All-Star Squadron No. 1 Cover by Buckler & Giordano
In 1981, Roy Thomas’ time had come to an end at Marvel and he moved over to DC. Among other projects, his two heavily-promoted books were Arak, Son of Thunder and All-Star Squadron. I bought them both and really liked both.
Arak, initially pencilled by Ernie Colón and inked by Tony DeZuniga, was a fresh take on the barbarian genre that Thomas had previous success with in Conan the Barbarian.
All-Star Squadron, initially pencilled by Rich Buckler and inked by Jerry Ordway, was a logical extension of Thomas’ ongoing interest in Golden-Age characters. At Marvel, it was The Invaders – which was awesome – but DC had The Justice Society. IMO, the better Second World War heroic universe.
All-Star Squadron lasted until DC decided to blow away Earth-II during Crisis on Infinite Earths. That sucked mightily.
The original cover art to No. 1 finally surfaced and it immediately went to the top of the colouring pile.
Colour by me.
As published.
Original art scan from Heritage Auctions.
Art made production ready.
New colour version.
Re-created trade dress added.
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