"Roll Call" from All-Star Squadron #31 (DC, 1984) by Roy Thomas, Rick Hoberg and Mike Machlan
Oh, All-Star Squadron, you were a heck of a lot like a classroom, but I loved the curriculum! The very wordy Roy Thomas used his 70 issues on the book to re-introduce old characters to a new generation, pay tribute to the stories of the Golden Age, and create links between the wide and varied history of DC Comics. And he didn't let you ignore all that grand continuity because he explained his process and his references in the letters page. Sadly, the book didn't survive the Crisis. Not really. After Earth-2 was merged with Earth-1, the series became a place to print extra issues of Secret Origins, and then was reimagined as Young All-Stars. The focus on new, young characters and uninspiring art isn't what made me lose interest. The move to Direct Sales-only, at a time before I had access to a comic book stores did.
Those are some amazingly fabulous characters.
ReplyDeleteSeeing as the Atom is apparently Giant-Man now, I might as well mourn them.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I keep meaning to pull out "Judas Contract" or some of Byrne's FF for a re-read, but I think All Star Squadron might just jump to the top of the list...
ReplyDeleteI had just started collecting comics when about issue 17 came out...LOVED it and hunted down the back issues (no mean feat in the wilds of Vermont in the 80s!)...thanks for this!
I started much later and was completely confused by these alternate versions of heroes I knew. This was way before I knew there was an Earth-2 or even a Golden Age.
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