Writer – Roy Thomas
Penciler – Jerry Ordway
Inker – Jerry Ordway
Colours – Gene D’Angelo
Letterer – John Costanza
Brainwave still holds the JSA hostage, still has them dreaming dreams of glory and death and will proceed to kill them unless the Squadron accepts his challenge. Suffice it to say there is not much else they can do but play along with his little game. Soon the All-Star Squadron are having visions of their own, facing off against the enemy forces in 1942 and one by one they start dying. While this is going down we are treated to Brainwave’s origin story and the JSA are put through their paces even further. It all comes down to Green Lantern, and his power might be more than Brainwave reckoned for. This was a pretty good follow-up to last issue and concludes the two part story by Roy Thomas and Jerry Ordway and is actually better than the last book. There was a lot of action to be found and it was surprising a little, that in the end after the Squadron went in to save the JSA members, it was Green Lantern who ended up saving everyone. The saddest part of the entire book, or books even, was seeing all of the Squadron and JSA members falling in battle in various ways. At least they went out fighting the good fight. Also of interest is how much Roy Thomas can make even the worst character intriguing, in this case, Brainwave. He has a terrible name which is probably the most off-putting thing about him but his origin was fairly enjoyable and it is a credit to Roy’s ability to make it so. Great stuff per usual, but not the best story to have appeared in the book up until this point.
4 out of 5
Categories: Comics, Issue by Issue
The Telltale Mind 
Confession: I’ve never even heard of Brainwave. Cool that the writer managed to make him stand out and exceed over what you would have expected though. This story sounds like a lot of fun!
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Recently just discovered your blog — I had pleasure to meet Roy Thomas — at the Kansas City Comicon, Aug. 20th 2021, he’s one the kindest people! After signing many issues (All-Star Squadron #1 & telling me that’s his all-time favorite cover, Last Days of the JSA Special, Infinity Inc. #1, etc.) with 30 people waiting in line, Roy spent all the time in the world explaining backstories & how recently got in touch with DC to revive All-Star Squadron — keeping our Golden Age Heroes just like they were meant to be & told DC “let’s be real…it won’t sell any worse than what you guys have on the market now” & DC said no!! Unbelievable
With all that said, I still have my collection & the issue you highlighted “Green Lantern Wins The War – But At What Price?” on the cover is easily one of my top 3 All-Star Squadron issues…real thought & deep meaning reminding us our favorite heroes are human.
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Nice! One of my absolute favourite series.
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Recently just discovered your blog — I had pleasure to meet Roy Thomas — at the Kansas City Comicon, Aug. 20th, he’s one the kindest people! After signing many issues (All-Star Squadron #1 & telling me that’s his all-time favorite cover, Last Days of the JSA Special, Infinity Inc. #1, etc.) with 30 people waiting in line, Roy spent all the time in the world explaining backstories & how recently got in touch with DC to revive All-Star Squadron — keeping our Golden Age Heroes just like they were meant to be & told DC “let’s be real…it won’t sell any worse than what you guys have on the market now” & DC said no!! Unbelievable
With all that said, I still have my collection & the issue you highlighted “Green Lantern Wins The War – But At What Price?” on the cover is easily one of my top 3 All-Star Squadron issues…real thought & deep meaning reminding us our favorite heroes are human.
LikeLiked by 1 person