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IT ALL STARTED HERE THE ALL-STAR SQUADRON
It was the very best of all three ages -- Golden; Silver; and Modern -- rolled into one.
I've always had this hypnotic fascination with the Golden Age heroes of the DC Universe. Unlike their Timely/Marvel counterparts (with the obvious exception, of course, of the immortal Captain America), they've always seemed to be the only truly iconic comics characters of the period; creatures of myth so weighted and freighted with Jungian archetype-stuff that they wouldn't seem at all "out of place" darting about within the pages of (say) Joseph Campbell's THE HERO OF A THOUSAND FACES.
The symbolism inherent in the creation and explication of these first, best entries into the spandexed super-hero zeitgeist was (whether by intent or otherwise; makes no nevermind, really) heady, potent stuff, indeed. Reincarnated Egyptian princes, soaring through the nighttime skies on wings of sorcerous invention; men charged by green, glowing mystic totems with The Righting of Wrongs; and silent, implacable avengers visiting nightmare and vaporous ruination upon their chosen prey all strike a chord so resonant and profound within the breasts of the very young (or, at least, the very young at heart), they may readily take their rightful places at the "fairy tale" table alongside such better-known totemic examples as Baba Yaga; Beowulf; and the ravening wolf in the tale of "Little Red Riding Hood."
They were very much "of" their own age/era, were these marvelous, seminal creations; drawing their first, shuddering breaths at a time when the planet entire seemed poised and ready to teeter and plummet into a bloody maelstrom of internecine holocaust worldwide. Their motivations and manners were as primal and apocalyptic as fire.
ALL-STAR SQUADRON writer Roy Thomas understood all of these things, instinctively.
Working in celebratory tandem with a handful of manifestly simpatico pencilers and inkers, Thomas conjured a world which seemed, alternately, both anachronistic and immediate. "Anachronistic" in the sense that every person, place and event seemed fairly coated with an accompanying patina of historical imminence and élan; "immediate," in that each was also the welcome beneficiary of crystalline "20/20 hindsight" in their rendering and interpretation.
This was no jaded, wanly "post-modern" or "deconstructionist" era of the oh-look-there's- another-one "super-hero" shade or stripe. The weird-garbed figures populating this world were always referred to as "masked men" or "mystery men"; creatures whose very oddity and uniqueness inevitably occasioned a quick, startled catch in the throats of any and all who espied them... save perhaps, for the President of the United States himself, to whom the most noble and valorous of these owed their primary allegiance(s). [See picture, below]
The ranks of the "mystery men," however, included within their number a fair assortment of mystery women, as well. Most noteworthy of all of these was radio broadcast journalist "Libby Lawrence"; a.k.a., Liberty Belle, whose own non-powered exploits and courage so commanded the amassed respect of her more masculine peers, they unhesitatingly accorded her full honors as their unquestioned field commander and group spokesperson.
Whereas a latter (and singularly uncharacteristic) misstep on the part of the aforementioned Mr. Thomas involved lumbering the intrepid Belle with some wholly unnecessary (and unconvincingly initiated) "sonic"-type super-powers... the lady, in the main, served as a shining exemplar of the "everyman" (or everyperson) archetype, granting the readership a much-needed "baseline" character with whom to empathize and identify amidst the carnival cacophony of studiedly larger-than-life somatotypes sharing center stage.
Yet another intriguing distaff element of the "mystery" equation was the tragic and tempestuous "Danette Reilly," a.k.a. Firebrand. [See pictures, below]
Consumed by a near-maniacal hatred of the Japanese, re the wartime butchering of her brother, Rod Reilly (the first member of the family to assume the costumed "Firebrand" persona), Danette struggled throughout the greater part of the series' run to come to terms with her own concomitant race-based prejudices. The character well served Thomas' manifest intentions, in this regard to dramatically underscore the inherent blindness and folly of "dehumanizing" one's opponent(s) along lines of racial demarcation... even (especially) if he/they find ultimate purpose in doing so, in ugly turn.
Overall there was a palpably real sense of shared community amongst the characters peopling Thomas' ALL-STAR SQUADRON... a "Knights of the Table Round"-esque sense of urgent commitment to goals and purposes more boundless and vast in scope than even their dedicated (and self-appointed) guardians could ever hope to assume; even should they soldier onward for a thousand thousand years of the most incredible of adventures and exploits. (Much like the example of the Silver Age Green Lantern, re the unified, multi-racial assemblage of The Green Lantern Corps.)
Even when adding to the storytelling mix newly- minted
characters of his own genius or invention, Roy Thomas was ever conscious of
the very real need to have each and every one of these strike a similarly-
pitched chime of somatotypical "instant recognition" within the series' readership.
And -- if you will but "turn" to the following page in this entry -- we'll take
the opportunity for a closer look at a few of the more intriguing examples of
such "retroactive mythologizing" together, you and I. 
"MORE COMIC BOOKS," YOU SAY...?
The DC Comics Sub-Directory
The Marvel Comics Sub-Directory
The Miscellaneous Comics Sub-Directory
The "Gotta Find That DC Character" Menu
The "Gotta Find That Marvel/Miscellaneous
Character" Menu