I miss JSA.

Roy Thomas did not make a straight retro-con (the Will Everett/Amazing Man first appeared in All-Star Squadron #23, 1983), as we understand it today, but more a homage to the original character and his creator.

A-Man was simply a quick way of getting Amazing Man’s name out, kinda like “Cap”.

The original Amazing-Man was known as John Aman, a name that should be familiar to readers of The Immortal Iron Fist.

The key words were “*I* haven’t seen him in anything…” :) It should be noted that I wouldn’t watch an Adam Sandler gay panic movie if you paid me by the minute. As for Kojak, I completely forgot that ever happened…

“Has Alex Ross been involved with anything for years that actually creates new things?”

Well, in Alex’ defense (Yeah, I know, it scares me, too) he’s become enough of a superstar that he can really pick and choose what interests him, drawing/writing what he wants. Every creator has habits and formulas that permeate his writing, and I understand that. I’ve just gotten tired of Ross being trumpeted as the future of comics. Certainly he’s a talented artist, but the finished work is just so… static. My co-worker Dusty likes to point out that his work is superior because he draws what superheroes would REALLY look like. I can see that argument, but, honestly, is that what we read comics for? If you want to know what real-world superhumans would look like, there’s always Monday Night Raw.

In point of fact, Alex Ross is what the aforementioned Raw would call a ‘novelty act.’ His art is different than anything else on the stands, and will stand out in a crowd, drawing your eye to his comics and covers. The same could have been said in the past of people like the late Alex Toth, the uber-talent Gil Kane, and even Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko in their later years, some pretty good company indeed. But his art sells mostly because it’s unique, and his writing only sells because his art does.

I like to play a game called “What’s your creator’s favorite childhood comic?” In my case, it should be obvious, as in Stephen’s (though I’d like to hear guesses. :) ) In Alex Ross’ case, I suspect he was strongly moved by “Secret Wars,” as most all of his writing over the past decade has been about huge groups of characters, each one smartly designed to make them identifiable trademarks, all swirling about in a huge earth-shattering plot with little regard for anything other than the ‘Hey!’ factor. “Hey, it’s the 3-D Man! Hey, that’s the Gargoyle! Hey, Nighthawk has no eyes!” And all the stories end with what Eddie Izzard calls ‘that certain “Oh…” kind of feeling,’ trailing off into incoherence and leaving our trademarks… er, characters, ready for marketing to the public as action figures and posters.

You missed out on his version of “Kojak” I see. :)

Blame Alex Ross!!!

“oh a soldier who checked out an alien crashsite and had to stick his hand in an alien weapon” Then I checked for his name, lance/gauntlet. Hmm.

anyway something else I just noticed. You called him A-man. For a second I thought you were mentioning Absorbing man, but no it’s Amazing man. You say he’s a retcon, well gee which came first Amazing man or Absorbing man.

Also, why is Mr. America whipping the Black half of the issue cover???