- All-Winners Squad
Infobox comics organization
imagesize=225
caption="All Winners Comics" #19 (Fall 1946). Cover artists unconfirmed, possiblyAl Avison andAl Gabriele .
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut= "All Winners Comics " #19 (Fall 1946).
creators=
base=
members=Captain America Bucky
Human Torch
Toro
Sub-Mariner
the Whizzer
Miss America.
cat= teams
subcat=Marvel Comics
hero=y
villain=
sortkey=PAGENAME|The All-Winners Squad is a fictional
superhero team in theMarvel Comics universe. The company's first such team, it first appeared in "All Winners Comics " #19 (Fall 1946). While the comic-book title has no hyphen, Marvel's official handbook spells the team name "All-Winners Squad", with a hyphen.Publication history
The All-Winners Squad was created for Marvel predecessor
Timely Comics in 1946, near the end of theGolden Age of Comic Books . It consisted ofCaptain America and sidekickBucky ; the Human Torch and sidekick Toro; the Sub-Mariner; super-speedster the Whizzer; and Miss America. Timely previously had a non-superhero team of detectives, the 3Xs.While the super-team made only two Golden Age appearances — in "All Winners Comics" #19 (Fall 1946) and #21 (Winter 1946; there was no issue #20) — it reacquired fan interest upon their being reprinted by Marvel during the 1960s
Silver Age of Comic Books .The
first appearance of the All-Winners Squad, titled "The Crime of the Ages", was written byBill Finger . Its seven chapters were pencilled variously byVince Alascia ,Al Avison , Bob Powell, andSyd Shores , and inked by Avison, Alascia, Powell,Allen Bellman ,Al Gabriele , andDon Rico .The second outing, "Menace From the Future World", was written by
Otto Binder . Its seven chapters penciled by Alascia, Avison, Shores, and the pseudonymous Charles Nicholas also known as Chuck Nicholas, and inked by Alascia, Avison, Gabriele, Nicholas, and Shores.Timely and Marvel editor-in-chief
Stan Lee recalled in 1999:Retroactive continuity and modern appearance
The All-Winners Squad has been retconned as the post-war continuation of The Invaders and
Liberty Legion (twoWorld War II team created by Marvel in the 1970s) and as the inspiration for theV-Battalion (a post-war superhero team created by Marvel in 2001).The team's first modern appearance is in "What If?" #4 (Aug. 1977), an alternate universe umbrella series. A canonical portion of the story reveals that when
Captain America /Steve Rogers andBucky were presumed dead in 1945, U.S. President Truman asks William Naslund, the patriotically costumed Golden Age hero the Spirit of '76, to assume the Captain America role, with a young man named Fred Davis as Bucky. They continue to serve in the same roles after the war with the All-Winners Squad, until theandroid Adam II fatally injures Naslund in 1946. After Naslund's death, Jeff Mace, the Golden Age Patriot, takes over as Captain America, with Davis continuing as Bucky; however, Davis is shot and injured in 1948 and forced to retire. Mace teams up with Betsy Ross, the superheroine Golden Girl, and sometime before 1953 gives up his Captain America identity to marry her. Mace developscancer and dies decades later ("Captain America" #285, Sept. 1983).In 1976, Marvel created another retcon group set in
World War II , theLiberty Legion . This team included two future members of the All-Winners Squad: the Whizzer and Miss America. It was assembled in 1942 by Captain America sidekickBucky , the only Invaders member to escape a brainwashing trap by theRed Skull .Reprints
* "All Winners Comics" #19 (Fall 1946)
**"Fantasy Masterpieces #10 (Aug. 1967)
**"Timely Presents: All-Winners" (hyphen sic; title per reprint indicia), also known as "Timely Comics Presents All Winners Comics" (title per reprint cover) (Dec. 1999)
* "All Winners Comics" #21 (Winter 1946)
**"Marvel Super-Heroes" #17-18 (Nov. 1968 & Jan. 1969)Footnotes
References
* [http://www.geocities.com/jjnevins/aws.html Jess Nevins' All-Winners Squad]
* [http://www.maelmill-insi.de/UHBMCC/ALLWINNE.HTM#S1N21 The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators: "All Winners"]
* "The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe", various eds. ISBN 0-87135-209-5 & ISBN 0-7851-1933-7
* [http://www.comics.org The Grand Comics Database]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.