The Comics Rack

We now jump ahead in our narrative to 1975. New writers and artists have appeared at Marvel. One of the strongest writers was Steve Englehart, who, during his time at Marvel, wrote outstanding sequences of Dr. Strange, Captain America among others and probably turned in his best work on The Avengers. Stainless Steve (as he was dubbed by Stan Lee) not only brought original concepts to all the comics he wrote, but also dipped into the past of the characters and gave fresh twists to older characters and situations.

So, it's no big surprise that the Squadron Supreme would make a comeback during Englehart's Avengers run.

Beginning in #141 and running through #149 (with a two issue fill-in mid-way through the saga), Englehart brought Marvel's JLA back in a long story that involved the Serpent Crown (a creation of Roy Thomas back in Sub-Mariner), the Squadron Supreme (or Squadron Sinister as they were mistakenly referred to on the cover of #141) and a really awful alternate Earth in which Nelson Rockefeller was President of the United States (Englehart was never one to keep his political leanings a secret. Sometime I'll have to talk about how he tried to make Nixon the head of the Secret Empire...).

Politics aside, however, what made this multi-issue tale even more interesting, was that it reflected what was going on in the fan press and letters pages of the time. "Was Marvel or DC the better company?" was a major topic that cropped up ad nauseum (long before the term "Marvel Zombie" was first coined), but this debate theme even got down to the level of individual characters ("Is Thor stronger than Superman?"). One ongoing discussion was the merits of the JLA and the Avengers—particularly which team could whip the pants off the other and it was this endless debate that Englehart tapped into for his saga.

Englehart was a bit more heavy handed than Thomas in his approach to the in-joke and made no bones about the Squadron (Supreme or Sinister) being the JLA. He expanded the membership, so, in the splash from The Avengers #148 (seen to the right), we have Hyperion (Superman) and Dr. Spectrum (Green Lantern) from the original Thomas Squadron with The Whizzer (Flash) in place of Speed Demon (missing in action is Nighthawk, who must have wandered off during all the naming confusion...). Added are Golden Archer (Green Arrow), Lady Lark (Black Canary), Cap'n Hawk (Hawkman), Amphibion (Aquaman) and Tom Thumb (Atom).

And, just in case there were a few lonely souls out there who didn't quite grasp the parody in progress, Englehart and Perez designed the splash page for #148 to be a parody of both the covers and interior splash pages of the regular Justice League of America title.

Digression: It seems that the "Heads and Names" design was first used on the splash page of Justice League of America #22 (September, 1963), which was the second half of the first team-up of the JLA and the JSA. The faces on the cover motif (as seen on the left from Justice League of America #83, courtesy of Dick Dillin and Murphy Anderson) was first used with #47 (September, 1969), became the standard with #77 (December, 1969), dropped from regular use with #106 (July-August, 1973)and later dusted off when someone or other was feeling nostalgic...

Needless to say, the splash page parody would have been recognizable to most all the fans of the time and the storyline itself, although marred a bit by weak art in spots, was a hit. Unfortunately, it was Englehart's last hurrah on the title and, as we had been warned by the fan press, he left to be followed by the less than memorable story stylings of Gerry Conway.

It was not the end of the Squadron Supreme however, and they continued to make guest appearances here and there in the Marvel Universe until they were finally brought to prominence by Mark Gruenwald in his Squadron Supreme mini-series of the 80s. Today, they are stars in their own right with a continuity that is even more confusing than that of the X-Men (as if that were possible!).

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the Avengers took their lumps before mopping up the floor with the Squadron (then they all teamed up to save the day).

What did you expect? It was a Marvel comic after all...