The Champions of Angor (also known as the Justifiers , the Assemblers and the Meta Militia ) are a fictional team of superheroes in the DC universe . They were created by Mike Friedrich and Dick Dillin in Justice League Comics #87 in February 1971.
97-587: The team was introduced in Justice League #87 (February 1971), written by Mike Friedrich. They were published at the same time that Friedrich's friend, Roy Thomas, was introducing the Squadron Supreme in Avengers. The Champions of Angor come from the alien planet of Angor. When Angor is attacked by a spacefaring robot, they defeat it and track the robot back to its home planet. At the same time,
194-528: A Doombot ) is captured. An unrelated four-issue limited series, Squadron Supreme: Hyperion vs. Nighthawk , written by Marc Guggenheim and with art by Paul Gulacy , relates how Hyperion and Nighthawk, after an initial skirmish, join forces to try and alleviate the Darfur conflict in war-torn Sudan . Hyperion discovers Nighthawk has a prototype weapon built from stolen plans of Emil Burbank's journal that cannot actually injure him, but can convince him that he
291-400: A boxer , he began painting portraits of boxers and sold some cartoons to The Hobo News . Seeking work as a commercial illustrator while doing various odd jobs, Buscema found himself instead entering the comic book field in 1948, landing a staff job under editor-in-chief and art director Stan Lee at Timely Comics , the forerunner of Marvel Comics . The Timely "bullpen", as the staff
388-559: A post-apocalyptic state. The Squadron Supreme were next featured in a self-titled 12-issue limited series (Sept. 1985–Aug. 1986) by writer Mark Gruenwald , which picks up from where Earth-712 was last seen in The Defenders #114. The Squadron, led by Hyperion, believe they have the knowledge and power to recreate the world and create a utopia . Nighthawk protests, believing that the Squadron should serve and not rule. The issue
485-501: A " Batman Black and White " short story in Batman: Gotham Knights #7 (Sept. 2000). He reunited with Stan Lee on the 2001 one-shot Just Imagine Stan Lee and John Buscema Creating Superman . He finished the pencils on 2003's Superman: Blood of my Ancestors , begun by Gil Kane , who had since died, and had just signed on for a five-issue miniseries with Roy Thomas, JLA: Barbarians , though he died after finishing
582-748: A Hyperion from a reality that had been destroyed upon colliding with another universe, Doctor Spectrum from the world of the Great Society (which was destroyed by Namor the Sub-Mariner to prevent it from colliding with the mainstream universe), the Blur from the New Universe , and Warrior Woman from a Secret Wars tie-in (posing as the Earth-712 Squadron Supreme's Power Princess). The Squadron Supreme's first action
679-722: A United States-sponsored superhero team. After the Squadron Supreme caused the Frost Giants to retreat, Phil Coulson sends them to Ohio which has become a battleground. The Squadron Supreme are summoned to confront Black Panther when he infiltrates the Pentagon and confronts Phil Coulson. Hyperion states that the Squadron Supreme are the United States' sanctioned superhero team in light of the Avengers becoming an anti-American team. As Nighthawk states to Blur that
776-459: A bid to protect itself. The final issue is a battle to the death against Redstone (with the Blur recruiting Nighthawk to assist) who threatens to detonate a nuclear weapon . The outcome is not revealed, as the series concluded with issue #7. An unrelated nine-issue series, Ultimate Power , written by J. Michael Straczynski; Brian Michael Bendis and Jeph Loeb with art by Greg Land , features
873-631: A cover that was also sold as a poster. Buscema capped off the decade penciling writer Doug Moench 's three-issue Weirdworld epic-fantasy tale "Warriors of the Shadow Realm" in Marvel Super Special #11–13 (June–Oct. 1979). Pacific Comics released an accompanying portfolio of six signed, colored plates from the story. In the mid-1970s, Buscema ran the John Buscema Art School, which advertised for students in
970-574: A group called the Meta-Militia with Tin Man as president of Angor and Americommando as vice president. When Tin Man is killed by Lord Havok , Americommando becomes president with Blue Jay as Vice President. Americommando is sleeping with T.A. behind Blue Jay's back. Blue Jay eventually turns against Americommando. Blue Jay, having forged an alliance with Monarch , arrests Americommando for crimes against humanity and takes his place as president. Wandjina
1067-449: A group of returning astronauts that exhibit strange abilities. The astronauts infect many people they come into contact with, also giving them superhuman abilities. Fury eventually leads a new version of the Squadron that features characters who are pastiches of long-time Marvel characters. The group eventually come into conflict with many of the original members of the Squadron who have been gathered by Hyperion. The heroes unite to stop
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#17327940447531164-592: A group of superhuman terrorists from the Middle East , but then, via a government device, apparently all lose their abilities. Arcanna secretly reveals to Fury that she, and likely many others, still possesses superhuman abilities. Fury later returns to the Ultimate Universe. Later, the members of the Squadron Supreme are apparently killed by Namor the Sub-Mariner and the Cabal after the villains raid
1261-603: A mission to arrest Red Widow. In a turn of events, Power Princess killed Doctor Spectrum and took his Power Prism as it is shown that Red Widow is working on brainwashing Hyperion. A group of clones of the Squadron Supreme appear in the 2011 Marvel Zombies Supreme miniseries, which sees the members of the team infected with a zombie virus developed by a deranged geneticist. John Buscema John Buscema ( / b j uː ˈ s ɛ m ə / bew- SEM -ə ; born Giovanni Natale Buscema , Italian: [dʒoˈvanni naˈtaːle buʃˈʃɛːma] ; December 11, 1927 – January 10, 2002)
1358-510: A nuclear disaster that wiped out Angor and did not want the same thing to happen on Earth. Their teammate, Captain Speed, dies later of radiation poisoning. Wandjina sacrifices himself to prevent a meltdown in a Bialyan reactor, and the others give themselves up to the Russian authorities. Wandjina's corpse is later reanimated as a weapon by Queen Bee of Bialya. The citizens don't quite understand
1455-478: A program of behavior modification in prisons where inmates are forced to submit to a process that mentally inhibits their criminal instincts; enforcing a strict gun control policy; and developing medical technology to cryogenically preserve the dead, while opposed by the future dictator (and usurper) of mankind Victorex Prime (formerly the Scarlet Centurion ), serving as the main antagonist. Despite
1552-544: A rampage; and Tom Thumb discovers he has cancer but chooses not to inform his teammates, eventually succumbing to the disease. At one point, the team is attacked by the Institute of Evil on the behalf of Victorex Prime. The Squadron ultimately defeats the Institute and uses the behavior modification technology to reform them, adding the former supervillains as members. Three of them die or are incapacitated. In
1649-532: A return to The Savage Sword of Conan with #191 (Nov. 1991) for a 20-issue run. Conan the Rogue , a graphic novel Buscema plotted, pencilled, inked, and colored over a period of five years in his spare time appeared that same year. He both penciled and inked the graphic novel Wolverine: Bloody Choices (Nov. 1993). Buscema returned to crime fiction with The Punisher War Zone #23–30 (Jan.–Aug. 1994, self-inking #26–29), that title's 1993 summer annual , and
1746-467: A self-titled twelve-issue limited series by Mark Gruenwald , followed in 1989 by a graphic novel sequel by Gruenwald, Ryan and inker Al Williamson , Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe , in which the Nth Man serves as the main antagonist. In 2003, a reimagined Squadron Supreme appeared in an ongoing series entitled Supreme Power , published under the mature-audience MAX imprint. This version
1843-501: A son, John Jr., and a daughter, Dianne. His granddaughter Stephanie Buscema is a freelance illustrator and cartoonist, who started out as an inker for her grandfather. Buscema was diagnosed with stomach cancer , and died on January 10, 2002, at the age of 74. He was buried with an artist's pen in his hand. On October 11, 2024, the Harvey Awards announced that Buscema was one of five comics creators to be inducted into
1940-406: A state-sponsored hero, which encourages other beings to appear, such as the Blur , who can move at superspeed. Ledger awakens and, harnessing the energy powers of the crystal, becomes Doctor Spectrum . Hyperion and Spectrum are initially hostile to one another and they battle, with Hyperion accessing lost memories when coming in contact with Spectrum's crystal. The Amphibian is seen on dry land for
2037-539: A story for the science-fiction anthology Worlds Unknown . Buscema contributed as well to Marvel's black-and-white comics magazines, including the features " Ka-Zar " in Savage Tales #1 (May 1971) and " Bloodstone " in Rampaging Hulk #1 (Jan. 1977), and Doc Savage #1 and 3 (Aug. 1975, Jan. 1976). Other magazine work ran the gamut from horror ( Dracula Lives! , Monsters Unleashed , Tales of
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#17327940447532134-640: A terrible evil comes to Earth-7 and utterly destroys it, leaving its only hero as Thor-equivalent Thunderer (whose closest counterpart is Wundajin of Earth-8). While Earth 8 continues to feature Lord Havok, the Champions of Angor are replaced by The Rampaging Retaliators. The other residents of Earth-8 include: Squadron Supreme The Squadron Supreme is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics , of which there are several notable alternate versions. The original team
2231-542: A variety of genres, including crime fiction and romance fiction . Buscema married in 1953. He continued to freelance for Timely, by now known as Atlas Comics , as well as for the publishers Ace Comics , Hillman Periodicals , Our Publications/Orbit-Wanted, Quality Comics , St. John Publications , and Ziff-Davis . Buscema's mid-1950s work includes Dell Comics ' Roy Rogers Comics #74–91 (Feb. 1954 – July 1955) and subsequent Roy Rogers and Trigger #92–97 and #104–108 (Aug. 1955 – Jan. 1956 & Aug.–Dec. 1956); and
2328-925: A variety of media. Buscema called this time "quite a learning period for me in my own development of techniques". He returned to comic books in 1966 as a regular freelance penciller for Marvel Comics , debuting over Jack Kirby layouts on the " Nick Fury , Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. " story in Strange Tales #150 (Nov. 1966), followed by three " Hulk " stories in Tales to Astonish #85–87 (Nov. 1966 – Jan. 1967). He then settled in as regular penciller of The Avengers , which would become one of his signature series, with #41 (June 1967). Avengers #49–50, featuring Hercules and inked by Buscema, are two of his "best-looking [issues] of that period", said comics historian and one-time Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas , who wrote those issues. Thomas and Buscema introduced new versions of
2425-651: A way that it had never been before. Anatomically balanced figures of Herculean proportions stalked, stormed, sprawled, and savaged their way across Marvel's universe like none had previously". Buscema would pencil an average of two comics a month in collaboration with such inkers as George Klein , Frank Giacoia , Dan Adkins , Joe Sinnott , his younger brother Sal Buscema , Tom Palmer , and, occasionally, Marvel production manager and sometime inker- cartoonist John Verpoorten . John Buscema named Frank Giacoia, Sal Buscema, and Tom Palmer as his favorite inkers. Among Buscema's works during this period fans and historians call
2522-523: Is also featured, now a closeted homosexual. During a battle between the Meta-Militia and the Extremists, he is swallowed whole by Gorgon. Two versions of the Champions of Angor are introduced in the first issue of Grant Morrison's The Multiversity series. In the DC Multiverse following its The New 52 reboot, Earth-7 and Earth-8 are sister worlds. In the beginning of The Multiversity ,
2619-403: Is being injured. A third volume of the title Squadron Supreme , written by Howard Chaykin and with art by Greg Land (and other artists), is published, with the 12-issue series being set five years after the battle with Redstone. Most of the Squadron have disappeared, with Ultimate Nick Fury, Burbank and Arcanna now a team of intelligence officers working for the government and investigating
2716-669: Is overwritten so that the Avengers were never formed and the Squadron Supreme are Earth's premier superhero team instead. The Squadron Supreme are first encountered by four members of the Avengers – the Vision , Quicksilver , the Scarlet Witch and Goliath – who have arrived in the Earth-712 universe by mistake. The Avengers are initially confused, since several members of the Squadron Supreme have identical names and powers to
2813-473: Is put to a vote, with the so-called "Utopia Program" favored by the majority of the Squadron; Nighthawk, unable to agree with the decision in clear conscience, resigns from the team. The Squadron assume overall control of the government of the United States and remake the nation into a virtual utopia. The team implement a series of sweeping changes, including revealing their secret identities; instituting
2910-494: Is taken into custody by the US government and raised in a controlled environment. Army Corporal Joseph Ledger is given a strange crystal removed from Hyperion's spaceship by the government that bonds to him, causing him to fall into a coma for years. Discovering Hyperion has superhuman abilities, the government uses him as a secret weapon, and is eventually outed by the media . The government then announces and introduces Hyperion as
3007-444: Is the fact that I didn't have to spend time writing synopses for him. ... He'd always growl over the phone, 'Don't bother sending me any outlines, Stan. I hate to waste time reading them. Just tell what you've got in mind over the phone. I'll remember it.' So I'd tell him the story I wanted, and I have a hunch he didn't even write any notes while I spoke — because I spoke too fast — but it didn't matter. He remembered every last detail and
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3104-636: The Black Knight and the Vision during their collaboration on The Avengers . In order to adapt to the Marvel Comics style of superhero adventure, Buscema "synthesized the essence of [Jack] Kirby's supercharged action figures, harrowing perspectives, monolithic structures, mega-force explosions, and mythological planetscapes into a formula that he instantly integrated into his own superbly crafted vision," wrote comics artist and historian Jim Steranko . "The process brought Buscema's art to life in
3201-596: The Charlton Comics series Ramar of the Jungle and Nature Boy — the latter, Buscema's first superhero work, with a character created by himself and Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel . Buscema next produced a series of Western , war , and sword and sandal film adaptations for Dell's Four Color series. Buscema recalled, "I did a bunch of their movie books ... that was a lot of fun. I worked from stills on those, except for The Vikings . ... I think one of
3298-611: The Exiles , traveling from the Earth-616 universe, reveal that the government had rigged the election through worldwide vote fraud . The Squadron and the Exiles depose the new government and attempt to allow society to progress without superhuman involvement. The series Supreme Power features the rebooted version of the superhero team Squadron Supreme and is set on Earth-31916 . Alien Hyperion arrives on Earth as an infant, and
3395-588: The Negative Zone . The Squadron Supreme manages to repel the Masters of Doom with the fight being witnessed by President Phil Coulson. The Skrullian Skymaster was shown to be a member of this reality's Squadron Supreme before he was killed by Rogue to avenge Mystique 's death. Nighthawk and Blur had a Secret Squadron team that consisted of Tom Thumb (who is an amalgam of both versions), Amphibian, Blue Eagle, Golden Archer, and Arcanna Jones. This group fought
3492-705: The Serpent Crown . The team features briefly in the title Thor , when the evil version of Hyperion attacks the Earth-712 version and then the Earth-616 Thor. The Squadron appear in the title The Defenders as mind-controlled pawns of the entities the Over-Mind and Null the Living Darkness, but are freed and aid the Defenders in defeating the villains. Earth-712, however, is left in
3589-620: The Shape ) marooned in the mainstream Marvel universe. The Squadron encounter the hero Quasar , and relocate to the government facility Project Pegasus . After another encounter with the Overmind and a visit to the laboratory world of the Stranger , the Squadron attempt unsuccessfully to return to their own universe and members Hyperion, Doctor Spectrum and the Whizzer battle the entity
3686-470: The Silver Age of comic books are The Avengers #41–62 (June 1967 – March 1969) and The Avengers Annual #2 (Sept. 1968); the first eight issues of The Sub-Mariner (May–Dec. 1968); The Amazing Spider-Man #72–73, 76–81, 84–85 (ranging from June 1969 – June 1970 providing layouts finished by either John Romita Sr. or Jim Mooney ), and two issues he himself finished over Romita layouts. Buscema drew
3783-537: The Squadron Sinister , a group of previously encountered villains. After a brief battle, the Avengers assist the Squadron Supreme against the global threat posed by the mutant Brain-Child , before returning to their own universe. The Squadron Supreme have another series of skirmishes with the Avengers engineered by the group the Serpent Cartel, but eventually they join forces and prevent the use of
3880-662: The Squadron Sinister , which first appeared in The Avengers #69 as a pastiche of the Justice League. Roy Thomas later introduced a heroic version of the Squadron Sinister named the Squadron Supreme, which first appeared in The Avengers #85–86 (Feb.–March 1971), and which was co-created with John Buscema . The team then had guest appearances on several more occasions, and in 1985 was featured in
3977-555: The Squadron Supreme in #85 (Feb. 1971). With Jack Kirby's departure from Marvel in 1970, Buscema succeeded him on both of Kirby's titles: Fantastic Four (penciling issues #107–141, following John Romita Sr. ) and Thor (#182–259). He additionally launched the feature " Black Widow " in Amazing Adventures vol. 2, #1 (Aug. 1970). Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee , who collaborated with Buscema on many stories up to this time, wrote, One thing I loved about Big John
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4074-1101: The sword-and-sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian . In addition, he pencilled at least one issue of nearly every major Marvel title, including long runs on two of the company's top magazines, Fantastic Four and Thor . He was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2002. In October 2024, Buscema was inducted into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame. Born in Brooklyn , New York City, from Sicilian parents who emigrated from Pozzallo , Ragusa , John Buscema showed an interest in drawing at an early age, copying comic strips such as Popeye . In his teens, he developed an interest in both superhero comic books and such adventure comic strips as Hal Foster 's Tarzan and Prince Valiant , Burne Hogarth 's Tarzan , Alex Raymond 's Flash Gordon , and Milton Caniff 's Terry and
4171-682: The "Top 10 1970s Marvels". For about ten years, he would produce an average three to four books' worth of pencils a month, such as Nova (1976) and Ms. Marvel (1977). In addition to his regular assignments he would pencil covers and fill-in issues of titles including Captain America , Captain Britain (Marvel UK), Daredevil , The Frankenstein Monster , Howard the Duck , Master of Kung Fu , Red Sonja and Warlock . He also drew
4268-662: The "real-life" dramatic series True Adventures and Man Comics (the premiere issue of which sported one of Buscema's earliest recorded comic book covers), as well as to Cowboy Romances , Two-Gun Western (for which he drew at least one story of the continuing character the Apache Kid ), Lorna the Jungle Queen , and Strange Tales . Until the bullpen was dissolved a year-and-a-half later, as comic books in general and superhero comics in particular continued their post-war fade in popularity, Buscema penciled and inked in
4365-665: The 1981 movie Raiders of the Lost Ark . He left King Conan in 1982 after nine issues, although he remained with Marvel's Robert E. Howard franchise with a revival of the Kull series for 10 issues, and left The Savage Sword of Conan in 1984 with #101 with a series of stories that he plotted himself. After pencilling the Conan the Destroyer movie adaptation in 1984 and the Conan of
4462-433: The 1988 graphic novel Silver Surfer: Judgment Day , self-inked and done entirely as full-page panels. That year he and inker Klaus Janson drew a Wolverine solo feature in the biweekly anthology Marvel Comics Presents , followed by self-inked Wolverine series in that title. He pencilled the first 14 issues (Nov. 1988 – mid-Nov. 1989) of the first Wolverine ongoing series, self-inked on #7–8. Bill Sienkiewicz , who inked
4559-506: The 1994 graphic novel A Man Named Frank , a parallel-universe Punisher Western tale. He pencilled the Punisher portions of 1994's Archie Meets the Punisher team-up. No longer attached to a regular series after his Punisher run, he penciled and inked The Avengers Annual #23 (1994) and five more black-and-white Conan adventures, serving as that Marvel franchise's final artist on The Savage Sword of Conan with #235 (July 1995) and on
4656-537: The Avengers are not their enemies unless they force them to be. During the Heroes Reborn storyline, reality has been somehow changed so that the Squadron Supreme of America are the America's premier superhero team and that the Avengers never existed. The Squadron Supreme are seen fighting the Masters of Doom consisting of Doctor Juggernaut , Black Skull , Silver Witch and All-Gog after their escape from
4753-476: The Avengers. The Avengers battle and eventually defeat the Squadron Supreme of America. After Captain America, Star Brand, and Echo use the Pandemonium Cube to restore the original reality, the Squadron Supreme of America find their memories transferred to their counterparts in the Avengers' reality and struggle to find their place in an unfamiliar world. Doctor Spectrum led Power Princess and Blur on
4850-457: The Barbarian comics. He contributed some superhero drawings for Pro , the NFL official magazine (1970), and penciled some chapters of the first issue of Marvel Comics Super Special featuring the rock group Kiss (1977). In 1978, small-press publisher Sal Quartuccio released The Art of John Buscema , a retrospective that included an interview, previously unpublished sketches and drawings, and
4947-542: The Black Archer) also joins. Eventually, the Redeemers confront the Squadron Supreme. A brutal battle ensues in which several members of both teams are killed, including Nighthawk. A horrified Hyperion realizes that Nighthawk was right: the Squadron, despite having good intentions, had inadvertently created a totalitarian state with themselves as its dictators. The Squadron surrenders, disbands and returns control of
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#17327940447535044-470: The Black Panther will not run as he is under arrest, the Black Panther states to them that he does not know how they got their powers and that they are not the Squadron Supreme, as he even asked if they trust Phil Coulson. Before they can grab him, the Black Panther contacts Broo to teleport him away. As he disappears, the Black Panther states that Phil Coulson will not answer their questions and that
5141-594: The Blur, and Doctor Spectrum as their leader. With Doctor Spectrum as their leader, the Squadron Supreme of America were first used to fight Namor and his Defenders of the Deep when they attacked a Roxxon oil rig that is off the coast of Alaska. Then the Squadron Supreme visited another oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, where Doctor Spectrum used his powers to melt areas of the oil rig to secure it from an attack by Namor. The Squadron Supreme then made short work of Namor and
5238-459: The Deathurge. The entire Squadron Supreme appear in an Avengers storyline with the Avengers that finally returns them to their home universe. The one-shot issue Squadron Supreme: New World Order reveals that Earth-712 is now dominated by corporations using the Squadron's own utopia technologies. The Squadron come into conflict with a new government when an interdimensional team called
5335-602: The Defenders of the Deep. During the War of the Realms storyline, the Squadron Supreme of America were summoned to Washington D.C. by Phil Coulson, who brought them up to speed on Malekith 's invasion. They are shown fighting Rock Trolls and Frost Giants . Their origin is fully shown where its members are revealed to be simulacrums created by Mephisto and programmed by the Power Elite so that Phil Coulson can have them be
5432-418: The Extremists from destroying Angor. This story introduces more members of the team (now called the Justifiers), including: In 2008's Final Crisis storyline, the Justifiers are controlled by the Anti-Life Equation , and "justify" Darkseid 's rule of the Earth. In the Lord Havok and The Extremists series (2007), new versions of the Champions are featured on Earth-8 . In this storyline, they are part of
5529-407: The Isles graphic novel in 1987, he left Conan the Barbarian with #190 in 1987, ending a 14-year association with the character. After nearly five years away from superheroes, except for the first two issues of the X-Men-related, four-issue miniseries Magik (Dec. 1983 – March 1984), Buscema returned to familiar ground as regular penciller on The Avengers from #255–300 (May 1985 – Feb. 1989). He
5626-411: The Justice League of America is defeating and tracking another robot that threatens Earth. Both teams assume the other to be the enemy and confront each other. The original members were: The team later appear in Keith Giffen 's post- Crisis Justice League International . In #2 Wandjina, Blue Jay and Sorceress come to Earth in order to destroy all nuclear weapons, since they were the only survivors of
5723-400: The Pirates . He showed an interest in commercial illustration of the period, by such artists as N. C. Wyeth , Norman Rockwell , Dean Cornwell , Coby Whitmore , Albert Dorne , and Robert Fawcett . Buscema graduated from Manhattan 's High School of Music and Art . He took night lessons at Pratt Institute as well as life drawing classes at the Brooklyn Museum . While training as
5820-701: The Siege Society in London where Amphibian was beheaded by Baron Helmut Zemo, Golden Archer was killed by Hawkeye and Fire-Ant, Tom Thumb was subdued by Hawkeye, Arcanna Jones was killed by Silver Witch, and Golden Eagle was slain offscreen by Black Widow and Hawkeye who escape with Fire Ant using his special wings. Following the fight, Nighthawk, Blur, and Tom Thumb mourn their comrades at their funeral. The Squadron Supreme of America discuss their encounters with various heroes and concerns about their world being wrong. Putting aside their differences and without telling President Coulson, they gather clues and rule out suspects before eventually arriving in Wakanda, where they confront
5917-403: The Squadron in a crossover into the Ultimate Universe . Courtesy of a deception engineered by Nick Fury and the Ultimate villain Doctor Doom , the Squadron travel to the Ultimate Universe, thinking that the Ultimate Reed Richards is responsible for releasing an organism that has destroyed much of the United States. A series of misunderstandings ensues, and after a series of battles between
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#17327940447536014-417: The Squadron's universe. Versions resembling these characters later appear on the Battleworld created by Doctor Doom during the Secret Wars event, only to be killed again at the hands of the Squadron Sinister . Nighthawk is left as the group's only survivor. This team, set in Marvel's mainstream reality, features characters from numerous alternate universes, such as the Nighthawk from Supreme Power ,
6111-440: The Squadron, the Ultimate Fantastic Four , the Ultimates and the Earth-712 Squadron Supreme (whose world was also affected by the organism), the third culprit is revealed as Burbank, who was asked by the government to develop a weapon to kill Hyperion. Nick Fury is detained in custody in the Earth-31916 universe, while Squadron member Power Princess remains in the Ultimate Universe to ensure that Doom (who escaped custody by using
6208-429: The United States calls the group the Squadron Supreme. The Squadron meets with mixed success: an attempt to kill an African dictator is botched, and the target is murdered by local superhumans who state the group is not welcome in Africa, and a mission to Iran has member Inertia encouraging a victim to fight back and kill. China recruits Redstone , the superpowered serial killer created from Hyperion's DNA, in
6305-474: The United States to the government. In a graphic novel sequel by Gruenwald, Ryan and inker Al Williamson , Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe , remnants of the team and their former enemies (including Victorex Prime) reunite to battle the Nth Man . Although they succeed, several members of the Squadron are killed, with the remainder (Hyperion, Doctor Spectrum , the Whizzer , Power Princess , Lady Lark (now known as Skylark), Arcanna , Haywire , and
6402-491: The Unknown , and Forbidden Worlds before leaving comics to do freelance commercial art. He began a freelance position for the New York City advertising firm the Chaite Agency, which employed such commercial artists as Bob Peak and Frank McCarthy . Buscema spent approximately eight years in the commercial-art field, freelancing for the Chaite Agency and the studio Triad, doing a variety of assignments: layouts, storyboards , illustrations, paperback book covers, etc. in
6499-432: The Zombie ) to humor ( Crazy , Pizzaz ). Buscema left the Thor title for a time to launch the Marvel version of the Edgar Rice Burroughs character Tarzan in 1977. Other licensed projects include a 72-page The Wizard of Oz movie adaptation in an oversized " Treasury Edition " format with DeZuniga inking. For Power Records , which produced children's book-and-record sets, Buscema drew Star Trek and Conan
6596-407: The aftermath of the 2015 Secret Wars event. Another version of the Squadron Supreme, set in the Marvel Universe, was introduced by Jason Aaron in The Avengers vol. 8. The Squadron, created by Mephisto and led by Phil Coulson, acts as the US government's sanctioned superhero team in place of the Avengers. This version of the team is the focus of the Heroes Reborn storyline, where reality
6693-586: The best books I ever did was Sinbad the Sailor ." He drew at least one issue of the radio, film, and TV character the Cisco Kid for Dell in 1957, as well as one- to eight-page biographies of every U.S. president through Dwight Eisenhower for that company's one-shot Life Stories of American Presidents . During a late 1950s downturn in the comics industry, Buscema drew occasional mystery , fantasy , and science-fiction stories for Atlas Comics' Tales to Astonish , Tales of Suspense , and Strange Worlds , and American Comics Group 's Adventures into
6790-465: The book How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way ( Marvel Fireside Books , 1978), a primer on comic book art and storytelling based on the comic art classes Buscema had given a few years prior, and has remained in print for over 25 years, in its 33rd printing as of 2007. After drawing the first issue of The Savage She-Hulk (Feb. 1980), Buscema abandoned regular superhero work in order to spearhead art duties on all three Conan titles. The popularity of
6887-476: The character spurred the release of a Conan movie in 1982; Buscema provided pencils and inks for a 48-page movie adaptation. He continued to tackle other high-profile projects such as a Silver Surfer story for Epic Illustrated #1 (Spring 1980), a King Arthur story in Marvel Preview #22 (Summer 1980), the St. Francis of Assisi biography Francis, Brother of the Universe (1980), the second Superman and Spider-Man team-up (1981), and an adaptation of
6984-565: The crystal that Druid was using to enhance his mind control powers and return home. Power Princess remains on Weirdworld and reveals herself as Warrior Woman. Thundra sides with the Squadron Supreme, although she is unsure if she should help the Squadron Supreme protect the world or help protect the world from the Squadron Supreme. Through Modred the Mystic's magical modifications to Reed Richard's time machine, Hyperion and Doctor Spectrum are accidentally transformed into ephemeral "ghosts" caught in
7081-602: The economic and technological advances, there are setbacks: the Golden Archer abuses the behavior modification technology by forcing fellow member Lady Lark to love him, resulting in his eventual removal from the team; the Amphibian becomes increasingly disgusted with the Squadron's methods and abandons the surface world altogether; Nuke inadvertently kills his parents via unnoticed and uncontrollable release of radiation and dies while battling Doctor Spectrum during
7178-412: The end of the story arc, Hyperion leads the action to disband the Squadron, and the team goes their separate ways. When the Avengers become a global peacekeeping force, Thunderbolt Ross meets with Phil Coulson to discuss the matter. Phil reveals that he has established the Squadron Supreme of America as the newest United States superhero team. The team consists of Hyperion, Power Princess, Nighthawk,
7275-631: The fate of Wandjina and come to revere him as a hero. Justice League Europe #15 (June 1990) begins a story in which the Sorceress and Blue Jay escape from prison. Blue Jay goes to the League for help, while the Sorceress returns to Angor. A flashback reveals that the nuclear disaster was caused by a group of villains called the Extremists . The Extremists capture Sorceress and make her take them to Earth, where they again attempt to seize control of
7372-536: The first appearance of the Prowler in The Amazing Spider-Man #78 (Nov. 1969). In August 1968, Buscema and Stan Lee launched a new title, The Silver Surfer . That series about a philosophical alien roaming the world trying to understand both the divinity and the savagery of humanity was a personal favorite of Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee, who scripted. Buscema penciled 17 of its 18 issues —
7469-550: The first issue. An 11 x 17-inch lithograph print of the late 1960s/early 1970s Avengers, penciled by Buscema and painted in watercolor by Alex Ross for the publisher Dynamic Forces , was Buscema's last professional work. Buscema's passion for drawing was such that he continued to draw and sketch in his spare time, often on the back of comic book art pages, and these images form a considerable body of work in their own right. His brother Sal Buscema recalled, This guy used to eat, sleep and breathe drawing. It didn't matter what
7566-472: The first seven as a 25¢ "giant-size" title at a time when comics typically cost 12¢. "Beautifully drawn by John Buscema, this comic book represented an attempt to upgrade the medium with a serious character of whom Lee had grown very fond," assessed comics historian Les Daniels . Roy Thomas said Buscema considered Silver Surfer #4 (Feb. 1969), featuring a battle between the Silver Surfer and Thor, "as
7663-424: The first time, and Princess Zarda heals Hyperion after his battle. Nighthawk solicits the aid of Hyperion and the Blur to deal with a superpowered serial killer , who Hyperion now knows is actually the product of experimentation with his DNA . Although successful, Hyperion is outraged by the government exploitation and leaves, warning that he has no wish to be contacted by humankind again. The government gathers
7760-436: The heroes locate the true Hyperion and convince him to return to their world, Burbank discovers that it was, in fact, not an alternate reality but their world two years from the present time. The second volume of the series Squadron Supreme brings together all the superhumans (except a reluctant Nighthawk), who are split into two teams – one for international/public missions and another for covert operations. The President of
7857-862: The highpoint of his Marvel work". Characters Buscema co-created in The Silver Surfer include the long-running arch-demon Mephisto in issue #3 (Dec. 1968). Toward the end of the decade, Buscema drew some fill-in issues of superhero series and returned to familiar 1950s genres with a spate of supernatural mystery stories in Chamber of Darkness and Tower of Shadows , and romance tales in My Love and Our Love . He then returned to his signature series The Avengers for 11 issues inked by Tom Palmer. The creative team of Roy Thomas and John Buscema introduced new characters such as Arkon in The Avengers #75 (April 1970), Red Wolf in #80 (Sept. 1970), and
7954-407: The last five issues of that run, recalled Buscema's pencil work as "the sturdiest foundation an inker or an embellisher could possibly hope to build on, and their beauty was not in their attention to fastidiously rendered minutiae, but instead were marvels of deceptive simplicity. Each page an example of grace, elegance and power." Buscema began his sixth decade in the field by joining Roy Thomas for
8051-556: The meantime, Nighthawk forms a new team he calls the America Redeemers, recruiting former villains and several previously unknown superhumans. The later infiltrate the Squadron and kidnap the surviving Institute members to reverse the behavior modification on them. Despite mixed feelings on the parts of several of the Institute members, they too join the Redeemers. Former Squadron member the Golden Archer (now known as
8148-518: The most prolific runs for an artist on a single character. He additionally drew the Conan Sunday and daily syndicated newspaper comic strip upon its premiere in 1978, and even contributed some storyboard illustrations for the 1982 Conan movie, as well as painting four covers for the Conan magazines. In 2010, Comics Bulletin ranked Buscema's work on Conan the Barbarian seventh on its list of
8245-450: The pages of many Marvel titles. Stan Lee made appearances as a guest lecturer at Buscema's school, and some of the school's graduates (including Bob Hall and Bruce Patterson ) went on to become professional cartoonists. Buscema later said that teaching the class was "very gratifying" but that having to make the 60-mile drive after a day's work was too exhausting, and ultimately forced him to give it up. Buscema then collaborated with Lee on
8342-418: The past; specifically during the Squadron's attack on Atlantis and just before Hyperion kills Namor. They decide to change the past by dragging this past Namor back to the present, thereby resurrecting him. Although this action is easy for Hyperion, who has had second thoughts about the cutthroat methods the Squadron Supreme has been using, it is more difficult for Doctor Spectrum, as Namor destroyed her Earth. At
8439-426: The remaining superhumans into a team to capture Hyperion. The story continues in the limited series Supreme Power: Hyperion with new Squadron members Emil Burbank , Arcanna , the Shape and Nuke tracking Hyperion to what they believe is an alternate reality . In this world, Hyperion and a version of the Squadron rule the world, with only Nighthawk and a small group of superhumans opposing their rule. Although
8536-574: The short-lived spin-off Conan the Savage with #10 (May 1996). Through 1999, he penciled a variety of superhero comics; both penciled and inked a black-and-white short story for Shadows and Light (1998); and made a final return to Conan with the Death Covered in Gold three-issue miniseries (1999). Buscema worked with DC Comics for the first time in 2000, initially doing both pencils and inks on
8633-408: The stories always came out perfect — at least as far as I was concerned. Buscema began penciling Conan the Barbarian with #25 (April 1973) following Barry Smith 's celebrated run, and debuted as the Conan artist of the black-and-white comics-magazine omnibus Savage Sword of Conan with issue #1 (Aug. 1974). He would eventually contribute to more than 100 issues of each title, giving him one of
8730-607: The world's nuclear weapons. It is eventually revealed that (with one exception) these are robot duplicates of the Extremists, created for an amusement park. The owner of the amusement park is sent to Earth to switch them off. Sorceress then defeats remaining villain, Dreamslayer . Blue Jay and the Silver Sorceress join Justice League Europe. Justice League Quarterly #3 (1990) features Mitch Wacky (the amusement park owner) travelling back in time to prevent
8827-405: Was an American comic book artist and one of the mainstays of Marvel Comics during its 1960s and 1970s ascendancy into an industry leader and its subsequent expansion to a major pop-culture conglomerate . His younger brother Sal Buscema is also a comic book artist. Buscema is best known for his run on the series The Avengers and The Silver Surfer , and for over 200 stories featuring
8924-553: Was called, included such fellow staffers as established veterans Syd Shores , Carl Burgos , Mike Sekowsky , George Klein , and Marty Nodell . Fellow newcomer Gene Colan , hired roughly two months earlier, recalled that "... John never seemed very happy in comics ... there always seemed to be something else he really wanted to do." His first recorded credit is penciling the four-page story "Till Crime Do You Part" in Timely's Lawbreakers Always Lose #3 (Aug. 1948). He contributed to
9021-542: Was created by Roy Thomas and John Buscema , derived from the previously created supervillain team Squadron Sinister . The core members of the Squadron Supreme are Hyperion , Nighthawk , Doctor Spectrum , Power Princess , and the Whizzer , pastiches of prominent members of rival publisher DC Comics ' superhero team the Justice League . Many other characters were later added to the roster, not all of which were based on DC heroes. The Squadron Supreme has its roots in
9118-462: Was created by writer J. Michael Straczynski and artist Gary Frank . Yet another Squadron Supreme was introduced in 2015, written by James Robinson and drawn by Leonard Kirk . Unlike the previous teams, which had appeared in alternate realities, this team was based in Marvel's main "Earth-616" reality, although the team members were from a variety of alternate universes that had been destroyed in
9215-501: Was going on around him. He would get bored with it and start sketching. ... He just couldn't stop drawing. [His back-of-board sketches were] better than some of the stuff that he did on the front. ... He'd get a spark of inspiration and turn the page over and draw whatever was in his skull. Buscema, who lived in Port Jefferson, New York , on Long Island , at the time of his death, was married to Dolores Buscema, with whom he had
9312-414: Was regular penciller on Fantastic Four for its 300th issue, during a 15-issue stint from #296–309 (Nov. 1986 – Dec. 1987). Additionally, he fit in the three-issue film adaptation Labyrinth (Nov. 1986 – Jan. 1987) and the four-issue miniseries Mephisto (April–July 1987), starring a character he created with Stan Lee in The Silver Surfer . Buscema reteamed with Lee on the Silver Surfer himself with
9409-738: Was to get revenge on Namor for what happened to the worlds of some of its members. They attacked Atlantis where Hyperion beheaded Namor and Zarda killed Attuma. The fight ended with Hyperion lifting Atlantis above the ocean and throwing it onto the ground hard enough to kill the remaining Atlanteans present. The actions caused by the Squadron Supreme led the Avengers Unity Division to apprehend them before anyone else ends up killed by their hand. The Squadron Supreme were saved by Thundra and later teleported to Weirdworld , where they encounter Doctor Druid , who plans to mind-control Weirdworld's inhabitants. The Squadron Supreme shatter
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