All-Star Squadron Annual #2 (1983)

All-Star Squadron Annual #2 (1983)
title: "The Ultra War!"
writer/editor: Roy Thomas
artist: Jerry Ordway
letterer: Cody
colorist: Gene D'Angelo
letter column: Roy Thomas
cover: Jerry Ordway

Order of Appearance: Phantom Lady is the only Freedom Fighter to appear in this story. 

Other Stars:  Superman, Robotman, Firebrand, the Flash, Robin, Wildcat, the Guardian, Johnny Quick; Green Lantern, Tarantula, Liberty Belle, the Atom, Batman, and Commander Steel; Infinity Inc members Brain Wave, Jr, Silver Scarab, Jade, Obsidian, Northwind, Nuklon, and Fury; cameos by Hawkman, Starman, Johnny Thunder, the Sandman, Dr. Mid-Nite, Wonder Woman, Dr. Fate, and the Spectre 

Opponents:
the Ultra-Humanite and her operatives Amazing Man, Deathbolt, Cyclotron; time-displaced Secret Society of Super-Villains Rag Doll, the Mist, the Monocle, Psycho Pirate, Brain Wave, and Vulcan 

Overall Summary: 
The All-Star Squadron heads to Mount St. Helens to battle the Ultra-Humanite and her cronies. They go down in defeat! The bad guys then head to Washington, DC to destroy the US government while Ultra prepares to put her(?) brain into Robotman's body!   

Plot Summary:
Phantom Lady and six other super-heroes head to Mount St. Helens, where they believe they will find the Ultra-Humanite and her gang, as well as their missing friends. 

They attack, but the combined might of the Secret Society proves too much for them. Brain Wave then sends them into Limbo. The super-villains all depart to New York or to Washington, DC.   

Moments later, Green Lantern and the other missing All-Stars then reappear, all together at Mount St. Helens even though they disappeared individually, all over the US. 

Commander Steel finds a note from Amazing Man alerting the All-Stars to the super-villains' plans. As the heroes prepare to jet off to Washington, Infinity, Inc also arrive, and the two teams quickly head off together. 

They manage to defeat the Secret Society of Super-Villains from the future, and save Congress, the Supreme Court, and President Franklin Roosevelt. Then the Atom, Fury, and North Wind arrive at the hospital where the Ultra-Humanite is intending to have her brain operation. They manage to stop her, and in the heat of the battle Cyclotron turns against her and both are destroyed. 

The Infinity, Inc members return to their present-day using Green Lantern's and Jade's powers, and that also somehow allows Phantom Lady and her group to return from Limbo. Johnny Quick avers that he and the Flash saw the Secret Society return to Limbo as the All-Stars were leaving. 

Firebrand explains that Cyclotron went along with the Ultra-Humanite because his daughter was infected with radiation poisoning from him, and he hoped that the evil scientific genius could help him save her. Now Firebrand swears to adopt the child and cure her of her radiation sickness.  

Review: 

Re-reading this story 40 (?!) plus years after it was originally published, I can clearly and unequivocally point to this issue as the moment where I began my slow conversion against this series. 

In my opinion, this is the story where Roy Thomas peaked in his over-used tropes and story-telling short-cuts. What I mean is: the melodrama regarding the Infinity, Inc characters was just so much silliness; the rough, badly handled inclusion of the Secret Society (and Vulcan) into the plot was stupid; the ending, where the Ultra-Humanite appears to be killed, even though half the cast here KNOWS that he is alive in 1983, is regrettable; and the shoe-horning in of a bad-guy wearing the Atom's second Golden Age uniform (Cyclotron) who gives the Atom radiation poisoning, who also has a daughter who is going to grow up and have, let me guess, a kid who wears a copy of the Atom's second Golden Age uniform (Nuklon) just seems WAY too convenient and/or contrived. And I won't even mention the fact that Dick Grayson is randomly connected to Dr. Chuck Grayson (Robotman's friend) in a continuity link that just didn't need to happen. Not all Graysons are related. 

As for what works....Jerry Ordway's art, as evidenced by these reprinted pages, is gorgeous as always. However, this is his last issue of All-Star Squadron. With Jerry Ordway leaving, the regular artist was often not up to the task of conveying the 1942 atmosphere (atleast, it felt that way to me). 

I've read the story once and scanned it half a dozen times, but I can't find the reason why or how the heroes knew how to go to the right hospital in Brooklyn to stop the operation. I'm sure there was a throw-away line that explains it, but I couldn't find it. For sure there is no reason for the entire ensemble to assemble at the hospital (page 34) and yet, there they all are. Another example of why Roy shouldn't have been his own editor? You be the judge.  

Phantom Lady Worst Moment 

Phantom Lady is knocked out by the Mist 

Freedom Fanmail
There is no mention of any Freedom Fighters in the letter column this issue because there is no letter column in this issue!  

Freedom of Information

• Although not explained here, Roy Thomas will use the radiation poisoning that the Atom suffers from Cyclotron here as the reason the Atom eventually acquires an "atomic punch." 
• Although not explained in detail here, the baby Terri Curtis will eventually grow up to be the mother of Nuklon.  

The Freedom Fighters

assembled by Len Wein