40 Years Ago: Feb 1982

All-Star Squadron 6

Feb 1982

Mayhem in the Mile-High City!

by Roy Thomas, Adrian Gonzales, Jerry Ordway, Carl Gafford, Ben Oda, Len Wein

I don’t recall if I bought this issue when it first came out but if I didn’t then it wasn’t long thereafter. This is the second part of a two-part story in which some of the All-Stars (Liberty Belle, Johnny Quick, Robotman, Shining Knight, Firebrand, Hawkman, Dr. Mid-Nite, and the Atom) travel to Mexico City. There they meet up with Hawkgirl and fight Nazis.

This was just the second appearance of Firebrand (aka Danette Reilly) since she discovered her super powers and joined the team.

All-Star Squadron 37

All-Star Squadron 37
Sep 1984

Lightning in Berlin!
By Roy Thomas, Arvell Jones, Richard Howell

The heroes who are affected by the Spear of Destiny (Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern) stay in England while the others (Batman, Hawkman, Flash, Plasticman) head to Berlin with Freddy Freeman and Mary Batson to rescue Billy and deal with Captain Marvel. They fly there thanks to Plasticman who makes himself into a blimp.

All-Star Squadron 36

All-Star Squadron 36
Aug 1984

Thunder Over London!
By Roy Thomas, Rich Buckler, Richard Howell

Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Hawkman, the Flash, and Plasticman travel to England to deal with a new Super-Nazi. He has been terrorizing the skies over London. The Shining Knight tried fighting him and was almost killed.

The All-Stars recognize the Super-Nazi even though they’ve never met him before. It’s Captain Marvel. As far as they know he’s just a character from a comic book. Superman feels personally insulted by the appearance of the Super-Nazi and takes off for England immediately.

All-Star Squadron 6

Mayhem in the Mile-High City!
By Roy Thomas, Adrian Gonzales, and Jerry Ordway
Feb 1982

- while waiting for the stars to align, the origin of Quetzalcoatl, search for the lost pyramid of Kukulkan, JL Stephens, Indiana Jones
- Shiera, Shining Knight, and Hawkman break free; Q sacrifices the Nazi general instead of Shiera because the time is right
- Q heads for Mexico City where all Hell is breaking loose; a giant pyramid erupts out of the ground, Mexicans of strictly Indian blood obey Q's orders and start killing those of mixed ancestry
- Q and some of his men try to kill the Mexican President but Robotman and Liberty Belle are there to prevent him from getting killed, then it turns out that the Q they have just defeated is a double
- the real Q arrives and heads for the pyramid where he attacks the All-Stars that are there (JQ,FB,TA,DM) but gets burned when he tries flying off with FB, crashes and burns
- final page shows Baron Blitzkrieg saying something along the lines of 'now it's my turn'

- no explanation as to what the deal is with the duplicate Q
- how far is it from Merida to Mexico City? 815 miles, today, according to Google Maps
- lots of flag waving about the close relationship between Mexico and USA
- on the whole not great

4/19

All-Star Squadron 5

Never Step on a Feathered Serpent
By Roy Thomas, Rich Buckler, and Jerry Ordway
Jan 1982

-the Mexican adventure (Part 1)
- the Justice Society decide to disband and in their civilian identities join the armed forces
- before enlisting Hawkman announces he will be making a trip to Mexico to visit his fiancée, Shiera Sanders; the Atom and Dr. mid-Nite insist on accompanying him
- in the Yucatan region of Mexico, a unit of German soldiers meet with a Mexican known as Quetzalcoatl (or the Feathered Serpent) who has plans to conquer Mexico and has taken Shiera Sanders prisoner
- in NYC, Johnny Quick and Robotman thwart an attempt by a couple Nazis to blow up the Statue of Liberty and then head to Danette Reilly's apartment where they meet up with Liberty Belle, Shining Knight, Hawkman, Dr. Mid-Nite and the Atom
- Danette has a dream in which she remembers her brother's bodyguard tell her about a secret closet in her brother's apartment, which is where she is staying; in the closet she finds her brother's costume and realizes he must have been the mystery man known as Firebrand, before he enlisted in the Navy
- She tries on the costume, then fire starts shooting out of her hands, she doesn't understand gets dizzy (maybe because of all the smoke in the room) but then the All-Stars come to the rescue and put out the fire
- the next day all 8 head to Merida in Mexico to meet up with Shiera only to discover that she is missing
- the All-Stars quickly get split up, Hawkman and Shining Knight head off to a nearby pyramid where they fall into a trap that almost kills them, when they wake up they see that the Feathered Serpent is about to sacrifice Shiera on the altar of the pyramid
- the other six, including Damette who is once again wearing a modified version of her brother's costume and declares that she is the new Firebrand, get lured into a warehouse where they battle some German soldiers whom they ultimately defeat thanks in large part to their newest teammate

- loving it all over again although I do find it tough to read it with fresh eyes

4/14