Dick Dillin — Whirlwind Entrance
Justice League of America #64, August 1968
Continuing our series celebrating Supergirl’s 5thseason premiere on the CW on Sunday.
One of the cool features of all of the DC CW shows is the introduction of supporting characters you would hardly imagine would ever make it into live action TV.
Rip Hunter? Firestorm? Mister Terrific? The Ray? The list goes on… and on… and on.
One such character is Red Tornado, who made it into an early episode of Supergirl. Ok, so he’s a villain… and his backstory definitely veers from much of his retcon continuity in the DCU, but who cares. He certainly looked great.
Red Tornado’s first appearance in his contemporary droid form is in Justice League #64, and this splash – the cover scene — is actually his first rendering in that first appearance issue. More importantly, it’s also the very first JLA appearance of artist Dick Dillin, who went on to draw the series for an astounding 12 years until his untimely death in 1980.
And that cover? One of my all time favorites, enhanced by that unique greenish background, and featuring a full cast of the Justice Society. It jumped out at you on the spinner racks 50 years ago, and still does today.
