Comics Buyer's Guide used to have "Retro-Views" and Comic Shop News has its "Back Issue Beauties." I don't know what to call them, but I love posting about favorite old comics series. (I'd say 1997 qualifies as "old" in 2024; YMMV.) Judgement Day is the first offering from Rob Liefeld's "Awesome Entertainment" but don't worry; it's actually written by Alan Moore and does, in fact, border on "awsome" if I may say so. It is presented in four parts: Judgment Day: Alpha, Judgment Day: Omega, Judgment Day: Final Judgment and Judgment Day: Aftermath. Judgment Day: Aftermath is basically Alan Moore's standalone tribute to Gil Kane (much as Supreme: The Return #6 was his standalone tribute to Jack Kirby), but the other three issues are nothing less than the creation of an entire comic book universe from whole cloth Alan Moore's own version of Kurt Busiek's Astro City. It's fun to try to determine the comic book antecedants. For example (in the order in whuich they are introduced)...
1868: Western heores Kid Thunder, the Brimstone Kid, Nighteagle, the Lonesome Rider and Deliverance Drue.
436: Bram the Berserk
1943: Battlin' Baron and his Roarin' Roughnecks, the Iron Cross, the stormbirds, Super-Patriot, the Phantom Aviator and Agent America
1918: Zantar, White God of the Congo
530: The Winter Knight
...and those are just in the first issue! Moore also introduces/develops such characters/concepts as Awesome's pantheon of gods, the Spectrum Sea (a.k.a. the "Chromocean"), the League if Infinity, Dr. Daniel "Blacky" Conqueror and the Conquerors of the Uncanny, Giganthro (Son of the Dawn), the Troll, Captain Compass, the Black Corsair, Maximage, Storybook Smith (the Literary Lawman) and the Allied Superman of America.
The story begins when Riptide, a member of Youngblood, is murdered in her room and another member, Knightsabre, is implicated. He is brought to trial in Supreme's floating citadel and all the world's heroes have gathered to see justice prevail. Through the course of the trial, a mysterious book which somehow links all of the heroic events in history, appears to be the only means of finding the truth. I remebered that Knightsabre was not guilty, but it had been so long since I've read it that I had forgotten who the real killer was, and the ending came as a complete surprise to me. This series (or tpb) is well worth reading if you can find it.
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Wait, didn't Captain Compass aready exist at DC Comics? Yeah, HERE HE IS.
I already know that Supreme was Liefeld's swipe of Superman, Glory was Wonder Woman and Roman was Namor. I knew there were many other swipes in his universe, and it looks from the names that Moore is continuing the trend, although all the sites I research refer to them as homages. I can guess some of them:
Kid Thunder: Ghost Rider? I only say that because of the full-face mask. He wears it because he's Black, so maybe he's more like Reno Jones, Gunhawk.
Brimstone Kid: Looks like Two-Gun Kid, but really, aren't all the '50s white Western characters from pretty much all publishers pretty interchangeable? He could also stand in for Kid Colt, Two-Gun Kid, Ringo Kid, Thunder Twins, Outlaw Kid, etc.
Nighteagle: ?
Lonesome Rider: ILone Ranger?
Deliverance Drue: Solomon Kane
Bram the Berserker: Conan, probably. But maybe with bits of Kull and Bran Mak Morn.
Battlin' Baron and his Roarin' Roughnecks: Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandoes? Sgt. Rock and Easy Company?
Iron Cross: Enemy Ace?
The Stormbirds: ?
Super-Patriot: Captain America
Phantom Aviator: Phantom Eagle
Agent America: ?
Zantar, White God of the Congo: Tarzan
Winter Knight: Black Knight or Silent Knight, maybe with bits of Shining Knight.
I couldn't find image for most of these, so it's mostly guesswork. You read the book, Jeff -- can you ID these homages for us?
Many of these are pastiches (such as Bram the Berserker, as you point out), and some of them are only mentioned (which accounts for why you couldn't find images of them), leaving it up to the reader to infer which character(s) Moore had ion mind. I agree with all of your guesses, with a few comments below.
Old West Characters: The character referred to as "Kid Thunder" is the one who looks like Ghost Rider, and the one referred to as the "Brimstone Kid" is the one who looks like a Kid Colt/Two-Gun Kid/Ringo Kid pastiche. Many of these characters are give logos as their characters are introduced, and the one given here is "Kid Thunder" (in Rawhide Kid font). but it's the one I think should be Kid Thunder who's referring to the character who looks like Ghost Rider. I tend to chalk that one up to some sort of production error; it would be so obvious the other way around. Another possibility for the "Ghost Rider" character is the Atlas/Seaboard's Grim Ghost. "Nighteagle" is Native American, so I'm going to guess Red Wolf. "Lonesome Rider" might even be the Masked Raider, Timely's own Lone Ranger swipe from Marvel Comics #1.
The Stormbirds: They are not pictured, only mentioned, but I'm thinking the Blackhawks.
Agent America: I don't know, but there are certainly enough Golden Age "patriotic" heroes to go around.
I agree with all your other guesses, but I tend to think of them more as "homages" than "swipes", as I do with Kut Busiek's characters from Astro City. But Supreme, Glory, Roman, et al? Definitely swipes.
I thought of a couple more things to say about Judgment Day. For one thing, I neglected to mention that each flashback sequnce is illustrated by a different artist, among them Keith Giffen, Dan Jurgens,Steve Skroce, Jim Starlin and Terry & Rachel Dodson. The tpb collection mentions just Rob Liefeld and Gil Kane... not even Alan Moore!
Gil Kane appears as "himself" (or his own avatar, "Kane") throughout Judgment Day: Aftermath.
"Through the wonder-haunted fathoms of idea space, the freelance Imagineer descends, his inkjets leaving elegant black aftertrails on the hallucinating void. Below him hangs the Concept-Generator Station, one of many in imaginary space, where waits his next assignment. This platform, Awesomnia, is newly built and utilizes many new technologies, but the Imagineer remains assured behind his Benday screens. In the Imagineering Corps he is acknowledged as a Master, and has worked these radient latitudes for decades now. His name... is Kane!"
Kane is tasked with creating six different stories in six different genres, all of which he renders exquisitely, set within a framing sequence. The story is chock-full of inside references and Easter eggs. the story ends with...
"Once, long ago, a tale processed had portrayed him as a prisoner of this imaginary realm. If so, no freedom ever was so sweet... for he is master of the Mind-Skies, Mariner of Epic tides. His name... is KANE!"
...a clear reference to "His Name is... Cain KANE!" from DC's supernatural anthology House of Mystery #180 (June 1969).
I'd think both are references to His Name Is ... Savage, by Gil Kane, in 1968.
Yeah, but, "Once, long ago, a tale processed had portrayed him as a prisoner of this imaginary realm"? That's the plot of "His Name is... Kane" exactly. Plus, y'know, the name is identical.