The All-Star Squadron is a pretty huge organization and in this post we finish up their roster for the most part, so hang on and lets get to it.
The Guardian is beat policeman Jim Harper who basically turns into the Guardian to look after a group of scamps known as The Newsboy Legion. Jim was a young scamp himself, helping the local mob in the depression era to run numbers and acting as a lookout for heists. Destiny called and a strange man, or a Stranger, challenged Jim to live his life to be betterment of man, not to waste his time in the crime of Suicide Slum. Jim studied and with the aid of his shield became The Guardian of Suicide Slum.
This is the same suit that future Teen Titan, Mal Duncan, would find a copy of to become a new Guardian.
The Newsboy Legion are made up of a group of kids who are just trying to survive on the hard streets, but also look up to Officer Jim and The Guardian. The Legion is made up of Big Words, Gabby, Scrapper, Tommy, and Walt
Midnight is David Clark who carried a handgun and was an expert fighter in his fight More >
Heading back to Earth-Two for our next set of heroes, but as is the case in most of these situations we have to take 2 steps back to take a step forward and these steps back include two new members of the All-Star Squadron we haven’t discussed previously.
Say hello to Will Everett, Amazing-Man. Will was an Olympic athlete who competed in Berlin and showed up the Third Reich. His athletic fame faded quickly once he returned to still segregated America. Will wound up taking menial jobs and was working as a janitor when he was caught in an explosion that gave him his ability to touch matter and absorb the properties of that material. He would touch cement and become living cement, touch a wedding ring and he becomes gold, touch a tire and he gains the properties of galvanized rubber and so on.
When the All-Star Squadron confronts Will, he is working as a henchman for a villain called the Ultra-Humanite. Eventually, Will’s better nature took over and he betrayed the Ultra-Humanite and joined the All-Star Squadron.
Will becomes our first African-American hero in terms of history so much that future tales would show that Will would go on and become a strong supporter of the More >
DC’s stable of heroic characters includes a rather in depth supernatural community, be they magician or monster, or even a bit of both, magic plays an important part in the DCU and cannot be ignored as an area ripe for storytelling.
Destiny is a cloaked, presumably male figure, who holds the Book of Destiny. Destiny appears when a character is at a great crossroad in their lives to either guide or warn them of a certain course of action. Destiny it turns out has brothers and sisters called The Endless, but we will meet them a wee bit later in the course of telling our tales.
Doctor Terrence (Terry) Thirteen is an occult debunker, making a living on proving that the supernatural can be explained by scientific means, the good Doctor frequently is called upon by normal folks in the DCU to assist with possessions, poltergeists, and exorcisms. Unfortunately, its hard to maintain his dogma in the face of other characters who wield magic so effortlessly, like Zatanna.
Doctor Occult and his assistant Rose Psychic, some of the older DC mystic characters, operating mostly in the realm of Pulp Fiction in the 30s and 40s, the Doctor used his circular “Sign of the Seven” to combat the forces of evil from More >
The other heroes who hung their hats on Earth-S besides the Shazam family were basically grouped together as the Squadron of Justice and mostly made their appearance in the DCU the first time as part of JLA and JSA team-up.
Bulletman and Bulletgirl are Jim Barr and Susan Kent Barr (the couple started off as boyfriend/girlfriend and eventually moved on to become married crime fighters like Hawkman and Hawkgirl. Bulletman created a serum to give himself some powers and a device called a Gravity Regulator Helmet that happens to be shaped like a bullet. Stronger than the norm, able to deflect bullets, a bit smarter than the average joe, the bulleteers are very able heroes indeed.
And speaking of Hawkman and Hawkgirl… Ibis and Taia are the constantly reincarnated souls of an Egyptian prince and a Theban princess… (have we heard this before folks? I think we have.) Using his Ibis Stick, Ibis commands immense magicks and most likely Taia is accomplished in the arts as well, but perhaps not the focus of the stories.
In the sidebar on this cover you will see a glimpse of Mr. Scarlet and Pinky, which really was Fawcett’s answer to Batman and Robin in the day. Instead of a “bat” motif, More >
Just a recap.
Earth-One is where the main DC Characters exist like the Justice League and Teen Ttians
Earth-Two is where the World War II era heroes exist like the Justice Society and the All-Star Squadron
Earth-Three is where the heroes are the villains and the villains are the heroes and home to the Crime Syndicate
Now meet, Earth X!
The Earth where instead of the Allies winning World War II, the Axis did. In that universe the heroes band together to form an underground resistance group known as The Freedom Fighters.
Uncle Sam is the leader and possesses power in direct proportion to America’s strength. Uncle Sam is strong, tough as nails, and extremely charismatic. It is rumored that Uncle Sam was created during a mystic rite by the founding fathers of the nation and has assumed many different forms over the ages including a Minuteman, and even two individuals when the country was torn apart in the Civil War as Billy Yank and Johnny Reb. Sam has possessed the ability to increase his size and to be aware of happenings on American soil without witnessing them or being told, making him at least clairvoyant when it comes to America.
Human Bomb is Roy Lincoln and he is sealed in his hazardous materials More >
The Seven Soldiers of Victory are a group of characters bound together in the Golden Age on Earth-Two, where the Justice Society hang their hat and their roll call has some familiar names.
Green Arrow and his sidekick Speedy and the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy are four that we have talked about previously which leaves us three new heroes to introduce. Just remember this is Earth-TWO.
The Crimson Avenger is Lee Travis, a newspaper man of the late 30s and early 40s in the Golden Age. He first emerged as a shadowy figure skulking in the background to dole out justice to those who needed to be stopped and were unable to be stopped by conventional means. The Crimson Avenger is a striking figure in his early costume evocative of the pulp heroes of the day, but eventually will adopt a red and yellow costume with a sun motif on his chest that is more evocative of a traditional super-hero costume.
Crimson Avenger is assisted by an able Asian martial artist named Wing. One of the Crimson Avenger’s trademark move is appearing from the midst of a cloud of crimson smoke. Crimson Avenger despite his athleticism is a normal human being possessing no super powers… for now.
Sir Justin was More >
It’s an ordinary day for the JLA and the JSA in 1982 as each group preps to enjoy their annual get together which is typically set for Thanksgiving. When you know nothing has gone wrong yet, that other shoe is about to fall.
The other shoe is time travel. So far we’ve dealt with stories that are fairly lineal with only the Legion of Super-Heroes going to Smallville to pick up Superboy and go to the 30th Century and back. Consider those your training wheel for time travel that I am now forced to take off the bike to see if you can keep your bike out of the ditch.
As our heroes (Aquaman, Firestorm, Hawkman, Superman, and Zatanna) await their guests the Justice Society of America, the Justice Society on Earth-Two (Doctor Fate, Green Lantern, Huntress, Power Girl, and Starman) enter the Transmatter Cube which transports people from one Earth to another. Unfortunately deviltry is afoot! Instead of the JSA, the Crime Syndicate appears and makes quick work of the JLA. The Crime Syndicate then leave the JLA’s satellite for Earth-One to start to take over this planet, and they do not seem to fond of a gentleman named Per Degaton.
The JSA members meanwhile have materialized in 1982, but not More >
So we have been over who and how the All-Star Squadron formed and what their focus is in WWII on Earth-Two. With all that covered we are going to briefly go over the main five All-Stars.
Libby Lawrence is a journalist and a patriot. Naturally athletic and of course not suitable for battling the forces overseas, Libby takes it upon herself to be inspired by the Liberty Bell and quite possibly the bomber The Liberty Belle and becomes a bombastic woman of mystery.
Whenever the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia was struck her belt buckle which was made out of the missing piece of the Liberty Bell would give her an increase in strength, speed, and stamina. Eventually, Libby would gain some sonic powers thanks to a Nazi villain and the actual Liberty Belle. Libby is the first female super-hero to hold the chairmanship of an organization historically, but since her position was awarded in the 1980s, its hard to say that this decision was not in part influenced by the Women’s Liberation movement.
(Those pants are called Jodhpurs, handy for trivia nights at your local bar.)
Johnny Quick is Johnny Chambers who works as a newsreel photographer. You must be saying, “Well, I sure hope he met Libby at More >
It is the mid 1930s, the shadow of fascism has slowly begun to rise in Germany. Based on the premise of the “Ubermensch”, Adolf Hitler rose to power and Berlin hosted the 1936 Olympic Games and in retrospect we have to assume that Hitler was confident that his superior race would win out.
Then came along Jesse Owens. An American. A Black American. No one used African-American back then. He won four gold medals in Berlin in track and field. Humiliating the German ubermensch and enraging Hitler. Now, was Hitler’s mad dash for power because of this? God no. But this mini drama is the opening salvo in America’s entry into World War II.
On September 1st, 1939, Germany invades Poland and the war is on. America remains deeply divided as Germany conquers country after country. And with America’s eyes firmly fixed on the foundation of isolationism while keeping on eye on Europe, December 7th, 1941, the Japanese surprise attack the United States in Hawaii at Pearl Harbor. An enraged America rises up and Franklin Delano Roosevelt gives one of the most rousing political speeches of all time.
“Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy – The United States was More >
Okay, we’ve eased into the idea of alternate earths correct?
Previously there was Earth-One, the earth where all our characters exist and…
Earth-Prime, the earth where all of us gentle readers live in a non-super powered world.
Well HANG ON FOLKS! We’re about to blow that idea up to the ceiling.
Just take a look at this cover.
Here are the keys I would like to point out:
- The 20th Annual team-up of the Justice Society of America and the Justice League of America.
- Guest starring the All-Star Squadron
- And who are those quasi familiar villains coming out of that cube?
All good questions… now, just park it for a second.
The Justice Society is the precursor of the Justice League. Originally published back in the 1940s primarily for kids and to be shipped overseas for the boys far from home. The Justice Society fought all sorts of Nazi saboteurs and their own super-criminals.
In the 40s most heroes veered on the “pulp” style of masked mystery men. The only main DC characters published at the time who did not appear in the JSA were those with their own adventures like Superman and Batman as those characters were “too busy” in their own books.
After the world had vanquished the Axis threat, superheroes waned in popularity More >
