Crimebuster
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Post by Crimebuster on Feb 13, 2017 21:09:44 GMT -5
Here's a new review thread where I dig into some runs that I have never read before. My expectations are pretty low, so hopefully yours are too, because if I don't enjoy this stuff I'm going to bail midstream and start on the next run instead. I've got a few in the queue, but we're going to start with a run I finished a couple years ago now but for some reason never got around to actually reading: The Invaders. Giant-Size Invaders #1 My copy isn't signed by Roy Thomas, for what it's worth, but he did write it. This issue also features art by the eternally divisive Frank Robbins, so it should be interesting. Synopsis: The story is pretty run of the mill. We get introduced to Master Man, who is a Nazi version of Captain America. Those ratzis are working hard to replicate the formula, but they haven't figured it out yet, so they are kidnapping folks who worked on the original Cap project to beat the secrets out of them. One mistake: they already shot the only guy who knew how to make it work back in Captain America Comics #1, so Master Man has a fatal flaw: like Hourman, his powers only last a limited time, then he needs to undergo the process again. This is handy, because he wipes the floor with Cap, Bucky, Human Torch, Toro, and Namor before randomly losing his powers. That group then beats him easily, before being convinced to team up for the duration of the war by Wintson Churchill himself. To be continued!! My Notes: So, it's supposed to be continued in Giant-Size Invaders #2, but that was never published. Apparently sales were strong enough that they just graduated to a regular series right away. The story isn't particularly interesting, but it is interesting how Roy works very hard to capture the characterization of these heroes as they were in the original Golden Age comics. This is especially noticeable in the way he writes Namor, which bears no resemblance to the modern MU Namor. This makes Robbins's throwback art style even more fitting, as it feels very Golden Age indeed. The result for me was a comic that was more of an intellectual curiosity as a fan of comics history than a particularly compelling story. Of course, that can be said of a lot of Roy's middle of the road comics; he also gives in to his own interest in general history with a one page recap of the events leading up to the U.S. entering World War II, and with his inclusion of Winston Churchill in the story. It's also interesting a precursor to Roy's work on All-Star Squadron. But as an actual comic in its own right? Ehhhh... My Grade: B- |
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Crimebuster
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Post by Crimebuster on Feb 13, 2017 21:21:30 GMT -5
Invaders #1 Synopsis: The team shows up in England and fights some German planes. That hakes half the issue. They then run into an amnesiac German woman with a magic ring who thnks she might know the location of Brain Drain, who was name-checked in the last issue. The Invaders shrug, jump in Namor's high tec jet plane, and fly to Germany with her as a guide. When they arrive, though, the plane is shot down by a flying axe belonging to Donar, God of Thunder! Whuh-huh? My Notes: the team fights over the name in the opening pages, giving a fairly bad explanation why they are called the Invadfers - Churchill gave them the name last issue and they can't agree on anything better - but at least it's something. Almost nothing happens in this issue, which can be chalked up in part to the fact that it was originally intended to be part of Giant-Size INvaders #2, so the pacing is off. Do we need 10 pages of the team fighting German bombers? No, I don't think we do. Donar is only slightly more convincing as a Thor knockoff than Wandjina was in Justice league of America #87. My Grade: C
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Crimebuster
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Post by Crimebuster on Feb 13, 2017 21:36:31 GMT -5
Invaders #2 Synopsis: The team fights Donar and his pals, who seem to be some sort of old german gods. They aren't. Instead, Captain America takes the amnesiac lady and her magic ring into a cave where they get captured by Nazis and discover a secret lab run by Brain Drain, who is a brain in a jar atop a robotic body. The "gods" are aliens who he enslaved using their own magic ring, but the girl got away and ran for help. Now those gods are about to defeat the Invaders, except... well, Brain Drain is a total idiot, living up to his name. See, he's in love with the woman, only the ring doesn't work on her, so in a jealous rage, he decides to use the ring to kill the other three aliens. This makes them easy prey for the Invaders. The girl then grabs the ring, chucks it into a volcano or something, then all the aliens commit suicide rather than be stuck on Earth with these primitive dipshits. Brain Drain jumps in after them because his robot lust for the woman overrrides his critical thinking skills. The Invaders fly off, scratching their heads at WTF just happened. My notes: It said at the end of #1 that the book was going to be bi-monthly, but sales must have been even better than they hoped, because with #2 it's already monthly. That was fast! from Giant-Size special, to regular ongoing series, to monthly in three issues. There's a hilarious panel where Captain America and Hilda take refuge in a cave they don't know is filled with Nazis, and Roy has a footnote apologizing to Sgt. Rock for stealing his cover schtick. That was almost worth the price of the comic. Otherwise... eh. We get more classic Roy stuff, weaving esoteric ideas and mythology into his stories, but it's also undermined - as his stories sometimes are - by those ideas not really intersecting with the main characters of the book. It's like a Dungeon Master who gets too caught up telling the stories of his own NPCs. The Invaders were basically just helpless witnesses to the drama playing out between the Nazis and the aliens, and had nothing to do with the story except watch it unfold. I accomplished as much by reading the comic as the Invaders themselves did. So, that's not optimal. My Grade: C.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2017 22:15:42 GMT -5
I bought many of Roy's stories set during WW II. I enjoyed them. All Star Squadron was his best work IMO.
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 13, 2017 22:44:57 GMT -5
I'm a little more forgiving of GS Invaders #1 and the first issue. I dug the heck out of these guys actually having the adventures that used to be depicted only on those Alex Schomburg covers. That said, it takes Roy a little while to really get into the groove on the Invaders. By issue 4, with U-Man, I thought he was starting to hit his stride, then things get interrupted by the Red Skull and the formation of the Liberty Legion, with the Timely B-listers (and some C listers). Issue 7 gets it back on track and I felt the series grooved right along up until about issue 20 or so, with a couple of interruptions.
This is actually one of my 70s favorites (for about half its run, rea;;y) and I was going to cover it, at some point; but, what the hey. Count me in the camp of those who liked Robbins. I even liked the guy's art on Batman (his writing was always good on the book) and even liked him on Captain America, though the stories aren't that good. Here, though, his cartoony style hasa real Golden Age feel to it and he gets the period details right, from the uniforms and fashions, to the vehicles and the atmosphere. It feels like the 40s. I also liked the way he had Cap dive into crowds of Nazis, Namor tearing up machinery and slugging it out with Master Man, his little wrist and ankle buckles and straps (based on the style of combat boots, at the time). Theart is dynamic and frenzied and it fits the style of things. I also thought Roy was doing a pretty good job of keeping it lively, for those first two years. All-Star Squadron is probably better written; but, Invaders was always more fun, to me.
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Crimebuster
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Post by Crimebuster on Feb 13, 2017 22:57:48 GMT -5
I also thought Roy was doing a pretty good job of keeping it lively, for those first two years. All-Star Squadron is probably better written; but, Invaders was always more fun, to me. The older I get, the less interested I am in slam-bang action, and the more interested I am in character stuff. One reason I like All-Star Squadron as much as I do is that with some of the second stringers taking center stage, Roy was able to do some interesting character work. I'm worried that he's not going to have the chance here with this line-up, and it's going to all be plot-driven action stuff. I'm hoping the introduction of characters like Spitfire and Union Jack to the book will give him a chance to do more character work than he otherwise might be able to. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 13, 2017 23:24:53 GMT -5
I also thought Roy was doing a pretty good job of keeping it lively, for those first two years. All-Star Squadron is probably better written; but, Invaders was always more fun, to me. The older I get, the less interested I am in slam-bang action, and the more interested I am in character stuff. One reason I like All-Star Squadron as much as I do is that with some of the second stringers taking center stage, Roy was able to do some interesting character work. I'm worried that he's not going to have the chance here with this line-up, and it's going to all be plot-driven action stuff. I'm hoping the introduction of characters like Spitfire and Union Jack to the book will give him a chance to do more character work than he otherwise might be able to. I think the character stuff is there, particularly after the introduction of Union Jack. We get Torch dealing with attraction and jealousy, some interesting stuff with Warrior Woman, when she is introduced and discovers that the Fuhrer is more interested in her as breeding stock for ubermensch than her talents, and some interesting family stuff with the Falsworth clan. I like the character stuff, too; but, one of the attractions for me, then and later, was that these books felt like those classic 60s WW2 action films, like Where Eagles Dare and the Guns of Navarone, with superheroes. I still love those movies and these comics still hit those buttons, for me. Thomas also does a lot of commentary on elements of the time and the war. He goes on a stint of introducing analogues to the Avengers, which includes the Golem, as a stand-in for the Hulk. In so doing, he looks at life for the Jews in the ghettos. Later, he tackles the Nisei internment camps. I do agree that he went more down that route in All-Star Squadron (you just can't abbreviate that title); but, I think part of that was his reverence for the original JSA material, vs making it up here, to match those covers, since the heroes didn't interact in stories, until the All-Winners Squad (apart from the earlier Torch and Namor battle). Really, with both teams, I think Roy is thematically faithful to those publishers' GA books. Timely was more about action, with only a small handful of memorable characters and a lot of rip-offs, while DC had the grander tales with the big time heroes. Timely was pulpier, DC brighter. Thomas seemed faithful to that. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Feb 14, 2017 15:09:22 GMT -5
I also thought Roy was doing a pretty good job of keeping it lively, for those first two years. All-Star Squadron is probably better written; but, Invaders was always more fun, to me. The older I get, the less interested I am in slam-bang action, and the more interested I am in character stuff. One reason I like All-Star Squadron as much as I do is that with some of the second stringers taking center stage, Roy was able to do some interesting character work. I'm worried that he's not going to have the chance here with this line-up, and it's going to all be plot-driven action stuff. I'm hoping the introduction of characters like Spitfire and Union Jack to the book will give him a chance to do more character work than he otherwise might be able to. I have the entire All SS run and found it harder to read the last time I picked up. Too wordy or too slow, I'm not sure which. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Feb 14, 2017 15:11:04 GMT -5
Also, I have the entire Invaders series and find it jarring to see the beautiful Romita SR. Covers as compared to the interiors.
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 14, 2017 15:14:53 GMT -5
I bought many of Roy's stories set during WW II. I enjoyed them. All Star Squadron was his best work IMO. I totally agree! All-Star Squadron is competing for the honor of being my all-time favorite DC title, and while The Invaders wasn't as good, I still found it very enjoyable. Roy Thomas' love of and knowledge of both Golden Age comics and WWII really shows through in both titles. |
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 14, 2017 15:18:17 GMT -5
I also thought Roy was doing a pretty good job of keeping it lively, for those first two years. All-Star Squadron is probably better written; but, Invaders was always more fun, to me. The older I get, the less interested I am in slam-bang action, and the more interested I am in character stuff. One reason I like All-Star Squadron as much as I do is that with some of the second stringers taking center stage, Roy was able to do some interesting character work. I, too, have become more interested in character driven stories than straight up action as I get older, and I also agree with your reasoning on All-Star Squadron. I also felt like I was getting two history lesson in one while reading it - one on Golden Age DC comics and one on World War II. Plus, I love large lineups, and the art was always good even though the artist seemed to change a lot. |
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 14, 2017 15:21:10 GMT -5
Oh, and while I did enjoy Thomas' work on this title (I read the first 35 issues plus Giant Size #1 a few years ago) I also did not like Robbins' art. Not my style at all. As far as Thomas, I thought he did a pretty good job as far as characterization though I'll say I still liked All-Star Squadron better.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2017 16:39:12 GMT -5
I bought many of Roy's stories set during WW II. I enjoyed them. All Star Squadron was his best work IMO. I totally agree! All-Star Squadron is competing for the honor of being my all-time favorite DC title, and while The Invaders wasn't as good, I still found it very enjoyable. Roy Thomas' love of and knowledge of both Golden Age comics and WWII really shows through in both titles. I liked All Star Squadron more because: 1) I think it had better art. 2) It had a large cast. 3) I like DC's Golden Age > Marvel's Golden Age.
However I was ecstatic reading Invaders because I was not as familiar with Marvel's Golden Age as I was with DC's. DC had reprints in their Giant sized issues that were from all eras whereas Marvel usually just focused on reprinting their early Silver Age stuff back in the 70's. That has changed with Marvel reprinting more of their Golden Age stuff.
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 15, 2017 8:34:02 GMT -5
I totally agree! All-Star Squadron is competing for the honor of being my all-time favorite DC title, and while The Invaders wasn't as good, I still found it very enjoyable. Roy Thomas' love of and knowledge of both Golden Age comics and WWII really shows through in both titles. I liked All Star Squadron more because: 1) I think it had better art. 2) It had a large cast. 3) I like DC's Golden Age > Marvel's Golden Age.
However I was ecstatic reading Invaders because I was not as familiar with Marvel's Golden Age as I was with DC's. DC had reprints in their Giant sized issues that were from all eras whereas Marvel usually just focused on reprinting their early Silver Age stuff back in the 70's. That has changed with Marvel reprinting more of their Golden Age stuff.
Yup, I agree with all of this. |
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Post by The Captain on Feb 15, 2017 8:55:24 GMT -5
I read the entire Invaders run a couple of years back, and my feeling on it was "meh".
There wasn't anything bad about it, but it never seemed better than just average output. No memorable stories, no memorable moments.
One thing I do remember being pretty poor were the later issues with Bucky and the other teen heroes Human Top and Golden Girl. Uninspired end-of-the-series crap that was desperately trying to find any kind of audience, but it was just no good.
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