Comic Books Re-covered #4: The All-Star Squadron

(colored with Crayola markers)

The comic book "re-covery" project goes like this. I pick a comic cover that amuses me in some way, then I redraw it in my own style. I hope that I'm learning about comic cover design strategies, like this one: Good Guys vs. Bad Guys Slugfest.

This comic came out in 1983, the year I graduated from high school. I wasn't buying comics at that time, and probably wouldn't have bought this one anyway. The story is as confusing as the cover. It takes place during WWII on DC's Earth 2. According to Wikipedia,

Earth Two was created to explain how Golden Age versions of characters such as The Flash could appear in stories with their Silver Age counterparts. Its continuity includes DC Golden Age heroes, including the Justice Society of America, whose careers began at the dawn of World War II, concurrently with their first appearances in comics.

Confused? So am I! In the first 3 pages we are introduced to 17 characters, most of whom I've never heard of. As you continue, more and more costumed characters climb aboard as if it were a Pre-Crisis Noah's Ark. The Ultra-Humanite has gathered bad guys from her own day, some from the future '80s, and some from a place called Limbo. This is one of those comics that is so bad it's good, giving us hilariously absurd characters like the Monocle -- who can shoot blasts from his spectacle.