Dick Giordano's Cover Art

The cover of this book was illustrated by the late, great Dick Giordano. It was actually commissioned by Roy Thomas a few years ago when Roy and Jim Amash had originally begun planning the book together. Due to his schedule, Roy had to back out of the project, but since the cover was already in house and everyone liked it, it remained as the cover.

Regrettably, I never drew the connection between this art and the issue from which it drew inspiration: All-Star Comics #4. Roy pointed this out to me after the Companion's publication. At some point there was also talk of redrawing Uncle Sam's hand to come in front of the building, which would have been less true to the original cover's art.

Here Dick drew mostly the Freedom Fighters characters, with a Blackhawk plane in the sky and Plastic Man for good measure. Dick himself was a part of the Freedom Fighters' creation. He inked their first appearance in Justice League of America #107 (1973). The cover of that issue was drawn by Nick Cardy. Cardy also drew quite a significant amount for Quality in the 1940s. His most iconic creation was Quicksilver (now called Max Mercury). Read the interview by Jim Amash in Alter Ego #65 (Feb. 2007). I was lucky enough to find the owner of the original art for that cover, which is reprinted in the book too!

UPDATE: I added another contender—Hendrickson's daughter Elsa—to the list of Lady Blackhawks.

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