Showing posts with label all-star squadron. Show all posts
Showing posts with label all-star squadron. Show all posts

Thursday, January 2, 2020

BONUS BOOK - All-Star Squadron (1981)


BONUS BOOK - All-Star Squadron (August, 1981)
Writer - Roy Thomas
Pencils - Rich Buckler
Embellisher - Jerimiah Ordway
Letters - John Costanza
Colors - Carl Gafford
Editor - Len Wein

A few days ago I mentioned that I discovered I was missing a few of the Insert Preview issues... which really kinda threw me for a loop!  I could'a sworn I had all of 'em... but, alas... I was missing two!  This one, and Brave and the Bold #200 (featuring the first look at Batman and the Outsiders).  I mentioned that we might need a Vartox-Week size miracle to find 'em in time... and, as luck would have it, the Mustachioed Adonis decided to smile upon us!  I managed to come across 'em both for a couple bucks a piece that very same day!

I do wanna thank reader and pal, Grant Kitchen for his comments that day.

Today, while I've still got it in front of me, we're going to take a look at the daunting and dense introduction of the All-Star Squadron from Justice League of America #193 (August, 1981).  Have your notepads ready... there's a lot to get through here!

--



It's December 6, 1941 and a pair of shadowy individuals (who, spoiler alert: we eventually learn are President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his adviser Harry Hopkins) are attempting to get a hold of the Justice Society of America... but nobody is there to answer their phone!  Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, where it's still daytime, a footrace between Wonder Woman, Flash (Jay Garrick), and Green Lantern (Alan Scott) is underway with all proceeds going to the March of Dimes.  Johnny Chambers and his photographer, Tubby Watts are there covering the event.



Wonder Woman narrowly beats Jay in the race... poor Alan never had a chance.  Flash blames his loss on under-estimating his Amazon opponent... but, it's all in good fun.  Wildcat (filling in for Ted Grant, natch) presents Wondy with a trophy for her victory, probably cutting into the loot for the March of Dimes.



Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern decide to head off for anpicnic in Echo Park to get to know each other a little better.  They find they have a lot in common, in so far as being costumed heroes and what-not.  After establishing that this picnic will not be romantic (after all, they're all spoken for)... the evening is interrupted by: Solomon Grundy!  None of the heroes seem to recognize the baddie... though, he knows exactly who they are.



A battle rages, with Grundy taking out the heroes with relative ease.  Just when it looks as though Solomon is going in for the kill, a voice booms in his head commanding he deliver the heroes somewhere... or else, there'll be a "penalty".  Meanwhile, FDR still tries to get a hold of the Justice Society.



Hopkins suggests maybe they try the "Law's Legionnaires" aka the Seven Soldiers of Victory.  The Prez doesn't think that's such a great idea... and, frankly, he's got a point there.



We shift scenes over to a penthouse apartment in New York City.  It's the home of Wesley Dodds... the Sandman.  He's got company, in the form of Ted Knight (Starman) and... ugh... Johnny Thunder.  They're watching a news report being presented by Libby Lawrence, who we know as Liberty Belle.  Suddenly, they notice a Pirate Ship sailing through the... skies of New York!



The heroes get into costume... and/or say "Cei-U", and head out to see what this ship is all about.  They board, and find themselves surrounded by... well, pirates.  Johnny Thunder gets kayoed pretty much right out of the gate... leaving Sandman and Starman to put up their dukes against the mindless pirate-looking "robot-men".



It's ultimately revealed that their big-bad is... the Sky Pirate (first appearance: Green Lantern #27 - August, 1947)!  He proceeds to blast the remaining mystery-men with a gas gun, knocking them out but good.



Next stop, Salem, Massachusetts... and the home of Dr. Fate.  He receives a warning via the Orb of Nabu, which informs him that his old nemesis, Wotan (first appearance: More Fun Comics #55 - May, 1940) has returned.  They fight... by flying directly into one another, knocking them both out.  Only, it's revealed that "Wotan" was actually the Spectre... the real Wotan, stood nearby, concocted this ruse to snatch a couple more JSAers.



We shift over to a little-charted island in the South Pacific, where Ensign Rod Reilly, aka Firebrand is trying to cool the jets of his hot-headed sister, Danette.  She's got some business to attend to there, in the form of some pretty high-risk volcanic research.  He wishes her well.



Next, we head to Gotham City... it was bound to happen sooner or later, right?  There, the World's Finest Heroes are present and accounted for at the opening of a brand-new USO Club.  Just then, a plane comes crashing through one of the walls of the joint... a plane piloted by Professor Zobar Zodiak (first appearance: All-Star Comics #42 - August, 1948)!  Never heard of this geek myself... but, he looks like he might be trouble.



So much trouble in fact, that he squirts a few drops of a special "elixir" into the air... which reverts Batman and Robin to infants!  Why, that's just adorable!



Then, turning his attention to Superman, Zodiak dangles his Philosopher's Stone in the Man of Steel's face.  You'd think this would be laughably dumb... but, you'd be wrong.  Ya see, his coated the Stone with some powder from a certain green meteorite!



Meanwhile, FDR makes another call... this time to an "FBI liaison", who I'm pretty sure will be revealed as being Plastic Man.  He asks Plas to "scoot over" to the Justice Society HQ and see if anything's awry.



Also in Washington, DC... Hawkman, Atom, and Dr. Mid-Nite are hanging out, admiring the Lincoln Memorial... when suddenly, they're attacked by The Monster...?  The who-now?  This is another little-known (to me) Golden Ager (first appearance: All-Star Comics #20 - March, 1944).



Unlike the other fight scenes we've seen so far, this one the heroes actually win!  Atom socks the Monster, reverting him into a harmless old-man.  Before succumbing to unconsciousness, the oldie reveals that the person responsible for all of the attacks is... old bread-head himself, Per Degaton.  A man in a hat and trenchcoat watches this all transpire from the shadows.



We wrap up with the clock striking midnight... beginning a date which, I'm not sure if you've heard, will live in infamy... December 7, 1941.  We learn that President Roosevelt was trying to have the Justice Society at the ready... just in case of a Japanese attack.  He feels it would have been best if he were able to put together an "All-Star Squadron" of mystery men and heroes to keep America safe during these uncertain times.  The President retires for the evening, hopeful that America will "come through this".



--

Well... that was one heckuva story, wasn't it?

Before getting too deep into it... allow me to share a personal anecdote.  I'm not sure I shared this here before, but this very blog almost became an All-Star Squadron themed place for a bit.  It was very early in my "career", where I thought I would perform a bit of multi-tasking.  If you've ever listened to any of my audio-exploits, you've undoubtedly heard me lament the fact that, when you're consistently "creating content", you have precious little time to engage in any "for fun" reading.

It feels as though everything you read has to go somewhere... be it this blog, or a podcast, or on some other site.  It's really nothing worth actually complaining about... but, it can be a struggle.  It's hard for me to justify devoting a lot of time to "learning" about a franchise or property, if I'm not going to parlay that knowledge into an "endeavor"... know what I mean?

Anyhoo... I wanted to actually learn about the All-Star Squadron.  It was one of those things that became something of an intentional "blind-spot" for me.  Something I found far too daunting to read and write about.  Then, with this blog... I figured it might be a fun project to devote a few months to this title... so I could both read and write about it.  There would be a dual-purpose, ya know?

And so, I set to doing just that... wayyy back in the day, I took a look at All-Star Squadron #60... just to test the waters.  I wanted to get as much as possible "right" with this one, and lemme tell ya, it took probably five hours to put that piece together.  I'd put together Google Docs upon Google Docs full of dates/issues/references/40's era pop-culture to try and keep everything straight!  As for #60, It's not even that long of a post... but, it still took wayyy too long to write.

Anyhoo, I published the thing... and, ya know, nobody cared.  That's not unusual for me... and so, I wrote it off as "just another day".  That evening, however, I saw images from my piece floating around social media... posted by someone quite a bit higher on the comics-commentary "food chain" (which is by no means a short list).  They shared my (awkward-as-always) photos... tagged a bunch of their friends with a "Hey everybody, who remembers THIS???"... but, for whatever reason, neglected to link to my site.

This really turned me off from the "community", and very nearly caused me to pull the plug on this place.  Here's a person who visited my site (because those pictures were Chris-originals - ain't nobody else claiming credit to those), and clearly wanted to talk about the issue... just not with me.  I dunno... the experience really shined a light on how territorial this li'l group can be... really soured me in a lot of ways.  A real learning experience... and further proof that, in some ways, me and my little corner of the internet are little more than "vestigial limbs" of the greater community.

So yeah, that little "aside" went on far longer than I thought it would!  Sorry 'bout that!  A-hem.

So, All-Star Squadron... this 16-page preview pretty much embodies all of the reasons I was nervous about learning more about this property.  It's wildly dense... and there's a feeling that real research was conducted in order to put it together.  Real-world research as well as DC Comics history research.  It's just so seamless... with plenty of callbacks and allusions.  I couldn't even begin to imagine what an undertaking this would've been to write!

I mean, almost everything that happens here is important... or a reflection of something that came before.  Let's look, for instance, at the March of Dimes footrace between Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Flash.  While, on the surface, it seems like just a fun scene to let play out... it's actually a callback to the cover of Comic Cavalcade #1 (December, 1942)!



I mean, how cool is that?  This Roy Thomas "corner" of the DC Universe, with all it's references (both real and fictional) never fails to blow my mind.  It's as though I notice something new every time I check it out.

I really dig how Per Degaton's use of time-travel made it so villains from the near-future could be delivered back to 1941 to fight the heroes.  If you noticed, the heroes did not know who any of the villains were... but the baddies were quite familiar with the good guys.  This is because many of the villains hadn't yet appeared when this story was supposed to be happening.  Per Degaton snatched them from later on in the decade.  Very cool touch that I would've missed altogether had I not been in research mode.

The art here is pretty fantastic... it really feels as though we're looking at something special.  From the heroes, to the real-world personalities... just awesome stuff.  I'm on record as not being a fan of "crossing the streams" of comics-fiction with real-world political figures, but FDR's inclusion here just feels right.  Maybe it's just a "current year" thing for me... but, I dunno... FDR (and Winston Churchill, among others, who will play sizable roles in subsequent issues)... they almost feel "larger than life" as it is... ya know?  In my head, they carry such weight and importance that they're almost as "mythic" as the heroes!  I dunno... maybe I'm just being silly.

Overall... this is a wonderful series, that... if you devote the time and energy to... I bet you'll really get something out of it.  I've had a lot of fun with this run... and while, very little of it actually made it "into print", I'm still happy I put the effort in!  I did cover All-Star Squadron #1 here on the blog a couple years back (where my sole complaint was the fact that the real first story occurred in "some prevue pull-out"), if you wanna see where this headed.

UPDATE: February 16, 2020:
A piece from Amazing Heroes #1 (June, 1981) regarding Roy Thomas' arrival at DC Comics... and plans to revive the World War II Superheroes!


--

Interesting (and Relevant) Ad:


Wednesday, November 28, 2018

All-Star Squadron #15 (1982)


All-Star Squadron #15 (November, 1982)
"Crisis on Earth-Prime, Book Three: Master of Worlds and Time!"
Writer - Roy Thomas
Pencils - Adrian Gonzales
Inks - Jerry Ordway
Letters - John Costanza
Colors - Carl Gafford
Plot Consultant - Gerry Conway
Editor - Len Wein
Cover Price: $0.60

Welcome to the penultimate chapter of Crisis on Earth-Prime.  Having a heckuva good time with this arc... feel like it might be ripe for a trip on a certain Cosmic Treadmill somewhere down the line.

Reggie and I are nuts for research... and, boy howdy... the marriage between real world... the multiverse... and the heroes of various Comics-Ages, definitely see the makings of fun episode (or two)!

Part One
Part Two
Part Three

--


We pick up right where we left off last issue.  Degaton and his Degateam are overhead watching the heroes... which leads to a neat two-page spread where they're all introduced.  As the Justice Society members come to, the others fill them in on what they've missed.  This ain't our first comic book, we know a recap session when we see it.  Can't get mad at it though, considering the comics market was still primarily newsstand at this point, and some readers may have missed out on previous chapters.


The JSA figures, since the others showed them theirs', they might as well share their story as well.  It's pretty basic, actually.  Remember how they found that "Mad One" in Earth-Prime (1982)'s underground last issue?  Well, after that... they decided to follow Per Degaton's "trail", and hop over to Earth-2 (1942).  That's it.  They showed up just as the first nuclear missile went off.


The heroes head back to Washington, D.C. to plan their next move with F.D.R.  Their chat is cut short by an audiovisual interruption... it's Per Degaton, and he's got more threats than you can shake a stick at.  Ya see, he's got two dozen nukes ready to go.  He gives the leaders of Earth five-hours to turn over all of their power to him, or else... boom.


The heroes turn to President Roosevelt for guidance, and he's all "why ya lookin' at me?".  Realizing the severity of their current situation, and the potential for loss of innocent life... F.D.R. is fully prepared to cede power over to Degaton.  The heroes ask him to hold off... for now.


The heroes split off into groups... the first one we'll follow includes Superman, Robotman, and Dr. Fate.  They're headed into space to deactivate Per Degaton's satellite... which is how he's able to transmit his messages (and potentially control the nukes).  As they tear into it, Robotman discovers a lead-lined box... which, despite Superman's warning... he opens!  Guess what?  It's Kryptonite!  I mean, what else are you gonna store in a lead-lined box, right?


Just then... Ultraman from the Crime Syndicate shows up!  He grabs the Green-K, and refers to it as "mother's milk".  He then proceeds to lay a beat-down on the heroes.  He tears off one of Robotman's arms and tosses him toward Earth's atmosphere.  He hurls Dr. Fate toward Superman... which, as luck would have it, nudges Superman further away from the Kryptonite.


Superman re-powers, and socks the baddie in the mush.


Dr. Fate then traps Ultraman in a bubble (lots of "bubble-making" heroes, ain't there?).  Superman takes off to save Robotman before his human brain burns up in the atmosphere.  As the trio of heroes head back, we learn that the timer has ticked down to four-hours.


The next team we join is Aquaman, Liberty Belle, and Starman.  They are headed toward Japan in search of a cache of Degatonian nukes.  Libby says she doesn't know much about nukes... only that they should never be used.  This leads to an awkward moment... since Aquaman and Starman know what's coming, and they don't exactly hide it all that well.


Starman and Liberty Belle arrive on the mainland to find a whole bunch of unconscious (but uninjured) folks.  Starman uses his rod to get a reading... and discovers radiation.  They follow the trail into a cave... where they discover, well I'll be... nukes!


A battle breaks out between the heroes and the Degateam.  Starman rushes toward the missiles, hopeful that his Cosmic Rod might be able to deactivate them.  He is, unfortunately, whipped by Superwoman's lasso!  Liberty Belle asks why the Syndies would work with Degaton again after he double-crossed them.  I think "double-crossed" might be a bit much... if you recall, the Syndies were going to attack him first.  Anyhoo, Superwoman reveals that they've "made up"... for now.  Once Degaton is in power, the Crime Syndicate will take him down and rule in his stead.


Eagle-eyed readers might've noticed by now that Aquaman hasn't arrived yet.  That's because he's busy asking for a favor from... a pair of 20-ton blue whales.  Superwoman (and the nuclear cache) is overcome by a tidal wave!  Worth noting, Starman mentions Jimmy Doolittle... which baffles Liberty Belle.


After the nuclear base explodes (yeah, it explodes... good thing the nukes weren't... uh... waterproof?  Your guess is as good as mine...) the heroes leave (Superwoman in tow).  Liberty Belle's all "Wassa Jimmy Doolittle?", thinking fast, Starman says he meant Dr. Doolittle... the guy who talks to animals, just like Aquaman.  Nice save...


Next stop, the Midwestern United States... our team: Hawkman, Johnny Quick, and Huntress.  They're following a Geiger Counter's readings to a farm... and deduce that they're either within range of the warheads... or flying over a Uranium mine.


Well, luckily... it's the former.  The heroes figure out that the missiles are being stored in grain silos.  Johnny Quick goes to do a speedy dismantling... only, they find themselves attacked by... Power Ring!


Since Power Ring... sucks, it only takes a single punch from Huntress to take him out.  Unfortunately, as he goes down... he "accidentally" fires a blast at one of the silos, which launches a nuke!


Hawkman flies Johnny Quick skyward, where he can speedily dismantle the missile before it goes boom.  Moments later, Quick has dismantled the lot of 'em.  Power Ring is still kayoed... because he sucks.


We wrap up with Per Degaton... and he's not exactly pleased.  His satellite has been taken off-line, and two of his missile sites have been FUBARed.  No matter, the third is sure to pack a powerful punch!


--

Before we get into it, I want to mention that this issue also came with the Masters of the Universe "Bonus Book".  If you want to check that out, take a look at yesterday's piece.  Click the image below!


Now, this is the kind of issue I refer to as a "procedural" one.  In every crossover we seem to get this kind of issue.  Where the teams intermingle, and split off into squads to achieve their goal.

One one hand, it's fun to see characters from different books (and Earths) interact and team-build.  On the other... this has gotta be the least efficient way to take care of a problem.  I mean, we've got five-hours to save the world... and three places we're going to investigate (this chapter).  Why wouldn't you send the Justice League to, say... the Satellite, the Justice Society to Japan, and the All-Stars to the Midwest?

I mean, it would stand to reason that you'd get the best result keeping teams together, right?  I mean, they're already used to working together... and probably have a bit of a synergy going, no?

If you've got all the time in the world... sure, have fun... mix up the teams... yadda yadda.  But, c'mon... in five hours, power is going to be handed over to Degaton.  Let's play this one safe.

Speaking of playing safe... howsabout blowing up the missile site in Japan?!  That doesn't seem like the wisest decision, does it?  I mean, I gotta assume the deactivated all of the nukes... considering that the entire island nation wasn't blown off the map by their antics... but, that's still a risky gambit, ain't it?  How can you be sure that the missiles are completely deactivated?  How can you be sure there aren't a couple more in the vicinity?  Just seems sloppy to me.

I did appreciate the nods to real-world history.  The awkward exchanges between Aquaman and Starman regarding the horrors of using nuclear weapons, and Jimmy Doolittle's bomber raid... all very interesting stuff.  I swear, I'd love to see a picture of Roy Thomas's work space during this time... it's gotta just be cluttered with maps and texts... newspaper clippings... old comics.  Least that's how I'm picturing it!

The bit in the Midwest was kinda neat... and shows us that this is not entirely hopeless.  Johnny Quick is able to rapidly (I wanted to say "quickly") disarm an entire cache... including one that had already launched!  So, even if worse comes to worst, all isn't necessarily lost.

Overall, perhaps a weaker chapter than the three that proceeded it, but by no means does that make it bad.  There's a little bit of "wonk" here, but nothing we can't overlook.  The Masters of the Universe bonus book still sucks though.

This issue is available digitally... and, thanks to reader Grant Kitchen, I can tell you that the issue of Justice League of America we covered yesterday likely does come with the Masters of the Universe "bonus book" (it's listed as being 40-pages).  This issue of All-Star Squadron, however, is only listed at 23-pages.  So, if you're only looking for He-Man... you probably ain't gonna find him here.

--

Letters Page (featuring... who else?  The Mad Maple!):


--

Interesting Ads:


1033

Monday, November 26, 2018

All-Star Squadron #14 (1982)


All-Star Squadron #14 (October, 1982)
"Crisis on Earth-Prime, Book Two: The 'Mystery Men' of October!"
Writer - Roy Thomas
Pencils - Adrian Gonzalez
Inks - Jerry Ordway
Letters - Ben Oda
Colors - Carl Gafford
Plot Consultant - Gerry Conway
Editor - Len Wein
Cover Price: $0.60

Alrighty... we're going to head into Part Two of Crisis on Earth-Prime! and it's at this moment that I wonder... did I bite off more than I can chew?  There's a lotta stuff going on here!

We'll, as ever, do our best...

Part One

--


We open with members of the All-Star Squadron and Justice Society of America performing a semi-familiar "salute".  They are doing so in reverence of he with the split-loaf haircut, Per Degaton.  He is seated on a throne before a packed arena, as though he were Caesar, and the heroes give him the ol' Morituri te Salutant... because, they're about to fight each other... to the death!


The heroes pair off with their "most natural opponent"... which, I dunno... doesn't always seem all that natural to me, but we'll allow it as it really doesn't amount to anything.  During the skirmish, a man who looks like Colonel Harland Sanders, but who identifies himself as Professor Zee.  He shouts to the heroes that they shouldn't be attacking one another... but instead, should be fighting against Per Degaton!  Speaking of Col. Sanders... have you tried KFC's Chicken and Waffles basket?  Popped in for the first time in years this weekend to check it out.  It's not half-bad... but, also... not half great.


Anyhoo, it turns out Professor Zee's warning is all it takes to make the heroes snap out of it... and they turn their attention to Degaton.  Lucky for him, this is all a dream!  Per has had this same nightmare every night for a month... and it's finally managed to stir his memory about his old enemies.


Ya see, Per Degaton had lost his memory of all the previous times he'd battled the good guys... and is now just a shlub, working as an assistant to... Professor Zee!  He even tells him about his dream where he ruled the world... and Zee waves him off.  It's really kinda pathetic.  Looks like Degaton agrees, because the next morning... he shoots ol' Zee dead.


He then changes into his "night-dark" military outfit and hops into the Professor's time machine.  His plan is to jump into the far-flung future to grab some advanced weapons... bring 'em back, and use them to lord over the world of his present.  Ya dig?  And so, he picks the year 1982.


During the trip through time, Degaton feels a slight "pull".  He doesn't pay it too much mind.  Upon arrival in 1982, he grabs a newspaper... and is shocked to find no mention of superheroes in the news.  He (politely) asks a newsagent where he can find all of the heroes, and is told he can find them... in comic books!  Ya see, Per Degaton is now on Earth-Prime!  Worth noting... I can see the only issue of New Teen Titans I need to complete my collection... and, boy does it sting!


Degaton rushes back to his time-machine before the police show up to bring him to the bin or something.  He realizes that he shifted through both time and space... and lingers in-between universes to catch his breath.  While there, he happens across... the Crime Syndicate!  Hey, we saw them yesterday!  He frees them from the construct bubble and they make a deal to work together... for now.


Per Degaton has an idea about how he can, with one action, take care of both Earth-Prime... and his own Earth.  He and the Syndies head back to Earth-Prime's 1962... right in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis.  We're about to get very Thomas-y here... some very interesting blending of real-world stuff.


I'm not much of a "real world" historian these days, so I'm gonna do my best here.  Following the botched Bay of Pigs Invasion, Fidel Castro made a deal with Nikita Khrushchev to place nuclear missiles on Cuba to prevent future potential U.S. invasions.


John F. Kennedy, the then-President of the United States would respond... and after thirteen days of negotiations with the Soviet Union, were able to come to a peaceful arrangement, where the Cuban missiles were dismantled and removed by the Russians.  This is a pretty big deal, as Cuba is scarily close to U.S. mainland... and the thought of them having nukes, is pretty terrifying.  It's certainly a situation that could have very easily escalated into full-blown nuclear war.  Annnnnnnd, that's where Per Degaton comes in.


Degaton tasks the Crime Syndicate with stealing the missiles... this way, the Russians can't prove to the United States that they've been dismantled.  This would, in theory, lead to an escalation of distrust between the super-powers... and ultimately, nuclear war!  If you recall yesterday's piece, the Justice Society arrived on a post-nuclear war Earth-Prime!


Back in the "in-between", Degaton and the Syndies are floating about, nukes in tow.  Ya see, with these missiles, Per Degaton will be able to scare Earth-Two straight, and easily take it over.  It's a win-win for ol' split-loaf.  At this point, the Crime Syndicate decides to... attack him!  He doesn't even sweat 'em... just sends 'em someplace else.  Of course, we know from yesterday... that "someplace else" is Earth-One.


We shift scenes over to Earth-Two, where All-Star Squadron members Firebrand, Liberty Belle, and Johnny Quick are returning to New York City from an outing in San Francisco.  They are attacked by a geek calling himself Nuclear, the Magnetic Marauder.  Ay yai yai.


During the fracas, the All-Stars are joined by Robotman (not that Robotman) and Commander Steel.  They battle Nuclear atop a building... and they all fall off.  Nuclear is able to, I dunno, ride the magnetic waves, and get away.  The heroes manage to grab onto a flagpole before becoming metallic splats on the ground.


They reconnoiter and decide to head into the Justice Society's abandoned headquarters (the JSA had disbanded a little while back, and gave the All-Stars access to their digs).  Upon opening the door, they find... the Justice League!  Deja vu, all over again.


--

Alright, gang... we got quite a bit to unpack here.

Before going into the real-world-history bit, I just wanna say... for such a complex story, involving so many different eras and universes... Roy and Gerry did a fantastic job keeping everything easy to follow!  I'd assume, under less-capable hands... this sort of a story would be a disaster!  We jump from Earth-Two, to Earth-Prime... a couple of different eras... send the Syndies to Earth-One... heck, we even spend some time in-between universes, and not once did I feel lost.

I've said it before, but I just love Roy Thomas' ability to connect his stories with things in the real-world.  I really wasn't expecting a history lesson on the Bay of Pigs nor the Cuban Missile Crisis when I opened this book.  I think it was around then that I realized that I'd never read this one all the way through before!

It's really as seamlessly done as I could imagine... just really great storytelling.  With that one move by Degaton, he was damning one Earth to destruction... and another, to his conquer!  Doncha love it when everything comes together?

They did that thing where we end exactly where we ended last chapter... which, usually gets on my nerves.  That's because it's usually done (these days) as a way to get an extra issue out of an arc... and is usually just filled with chatter.  Here, however, we get a completely different angle... which answers some of our questions, while offering up even more.  Just so well done.

As if I gotta say it... this one gets a pretty high recommendation.  Definitely an arc to keep your eye out for.  This one is available digitally.

--

Letters Page:


--

Interesting Ads:


1031
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...