The Coming Of The Invaders!

Never have I been so ready to consume a comic book than I was the debut issue of the The Invaders. The notion of the Timely "Big Three" (Captain America, Human Torch, Sub-Mariner) becoming a team (as they had done very briefly in the pages of All-Winners) was an idea I thought downright ripe and ready as 1975 rolled around. So, when Roy Thomas and Frank Robbins sprung The Invaders on us "Marvelites" of the time, I was aboard the Fortress Europa Express in a nanosecond. I love the concept so much I have all the originals, the paperback reprints and I've just added The Invaders Omnibus, which is what I'm reading the epic war saga in this time. 

(Gil Kane)

I had been made ready, eager, and willing by a host of forces. Fantasy Masterpieces was a potent comic in the late 60's, giving fans not just reprints of Marvel's vigorous Silver Age, but reaching back into the then not-so-distant mists of time to bring forth true-blue Golden Age stories of likes of Cap, Subby, and the Torch among others. The comic was a peephole into comic book lore, allowing a glimpse but little else of the sprawling vista the Golden Age had been. But it was enough.

(Sal Buscema and Sam Grainger)

The Golden Age heroes started popping up in actual comics, specifically those written by Roy such as The Avengers and The Uncanny X-Men. The mostly forgotten Red Raven flew into a single story with the high-flying Angel when the X-Men had gone their separate ways for a time. Golden Age heroes sprang from the mind of Rick Jones in the climax of the awesome space-spanning Kree-Skrull War. The Invaders themselves were presaged in earlier pages of that same comic when time-traveling Assemblers at the behest of Kang traveled to wartime Paris to battle the Timely trio. Former All-Winners Squad members Whizzer and Miss America had recently shown up in the back story of Marvel's mysterious mutant siblings Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. The Golden Age was bubbling up all over creating a heady brew indeed.

(Gil Kane and Bill Everett)

So, The Invaders were inevitable really, and when Roy "The Boy" Thomas relinquished the reins of Editor-in-Chief of the mighty Marvel Bullpen, he had a project he'd been born to write, a ret-conned history of Marvel's most vintage heroes. He created The Invaders, and made them "Giant-Size" to boot. 

(The original splash page by Frank Robbins was tweaked by John Romita and became the debut cover.)

Giant-Size Invaders was the original format for Marvel's WWII heroes, a format which was widespread and popular with yours truly. We got a new story of extended length along with a great Golden Age reprint, in this issue one starring Namor, the Sub-Mariner from his first self-titled comic way back in 1941 by his creator "Wild" Bill Everett.

(Frank Robbins created this splash which shows the scene on the cover from the reverse angle.)

The debut story assembles our disparate heroes as they all confront a threat on the high seas. The Nazis are trying to kill the Prime Minister Winston Churchill before he can come to the Americas to ask for aid for his afflicted country. To that end they kidnap a scientist who was a part of the creation of Cap himself and force him to assist them in the creation of their own ideal warrior dubbed "Master Man". Controlled by Colonel Kreighund the Master Man battles to destroy Churchill's ship but is stopped when Cap, Bucky, Torch, Toro and Namor combine forces to stop him. Afterwards Churchill himself suggests the heroes form a team to storm Fortress Europa itself, and dubs them "The Invaders".

(John Romita)

But that was the last Giant-Size issue for many decades. With the very next installment, that format was dropped and The Invaders went to a then-regular sized twenty-five cent comic, but that meant the next story originally developed for the larger size was shifted to two full issues. In those the newly assembled Invaders head to London where they confront the deadly Blitz and in the midst of that find a mysterious girl who seems to have a link to the rumored "Brain Drain" which was itself connected to the Master Man they'd defeated in their first adventure.

(John Romita)

They soon enough find sufficient reason to travel to into enemy territory where they find and battle three seeming gods from legend, but who turn out to be space travelers instead used by the Brain Drain, a scientist who has been transformed by their coming into a man with a brain encased in a glass dome. The girl turns out to be the fourth space traveler and they all decide since they are stranded here they are better off dead and the world is introduced to nuclear energy sooner than has been documented.

(Jack Kirby and John Romita)

(Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia)

Following that deadly struggle the heroes return to the United States for a time and run afoul of a new foe, one of the Sub-Mariner's own Atlantean minions named Merrano who has used his science to make himself into a super-powered soldier for the Reich calling himself "U-Man" after the deadly submarines which threatened the Eastern coast of the United States and all of the Atlantic at the time.

(Gil Kane)

The Invaders eventually put down the threat of the U-Man, but not before uncovering a mystery in the region we commonly call the Bermuda Triangle, an enigmatic area which seems to drag in the unsuspecting into a time warp to a deadly zone filled with prehistoric creatures, among other things. This is a shout out to another Marvel comic of the time, Skull the Slayer which explores the area in modern times.

(Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott)

The Invaders then begin one of their most important missions, one which finds them back home front hawking war bonds.

One offbeat note is a panel in which Bucky and Toro are seen reading the comics above, a reference to the Marvel Comics within the Marvel Universe in which they get many things different than "reality".  Sadly the heroes, save for Bucky who is deemed too weak to fool with, are captured by the Red Skull and turned into mind-controlled super-soldiers for the Third Reich, and turn their attention to destroying weapons plants.

(Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia)

Bucky left alone takes steps to assemble other superheroes of the time and creates the Liberty Legion made up the Patriot, the Whizzer, Red Raven, Miss America, the Blue Diamond, the Thin Man, and Jack Frost.

(Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott)

These heroes confront the Invaders as the latter attack different regions of the United States, but the battles are somewhat inconclusive, though Toro is captured.

(Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia)

Then eventually the tide turns, and the Liberty Legion is able to free the Invaders of the Skull's mind-control, which was made possible by use of technology developed by the now-dead Brain Drain. Afterwards it seems the Legion will stay together to defend the Homeland while the Invaders return to their primary mission to "invade" Fortress Europa.

For the record this story wove between two issues of The Invaders and two issues of Marvel Premiere which showcased the Liberty Legion drawn by Don Heck. Rich Buckler and Dick Ayers stepped in to handle one issue of the crossover, a springtime blockbuster of sorts. The name "Liberty Legion" was one Roy Thomas had created when he was a teenager and is now finally able to use.

(Jack Kirby, Frank Giacoia, and John Romita)

When the team returns to London, they find almost immediately that the Blitz continues. Amid that destruction they discover the supernatural in the form of Baron Blood, a for-real vampire.

(Neal Adams)

We eventually learn that Baron Blood was created by none other than Dracula himself, though this was of course decades before the Count's then modern adventures in the pages of The Tomb of Dracula.

(Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia)

The team also meets for the first time Union Jack, a British hero of the earlier World War I. He turns out to be Lord Falsworth and the secret of Baron Blood is closer to him than he realizes. We learn that Union Jack is one of several heroes from the "Great War" who formed a team not unlike The Invaders themselves. The Phantom Eagle was a colleague of the Union Jack. Also threatened by the deadly vampire is his daughter Jacqueline, a high-born but brave woman.

(Jack Kirby and Frank Springer)

The Invaders work together alongside Union Jack to defeat Baron Blood, despite injuries which prevent Lord Falsworth from being able to continue in his heroic role.

(Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia_

Worth noting is that with the ninth regular issue, original inker Vince Colletta gave way to Frank Springer who would be the regular for several years to come. Also, the return of Jack Kirby to Marvel was most important as he became a regular cover artist for the line for a while and some of his absolute best work is seen on these Invaders covers. 

(Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott)

But the stage is set for something new as the ranks of The Invaders is about to grow permanently.

The invasion continues. More tomorrow. 

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Marvel Boy Day!

Mark Gruenwald was born on this date in 1953. Gruenwald loved comics and his work at Marvel in the 80's and 90's was remarkable in many ways. He took the Squadron Supreme and made them real. He co-created the DP7, arguably the best of the New Universe. But I most adore his work on Quasar, a hero for the time. Gruenwald gave depth of character to that rarest of things in comics in the 90's, a nice guy. 

It all began in the 50's with Marvel Boy. I always liked the over-the-top adventures of Marvel Boy, so when this Atlas era hero was revived in the Marvel Universe I was all for it.

I first ran across Marvel Boy in Marvel Tales alongside Spidey, Thor, and Torch. He was a cool looking hero as rendered by the slick Bill Everett. I liked the hokey adventures then, but I have to confess reading a whole batch of them, the weaknesses in the storytelling really show up.

The thing is that Marvel Boy was a series that seemed to almost have a new premise each issue and often each story. He began as a space warrior, a displaced Earther from Uranus who came back to his home planet to save us from ourselves and from alien threats. But the desire to put out horror material changed Bob Grayson into a battler of ghosts, ghouls, and vampires. Some of those were real, some were bogus. He had a partner in the beautiful circus performer turned secretary Starr Ryder, and then she just disappeared. He was an insurance investigator and then that background seemed to fade. Even his name as Marvel Boy dissolved as the series developed.

He was drawn by greats like Russ Heath and the aforementioned Bill Everett. But despite the handsome gloss of the stories and some really genuinely exciting moments, the series was seriously uneven. It seemed torn between slamming the Commies in one tale about water on Uranus and then finding for real vampire queens in another set in Italy. Each story had its charms and weaknesses but taken as a whole the mind boggled as the reading unfolded.

I still adore Marvel Boy, he's a character in search of the right circumstances, but he appeared at a time when sadly he was not allowed to become all he might have been. Or perhaps they were just trying desperately to find a formula that worked, but alas none of them seemed to have time to catch hold.

Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott

George Perez and Joe Sinnott
Marvel Boy returns in a Bronze Age two-part story from Fantastic Four #164 and #165 (written by Roy Thomas and drawn magnificently by George Perez and Joe Sinnott) featuring the reemergence of Bob Grayson into the Bronze Age of Marvel Comics, and dubbing himself "The Crusader".

It's a tragic tale, but it's an important one as this story set up scores of stories dealing with the technology which powered Marvel Boy, and this was the same equipment which made the career of Wendell Vaughn, later called "Quasar" so important. No superhero at Marvel was more intriguing to my mind than Quasar. This saga created by Mark Gruenwald, of nice guy trying his best to finish first, but always trying to do good was a ray of sunshine in a decade of comics overwrought with over-sized pistols and abundant bladed weapons.

Quasar was a great superhero, a hero who properly carried on the legacy of another superhero by the name of Marvel Boy.

When Marvel decided to revive him he was a bit of a joke as part of a special SHIELD strike force called the "Super-Agents" in the pages of Captain America, but he evolved beyond that being the only hero in the lot worth the name. Wendell Vaughn went on to become part of the Pegasus Project in Marvel Two-In-One and took the name Quasar and a new hero was well and truly born.

He was a throwback, a decent guy trying to do good. In the Marvel Universe ruled by Wolverines and Punishers, Quasar seemed quaint and naive, but in the capable hands of Mark Gruenwald, he became something aspirational. He was a hero, a man intent on helping the world become better and he has a nice somewhat retiring personality to go along with his sincere motivations.

The character went thought many a change and transformation along the years, especially after the untimely death of his co-creator Gruenwald. But during the 90's no superhero spoke to my heart like Quasar, a good and decent man trying to do the right thing. Isn't that supposed to be what a hero is?

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The Sub-Mariner Day!

Bill Evertt was born on this date in 1917.

Of all the exceedingly talented Golden Age artists Bill Everett's images might well be the most stunningly beautiful. Certainly his work stands the test of time and as far as I can tell he never stopped developing, growing in many respects stronger as the years rolled by.

Here's the classic image of the young Everett at work in his studio, looking at once like a sturdy craftsman and a mildly debonair intellectual.

Of course he always came back to his greatest creation the Sub-Mariner, rendering the quixotic Atlantean across five decades. Namor is according to many scholars the first Timely hero, his strip having been produced and distributed even before the launch of Marvel Comics #1.

While Captain America is the darling of today's movie goers and the Torch at least gets noticed in whatever FF movie is out, the Sub-Mariner has never hit the big screen, never been realized in anything other than cartoon form. (See Comments or correction on this point.) That's the situation despite Namor being one of the most durable and inventive variations on the superhero template ever imagined.

Falling on hard times as a result of alcoholism, Bill Everett often made his living as an inker and in the opinion of his fan was arguably the finest inker that Jack Kirby ever had at Marvel during the King's original tenure. The work they did together on Thor is just outstanding.

Thankfully Everett was able to return to Namor one more time in the early 70's before his untimely death. Those issues are magnificent visual feasts, though many fans of the time thought the storytelling was terribly dated. No one has ever rendered underwater environments with the grace and visual splendor Everett brought to the page. The sea was a character in these stories, always present and affecting the scene.

I don't know, certainly the zany tone of the comics did feel like something not quite like the somber Marvel norm, but the effusive nature of the stories and art were compelling nonetheless.

Bill Everett was truly one of the giants of the industry, a massively talented gentleman who is missed even to this day.

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Amazing Adventures - Something Inhuman This Way Comes!

This is a most curious reprint package. The Inhumans have a most curious publishing history and no small part of that was their stint as the front half of Amazing Adventures which was an early 70's attempt to recapture the magic of the classic split books of the Silver Age. It was somewhat successful, but eventually gave way as one feature, in this case the Inhumans eventually took over. The Inhumans were the creation of Jack "King" Kirby and he'd wanted to do a feature with them for a long time. Just before he left Marvel he got his chance to both write and draw these intriguing characters. The problem was that ten pages was a small space to tell a large story. After four issues he was gone. 

And for a brief time, the great Neal Adams drew the feature, replacing Kirby just as he had done on Thor. Those Roy Thomas-Neal Adams adventures are the focus of this reprint as the story blends weirdly into the Kree-Skrull War being waged at that time in mighty pages of The Avengers. This skirmish informs our understanding of that greater conflict in a small way, and this collection will go nicely next to a gathering of that now famous Marvel epic.

Neal Adams gave way eventually on this saga handing the art chores to longtime DC pro Mike Sekowsky. Sekowsky did very little work for Marvel, this stuff along with a few issues of Super-Villain Team-Up as I recall. But with covers by the likes of Adams, John Buscema, and Gil Kane, the artwork on this storyline in Amazing Adventures looks impeccable. 

(John Buscema and John Verpoorten)

In the very first issue Black Bolt leaves his Royal Family members inexplicably. They find Maximus in a weird box and both Gorgon and Karnak work to free him. But Maximus has a new secret power and immediately on his release sends a mental bolt which robs Black Bolt of his memory just as Black Bolt was reaching civilization in the form of San Francisco. Black Bolt takes off his costume to blend in and that proves to be a terrible mistake. 

(Neal Adams)

Realizing their mistake Gorgon, Karnak, Medusa and Triton battle against Maximus who has taken mental control of the rest of the small Inhuman population. Robbed of his memory Black Bolt has hooked up with a boy he rescued from abuse. Later, not knowing his immense power begins to speak and destroys a ship in the harbor. Neal Adams does a great job of rendering this chaotic event with the help of inker John Verpoorten. Verpoorten does some outstanding work on the work of Adams in all these Inhuman stories save the first one inked by Tom Palmer, and I'm sorry they didn't do more together. 

(Neal Adams)
The Royal Family has crashed on a remote island where they have stashed a ship. They get the ship. Black Bolt and the boy Roscoe are taken prisoner by a black man name "Mr. Dibbs".  The Royal Family gets to America and land on the beach, but an attack by humans causes Triton to run interference while his family escapes and seek disguises. The story ends when Mr. Dibbs leads an uprising with the seeming assistance of Black Bolt. 

(Neal Adams)
In the last issue by Neal Adams (four just like Kirby), the Avengers look to intervene but Thor waves them off and takes on the Royal Family and Mr. Dibbs. It's a hectic battle and in the end the imposter in Black Bolt's costume is killed by lightning. The real Black Bolt and Roscoe watch on TV. 

(John Buscema and Joe Sinnott)

(Mike Sekowsky and Bill Everett)

In the next issue Thomas and Adams are gone. Replacing them is the team of Gerry Conway and Mike Sekowsky with Bill Everett on inks. The chaotic storyline is made even more confusing when Magneto and a weird gang of mutants take on the Family. He also kidnaps Black Bolt and reunites the family save for Triton. 

(Gil Kane and Joe Sinnott)
This confusing mish-mash rumbles along with Frank Giacoia inking this time. Black Bolt gets his memory back and finally he and the family are able to stop the deadly schemes of Magneto. Having put the threat down, they prepare for the next assault. Meanwhile Triton is missing and Roscoe got swallowed up by three weird lights called the Trikon. 

(John Buscema and Tom Palmer)

(Neal Adams and Tom Palmer)

Neal Adams and Roy Thomas welcome back their old partner Tom Palmer to take the Inhuman story back again in the pages of The Avengers. Triton finally returns and Maximus is still up to no-good, and we are presented with a strange event for Marvel when the Conway-Sekowsky issues are ignored, and the story picks up from when Thomas and Adams left the series. But more on that tomorrow. 

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