Customer Reviews

All-Star Companion, Volume 3

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Followers of the Justice League of America, Black Bart, Super Squad and other All-Star Comics will relish this third collection providing insider insights into issues and series. Each listing comes with a synopsis, review of characters, and sidebars of notes and information. No color - the illustrations from comics are all in black and white - but the comic cover reproductions and data are invaluable for collectors and comic fans, and a top pick for any collection catering to them.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

All-Star Companion is back with a third incredible treasure trove of articles and interviews about the world's first and greatest superteam, The Justice Society! Edited by lifelong JSA fan, Roy Thomas, the All-Star Companion continues to deliver great new articles and unlock new mysteries about the JSA. Even after some 60 years as a fan, Thomas' unbridled enthusiasm for the Justice Society is as strong as ever.

The first great highlight of this volume is Roy's 2001 interview with long-time DC Comics' editor Julius Schwartz. Before coming to DC, Schwartz worked as a literary agent and even represented horror icon H.P. Lovecraft. It was Schwartz who sold one of Lovecraft's most well known stories "At the Mountains of Madness". What was ostensibly supposed to be an interview about the All-Star Comics ends up being a history of Julie's association with All-American Comics (the Sister company to DC/National). It's one of the best interviews I've read in any of the All-Star companions because it shows just how different the comic business was during the Golden Age. Ghost writers...ghost pencilers...changes in editors...it's quite fascinating.

The history of All-Star comics would not be complete without an examination of All-Star Western. The Final issue of All-Star Comics was #57. Rather than start with a new number one issue, DC instead abruptly changed the name to All-Star Western with issue #58. It's almost impossible to think of now because superhero comics have become the cornerstone of the business, but in early 1950s superhero comics were almost extinct. Marvel/Atlas had completely moved away from superheroes and at DC, only Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman managed to survive as new genres like westerns, war, romance, and comedy titles took over. Comic historians Michael Uslan and Robert Klein provide a look at the ten year history of All-Star Western and the many characters who starred in the title.

When the members of the Justice Society were finally revived, beginning with the landmark Flash #123 in 1961, the JSA became frequent guest stars in many titles but especially in the title of their modern counterparts, the Justice League of America. Roy Thomas takes a look at these various team-up stories with mini-interviews with the writers or artists who worked on them such as Gardner Fox, Dick Dillin, Denny O'Neil, Mike Friedrich, Len Wein, Paul Levitz, and Gerry Conway. This includes the credits for each story, a picture of the cover, and a short synopsis. Len Wein's story for Justice League #100 was always one of my favorites as it featured not only the JLA and JSA, but also the Seven Soldiers of Victory. My older brother had these issues which was a trilogy told over JLA #100 - 102 and I can recall reading these over and over as a kid. Roy Thomas then goes on to provide and issue-by-issue summary of the All-Star Comics revival in the 1970s, picking up where the series left off with issue #58. It's always amazed me that it took some 15 years for the JSA to get their own title again, even though it was short-lived.

Roy and his wife, Dann, would then go on to create the next generation of heroes in 1987's Young All-Stars, one of the most underrated titles of the 1980s that featured the art of Michael Bair. Each of the 31 issues plus annual are covered in full.

In addition to the articles, All-Star Companion features rare art and photos. It's another fantastic effort from Roy Thomas and all of the contributors. Best of all, there will be a fourth volume in 2009.

I guess I was expecting more in the way of creator interviews, and behind the scenes stuff, but this was an overall bland read. I really don't think that we needed an issue by issue synopsis of All Star Comics 58-74 and the Adventure Comics run, plus Young All Stars, I figure that everybody who would buy this book would have already read those issues. There was also way, way too much reprinted art from Marvel and other publishers, which just wasted pages that could have gone to good stuff.