Retro Review: Young All-Stars #1-31 By Thomas, Murray, Simpson, Bair, & Others For DC Comics!

The Young All-Stars #1-31, Annual #1 (June 1987 – November 1989)

Written by Roy Thomas (#1-31, Annual #1), Dann Thomas (#1-31, Annual #1)

Penciled by Vince Argondezzi (#1), Michael Bair (#1, 6, 11, 16-17, 20, Annual #1), Brian Murray (#1-6, 8-10, Annual #1), Howard Simpson (#3-6, 12-14), Howard Bender (#7), Ron Harris (#15, 18-26), David Simons (#27), Lou Manna (#28-31), Mike Gustovich (Annual #1), Joe Kubert (Annual #1), Malcolm Jones III (Annual #1)

Inked by Malcolm Jones III (#1-9, 11-16, 18-20, Annual #1), Danny Bulandi (#4), Bob Downs (#5-7, 21-31), Alfredo Alcala (#5), Brian Murray (#8, 10, Annual #1), Grant Miehm (#11), Tony DeZuniga (#17, 20, Annual #1), Michael Bair (#20), Mike Gustovich (#24, Annual #1), Dave Simons (#30), Ken Branch (#31), Joe Kubert (Annual #1)

Coloured by Carl Gafford (#1-3), Gene D’Angelo (#4, 8-23, Annual #1), Shelley Eiber (#5, 24-31), Julianna Ferriter (#7)

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

I enjoyed reading the original All-Star Squadron series for my last two columns, but as I got towards the end of that run, my enthusiasm really began to wane. After the Crisis on Infinite Earths redefined the DC Universe, merging the entire multiverse into a single Earth with a unified history, the All-Star Squadron had to change. That book was set on Earth-2, where all of the Golden Age stories took place. All-Star Squadron lost access to Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Robin, Aquaman, Green Arrow, and Speedy (and maybe some others?), which means that many of their bigger storylines couldn’t have taken place as they were shown.

Roy Thomas was left to scramble to retcon the history he’d just spent years clarifying, and saw this (probably reluctantly) as a reason to switch up his approach to the whole thing. When All-Star Squadron was canceled, it was replaced by this book, The Young All-Stars, which was published in DC’s handsome New Format. He decided to focus on the younger members of the team, none of whom had received much screen time in the original All-Star series. He retconned in some characters to replace the ones that were taken away, and then made some other changes, no longer as beholden to the published record.

Now, I didn’t read all of these as they came out, but I was collecting this series somewhere towards the end (I started reading a lot of books after Millennium, and that might be when I climbed on to this). I’ve recently filled in the holes in my collection, so will be reading this in its entirety for the first time.

I remember only a couple of things about this book – I liked the art, which was stiff but also very well rendered (all I remember is Michael Bair’s art), and I remember finding this series a little slow moving or dull. Will I still feel that way now? I don’t really know – I find that I’ve grown into Thomas’s writing a lot more, and am curious to examine the mechanics of this series (compared to how a similar set of changes were handled in Legion of Super-Heroes).

Let’s find out together.

Let’s track who turned up in the title:

The Young All-Stars

Fury (Helena Kosmatos; #1-22, 24-27, 30-31, Annual #1)
Neptune Perkins (#1-9, 11-19, 21, 23, 26-27, 31, Annual #1)
Tsunami (Miya Shimada; #1-9, 11-19, 21, 23, 26-27, 31, Annual #1)
Flying Fox (#1, 3-21, 23, 25-27, 31, Annual #1)
Dyna-Mite (Danny Dunbar, #1-19, 21-23, 25-27, 29-31, Annual #1)
“Iron” Munro (Arn Munro; #1-19, 21-22, 24-31, Annual #1)
Sandy (Sandy Hawkins; #3-7, 9)
The Tigress (Paula Brooks; #9, 11-19, 21-23, 25-27, Annual #1)

The All-Star Squadron

Johnny Quick (Johnny Chambers; #1-3, 9, 14-15, 27, 30-31, Annual #1)
Liberty Belle (Libby Lawrence; #1-3, 6, 9, 14-15, 27, 30-31, Annual #1)
T.N.T (Tex Thomas; #1)
Green Lantern (Alan Scott; #2-3, 7-9, 27, 30-31, Annual #1)
Shining Knight (Sir Justin #2-3, 9, 27, Annual #1)
Hawkgirl (Shiera Sanders; #2-3, 14, 25, Annual #1)
Hawkman (Carter Hall; #2-3, 6-7, 9, 14, 25, 27, Annual #1)
Amazing-Man (Will Everett; #2-3, 6-7, 9, 12-14, 27, 30-31, Annual #1)
The Atom (Al Pratt; #2-3, 6-7, 9, 25, 27, Annual #1)
Sandman (Wesley Dodds; #2-3, 9, 15, 27, Annual #1)
Sandy (Sandy Hawkins; #2, 15, 27, Annual #1)
Tarantula (Jonathan Law; #2-7, 9, 27, 30-31, Annual #1)
Dr. Mid-Nite (Charles McNider; #2-3, 9, 15, 27, Annual #1)
Firebrand (Danette Reilly; #2-7, 9, 27, 30-31, Annual #1)
Guardian (Jim Harper; #3, 27, 30-31, Annual #1)
Air Wave (#3, 9, 27, 30-31, Annual #1)
Doctor Occult (Osgood Armsby; #3, Annual #1)
Star-Spangled Kid (Sylvester Pemberton; #3, 6-7, 27, Annual #1)
Stripesy (Pat Dugan; #3, 6-7, 27, Annual #1)
Flash (Jay Garrick; #3, 9, 27, 30-31, Annual #1)
Dr. Fate (Kent Nelson; #3, 9, 27, Annual #1)
Zatarra (#3, 27, Annual #1)
Robotman (Paul Dennis, fka Bob Crane; #3, 6-7, 12-14, 27, 30-31, Annual #1)
Johnny Thunder (#3, 27, Annual #1)
Whip (#3, 27, Annual #1)
Hourman (Rex Tyler; #3, 7, 27, 30-31, Annual #1)
Starman (Ted Knight; #3, 9, 14, 27, Annual #1)
Spectre (Jim Corrigan; #3, 27, Annual #1)
Manhunter (Paul Kirk; #3, 6-9, 14, 27, 30-31, Annual #1)
Crimson Avenger (Lee Travis; #3, 9, 27, Annual #1)
Wing (#3, 9, 27, Annual #1)
Wildcat (Ted Grant; #3, 6-7, 16-17, 27, 30-31, Annual #1)
Mr. Terrific (#3, 27, Annual #1)
Vigilante (Greg Sanders; #3, 27, Annual #1)
Sargon the Sorcerer (John Sergeant; #3, 27, Annual #1)
Mr. America/Americommando (Tex Thomson; #3, 27, Annual #1)
Manhunter (Dan Richards; #8-9)
Stuff, the Chinatown Kid (#27)
Miss America (Joan Dale; #27, 30-31, Annual #1)
Thunderbolt (Annual #1)

Villains

Gudra (Valkyrie, Axis Amerika; #1-6, 22, 24-26)
Sea Wolf (Axis Amerika; #1-4, 6, 22-23, 25)
Usil (Axis Amerika; #1-4, 6, 22-23, 25)
Übermensch (Axis Amerika; #1-6, 22, 24-25)
Grosshorn Eule (Axis Amerika; #1-4, 6, 22-23, 25)
Fledermaus (Axis Amerika; #1-4, 6)
Kamikaze (Tetsujiro Yoneda, Axis Amerika; #4-6, 22-23, 25)
Tisiphone (The Blood Avenger; #6, 12-14, 20, 24)
Grandmaster (Manhunters; #8)
Baron Blitzkrieg (#9, 21-25)
Major Zwerg (#9, 21-22)
Per Degaton (#12-14, 28, Annual #1)
Deathbolt (Jake Simmons; #12-15)
The Ultra-Humanite (#12-14)
Mekanique (#14, Annual #1)
Colonel Streicher (The Black Order; #16-19)
Dr. Thule (#16-19)
Sumo the Samurai (#21-25)
The Skull (#27)
Johnny Grimm (#27)
The Fly (#27)
Xtoh (Sons of Dawn; #29-31)

Guest Stars

Ronald Reagan (#4)
Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia (Mayor of New York; #6)
The Tigress (#6-9)
Babe Ruth (#7)
Hop Harrigan (#8)
G.I. Robot (#12)
Miss America (#12, 14)
Victor Frankenstein II (#18-19)
Megaera (Fuy; #20)
Alecto (Fury; #20)
Admiral Chester Nimitz (#21)
Albert Einstein (#21, 24-25)
Fireball (Sonya Chuikov; #22, 24-
Squire (Percy Sheldrake; #22-23, 25-
Kuei (#22-23, 25-
Phantasmo (Jean-Marc de Villars; #22, 24-
Robert Bacher (Manhattan Project; #23)
Hans Bethe (Manhattan Project; #23)
Ernest Lawrence (Manhattan Project; #23)
Glenn Seaborg (Manhattan Project; #23, 25)
J. Robert Oppenheimer (Manhattan Project; #23, 25)
Enrico Fermi (Manhattan Project; #23, 25)
Leo Szilard (Manhattan Project; #23)
The Newsboy Legion (#27)

Supporting Characters

Doiby Dickles (#2, 8, 27)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (President of the USA; #3, 22)
Gernsbek (fka Elektro the Robot; #3, 8, 14-16, 25, 30, Annual #1)
Mekanique (#3, 12)
Hugo Danner (Arn’s father; #10-11, 28-31)
Anna Munroe (Arn’s mother; #10-11, 15)
Professor Mazursky (#12-14, 28)
Chuck Grayson (#12-14)
Kalla (Dzyan; #16-19)
Argor (aka Arthur Gordon Pym, aka Captain Nemo; #16-19)
White Snow Owl (Flying Fox’s grandfather; #20)
Eleanor Roosevelt (#22)
Tubby Watts (#27)
Fatman (Bob; #27)
Georgia Challenger (#28-31)
Xavi (Sons of Dawn; #29-31)
Tohil (Sons of Dawn; #29-31)
Carsons (Dyna-Mite’s butler; Annual #1)

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

The new series opens with what looks like all of the All-Star Squadron fighting a giant-sized version of Mekanique in the future. We learn that the team has traveled there to stop her, but their powers don’t seem to be enough. She’s able to draw power from both Green Lantern and Spectre, and send them flying into a building, which drops rubble on the others. She fires energy from her hands and fries most of the team. Johnny Quick rushes around her, and she knocks him towards the ground. Liberty Belle tries to use her sonic powers to cushion his fall, and when she rushes to him, she looks up and sees that Mekanique is about to crush her. At this point, a young woman with platinum blonde hair wakes up screaming. Johnny Chambers comes to check on her, and we learn that her name is Helena, that Johnny is her uncle (despite them being only about ten years apart in age), and that she doesn’t know that Johnny is Johnny Quick. He reacts oddly to her description of her dream, and then Libby comes to check on them. We learn that she puts quotes around the word niece, suggesting they aren’t blood relatives, and that they are in Miami. Johnny runs out of the room, returning in uniform, revealing his identity to the girl. We learn that he saved her in the Aegean Sea a year before, and that she usually has dreams of the three Furies. She recaps what happened in an issue of Secret Origins, which is that she was given powers to fight some Nazis whom her brother was collaborating with. Something called a ‘blood avenger’ killed her brother, and then she found herself in the sea. Libby puts on her Liberty Belle costume, and they decide they should take Helena to the rest of the All-Star Squadron. Off the coast of Santa Barbara, Neptune Perkins, the ‘human porpoise’ (he has a salt deficiency so has to stay in the water most of the time, and has webbed hands and feet) is swimming around. He notices a strangely behaving storm, and discovers that Tsunami, whom he fought a while back in All-Star Squadron, is standing on a rock drawing the violent waves towards her. She sees him just before he’s swept up in a huge wave. She dives into the water to find him, and they go to his houseboat. He explains that he just found the new costume he’s wearing, and she explains that she was using her water powers to try to commit suicide. She explains that in the time since they first met, she returned to her family. Her father, Kinzo Shimada, was visited by the FBI, who were there to detain him for being Japanese. Miya (Tsunami’s first name) tried to help her father (who is as old as the grandfather she hurt in her earlier appearance) and ended up hurting one of the agents. The other chased her and she dove into the ocean to escape. She then shares with Neptune another shame she has suffered, but we readers aren’t privy to that. Neptune decides he wants to help her, and suggests they go see a man he knows in LA; they head out. Off the east coast of Canada, a squadron of RCAF Spitfire pilots fly around looking for whatever caused reports of something being in the air. They find a man flying on his own, wearing what looks like a fox cloak. They call him Flying Fox, and don’t know what to make of him. He creates light with his hands, and then spins until they can’t see him anymore. In Colorado, some Nazi saboteurs prepare to blow up a dam, but don’t know they are being watched by the heroes TNT and Dyna-Mite. They touch dyna-rings (I’m not sure what that does), and move in to stop the Nazis with their exploding fists. The leader jumps in a car and escapes with a woman, and they go after them in another car (it doesn’t look like they defuse the bomb though). Close by, a guy named Arn Munro is setting up a nighttime picnic with a young woman who talks about his reputation with the girls. They hear shots and see the two cars chasing one another across treacherous roads. The Nazis shoot out one of TNT’s tires, but are surprised to see Arn running after them at super speed. He jumps in front of the car and stops it with super strength (it’s clear he’s meant to be a stand-in for a young Superman). He sees the car with the two heroes go over a cliff, and then spots a woman on a winged horse. When he gets to the scene of the crash, he finds that TNT is already dead. The woman, who calls herself Gudra and claims to be a Valkyrie, explains that she wants to take the souls of the two heroes. She already has TNT’s soul slung over her horse’s back. Arn, who calls himself “Iron” Munro, with the scare quotes, tries to fight Gudra, but she blasts him and then departs with just TNT’s soul. Arn picks up Dan, who is badly hurt, and rushes off with him to get help. We see Gudra arrive in a city where she uses a secret entrance to access a room where five other costumed characters stand over a table strewn with pictures of the All-Star Squadron (it’s an homage to the cover of issue one of the first series). We learn that the small furry guy is called Sea Wolf, that the bald big guy with a swastika on his chest is called Übermensch, and that as a team they are called Axis Amerika, but we don’t catch the names of the guys who look like rip-offs of Green Arrow, Batman, and Robin.

Green Lantern and his friend Doiby Dickles are filming a war bonds ad which gets interrupted by the arrival of Neptune Perkins and Tsunami. Tsunami explains that she was sent back to America by her Japanese bosses, and after the incident we learned about at her parents’, she went to meet her contact, the German Sea Wolf. He explained he’s part of Axis Amerika, and that she was to represent Japan on the team. He tried to paw her, and she struck him. He hurt her back, choking her and tossing her to the ground, before ordering her to meet him under the Golden Gate Bridge and leaving. She realized that she does not belong in America or Japan, and so wanted to kill herself. Green Lantern wants her to tell this story to the All-Star Squadron, and she says she’ll help if they help free her father; they prepare to leave. Dyna-Mite wakes up in a hospital bed, with Arn standing over him. The nurse lets him know that the man he was with is dead, and he takes it badly (Dan is out of his costume, and it’s clear the nurse doesn’t know who he is). After the nurse leaves, Arn shows him his strength and explains how he fought off Gudra to save him. Dan is in denial about Tex’s death, and when Arn gives him Tex’s ring, he explains how Tex was his teacher and developed the powers they both share, which they control with their rings. He tosses the ring, and Arn notices wings outside the window. Thinking Gudra has returns, he leaps out, seeing the Shining Knight on Winged Victory. He jumps across a courtyard and returns. Sir Justin responded to Arn’s telegram to the Perisphere, and they all talk in Dan’s room. Sir Justin wants to take Arn back to New York to speak to the All-Stars about Gudra, and he agrees, provided he can be brought back. He gives the ring to Dan again, who is coming to terms with things, and as he leaves, refuses to share anything about himself with Justin. Dan’s nurse returns and he asks her to call his parents. Johnny, Libby, and Helena arrive at the Perisphere, where a number of All-Stars are gathering for a meeting (Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Amazing-Man, Atom, Sandman, Sandy, Tarantula, Firebrand, and Dr. Mid-Nite). Johnny asks Helena to say nothing of her dream, and then introduces her to the Hawks. Sandy shows Helena around, and we learn that Uncle Sam has taken the Freedom Fighters to work out of Washington, making them no longer part of the All-Star Squadron (it’s interesting that this establishes Plastic Man as a Golden Age hero, and that Max Mercury is shown as a Freedom Fighter). Helena comments that she saw some of the heroes the night before, but when she mentions Amazing-Man’s magnetic burst powers, he explains that’s not how his powers work. She slips and says Mekanique’s name, and Tarantula comments that the robot lives in the Perisphere, but that it’s a secret and that she isn’t a giant. At this point, the Axis Amerika burst through the roof, and we learn that the Batman and Robin figures are named Die Grosshorn Eule and Die Fledermaus (The Great Horned Owl and The Bat), and that the guy with arrows is an Italian named Usil, the Sun-Archer. Johnny is hit by some debris, and Liberty Belle lashes out with her sound powers, knocking Übermensch into a wall. He tosses some of the wall into her. The heroes are quickly taken down, until only Helena is left standing. Her clothes transform into her costume, and she promises to kill them.
Fury stands over Johnny and Libby, who she thinks are dead, surprising some of the other All-Stars who continue their fight with the Axis Amerika. The story is cleverly split across a few simultaneous actions. Übermensch starts to fight Fury, surprised by her strength. Usil shoots arrows at Dr. Mid-Nite as he tries to see to Johnny and Libby, but Amazing-Man guards for him. An exploding arrow takes Will down. Sandman and Tarantula get taken down by Die Grosshorn Eule, while Die Fledermaus gets knocked down by Sandy. Sea-Wolf tries to kill Hawkwoman, but Firebrand stops him. He maneuvers her into flying into a wall that conceals water pipes. He’s about to kill her when Flying Fox comes through the roof and stops him. Flying Fox, who we learn is from the Quontauka tribe, uses the light he manifests in his hands to make Sea Wolf think he’s fighting himself. Hawkman tries to fight Gudra, who is more interested in striking the unconscious and floating Hawkgirl. She fires energy at her, but The Shining Knight (and Arn Munroe) arrive in time to block it. Usil is unable to pierce Arn’s skin with his arrow, and the newcomer takes him down. Übermensch notices Arn and tries to fight him, which makes Fury annoyed. Übermensch decides to call a retreat, and the team starts to depart, although Sea Wolf is angry about that. They have a very high tech jet waiting for them, and when they see Green Lantern approaching, they take off. GL, with Neptune and Tsunami, enters the Perisphere to see what’s happened. Sandy objects to Tsunami being there, and is clearly pretty racist about it. Arn introduces himself to Fury and she is angry that he got involved in her fight. She’s also pretty confused by her powers – she thought that her one other outing as Fury was a dream. The younger heroes talk, we learn that Sandman’s leg is broken, as is Liberty Belle’s arm. Shining Knight lets them all know that TNT was killed, and finally, Hawkman wonders why these new heroes have all shown up. Two nights later, President Roosevelt drives Dyna-Mite to the Perisphere. They talk about how he can’t access his powers without TNT, and how Roosevelt is going to give the dead hero the Congressional Medal of Honor. They enter the Perisphere, where almost all the All-Stars (about thirty-five of them, plus Mekanique) are waiting for them. Roosevelt gives the posthumous medal to Dan, and then Hawkman addresses the team. He singles out for thanks the five new heroes, and Tsunami then addresses the whole group to talk about why she can’t fight for Japan. She also talks about how she is opposed to the treatment of Japanese-Americans, and asks the President to do something for her people. He promises to look into it, and then has the idea that these new heroes should be made All-Stars, and sent on a War Bond tour across the country. Libby and Carter confer, and decide that they will accept them so long as they are sponsored by adult All-Stars, like their other minor members. Flying Fox says he was sent by his secret tribe to join the war, so he is happy to serve. Most of the others agree too (Fury wants to know why Mekanique is there). The President asks Danny to join them, and he agrees, so long as Arn does. He agrees, as long as no one pries into his history (which seems like a red flag during a war, doesn’t it?). Sandy suggests he join them too, as a better known All-Star. He also tells Starman that this way he can keep an eye on Tsunami. Carter tells Libby they’re going to send some adult All-Stars with them too. No one notices that Axis Amerika has left a listening device in the Perisphere, and we see that they are all listening and plotting to kill the Young All-Stars.

The Young All-Stars are onboard the All-Star Special, the team’s experimental plane, on their way to California for their first War Bond rally. Sandy is kind of difficult, acting like a seasoned hero and insulting Flying Fox. Neptune tries to calm him down, but Sandy makes a racist remark about Miya, and Neptune wants to hit him. Helena and Arn step in to diffuse things. Tarantula and Firebrand are piloting the ship, and can hear the ruckus, so Jonathan goes back to talk to them. He suggests that the youngsters share their origins, and Sandy starts, talking about how when Sandman came to tell him that Dian Belmont had died, they ended up working together on a case involving giant bees. Flying Fox explains that his people lived in isolation in the Canadian north, but were visited by Nazis who wanted them to join the war on their side. Flying Fox’s father, the chief, resisted and was killed, so his grandfather, the tribe’s shaman, gave him the Flying Fox cloak and identity, and sent him south, not to return until the Nazis are stopped. Neptune explains how he was raised near the ocean due to his strange physiology, and how he was happy living on his houseboat after his parents passed. Miya talks about how growing up in America she was the target of racist taunts, so she went to Japan to study, where she was given her powers and sent to stir up Japanese-Americans. Arn refuses to share anything about himself. Helena recaps the same information we saw in the first issue. Danny decides he doesn’t want to talk, and starts to cry. At that moment, the plane hits some turbulence, sending the heroes flying around the cabin. When Tarantula rejoins Danette, he learns she did it on purpose to relieve tension. At the rally, the host introduces actor Ronald Reagan who warms up the audience, which is mostly made up of enlisted men (why would they be buying war bonds?). The Young All-Stars jump from the plane and make their way to the stage, with Sandy and Dyna-Mite acting like acrobats as Arn and Fury toss them around. Some of the good old boys in the audience notice that Tsunami looks Japanese, and there are some grumblings. Neptune and Tsunami decide to make use of the pool at the Hollywood Bowl to show off their skills, as they dive into ‘rescue’ Sandy, who is annoyed that Miya ‘saves’ him. She notices that the crowd is making anti-Japanese comments. We see that Axis Amerika are watching this all go down over a monitor, and learn that they have a new Japanese teammate named Kamikaze, who insists that he gets to kill Tsunami. He notices that the good old boy throws a beer can at Tsunami, hitting Neptune instead. Miya jumps into the crowd and throws the man into the pool, which makes most of the audience laugh. One guy takes offense and punches the person sitting near him, and soon there’s a riot breaking out. Firebrand and Tarantula arrive, and Danette uses her powers to get everyone’s attention. The show ends, and Reagan invites the All-Stars home for dinner. They refuse, and most of them comfort Miya who is upset. The Axis Amerika decide to hold off their attack now that the crowd has dispersed. The Young All-Stars, minus Sandy, head to Miya’s house to meet her family. They find that her home has been sold and defaced. Their cab driver knows where her family is, and takes them to the racetrack which is being used as a temporary holding facility for Japanese-Americans. Miya is furious to see her people being kept behind barbed wire, and the others are shocked as well. Miya wants to free them, and is upset when Neptune tries to calm her down. Arn and Fury block her from approaching the guards that are telling her to stay back. The standoff ends when Miya’s mother and brothers see her. Her mother tells her to leave, but Miya decides to make a statement. She takes off her Tsunami outfit, and walks naked into the detention centre. As her mother covers her, she turns to the other Young All-Stars and tells them that if any of her family is harmed, she’ll take up the Tsunami mantle again, and turn against America.
The Young All-Stars are at a party for soldiers at the Hollywood Canteen. The heavy chandelier starts to crack the wooden ceiling it’s attached to, and Arn has to jump into the air to knock it away from the crowd. This creates a bit of a stir, and it seems that Fury is annoyed by him. Firebrand and Tarantula dance together. We learn that Neptune’s costume keeps him from needing to spend as much time in the ocean. Arn asks Helena to dance, but she chooses a random soldier over him. We see that Danny doesn’t like how Sandy talks down to him, and that Neptune hates how racist Sandy is when talking about Miya. Neptune confronts him on that. Arn bumps into a soldier who lost his arm at Pearl Harbour, and his positive attitude shames him, but the sight of Helena dancing with that soldier frustrates him, and he decides to leave, perhaps for good. Flying Fox offers to come with him, and Danny notices them leaving. He gets Helena to come with him and follow them to make sure they’re okay. Some soldier on the street tries to recruit Arn, who can’t enlist because he can’t prove he’s eighteen. To show off, he lifts a car over his head, but then he loses balance and it hits another parked car as he drops it. The owner confronts him. Helena and Danny climb to a nearby roof to watch as Arn tries to warn the man not to punch him (he ends up hurting his hand). Flying Fox uses his powers to make it look like he and Arn have disappeared, and they slip away from the scene they are causing. Flying Fox disguises himself in the illusion of civilian clothes, and they start talking to a couple of girls (named Ronnie and Betty). The girls want to take their car to the Santa Monica Pier. Danny gets Helena to follow them in a cab with him. The pier is closed because of the war, but Arn jumps Betty over the fence and they start to make out under the pier. Flying Fox reveals himself to Ronnie and flies her to the top of the Ferris Wheel. He talks about his people, but is attacked by Kamikaze. Arn hears the commotion, and runs out, doing up his pants. He jumps up to confront Kamikaze, knocking him away. Helena and Danny see this, and Helena tells Danny to stay behind while she joins the fray. Arn is attacked by Übermensch, and when Helena tries to catch him as he falls, they both end up in the ocean. Gudra arrives and starts putting Arn and Helena on her horse. Übermensch doesn’t want them killed yet – he wants to take them to their base, Nuremberg. Kamikaze brings Flying Fox to them (he’s unconscious), as Danny rushes over to help his friends. He recognizes Gudra’s horse, and tries to hurt Übermensch with a flying kick that does nothing. The large German listens to Gudra when she suggests they leave Danny behind as a warning to the All-Star Squadron. They tell him where they are taking his friends, and then take off with their three prisoners. It turns out that Nuremberg is a large dirigible, and there is no message of their more futuristic jet from before. Danny feels useless. We see that Miya is sitting alone at the racetrack, thinking about how bad things are for her people.

Neptune approaches Sandy outside the canteen, wondering if he knows where any of the other Young All-Stars have gone. Just then Betty and Ronnie arrive in their car with Dyna-Mite, and he tells them that the others were taken by Axis Amerika. Since Tarantula and Firebrand have left the party, they know they’re on their own, and get the two girls to drive them (they need to get to Santa Catalina, which is an island). Neptune tells the girls to go to the racetrack first. There, they find Miya and convince her to suit back up as Tsunami and join them. She resists, until she learns that Kamikaze is with the Axis; she knew him in Japan. Her mother brings her costume to her (despite the fact that we saw her leave it outside the gates before), and the Young All-Stars effectively break her out of the detention centre. They get a plane somewhere (Sandy can pilot it, despite not having a license), and they head to the island. They recognize a certain black cloud over the mountain-top landing strip, and notice Gudra and Kamikaze flying out of it towards them. Kamikaze flies through one of the plane’s wings, and Tsunami jumps on him, overpowering his boot jets. Neptune jumps at Gudra, who has Sea Wolf on her flying horse. He knocks the creature into the water and goes after him. The rest of the Axis prepare. They have Flying Fox strapped to a plane’s propeller, have Helena chained to the ground (she’s reverted to her Helena form) and have Arn encased in concrete. Übermensch is waiting for the rest of the team to be captured before executing them all. Neptune manages to knock out Sea Wolf, and is surprised to see him turn into a regular human. Tsunami gets Kamikaze close enough to the water that she’s able to summon a wave to take him out. He flies off. Übermensch shares that he has figured out who Arn is – the son of Hugo Danner, and the grandson of Professor Abednego Danner, who he claims are both dead. Die Fledermaus taunts Helena. Sandy flies the team’s plane straight into the Axis’s dirigible, and he and Dan jump out. The Axis villains aren’t too scared to see them, but Dan hits his two rings together, creating a large explosion. This cracks Arn’s prison, and he breaks free, starting a fight with the equally strong but bigger Übermensch. Übermensch jumps away, and Arn takes out Usil. Fledermaus takes down Dyna-Mite, and Gudra prepares to hit him with her spear, which will kill him. Arn jumps in and takes the shot himself, which angers Helena. She turns back into Fury, but then continues to transform, becoming Tisiphone, the Blood Avenger (more Harpy than Fury). She tosses Gudra away, and the Valkyrie flees. Tisiphone turns on Dan and Arn, who plead with her to recognize them. Fledermaus tries to burn Sandy in the dirigible wreckage, but Tsunami returns with Neptune and uses her wave to douse the flames. Sandy kicks Fledermaus in the head and leaves him unconscious away from the fires. Flying Fox gets Tsunami and Neptune to help restrain Tisiphone, and Arn grabs her in a choke hold, and talks to Helena. She reverts back to her human form and passes out. The team gathers, and Flying Fox explains that he saw the spirit of Tisiphone inside Helena, and figures that threatening her ‘family’ will cause her to release the demon. Sandy apologizes to Miya for being such a racist, and she hugs him. Grosshorn Eule, who has been ignored, starts shouting – it seems that the fight caused the unconscious Fledermaus to be crushed to death by some airplane wreckage; he vows revenge. Helena wakes up and doesn’t remember what happened. A few days later, Mayor La Guardia introduces the Young All-Stars to New York, and they and some of the Squadron are on the field for the start of a baseball game. Watching nearby is a woman in a cat-themed costume, calling herself the Tigress. She seems to be posing a threat to the team.
As part of a drive for scrap metal, the All-Star Squadron are playing the Young All-Stars in a three-inning exhibition baseball game before the Yankees play. To round out the teams, Atom and Star-Spangled Kid got placed on the ‘young’ team, while Wildcat, Stripesy, Robotman, Green Lantern, Tarantula, Manhunter, Hawkman, Amazing-Man, and Firebrand round out the adult team. The Thomases channel their inner Chris Claremont for a bit, as we see the two teams play. Fury interferes with Tsunami’s attempt to catch the ball, and Flying Fox notices just how powerful Helena (who I guess doesn’t always have to be angry to be Fury) really is. Arn is a natural pitcher, and Flying Fox uses his invisibility to tag robotman. Amazing-Man recognizes that he is technically the first Black man to play in a major-league game. Before the last inning, the announcer draws the crowd’s attention to a special guest, Babe Ruth, who impresses Hourman, who is watching from the stands. We see that the Tigress is still up in the lights, planning to do something to get the Young All-Stars’ attention. Before the Young All-Stars go up to bat, Arn tells them they need three wins to tie the game. Sandy has a great hit, and Green Lantern, who appears distracted, doesn’t notice it. Amazing-Man, who is chewing gum, is able to stretch to catch it. Tsunami strikes out. Flying Fox gets on base after his hit. Green Lantern just flies away without saying anything, but Hourman pops a Miraclo pill (I thought he’d stopped taking them) and takes his place. Wildcat intentionally walks The Atom, and then Fury manages to get a hit, loading the bases. Arn comes up to bat, and we get a tribute to Casey At The Bat, before he hits the ball so hard it catches fire. Arn runs so fast he ends up pushing the other three runners, and they make it across home plate. Hawkman insists he caught the ball, which is just a smoking ember in his hand, and Arn and Wildcat start to argue. Tsunami points out that it doesn’t matter who won the game, and gets them to calm down. The adults all leave for a party, and Atom, Sandy, and Star-Spangled Kid also leave. The rest of the Young All-Stars wait to watch the Yankees game, but soon they are called to the manager’s office. It seems that the military is aware of a British ship being attacked by a ‘pocket U-boat’ (which Google doesn’t recognize as a thing) off Long Island. They agree to go help, and take a Navy car. Tigress watches them leave, and is spotted by some police officers who think she’s a saboteur (while acknowledging that she’s pretty young). They fight her, and she uses a strange crossbow gun to fight them off, before hiding, where she plots against the All-Stars. Later, Arn and the others carry the little U-boat, which doesn’t look big enough to carry the six German sailors they have captured, to donate it to the scrap iron drive.

Issue eight is the first of two to tie into the Millennium event. It opens with the two Manhunters on the All-Star Squadron – former game hunter Paul Kirk, in the familiar red and blue outfit, and police officer Dan Ricards, in all blue, with his dog Thor at his side – running across their respective cities. One works through the sewers while the other boards a boat, and they find themselves face to face in front of the Grandmaster. We see that these two men are unhappy with the fact that they share the same name, and we learn that both were recruited into the Manhunters cult. We also learn that Thor is a robot dog, but it doesn’t seem like Dan knows that. Grandmaster has a job for both of them, which he says is necessary to their work to stop Hitler and Tojo – he needs them to stop The Green Lantern. Arn and Flying Fox fly and jump across New York, talking about their time with the All-Stars. Arn admits he wasn’t supposed to reveal his powers yet, and worries that his mother will be upset with him. Fox suggests he calls her, and as they head towards the Perisphere, Arn admits that he’s worried that he’s falling behind in school while with the All-Stars. They get to the Perisphere, where Dan is showing Fury (she is just always in costume now) how to use the rad-com screen and track the adult All-Stars. Arn asks for privacy so he can make his phone call, and the others leave him. Dan acts like a horny kid, and gets excited when he realizes that Tsunami and Neptune are swimming in the gym. We see that those two are getting closer, and they all discuss how Neptune doesn’t understand his origins. Arn calls them back to the main room, where the two Manhunters have arrived with Doiby Dickles, GL’s good friend. They turn on the radio to hear about how Green Lantern has attacked Hawaii, making off with a Japanese prisoner. Doiby explains to everyone that Alan has been acting weird, but we see that Doiby is actually a robot Manhunter. The Manhunters decided to recruit backup after Doiby called them, so the Young All-Stars agree to help out. Doiby has a scrap of paper that has what Miya recognizes as coordinates. The team splits into two to go to the two locations that Alan hasn’t been to yet. After the heroes leave, Doiby melts. Dan Richards, Dan, Miya, and Fox make up one team, and they are flown to the Aleutian Islands by Hop Harrigan, a famous comics pilot. On the most western island, they find the Indigenous people (the book uses a word starting with ‘e’ to describe them) fleeing the large green vision of Sedna, a spirit they worship. The people try to get to their kayaks to escape, and see a large wave approach and fly into Sedna. This causes Alan to lose concentration, and not be able to hold together the construct. Dan hits him with an explosion (Manhunter didn’t get out of the plane), and Fox recognizes that Alan’s ring can’t work against wood, so he smacks him with a bit of a log. He tries to take the ring off Alan’s finger, but Alan clocks him with a fist construct. Alan comes to and realizes that he’s hurt the kids, but then after his ring pulses, he remembers that he has a triple mission, and he takes off to accomplish it.
On a small island west of Jamaica, a young woman dives into the water, and swims to a secluded cove. She’s surprised to find a naked German man swimming there. He has a scar on his face, and seems charming. She looks away while he gets dressed, and when she turns back, he’s wearing gaudy yellow armor (it’s Baron Blitzkrieg, with his face mostly restored), and is standing with a number of Nazi soldiers, including his friend Major Zwerg. They pull the woman out of the water, and prepare to shoot her, but Green Lantern suddenly appears. The Germans start to shoot at him, but none of them can stop him. The Baron is ineffective too, and gets thrown to the ground. He tosses a rifle at GL, and its wooden butt hits him on the head, knocking him out. The Baron takes the woman and GL prisoner, planning on questioning and executing them both before they return to Germany (we learn he’s been hiding on this island since his last fight with the All-Stars). Fury, Neptune, Arn, and Manhunter are on a plane flying towards Jamaica. They talk about how they’re going to stop GL, who they believe is doing evil, and hear a noise in the back of their plane. Fury discovers Tigress hiding there. She fires one of her crossbow pistol bolts into the webbing between two of Neptune’s toes, before Arn can grab her. Tigress reveals that her name is Paula Brooks, and that she’s grown up as a huge fan of the Manhunter (but she means Paul Kirk, and it’s Dan Richards that’s flying the plane). Tigress has trained to become a hero, and wants to join the All-Star Squadron. Their plane approaches Moraga, the island they believe GL will be on, and they allow Tigress to stay with them. They meet a priest from America who is happy to see the heroes. He’s worried that one of the orphans from the orphanage he runs, Maria, is missing (it’s the girl from the beginning of the issue). They explain that they’re there for another reason, and the priest reveals that he’s seen German U-Boats in the area. Manhunter wants to see the coves where the Germans have been hiding, and the priest takes them. At the same time, the Baron has his men row him to his U-Boat. Some dolphins approach the boat and flip it over. The Baron flies overhead, and we learn that Neptune can command dolphins when he has one disarm a German. Manhunter attacks the Germans on the shore, assisted by Tigress. The Germans on the U-Boat start shooting at the dolphins, but don’t notice when Arn and Fury board the boat and start knocking them out. The Baron attacks them and they fight back. Arn manages to knock his helmet off, and the Baron freaks out that his face is going to be deformed again. Green Lantern joins the fight, so the Baron blows up his U-Boat, knowing he’ll be fine. When the smoke clears, Baron Blitzkrieg is gone. Everyone gathers, we learn that Nep can talk to dolphins and whales, and Maria is reunited with the priest. GL brings the sailors he saved from the blast to shore, and Alan admits when asked that he has no idea why he came to this island. Manhunter finds it odd that Alan went on these three missions without understanding why, and wishes he’d been given more information from the Manhunters. The priest gives Arn a small briefcase that was given to him by someone named Professor Hardin; he felt that it was important to give it to him. Later, the Young All-Stars have reunited with the rest of their squad, and are at the Perisphere with many other All-Stars. They’re there to talk about Green Lantern and his actions, which he can’t explain. He decides to see if his ring contains any record of the events of the last few days, and it begins to speak, explaining that three of the people Alan saved – the Japanese POW, a young Indigenous woman from the Aleutian Islands, and young Maria – are going to have descendants of great importance (all of them becoming New Guardians in the pages of Millennium). When the ring finishes talking, it wipes their memories of what it told them. Hawkman tells Alan that he’s clear of any suspicion. Liberty Belle raises the question of Tigress joining the team, and Manhunter supports her. She is told she’s a provisional All-Star, and will join the Young All-Stars on their next war bond tour. Arn opens the briefcase, and discovers it contains his father’s notebooks.

Some of the Young All-Stars are getting ready to leave for Denver and their next war bond appearance, but Arn excuses himself so he can go read the journal he was given by the priest last issue. The rest of the issue is basically an adaptation of a novel called Gladiator by Philip Wylie that was published in 1930. It seems that Arn’s grandfather, Abednego Danner was a biologist experimenting with an experimental treatment. He saw it make a cat very strong and near-invulnerable, and he ended up giving his pregnant wife a secret injection. Arn’s father, Hugo, demonstrated great strength as an infant, and was raised to keep his abilities secret, even though that made him feel very isolated from the world. Hugo did manage to hook up with his high school sweetheart, Anna Blake, and then went off to college where he played football. He was successful with the women, but his father didn’t have the money to keep him in school. He considered robbing a jewelry store, but instead made money as a circus strong man. He returned to school, but ended up killing a man during a football game by accident. He drifted after that, but found purpose fighting for the French Foreign Legion during the First World War. When his friends were killed in a bombing, he jumped into the German trenches and slaughtered everyone. Later he intended to head to Berlin to take out the German leadership, but the armistice was announced, and he instead returned to the world. His powers were discovered when he helped free a man from a bank vault, which lead to a violent interrogation by the police and Hugo escaping. He went home and ended up promising his dying father that he’d do good in the world. His father passed and he inherited his books. He tried to solve problems one at a time, going after corruption and criminals. He realized that wasn’t working, so he signed up with an archeological expedition to Mexico, where he worked with Professor Daniel Hardin. He ended up saving the Professor from a falling slab when they excavated an ancient pyramid. He shared his story with Hardin, and they discussed using Hugo’s father’s journals to create a world of superhumans. Hugo had a dream that showed that this would be a bad move, so he decided to take off again. At this point, Hugo’s journals no longer contain his writing, but instead Hardin wrote about how he believes that Hugo climbed another pyramid, yelled at god for a bit, and was struck by lightning. Hardin’s employees found Hugo’s burned body. This was in 1921. Arn stops reading and holds his head in his hands.
The Young All-Stars have left Denver and are flying to Indian Creek, Arn’s hometown. When they arrive, they learn that Arn’s mother let the whole town know they were coming, and there’s a crowd waiting for them. Among them is the girl Arn was dating before he left, and Fury doesn’t like that she’s there. The Mayor starts to give a speech, and Arn’s next door neighbour takes him to task for not telling her he had powers. Arn’s mom drives the guys home, while the neighbour takes the girls. Arn mentions to Danny that he won’t be returning with the team. Once they get to Arn’s place, the team takes over two bedrooms and Arn slips away to talk to his mom. He asks her questions about his father, Hugo Danner, and the man who raised him, whom he calls Dad Munro. His mom explains that she always loved Hugo, and even left Indian Creek to get away from her memories of him, but ended up back in the city after marrying John. She learned that Hugo died, but when she visited his grave when her husband was out of town, she was shocked to see him there and fainted. He carried her home, and explained that he faked his own death in Mexico, lived with an Indigenous tribe there, but eventually came back to be with her. They made love, but he took off while she slept. That’s the night that Arn was conceived, but she never heard from Hugo again and doesn’t know if he’s alive or dead. Before she can say more, Danny and Fox come and find them. Later, the team has dinner with Arn’s mom, and they learn about how Arn’s powers didn’t manifest at birth but were revealed later when he saved her after she fell into a crevice while they were out walking. He tried to keep his abilities a secret, but found it hard to hide while still playing sports. His mother had him promise to keep his powers secret until he turned 18, a promise he broke when he joined the All-Stars. He leaves the dinner, and his mother tells the others to not go after him. Most of the team goes for a walk, but Helena stays to help clean up. Arn’s mother suggests that she go looking for him, sensing that there is a connection between the two. As she heads to the old mine he liked to go to before, we learn that Helena has learned how to control her transformation into Fury. She jumps in the air, and finds Arn sitting near the mine, surrounded by stone slabs. She asks him about them, and he explains how he learned his father put them there as a child, and was discovered there by some archeologists who thought they were ancient. Arn suspects that one of those archeologists was somehow connected to Übermensch, since he knew who Arn’s father was. Helena tells Arn he should stay with the team, and they kiss. Elsewhere, the other Young All-Stars hang out by the dam. Neptune and Tsunami swim in its lake, while Tigress hunts and Flying Fox meditates. Arn and Helena join them, and they talk about how Danny is feeling, since this is where TNT was killed. Danny is happy to learn that Arn is going to stay with the team.

Arn shows up in the Perisphere’s library wearing his new costume, which has a red cape and a big I on the front. He interrupts the other Young All-Stars, who are reading or studying, and they have mixed reactions to his new look. Tigress seems to be flirting with Arn, while Fury has trouble faking enthusiasm. Arn makes a crack about her armor and its revealing open panels (more on that at the end of this column), and she gets mad and storms off. Paula tries to flirt some more, and Danny brings up the time Fury turned into the ‘Blood Avenger’. Arn decides to apologize, realizing that she never selected her armor. He finds Helena standing in a trance. In front of her are Robotman, Amazing-Man, and Mekanique. Arn slaps Helena to bring her out of her fugue, and she talks about the dream she had of a gigantic Mekanique killing the All-Star Squadron. They try to pass it all off as a dream, and Robotman is very defensive about his girlfriend. Mekanique tries to embrace Fury, but Helena sees her stomping on Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle, and gets very angry. They can all see the image of the Blood Avenger hovering above Helena, and Arn is able to talk her down, so she returns to being Helena again, and passes out. The other Young All-Stars join them as they all talk about what happened, and Arn explains Helena’s changes to Paula and the others who weren’t aware of it. Flying Fox gives Helena some herbs to help her sleep, and Robotman suggests he knows a place where they can get her help. He talks about the government’s Project M (for monster), and he and Will decide to take the kids there. They head to Bedloe’s Island, where the Statue of Liberty stands, and access a secret entrance to the Project. They are stopped by some guards, and a Professor Mazursky, who is not happy to see the heroes. Just then Chuck Grayson, Robotman’s lab partner, arrives and brings the heroes into the Project. None of them notice a lab assistant, Per Degaton, who is up to something. Chuck takes them into the massive Project, and shows them some of the things they’ve been working on. He says Project M created the Creature Commandos, and we see that Chuck is building G.I. Robot for use overseas. There’s also an android in a tube (I was wondering if this was a reference to the original Human Torch), the corpse of King Kong, and a live Tyrannosaurus Rex that they captured after it floated away from an island in the Pacific (this is a reference to the War That Time Forgot series). They see that Miss America, a hero believed to have died fighting alongside Uncle Sam (but where, since Earth-X no longer exists?), is lying in a coma in a glass tube. They put Helena on a table and Chuck starts scanning her brain waves. Arn recaps her origin for him, and Chuck starts a kind of electrical therapy (ECT?) on her. At the same time, we see that Per Degaton has moved through a secret tunnel that leads to a small submersible. Deathbolt emerges from it, having paid Degaton to arrange his access to the Project. He carries with him the plastic-encased brain of the Ultra-Humanite, which he managed to save from destruction when Cyclotron blew up in the original All-Star Squadron run. Degaton sneaks away, and Deathbolt starts moving through the complex, killing guards along the way (at the same time, Flying Fox leaves his friends and moves towards Deathbolt). Fox starts to fight Deathbolt, who can’t see him, but the Ultra-Humanite gives Deathbolt telepathic instructions as to where he is. Fox manages to get Deathbolt to drop Ultra, which rolls away. Fox tricks Deathbolt into grabbing a device that drains his powers, and he punches him out. There is a large roar though, as the Ultra-Humanite takes command of the T. Rex and starts moving through the Project, discovering the other All-Stars.
The All-Stars prepare to face the T. Rex, worrying that they have to protect Fury. They all rush in, except for Arn who wants to protect the machinery that is being used on Helena. The Young All-Stars, Amazing-Man, and Robotman learn pretty quickly that a T. Rex, especially one with the Ultra-Humanite’s brain commanding it, is a formidable foe. Dyna-Mite’s explosion staggers the beast, but he lashes out with his tail, sending Robotman flying into Arn and the machines he’s protecting. Chuck gets knocked out, and the power going to Helena is cut off. Arn finds himself on fire, losing most of his costume. Neptune and Tsunami burst open some pipes to douse the fire, and Ultra is about to push his attack when he’s distracted by a newcomer. Fury has turned into Tisiphone again, and she starts clawing at the dinosaur. He pushes her away. Danny ask Tisiphone to turn back into Fury, but she turns and escapes. Amazing-Man grabs Robotman’s head (which was severed off-panel) to protect it from the debris as Tisiphone flies to the surface. A family looking out from inside the Statue of Liberty’s head sees Ultra swimming away, and then sees Tisiphone fly off. Inside the Project, Arn keeps digging out an exit for the team, but is so worked up he doesn’t even notice when he almost hits Neptune with some debris. Danny blasts it, and Nep praises his growing control over his powers. We see that Chuck is okay, but Professor Mazursky and Per Degaton are annoyed by how trashed the lab is. Arn rushes off to find Helena, and Flying Fox goes after him. Mazursky freaks out when he learns what happened. Arn leaps up to the Statue and learns which way Tisiphone went. He has to swim to Manhattan, as he can’t leap that far. Once he’s in the city, he gets into an argument with a cop, and then jumps to a high rooftop, where he calls for Tisiphone before smashing some bricks in frustration. At the Project, the heroes interrogate Deathbolt, but don’t really learn anything. Degaton tells a lie that makes it sound like it’s the All-Stars’ fault the villains arrived. Tisiphone approaches Arn, but when he tries to speak to Helena within her, she attacks him, claiming that Helena is gone. She rakes Arn’s usually indestructible body with her claws, and drops him to the street below, where he appears to be dead.

Arn wakes up in a hospital bed in Project M, where he rests for a bit. Danny mentions how quickly his wounds have healed. Robotman explains they have no clue where Ultra-Humanite has gone, nor Tisiphone. Arn gets dressed after the ladies leave the room, wanting to get back to searching for Helena. Degaton goes to talk to Deathbolt, who is held captive in one of the labs. He makes it possible for him to free himself, and Deathbolt punches Degaton to free him from any suspicion. The Young All-Stars find the lab in flames, and see Miss America, who was in a coma in the room, come stumbling out. Amazing-Man turns to metal, and he, Robotman, and Arn work to rescue some of the devices from the fire. They discover that Deathbolt’s magnetized the base’s main dynamo, and Robotman gets stuck to it. Will tries to pull him off, and we see energy race through him. Arn drags them out, and Degaton covers for Deathbolt’s escape. Professor Mazursky still blames the All-Stars for all of this. Degaton returns to his quarters to discover that the time travel equations he’s been working on have been altered. He’s surprised to find Mekanique in his room. Back at the Perisphere, Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle are annoyed that the Young All-Stars hid Helena’s change from them. We learn that a number of All-Stars are out searching for Helena and for Ultra, and Libby makes it clear that the Young team is to stay at the Perisphere. Before leaving with the others, Amazing-Man demonstrates to the kids that he’s picked up magnetic powers, like in Helena’s dream, and that makes them all wonder about Mekanique. Chuck Grayson calls to tell them that he’s got a machine that might help free Helena from her curse. They decide to go get it from him, even though they aren’t supposed to. At Ultra’s lab, he finds that a Tyrannosaurus Rex body is not conducive to lab work. Neptune and Tsunami are in the water near the boat where Ultra’s lab is, and they pick up his vibrations (I’m not sure why they’re there). They use their radio to tell Arn what they’ve found. The rest of the team is on the Chrysler Building, and Flying Fox is using Grayson’s device to try to track down Fury. She finds them though, and Fox pushes the device on Tisiphone. She tosses it away, and Arn challenges her. Fox flies him away though, taking him, and Tisiphone, towards Ultra. This gets the Blood Avenger into a fight with the dinosaur. Their fight smashes them into some machinery that electrocutes the T. Rex, killing it. Tisiphone yells about how she’s going to kill them, but she’s frozen when her sister furies arrive to take her away (only Fox can see this). When they depart, Fury is left. She falls into Arn’s arms, and has no idea what’s happened. The team gathers (Dan and Paula catch up to them after driving around in a cab for a while) and reflect on what happened, but are confronted by eight of the adult All-Stars, who are not happy to see the team out without permission. Helena is confused. Back at Project M, Mekanique continues her collaboration with Per Degaton, and together they plan on destroying the All-Star Squadron the next day.
In the only Annual this series ever received, Mekanique sneaks Per Degaton and herself into the Perisphere’s basement by phasing through the wall. He has vague memories of fighting the All-Stars there, even though those events got erased. Mekanique has been building a scale model of Democracity, the place where she was built in the future. Degaton’s gotten himself his usual uniform, and is playing along with Mekanique’s declarations of love for him because he wants her future tech. She starts up a machine we don’t see. Upstairs, the All-Star Squadron is having another full roster meeting to discuss what to do about the Young All-Stars, who broke the rules to go after Ultra-Humanite and Tisiphone, but who also never warned anyone about the threat that Fury posed. Hawkman asks if the kids should be expelled from the team. Robotman speaks up for them, triggering Helena’s memories of her dream at the beginning of the series, which feels more real now that Amazing-Man has developed magnetic powers. The kids whisper to each other through the discussion. Sandman keeps Sandy from saying too much, so he doesn’t get in trouble too (we never did establish that he’d left the others). Spectre asks if the kids are just too young, which makes Atom uncomfortable. Dr. Mid-Nite suggests a demotion to provisional status, but Arn stops Hawkman from holding a vote. He says he’d rather leave the team, and he storms out with the others following him. The team sits on the grass outside the Perisphere, and talks about what they’re going to do with their lives. They each get a lovely splash page by Brian Murray as they talk about their plans. Arn wants to find his father, Fury wants to go back to Greece to fight Nazis, while Tsunami wants to stay out of the war, probably by hanging out in the ocean. Neptune wants to return to the west coast, and intends to gather some dolphins to help him watch for U-Boats. Dyna-Mite is thinking about going back to his parents, while Flying Fox plans to continue to fight Nazis. Tigress is thinking about fighting crime on her own and going big game hunting. As they are about to head into the city, they notice strange purple lights coming from the Perisphere. Inside the sphere, Miss America is just accepting the Justice Society’s offer to be their recording secretary (this is Roy Thomas using her to replace Wonder Woman) when the purple lights come on. They notice that they are all shrinking, at varying speeds, and that none of the magical heroes can do anything about it. They get sucked through a vent in the floor, and find themselves in Mekanique’s model city. She’s huge compared to them, and she starts to fight them as she did in Helena’s dream. She is wading through them, knocking them out left and right, and is about to step on Libby and Johnny when the purple lights cut off, and she’s stopped by Fury. Helena is joined by the others, and they start to fight Mekanique. She explains her origins again while standing behind a force shield, and claims she needs to destroy the All-Stars to make sure her future comes to pass. The kids still can’t reach her, but little Robotman climbs on one of Tigress’s bow-gun bolts and flies towards Mekanique. Because he helped rebuild her body, he knows about a vulnerable point, which seems to explode when he touches it. Everyone is restored to their proper height, and things seem fine between the All-Stars and the Young All-Stars. Per Degaton watches from the shadows, thinking about the future (this is kind of a cross-over with the Infinity Inc. Annual from that year).

The 1988 Annuals had ‘Private Lives’ backups. In this one, Danny Dunbar returns home to Washington DC, where he’s picked up by his family’s new chauffeur. He tells Danny that his parents got called away, and he takes him home. Danny greets the family’s butler, Carsons, and is disappointed to learn his parents aren’t back. Danny’s father’s been named ambassador to Rioguay, and the family is to leave right away. Danny is upset that he wasn’t told about this, and is now expected to start his life over somewhere else (his parents don’t know that he’s Dyna-Mite). He lies on his bed, thinking about how much he misses Tex, recaps his origin, and then wakes up much later. He discovers that his parents have already left, having decided to leave him behind, attending summer school. They left Danny a football. He starts to cry, and Carsons tries to comfort him, explaining that the Nazi presence in Rioguay makes it dangerous for him. He storms off, and Carsons tosses the football away in a small fit of anger and sadness. Later, Danny’s on a plane to California, where he talks to a GI. He thinks of the Young All-Stars when the soldier asks if he’s going home, and he realizes they are his home now.
The female members of the Young All-Stars are in the gym, lining up to race. Liberty Belle is keeping time, and Tigress is not impressed that she’s competing with Fury, who has superhuman speed. Dyna-Mite, Arn, and Flying Fox watch from above, distracting Tigress, who trips over a barbell and goes flying. Helena catches her, which makes her angry because she thinks it makes her look weak in Arn’s eyes. Libby sends them into the showers, where Helena tries to get Miya to explain Paula’s aggression towards her, but she refuses. Helena turns back to her civilian self, which means that her clothes magically appear, and she talks to Miya about how she has a study date with Arn for that night. Helena wants advice about boys, but Miya doesn’t feel qualified to give any. Paula suggests that she needs to give Arn what “he wants” and they start arguing again, until Miya hoses them off. Helena goes to see Libby, but instead finds Johnny Quick packing for a trip he and Libby are going on. Helena asks him about boys, and he gets pretty flustered when she asks if kissing is enough. Libby steps in and saves him, telling her to not do anything she doesn’t want to, and with that they leave. Most of the Young All-Stars are in the library reading or studying (Arn, Dan, and Helena all have finals that they are going to be able to complete remotely happening the next day). Arn is about to blow off studying, but Helena arrives and he buckles down again. A while later, Paula arrives with Wesley Dodd and Sandy, who have tickets to a jitterbug contest and want to take them all. Arn says he wants to go, but Helena wants to keep studying and tells him that he needs to stay too. The rest leave, leaving only Arn, Helena, and Gernsbeck in the Perisphere. They go to Arn’s room to study Latin, while at the same time, Deathbolt walks up to the entrance and fries Gernsbeck. He’s there to kill Flying Fox. Helena thinks she hears something, and Arn opens his door, surprising Deathbolt. Their fight is over pretty quickly after Fury punches the villain out. They wrap him up and get Gernsbeck to take him away. They turn on the radio, which is broadcasting the jitterbug competition, and start to dance together. Helena swings Arn into a table, destroying it, and as they lie on the floor and laugh, they start to kiss. It looks like a lot more than kissing is going to happen, but they’re interrupted by the telephone. Shirtless, Arn answers and learns from Dr. McNider (Dr. Mid-Nite) that he has a venereal disease, a mild case that he likely caught from the girl under the pier in the first story arc. Arn sends Helena away. The next day, Mid-Nite is at the Perisphere to administer the kids’ exams. Arn decides not to write his exam, and storms off. Mid-Nite tells Helena to leave him alone, and to hope he changes his mind before he gets an incomplete. Flying Fox goes to talk with Arn, who is sitting on top of the Perisphere. Arn explains about his disease, and how he almost gave it to someone else, and how it makes him not want to take his test. Fox tells him this is his test, and suggests that if he doesn’t return, it’s because he wants to fail in life. Arn goes back to the library. Later, Arn is at his graduation in Colorado, and is happy to see that his friends (including Sandy) have come with his mother. He’s most happy to see Helena, who, after the ceremony, admits she thought she did something wrong. It seems that Doc Mid-Nite told her about Arn’s condition, and he’s somehow okay with that.

Issue sixteen is the first chapter of The Dzyan Inheritance. It opens in the Arctic Circle, where a German U-Boat brings Nazi Colonel Streicher, of the Black Order, and a Dr. Thule, to a strange futuristic looking structure. The Nazis shoot and throw grenades at the doors, which are not damaged. They open, and very tall white-skinned beings called the Dzyan come out and start to fight them. The Nazis shoot them all and enter the building. There’s a shaft that leads down, and when they climb down, Streicher identifies the place as Leviathan, an artificial island powered by something called Vril. The Germans find a human man and Dzyan woman together. She calls him Argor, but Streicher recognizes him as Arthur Gordon Pym. Streicher says he wants the Leviathan, and the gold from the Titanic. Argos tells Kalla it’s time, and she turns into a bird and flies away, escaping the Nazis. The bird flies south to New York, and enters the Perisphere, passing Gernsbeck. Wildcat is training Arn in boxing, although Arn’s strength makes their sparring uneven. Ted is dismissive of Fury, so she knocks him down too. The bird flies between them all, and the kids (almost the whole team is there) follow it. The bird finds Neptune, and speaks to him. The others catch up as the bird turns back into its Dzyan form, and Kalla passes out. She recovers after Wildcat applies smelling salts, and she starts to explain that she’s come for Neptune to come help his grandfather. Neptune disputes that anyone in his family is still alive, but also admits he knows nothing of his background. Kalla says she can explain it all, and launches into a long story about how Arthur Pym was part of an expedition to the Arctic Circle, along with a man named Dirk Peters, to hunt seals. They found a strange creature, something like a cat and a dog, and then were approached by Natives with dark skin. They took the ship to their village, called Tsalal, where they traded for a while. When the men went to depart, an avalanche was triggered that killed all of them except for Pym and Peters. When the Natives saw the corpse of the cat-dog, they fled. Later, Pym and Peters wandered and found a wall with ancient writing on it. They captured one of the Natives and wandered with him through some very strange things until he died. Eventually they were found by one of the Dzyan. The Young All-Stars interrupt Kalla’s narrative, questioning the fact that this is basically the plot to an Edgar Allan Poe story, which Kalla claims was based on Pym’s story. Pym and Peters were taken to the Dzyan’s city, which the narration now says was in the Antarctic, which doesn’t really make sense, where they learned about The Vril, an untapped energy. There is some talk of Madame Blavatsky, and how many Dzyan left Earth. Pym and Peters left, and returned to America. Pym told Poe his story, which angered Peters. The two men fought using their Vril, and Pym defeated him, absorbing his energy. Later, Pym returned to the Dzyan and built an undersea vessel he called the Nautilus, and then spent some years adventuring as Captain Nemo. When the vessel was destroyed in a storm, Pym returned to America, took the name Perkins, and married a rich woman. They had a son named Ross, which he brought to the Dzyan, but the boy wasn’t able to use the Vril. They sent the boy home, but Argor stayed with the Dzyan (Kalla was his lover by now). As the First World War got underway, Argor got in touch with the German Kaiser so he could use their industrial might to build Leviathan, his massive artificial island which traveled under a layer of false ice. Argor used it to sink the Titanic and steal the gold on it. Ross grew up thinking that Vril was corrupting. He married a woman who lost her family when the Titanic sank, and together they conceived a child while bathing in Vril light. Their child, of course, was Neptune, who is surprised to learn all of this. Kalla explains that Argor needs their help, and that if the Nazis get the secrets of the Dzyan, they would be unstoppable. The team prepares to go help.
After a recap of everything we learned last issue, which Neptune doesn’t fully believe, Kalla continues to tell Neptune’s story. She explains how when Neptune was born, he quickly turned blue, and how luckily his parents chose to give birth at the Oceanographic Institute that Neptune’s father worked at. The doctor recognized that the infant had a sodium-chloride deficiency and held him in a saltwater tank. The baby immediately started swimming around on his own. This makes Neptune believe Kalla a little more, especially after she fills in a few more details, and talks about how Neptune’s parents moved to Santa Barbara where they could give the child access to the sea. Over the years, the Perkinses spent their fortune, and ended up living on a houseboat. Neptune spent most of his days in the water, where he learned to communicate with dolphins. His parents never explained that he was changed by vril energy though, and Neptune asks Kalla if she knows who killed them. On the day that the Nazis invaded Russia, Neptune’s mother wanted to tell him his whole story, but his parents asked him to give them some time to talk first. Neptune left, and returned to the houseboat late in the day, to find his parents had been killed. He explains that he buried them, and left with the houseboat to avoid the authorities. After a time, he came across the All-Star Squadron and Tsunami. Later, he found the outfit he’s currently wearing, which allows him to absorb salt from it for up to 24 hours, in his father’s possessions. He explains how that was the same day that he met Miya again, in the first issue of this series. Kalla explains that his grandfather designed the suit and had it sent to him, as he’s been watching Neptune through the vril energy. Kalla explains that it was The Black Order, the Nazi occult organization who killed Neptune’s parents, hoping that they would lead them to Argor. Now Kalla wants Neptune to go help his grandfather, but the others want to wait for more All-Stars to return. Neptune refuses, and insists they leave immediately. He and Kalla have to fight his teammates, briefly, before they jump into the water. Kalla turns into a dolphin and they swim off at a fast speed. Neptune recognizes it’s still going to take some time to get to the Arctic, but Kalla turns into a white whale and swims even faster, with Neptune holding on to her. Back at the Perisphere, the rest of the team try to figure out how they can catch up with their friend. Wildcat mentions that the All-Stars just received an Airacuda, the new team plane. He’s reluctant, but agrees to take them. Neptune and Kalla arrive beneath Leviathan and he smashes through a wall to enter the submerged base. He knocks out the first Nazi he finds, and finds his grandfather sitting on a floor, under a beam of light. Kalla warns him not to touch it, and recognizes that Argor has started aging under the beam, which separates him from his Vril. Neptune asks how to save his grandfather, and Kalla replies she can save him with Neptune’s blood, and smacks him across the face. Colonel Streicher and Dr. Thule approach, and we learn that Kalla made an arrangement with them to capture Neptune when she realized that Argor was starting to age. The Colonel shoots Kalla, and then boasts that now that the Nazis have Leviathan and the secrets of vril, they will take over the world.

Arn pilots the Airacuda through the Arctic (Wildcat had to leave between issues) as Tsunami navigates him towards an American airbase, where they hope someone will fly them to Leviathan. At the same time, Streicher and Thule torture Neptune with a ray device of some kind. Argor begs for them to stop hurting his grandson, but Neptune insists that Argor not give up any secrets that can help the Nazis. Argor continues to age. Streicher calls in two Nazis to dispose of Kalla’s body, and we see them dump her in the Arctic Ocean. Thule and Streicher chat, while Neptune asks his grandfather why he’s not using his vril powers to escape. He explains that he’s using all he has left to stay alive. Streicher strikes Neptune, and makes a comment about eternal ice, which sets of Thule. He starts to explain at length how he follows the theories of Hans Hörbiger who believes that mankind goes through periods of fire and ice, and that Hitler is the champion of the people. The Black Order are his holy warriors. Thule then moves on to the Hollow Earth, and how it was because of the Earth’s “reverse curvature” that he discovered the Dzyan and Argor and tracked them down. We see that when he met Kalla, she was worried that Argor was aging, and Thule tricked her into betraying him by weakening his vril before they attacked. Now Thule has finished a device that has gathered Argor’s Vril. He gets in the other half of the device, so the energy can be transferred into his body. Thule becomes very powerful, and takes control of the surviving Dzyan. One of the Dzyan senses the approach of the Young All-Stars. We see our heroes parachute towards the entrance to Leviathan, although Dan, Miya, and Paula are separated from the others. Arn, Fury, and Flying Fox enter Leviathan and are attacked by the Dzyan. They fight, and only Fox makes it to the room where Neptune is being held. Streicher and Thule spout some racist crap as Fox tries to reach the empowered Thule. Thule fries him, and the Dzyan bring the captive Young All-Stars (I guess the others caught up and got caught). We see Kalla’s body float through the ocean until it enters an ice cave. She manages to pull herself up on shore, and finds a pale monstrous man standing over her – he identifies himself as Victor Frankenstein the Second.
Thule luxuriates in his new power as Streicher reminds him that he is in service to Hitler. The Young All-Stars are trapped in tubes of solid vril energy, while Argor continues to wither under his ray. Thule wants to experiment on the Young All-Stars and duplicate their powers for the Nazis, but first, he decides to take the Dzyan under this thrall to attack the American base on Iceland. They all turn into birds and fly off. Kalla comes to in the cave where Victor Frankenstein II lives among the possessions he scavenged from shipwrecks. He is surprised to learn that there was a book written about him, and he shares that he came north into the Arctic in 1797 and has lived there ever since. Kalla tells him the world is at war, and when she says she wants to leave, he admits he hoped she would stay with him. She explains that she needs to go save her mate. Frankenstein thinks about returning to the world to exact his rage at being unloved by his father. Kalla flies off. Neptune tries to convince Streicher to let his grandfather live, and we learn that the Nazis have summoned a seaplane from Norway to take the heroes to Berlin. When Streicher comments that he wants to breed Fury with Übermensch, Arn gets really angry and tries in vain to break out of his tube. Kalla appears, and is immediately attacked by the Nazis. She’s able to break the tubes that hold the heroes, and as they fight, the vril energy swirls around the room. Streicher has his men retreat to their U-Boat, closing a door behind him. While Arn and Helena try to break through the door, Kalla shares her last words with Argor, something about letting one become two, and she dies. Dyna-Mite blows the door up, and the Young All-Stars realize they are too late to stop Streicher. Arn jumps up to the approaching seaplane. The Dzyan and Thule attack the American base, and the Americans are shocked to see Thule as he is large and powerful. The All-Stars arrive in their stolen plane, which they crash into Thule. They fight the Dzyan with the help of the soldiers. Miya summons a tidal wave to stop Thule, but it’s not very effective. Flying Fox and Neptune tend to the dying Argor (who I guess they brought with them), and he repeats what Kalla told them. Fox figures out his plan and flies the dying man towards Thule. Thule tries to absorb the last of Argor’s vril, and kills the old man. Once the energy is inside him, though, Argos splits the energy apart, since half of it belonged to Dirk Peters. This causes Thule to split into pieces and die. The Dzyan immediately stop fighting and say it’s time for them to leave the world and return to their own. They form a bird image together and disappear. Neptune mourns for the grandfather he never knew.

Fury approaches Flying Fox on the grounds of the All-Star Squadron’s base to talk to him about how she continues to worry she is under the influence of Tisiphone the Blood Avenger. Fox puts her into a trance of sorts. Fury feels like she’s back in Greece, and she enters Erebus, the home of the Furies. She is found by Tisiphone, who attacks her and begins to drain her powers. Fury rallies, and feeling even more powerful, fights back against the creature that first empowered her; it’s the other two Furies, Alectra and Megaera, who are providing her with her strength. The fighting pauses and they teach Helena about the Furies, starting their story during the Trojan War. We learn that Tisiphone always saw Helena as a pathway to freedom for herself, and Helena learns that so long as she never has sex, she’ll continue to be able to tap into their powers. As Helena leaves, Tisiphone reminds her that she’s not done with her. Flying Fox, meanwhile, is in communion with his grandfather, White Snow Owl, who communicates with him from northern Canada. He narrates the story of Fox’s ancestor who left his people, was taken in by Vikings, and was given the name Arak (star of Thomas’s other long-running DC series). Arak’s father was the god of thunder of the Quontauka, but Arak refused to live with him, and ended up back in his original village. When he died, his father gave the tribe a cloak of fox fur. Recently, Nazis visited and tried to get the Quontauka to spy on Canada for them, but when they refused, they killed Fox’s father, and when he fought them, shot and killed Flying Fox. His grandfather used something called Forever Paint to put the fox symbol on his chest, and used magic to restore him to life some four days later. He taught his grandson about what was happening in the world, and gave him the fox pelt. He taught him his powers (which are finally outlined in one place) and sent him to the “modern” world. Helena and Fox are reunited outside the Perisphere, and after Fox left, Helena inspected the claw marks left by Tisiphone on her shoulder.
After the Battle of Midway, some of the surviving Japanese aircraft carriers are launching another attack, this time using computer-piloted fighters and bombers. As the planes approach their American targets off the Midway Atoll, Flying Fox rises up to meet them in the sky. He stops some planes, while another dive bombs into an American carrier. He realizes one of the planes doesn’t have a pilot, and manages to crash the plane into the water. Nearby, Neptune Perkins and Tsunami watch this battle, but dive into the water to look for the real reason they’re all there. America has cracked Japan’s code, and learned that they are trying to sneak a submarine past the Americans during the battle. Tsunami’s powers convince the sub it’s under attack, so it surfaces. She and Neptune fight the crew, and Tsunami is able to stop the captain from burning his secret orders. They take these orders to Admiral Nimitz just as Flying Fox finishes his part in the battle. Miya translates to explain that another sub took a Japanese agent to Mexico, and that there’s a German-Japanese operation underway to stop something codenamed ‘tube alloys’. The Young All-Stars return to the Airacuda and head back to the States, as ordered by the President. In Washington, an unnamed professor is escorted out of the White House by FBI Agent Michaelson. They find the guards at the gate murdered, and soon five identical skinheads wearing swastika shirts and bulky belts attack. Arn, Tigress, Dyna-Mite, and Fury jump the fence and get into the fight. They soon learn that the belts are bombs, when one of the Nazis blows himself up. They manage to stop them, and Helena notices a car with three men inside pulling away. She decides to follow them, suspecting they’re connected to this. She ends up following them to New York, and Grand Central Terminal, where she sees them heading to an arriving train. One passenger gets off the train on the same side as the men, and they try to grab him. Fury intervenes, rescuing the man, who turns out to be Albert Einstein. Other FBI agents reach the professor, who can’t understand why Hitler would want him for anything. Someone watches this from the shadows. In Mexico, we see that Baron Blitzkreig is hanging out with his “liber” Zwerg (I think it’s so interesting that Thomas was coding their relationship as queer from their earliest appearances in All-Star Squadron), talking about how he’s going to end the United Nations. We see that the Japanese sub brought Sumo, the Samurai, to work with him.

Fury returns to Washington, where she hopes she hasn’t missed the Young All-Stars’ meeting with the President while she was in New York. She enters the White House where she sees that Dyna-Mite is hanging out with Eleanor Roosevelt. She and Danny walk into a room where it appears that Arn and Tigress are making out, but they both claim Paula had something in her eye. They hear the President call out for help, and burst into the Oval Office, where they see four costumed figure standing over Roosevelt, who has fallen from his wheelchair. Assuming that he’s being attacked (and that one of them is speaking German), they attack, and their fight wrecks the place. Roosevelt stops them by banging his cane against his desk, and explains that the four newcomers are heroes from allied nations. He goes on to say he fell from his chair when his dog went after a mouse and he tried to stop him. Roosevelt gets the heroes to introduce themselves, and we start with Squire, who has no powers but does ride Winged Victory, the Shining Knight’s horse. Squire, Percy Sheldrake, explains that Sir Justin rescued him from a collapsed building during the London Blitz, and when he learned that the young noble lost his parents, decided to train him. Phantasmo explains that he’s the descendant of an elemental being and a French man, which has given him his blue skin and ability to walk through walls. Fireball gained her strange fire-wrist powers when she was born in the Tunguska region of Siberia while her parents investigated the strange fireball that struck there in 1908. Kuei, a large green demon-looking guy was a soldier in the Chinese army who was shot by the Japanese and decided to end his life by jumping into a river, until he saw a Japanese soldier looking down on him and decided to kill him. He was somehow turned into a Kuei, a legendary figure that is what becomes of suicides and drowning victims. Roosevelt wants the Young All-Stars to go on a war bond drive with these new heroes, which is disappointing for Arn. As they all leave the room, Roosevelt holds Arn, Dan, and Paula back. He explains to them that he thinks Helena might be an Axis spy. He explains that the British have been researching developing uranium bombs, and that an agent has warned that a ‘non-American’ hero might be working to steal atomic secrets. Roosevelt gives Arn secret orders to follow during the war bond tour, and Arn realizes this is probably why Tsunami was sent to the Pacific with Neptune and Flying Fox. In Mexico, Baron Blitzkrieg and Major Zwerg continue to welcome Sumo, who they want to interrogate a British prisoner for them. This prisoner escapes just then, and manages to commandeer an auto-gyro. The Baron has Zwerg call out the six members of Axis Amerika to retrieve him, and they manage this in the most violent and destructive way possible. Sumo’s job is to learn the secrets of the ‘Tube Alloys’ project the British are working on from this captive. He’s able to read his mind, and describes a number of expatriate scientists from many countries working at a California university. Übermensch shows impatience, until the Baron tells him that Axis Amerika is being sent to destroy the Young All-Stars and retrieve these scientists. They head out in an airplane with an owl face, and Baron tells Sumo that they have their own mission, which will end in their having a uranium bomb.
In San Francisco, Neptune, Tsunami, and Flying Fox have to intervene to save Kuei from some trigger happy cops when he arrives to meet with them. Kuei wants to head to the bond rally they are supposed to be attending, but Neptune knows they have a different mission first. Flying Fox gets a cabbie to take them to University of California, in Berkeley, although Fox has to fly on his own power. At the University, a number of scientists meet to discuss building a uranium bomb. Sea-Wolf and Kamikaze come through the window and attack them, then herd them into a very strange looking truck that is pretending to belong to a laundry service. The Young All-Stars arrive as they drive off. Kamikaze tries to stop them, but needs to refuel his suit. The cabbie chases as the truck heads onto a bridge. Kuei jumps onto the truck, and Sea-Wolf drives across the lanes and drives right off the bridge. Kamikaze bails out and knocks Kuei into the bridge as they fall. Neptune and Tsunami dive into the water, and we see Kuei makes it to shore. Sea-Wolf attacks the two Young All-Stars, slashing Miya’s back and distracting Neptune so Kamikaze can hit him from behind. They leave in their truck/sub thing with the scientists. Above the Mississippi, Baron Blitzkrieg flies Sumo in his experimental aircraft. The Baron references the fact that the Americans replaced Zwerg with a spy, and we see that he’s had him crucified on a swastika (this is such a weird thing to happen between issues). In Chicago, J. Robert Oppenheimer goes to visit Glenn Seaborg as he unpacks from his wedding. They are surprised when Dyna-Mite turns up on the balcony, saying they need to come with him to the Wrigley Building. There, Tigress and Squire are hanging out with some other scientists, including Enrico Fermi. Paula decides to tell Squire about their real mission, and then she tries to make out with him. He pushes her away, showing her a picture of his wife and son (Cyril, who would go on to become the Knight). Danny arrives with the other two scientists, and a dirigible approaches. A plane drops from the bottom of it, flown by Die Grosshorn Eule, and carrying Usil. They scoop up all of the scientists and Danny in a net, which Paula jumps onto. Squire, on Winged Victory, flies towards the villains, but Usil starts to shoot flaming arrows at him. Paula shoots at Usil from below, and Squire jumps onto the plane. Usil tosses him away, and Winged Victory manages to catch him. Paula is watching this, and doesn’t see that Grosshorn Eule has maneuvred so she’d hit a billboard, which causes her and it to drop to a terrace below. Eule threatens to dump all of the scientists and Danny if Squire doesn’t back off. Squire throws his sword at the plane, which doesn’t really do much. The Axis members rendezvous with their dirigible and fly off into a cloud. Squire rushes to Paula, who has been impaled by a large wooden arrow (it was on the billboard). Paula dies in his arms.

Arn is in New York, and has a vision of Paula being taken away by Gudra. He talks to Fireball about it, and then she goes off on a young man for not having signed up to fight already. She is quickly moved to tears, and then starts to explain to Arn about how she was home in her village visiting her family when a German Stuka attacked, killing the boy she liked and his grandfather. She fought the planes and rushed home to find that her parents and brother were killed in the shelling. She fought until she exhausted her powers, and now has vowed to destroy all of Germany. Arn leaves her to go talk to the professors he’s there to guard, not realizing that Übermensch is hiding behind the door. In Missouri, Fury and Phantasmo are walking down the street talking about their experiences as refugees. At the same time, some lab techs are enriching uranium into plutonium, and loading it into plywood boxes (which doesn’t seem safe). Fury notices Baron Blitzkrieg and Sumo crossing the street. The two heroes attack, and the Baron slips into the lab. Fury follows him and attacks. The Baron threatens to kill one of the scientists, and as Fury considers her options, Tisiphone appears to her offering to fight him. Helena rejects her and jumps forward to pull the scientist away. The Baron grabs the plutonium and takes off. Sumo is still fighting Phantasmo, and runs his sword through his chest. The villains escape and Helena rushes to Jean-Marc’s side, but he recovers quickly. In New York, Übermensch gives Arn a big beatdown while Gudra holds Einstein and some other scientists at spear point. He throws him outside and catches Fireball’s attention. She joins the fight, but Gudra wants to take her own. They fight in the sky and both end up in the river. Fireball makes it out of the river but collapses back in after blinding Gudra with a flare. Some fishermen pull her on their boat and hide her. Übermensch and Gudra leave, taking Arn and the scientists with them.
The Atom is at the Perisphere, on monitor duty. Hawkman and Hawkgirl check in on him, and we learn that most of the All-Star Squadron is patrolling the borders, trying to find the scientists that Baron Blitzkrieg has kidnapped. A cop brings Fireball to the Perisphere, and she lets Atom know what’s happened. Al figures out he can track Arn Munroe’s radio, and sees that he’s in Indianapolis. He calls on Fury, then on Flying Fox, from whom he learns that Tsunami’s been hurt. Squire calls in and tells him that Tigress is dead and that Dyna-Mite’s been captured. Al tracks Danny’s radio, and comparing his location to Arn’s, figures out where they’re being taken. He drives off with Fireball to come and rescue them. In Kansas, Übermensch and Gudra arrive at the Baron’s hidden base with the scientists they kidnapped. We see that the Baron and Sumo have a giant device that the captured scientists have been strapped into. We also see that Danny is being held prisoner, and the rest of Axis Amerika are on hand. There is some discussion about whether they should kill Arn, and it’s clear that Übermensch thinks little of the Baron. Baron tells Übermensch to go kill Arn, and orders Gudra to watch him do it. Once the remaining scientists are strapped into the machine, we learn that it will use their brains to set off an atomic bomb in Kansas. Die Grosshorn Eule thinks about his son’s death, and plans on killing Danny. A guard lets the Baron know that the other heroes (Atom, Fury, Flying Fox, Firehand, Kuei, and Squire) have arrived. The Baron and most of the Axis Amerika head out and they start fighting. The Eule slips away to go back into the base to kill Danny. Arn comes to in the hangar, and Übermensch talks about how he has photographic proof that Hugo Danner is alive in Brazil, fighting dinosaurs or something. He reveals that Hugo is basically his father, which surprises Arn. The fight continues outside while Arn and Übermensch fight in the facility. Die Eule approaches Danny, holding a dagger to his neck, but is knocked out by Phantasmo, who snuck into the base. They realize they don’t have long to stop the scientist machine. There’s more chaos outside, until Sumo decides they can’t win. He and the Baron call for a retreat. Arn gives Übermensch a pretty serious beating, and is about to kill him when Gudra yells for him to stop. She offers to bring Tigress (whose body she’s somehow brought to the hangar) back to life if Arn spares Übermensch, whom she loves. Arn agrees, and Gudra walks off with Übermensch in her arms. Outside, the All-Stars try to find a way into the base when the hangar opens and the Axis leave in two jets. Squire is able to retrieve his sword from the side of one of the planes, but none of the heroes can keep up with them, allowing their enemies to escape. There’s an explosion, but it’s Danny opening a way for him and Phantasmo to lead the scientists out of the base. Fox carries Tigress, announcing that she’s alive. They confirm by listening to the radio that Kansas did not explode. Fury asks what’s going on, and Arn says he’ll explain on their way to Kansas.

Issue twenty-six opens with Arn declaring that he’s quitting the team. He’s in a hospital waiting room with Fury, Dyna-Mite, Flying Fox, Fireball, Squire, Kuei, and Phantasmo, while they wait for Tigress to come out of surgery. Arn doesn’t want to explain his decision, so we see everyone else’s reactions instead. The doctor lets them know that Paula is recovering at a surprising rate, and they all head into her room, where they find her already out of bed and back in costume. She seems quite different, and says she’s leaving the team to strike out on her own (she refers to herself as a huntress, and in the letter’s page, Thomas explains that this is the origin of the Golden Age villain of that name). She ends up attacking her former teammates, distracting them with a flaming crossbow bolt, and then jumping out the window. The flying heroes look for her, but we see that she’s on the hospital’s roof with Gudra. Arn decides this is the time for him to leave, and he explains that he’s going off to look for his father, who he’s learned is still alive; he refuses to let his friends help him. Danny has trouble with this, but the others agree he should be allowed to go on his own. The foreign heroes think Arn is being selfish, and talk about all they’ve lost. They all leave to take the fight back to their own countries. Helena is bothered by something that Paula said, and considers returning to Greece to fight Nazis, but Flying Fox reminds her that she’ll fall under Axis control due to the Spear of Destiny. Danny calls the hospital in Berkeley where Tsunami is being treated, and manages to get Neptune on the phone (but he has to wrestle it out of a nurse’s hands). We learn that Miya is fine, except for some scratches on her back, and Danny tells Neptune what’s happened in Kansas. Neptune says he needs to deal with some business in Santa Barbara, and that he’s not returning right away either. Some soldiers come to give Neptune a hard time about being rude to the nurse and for having a Japanese friend. He learns that Japan has landed troops in the Aleutian Islands, and that Miya is being questioned. He pushes the soldiers aside and rushes to her. In her hospital room, some MPs are trying to force her to strip in front of them, and when Neptune sees this, he attacks them. More soldiers come, and our two heroes flee. They hide in a truck, but are soon caught by a roadblock that has been set up to find them. They rush to a river and swim out to sea while some of the soldiers shoot at them (another tries to stop the soldiers). A Coast Guard boat approaches them, and when a sailor shoots at them, Neptune takes a graze to the head. Miya gets so angry she almost sinks the boat in a whirlpool, but Neptune reminds her who she is. They leave, with Neptune being dragged off by two dolphins he summoned. The remaining Young All-Stars and foreign heroes meet around a table at a drugstore, and explain their plans after agreeing that they won’t be able to find Neptune and Miya. Fireball is going to return to Russia, Squire to England along with Phantasmo, and Kuei to China. They all leave (for the second time). Helena announces that the team is done, and that she is going to go back to Greece. Flying Fox wants to return home to make sure that the Nazis aren’t bothering his people, and it’s clear that Danny doesn’t really have anywhere to go. He signs the check, saying the drugstore counter clerk should send their bill to President Roosevelt, and the last three members of the team leave.
Issue twenty-seven was used to check in all of the adult members of the All-Star Squadron. Liberty Belle has asked Fury to write up a report of what all of the heroes are up to, and she starts by explaining that Flying Fox has returned to his home, Dyna-Mite has gone to his parents in Rioguay, Arn has left to search for his father, Fireball and Kuei have returned to their countries, Tigress has disappeared, and Neptune and Tsunami are in hiding. She writes about how Squire helped the Seven Soldiers of Victory fight an old villain named The Skull who stole an anti-aging device which killed him while his tank and his men fought the Soldiers (at this time, Wing has been made a member, and Vigilante brought in Stuff, the Chinatown Kid as the seventh member). After the fight, Squire and Shining Knight set out for England. We see that Zatara and Sargon were using their magic to stop gangsters, while Manhunter (Paul Kirk) fought some German subs. Hourman used his Miraclo ray (which doesn’t seem as portable as the pills were) to stop a criminal using a giant bell to disrupt life on Staten Island. Johnny Quick put out a fire at the animation studio that was making a cartoon about him, and then redrew the whole thing after it got damaged by fire. He met up with Liberty Belle to go to a meeting. Green Lantern, Air Wave, Mr. Terrific, and Wildcat all dealt with lame problems. Tarantula fought a villain called the Fly, and survived through the clever use of silk. Guardian saved the Newsboy Legion from crooks, while The Whip fought crooks, and Flash also fought crooks. Amazing-Man fought saboteurs in Detroit while Robotman did the same on a country road. Tarantula met up with Firebrand at a secret military base, and they were joined by Johnny and Libby. They were there to watch as Mr. America was trained to go overseas and fight as the Americommando. His friend Fatman was also there, wearing a lampshade as a disguise, and everyone congratulated Tex. The others wished they could join him, but Firebrand reminded them that they agreed to follow Roosevelt’s orders during the war. Fury writes about how she doesn’t know much about what the Freedom Fighters are up to, as they aren’t that connected with the All-Star Squadron anymore. While she is writing, the Justice Society meets to discuss a mission they’ve been given to deliver pills that contain concentrated nutrition to the resistance fighters of Europe. Hawkman mentions how the Blackhawks and Commander Steel, as well as Americommando, are fighting in Europe. Starman worries that some of these resistance groups are communists, and Dr. Mid-Nite jokes that the JSA will never be accused of being pro-Communist. They agree to head out on the mission, although Miss America, their secretary, won’t be joining them. Miss America goes to check on Helena, offering to give her a carbon copy of her notes from the JSA meeting so she won’t have to write them up. Helena learns that Sandman and Sandy are heading to Greece and she insists on going with them. Hawkman tells her she can’t go, because of Hitler’s supernatural energy field that would give him control of her. Spectre and Dr. Fate explain they’ve created ectoplasmic shells around themselves so they can operate in Europe for about a month safely, but they don’t have enough power left to create one for Helena. She walks away, sadly, and we see the JSA depart. Phantasmo, who also can’t return to France to fight, comforts Helena.

Some woman in classic safari gear quotes Coleridge while walking through a dense jungle. She finds a lake and strips to her underwear and jumps into the lake while reciting more poetry. She’s surprised by a dinosaur and runs to put her clothes back on. The dinosaur follows her (it’s not too big), and chases her when she runs. It’s about to grab her when Arn, similarly dressed in safari gear, grabs it. We figure out that he knows the woman, named Georgia, as he fights the dino. It breaks its teeth on his arm, and Arn manages to knock it out. Georgia faints, so Arn picks her up, and starts to narrate their story. We learn that after leaving the Young All-Stars, Arn went to Project: M, where the guards tried to shoot him. He broke into the project, jumping down an elevator shaft and yelling for Professor Mazursky. He found the Professor with Per Degaton and the woman. Mazursky was not a fan of mystery men, but Arn convinced him to call off the guards. He told him that he needed to know where they found their dinosaur, and Arn showed him the photo he had of his father standing on a dinosaur. Arn explained that the photo is from Rioguay, and Mazursky handed the conversation over to Georgia Challenger and left. Georgia explained that her grandfather was the anthropologist George Edward Challenger, who went with a few others to a South American plateau where they discovered living dinosaurs, ape-men, and an Indigenous tribe. They brought a live pterodactyl back with them, but it died. The explorers never returned, although Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about their exploits. Now Georgia wanted to find her way to ‘Maple White Land’, and Arn agreed to go with her. We see that they spent time traveling through the Brazilian jungle before discovering the plateau, which was very hard to reach. Arn grabbed Georgia and jumped, making it most of the way. Eventually they climbed the rest of the way, and looked over the world where time developed differently. It being late, Arn insisted on setting up camp. This is when Georgia snuck off, and we’re caught back up to the story. Georgia thanks Arn for saving her by kissing him, but then more dinosaurs come at them. Suddenly a number of Indigenous people turn up and attack the dinos, fighting them off with simple weapons. These men don’t speak to them, and Arn gets pretty defensive. That’s when he hears someone speaking English. Hugo Danner introduces himself to them.
Georgia introduces Arn to Hugo, revealing that he’s his son, but the older man doesn’t believe her, knowing that he’s sterile. One of the Indigenous youth gets in Arn’s face. Hugo introduces him as Xtoh, and also introduces his twin sister Xavi. Even though they don’t speak the same language, the two young men start fighting, and it’s clear that Xtoh is as strong as Arn. Hugo separates them, and Georgia figures out that Hugo’s “Sons of Dawn” are all as strong as Arn. Hugo explains to his crew that Arn is his son, and they head out for their camp. Arn carries Georgia, who has the sniffles, while the others carry the dinosaurs they killed. Tohil, another of the Sons, recognizes that Xavi seems interested in Arn. As they walk, Hugo recaps his history, and then starts to explain what happened after he faked his death. He ended up in Manaus, where he met an American who talked about the Lost World. Hugo forced the guy to take him there, and soon Hugo felt that he was in a place where he could be himself. The Accala, the Indigenous tribe there, found him and took him to their home. His strength proved helpful to them, and soon he was the leader of the tribe. He used his father’s notebooks to develop a formula similar to the one that gave him his powers, and started injecting it into pregnant women. With the exception of Xavi, only boys were born. Hugo missed Anna, Arn’s mother, so he left to pay her a visit, then returned to the Lost World to raise the Sons of Dawn separate from their tribe. At one point, some Nazis found their way to this land and after saving them from a T. Rex, Hugo sent them away. He figures this is where the photo Arn had must have come from. Arn tells him about Übermensch, and about the All-Star Squadron. As the Americans talk, Xtoh talks to Tohil about leaving the plateau. They arrive at the Sons’ fort, and decide to turn in for the night. Georgia sleeps in a separate hut from Arn, who is worried about the way Xtoh is looking at her. In the night he hears a scream and comes rushing out, only to be attacked by many of the men. As the others hold him, Xtoh gives Arn a big beating and then starts hitting him with rocks. Somehow, these rocks fuse together until Arn is trapped. He spots Georgia, tied to a tree. They talk about how Hugo is missing from this scene, and how both Xavi and Tohil seem to not want to follow Xtoh. Xtoh reveals that they’ve already captured Hugo in some other rocks they smashed together (I really don’t see how that works). Xtoh grabs Georgia, and he and the rest of the Sons of Dawn leap away, leaving Hugo and Arn behind. In the main city in Paraguay, Danny Dunbar is reunited with his parents, and seems really happy to be with them in a peaceful place. As they talk, we see that the Sons of Dawn are leaping towards the city.

Arn struggles to get out of the stones he’s been encased in, while he talks to himself about what’s happened. Hugo comes across as pretty antagonistic, explaining that he wanted a legacy, and after breaking himself free (something Arn is not strong enough to do), he makes it clear that he’s manipulated his ‘children’ into attacking Rioguay as a way of testing how powerful they really are. Arn comments on the fact that his friend’s parents are there. Danny and his parents see the Sons of Dawn entering the city, landing just outside the embassy. The Sons start rampaging, while Georgia, who is still with them, tries to get them to stop. She realizes that Tohil is more sympathetic than the others, and she tries to communicate with him even though they don’t speak the same language. The Dunbars watch as the Sons take down their marine guards. Danny rushes upstairs to get his costume. Georgia, whose hands are tied, tries to escape. Xtoh throws a car at her, but Tohil saves her. Some of the guards shoot Xtoh, and realize that he’s bulletproof. This makes Xtoh realize the embassy is important, so he breaks through the fence. Danny, dressed as Dyna-Mite, comes at him, but Xtoh hears Danny’s mother yell out when she recognizes him, so he jumps towards the Dunbars. He tosses Danny’s father across the room, and Danny climbs up to help. He mentions Arn, which gets Xtoh’s attention, then he uses his powers to make an explosion. It doesn’t hurt Xtoh much, but Tohil stops Xtoh from killing him. Xavi tries to calm things down (remember, all of the Sons’ dialogue is in their own language). Xavi knocks Danny out and carries him away. There’s an awkward one-page montage of the Sons trashing the city, and soon they stand with the Mayor who surrenders the city. Danny’s father and a marine send out at radio message until some of the Sons find them. In New York, Fury listens to the message and realizes that Danny is in trouble. She talks to herself about how the rest of her team is all gone, and that she can’t get to Paraguay quickly. She’s surprised to see a group of fourteen adult All-Stars are behind her, wanting to go to Paraguay too.
Xtoh exults in his conquest of Rioguay, tossing cars around to show the people how powerful he is. Georgia tries to talk to him, but since she doesn’t speak his language, doesn’t get very far. Danny hears her mention Arn, but when he starts talking, Xavi picks him up. Xtoh hits Georgia, which worries Tohil. Danny’s mother tries to demand that the Sons of Dawn leave the Americans alone, and when this angers Xtoh, Danny realizes he has to act. He hits his rings together, creating an explosion and drawing Xtoh to him. Xtoh is about to kill the kid, but Tohil intervenes, and they start to fight. Xtoh kills Tohil, and just then, Hugo Danner arrives and punches Danny. At the same time, Fury, Flying Fox, Neptune Perkins, and Tsunami arrive with fourteen adult All-Stars (Green Lantern gathered them and got them all to the South American country in a hurry). There’s a bit of a stand-off, and Hugo claims that he’s killed Arn by strangling him. Fury is upset, and punches Hugo in the face. Hugo hits her back, hurting her, and the All-Stars and Sons of Dawn start to fight. These strongmen are quite a match for the All-Stars, and for pages we see them get lucky (like throwing a tree at GL), or hold their own against heroes like Robotman, who bends his hand hitting one. The Sons circle the All-Stars to finish their fight, but a boulder is tossed between them. Arn has arrived (and he’s found a shirt), revealing to the Sons that Hugo didn’t actually kill him. Arn speaks to his dad, asking him to stop what he’s doing, but Hugo decides to go ahead with his plans for conquest. The fight resumes, with Xtoh fighting Arn. He moves their fight towards a factory, but then it moves back amongst the other All-Stars who keep fighting (how many of the Sons are there?). Hugo hits Johnny Quick pretty hard, and Arn gives Xtoh a big beating. Xtoh collapses, dead, which surprises Arn because he doesn’t think he hit him that hard. Hugo starts to fight his son (while making Darth Vader-like statements). Georgia asks Hugo to not hurt Arn, since he’s much stronger. The other All-Stars realize that somethings happening to the other Sons of Dawn. They’re getting sick, and Georgia realizes they’ve caught her cold. The heroes take advantage of the rapid weakening of their foes to take them all down. Hugo and Arn realize that the Sons are dying (Xavi seems okay because she’s a girl, which makes no sense). Xavi leads the remaining Sons back towards their plateau, and Hugo, seeing that his legacy is dead, jumps into the smokestack of the factory, which explodes. The All-Stars put out the fire and they look at how many have died. Georgia introduces herself to the heroes while Arn and Fury hug. Tsunami thinks that she and Neptune should leave before the authorities get them, but Arn insists they stay with the other Young All-Stars. Liberty Belle insists that they stop being Young All-Stars and become full-fledged members of the adult team, and that’s how this series ends.

The Young All-Stars is a strange series, in that it began with one purpose, and then switched to having another one. Roy Thomas (and presumably to a lesser extent, his co-writer Dann Thoms, who wasn’t also an editor) wanted to chart the new history of DC’s single Earth after the Crisis, and explore how the deletion of Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and to a lesser extent, Green Arrow and Speedy, would change the history of the world. Thomas’s idea was that their general energy would still exist, and so we got characters that had a bit of a thematic connection, with no real ties.

Arn Munro was the Superman figure for the team, but unlike the storied Kryptonian, he had a science/pulp-based origin (more on that soon), and at the beginning, a negative attitude. Arn was reluctant to join the All-Stars, but soon became the de facto leader of the group. He was often the central character of this run, with his mysterious father becoming a key plot point for the second half of the run. It’s a little odd that Arn hasn’t been used much since this series (I never read Damage, which I should probably rectify), but I was thinking about how his DNA might have been seen in Grant Morrison’s New 52 run of Action Comics, at least a little. I also can’t be the only person wondering if Arn had his venereal disease cleared up, or if he was still struggling with it during his trip to South America. I can’t, off the top of my head, name another mainstream character with an STI in a mainstream book in the 1980s.

Fury was the most obvious replacement character in this series, as Thomas needed someone to be the mother of the Fury of his Infinity Inc. series, after Wonder Woman couldn’t have been her mom. Fury was interesting, in that she was given this connection to Johnny Quick that wasn’t much used, was the driving force behind the slow-moving Mekanique storyline, and was positioned as a love interest for Arn, but was also kind of a dull character. I had a hard time accepting that her costume was something anyone would wear in 1942, with its large open spaces along only her left side, revealing a lot of skin. It seemed very anachronistic, and like something that would be hard to remember to draw/colour correctly.

Flying Fox was the most interesting, and most underdeveloped, character on the team. As a Canadian, I thought it was cool that he was from a secretive northern Indigenous nation, and thought it was interesting that we never really got to know what all of his powers are. His character was left pretty blank though, and he’s another character that didn’t get used much later on (aside from his recent appearances in One-Star Squadron, which should have shown him as being in his 70s or 80s, but it was kind of out of continuity). I thought he had a cool look, and would be happy to see him explored more one day.

Tsunami was a cool character in that she started out as a villain in the original All-Star Squadron run. I like how Thomas used her to portray a dark part of America’s history, the internment of Americans of Japanese descent during the war, and how she became a flashpoint for racism wherever the team went. I’m not sure what Thomas’s plans for Miya and Neptune were after they went on the run, and I think it’s too bad she also didn’t get used much later on.

Neptune Perkins was another character that first showed up in All-Star Squadron. He was a little interesting, and became another vehicle for Thomas to dive into the pulps and early sci-fi novels, but he was also kind of a bland character with a power set that wasn’t very useful unless the team was near a body of water.

Dyna-Mite was the only character on this team (I’m not counting Sandy) who was actually invented in the Golden Age. I like how Thomas gave him a case of hero worship for Arn after their first meeting, as he dealt with his grief when TNT was killed. Danny didn’t get a lot of screen time, and was often portrayed as a hormone-addled kid, but he had a cool look and some potential.

Tigress was interesting, as an obvious stand-in for Huntress, and as a bit of a foil for Arn and Helena’s relationship. Her origin was weak, and Thomas manipulated her story to fit into some later Golden Age ones, continuity wise. Ultimately, we didn’t see a lot of her in this book, and that’s a shame.

Much like the first All-Star series, Thomas was more interested in cleaning up continuity than he was in telling character-driven stories. He stopped rewriting old plots in this series, but then he fixated on connecting the new DC’s history with that of published (and I assume, public domain) characters. We got Hugo Danner’s inclusion from Philip Wylie’s novel The Gladiator, and Arthur Gordon Pym from an Edgar Allan Poe story, which was also linked to Jules Verne’s 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Captain Nemo. The story that introduced him to the DCU also gave us a cameo by Frankenstein’s monster. At the end of the series, the appearance of Georgia Challenger tied the events of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Lost World into Hugo Danner’s story.

It’s kind of like Thomas wanted to write The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen before Alan Moore did, but had to keep it in the DC mainstream. I like the idea of all of these foundational novels being a part of DC’s continuity, but it’s a little odd, and kept the focus of the series away from both the war and the main characters’ development.

The war, like the adult All-Stars, really took a backseat in this series. It coughed up villains when needed, but this book was much less concerned with the events overseas, and I felt that took something away from it. I also didn’t like how the adult All-Stars were only used as convenient supporting characters from time to time. I understand that the series wasn’t about them, but think it was a shame that we only got to spend a little time with them. I feel like other readers felt the same way, and that’s what led to this book’s demise.

This book had a very unique look in the beginning that didn’t survive long. The early letters pages are full of Thomas mentioning their difficulty in securing art on time from the series’s intended artists, and that’s too bad. Brian Murray’s art was very nice, as was Howard Simpson’s. I’ve long been a fan of Michael Bair’s elongated yet still curvy (the women at least) figures, and enjoyed the way the three of them passed around art chores. After they left, things settled down into a more house style approach, and it never really made the characters or action leap off the page for me. By the end, it seemed that DC was hiring anyone that could keep them on schedule, and things got kind of generic.

This brings me to the end of my time with the All-Star Squadron. Like with the Legion of Super-Heroes, it was bittersweet to see the way the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths led to the death of the All-Star Squadron title, but also interesting to see how it forced Thomas and his collaborators to try something new with the setting and characters. Reading all these All-Star comics has me wanting to dig deeper into Earth-2, and now I’m searching out issues of Infinity Inc. and the second trade of the 70s All-Star Comics series featuring the Justice Society. I’ve also recently picked up a trade of Huntress stories from the same time period. I’ll get around to reading them all eventually.

For my next run of columns, I’m going to turn to another DC character, only one that was published at Marvel, and who continues to experience success and a high profile.

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

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Retro Review: Young All-Stars #1-31 By Thomas, Murray, Simpson, Bair, & Others For DC Comics!

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