The Golden Agency (the Justice Society of the Squadron Supreme's world), homage to All-Star Comics #3

New - and somewhat unusual - commission: the debut of The Golden Agency, homaging Everett E Hibbard's cover to All-Star Comics #3, as depicted by Stephen Baskerville.

Ever since Mark Gruenwald hinted at the 1940s team on the Squadron Supreme's world in his mid-1980s maxi-series, I've been intrigued with the possible membership over and above those characters who have been identified - and I finally got to the point where I was comfortable enough with my ideas to get a commission done.

In no particular order, the characters shown are:

- American Eagle, created by Roy Thomas and John Buscema in Avengers #85, and revealed to be a Golden Agency member in the Squadron Supreme maxi-series;
- Power Princess, created by J.M. DeMatteis and Don Perlin in Defenders #112 - identified as part of the team in the same series (yes, she's in the Atom's slot - he was problematic to replace, and Power Princess had to appear in the initial line-up);
- Professor Imam, created by Gruenwald and Paul Neary in Captain America #314, similarly identified as a Golden Agency stalwart in the Squadron Supreme series;
- The Apparition is mention in Len Kaminski's Squadron Supreme: New World Order one-off, but never seen on-panel (or formally confirmed as a team member) - but since he's clearly meant to be an analog of the Spectre, he felt like a good choice. With no visualisation, I relied on the fact that "apparition" and "vision" are near-synonyms, and decided that the other-dimensional Simon and Kirby character The Vision would have been a regular member of the Golden Agency as well as an occasional team-mate of the Invaders;
- The Golden Marvel is my alternate take on the 1950s Marvel Boy, created by Stan Lee and Russ Heath, with his father, Professor Grayson, presumably having undertaken his anachronistic rocket flight after WW1 rather than in the late 1930s, and his son, armed with Uranian power-bands, having come back to Earth in 1940 to battle the Nazis rather than in 1950 to face "the Reds". He's the stand-in for Green Lantern;
- Mercury, again from Simon and Kirby, debuted in Red Raven Comics #1 - and a visually-identical character called the Hurricane then appeared in the first 10 or so issue of Captain America. The two characters were retconned as alternate identities of the Eternal Makarri in Marvel Universe #6 - and a Golden Age speedster with unique winged headgear (and, unseen in this picture, footwear) was the obvious choice to replace the Flash;
- Father Time, created by Stan Lee and Al Avison in an early issue of Captain America, substitutes for Hourman, on the basis of similar clock-related names. I've cheated a bit by using the costume he wore in Captain America #383, rather than the original hooded-cloak-and-shorts garb; and finally
- Copperhead initially appeared as a villain in Daredevil #124, by Wein, Wolfman and Colan - but inspired by a published-in-the-Marvel-Universe pulp character with trenchcoat and hat, distinctive face mask, and dart gun, so he seemed similar enough to the Wesley Dodds Sandman to fill his slot.

At some point in the future I might work out a follow-up, with later members (Shroud? Mockingbird? the 1950s Comet?) - but no promises, so I hope you enjoy this one!