. The skies are still red, but the Crisis has ended in the 1980s, and they bring each other up to speed (although the crew that went to the Crisis have no memory of it), but they wonder where the missing members of the JSA are. Dr. Occult’s talisman tells him they’re in hyperspace, and he figures that perhaps he and Dr. Fate can combine their abilities to see where they’ve gone. Occult is able to narrate as he locates Atom, who is about to land on an alternate version of Mars. There, he finds two groups fighting, helps the underdogs, and ends up aiding the Martians in a civil dispute, with the result being that he protects their water and oxygen. As a thank you, they give him their educatograph machine, and the secret to make air from water (isn’t that distillation?). Starman ends up on an alternate Jupiter where people live inside metal suits to deal with the gravity. They have been able to watch things happening on Earth-2 (despite being in another dimension) and know how Starman ended up in the rocket. The ‘red spot’ is some kind of being devouring everything, so Starman makes a giant gravity rod to expel it from the planet. This same giant rod helps send his rocket back towards Earth, and in return for his help, he’s given books about how to make metal transparent or invisible. Wonder Woman ends up on an alternate Venus (of course she does), where she helps the winged women of Venus resist the warriors that have come from some meteor. They manage to turn them into allies. As a thank you, the leader gives Wonder Woman the gift of magnetic hearing so she can always hear her voice (I’m not sure what kind of gift this is), and they send her home. Occult is overcome by the strength of these visions, and is unable to check in on any other JSAers, which disappoints Sandy and Hawkgirl.
The letters page for issue fifty-seven talks in detail about how Thomas’s plans for this book had to change in the wake of the Crisis. He describes having first been given special dispensation to keep this title going as intended (including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Robin, and Aquaman, who is expected to appear soon). Plans changed, and so Thomas’s new plans were to finish current storylines by issue 60, then spend a few months running stories commissioned for Secret Origins, before relaunching with a new All-Star book set in the new DC continuity. He wrote this carefully, but you can sense the disappointment that so much of his work cleaning up and matching Golden Age stories to the events of this book was wasted.

A bolt of light crashes into Manhattan, dropping a busted up female robot into an alley. Her name is given on the cover of the issue – Mekanique – and she appears to be interested in an old poster for the World’s Fair. The all-Stars that were around last issue are working on repairing their base, except for Robotman, who is busy trying to repair Gernsbeck. When Hourman and Amazing-Man talk to him about the robot, he is short-tempered and defensive. The crew finishes up their work and heads inside for a coffee break, but Robotman keeps replaying how the night before, in his Paul Dennis rubber mask, he broke things off with Joan, who was his fiancé before he was shot (I thought she knew Paul was Bob Crane, but maybe not). He brings Gernsbeck back into the Perisphere and sets him up to guard the door. The others are all working on fixing things inside the dome. Liberty Belle pulls Johnny Quick aside to tell him that she’s planning on resigning as chairwoman once the repairs are finished, partly so she can work on being a good wife. Sandy finds Hawkgirl crying because of how concerned she is about Hawkman and the rest of the JSA. Hourman feels useless now that he’s sworn off Miraclo; Tarantula also feels outclassed. Mekanique arrives, and questions Gernsbeck as to his level of independence. When he tries to stop her from entering the Perisphere, she zaps him. Hourman asks Firebrand to go on a date with him to see Glenn Miller, but she says that she’s decided to stop dating teammates. This makes him think about quitting, and Tarantula kind of makes jokes. Superman and the Flash leave. Firebrand enters the bathroom and discovers Mekanique there. She sends Danette flying through the wall, and the rest of the team rushes over. Mekanique blasts them, including Johnny when he tries to sneak up on her. Robotman asks everyone to slow down and figure out who she is and why she’s damaged, but Libby just blasts her with her sound powers. She says something about her being ‘only’ a robot, but then Mekanique grabs her ankle and electrocutes her. Dr. Fate rushes over and starts hitting Mekanique, but again Robotman insists he stops. Robotman picks up Mekanique, who quietly tells him the word ‘Rotwang’ (her design does borrow a lot from the robot in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis). Robotman picks her up and takes her to his lab, making it clear he doesn’t want any help. As he departs, Rex and Jonathan comment on how he’s humanizing her, and it looks like she’s giving an evil grin as they leave.
Issue fifty-eight’s backup story focuses on Johnny Thunder’s visit to the Hyperspace version of Mercury. He lands with the help of the Thunderbolt, finds the planet more pleasant than expected, and then after leaving Thunderbolt behind when he goes to explore, gets caught by a giant ant. The ant brings him home and gives him something called an occelerator so they can communicate while he’s in the cage they built for him. An even more giant ant-eater comes, and Johnny calls the Thunderbolt to come save him. Johnny suggests the ants move their home into a patch of quicksand, and this makes them safe (it makes no sense to me). They give him the occelerator as thanks, and then the Thunderbolt helps him head home in his rocket. I’m so sick of these Golden Age retells of this JSA storyline – they are ridiculous.
A shadowy figure emerges from Long Island Sound and enters the grounds of the Perisphere, jumping a fence, and not realizing that he’s tripped an alarm. When he enters the All-Star’s meeting space, he’s surprised to find almost three dozen heroes waiting to pounce on him. This figure is Aquaman though, and he reminds them he was invited to their meeting (he hasn’t met any of these heroes at this point). They welcome him, and then return to their meeting (many of these heroes haven’t been seen in this book since the last general meeting, at the start of this column). Dr. Occult reports on the missing Justice Society, and assures everyone that he believes the heroes are on their way back from hyper-space. Johnny figures out how to use the view screen to link in Robotman, who is at his home lab working on Mekanique with his assistant Chuck. He’s not happy to see them, and the team learns that he’s been repairing Mekanique. He’s preparing to reactivate her, and insists that the All-Stars only see her as a lifeless robot, while he believes she’s alive. The heroes want to vote to have Robotman return her to the Perisphere so they can observe his work. The vote is a good excuse to remind us of everyone’s name, and in the end, the majority wants Robotman to bring Mekanique back. He rejects this vote and shuts off his viewscreen. Liberty Belle asks for a squad to go check on things. Green Lantern, Air Wave, Firebrand, and Shining Knight head out. At Robotman’s lab, he and Chuck work to harness the energy of the red sky storms that rage outside. When the All-Stars arrive, things get heated quickly, with Robotman acting outside his usual portrayal. He accuses his friends (and Air Wave) of treating him like he isn’t human too. Air Wave detects an overload in the equipment, and Robotman slaps GL when he tries to use his ring to shut it down. Sir Justin starts cutting up machinery, which enrages Robotman. Chuck realizes that things are going to explode, but he and Air Wave end up tussling. The machinery overloads and explodes, but Alan manages to save everyone with a force shield. Robotman punches through it, and Firebrand melts his legs to stop him. She’s hit from behind – Mekanique is awake, and moves to protect Robotman from his friends.
Issue fifty-nine has a backup featuring the Spectre, who ends up on the Hyperspace version of Pluto where he helps underground-dwelling humans and the surface-dwelling Furred Ones from fighting over scant resources. Basically, he makes them so afraid of him that they decide to make peace. As a thank you gift, they give him a portable heater, and he prepares to return to Earth without his rocket, sensing that the rest of the JSA are doing the same thing.

Somewhere in a space outside of space, the Spectre and the Thunderbolt touch hands and bring together all of the missing members of the JSA, who are shown carrying the gifts they were given on the alien worlds they helped. Spectre and the Thunderbolt are able to open a portal back to Earth-2, returning to the house where they were loaded into rockets in the first place. They find an FBI agent that Hawkman knows outside the house, and while he goes to get permission to bust the Nazis inside, the Spectre tears the roof off the place. The JSA quickly subdue the men inside and capture Herr Gootsden. Starman destroys the rocket technology, and Hawkman uses the Germans’ radio to call Adolf Hitler and mock him. The JSA realizes that the devices they brought with them have all disappeared, not belonging to this world. Spectre teleports the team away. At Robotman’s lab, Air Wave, Firebrand, Shining Knight and Green Lantern aren’t sure what to do about Mekanique, who is standing over Robotman’s injured body. Robotman insists she’s not from Earth, and when the heroes attack her again, none of them are able to lay a finger on her. At Robotman and Chuck’s request, they finally let Mekanique tell her story. She tells them that she’s from the future, and proves it by predicting an announcement on the radio. When the heroes believe her, she explains that she’s come to this time to save the life of a young girl on a busy street, as her death altered history. Green Lantern and Firebrand rush off to save the girl, and in the process, also save the life of Admiral Higby, who almost hit her. Convinced, Alan and Danette head back to the Perisphere. When they get there, they see that the JSA is back, as are Robotman and the others that were at his lab. Mekanique is with him, and people are starting to trust her; Liberty Belle even thanks her for her help. Johnny brings a camera, wanting a group portrait for President Roosevelt. The photo, which is a sideway splash page, shows Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman in central positions, with the rest of the All-Stars also portrayed. Libby explains that Uncle Sam and his crew are on Earth-X (no one talks about Commander Steel), and Libby reveals that Hawkman has agreed to be the co-chairman of the team. They realize that Robotman and Mekanique are missing, but Johnny finds them on the grounds, using the security cameras. Libby suggests they leave them alone. Robotman talks to Mekanique about how he feels more alive than he has since he became Robotman, and Mekanique talks about wanting to be human. Robotman grabs her and looks into her eyes, which allows him to learn her true story. She’s basically a rebuild of the robot from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (honestly, this is kind of thrilling to me, who loves that film). He learns about how Mekanique was used to infiltrate a rebellion of the working class in a dystopian future. After she was destroyed, her maker, Rotwang, rebuilt her and sent her to the past to make sure that the child Maria dies (but she instead protected her). We learn that Mekanique has used Rotwang’s genius to somehow keep Earth-2 from falling victim to the Crisis on Infinite Earths, which is why it still exists. She stops whatever she was doing, and immediately shifts reality. She and Robotman repeat their recent conversation, and head inside; Robotman has no idea what’s happened to him. Later, Libby, Johnny, and Hawkman go to see President Roosevelt, and present him with the photo Johnny took. This time, when we see it, we see that the five prominent characters I mentioned before have been replaced by Uncle Sam, Phantom Lady, Black Condor, the Ray, and Plastic Man, suggesting that this is now taking place on the post-Crisis Earth. We see that Human Bomb and maybe the Jester have also been squeezed into the photo. Oddly, Green Arrow and Speedy are still here; I would have thought they would have been retconned away immediately.
Issue sixty was kind of the last issue of All-Star Squadron, despite the fact that it kept running for a while after that. The remaining issues were originally intended for Secret Origins, but were instead used to extend the run of this title as Thomas prepared its successor title, which at this point was not yet named.
The first of the origin issues starts with a focus on Libety Belle. The frame to this story is that she’s telling Tarantula her story for the book he’s writing. It opens in 1939, when Libby was working at the American embassy in Poland, where her father, Major Lawrence, was stationed. Libby met Rick Cannon, who told her he was an American businessman there to meet her father, and he flirted with her. After their meeting, Libby and Rick left to have lunch together, but heard air raid sirens (Germany had invaded Poland by this point) and rushed back to the embassy. They saw a bomb fall right on Libby’s father, and he was instantly killed. Rick offered to help her, and she lashed out at him. Later, after Warsaw fell, Libby was found watching German soldiers round up Jewish residents, and a soldier threatened to kill her. An colonel stopped him, and Libby realized he was Rick Cannon, whom she assumed was a spy. He helped get her to a train heading to the Netherlands, and once she got to Holland, she tried to get the Dutch leaders to understand what was happening in Poland and how they were in danger, to no avail. Soon enough, Germany invaded, and Libby found herself fleeing again. Rick Cannon found her once again, and offered to help get her out again. He put her in a hay wagon headed for France, and once again Libby, a former Olympic athlete, was safe for only a little while. She ended up on the coast of Dunkirk as the Germans attacked again, and was again found by Rick Cannon. He helped her into a raggedy boat heading across the English Channel, but partway across, the boat was sunk. Libby had no choice but to swim for England, and was later found near Dover. Tarantula knows this part of her story, as Libby became famous, and upon returning to the US, was given a column and then a radio program where she called for America to join the war. Eventually she returned to her home in Philadelphia, and visited Independence Hall (she’s been wearing a piece of the Liberty Bell, fashioned into a pin, on her blouse for years). She met Tom Revere, the old guard, who rang the bell while trying to clean it. This somehow caused Libby’s pin to vibrate, and gave her a burst of adrenaline. Walking home, she saw Rick Cannon and another man in an alleyway, and heard them talking about a meeting in a cottage on a local estate. Libby was conflicted, thinking him a spy but also recognizing how many times he helped her. She decided to follow him, but first went home and put together a disguise for herself. She created her regular costume, and gave herself the Liberty Belle name. She snuck onto the estate and watched through the window as Cannon and a group of Nazis looked over some information, including a list of agents in the area. Rick pulled out a gun and revealed that he was with Army Intelligence, but he was hit from behind. Libby jumped through the window and grabbed the list, then ran away. She took out some of the Nazis, but was chased to a small lake, and ran into the water. The Nazis shot at her, but she hid under the water. Tom must have rung the bell, because she got a surge of adrenaline and managed to take out the last two Nazis. She returned to Rick, but didn’t reveal who she really was. She did tell him that if he ever needs help, he should go talk to Tom Revere and get him to ring the bell. She tells Tarantula that it wasn’t long after this that she joined the All-Stars and gained her sonic powers. Libby leaves with Johnny, as they’ve planned a proper honeymoon at last.

Issue sixty-two tells the origin story of the Shining Knight. After Sir Justin stops some robbers or something, he flies off. The narrative then takes us back to the sixth century, where King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table are surprised to find that Sir Fallon is badly wounded. As he dies, he tells them he was hurt by the ogre Blunderbore. The knights swear revenge, and it’s Sir Justin, the newest knight, who asks to go on a quest to kill the ogre. He leaves and travels north for days, before being stopped by a pair of men on horses. He fights them off, but his lance hits a tree, within which is Merlin, the wizard. Thanking Sir Justin for saving him (from what is not clear), the wizard gives him enchanted armor, which he mentions is bulletproof, and improves his sword. He also changes his horse, Victory, into Winged Victory with the addition of some wings. Merlin seems confused about time (this should have been explored more), and sends Sir Justin back on his mission. Justin flies to the lands of the ogre, but even with his enchanted stuff, is no match for him. Sir Justin and his horse fall into a crevasse where they are buried in ice. Hundreds of years later, a professor-type finds them in an iceberg off the coast of New England, and he uses dynamite to get him out of the ice. Justin is confused, but the man, Moresby, takes him to the museum where he works as a curator. He bathes him and shows him how lightbulbs work, before putting him to bed (do many museums have lavish apartments?). The next day, Moresby teaches Justin about the modern world, and shows him that they have Arthur’s diamond in their collection. Sir Justin kind of flirts with the daughter of a benefactor. Some thieves decide that early morning is the best time to rob a museum, and they hurt Moresby. Justin puts on his armor, and when they flee, gets his horse to go after them. He stops them, and kind of announces himself to the crowd that has gathered, before flying off to live in the modern (1941) world.
Robotman’s origin is told, narrated by him in his diary, in an issue drawn by Michael Bair, who has a truly unique approach to layout and panel design that I always enjoy. One night Bob Crane and his assistant Chuck Grayson prepare for the next step in the scientific work they’ve been doing. They’re interrupted by Joan Carter, who is furious that Bob stood her up for their date. She slaps him and leaves, and as the men prepare to continue with their work, three thugs enter the lab, wanting to steal whatever valuable thing it is they’re working on. When Bob resists, he’s shot four times. The men find a large robot body and decide they’d best leave empty-handed. Chuck comes up with the idea of transferring Bob’s dying brain into the robot body. He works all night, and once he knows he’s saved his friend’s life, he falls asleep. While he’s sleeping, Mason, the leader of the thugs, decides to call the police and report that Chuck has killed Bob. Police come and arrest Chuck, who has sewn up Bob’s body so that it’s not apparent that his brain is missing. Later, Bob wakes up in the Robotman body and is at first elated, but when the reality of his life sinks in, he’s very upset. He learns that Chuck has been arrested, and rushes out to go explain things. His appearance scares a cabbie, who hits him with a wrench. People in the street also react badly, and a cop starts shooting at Bob. He rushes home and decides he needs a disguise to go anywhere. He uses his equipment to make a rubber mask and creates the identity of Paul Dennis. He heads to the police station where he poses as Chuck’s lawyer so he can gain access to him. He promises Chuck that he’ll help him. Later, he goes to his own funeral, and chats with Joan, trying to make her feel better about things. The cab they share back from the funeral gets hit by a truck, and Paul gets in an altercation with the driver, who hurts his hand when he hits him. Paul starts asking around for the men who killed him, going to any number of places where thugs and criminals hang out. All he has to help him is the name ‘Flip’, and eventually he finds himself lured into a trap. He turns it around on the crooks, and learns where Flip is staying. He takes off his disguise and pays a visit to Flip. He forces him to call his boss to come to him, and Robotman takes out the hired thugs that are sent instead. Bob jumps on Mason’s car on the street below, and terrorizes him into admitting what he did. He takes Mason to the governor’s mansion and gets him to confess again. The governor orders Chuck freed, and Robotman tells him that he’s going to go offer his services to the Justice Society; he also plans to continue to see Joan as Paul Dennis.

Issue sixty-four is a strange one. It’s a fill-in issue set between All-Stars #46 and 47 and features art by Golden Age artist Wayne Boring. Thomas used this issue to retell an old Superman story, but since Golden Age Superman is now off-limits, it instead features a number of All-Stars protecting Metropolis from a strange threat. Liberty Belle and Johnny Quick are hanging out reading the newspaper together, and discussing which comic strips they like best. Johnny proposes and Libby accepts. In Metropolis, a giant called Torgo, who is usually seen in the Prince Peril strip, attacks an armored car, stealing money. Libby and Johnny hear about it over the radio, and Johnny flies them to Metropolis. They find the giant and fight him, and after he’s hit with Libby’s sonic powers, he disappears. A floating emoji face (long before emojis existed) floats above them, identifying itself as Funnyface, before it too disappears. They return to the Perisphere, where Libby puts out a call to a few All-Stars (only Hawkman says he can’t help). Next she calls Lee Travis, who works at the comic strip syndicate. As they talk, they hear that Machine-Gun Mike, another strip villain, is robbing a museum. Travis rushes to his car, changing into his Crimson Avenger gear and meeting his assistant Wing. At the museum, Mike holds off the police while his men grab some paintings. Robotman shows up, Mike fades out, and then he races after the other’s car. He grabs it, stopping them. This is when Crimson Avenger and Wing arrive. Atom and Firebrand, who were hanging out with the Kurtzberger baby before, head to the stockyards, anticipating that the cattle rustlers from another strip would strike there. They fight them, and one has the good idea to turn a water hose on Danette, taking out her flames and knocking her and Atom out. They take Danette hostage. Later, Funnyface, who is a guy in an emoji-like mask, shows her that he’s developed a ray that brings comic strip characters to life. He demonstrates with Goola, a Martian. Starman brings Sandman and Sandy with him to Metropolis, and they find Goola stealing from a train. They start to fight him, but he fades out before he can catch them. Funnyface appears to taunt them. Johnny and Libby make out, until Tarantula calls on the radio, suggesting he’s figured out where the Viper, a villain from another strip, might strike next. He heads to an old folks home, where he finds a bunch of identical old ladies. One of them is the Viper, who attacks him. Tarantula gets him stuck in his web and then cold cocks him, but as he fades away, he sees the words Carter Canyon written on his shirt. Funnyface sees it when the Viper returns to the page, and realizes that Danette must have done this somehow. All of the heroes in this issue, except for Robotman, turn up at Funnyface’s lair, and attack. Funnyface turns Firebrand into a drawing, and is about to erase her, but Johnny punches him a bunch. Sandy figures out how the ray works, restoring Firebrand and dispatching the various comic strip villains. We learn that Funnyface was annoyed that no one would publish his strips, so he created his ray and decided to use it to rob things. Danette asks why he didn’t just patent it and live off the profits, and it’s clear that never occurred to him.
Issue sixty-five opens with Johnny Quick telling Tarantula his origin story (although we never see Tarantula). We learn that Johnny was orphaned at a young age, and went to live with Professor Ezra Gill, who figured out a mathematical formula based on an ancient piece of papyrus that let him manipulate physics so he could run fast and fly. He taught Johnny the formula, and then told him he was dying. Not long after, he collapsed, and Johnny tried to rush for the doctor, driving through a snowstorm. He ended up abandoning the car and used the formula to fly (it’s weird, because I remember when he figured out how to fly after joining the All-Star Squadron). He wasn’t able to get the doctor back to Gill quickly enough, and the man had passed. After his funeral, Johnny got into photography, and ended up applying to work as a newsreel man at a major company. He got assigned to work with Tubby Watts, and they were on hand at the World’s Fair when ‘The Phantom of the Fair’ tried to kill the King and Queen of England, but was stopped by Sandman and the Crimson Avenger. Later, Johnny was inspired by the President, and started to dream of becoming a superhero. He and Tubby were filming a theatrical performance when he noticed a gunman about to shoot at the people on stage. Before he could say his formula, the Flash appeared and stopped the guy. Later still, Johnny and Tubby saw the Flash stop some spies at a rally to draw America into the war. The two men were sent to film a circus, where they were expected to dress as acrobats. While they were on a high platform, filming the lion tamer, the lion turned on its trainer. Johnny said his formula and rushed down to save the man. Later, reviewing their film, they saw that a crying clown hit the lion with a blowdart, and Johnny decided to take on the guise of Johnny Quick to go investigate. Things got convoluted, but basically some guy was forcing the circus employees to do some crimes for him, and they all fought Johnny, who returned later disguised as a strongman. He got a job by using his speed to make him look strong, and then learned how this Caesar guy was making them rob patrons by breaking into their homes. Johnny, in a Tarzan get-up attacked Caesar, was caught, and tied to the ceiling. He managed to get free and reveal to all the carnies that Caesar was really their boss. We learned the clown was crying because he loved the lion. Johnny and Tubby talked, with Tubby agreeing to keep Johnny’s secret. From there, Johnny continued to build his career, and to join the All-Star Squadron.

The last of the solo origin issues goes to Tarantula, a character who already had his origin told in an earlier issue of the series. After stopping some crooks, Tarantula returns home to talk to his housekeeper, Olga, before lighting a pipe, putting on a dressing gown, and sitting down to write his own origin story for his book. We learn that as a child, Jonathan Law was interested in detectives, electronics, and spiders. He moved to New York, and became a popular writer. Seeing the Sandman in action excited him, and inspired him to be a hero. Dian Belmont, secretly the paramour of the Sandman, gave him a costume design sketch when he interviewed her for his book on mystery men. He trained, developed his suction-cup shoes, which allow him to walk on the ceiling, and built his web gun. Olga suggested making a costume for him, based on Dian’s design. His first night on patrol, he came across a burning ship that had been sabotaged. He attempted to catch the saboteurs, but the Sandman (he thought) arrived in his roadster. The saboteurs caused the car to crash, and while Tarantula attacked them, he was joined by Sandman, in a costume nearly identical to his. They met, and we learned that Dian Belmont was driving the car and was dead. Later, Tarantula started hunting down a gangster named Ace-Deuce. Things got a little convoluted, as he ended up disguising himself as a crook to join the gang, sabotaging Ace-Deuce’s plan to rob a gala at Radio City. After Ace-Deuce’s men successfully robbed the patrons, the gangster went to the roof to meet an autogyro. Tarantula managed to wrap his web around the prop, causing the autogyro to crash to the roof. Ace-Deuce tried to escape by jumping off the roof with a parachute, but he pulled a shroud line too hard and fell to his death. Later, Law told Olga he’s going to continue being Tarantula, joined the All-Stars, and got his new costume.
The last issue of All-Star Squadron shows us the first ‘case’ of the Justice Society, although it’s established that they’d already worked together in Europe and had a meeting as a team, choosing Flash as their chairman. Hawkman, Green Lantern, Atom, Flash, Spectre, Hourman, and Doctor Fate arrive in Washington to meet with J. Edgar Hoover, who gives each of them a sealed envelope detailing different Nazi sabotage efforts for them to deal with. Green Lantern handles some sort of mission dealing with radio sabotage and a dirigible. He learns that the person coordinating all these fifth columnists is a guy named Frize Klaver, in Toledo Ohio. The Flash stops some Nazi recruiters and bombers, and also learns of the Toledo connection. Spectre stops Nazis sabotaging a munitions factory, and also heads out for Ohio. Hourman goes undercover, getting a job at an oil field, and then stopping some saboteurs. Dr. Fate deals with a similar thing involving boats. Sandman takes out some bundists in Texas. Hawkman does something too (I’m getting bored). Atom is at a college where he takes on some Nazi sympathizers among the students, then antagonizes more of them as Al Pratt. He figures out where their Nazi frat house is, and shows up as the Atom. He learns from their radio that Klaver is warning everyone that the mystery men are after them, and decides to drive to Toledo. He finds Klaver’s headquarters, but is taken captive. In New York, Johnny Thunder, who is not yet officially on the team, uses his magic Thunderbolt to learn that Al is in trouble, and joins him. This is just when the rest of the JSA arrives, and they take a lot longer than they probably should to take out a bunch of Nazis. Klaver makes a big deal about blowing up the whole building, but the button he presses doesn’t work because of Fate’s magic. The Thunderbolt takes the whole house to Hoover, and the team decides to keep working together.

I feel like the Crisis on Infinite Earths era was not kind to Roy Thomas. He’d spent years building up the Earth-2 corner of the DCU, both writing and editing All-Star Squadron and Infinity Inc., two popular and respected books. He spent months reconciling the history of the Freedom Fighters, moving them to Earth-X, and figuring out how to make Captain Marvel and the Shazam Family part of the Multiverse (on Earth-Shazam). He also worked hard to iron out other continuity issues that were hanging over from the Golden Age, and managed to do it in a way that the comics stayed compelling and interesting. And then he learned that Earths -2, -X, and -S were all being erased, their continuities shoehorned into a new, unified DCU. This meant that some key characters (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Robin, Aquaman, and later Green Arrow and Speedy, to say nothing of some of the Infinity cast like Huntress and Power Girl) had to go, and the stories he’s just put all that effort into are negated.

You can see, through reading the letters page, the evolution of these ideas, as it seems that for a while, there were plans to maintain Earth-2 on its own. Because of the changes that Crisis created, this book really kind of fell apart. We got the story about Mekanique maintaining the multiverse for a little while, giving Thomas space to wrap up some key storylines. After that, this book spent more than six months giving us origin stories (some of which we’d already read in this book) and a fill-in story. It was a disappointing ending to a series that was really clicking.

Of course, it’s never really the end, at least not yet, but we’ll circle back to that.

I really liked the stories in the second half of this run. I liked the excitement that came with the team’s first all-roster meeting, featuring something like forty heroes in the same room. It’s a shame that so many of them never really got a chance to participate, with characters like The Whip, Mr. America, and the two Manhunters getting relegated to being essentially background extras. Other heroes, like Sargon, Air-Wave, and the Seven Soldiers of Victory got an opportunity or two to participate, but they were never major players. Characters like Guardian, Flash, Dr. Occult, Phantom Lady, and Sandy got to be around a little more, but never really got space for individual development. I thought it a shame that Commander Steel got written out of the book, as I’d say he was one of the more central characters in the first half of the series.

In this way, All-Star Squadron differs from the Legion of Super-Heroes, the only other book with a comparably sized cast of characters. In LSH, pretty much everyone had their own subplots going on, even though we didn’t see them all that often. Thomas’s approach to the All-Stars was much more plot and continuity-driven, so individual character arcs were not as central to the plotting of the book.

Sure, we got to watch Hourman struggle with his dependence on Miraclo, and saw Firebrand continue to develop as a hero. Liberty Belle dealt with personal tragedy and also found love with Johnny Quick, even marrying him in the series, but their arcs weren’t given a lot of space or importance. Sometimes Thomas would focus on a character, like he did with Robotman in the final real arc of the series, before moving on to someone else. This made sense as there isn’t a lot of room in the book to accomplish everything he wanted to do.

I found his use of the Justice Society of America interesting, but also a little dull. Being the big heroes of their era (and even more so in the post-Crisis timeline), they had a lot more continuity to reconcile, and that seemed to mean they’d be around, then depart, then return a lot. It’s interesting to remember that these aren’t the seasoned heroes of Infinity Inc. or later books; these guys (and Wonder Woman) are all new at the hero game. That sometimes came across, and was the main schtick employed with Johnny Thunder.

I also liked the way that Thomas retconned the existence of Amazing-Man into this series. His inclusion, as a Black hero from that time, felt like an important righting of the more myopic representation of the Golden Age, just as his introduction of Firebrand helped established a little better gender balance on the team. Will Everett was a cool character with a different perspective, and I think that his inclusion was important, even though he didn’t do a whole lot after the Detroit storyline. It’s because work like this was being done in the early-80s that I’m always surprised when people complain about female or non-white versions of characters today, like it’s a new thing.

I found it interesting to note that the entire series of All-Star Squadron, from issue one to the end, took place in less than six months of ‘real’ time. The team was brought together after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, and joined the war effort on the homefront (because of magical reasons that precluded many of them from going overseas). This works, but man, these guys were busy during that brief amount of time (and thinking about that shows that Johnny Quick really does move fast, marrying Liberty Belle after a pretty brief romance). That timeline makes me suspect that Thomas was planning for many years of this series, and also to never really have to chronicle the post-war period.

I’ve always had a fondness for Golden Age characters, and the relative simplicity of their stories. The designs were often either ridiculous (The Atom, Tarantula and Sandman’s similar costumes that have nothing to do with their themes, Mr. Terrific) or were sublime. I think that Hourman has one of the best looks in all of comics (which has only been improved upon in the contemporary era), and I adore the full-helmeted Dr. Fate.

One thing that really stood out to me in this run, especially in the issues that were retelling Golden Age stories, is how boring their antagonists tended to be. How or why would Green Lantern or Spectre ever struggle to stop a handful of saboteurs? And why were there so many life-like robots? I like how Thomas and his artists often showed technology as cumbersome and very limited, and then there’d be a robot assailant that everyone thought was human (I’m not even talking about the robots and tech provided by the Monitor, which has always confused me both in this book and in New Teen Titans). When they weren’t fighting robots, there were a lot of monsters, of a pretty dull kind. Additions like Baron Blitzkrieg were essential to be able to keep the All-Stars busy and challenged, or they really would have just had to go ahead and take on Hitler in Europe.

This part of the run was marred by constant changes in artists, but for a long stretch, the art chores were shared between Arvell Jones and Mike Clark. Both Jones and Clark were great choices for the book, with clear, classic pencils. Neither of them did a whole lot after All-Star, which is a shame. I like that this book kept cycling through a stable of artists, but also would have preferred it had things stayed a little more consistent.

My impression of the end of this run is that DC was really scrambling to figure out what to do with itself. The Crisis (which I reviewed not that long ago in its own column) seemed to my perspective, as someone who didn’t really read DC books until after it, to be a highly orchestrated affair, but having read the letters columns in this book, I can see that things were a lot more slapdash and constantly changing.

I wrote in another column about how the Crisis was responsible for some of the best comics in the history of the Legion of Super-Heroes, but also made the property so damaged that it never recovered the popularity it enjoyed in the early 80s. Similarly, the Crisis made a book like this a very difficult prospect, removing some very central characters (even if their importance was more due to their impact on the existence of the other characters).

It is for this reason that All-Star Squadron was canceled after months of filler issues, and then relaunched as the Young All-Stars, a ‘new format’ book that focused on the younger members of the team, and that worked to iron out (yes, that’s an intentional pun) some of the wrinkles in the new continuity. That’s going to be the topic of my next column.

If you’d like to see the archives of all of my retro review columns, click here.

Facebook X (Twitter) Reddit Email

Retro Review: All-Star Squadron #31-67 By Thomas, Jones, Clark & Others For DC Comics!

Keep Reading

Pull List 2/15/2023 – Avengers Assemble, Lazarus Planet, A Batman & More!

Blu-ray Review: Big Time Gambling Boss

4K UHD Review: Waterworld