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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 15, 2024 22:53:38 GMT -5
Marvels Project #5 I chose the Steve Epting variant cover over the Steve McNiven main cover...  It just has such an artificial quality to it, like it was generated by a computer, based on minimal inputs, like blond hair and the basic contours of the uniform. Epting's is more dynamic and has more of a classic painted quality, like you would get from a pulp novel cover or other magazine illustration. Creative Team: Ed Brubaker-writer, Steve Epting-art, VC's Chris Eliopoulis-letters, Dave Stewart-colors, Tom Brevoort-editor, Joe Quesada-busy with wartime production Synopsis: Brubaker claims it is still 1940, so it must be the very end based on it being Fall, before and Cap debuting with a cover date of December 1940. Anyway, we know what happens...Steve gulps down a steroid smoothy, he tries out a proto-type tanning bed and badda-bing, badda-boom, he suddenly gets abs and a chest and the girls all swoon (keeping this PG). And then Kruger shoots Dr Erskine.....  Steve tosses Kruger into something electrical and we have fried Ratzi. Erskine dies and the secret to his formula dies with him. Steve is one of a kind (except for all of the other super soldiers that will pop up) and is trained by experts to be the perfect fighting man....  ....except karate was relatively unknown in the West, until after the Occupation of Japan. Steve gets word that General Phillips wants to see him. Meanwhile, Maj Kerfoot, aka Professor Hamilton, has fled his apartment, one step ahead of Federal agents, and faked his death with a car bomb. However, he is a wanted man and he sees eyes everywhere and wants to get back to Germany faster than you can say " Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften" His security man turns up at his safe house and says the formula is in Germany, being replicated. He asks Kerfoot if they have all of the notes and Kerffot says he may have written some stuff in a notebook, but he isn't sure. The security guy isn't happy. Kerffot asks when he gets to go home and the security guy answers by snapping his neck (good luck actually doing that, with just human arms). He orders his goons to dispose of the body and clear all of his books for shipment to Germany. The Angel continues his investigation of Kerfoot and finds his apartment building under military guard. He tries using the dock track that led to Phantom Bullet's death, to locate the German spy ring. He uses the Wayne Method of Questioning....  He follows another lead with a reporter, from the Daily Bugle, who has info that is being suppressed, that Erskine was killed by Nazi agents and it has something to do with mystery men, and that Hitler is creating his own. We cut to Occupied France and meet Hitler's first costumed soldier, Der Rote Schadel.....  He ist not a nice mensch, ja? The villagers were killed in reprisal for the Sky Devils and John Steele, operating somewhere in the area. He wants information. The villagers plead ignorance and Herr Schadel orders the children to be separated from the rest and lined up against the wall. Later, Steele, Fury and the rest come through the village and find everyone dead, as a warning to those who aid resistance fighters. Steele vows to kill Der Rote Schadel mitt his bare hands. Fury tells him that the Sky Devils are returning home. The Sky Devils have been ordered back to England and Fury has been summoned to the US, by Lt Sawyer. Steele suggests it is because of what their activities have caused; but, Fury pleads ignorance. Steele says he is staying, to fight the good fight and avenge the dead. Meanwhile, outside Berlin, at a secure facility, Drs Bruder and Berstein continue work on rebuilding the Super Soldier Formula. In the United States, Steve Rogers puts on a new uniform, while contemplating reports of other heroes who have appeared, like the speedster Hurricane and the Thin Man. A new hero is about to join them....  The Angel has traced the spy ring to a warehouse and he arrives to find Captain America following the same intel, from government sources. Cap isn't one for skulking in shadows....  The Angel observes, amazed by the speed and efficiency of Captain America's movements and his fighting skills. He tears through the Nazis with ease, though the security man grabs a Tommy Gun and moves into shadows. He starts to leave the warehouse, but the Angel sees him and chases him down and nearly gets a Chicago Special for his trouble, but Captain America is there to save him, with his shield. A stray round hits Angel in the thigh and Cap tells him to stay down and apply pressure to the wound. Angel tells him he is a doctor and can take care of himself, but to get the security man. Cap recognizes the Angel from newspaper accounts. They share some intel and Captain America introduces himself to the Angel. He moves off to hunt for the escaped Nazi. The Angel realizes that the world has changed, forever. Thoughts: This one is basically centered around the birth of Captain America, as we get a quick recap of the climactic moment of Operation Rebirth and the death of Dr Erskine. Kerfoot is killed by his own people, to cover their tracks, but the Angel tracks them down, as does the new Captain America. meanwhile, The Red Skull makes his appearance in Europe, except, like the other cowardly killers, he saves his bullets for innocent bystanders, rather than face real soldiers on the battlefield. Nick Fury heads back home, but John Steele stays to take out the Red Skull and learn more about why he is hard to kill. The later stuff is mainly the Angel doing investigative work and Captain America making his dramatic debut, capturing the dynamic fights for which he was known, under the pencils and pens of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, as later fleshed out by Kirby and those that followed, in the 60s and 70s (and 80s). The motorcycle is largely an homage to the Republic serial, where Captain America rode a motorcycle, though he also carried a pistol and had no shield. That got incorporated more in later tellings of his origin and debut, by Roger Stern & John Byrne and Fabian Nicieza& Kevin Maguire, in The Adventures of Captain America, which also fleshed out the Red Skull and added other German agents of terror. The ed Skull and John Steel sequences expand upon what we saw in Tales of Suspense, when Cap retold stories of the war, to The Avengers. There, we saw an updated origin of the Red Skull as being handpicked by Hitler, as lowly bellhop, who was a failure at everything and filled with hatred and jealousy, just like Hitler and the rest of his cronies. he moulds the Skull into the perfect Nazi, though the Skull's ambitions are beyond Hitler's mad dreams, with his own ideas for conquest. This also filters in real German atrocities during the war, especially the SS carrying out reprisals against innocents, in retaliation for resistance activities. After the murder of Reinhard Heydrich, in Czechoslovakia, Hitler order the random killing of 10,000 Czechs. Cooler ehads persuaded him that Czechoslovakia was too important for war production and it would greatly affect productivity. Instead, two villages, Lidice and Lezaky were virtually obliterated, with men and boys killed in Lidice, while the women were taken to Ravensbruck concentration camp. Al adults in Lezaky were murdered. In France, after the landings in Normandy, the Resistance carried out sabotage an harassment missions, under the direction of the SOE and OSS (with aid from the Jedburg teams and the SAS) to slow the German attempts to reinforce Normandy. They were highly successful at sabotaging rail lines, cutting telephone communications and blocking roads, preventing Panzer and other troops from moving towards Normandy, felling trees and boobytrapping them on roads, laying mines and sabotaging fuel and ammo dumps. The Germans took heavy revenge on the populace, including the massacre of the entire village of Oroadour sur Glane, where 643 men, women and children were either shot or burnt alive and fire was set to the village. The remains of the village were left untouched, as a memorial to the dead and the evil done to them. Civilian deaths during the war occurred for other reasons, as many were caught between sides of battles, as the Allies fought to liberate villages and cities, with massive artillery bombardments, air strikes, and tank and infantry assaults reducing many areas to rubble. Food shortages led to starvation, especially in the Netherlands, during the winter of 1944-45. Malnutrition during that period was a major factor in birth defects, following the war, in The Netherlands. The Allies inflicted high casualties, as flawed bombing and artillery missions resulted in heavy civilian deaths, in some areas, a fact often suppressed for much of a generation. Now that Captain America is on the scene, we speed rapidly towards recounting the birth of the Invaders, which will dominate the remainder of the story, along with the German attempts to create ubermensch. For the curious, that German word (which is in the Guinness Book of World Records, for the longest German word in regular usage) means "insurance companies providing legal protection." Look zat up in yur Funk und Wagnalls!
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 15, 2024 23:27:15 GMT -5
ps Captain America's training in hand-to hand combat. Over the years, this has gotten modernized, to the point of being anachronistic. Based on the time period, Steve Rogers likely training would be centered around the basics of boxing, greco-Roman and catch-as-catch-can wrestling (freestyle), judo and the dirty fighting techniques taught to the commandos and SOE and OSS by Lt Col William Fairbairn. Fairbairn had served with the Shanghai Police, dealing with extensive street fighting between gangs. Fairbarin had studied boxing, wrestling, savate, and jiu jitsu, as well as Chinese styles of martial arts and developed his own style of fighting, which he called Defendu. this is what he taught to allied soldiers and some of his colleagues, like Dermot "Pat" O'Neil, taught to elite units, like the 1st Special Service Force, aka The Black Devils Brigade.
It would look something like this.....
That's jazzed up a little bit, but the basics are sound.
Here is footage of O'Neil training the 1st SSF, as well as some clips of Fairbarn demonstrating facial attacks, with the fingers and palm of the hand, from an OSS training film....
Modern arts, like Krav Maga are basically just renamed versions of these techniques, revolving around attacking vulnerable points on the body, with speed and efficiency.
That's what Cap, in the 1940s, would be all about. The difference is that Captain America's body operates at peak efficiency, which means his speed would be incredible, he would have little wasted motion, would be agile as a cat and be able to deliver focused blows, with the proper training. Given his nature, Steve Rogers would have likely tried to soak up any technique or idea that would aid him and any great fighter he encountered, he would try to learn their secrets. He'd spar with the best boxers, roll with the best wrestlers and judokas on the mat. He'd be following the parkour methods of the most efficient way to scale obstacles (which is all it is, at its heart). He would probably learn savate, which would mesh well with boxing training, giving him kick attacks and defenses.
In many ways, he would be the 1940s Bruce Lee, taking whatever works and discarding the rest, finding his own Jeet Kun Do.
However, in 1940, karate was little known outside of Asia. It came to greater prominence in the 50s and 60s, as soldiers returned from Japan and Korea, having studied karate styles and brought them back to the US, leading to new schools and competitions.
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Post by foxley on Jul 16, 2024 3:15:25 GMT -5
If your a group of secret Nazi operatives working undercover in the US, I'm not sure hanging huge Nazi flags on the walls of your secret base is such a good idea...  Although the Nazis rigid adherence to routine and idolatry of Hitler did work against them in real life. After the British captured an Enigma machine ( not the Americans, despite what that travesty of a movie U-571 claimed. Heaven forfend that Hollywood ever admit that any country other than the USA was involved in the defeat of the Axis), one of the keys to cracking the code was Hitler's birthday. The Brits knew that every German commander would be sending birthday greetings to Berlin. This gave them a huge number of messages, all saying roughly the same thing, to work with and made cracking the code much easier . |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 16, 2024 22:50:15 GMT -5
If your a group of secret Nazi operatives working undercover in the US, I'm not sure hanging huge Nazi flags on the walls of your secret base is such a good idea... Although the Nazis rigid adherence to routine and idolatry of Hitler did work against them in real life. After the British captured an Enigma machine ( not the Americans, despite what that travesty of a movie U-571 claimed. Heaven forfend that Hollywood ever admit that any country other than the USA was involved in the defeat of the Axis), one of the keys to cracking the code was Hitler's birthday. The Brits knew that every German commander would be sending birthday greetings to Berlin. This gave them a huge number of messages, all saying roughly the same thing, to work with and made cracking the code much easier . We weren't at war with Germany, yet, so it could have just been a meeting of a German-American social club. Or a big neon sign that says "NAZI SPIES." Comics aren't known for subtlety. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 17, 2024 15:46:05 GMT -5
Marvels Project #6 Creative Team: Ed Brubaker & Steve Epting-story & art, VC's Chris Eliopoulis-letters, Dave Stewart-colors, Tom Brevoort-editor, Joe Quesada-USO Synopsis: It is now Summer, 1941 and Namor walks the streets of New York, dressed like Mr Spock, on a time travel mission....  Meanwhile, The Human Torch has been busy, busting criminal heads and char-broiling masked super-criminals (or just overly theatrical thieves). he has stopped being a policeman and has gone back to Prof Horton's lab, to find answers about his past and his nature. It's been shut down, but he finds a photo of Horton and his assistant, Fred Raymond and decides to try to trace him, to get answers. he turns up at his Staten Island home and Fred answers the door and is shocked and frightened. Torch pleads his case. Fred responds that if the government knows that Torch is there, they will want to question him and he can't leave his sick wife. A cry comes from upstairs and we see the bedridden Nora, and their son, Tom, who is on fire.....  Torch thinks he somehow caused this and Fred yells at him to get out and he leaves and flies away, in anguish. Meanwhile, in Europe, John Steele has been traveling across France and into Germany, in pursuit of the Red Skull, killing Nazis along the way. he tracks the Skull down to a facility, near Berlin, similar to the one from which he escaped. The Skull is there to supervise the arrest and removal of a Dr Schmitt, who hid the fact that he was half-Jewish.....  Schmitt is hauled away and the Skull address Dr Bruder, suggesting his work will be more efficient, without being encumbered by his former colleague. Schmitt is hauled outside, bashed with rifle butts and dumped into a truck, to be taken to a concentration camp. Steele observes, then infiltrates the main building. From a ventilation shaft, he observes the Skull chastise Bruder for their progress and presents a technical expert he has brought to help them.  In New York, the Torch sits atop the Empire State Building, wondering why the mooring mast peak has ape hair all over it. He contemplates the events and has calmed down and thinks more rationally and has developed questions. How could he have caused the boy and no one else to burst into flame? Why didn't the flame hurt the boy? Why was his father calling him "Bull," in Spanish? If you are in a circular room, with an all-southern exposure, and a bear walks past the window, what color is the bear? He decides to go back to the Raymond household for answers, but Namor decides he wants to play.  Torch attacks, raging at the innocent deaths that Namor has caused and heretorts that the Torch has no idea about innocent deaths. While the Torch and Namor fight overhead, other masked men and women help out below....  Namor knocks Torch into a building and he is hurt. Namor gloats and rages at himm, until someone else draws his attention.....  Cap's shield knocks Namor from the sky. The Torch lands and confers with Captain America, and the future is born.....  Thoughts: So, we come to the recreation of the epic clash between The Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner. Mixed into that is the origin of Toro, which was retconned by Roy Thomas and gets further nuanced here, just as the battle between Namor and the Torch is expanded to show other costumed heroes aiding people devastated by the tidal waves and the entrance of Captain America, to take out Namor, and stop his attack. That adds further dimension to the origin of The Invaders, as now they cross paths sooner, due to Namor's attack, rather than in response to the Nazi attack. We also get more of the mysterious John Steele, the first super-soldier, as he hunts down the Red Skull, to bring vengeance for the slaughtered dead. he stumbles across the Nazi super-soldier research and witnesses the Skull bringing in Meranno, one of Namor's Atlantean people. Astute readers will recognize Meranno as the Unterseamensch, the U-Man, from Invaders #3. Meranno was a power hungry Atlantean, who joined the Nazis to gain power and influence. In Invaders, his strength and speed have been enhanced by Nazi scientists. Now, we see how this occurred. We also get a further glimpse of actual Nazi atrocities. During the rise of the Nazis, Jews were banned from certain professions, including academic and research, despite being experts in their fields, such as in nuclear physics. This led to many fleeing to the West and finding their way into the Manhattan Project and work in American labs and universities, as well as hindering the German projects in these areas, due to racial purging of some of the best men or in redirecting others to more immediate wartime research. Those that did not escape Nazi hands ended up in ghettoes and concentration camps, along with doctors, lawyers, musicians, shopkeepers, skilled workmen and their wives and children, to be butchered like cattle. In many ways, The Red Skull is a stand-in for Reinhard Heydrich, Himmler's right-hand man, head of the Gestapo and the SD (the intelligence wing of the SS) and chief architect of the Holocaust. Heydrich was one of the chief planners of Kristallnacht, when the Sturmabteilung (SA) stormtroopers carried out mass attacks on Jews and Jewish businesses and property, smashing glass windows , looting and setting fire to homes and businesses. He developed the Einsatzgruppen, special troops who carried out executions of Jews, Slavs, Romani, homosexuals, Communists, political prisoners, and whole populations. He was the senior officer in discussions of "The Final Solution," the program of mass extermination off all peoples deemed "undesirable" by the Nazis, through starvation, slave labor and gassing in the death camps. Heydrich was eventually assassinated by Czech resistance fighters, trained by the SOE, for which massive retaliations were carried out, though not to the degree that Hitler initially ordered. Heydrich was portrayed in the 1978 dramatic mini-series, Holocaust, by David Warner. The series tells the story of the Weiss family, German Jews, as the Nazis begin to consolidate power and openly attack Jews and others. It featured a stellar cast, including James Woods, Meryl Streep, David Warner, Ian Holm, Rosemary Harris, Fritz Weaver, Sam Wanamaker, Joseph Bottoms, and Michael Moriarty, as a German lawyer whose wife is initially treated by Dr Weiss, but turns to the SS to gain employment and a fast track to success, eventually falling into Heydrich's inner circle, due to his use of legal argument to rationalize Nazi programs. The series was excellent, with terrific performances and dramatizations of such events as Kristallnacht, the banning of Jews from professions, the early exterminations of mental patients, the development of concentration camps, the expulsion to the ghettoes, the propaganda camp at Theresienstadt, the Warsaw Uprising, the revolt and escape at Sobibor and the efforts to transport survivors to Palestine, after the war, despite British restrictions. The tv series was the subject of some criticism, for making entertainment out of the Holocaust; however, that was largely lodged without having viewed the program. The series uses the Weiss family to provide perspective on key events and elements of the holocaust, while Moriarty's character demonstrates how many came into the Nazi fold and rationalized their part in it. There is a tone of factual detail, within the drama and it is a fine educational tool, to supplement the testimonies of the survivors. We are pretty much now moving into the birth of the Invaders and their earliest missions and plots from that series, including German super soldiers or test subjects who escaped. The modern touches help smooth over some of the rough continuity between the original Timely Comics and the later Marvel retcons, as well as bring them in line with the MCU, as it unfolds to a much bigger audience than comics.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 20, 2024 19:21:55 GMT -5
Marvels Project #7 Okay kid; here's the drill, we want you to go into combat in tights and clumsy buccaneer boots and wear a mask. No chain mail, like Cap, 'cause it will slow you down. No combat boots, either, or hard-wearing utilities. Not even a helmet. Good luck! Creative Team: Ed Brubaker & Steve Epting-story & art, VC's Chris Eliopoulis-letters, Dave Stewart-colors, Tom Brevoort-editor Synopsis: It's late, in 1941, and Namor sits in a cell. The government thinks he is a foreign agent, but he ain't talkin'. Elsewhere, at a place that makes Hell look like a resort, another birth is happening....  Professor Schmitt, the scientist removed from the super soldier project, is languishing in a concentration camp. He meets an Englishman, who is a political prisoner, under the name Keen Marlowe, but who is secretly Brian Falsworth, the son of the World War 1 British hero, Union Jack......  Brian had been sent into Europe, undercover, but was seized by the Nazis, after being betrayed, by a source. professor Schmitt sees a chance at revenge and the pair break into an experimental lab, within the camp and mix a rudimentary version of the super soldier formula. Brian drinks it down and it is touch and go; but, he comes through, better, stronger, faster. Guards burst in and he fights, killing them, but not before they hit Schmitt. Brian carried Schmitt out of the lab and lept over the perimeter fence and disappeared into the woods beyond, burying the professor with his bare hands. Brian vowed to return and would turn up again, as a Destroyer......  At another location in Germany, a castle, John Steele scales the outer wall and sneaks past the sentries, finally finding a place to observe a meeting between the Red Skull and a Japanese officer. The Japanese bows to the Skull and Steele ponders the meaning of it. he goes skulking through the castle and finds the Skull's office, with maps and communiques. Steele can't read German, but he recognizes maps of Washington DC and of Hawaii and their names in dispatches. It appears they are preparing an attack on the US, from two sides. It must have something to do with the blue man he saw, at the research facility. Steele withdraws from the castle, steals a staff car, and races to get out of Germany and get word to America. In the US, The Human Torch teaches his new partner, Tomas Toro" Raymond, how to control his flame. he thinks back to a wrecked train and the unhurt Tom, who was on fire. Captain America finds himself with a new partner, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes. He grew up on military bases and is a 16 year-old soldier, with an attitude. The government, seeing Nazi propaganda about the Hitler Youth, want something to counteract this and that something is Bucky. He trains with the best, to be the best, learning to shoot, fight and survive, with the best soldiers on the planet (though Brubaker jumps the gun, a bit...see Thoughts). Lt Sam Sawyer has a mission for them. Meanwhile, The Angel is still investigating the Nazi spy ring and gets a tip on thei r master, who escaped the warehouse that captain America smashed up. The Angel gets word of a secret meeting, on a beach and pursues it. The Nazi agents wait on a beach, with a signal fire, and a small boat comes ashore and something other-than-human wades from the boat, to the shore.....  There are other blue-skinned men. The Angel realizes he is in over his head, when he hears a noise approaching....  Cap & Bucky tear into the crowd of spies and weapons and the Angel joins in. The blue man is stronger than Cap and gets the better of him, until Bucky lends a hand and Cap can kick away from U-Man, allowing Bucky to spray him with a magazine of .45 ACP bullets. The U-Man tears away and leaps into the ocesn. Bucky waits to pick him off when he surfaces; but, he never does. The Angel finds documents on the dead spymaster's body, which details their orders, including the alliance between the Nazis and Merrano's renegades. They have one of them, alive, and take him in, for interrogation. Thoughts: The bulk of this is taken from early Invaders plots, with some tweaking, from later stories. The Invaders face U-Man and his team, in Invaders #3, when they try to attack Winston Churchill, as he travels to the US, on a battleship, attacking the ship in the Caribbean. The Invaders defeat Merrano and his men and save the Prime Minister, again. Here, we see Merrano first coming to the US, to set up an attack; but, Captain America, Bucky and the Angel break up the party. Sam Sawyer sent out Cap, based on John Steele's messages. The Angel followed his leads on the spymaster., once again, the Angel witnesses Cap in action, now with Bucky. Bucky got a retcon in The Adventures of Captain America, Sentinel of Liberty, making him a young soldier, not a camp mascot, who was a conniving wheeler-dealer. Brubaker further tweaked that in flashbacks, during the Winter Soldier storyline, portraying Bucky as the dirty tricks member of the team, doing the real dirty work, so Cap could be seen as a heroic figure, to the public. Bucky carried weapons and killed people andw as a crack shot, setting him up to be the Winter Soldier, once the Soviets got their hands on him. Brubaker says he trains with the SAS; but, the SAS had only just been formed, in July of 1941 and had their first disastrous mission, in November, as they attempt a parachute drop, at night, in the desert, which results in casualties and lost equipment. Bucky couldn't have been training with them, as they were not yet a legend and were undergoing training, themselves. It would have been better to have him go through the Commando course and spend time with the SOE, training with William Fairbairn. The mention of Hawaii is obvious; but, again, history refutes Brubaker's story. The conference between the Japanese and the Red Skull suggests that the Skull was aware of the planned attack on Pearl Harbor and crafted an attempt to attack Washington, via U-Man; or, he planned the whole thing. In reality, the plan of attack was drafted by Admiral Yamamoto, via his staff, with Read Admiral Ryunosuke Kusaka, CDR Minoru Genda and Capt Kumeto Kuroshima carrying out the bulk of the planning, based on the British attack on the Italians, at Taranto. The Japanese did not alert Germany to their plan of attack, but did let it be known that relations had broken down and hostilities were imminent. The secured the Tripartite Pact, in which Germany and Italy agreed to come to Japan's aid, if they were attacked and Hitler gave his assurances he would declare war on the US, if they went to war with Japan. The Germans urged the Japanese to attack Singapore, to damage the British war effort and that was part of their plan of attack, coinciding with the attack on Pearl Harbor. Von Ribbentrop counseled Hitler not to declare war on the US, in the wake of the attack, reminding him that they had agreed only to come to Japan's aid if attacked by a third nation, and not if they were the aggressor. Ribbentrop felt that Germany faced enough enemies, without the US; but, Hitler stormed ahead and declared war on the United States, on December 11. John Steele learns of the plans and is able to alert Lt Sawyer, in time for Captain America & Bucky to be dispatched to stop U-Man and his team from landing in the US. During the flashbacks about Bucky, we learn that the comic book origin story, of Bucky stumbling into the tent and finding Steve Rogers changing into his Captain America costume, was actually a propaganda piece, inserted into a movie serial. Most of Cap's Golden Age adventures are retconned into comic book tales or movie serial chapters, paralleling the actual Republic serial, in 1944 (with no Nazis and no Red Skull...also no shield and no Bucky or even Steve Rogers). Torch and Toro pretty much follow the retcons of Roy Thomas, where Toro is made a mutant, with his power related to his father's work with Prof Horton. Namor is a prisoner of the US government, which is a change from past tales of all kinds. We witness the birth of the Destroyer. The character first appeared in Mystic Comics #6, in a tale written by a young Stan Lee. In that story, he is Keen Marlow, a reporter who is arrested by the Nazis and imprisoned, where he meets up with Schmitt, takes the formula and becomes the Destroyer. In Invaders, we learn that he is actually Brian Flasworth, son of Lord Montgomery Falsworth, aka Union Jack. Young Brian refuted his father's beliefs and he and friend Roger Aubrey went to travel through Nazi Germany and they were used for propaganda projects, by Goebbells, with Roy drawing a bit on the Duke of Windsor (the former Edward VIII) meeting with the Nazis, before the outbreak of war. There, they find themselves prisoners and see the true horros of the Nazis, in the concentration camps. brian takes Prof Schmitt's improvised super soldier formula and gains enhanced abilities and breaks out of the camp, to become the masked resistance fighter, The Destroyer. Roger is subjected to experiments which shrink him down and he is conditioned to become Dyna-Mite and is placed into the Crusaders, in a plan to kill King George the VI. In a nice visual touch by Epting, we see Brian Falsworth in the usual concentration camp uniform, with vertical stripes, as he kills the German guards and escapes, carrying the dead body of Prof Schmitt. It can then be inferred that the striped leggings that he wears in his Destroyer costume was inspired by those prison uniforms (though mostly the costume is inspired by street performers in the middle ages, as is the mask). It all comes down to the finale, in the next issue.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 22, 2024 23:01:44 GMT -5
The Marvels Project #8 The Human Torch and Toro, trying to fight of the Japanese attack on Peral Harbor. The regular cover makes it look like the Invaders are trying to get a "wave" going.....  Creative Team: Ed Brubaker & Steve Epting-story & art, VC's Chris Eliopoulis-letters, Dave Stewart-colors, Tom Brevoort-editor Synopsis: December 7th, 1941.....a day that will live..in infamy! Torch and Toro are streaking across the continent and the Pacific Ocean, faster than jet fighters, towards the Hawaiian Islands. We flashback to Cap talking to Namor, in his cell, about what he had discovered. Namor agreed to cooperate, in exchange for interrogating their blue-skinned prisoner....  I hope he's not playing "Good Cop;" because, I'd hate to see "Bad Cop!" The Smurf fan gives up Merrano and the Red Skull's plan, twin attacks on Washington DC, where Roosevelt and Chruchill will be secretly meeting, and Hawaii, where the Japanese will attack. As he spills his guts, Namor realizes that he has pointed his anger at the wrong people. John Steele finally reaches France and the Resistance and is able to radio his intel about the plans, which are passed on to Lt Sam Sawyer, who just happens to have Nick Fury in his office, saying he isn't joining up, like Red Hargrove did, when Steele's message comes in and Sam yells for an orderly to alert General Phillips. Cap meets with the Torch, atop the Empire State Building. He tells them about the plans and they have identified the East Coast target as Churchill and Roosevelt and Hawaii as the Japanese target, but they don't know the Japanese intentions. Cap asks Torch to handle that, as he could melt bombs in mid-air. Torch speeds off and he and Toro arrive in Hawaii, too late to cut the attack off, at its base....  On the East Coast, Namor uses his flagship to transport Cap & Bucky and escort a British bomber into Virginia. They are soon attacked by advanced aircraft, which rise out of the water....  U-Man and his troops rise out of the water to attack the bomber after it lands, but Namor intercepts him and they battle, keeping him away from Churchill. Bucky takes the controls of the flagship, as Cap jumps to join the ground fight. In Hawai, the Japanese begin their attacks on Battleship Row and the facilities around the port. Torch and Toro can only destroy so many planes. Soldiers, sailors and mMarines do their best to fight, with what they have and to get the wounded to safety. Cap battles U-Man's support troops, while the traitor and his prince duke it out in single combat. They stop U-Man's attack, which remains secret, so as not to overshadow the bravery and tragedy at Pearl Harbor. Roosevelt pardons Namor for his previous actions and the Invaders are officially formed and kept before the public eye, as they battle Nazi super-agents and plots to sabotage the war effort....  Nick Fury is in Arlington, as red Hargrove, one of the casualties of the attack on Hickam Field, is laid to rest. nick joined the US Army and soon found himself leading the 1st Attack Squad, of the US Army Rangers, better known as the Howling Commandos.  John Steele remains in Europe, fighting the Nazis, in secret, on his own, though he seemed to disappear after the Normandy landings. The Angel continued to fight crime and sabotage in New York, along with other stateside heroes, including the newly constituted Liberty Legion  In the present day, Steve Rogers makes a visit to Jason Halloway, grandson of Dr Thomas Halloway. He has a gift from Jason's grandfather. Jason recognizes his name and is stunend that Captain America has a gift for him, from a grandfather he never knew. Steve says he will appreciate it, from what his sources tell him and that Thomas Halloway was one of the finest men he ever knew. he says his goodbyes and leaves, then meets a man, in a suit, waiting for him. That man is Matt Hawk, the time displaced Two-Gun Kid, who learns that he inspired the birth of the Angel and is now seeing another generation receive the legacy. It's a strange world for him. Jason Halloway opens the box and stares at the eyemask and twin Colt Peacemakers, and a manuscript, written by his grandfather.....  Thoughts: And thus, the Invaders are born. Brubaker has played fast and loose with real history and established Marvel history, as U-Man's attack on Churchill was during the return to England, in 1942, after the Washington Conference, as Churchill arrives in Bermuda, via flying boat, to meet up with the HMS Duke of York. Churchill did not actually arrive in Washington until December 22, 1941, arriving on the HMS Prince of Wales, then flying to Washington via military plane. So, Brubaker moved up Merrano's attack by several weeks and changed its location, making it coincide with the Attack on Pearl harbor. Torch and Toro are sent to stop te Japanese, with no idea of the scale of the attack, with squadrons of aircraft from 5 aircraft carriers, with torpedo and dive bombers, plus Zero fighters escorting them. We see them destroy planes and bombs, but they can't be everywhere at once. It's an interesting contrast to how Roy Thomas handled Pearl harbor, in All-Star Squadron, as the Justice Society had no advanced knowledge and learn of the attack only when the rest of the nation did (apart from the members who were captured by Per Degaton's time displaced allies. They speed to Hawaii, after the fact, but arrive well after and see the aftermath. Roy generally tried to stick to established history, with minor tweaks to the comic book side. Brubaker had made much bigger changes, in terms of U-Man's attack coinciding with the Japanese attack on Pearl harbor and having Churchill arive in the US two weeks earlie than in history. U-Man's attack then shifts locations. Aside from tweaking Invaders history, to modernize things and bring it more in line with the growing MCU, it served to introduce The Angel, to a new generation, as well as john Steele, to anyone who wasn't around in 1940. Brubaker then uses John Steele in Secret Avengers, as his own little secret power, within Cap's murky world of super-espionage, as seen in the Captain America series. Brubaker took a lot of his cues in Captain America from Jim Steranko's three issues of the series, as well as Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD. Here, he shows the Invaders and Fury intertwined with the Super Soldier Project and similar research around such ideas, leading to the birth of the Human Torch. Namor is brought more in line with that, taking his established history and reforming him a bit earlier and with more psychological underpinnings, though he leaves out Betty Dean. The series cements the Two-Gun Kid as the first masked "Marvel", as they now refer to the historical heroes, rather than "mystery men," "Costumed characters," or "superheroes." That continues from Busiek and Ross' Marvels. It's the birth of the Marvel universe, for a new generation. Epting has a definite mistake and a possible one. I haven't been able to identify the British bomber, carrying Churchil, It has a triple tail and the closest design I can find is the Douglas DC-4E, an experimental design, that never went into production, as it was superseded by the Douglas DC-4/C-54. It was not a military plane, though some of its elements were replicated by the Japanese Nakajima G5N "Liz" ( Shinzan, in Japanese). It's definitely not a Lancaster or Wellington, or a B-24 Liberator, as they all had twin tails. He never identifies the aircraft, so it is just a probable mistake. Churchill actually arrived at the US Naval Station Norfolk, then flew via Navy aircraft to Washington. Perhaps Epting meant it to be a C-54 (DC-4), but had the wrong reference and used the DC-4E Regardless, it would have US Navy markings, not British roundels. The definite mistake is at Arlington, or at least what appears to be Arlington. We see men in Naval uniform, but they are Service Dress Whites (aka "Choker" whites, with the high collars). It is December, in Virginia; they would be wearing Service Dress Blues and Bridgecoats, due to the cold. The Bridgecoat is the Navy wool officer's greatcoat, with shoulderboards and gold buttons, in a double-breasted style. It is heavy and warm, and the most stylish greatcoat in the US military. I considered that it might be Hawaii; but, Epting draws trees with no leaves and Hawaii has palm trees and other tropical trees and plants, which do not lose their leaves, in the fall. Also, Red Hargrove, in the Howler origin story, was shown to have been in the US Army, at Hickam Field and his honor guard, for funeral services, would have been Army. On the whole, this is a terrific series, which retells the dawn of superheroes and the Marvel Universe, but within the context of trying to create super-soldiers, for the impending war. It all revolves around Captain America, Timely's most popular hero and Brubaker's main writing. The MCU would also center things around Captain America and the Super-Soldier Project, since Namor and the Torch were off the table, as were the X-men. Many of their cues are taken from the Ultimate line, as the Hulk was born of an attempt to recreate the Super-Soldier Formula and the original project was an attempt to try to replicate Logan's fighting abilities, based on his mutant abilities. Nick Fury ends up being an early test subject, standing in for Isaiah Bradley, before Steve Rogers is a successful test subject. Giant Man and Wasp are similarly born of experiments to meld mutant powers and advanced science, to create super-agents, for SHIELD and the Ultimates, aka The Avengers, are brought together by SHIELD, to fight a menace tied to WW2 and Cap's last mission. Previously, in 1998, Marvel put out a mini-series that sought to define the timeline of the Marvel Universe, starting with the Invaders, which just happened to feature art by Steve Epting (and script by Roger Stern). It also features the birth of HYDRA, as Baron Strucker puts together his secret group, taking over the structure of a Japanese secret society. That transitions to the Monster Hunters, of the Atlas Era. We also have the Agents of Atlas minis, which take their cue from the What If..? stories of the 1950s Avengers, fighting Skrulls, mixing with other characters of that era, including Jimmy Woo and the Yellow Claw, as well as Marvel Boy, Venus, The Gorilla Man, Namora and M-11/The Human Robot, but leaving out the 3-D Man, since he was created in the 1970s, in Marvel Premiere, as a retcon. So, next up, we look at the Patriot mini-series, Captain America: Patriot, featuring Jeff Mace's history, from the Patriot to becoming the third Captain America, as well as his teaming up with Golden Girl, filling in the gaps between the What If...? tale and the other late 40s appearances of Captain America, before he disappears and the debut of the 50s Cap. Karl Kessel writes and it is an interesting take on things.
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Post by mikelmidnight on Jul 23, 2024 11:33:41 GMT -5
And thus, the Invaders are born. Brubaker has played fast and loose with real history and established Marvel history, as U-Man's attack on Churchill was during the return to England, in 1942, after the Washington Conference, as Churchill arrives in Bermuda, via flying boat, to meet up with the HMS Duke of York. Churchill did not actually arrive in Washington until December 22, 1941, arriving on the HMS Prince of Wales, then flying to Washington via military plane. So, Brubaker moved up Merrano's attack by several weeks and changed its location, making it coincide with the Attack on Pearl harbor. I'd made no attempt to compare this series to the original Invaders ... I suppose the tweak makes sense dramatically. That's funny, in a lot of ways. The closest to a superhero at the time is actually Night (Ghost) Rider, but he's busily used elsewhere. The only thing that makes Two-Gun Kid stand out at all from the other Western heroes of the time, is that he wears an eyemask. That's why an earlier Avengers writer brought him to the present day ... he 'passes' as a superhero visually, solely because of that strip of cloth. That was such a fantastic series, and I wish it'd continued onwards. Stern had a solo story with Captain Terror planned, and who knows what else? It's also the only 'Eternals in the MU' storyline I've actually liked. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 28, 2024 22:04:55 GMT -5
Captain America: Patriot #1 Creative Team: Karl Kesel-writer, Mitch Breitweiser-artist, Jared K Fletcher-letterer, Colorist-Bettie Breitweiser, Tom Brevoort-editor Synopsis: July, 1941 and some Nazi sympathizers try to do a bit of sabotage work in the Brooklyn shipyard; but they didn't recon on Brooklyn's own Captain America turning up, as well as reporter Jeff Mace, of the Daily Bugle. One of the goosestepping rats tries to sneak away and Mace gives him a Yancey Street Hello (sucker-punch, to most people).....  Cap thanks him and sings his praises; but, Jeff responds with a "Shucks; t'weren't nuthin'!" but Cap tells him not to sell himself short and says he is a patriot. Jeff's boss, Mr Goodman, editor of the Daily Bugle, doesn't think so highly of him and tells him to keep himself out of the stories he writes or he may be looking for another paper to publish them. At the same time, we learn he is 4F, on account of flat feet (or webbed feet...he doesn't recall). Fellow reporter Mary Morgan needles him a little, then remarks about a union meeting tonight, at her father's factory, which might turn ugly, as some goons have been hired to break it up. Mary comes from money, as photographer Casey reminds us. Jeff says the goons should do a few rounds with Captain America and get a taste of their own medicine and Mary reminds him that doesn't sound objective and to leave that kind of thing to men in masks. Jeff gets and idea and asks Mary about fiends of hers, in the theater district. Before you know it, a new masked Marvel appears on the scene...... i.postimg.cc/LXn20kGJ/pat2.jpgJeff Mace gets the headline of the next edition, with Casey's photos, though we also see he has some cuts and bruises, which he claims came in a bar fight. Mary plays along, implying she knows otherwise and asks him if he thinks the Patriot is here to stay or if it was a one-time thing. He says he is sticking around. She offers him a slice of cake and tells him he can eat it, too. We soon see more exploits of the Patriot....  However, on December 7th, everything changes. Jack Casey (the photographer's full name) enlists in the Navy and ships out to the Pacific. Jeff is missing the party, sitting at a window, staring out at the city. mary finds him and tells him to come back and have some fun. He tells her he has to do more. We see war bond poster with The Patriot's image, stories of him stopping the theft of a bomber, civil defense meetings at the White House and a weekly radio show, to help with morale, as he names his Patriot of the Week. That is followed by the debut of the stateside Liberty Legion They foil an assassination attempt on FDR, by SS snipers. The Thin Man takes a bullet, but the Patriot takes out the sniper. They have a press conference and Thin Man pushes Patriot foward, who kind of stumbles through a speech. He isn't comfortable with public speaking, but the others tell him that people see him as the leader and they connect to him. Later, The Patriot saves Mary Morgan from a Nazi experiment, where she was kidnapepd, with others, to be a guinea pig for tests to bestow super powers. She now has enhanced hearing and "radar vision," and suggests to Jeff that she become Miss Patriot, his partner.  Jeff tries to talk her out of things and poo-poos being partners, which leads to some tears, as she meant partners in more than just Nazi-smashing. Jeff smooths it over, a bit, but can't help asking if Mary really was "kidnapped." In April, 1945, The Liberty Legion averts an invasion by the Lava Men, who were duped into it by the Japanese. A "Magma Carta" treaty averts the crisis and Jack Frost finds a girlfriend, in the Lava Men's Princess Volcana. Jeff and Miss America talk about "after the war" as Blue Diamond longs to get back to his research and Thin Man wants to go back to Tibet, to rest and reassess. Miss America talks about some of the Liberty Legion being folded into the Invaders, to help speed the end of the war. He gets the bad news, though, that one patriotic hero on the Invaders is enough and The Patriot is being assigned the Northeast sector of the US, to patrol, as the country is split between the remaining Legion members. Miss America and the Whizzer have been called up to the Invaders. July, 1946 and Jeff Mace is being grilled, by government agents.....  They are interested in events in Boston, near Prof Horton's lab. A young wa hero, looking to run for the Senate, was making a speech. jeff Mace was there and overheard reports on the police radio. He changes into costume and goes to investigate and runs into the Invaders....er, All-Winners Squad. Some synthetic men are out to replace a political candidate with a robot, but they are not sure which one. They split the targets between themselves. Patriot spotted a flare, near the Old North Church and went to investigate. Whizzer and the others are already there, fighting robots. Patriot follows a hunch and goes into the church, where he finds ....  The critically injured body of Captain America. He takes him to Namor's flagship, hoping that the advanced technology can save him; but, after gasping out a few names and words, the Patriot's inspiration dies. There is nothing the Patriot can do...except put on the uniform, pick up the shield, and let the city and the world know that Captain America is still alive. One of the agents, Skinner, gets tough and snarky with Mace, but the female pulls him aside and talks to him. When they come back, she takes the lead and asks about the name Cap told him...  They tell him that William Naslund, the name that Cap spoke to him, was actually the second man to wear the uniform of Captain America and say that Cap is still needed and ask Mace to remain, as the third. He says no, then clarifies, that he can never "be" Captain America, but will carry on his name and costume, as best he can. Thoughts: The story ends with a quote from John F Kennedy, the political candidate who was speaking, on July 4, 1946, in Boston, as he campaigns to represent the 11th Congressional District. "An element of the American character...is the great patriotic instinct of our people. Wherever freedom has been in danger, Americans with a deep sense of patriotism have ever been willing to stand at Armageddon and strike a blow for liberty. We cannot assume the struggle has ended. It is never-endingThis first issue introduces the modern audience to The Patriot, another patriotic Marvel, who followed in Captain America's footsteps. It expands a little bit on what we have seen, in the Invaders and the Liberty Legion stories in Marvel Premier and Marvel Two-in-One, as well as the original Patriot stories of the 1940s. The Patriot was one of the most popular second stringers, at Timely, so it is nice to see him get a bit of love. It also introduces us to Marry Morgan, potential love interest and Miss Patriot. We will see more of her, as she helps to fill in a role that would bring her into Captain America's sphere. Kessel has a nice handle on the dialogue and makes it sound like a 1940s movie, with Rosalund Russell, as Mary and possibly a Burt Lancaster, as Jeff Mace (more so than Gary Cooper or the little-too-English Cary Grant). He also adds some nice touches, like Jeff Mace being 4F, yet still fighting and looking for ways to contribute, yet never quite feeling like he measured up to the Invaders, or the soldiers and sailors overseas. That was a common sentiment with many who could not join the military, during the war, due to physical problems or because they were in vital industries. Many men committed suicide, if passed over for military service, believing they had somehow failed their families and community. Desmond Doss had a draft exemption because he worked in a shipyard, doing vital war work, but volunteered for military service, even though he registered as a conscientious objector, because he refused to take a human life, as a Seventh Day Adventist. He served as a medic and won the Purple Heart, Bronze Star and Medal of Honor, by preserving life, dragging wounded men out of harms way, tending their wounds and getting them to safety, while under fire and unarmed. His story was dramatized in the film Hacksaw Ridge, which plays fast and loose with some of the elements of his time in training, and ignores that he had won the Bronze Star (two, in fact) in the Philippines and Guam, before his Medal of Honor for his actions on Okinawa. This is a nice side look at the time of the Invaders and Liberty Legion, as well as Golden Age Timely Comics, while expanding things and rounding out the character. it also picks up the threads of Roy Thomas' What If...? story, cementing it as canon (which it was already treated that way, in the Captain America comics). The female government agent isn't named, though it could be assumed to be Peggy Carter. Captain America: The First Avenger wouldn't be released until the following year. However, it had already been established that Peggy had worked with the French Resistance and the OSS; and, later SHIELD, which is why she was used in the film, as a love interest (which is how she debuted, in Tales of Suspense #75). The character here is blond, wearing a military-style jacket and seems to have authority over Skinner. Henry Skinner is with the FBI and debuts here. I assume the name is a nod to The X-Files. Or Principal Skinner, or BF Skinner, though I don't see any electrodes, to shock rats. Or any steamed hams. So, now Jeff Mace has become Captain America III (how long before he goes up against Lupin III is anyone's guess) and we can marvel at his adventures, in post-War America, as part of the All-Wiiner's Squad and solo, battling the forces of evil and teaming up with Golden Girl (not sure if it is Bea Arthur , Betty White, Rue McClanahan or Estelle Getty).
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Post by mikelmidnight on Jul 30, 2024 10:39:58 GMT -5
It was nice to see Miss Patriot acknowledged, even though she was a non-starter in the original stories (she only appeared in costume on the cover, even, not in the interior pages). Still, I'd have had no objection if she joined a 'She-Invaders' type team if Marvel ever decided to organise Miss America, Spitfire, Silver Scorpion, Olalla, etc.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 31, 2024 20:41:02 GMT -5
Captain America: The Patriot #2 Creative Team: Karl Kesel-writer, Mitch Breitweiser-art, Jared K Fletcher-letters, Bettie Breitweiser-colors, Tom Brevoort-editor Synopsis: It's September, 1946. Miss Patriot is eavesdropping on some black marketeers, dealing in diluted penicillin, with a contact in Viena, some Limey, named Harry (cute). The suddenly hear something by the door and the lights go out and shots ring out.....  The wounded hood asks where the Patriot is and we cut to Oxfordshire, as the All-Winners Squad battles a squad of Soviet super soldiers, trying to kidnap a nuclear scientist....  Red Guardian notices that Captain America has lost a step or two, his reflexes are slower, as he is able to catch Cap's shield. Luckily, Bucky is close buy and downs the Russian with a kick. Miss America takes down Night Witch, as she drops the scientist, who is caught by the Whizzer. Red Guardian orders an extraction and Night Witch opens a "People's Portal, leaving the others in darkness, as they withdraw. Namor is stunend that the Iron Comrade also escaped. The Whizzer reports that Fuchs, the scientist is tucked away in a safe house and Miss America reveals that British Intelligence has him marked as a Soviet spy and this was a rescue mission, not a kidnapping. Cap is stunned, but sees the logic of sending costumed soldiers....  The others were also covering for The Patriot, as Red Guardian tried to trick him, with talk of Stalingrad, but the two men were never there together. They also kept the intel from Patriot. Toro and Namor are not impressed with Jeff Mace, especially after Namor hears that Red Guardian caught the shield. He says Mace might as well hung a sign saying he wasn't Cap. There is more grumbling inside the flagship. Miss America defends Jeff's role as a symbol, with political situations delicate, but Namor tells Mace "I knew Captain America and you are no Captain America." Mary Morgan, in her apartment, hears a radio broadcast of the All-Winners Squad's return, and hears the reporter talk of Miss America being at Cap's side and rumors of a romance. Mary is crestfallen. Cap makes a speech and there is some question as to whether the mission was authorized and he says they would act the same, either way. Later that evening, Jef Mace meets Betsy Ross (her real name), the All-Winners Squad's FBI liason. She praises his speech and he realizes she was the woman (not Peggy Carter) who was there, with Skinner, when Jeff was interrogated about the death of William Naslund, the second Captain America. She asks what she can do and Jeff says, tell him everything. She says much is still classified, but tells him that the original Cap was enhanced by a one-of-a-kind serum. She says he is doing fine and seems to be somewhat smitten with him. They are interrupted by the Torch, who says a woman calling herself Miss Patriot is there to see him. The couple catch up, then she hits him with the big question...  He says it was a cover story, to explain his nervousness, in front of reporters. There is talk of the 18 year-old Bucky (Fred Davis, the batboy who aided the Invaders and the Liberty Legion, against the Red Skull) and then Mary says that if there is ever an opening, to consider her and he reacts in anger, believing she is trying to take Bucky's job away. She storms off and then Betsy and the Torch console him on the death of his friend and Jeff Learns that Casey had died. Suicide, after having problems adjusting back home.  Jeff is determined to go to his funeral, even if Captain America cannot. The others argue against it, saying it would destroy Captain America if it was known that he had a friend who was a homosexual, discharged from the military administratively. Jeff gives in and avoids the funeral....  Mary attends and, true to his word, Jeff is there....as The Patriot. He whispers to Mary to ensure that every word gets into the paper and asks the priest if he can speak and he speaks movingly of his departed friend. A backlash follows, as images of the Patriot disappear and the Young Patriots Club disbands. Jeff hands the Patriot costume to the Torch, who incinerates it. namor respects what he did, but thinks it is follish, as it didn't change a single mind and Casey's legacy will leave no mark behind. Jeff doesn't take kindly to this....  Jeff walks away and Bucky offers his respect, while Jeff says he thinks he broke his hand. Cap and Bucky gel together and we see a montage of the pair and the All-Winners taking down crooks. It ends with the construction of the Baxter Building, the future home of the All-Winners Squad. Namor leaves the scene and Miss America comments that Namor has come around about him. jeff says a little, but they started pretty low. Betsy surprises him with a birthday cake and a remark that the Patriot appearance also effectively ended Miss Patriot's career, by association. Jeff hasn't heard from Mary, but we see her super hearing catching the singing of "Happy Birthday." Later that evening, Cap and Bucky are out, in the rain, searching for jewel thieves who have been operating in the diamond district. Cap hears glass smash and goes alone to check it out. He then hears shots and runs back to find a car speeding away and Bucky lying in the street, gravely wounded. Bucky says he smelled flowers and Cap says it is lavender, the same scent that Mary wore. Thoughts: excellent second chapter, as Jeff Mace settles into the role of Captain America. We see that the Soviets have an inkling that the Captain America they battle is not the original. However, he works hard and others buy into it. Meanwhile, Mary proves effective, though a bit ruthless, as she uses a pistol to compensate for size and fighting skills. There is a remark, early on, about the smell of lavender around her and that is what is smelled when Bucky is shot, implying that she might be the culprit. That seems a little extreme. We also get a sense that post-War America is a rather dark place, with mentions of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) as well as Jake Casey's "blue ticket" discharge. A "blue discharge" r "blue ticket" was a form of administrative discharge from the military, prior to 1947. It was given to those discharged for reasons that did not fall within an Honorable Discharge, or had committed criminal acts that would warrant a Dishonorable Discharge. It was disproportionately given to African Americans, much as the later "Other Than Honorable" Discharge was given disproportionately to African-Americans, in the Vietnam War Era. The other major group who received them were homosexuals, like Jake Casey. It illustrates, yet again, how the country has a history of turning it back on those who have served, when they don't fit the propaganda profiles. As it is, many who received Honorable Discharges still found themselves with broken promises and shunted aside, because their service caused them problems and the public didn't want to be reminded of the cost of war, even when you survive. With an Administrative Discharge, the veteran would not qualify for the GI Bill or other Veterans Administration benefits, including health care and housing and employment assistance. This continued until after Vietnam when legislation was passed prohibiting employers from asking about the terms of a military discharge; only if the applicant was still serving in the military. It used to be that they could demand to see their DD-214, which indicated the type of discharge. That is only required now for proof of veteran status in Federal hiring or to establish veterans benefits. Benefits cannot be denied, except in the case of a Dishonorable Discharge, though that doesn't mean bureaucracy can't hobble them. Jake Casey did his duty and his country thanked him by kicking him out of the Navy, when it learned of his sexual orientation, then denied him the right to earn a living or live in peace and he took his own life. It is a fictional life; but, it represents a reality that has been tucked away. We see the character of Jeff mace, as he goes to honor his friend and makes sure that people will pay attention, by appearing in his Patriot costume. It effectively ends not only his career, but that of Miss Patriot, by association. this gives Mary a motive for being the shooter, as well as jealousy over any romance with Miss America (who likes faster men). However, that seems rathe circumstantial and convenient. Betsy Ross was Captain America's first love interest and worked with the Army. Here, she has been made an FBI agent and liason to the team, bringing her into close proximity with Captain America. She exhibits an obvious attraction to Jeff Mace. The character would later become Golden Girl, in 1948, replacing Bucky as Captain America's sidekick. here, we see how Bucky (Fred Davis) was taken out of circulation, setting up that transition. This continues to be a great character study and the art services i t well, spectacular when it needs to be, moody when required. One last thing. The Soviet Super Soldiers includes one called The Night Witch. The Night Witches were the female Soviet combat pilots, who soon struck fear into the heart of the Germans, as they proved to be quite capable pilots. They served in the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, an all-female unit. Their tactics were to fly in bi-planes, idling their engines before nearing the target and gliding to the bomb release point, with little noise. To the Germans, it sounded like a witch moving through the air on a broomstick and that gave them the name. Many of its pilots had flown over 800 missions and were highly decorated. 23 were awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union. It is a name that the Soviet Union would honor, with a heroic soldier and makes more cultural sense than Red Guardian.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 31, 2024 20:49:30 GMT -5
ps the members of the Soviet Super Soldiers are:
Red Guardian
Night Witch
Proletariat
Iron Comrade
Sunbird
Proletariat is the one seen in a sort of reverse of the Red Guardian, suggesting he is the counterpart to Bucky. Iron Comrade is a sort of Iron Man and Sunbird is the one briefly glimpsed, flying, in a yellow costume. This is their first appearance. Night Witch is the only one to be used elsewhere, aside from Red Guardian.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 3, 2024 19:59:10 GMT -5
Captain America: Patriot #3 Creative Team: Karl Kesel-writer, Mitch Breitweiser-art, Jared K Fletcher-letters, Bettie Breitweiser-colors, Tom Brevoort-editor Synopsis: Jeff Mace, aka Captain America III watches, as doctors try to save Fred Davis, aka Bucky II. The rest of the All-Winners Squad shows up and offers there support; but Mace demands 24 hours to hunt for the shooter, solo. Miss America notes that Jeff seems to have a suspicion and hopes he is wrong. We then cut to him confronting that suspicion.....  They dance around the subject a bit nd Mary flings the accusation back into Jeff's face. Jeff says he doesn't want to and throws it back at her to convince him. She responds with something she hears in a bar, Singapore Sallie, in Chinatown. Jeff goes down there and Mary packs and leaves. Jeff/Cap busts up the bar, then follows a runner to a warehouse. He busts heads with fists and shield, then demands to know who the shooter is, to receive their lumps or they all share in it. One starts to squeal, then the other says to shut up and Cap smells lavender.....  Lavender is a Nazi (ex-Nazi...whatever...still scum) and she makes it easy for Jeff to slap her around, despite the superhero code and the Law of the Playground, but a costumed female figure stops him from beating her to death....  Lavendar shoots Betsy Ross in the back and Cap goes after her, but Betsy takes care of it, with a 2x4 from behind. Turns out she is wearing William Naslund's bullet-proof cape, from his time as The Spirit of '76. Betsy admits that she had planned the costume, since there are no female FBI field agents and this way, she can get into the fight. Jeff goes to see Fred and tells him he will have a new partner, until he is back on his feet. We see headlines about Captain America and Golden Girl and even Namor compliments Jeff on the way he took down the gang and Lavender. The other All-Winners offer her membership, but she says she isn't ready and Cap agrees, which is why he is stepping down, to train and mentor her. Jeff says he wants to get back to keeping the streets safe and Betsy decides to join him. Jeff walks her home and they say goodnight, outside, though it is clear that Jeff hoped for more. Betsy goes inside and Agent Skinner is there and we learn all isn't what it seems....  It was all a set up, to get closer to Jeff Mace and see where his loyalties lie, as Mary was seen with two known Commies and Skinner says they never vetted Mace properly. Thoughts: Well, we knew Miss Patriot/Mary was too obvious a suspect to actually be the shooter, but it generates conflict and she leaves, after giving Jeff direction, to hunt for the shooter. Lavender turns out to be a dilettante, whose family were Nazi sympathizers and worked to launder gold and jewels for them. Betsy Ross makes her debut as Golden Girl, using the cape of the Spirit of '76 toe scape a bullet to the back. She also turns out to be a plant. The them of this issue is suspicion, and the time frame in 1948, when HUAC was gaining more and more power. The House Un-American Activities Committee was first convened in 1938, to investigate potential Communist subversives (but not Fascist subversives) and it became a standing committee in 1946. It became the sitting witch hunt for every political and social vendetta and little man trying to build himself up. American citizens were denied due process of law and compelled to testify, before Congress and identify "subversives," the bulk of whom did nothing more than exercise their Constitutional rights. Power hungry men, like Roy Cohn and Joe McCarthy use specious accusations to hound political opponents, before McCarthy was taken down, publicly, by Edward R Murrow, while also over-extending himself by attacking the Dept of Defense, who knew how to fight wars. It was a sad and dark time in American history and has way too many parallels to modern times. This kind of thing is exactly why Thomas Jefferson wrote the Bill of Rights, to protect citizens from the power of a central government that might forget who it serves. Betsy Ross debuted in Captain America Comics #1, as a love interest, but she made her debut, as Golden Girl, in issue #66, replacing Bucky. She continued to appear through issue #74 (except for issue #71) and also in marvel Mystery Comics #87.88 and 92. Captain America ended with #73, then #74 was Captain America's Weird Tales (and #75) before it was cancelled. It was then revived in 1954, but only for a very brief time. Bucky was back, for the 50s adventures, as a Commie Smasher; but, that was retconned by Steve Englehart to be William Burnside and Jack Monroe, who fought a Commie Red Skull, as well as innocent people. So far, this is doing a really good job of filling in Cap's post-War history, in better fashion than Roy Thomas, though he showed the way. The motivations and suspicions ring truer and there is less of a tendency to get cute with things. Next time, we will learn why Jeff Mace stopped being Captain America and why there was a gap, before William Burnside.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 7, 2024 20:01:23 GMT -5
Captain America: Patriot #4 Creative Team: Karl Kesel-writer, Mitch Breitweiser-art, Jared K Fletcher-letters, Bettie Breitweiser-colors, Tom Brevoort-editor Synopsis: 1949, Captain America and Golden Girl catch a crook in an alley and turn him over to the cops. Cap isn't exactly finding street crime to be the great challenge. he aches to be involved in bigger things, but Betsy has had enough crime fighting....and she is being reassigned. Jeff asks if he can still see here and she says it isn't a good idea, and she doesn't know where she is being assigned.  Fred Davis is assigned as Cap's new liason officer. Jeff is itching ti hit organized crime, but Skinner says no. They are afraid that if he gets involved, there will be open war on the streets. They compare Captain America to the Atom Bomb, a deterrent, which if activated leads to massive damage. Instead, he is used to give speeches and PSAs. While giving such a talk, telling kids to "duck and cover," when they hear the sirens (Stick your head between your knees and kiss your @$$ goodbye!), a woman comes in and says her son is missing and was abducted by a UFO. Cap goes to investigate, near Valhalla, New York, which is mostly a cemetery. There he finds some unusual activity....  A secret meeting of EC fans! Cap observes the junior AIM goons and hears one mention he didn't join Vanguard to guard air vents. Doesn't matter, as Jeff knocks him out and sneaks down into the mausoleum, where he finds a "saucer" and the missing kid, in some kind of glass tube, a situation he rectifies....  He gets the kid out and runs smack into Fred, with a raygun, which is some kind of tazer. Jeff asks what the hell is going on and Fred takes Cap to see Skinner. It turns out, the kid stumbled across preliminary work for Vanguard, a new secret project that Fred is working on, to be the ultimate covert agency, for fighting the Cold War. Which sounds rather sinister. Jeff wonders why he wasn't told and Fred says his security clearance isn't high enough and Jeff is floored. Skinner then tells him that his previous writing was rather Leftist (he covered labor disputes, in the first issue) and he would not have passed muster to be Cap, had they not been pressed for time. Then, the subject of Mary is brought up and Skinner tries to link her to stolen atomic secrets, without a shred of proof and Jeff doesn't swallow it. However, his name can't be cleared if she can't be found and they have no clues. Jeff calls out Skinner on questioning his loyalty and asks why he didn't replace him and he answers because Betsy fought for him. Skinner wants him on the front lines, in Korea.  Fred says he can probably get Jeff's clearance raised, now that he knows about Vanguard and Jeff replies not after they kidnapped a child. He then accuses Skinner of setting up the situation and lays it out, off-the-record.....  He threatens to reveal Skinner's treachery to Hoover and Skinner makes a deal....  Jeff and Betsy are reunited and marry. They settle in Glendale, where Jeff is editor of the local paper and Betsy teaches high school. They look forward to having kids and Betsy's nephew, Thad, visits often, playing war with the neighbor kid, Franklin Storm. Thad is always the general. A new Captain America comes on the scene, a red-baiting, racist Captain America and it inspires Jeff to use his typewriter to write about what Captain America should be.  Thoughts: And there, in 4 issues, Karl Kesel gives Jeff Mace, the Patriot and the third Captain America, more depth than Roy Thomas ever did, elevating him from a Captain America wannabe into a real character. The ugly nature of post-War America, the world's superpower, which turned upon its own citizens, is central to it and it is very timely, because it reveals how things today compare, with talks of ideological purges in government, and ignoring scientific evidence because it interferes with commercial goals. Talk of denying citizens rights, because of who they are, not what crimes they commit. Some evils never die and it takes people like Jeff Mace, who stand up to the bullies of the world, revealing them for who they are and working to uphold the higher ideals of the Constitution and the sacrifices of those who came before, to make the country better for all, not just a a privileged few. That is what Captain America is about, the ideals at the center of the country, even when reality doesn't live up to those ideals. Especially when it doesn't. Superman is the same, embodying the best in us, doing the right thing because it is right, not because it is popular, or brings financial rewards, or because it benefits you alone. Virtuous characters are hard ones to write, especially if you can't believe in those virtues. Certain fans and critics like to say Batman is cooler, because he is more realistic; but, I have known more people like Superman or Captain America, good, honest, hardworking, idealistic people, than I have people like Batman. The failure to see that in those characters is the failure of imagination in those writers, who say they are bland and boring. Karl Kesel and Ed Brubaker proved that you could write Captain America and even be edgy with it, but not lose sight of who Captain America is, at the core of things. Chis Evans was able to do the same thing, with the MCU, just as Christopher Reeve did with Superman. They weren't self-conscious in the role, because they believed in those characters and what they stood for. Next up, Joe Straczynski and Chris Weston look at a darker side of the Marvels of the Golden Age, in The Twelve, as the Phantom Reporter tries to discover who killed The Blue Blade and why.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 9, 2024 19:28:08 GMT -5
The Twelve #1Using the issue number with the title just makes it sound wrong; "The Twelve, Number One." Make up your mind; is it The Twelve or Number One? Totally awesome pulp-inspired cover.....  Just so we can keep everyone straight, here is the lineup: (Back row, left to right) Electro, Rockman, The Fiery Mask, Witness (Front row, left to right) Master Mind Excello, Mister E, The Blue Blade, The Phantom Reporter, Dynamic Man, Captain Wonder, Black Widow, Laughing Mask Names to strike terror, in the hearts of criminals and fascists! The terror of dying of fits of laughter, possibly. Suddenly, Supersnipe doesn't sound so dumb. Creative Team: J Michael ("Joe") Straczynski-writer, Chris Weston & Gary Leach-art, Comicraft & Jim Betancourt-letters, Chris Chuckry-colors, Tom Brevoort-editor Notice a pattern on the editing, in these modern uses of Timely history? Synopsis: The date is Wednesday, April 25, 1945. The place, is Berlin, Germany. Masked Marvels are pouring into the city. Some of them, like Dynamic Man, have super powers, while others just have a good right hook. Dynamic Man makes jokes about not being able to throw a rock without hitting someone in a mask and tights...and that's just the German "pansies." The narrator notes that Dynamic Man says those kinds of things, a lot, to the point the others are starting to wonder if he isn't hiding something.  12 of the Marvels move into the headquarters of the SS, looking for snipers and other opposition forces. Thos 12 were detailed, at random, hardly a team, barely acquainted with one another. Master Mind Excello (we'll just call him Excello) is sensing the Nazis and guides the group to a blocked entrance to a subbasement and Rockman uses his tremendous strength to shove the rubble out of the way. The narrator is The Phantom reporter and he remarks about his colleagues. Master Mind Excello is extraordinarily strong and sensitive, on all levels (hearing, sight, etc), Miste E seems to be all image. Rockman was supposed to be the leader of a lost subterranean realm, while Captain Wonder was a straight up, All-American fighter, rumored to have a wife and kids, back home. Black Widow allegedly made a deal with the Devil and killed with a touch, though GIs dreamed of finding out if it was true. Blue Blade and Laughing Mask were considered "tourists," showman in it for the attention, though both were experts with their weapons (a matched pair of .45 automatics for LM and a rapier, for the obvious hero). Fiery Mask was rumored to be extremely powerful and had wiped out an entire company, single-handed. Witness had no powers but his fists, but was said to remember every evil he ever saw and would avenge it. Rumor was he just came from a place called Auschwitz. Electro was a robot drone, controlled by a man who appeared in his faceplate. Phantom Reporter is Dick Jones (future president of Omni Consumer Products), ace reporter, decent boxer, now carrying .45s and wearing a mask and cape, along with his suit and fedora. Excello leads them further downward, into a chamber and then says "This is where it happens." The others start to ask what, when a metal door slams down, trapping them inside. Electro's control signal is cut off and he is useless. Fiery Mask starts to produce actual flame, but is warned by an amplified voice that the room is filling with a flamable gas. The lights come on and they see figures at an observation window, and glass "coffins"  Cue Admiral Ackbar! Captain Wonder leaps towards the observation window, but is hit with a massive electrical charge, and goes down. The SS officer hits a switch and starts Phase 2. The room fills with gas and the heroes can't breath and pass out, even Dynamic Man and Rockman. Electro remains motionless. Soldiers come into the room and act under the direction of a man in a lab coat, who directs them to put the bodies into the glass chambers. The SS officer says they are to be frozen for dissection and study, to create a real "master race" and defeat the Allies. They are moved to a new location. The Soviets pour into the center of the city. The scientists are captured, trying to flee the city and killed or sent to gulags. The SS officer faces vengeance at the hands of Red Army soldiers. The heroes remain hidden, underground, in a state of stasis, for 63 years. August 2, 2008, a construction crew is demolishing old buildings and excavating in preparation for building a modern 25 story apartment building. A scoop is digging up earht , when it breaks through something and the ground collapses under it. The driver survives the fall, but is injured, but makes a fantastic discovery....  The US Military is called in (because why call in the Bundeswehr? or the Polizei?) An officer is briefed, as Pentagon records have identified them, though he doesn't think much of their names. Surveys conclude they are alive and in stasis and the junior officer questions whether they will be revived? The senior officer remarks that they just came through a war between superhumans (Civil War). The Superhuman Registration Act is still controversial and the military still doesn't fully trust those who did register. These superhumans are different....  They plan on defrosting them, and keeping them! The 12 are revived and kept under watch, in a fantasy of it still being the 40s. Phantom Reporter isn't fooled. He was trained to notice details and his nurse has three holes in her earlobe, from multiple piercings. The radio is playing Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman, but no commercials. When the nurse kneels down to retrieve some magazines, from the floor, she reveals that she is wearing stockings, but no garters, which suggests that stockings have changed from his day to the point that garters are not needed. It suggested radical change that doesn't add up. Phantom Reporter watches the routine, for three days, then picks his moment to slip out of his room and into Captain Wonder's room. He is wearing his mask, in bed, like it matters. Phantom Reporter identifies himself (using a paper napkin to fashion a mask, to prove who he is) and then compares notes and suspicions. CW notes he hasn't been allowed to use a phone to call his family. PR suggests CW go to the roof and scout, while he tries to get a nickle for the payphone he saw. As they prepare to leave, a nurse alerts the doctors and orderlies that PR is gone and they catch PR and CW as the leave the room. PR tells CW to make for the roof and he buldozes through the orderlies, distracting them while PR scoops up coins from the poker game the orderlies were having and heads for the pay phone. PR sees the coins and is shocked, as the design is different and the minting date is in the future. CW emerges on the roof to find Berlin not in ruins, but a futuristic skyline, with a helicopter passing overhead. The cat is out of the bag and the government is forced to brief them. Their names are all shared, since they have no meaning, except as history (and it is the law). Black Widow is Claire Voyant, which even Mr Jones finds hard to believe. Blue Blade is Roy Chambers, Dynamic Man is Curt Cowan, Fiery Mask is Dr Jack Castle. Laughing Mask is Dennis Burton and Excello is Edward Everett,Mister E is Vince Jay, Captain Wonder is Prof Steve Jordan. Rockman claims no other name and Witness isn't telling. Steve Jordan's wife died 20 years ago and his sons were killed in Vietnam. The government offers them a place to live, money and a purpose and they all vote to accept. We cut to much later, as Phantom Reporter stands over a dead Blue Blade.....  Thoughts: Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that the Fall of Berlin happens differently, in the Marvel Universe. In reality, Joseph Stalin set his finest commanders, Marshal Gyorgy Zhukov and Marshal Ivan Konev on a race to reach Berlin. The Yalta Conference had designated the division of Germany and Berlin into zones of control, split between the Allies. Churchill urged Eisenhower to send Montgomery's forces ahead to reach the city first; but Bradley cautioned about the likely casualties, estimated at over 100,000. An airborne operation, Operation Eclipse, utilizing the 82nd, 17th, 101st and a British brigade, to seize airports and airfields at Templehof, Rangsdorf, Gatow, Staaken and Oranienburg had been planned, but with casualty estimates and the ultimate end that the Soviets would still end up occupying part of Berlin, Eisenhower halted his troops at the Elbe, where, on April 25, 1945, troops from the Red Army met up with elements of the 69th Infantry Division, of the US Army. The Red Army had already invaded Austria and taken Vienna. By April 13, they were at the suburbs of Berlin and shelling the city center. By April 29 the red Army was battling the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS for control of the Reichstag building. On April 30, Hitler committed suicide. Admiral Karl Doenitz became President of the Reich and Joseph Goebbels Chancellor. On May 1, the Red Army was informed of Hitlers death and Gen hans Krebs was prepared to surrender the garrison of Berlin, but the Soviets demanded unconditional surrender and Krebs said he was not empowered to order that and would have to consult his superiors. Goebbels and his wife took their own lives and those of their children, with poison and on May 2, German foces surrendered, unconditionally. Later, General Alfred Jodl delivered the official surrender of Germany to General Eisenhower, at Allied HQ. It had already been established, by Roy Thomas, that the Invaders had entered the city of Berlin and smashed their way to the Fuhrerbunker, where the Human Torch witnessed Adolf Hitler place a gun to his head and the Torch threw a fireball at him, incinerating him. Captain America had already bee established to have disappeared, sometime in late 1944 or early 1945, and was replaced by William Naslund, aka The Spirit of 76, and Bucky was replaced by Fred Davis. Presumably, they are the Cap and Bucky we see in the crowd. This further reveals that an entire division of Marvels entered the city and aside from the Invaders and the Twelve, we can see Sgt Fury and the Howling Commandos, Miss Fury, The Defender and Rusty, The Destroyer, Night Raven (Dez Skinn and David Lloyd's pulp hero, from Marvel UK), The Liberty Legion, The Fin, The Black Marvel, and Father Time. Inside the SS HQ, we see portraits of Barons Strucker and Zemo, a bust of the Red Skull, a portrait of Baron Blood, though no sign of (flesh or representation) Master Man and Warrior Woman (or U-Man). Thunderer, Blazing Skull, Mercury, and The Vision didn't make the cut. No sign of Flexo The Rubber-Man, either. The Invisible Man might be there, but who can tell? There is nothing particularly revolutionary about the story. It is, essentially, the revival of Captain America (itself basically borrowing the concept of suspended animation from the Buck Rogers novella and comic strip), mixed with The Watchmen, at the climax of the issue. The fake hospital is reminiscent of the end of Captain America: The First Avenger, except that came out 3 years after this issue, though before the final issue ever saw the light of day. It was hardly original, either. Both Mission Impossible and The Prisoner had depicted such scenarios, with flaws that the heroes pick out (or that criminals spot or fail to spot, in MI). The multiple piercings of the nurse would be a bit unusual, assuming this is a military or even just governmental operation. The military allows only single piercings (or did...who knows now?) and government dress codes are similar, but it makes for a unique detail that would make sense. The stockings having elastic tops is probably pushing things quite a bit, but it makes for a visual element that Weston can highlight, also adding some sex appeal to some dry scenes. Where the facility is located is left a little mysterious, though presumably the US, and the nurse is in stereotypical white uniform, though her stockings are drawn as fishnets and colored black. British nursing uniforms included black stockings, but American nurses have normally been white, including in the 1940s. My guess is Weston drew fishnets to emphasize the stockings, and the colorist went with black, assuming that was the norm for fishnets (though other colors existed, even then, with chorus dancers and such) The coins suggest Phantom Reporter was scrutinizing them heavily, in a moment of stress, when he would have been more likely looking at shape and color to find what he needed. Still, it allows Weston to create another viual indicator. The modern skyline looks a bit more "London" than "New York" or "Washington DC," to me. Chris Weston is a British artist, which would explain the skyline more, as well as some mistakes with the Army uniforms (though general ignorance of someone who hadn't been in the military would also explain that). Much like JMS' Supreme Power, his remake of the Squadron Supreme, there is nothing remotely new here (that took from both the previous Gruenwald maxi-series and JMS' own Rising Stars (which shared more than a few similarities with Steve Englehart's The Strangers, in the Ultraverse line). The character traits and the narration, as well as the mystery surrounding a dead member, is straight out of Watchmen. Straczynski is a writer whose work I have enjoyed and admired, in tv and film and he writes interesting comics; but, he hasn't really presented any truly original ideas within them. Even Babylon 5 wore its influences on its sleeves. He is a good writer of character drama and interesting plots, but hardly a great original thinker. In comics, he is not an Alan Moore, though he is a better character writer than a large segment of dedicated comics writers. Chris Weston is a good choice for artist, as he hadnles detail well and gary Leach accentuates his work well, and he has his own history with this kind of stuff, as the original artist on Marvelman/Miracleman. Quite frankly, we have no reason to care about the murder of the Blue Blade, yet, other than he is one of the 12 and someone has kileld him and the series will revolve around who and why. The rest, judging by the second half of the issue, will revolve around the group adjusting to a new world. Sadly, any momentum in this serious was completely lost in publication delays. While JMS was writing this, The Changeling, a film he scripted, premiered and his screenplay was nominated for a BAFTA. JMS was inundated with offers, for far better money, in Hollywood. He carried Story credit on World War Z and Thor. He also had previous issues with completing work, due to Hollywood commitments, including on both Supreme Power and Rising Stars, with the former coming mostly to an abrupt end and then a revamp, and the latter ultimately being finished much later, though that was in part due to problems within Top Cow, related to rotating artists and production delays, as well as a dispute over a potential film adaptation. The situation was similar to Kevin Smith's long delays on projects, due to other commitments, suggesting that even superstar pay in comics couldn't touch Hollywood money and fans were left to suck it up, which damaged a lot of goodwill between the writers and their fanbase. JMS also had a dispute with EIC Joe Quesada, delaying the later 2/3, as well. Finally, a quick look at the characters: Phantom Reporter debuted in Daring Mystery Comics #3, in 1940, his sole appearance. Master Mind Excello debuted in Mystic Comics #2, in 1940, and had one more appearance, in the next issue. Black Widow debuted in Mystic Comics #4, in 1940, and also appeared in issues #5 and 7. as well as one appearance, each, in All-Select and USA Comics. Fiery Mask appeared in Daring Mystery Comics #1, in 1940, and issues 5 and 6 and one issue of The Human Torch. Laughing Mask debuted in Daring Mystery #2 and stayed through issue #4 Rockman first appeared in USA Comics #1 and remained through issue #4 Captain Wonder stepped onto the stage in Kid Komics #1 and stayed for #2, but no further wonder. Dynamic Man appeared in the first 4 issues of Mystic Comics, but no more. Mister E had a single adventure, in Daring Mystery #2 Electro was the star of the team, appearing in issues 4 through 19 of Marvel Mystery Comics Witness appeared in Mystic Comics #7-9, and Marvel Mystery Comics #92 Blue Blade debuted in Comedy Comics #10, and had one more story in USA Comics #5 So, you can see why Roy Thomas didn't jump all over these guys, in Invaders or other Marvel stories, though a portion of the Liberty Legion hadn't done much better. Most were blips on the radar, and derivative blips at that. However, they are enough of a blank slate that JMS can pretty much do what he wants. AS it is, its more than anyone else did with them, except Electro.
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