The Classics - All-Star Squadron #1

Let's take a moment and pay our respects to the genius of Julius Schwartz, Gardner Fox and John Broome. Back in the early '60s they came up with the idea of Earth-2, a parallel dimension where the heroes of the Golden Age of Comics could exist.

The genius was that it kept those characters fresh without taking away from the "new" characters on Earth-1. Now that those two realities have been smushed together into the modern DC Universe, you have a more muddled history for DC, stretching back to before World War II, which means superheroes have been around for more than 70 years, and today's heroes are just the latest in a long line.

And yes, I know there are now 52 alternate worlds - but the original 1 and 2 are merged, even with the recently-revealed "new" Earth-2. (Aren't you glad Crisis cleared all this up?)

But back in the early '80s (before the Crisis on Infinite Earths), Roy Thomas moved from Marvel to DC, and one of his first projects was to revive the Justice Society of America in its own comic - but this one would be set back during the days of World War II, when the heroes were at the peak of their powers - and the comic would have a different title.

Cover dated September 1981, the first issue of All-Star Squadron provided a set-up that gave Thomas all kinds of freedom in terms of the heroes he could choose from, including everyone from the original Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman (who were sparingly used) to Green Lantern, the Flash, Plastic Man, Hawkman, Robotman and dozens of others - including new characters he created for the series!

Providing the pencil art was Rich Buckler, who turned in some of his best work ever, and the inker was the outstanding Jerry Ordway, who continues to provide art for the occasional JSA story today.

There's a ton of story crammed into this first issue, as a team of villains capture heroes across the country, and the heroes left standing must band together to stop the plans being hatched by the time-traveling Degaton.

It was a great start to a long-running series that entertained JSA fans for years.

I'm glad that today's JSA is enjoying great success, but I miss the WWII adventures of those Golden Age heroes. That's the era where they first burst on the comics scene, and in many ways, that's where they belong.

It would be nice if there were room for both. I suspect Roy still has a few WWII stories he'd like to tell about the All-Star Squadron.

Grade: A-