Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities All-Star Squadron... a series review.

Oh, I'm sure there are.

Really, the Universal Horror Universe kind of does a similar thing. But I'm sure there's plenty of other examples.

I've never heard of Wold Newton before so thanks for the inspiration to look it up. If I understand it correctly, it seems to be about uniting characters or concepts from different stories into one grand narrative? If so, wouldn't 'Jason and the Argonauts' be a contender for the earliest example of that.

Yeah, I thought about that. Really, any of the attempts to systematize mythology could kind of be seen as forerunners of the idea ("Hey, what if we said Hercules is Perseus's great grandson?").

Both Marvel and DC have had a bunch of American WW 2 heroes, a rival bunch of German WW 2 super-foes, some Japanese super-foes, and then a token Brit or two. It's like other countries, like France and Italy, and all the rest of Europe (and the non-European countries that got involved, like Canada) didn't exist.

I'd have loved to see some French resistance heroes, and some Italian champions who may have stated on one side of the war, with the Axis, and mid-war shifted to fighting against the Axis. Heroes or champions from other countries could also be a neat touch. Was there a Swiss hero who ruthlessly kept *everyone* out of Switzerland, staunchly neutral, and another Swiss hero who said 'to heck with that' and went out and caused trouble for the Axis (or the Allies!) depending on their personal beliefs? Where there super-folk among the Jews or Romani or other persecuted groups? (Other than Magneto, over at Marvel, obvs.)

Marvel has explored how the Atlanteans got involved in this time period, but I feel like DC hasn't really explored how communities like Atlantis or Themiscrya or Feithara, or the ice-people from Scandinavia of which Tora Olafsdottir/Icemaiden was a member got involved, or didn't, in the war. (Similarly, I'd be intrigued to know how Latveria, the Inhumans, Wakanda, the High Evolutionary, etc. were involved in Marvel's WW2 adventures.)

I agree that DC in particular has not done a great job in developing a formidable cast of international characters (beyond a few countries), but they did have Mademoiselle Marie to represent the French Resistance movement (granted, she was never a head-liner).

There's also this weird convention that every German super is a dedicated Nazi, and so if they appear post-War they're still villainous, perhaps working with some Nazi-esque organization.

You'd think there'd be German supers who, maybe fight on the wrong side during the war, but like most actual Germans, realize that Nazi stuff was really bad once the war is over, and continue on, perhaps as crimefighters or in other heroic roles, post-War.

I can only think of all the ham fisted political statements and stereotypes being made through characters, even with the best of intentions. Sometimes, it's no bad thing to leave well alone.

DC did have the Global Guardians who met in Paris in "the Dome", apparently funded by the UN. I don't believe they had very much exposure.

I first met them during the Justice League International run when Ice (formerly Icemaiden from Norway) and Fire (formerly Green Flame from Brazil) joined the JLI after the Guardians were disbanded. Apparently the Guardians had heroes from several countries including:

Little Mermaid (Denmark), Jack O'Lantern (Ireland), Rising Sun (Japan), Tasmanian Devil (Australia), Seraph (Israel), Tuatara (New Zealand), Thunderlord (Taiwan), Olympian (Greece), Godiva (England), Impala (South Africa), Wild Hunstman (Germany), and Bushmaster (Venezuela).

Some of them later appeared briefly in Justice League Europe.

Between them they cover most of the continents but still they certainly didn't get seen very much, and they leave many countries and ethnicities unrepresented.

As Thoth, says sometimes trying to be correct can result in subpar results.

The Global Guardians were a bit more prominent in the pre-Breakdowns era of the JLA/JLE/JLI. Unfortunately, they spent most of that time being the lackeys of the Queen Bee of Bialya; majority were brainwashed; Jack O'Lantern and Owlwoman were originally written as being in cahoots, but later saved - the evil Jack was an impostor, and Owlwoman was also brainwashed.

A few new members would appear later on, but they got even less screen time - Cascade (Indonesia), Tundra (Russia), Centrix (Canada), Chrysalis (France), Fleur-de-Lis (France), probably a few more. But these new members were recruited after many older ones were sidelined and/or killed!

So in sum, yeah...

Even non-American representation in the Justice League is incredibly poor. Justice League Europe/International only had Rocket Red (Russia), Kimiyo Hoshi (Japan), Crimson Fox (France), Tasmanian Devil (Australia) and Maya (India) as full non-American members.

There would be more non-American heroes introduced later on, such as in Planet DC (with Janissary from Turkey being the most prominent); those annoying Japanese heroes called the Super Young Team in Final Crisis, and the Great Ten from China, and Isis and Osiris in Kahndaq. Again, none lasted.

This issue is being tackled somewhat in Doomsday Clock, with the overwhelming concentration of USA superheroes a key plot point.



Yeah, why not just have an international cast without any political agendas. My friend group here in Paris is incredibly diverse, but we don't spend all our time talking about our home country cultures and debating politics and stereotypes...

I am possibly Legion World's biggest Global Guardians fan. It is a crime that they have not been used more.

I always remember being completely bewildered by the one line in COIE about Red Star being the only Russian super-hero. I never had any problems with alternate earths or pre-Crisis continuity generally, but *that* seemed like a problem that needed to be fixed!

DC's has definitely gotten better over the years about introducing international super-heroes, and I really like what I think Morrison was trying to do with stuff like the Super Young Team and The Great Ten, which was to build more of a super-hero "scene" in various countries as opposed to "and here's one guy from Japan" approach approach of stuff like the Global Guardians (who I do like a lot, and agree are woefully underused).


Incidentally, having read a whole bunch of Roy Thomas Earth-2 comics lately, I've noticed one thing that differentiates Earth-2 and is rarely noticed: the word "tsuris" seem to be much more frequently used on Earth-2 than other Earths! I've noticed something like four or five uses of it in A-SS, YAS's, and I, Inc.!

I 'fess I had to look that up. I can't say I ever noticed it in there. Crisis: The Event that took the tsuris out of Earth 2 (mainly by wiping them all from existence).

It's a framboling tirggart as we say here, and continue to say, on my Earth...what...ah frass…WOLFMAN!!!

I looked it up the first time, which is why I keep noticing it.

also, considering that China and India each have at least 3x the population of the USA, one would expect more heroes from those countries

^^Exactly.

The Golden Age put that down to Ted Knight harnessing cosmic energies over the US.

Forgotten by the Doomsday Clock it seems

So this renewed discussion of Roy Thomas's 80s DCU work prompted me to dig out the old back issues in my collection and leaf through them...

On the first year-and-a-half on All-Star Squadron (in brief) -- Ladies & Lords, did that series get off to a great start with the 3-part opening arc; damn, that Shining Knight is hot; damn, that Firebrand is even hotter (pun!); Libby and Johnny are more annoying than I remembered; I'm glad Plastic Man didn't stick around; love some of these Joe Kubert covers, especially the one with the big enemy fighter plane, and the one from the JLA/JSA/A-SS team-up with Ultraman's punch sending Superman flying backwards, and the Thor one (which, sadly, I believe is JK's final A-SS cover); holy cow, but Adrian Gonzales & Jerry Ordway on A-SS truly out-draw the hell of Don Heck and his multiple inkers on JLA.

It's pretty much non-stop awesomeness right up through Crisis.

I mean... there's tons of stuff that, in retrospect, may not have been such a great idea (the Freedom Fighters are really from Earth-2!), but it *reads* so well that it's easy to forgive its flaws.

Fair enough, and, as it happens, issues 19 & 20 illustrate your point perfectly! These are the ones where Brain Wave shows the heroines and heroes the most horrible nightmare scenarios of the war's possible outcome. Ordway making his debut as penciler/inker is the icing on the cake!

Heads up:

I'm putting together all my Roy Thomas DC Golden Age/Legacy stuff for a massive re-read.

Stay tuned.

Yay!

Awww...thank you, EDE.

Looking forward to it Ann.

As bizarre as this sounds, JSA and All-Star Squadron fans may want to check out the Crisis on Infinite Earths issue from the Dark Multiverse series.

It shows a possible world where Earth-2 was the basis for the Post-Crisis DCU. There's... a lot of deaths, but it surprisingly gets Power Girl and Fury done right.