Posted By Dan Greenfield on Jul 27, 2023 | 6 comments

A lovely tour of the (kinda) Golden Age in the (sorta) Bronze Age…

I am sucker for the “might have been” and the “that never were.” Y’know, comics stories or art that went unpublished or were pitched and rejected. Always an interesting insight into the way comics work, I find.

There’s another sub-category that I really like too, and that’s where talented fans frequently get involved. I’m talking DIY colorists like Walt Grogan, who will take a series of illustrations and turn them into faux house ads, covers, and the like. Walt is a regular in these parts but we’ve also featured Rich Seetoo, another DIY colorist who enjoys taking old images, often commissions, and giving them polish so they look like covers or other published material.

The final real issue

Since late 2022, Rich has undertaken a wonderful project — continuing the title All-Star Comics, which was cancelled in 1978 with Issue #74, and creating a run of covers that “extended” the series to Issue #103 (plus an Annual). Why Issue #103? Because it would have been cover-dated July 1981, a month before the All-Star Squadron’s debut in a preview in Justice League of America #193.

“I wanted an imaginary smooth transition from this series (written by Paul Levitz) to Roy Thomas’ series,” Rich said.

I’m wowed by the effort, so I’ve picked 13 of my faves and Rich has provided commentary for each.

So dig 13 GREAT ALL-STAR COMICS COVERS THAT NEVER WERE:

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By RICH SEETOO

All-Star Comics #75. I digitally re-inked the All-Star Comics logo. I was going to re-tool the existing Justice Society logo, but decided to use a different printed version. I made the All-Star Comics logo more prominent on the cover than the printed series. DC then made the Justice Society large and I made it smaller. I got a little grief for using digital fonts instead of handwritten comic book lettering. I could have done it by hand, but it was easier for me to go digital. (Originally the Adventure Comics #462 splash page, which had been intended for the cover of All-Star Comics #75 before it was cancelled.)

I included imaginary credits where DC did not print credits on the cover yet. I originally colored Robin’s bare chest green because there was too much skin. My friend Scott Maple convinced me to remove the green. He also helped decide on the title of the story, which was the teaser indicated at the end of All-Star Comics #74. All the pieces were in place. The icing on the cake was Joe Staton commenting that he liked the cover.

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All-Star Comics #77. One of my patrons, John Burk, commissioned Bill Morrison to illustrate this homage to George Perez’s Justice League of America #217 using the Justice Society. I colored the piece for John back in October 2022. I needed a cover for All-Star Comics #77 and John permitted me to utilize the piece I colored.

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All-Star Comics #82. Paul Smith illustrated the figures, which he had posted on his website. In the beginning, I really did not have plots figured out for the covers. If I had an idea, I tried to make it into a cool cover. I thought Flash and Johnny Quick would be a great team-up.

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All-Star Comics #86. I wanted to pay homage to the 80-Page Giants of the ’60s. The largest image was illustrated by my friend TJ Frias for owner Rob Shalda a while back. TJ also illustrated the individual character pieces for another project. The group shot is a Jerry Ordway piece.

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All-Star Comics #89. Since I had access to two running figures, I wanted to do the Earth-Two version of the Superman/Flash race from Superman #199. Jerry Ordway illustrated the figures for owner Brian Morris.

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All-Star Comics #92. I discovered the Cathy Lee Crosby Wonder Woman on The 4:30 Movie out of NYC in the mid-1970s. It’s a polarizing movie to some, but I liked it enough to create an imaginary TV Guide cover and movie poster featuring her. TJ Frias drew a figure of her for me and I featured her on this cover as living on an alternate Earth and meeting the JSA.

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All-Star Comics Annual #1. I remembered that the JSA appeared on a cover of Amazing Heroes. I was able to locate the owner of the original art on Comic Art Fans. I had previously colored some of the owner’s commissions and I contacted him about this piece. He was kind enough to scan the original for me. I colored it and created an alternate version of Amazing Heroes #3. I wanted to see if I could repurpose the cover for my series and fellow fan John Joshua suggested I make it into an annual. DC annuals did not restart until 1982. Mine is dated 1981.

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All-Star Comics #95. Prior to my project, I came up with the idea of the Earth-Two versions of Green Arrow and Green Lantern teaming up. I was also inspired by Batman #232 and the first appearance of Ra’s Al Ghul, so the story is that the emerald warriors meet the Earth-Two version of the Demon’s Head. TJ Frias had illustrated the necessary figures for another project. I colored them and I put the cover together.

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All-Star Comics #97. I wanted to have a fun, bright cover. What’s more fun than heroes flying and smiling? I put the tag line ‘World’s Greatest Heroes of Earth -Two (and beyond)’ as an homage to Neal Adams’ cover to Superman #252. TJ Frias had illustrated (and I colored) many of the figures for the All Star-tober 2022 project on Facebook. I re-purposed these figures for my cover and added a few more of his images that I colored.

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All-Star Comics #98. TJ Frias had illustrated this cool JLA vs. JSA battle for fun back in August 2022. It was easy to re-purpose it for a cover and tie-it in with #97.

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All-Star Comics #100. TJ had illustrated this team shot several years ago. It screamed to me to be the cover to #100.

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All-Star Comics #101. I had been working with Bob Layton in coloring many of his commissions, mostly Iron Man. Since Bob inked many All-Star Comics in the 1970’s, I asked him if he could share any JSA commissions with me so I could color them. He shared his Giant-Size X-Men #1 homage that I was able to use as the cover of #101.

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All-Star Comics #103. I knew what the cover to #103 was going to be months before #101 and #102 were created. I colored this massive Jerry Ordway commission for John Burk back in May 2022 and he allowed me to use it for this cover. Issues #100-103 are a four-part storyline to end the series.

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MORE

— 13 GREAT ILLUSTRATIONS: The Dazzling Colors of RICH SEETOO. Click here.

— BATMAN, WE ARE THE GREATEST: The Best Comic Book That Never Was. Click here.