Would You Rather...? Great Bronze Age Runs

Doug: Here's a poser for you, spinning out of last weekend's conversation on our buying zeniths. In terms of greatness, readability, sustainability, influence, and yada yada yada, would you rather go to the first 50 (I use that term somewhat loosely) issues of the All-New, All-Different X-Men, or the Avengers encompassing the "Kree/Skrull War" through the "Celestial Madonna"? I don't know about you, but that's a tough choice for me.

I'm going to have to lean toward the X-Men on the greatness of the art alone. And then there was the awesomeness from issues 97-104 as classic baddies like the Sentinels, the Juggernaut, and Magneto rose up to attack our new band of mutants.

Of course, on the other side there's Neal Adams. And the bi-weekly "Avengers/Defenders War". And Englehart's time/space opera that ran from Avengers #129-135 and included three Giant-Size issues. Can I reconsider?

For our purposes, your "50"-issue runs are:

Giant-Size X-Men #1
X-Men #s 94-143
X-Men Annual #3

Avengers #s 89-135
Giant-Size Avengers #s 2-4

It's Memorial Day - Here's to Beating the Nazis! Invaders 35-37

 The Invaders #35 (December 1978)
"Havoc on the Home Front!"
Roy Thomas-Don Heck/Alan Kupperberg/Rick Hoberg

The Invaders #36 (January 1979)
"Crushed by the Iron Cross"
Roy Thomas-Alan Kupperberg/Chic Stone

The Invaders #37 (February 1979)
"The Liberty Legion Busts Loose"
Don Glut-Rick Hoberg/Alan Kupperberg/Chic Stone

Doug: Nostalgia's a powerful thing isn't it? Even as an adult, I couldn't wait for the first Invaders issue not drawn by Frank Robbins and Frank Springer. Trouble is, around the time those arrived, Don Heck got the art assignment. And here's my obligatory "I am not being mean to Don Heck" statement -- love the man's Silver Age work; his Bronze Age stuff not so much. So anyway, I'm working out of the Invaders Classic series of trades on this one -- volume 4 has the same cover as issue #35 above. The Whizzer was great during his brief tenure in the Avengers, wasn't he? Why wouldn't I be drawn back to this issue? Wait -- it has the whole Liberty Legion in it as well? Sign me up! Ah, but therein lies some trouble -- as you can see, today you're getting a full-blown arc rather than a single issue. But is that your gain?

Invaders #35, with pencils presumably by Alan Kupperberg

Doug: I'll start you off with three 100-Word Reviews, and then I'll go into my usual format for thoughts on the story. Here you go:

Invaders #35 - The Invaders are called Stateside to deal with a saboteur who made a “withdrawal” from a munitions installation. Cap, Namor, and the Torch are in Times Square meeting an adoring public when the Whizzer suddenly arrives. He relates (for us) a brief history of the Liberty Legion, and why he needs the Invaders’ help. Miss America had investigated a German-American tavern when she saw a professor kidnapped by two German toughs. Trailing them, she encountered the Iron Cross and engaged him in battle. She was joined by her Legion teammates, who were soon trounced. Hence the need for the Invaders.

Invaders #36 - The kidnapped man is Professor Schneider, designer of the Iron Cross armor. The wearer of the armor is Helmut Gruler, Schneider’s childhood friend. Gruler says time and again throughout the story that he is not a Nazi, somehow distancing his intense jingoism from the darker aspects of Hitler’s Germany. Gruler needs Schneider to make “improvements” to the Iron Cross armor. Meanwhile, the Invaders (now in an Atlantean ship) follow the trail of the captured Liberty Legion. Namor is engaged by the Iron Cross in the Atlantic, and their battle rips open the U-boat in which the Legion is being held.

Invaders #37 - As water pours through the gaping hole in the U-boat, the Iron Cross grabs Professor Schneider and hightails it out of there. Aboard the vessel, the crew unsuccessfully attempts to murder the Liberty Legion. Thin Man heads out into the ocean to assist Namor in getting the sub to the surface. They accomplish the task and once everyone’s safe, a team of Namor, the Torch, Miss America, and Red Raven pursue Iron Cross. The Torch melts the inner workings of the mechanical suit, causing Gruler to fall into the ocean; Schneider tells that the blueprints were destroyed with the suit.

Invaders #35, with pencils presumably by Don Heck

The Good: As alluded to above, the art. It's not spectacular -- and actually, one might consider it rather middling in comparison to other Bronze Age luminaries, especially the young guns who were breaking out in the late 1970s: Byrne, Perez, Miller, et al. I think my impression of it is just clouded by my joy at freedom from depictions of ballerinas in the throes of rigor mortis. Anyway, the pacing is really solid, all of the players look exactly as you think they should look, etc. Namor has a certain haughtiness about him as he should, Cap is focused, the Whizzer a bit frantic -- it's all here. The most interesting aspect of Invaders #35, however, is that you can plainly see the panels where Don Heck did the pencils and those where Alan Kupperberg did so. I've provided a few samples to support this. Again -- nothing wrong here... it's just noticeable.

I liked that we got a peek into the workings of the Stateside Liberty Legion, and to be perfectly honest wish we had been able to see more. I don't know if there was ever discussion of a spin-off WWII series featuring the Legion, but there should have been. Madeline Joyce seemed an able spy, and the angle that there would be an expatriate in New York who had built a weapon for Germany was a nice plotline. It is unfortunate, however, that as Miss America took the lead in the case she ended up being the one captured. "Helpless female" trope... You know, I look at the Liberty Legion the first time they are assembled in the story and there is really no reason they should not have been a successful launch on their own. The Whizzer and the Patriot do what Quicksilver and Captain America do, the Thin Man of course mimics Reed Richards, Red Raven = the Angel, Jack Frost is an early version of Iceman, and Blue Diamond would seem somewhat similar to Wonder Man. If we think of Miss America as the then-popular Ms. Marvel, then what's not to like? The Liberty Legion should have had the best of many corners of the Marvel Universe.

The flashbacks/recaps aspect of the story will serve as a segueway to my next section. While I think flashbacks are good for the month-to-month reader, let's face it -- this is no longer how we read comics. So while there was certainly merit in bringing new readers up to speed on the Liberty Legion's history, it did play out a bit long. Same thing for the origin of the Iron Cross armor. It wasn't bad -- just a bit cumbersome. I'm always torn about whether I liked the convention of one-page recaps that were en vogue when I stopped reading new comics (seemed a waste of a perfectly good splash page) or if I preferred the in-story rehashing of last month's details. I guess both have merit. 

The Bad: If Helmut Gruler had stated one more time that he was not a Nazi, I think I'd have screamed. But as a teacher of these sorts of issues, I did appreciate Roy Thomas's efforts. One aspect of the Holocaust that we strive to make clear with teachers we train at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is to use precise language. It's incorrect to make blanket statements such as "The Germans did..." or "The Nazis did..." simply because of issues of collaboration by non-Germans, and the point that Thomas makes with Gruler was true; it was certainly true that Gruler's nationalism could have existed without him being a member of the party. So while it became about as tiring as a Claremontian "I'm the best at what I do, and what I do isn't pretty.", I understood.

The Iron Cross was a somewhat formidable foe for our heroes, but really he was just a Titanium Man from an earlier era. And when you consider that Iron Man beat the Titanium Man by himself on numerous occasions, I never really felt like our heroes were threatened -- regardless of how much they got slapped around.

When the Thin Man ventured outside the damaged U-boat and attempted to repressurize it by pressing his body against the hull, I really had a difficult time suspending my disbelief. The pressure of the sea alone would have killed him. And with no breathing device? Pfah...

With such a large ensemble cast, it was tough for any of the heroes to get major face time. I thought the creators did a decent job of keeping everyone in character -- but such moments to shine were fleeting. Cap in particular seemed short-shrifted. I also felt like the Whizzer was pining just a bit too much for Miss America; given that she was arguably far more powerful than he, I'm sure she could take care of herself. She did, in fact, fight the Iron Cross to a standstill for several minutes, something Namor himself accomplished.

After giving some consideration to this story over several days, I'd suggest hopping in the wayback machine and running this tale as an annual. That would have pared it down a bit and probably made it read better. Just a thought.

The Ugly: The unevenness of the art could be jarring at times. I'd mentioned the panels that sometimes moved between Don Heck and Alan Kupperberg as lead penciler; I think the same thing happened in Invaders #37 between Kupperberg and Rick Hoberg. Additionally, the inks are incredibly sketchy at times in that issue. Sketchy like Vinnie Colletta hopped up on too much espresso. It wasn't bad art, per se; it just made me feel like I'd suddenly landed in a different book.

Invaders #37 - what's up with the scratchy inks in this portion of the book?

Time well spent? I won't say "no", because as I said at the top there was a definite sense of nostalgia and even love for these characters I followed in my youth. But fine literature? Uh, not so much. So let's just call it a nice diversion of four-color fun and leave it at that.

All That's Left is a Band of Gold - Savage Sword of Conan 14

Savage Sword of Conan #14 (September 1976)(cover by Earl Norem)
"Shadows in Zamboula"
Roy Thomas-Neal Adams/"the Tribe" (although databases credit Tony DeZuniga on the inks)

Doug: A little over a month ago I mentioned in a comments section that today's review would be coming your way. I said then that I'd originally intended to do a Thor issue from the first few post-Kirby offerings. Noticing that Neal Adams was the first artist on the post-Jack scene, I was drawn to that 2-parter. However, upon leafing through those two books and seeing the odd combination of Adams with Joe Sinnott's inks I was pushed away. Eyeballing the shelves in my comics room, I was reminded that it has been years since we ran a Savage Sword of Conan review (we've only done two in our long history here), so I zeroed in on the spines of the four collected volumes I own. I decided just to grab the second compilation and see what lurked within. Of all the stories inside, only two were not penciled by John Buscema. Since he's sort of the Conan go-to artist, I wondered about finding something different so I checked out first the Gil Kane story and then the Neal Adams tale. If you ever ask me to pick between those two artists I'm going to choose Adams 100% of the time -- no question. So here we are.

Doug: I've said it before, but some of the things I'd snatch up had I a time machine and a fair amount of cash are Marvel's various Bronze Age B&W magazines. The art is so spectacular -- from the limited amount of material I've seen, there weren't many misses in terms of quality. The inks are lush, and the use of wash, zipatone, etc. really give some great textures that the coloring of the day simply could not provide. If you've never laid eyes on these "essential" Savage Sword books (I lower-cased that, as these are published by Dark Horse, not Marvel), I'd encourage you to seek them out. They are thick, and a sight to behold.

Doug: So let's get this moving with a 100-Word Review of the plot, as I'm guessing few among our throngs of readers have read this particular tale.

Conan finds himself in Zamboula, warned against staying at the tavern of Aram Baksh. Allegedly men who sleep there disappear, their goods sold at the bazaar. Conan’s investigation soon leads him into conflict with cannibals from Darfar, and a bare-breasted damsel in distress. Further, a drugged Turanian soldier and an idol for human sacrifice add to the suspense. Conan is tested against a Black giant, reality-warping drugs, and the peddler of flesh, Totrasmek. A magical ring is the center of attention, for it enslaves the hearts of the opposite sex. Lies, peril, swordplay, and thievery dominate this fast-paced tale.

The Good: I sometimes feel like I need to take a deep breath when I'm reading these Savage Sword stories. It's pretty well known that John Buscema felt most at home with Conan the Barbarian. I think we could make that same argument of Roy Thomas. Sure, we all know of Thomas's affinity for the WWII-era heroes and the opportunity to retcon their histories. But he seemed to really put out with the Cimmerian. You could also add to the argument by stating how easy it must have been to work with the likes of Buscema, Kane, Adams, and the wonderful lot of Filipino artists that dot the Marvel B&W titles, as compared to lesser (and that's not really a dig) talents that might have been his partners in the four-color books. I just think there's a true comfort in the pacing, dialogue, and eventual payoff in a Roy Thomas Conan story. That being said, I know he has his detractors in the regular Conan mag, and it's been stated on this blog that post-#50 the drop-off in quality is marked. So what do I know?

Neal Adams's art is Neal Adams's art. It's beautiful. I read somewhere (maybe it was even Sean that suggested it in earlier comments here on the BAB) that Tony DeZuniga had tremendous influence on this issue. I suppose I see it in some places, but I mainly see Adams. The faces, angles of the body when walking, the motion of a turn -- some of those are specific traits that I see in Adams's pencils whether here or in a Batman or X-Men story. I also liked the attention to detail on Conan's hair. I know, sounds sort of metrosexual for a barbarian yarn. But if you've read some of the Robert E. Howard stories, Conan's hair is jet black and trimmed straight across his forehead. Adams honors that in nearly every panel. Small detail, but it adds authenticity to the portrayal of the character.

The plot, as I mentioned, was solid. It was extremely well-paced, slowing only when the tension of an action scene was required. There are some movements in the story, but I never felt that getting from here to there required me to suspend my disbelief (beyond "normal" in a sword/sorcery story) or accept any deus ex machina developments. Adams's panel layouts stayed mostly to the grid, but he just often enough mixed in a no-panel layout to keep me enthralled. There are three splash pages in the story, all appropriately placed and effective. Often the figures and/or accessories spill outside the panel's constraints, and I find that effective as well. The end panel is suitably "Conan", and left me with an "of course" smile.

An element of Conan stories is a sort of continuity-without-continuity. For example, on the first page Thomas pens that Conan is accosted in the bazaar by "one of his former Zuagir comrades". I don't necessarily need to know of that episode, but it places the thought into my mind that this Conan fellow is well traveled and well-adventured. Also, the use of city and national names gives Conan stories a "universe" feel. A Tarzan story, to draw on another major mythical adventurer, doesn't give me the same sense of geographic wonder; perhaps that's because Edgar Rice Burroughs anchored his ape-man in our own world.

My favorite part of this story was the 8-page mano-a-mano battle to the death between Conan and the Darfarian giant Baal-Pteor. The creators crafted a vignette with a great deal of tension and an outcome of which I assumed but could not be fully convinced.

The Bad: There's really not much to say here, other than I wondered about this rough-and-tumble world where barbarians stride through town shirtless and later meet and have an adventure with a beautiful woman, also shirtless. Makes me wonder why I'm sitting here wearing clothes... (no, not really). Cover up! Sheesh.

The Ugly: The only ugly thing about this story, or any Conan story for that matter, are the baddies. Whether here with Adams or in a Big John-penciled tale (or shoot -- in my imagination as I read a Howard short story), the denizens of these mythical cities never disappoint in terms of menace. But as to any story element? I got nuthin'.

As I said at the top, do yourself a favor and check out some of these stories. You know, we often bat around "what's so great about the Bronze Age?", and we always tend to focus on Treasury Editions, Megos, the Giant-Size and Dollar Comics, etc. But these magazines are a vital component of 1970s comics history and should not be neglected as part of the larger experience.

If You're Going to San Francisco... Amazing Adventures 7-8

Amazing Adventures #7 (July 1971)(Inhumans cover by Neal Adams)
"An Evening's Wait for Death!"
Roy Thomas-Neal Adams/John Verpoorten

Doug: I know I said that the last four week's worth of reviews was probably going to be it from me for the foreseeable future, but here I sit again. Writing/scanning/arranging/etc. these reviews is a labor of love -- trouble is, for much of the year it's just been a labor to find the time to do it! But lately I've been able to scare up a couple of hours here and there without taking quality time out of the marriage. So what the heck -- I like comics and you like reading about them. Today we'll be looking at an Inhumans story, spread over two issues of Amazing Adventures. Let's go.

Doug: We open on a beach under the control of Red China (because back in the Cold War you had to say it that way). The Inhumans -- Gorgon, Karnak, Medusa, and Triton -- crash-landed there at the end of the previous issue after a skirmish with Maximus. Black Bolt is elsewhere. This was during the time that Black Bolt had amnesia inflicted upon him by Maximus and was in the city of San Francisco. In defending a young man and his uncle from some thugs, Black Bolt had afterward donned civilian clothes. But unable to speak and truly wanting to converse with the boy, Black Bolt had lapsed and uttered the word "I..." It was enough to split a large naval vessel in half. Needless to say, people were on the lookout for the guy who did that.  But back on the beach, our cousins are unconscious when the Red Army shows up. They try to figure out the best course of action to deal with these "monster". As they debate, the commanding officer tells his troops to put down their weapons. Trouble is, that's right about the time everyone wakes up. And naturally Gorgon mistakes all the movement for an attack. So we get a little brouhaha, and Triton hops into the waters to help. He swims out and then down until he finds a large electronic switch on the side of a cliff. He triggers it, and back on the surface a panel opens from the side of a mountain to reveal a slick aircraft. Turns out it had been stashed there months earlier by these very Inhumans (although I couldn't find when). They make their getaway.

Doug: In San Francisco we find Black Bolt, still in civvies and with the boy he'd protected, accosted by an African-American man with a mechanical hand that looks an awful lot like something you would want to avoid the business end of. The man says he knows about the silent man and what he did, and that he can help. The boy asks about the gun-like contraption and the man suddenly converts it to a hand! What a device! He says they must get into his car, and that he will take them somewhere that's safe. As they slide into the back seat, it's suddenly revealed that the boy's (we now know his name is Joey) uncle Roscoe is in the front seat and up to no good. As gas fills the back seat, Joey's uncle and our new villain -- a Mister Dibbs (In the Heat of the Night and Sidney Poitier's "Mr. Tibbs" came out in 1967, but Roy must have been a fan) -- drive off with a costume draped across the front seat. The costume of Black Bolt. Dibbs remarks that the power in that suit is going to bring his plan to fruition.

Doug: We cut to the Pacific Ocean, just off the coast of California. Our four Inhuman travelers have set their craft down in the water and hop a hoverboard-type of contraption to make their way to shore. They don't land in directly in San Francisco as you might have guess, but instead turn up on Muscle Beach. It's really sort of silly -- I don't know if it was Roy or Neal who wanted to work this in. But as our costumed Himalayans reach the sand, the muscleheads decide that a) these new arrivals are weirdos and b) they need to be shown that it's a private beach. Well you can guess how this fight will go. Triton again figures that it's he who must end it, so creates a diversion to draw the bodybuilders away. Medusa and Karnak usher Gorgon out and into the city after they steal clothes from the beach's locker room. Emerging, they hail a cab and ask to be taken to the only place they know: Johnson Street. The only reason they know it is because the cabbie had his radio on and a disturbance was reported. In a city the size of San Francisco, Medusa figures any lead is a good lead.

Doug: And, as fate would have it, who do you think is in the middle of the unrest? Why sure -- it's Mister Dibbs. And Black Bolt, now in costume. Dibbs and his armed militants have come to take a stand against their living conditions, their lack of civil rights, and the "crushing heel of white society". If the mayor will not bring down the rat-infested tenements, then Dibbs has a way to do it himself: Black Bolt. To be continued.

Amazing Adventures #8 (September 1971)(Inhumans cover by Neal Adams)
"An Hour for Thunder!"
Roy Thomas-Neal Adams/John Verpoorten

Doug: As I was thinking about what to read for today's reviews, I kicked around some George Perez JLA, some black-and-white Frankenstein Monster, and maybe a Dave Cockrum Legion tale. When I came back to the Perez notion, I remembered the discussion we'd had on Inhumans #2 a couple of months ago. Since I have the Inhumans Marvel Masterworks,
 volume 2, I decided to check out the entire issue -- which was, by the way, my first Inhumans as I'd missed the premier. But in looking through it I recalled that the first four issues were all pretty serialized. So I moved away from that. But lo and behold! Right next to that Masterworks sat the Inhumans Marvel Masterworks, volume 1. Ah ha! I immediately turned to Amazing Adventures #8, recalling the cool Thor cover. Leafing through, it was obvious that I needed to also read and review #7, which you just finished reading. So here we are.

Doug: Oddly enough we open this issue in Avengers Mansion. This is the era of the Kree-Skrull War, and this is a great line-up! They are assembled near a visi-screen, watching the goings-on in San Francisco. As Mister Dibbs shouts the name of Black Bolt, the Scarlet Witch wonders aloud who he is. Cap says he does not know, either. Now hey -- didn't the Avengers and the Fantastic Four always share files? I just found this odd. Roy was writing both books and was certainly the resident Marvel scholar, so he would know if this was off. It sure seemed peculiar to me. Suddenly Thor enters the monitor room and claims that he alone will go to San Francisco to right this coming wrong. Just like the Muscle Beach scene in the previous issue, this appears to be a way to raise up a brawl. But, I suppose that's a long-standing Marvel tradition, so I'm going to play along.

Doug: Back in the City by the Bay, Dibbs is spouting his rhetoric and claims that for years he worked within the system to try to enact change -- a change that white politicians would hear nothing of. Well that was all going to end this day, and by demonstration he was going to show his followers how. Black Bolt barely whispers and one of the projects comes down. A representative of the mayor quickly calls out to Dibbs, saying that they'll work with him. Dibbs will have none of it and relates a tale of his youth. It's unfortunately a typical urban story of this time period (shoot -- of now, to say sadly...), full of poverty, vermin, and the protection of youth. Dibbs is angry, and he's promised to bring the entire area to the ground. Off to the side the Royal Family witnesses this in horror as their liege has used his power for violence. They change and leap to action as Dibbs' men fire smoke grenades near the National Guard.

Doug: Still without Triton, Medusa and her remaining male cousins take the fight right to the militants. It's tough to say who is right and who is wrong in a situation like this, but certainly the means of action by Dibbs and his men do cross a line. Ever the blusterer, Gorgon hoists a VW Beetle to get some attention. The compact car is suddenly sliced in half by a certain hammer made of Uru. Thor makes a grand entrance, but announces that the insurgents are under his protection. Now that's not how I'd have figured it. Karnak leaps at Thor while Medusa holds the Thunder God's arms with her tresses. A strike to the Son of Odin's wrist causes him to drop Mjolnir and since this is the Bronze Age -- you know what that means (tick, tick, tick...)! But we cut then to a hide-out across town, where Joey is being guarded by one of Dibbs' men. There's a radio playing, so Joey knows the score. He manages to get away, but not before looking into another room -- a room into which his guard had called. And he sees...

Doug: We cut back to Johnson Street where it's Gorgon who now (unwittingly) keeps Thor separated from his enchanted hammer. The Inhumans move against Dibbs, who leaps off a tank to meet their charge. He peels off the fake hand to again reveal the gun-like device at the end of his right arm. As Medusa uses her hair to grab the weapon and throw Dibbs off-balance, gunshots suddenly ring out from stage left. The smoke from the grenades has dissipated enough that the National Guard and police can now get through. Dibbs sees that this is it. But Thor reaches Mjolnir in the confusion and uses its power to whip up a thunderstorm, driving law enforcement back with wind and lightning. Thor makes his way to Dibbs and tells him that he knows what he's going through. Dibbs scoffs, incredulous that a god could say such a thing. But Thor remarks that he knows the pain Dibbs has faced. Dibbs wonders if Thor has seen some secret file on him, and then reveals the truth: Cancer was going to take his hand and perhaps his life. But his physician -- Dr. Donald Blake -- gave it to him straight. Dibbs, now mad at the world and for seemingly losing all he'd worked for, said he would see Tony Stark about his hand situation. And after that, he had something to do. Thor tells Dibbs that he's watched him from afar, and that all reason has left him. Dibbs turns to implore Black Bolt to speak and complete the mission. But Thor whacks Dibbs on the back of the head, ending his day. The Royal Family rush to their king, begging him not to speak. And then we find that it's not Black Bolt in costume at all -- no, it's Roscoe, young Joey's uncle. And just as he parts his lips to speak, the antenna atop the mask suddenly recharges with the energy of the sun. And Roscoe is not fit to take it. News later that day reports how a stranger in a strange suit had died that afternoon, and that Lionel Dibbs would be awaiting a trial. Joey heard this, in the company of his companion who had been restrained in the room next to him: Black Bolt.

Doug: So... I'm not going to categorize myself as an Inhumans expert, but I've read my fair share of their adventures. Certainly by 1971's history, I'd say that I have read almost all of them. And I never got the impression that it was Black Bolt's suit that gave him his powers. I guess I always figured it was the Terrigen Mists that had empowered him (see the Inhumans back-ups in late Silver Age Thors) with the curse of the voice, with flight, etc. As to the antenna? I really never thought about it much. I mean, isn't the same deal on Lockjaw, and isn't it a part of him? I'm asking -- help a brother out if you know the answers to these questions. When Roscoe spoke at the beginning of the demonstration and the building fell -- how'd that happen? Oh, yes -- and raise your hand if you're ticked off that Thor and Black Bolt never actually fought inside the book. False advertising, I say!

Doug: And what of the script? Roy Thomas is obviously sitting in for Denny O'Neil in a story we've somewhat read before (see our review of Green Lantern #76, as well as other GL/GA issues). Notice how Neal Adams was the penciler on both tales? I'm not saying social justice in comics is wrong -- I think the fact that Thomas and O'Neil, and Stan Lee and others as well, wanted to bring light to important political issues is probably commendable. And that it plays with a heavy hand? I don't know -- maybe that's my problem, not theirs. We could debate that all day, and certainly bring the topics discussed right up to today's relevance. Adams art was great as it usually is (even if John Verpoorten's inks gave it a scratchy texture). If I'd quibble, it's that Adams could draw Thor a bit beefier. But that splash page of the Avengers was magnificent. The man was born to draw that team! Or was it the X-Men...?

Dancing a Complex Step - Invaders 12

Invaders #12 (January 1977)
"To the Warsaw Ghetto!"
Roy Thomas-Frank Robbins/Frank Springer

Doug: I'll be proceeding with caution today, friends. Two reasons: No. 1 is the presence of Frank Robbins on the penciling. You know by now how I feel about that (his writing aside, which I enjoyed on many a Batman yarn). No. 2 is the title of the story. Our long-time readers know that I have done educational contract work for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum since 2005. I'm just a bit leery to see how the Warsaw Ghetto (and largely the Holocaust) will be portrayed by the folks at Marvel. Fingers crossed. So the next obvious question would be, "But wait, Doug -- didn't you read this mag as a 10 1/2-year old?" The answer would be "yes", but the memory would say "Uhhhhhhhh...." You know what I mean. In spite of my strong reservations about the art on this title I was a regular reader when I could find it. I think I came on with the Liberty Legion crossover in #5 and stayed when I could through the end. I was never so happy to see Alan Kupperberg! I'll be reading and scanning from the Invaders Classic, Volume 2 trade paperback. Onward, then.

Doug: We open with the Human Torch (Original variety) flying through the night skies of London. He's mad at events that had just transpired, and we get a recap of some of the events of Invaders #s 7-11 which featured the "return" of Union Jack, the introduction of his daughter Jacqueline Falsworth, the introduction of a Professor Gold's Blue Bullet armor, the wounding of Jacqueline, and finally her healing after a blood transfusion from the android Torch -- which, by the way, gave her super speed! Got it? So the Torch decides he's going to the Tower of London to visit the now-imprisoned traitor Gold. After proving his identity to the Tower guards, our friend Jim Hammond is escorted to Gold's cell. Confronted, Gold says he's not interested in speaking about anything; he merely wishes his execution. But the Torch tells him he thinks he knows why Gold used the Blue Bullet armor to fight the Invaders on behalf of Hitler's Reich: Gold must be Jewish, and there must be more to his story.

Doug: Gold begins to sob, his head in his hands, and tells the Torch that his name was anglicized from Goldstein. He then begins to narrate his story. The Goldsteins were Hasidic Jews from Warsaw, and John Goldstein (the professor) had a younger brother named Jacob. Both boys were interested in science, John in physics, Jacob in geology. When September, 1939 came and the Germans invaded Poland, the Goldsteins were among the millions of Polish Jews who began to face intense discrimination. The Goldsteins were moved to the Warsaw Ghetto (this would have been late in 1940), but John managed to emigrate to Great Britain -- he does not say how, but does tell that his brother refused to come along. Once in England, Goldstein began to work on the Blue Bullet project. Until, that is, he was visited by a shadowy figure. The Torch puts all of the pieces together -- it was the Nazi agent who blackmailed Goldstein into turning the armor on the Invaders. Hammond ask him if the Invaders could get Jacob out of Warsaw, would the professor come back to the Allied side? In a minute, John exclaimed -- but only after seeing his brother alive. The Torch flew off, obviously with a mission in mind.

Doug: The Torch returns to his teammates and is met by Cap and Namor. Cap wants to talk -- you see, the Torch had originally flown off because when Jacqueline had awoken she jumped into Cap's arms. But it was the Torch who'd fallen for her -- now he couldn't see hanging around the team if he was going to have to see the girl he was sweet on chasing one of his mates. The Torch said he had not decided if he was quitting the team, and didn't want to discuss it. They had other issues with which to deal. So he told Goldstein's story, and it was Lord Falsworth who spoke first. The older gentleman voiced his regret that he'd not be able to join them as Union Jack. But just then, a female voice erupted from stage left -- it was Jacqueline, now sporting the costume we know as Spitfire! Of course the boys try to talk her out of it, but she baits them into a trial -- a trial she wins as no Invader can lay a hand on her. Lord Falsworth's again melancholy about the injuries he'd suffered earlier, but gives his blessing to his daughter to accompany the Americans (and Atlantean).

Doug: Namor's flagship transported the team into the heart of Europe, landing under cover of the night near the Warsaw Ghetto. As the team began their quest they came upon a couple of SS harassing a Jewish woman. Spitfire was the first to action, followed by Captain America. The fight did not last long. Cap speaks Jacob Goldstein's name aloud, and the German Jewess understands. Spitfire interprets her German, and they ascertain that Goldstein is in a book store not far away. The men go to him and tell they've come from his brother. But Goldstein says he's not leaving -- his place is in Warsaw with his books and his studies. And then one of the Invaders (off-camera, but I assume it was Cap) utters the first line in the story that gave me pause: "But all of you are in peril! Why don't you fight back?" Having studied this history for many years, I can unequivocally say that it just wasn't that easy. Goldstein tells him that the Jews must submit, and await the will of God. He even invokes an old Jewish belief from Prague -- that the Golem will save them. Cap loses it -- he screams about Hitler's atrocities, the camps and ghettos, and that Goldstein's brother can help them combat all this if Jacob will accompany them to London. As they argue, Bucky comes to the window and say they'd better get outside -- company's coming.

Doug: The Nazis bring a tank unit and the Invaders meet it head on. As you might suspect, this, too, is not much of a fight. Spitfire notices that one of the tanks had gone off to the side and has it's turret aimed directly at Goldstein and three others. The Invaders don't even debate surrender, quitting the battle immediately. A gas grenade knocks them all out (the Torch included), and they are captured. But Jacob Goldstein makes a stand, only to be kicked in the back and thrown to the ground. As the tanks roll back out of the ghetto, Goldstein says that he knows what he must do. And it's back to his bookstore, to fight back. The next issue title? "The Golem Walks Again!" You see where this is headed.

Doug: Although I didn't read it for detail, I did skim Invaders #13 so I could report to you how this 2-parter turns out. The Invaders are captured and bound in creative ways (think Batman '66). There's a Nazi thug who mocks them, but the festivities are broken up by the appearance of the Golem. He's big and bad, and wreaks havoc on the Germans. And at the end of the story Jacob still commits to staying in Warsaw, even positing that some day his people may rise up against their oppressors. It's a heroic, if tragic, monologue. And here lay my misgivings about this story -- to my recollection the only time this magazine dealt with the Holocaust. I wish they hadn't. Not because it's not an important part of the Second World War -- it most certainly was and is. But to introduce super-powered heroes to that narrative, to have them in the Warsaw Ghetto and so close to the Treblinka killing center without doing anything about the events that our heroes were obviously privy to... it just serves to increase the magnitude of the genocide and the missed opportunities for Allied intervention. Yes, this is fictional, but what of the real-world intelligence that had exposed these events to the West? What of the Allied leaders who had this information yet chose to remain focused elsewhere? "Win the War first." I get that. I also get that some 12 million Jews/non-Jews perished in the Holocaust. And like I tell my students -- don't dwell on those numbers that your mind cannot comprehend anyway. Instead, think of it as it happened, in human lives: 1 and 1 and 1 and 1. Surely the Invaders could have offered some succor to those trampled under Hitler's boots.

All that being said... would that have been even more disrespectful to the history?