Storm Birds

Mike Gallaher wrote to tell me about Blackhawk imitators called the Storm Birds, created by famed comics author Alan Moore. I am not sure, but it seems these characters never actually appeared in a comic. They were part of a major project called 'Judgement Day' that Moore had planned but did not produce. Unfortunately, the only referece Mike could find is an interview with Moore conducted by Steve Johnson in 1997, in which Moore mentions the Storm Birds along with a host of other characters. Here's the mention:

Well, we've got them, but then again most of those existed previously, but those of the '60's characters like Spice Hunter, The Fisherman and Skipper. There was Black Baron, Uncle Agent, Mark Time the dome engineer, there were the Conquerors of the Uncanny, and of course who could forget the Storm Birds, the fighting aviators of that period.

UPDATE: Chris Elam sent me the following information and the picture at right:

Regarding the Stormbirds entry, let me give you a better idea of what Alan Moore was doing. He had taken over writing Image's SUPREME with #41, shortly before Rob Liefeld was forced out of the company. After that happened, Liefeld took all his titles to his own Maximum Press label. All of his publishing efforts later moved to the new "Awesome Entertainment", which had many ups and downs and is more or less defunct now.

ANYWAY, Moore took the Supreme character (another neo-Superman type) and proceeded to build a mythos around him that echoed the Golden and Silver Age Superman. He reworked other characters in Liefeld's stable and created new ones very influenced by DC's favorites.The decision was made to launch a mini-series that would create a "history" for the new Awesome line. Many characters were created for JUDGMENT DAY, which WAS published and used a murder trial to set up this new history.

The Stormbirds were created for this series, but I think they (or rather their leader) first appeared in SUPREME. I can't recall the team itself ever appearing. I went through my comics and here is the breakdown I can offer you.

SUPREME #48 - first appearance in a cameo shot
#49 - appears in a few panels and has a bit of dialogue ; his group is reported to be back at "Stormbird Mountain" at the end (FYI - the "Conquerors of the Uncanny" had an HQ on "Conqueror Island")
#50 - no appearance - dialogue in a news report says that "Jim Stormbird" and his men reported for duty at the U.N.
#52a (#52b is a separate issue - long story) - appearance in one panel? (art is unclear)
JUDGMENT DAY Alpha (#1) - brief mention
Omega (#2) - appears on front and back cover, but ONLY on copies with variant Dave Gibbons cover (each issue of this series had multiple covers ; I think the group's planes appear on this and the previous issue's Gibbons cover, too)
JUDGMENT DAY #3 - one panel cameo

Most of the art in these books is so-so at best, being done by Liefeld or someone trying to ape him (there is some good art here and there though). The best picture I can find for you of Stormbird is the design sketch by Rick Veitch that appeared in COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE around 97 or so. I have scanned this pic (I had cut it out, so I can't tell you the precise issue) for you to use if you want.

I hope you can make some sense of this rather convoluted batch of information. For the record, his first full appearance would be SUPREME #49, with #48 being his first appearance. I hope this info proves helpful for your site.

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