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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The Man Called Nova Day!

Marv Wolfman was one of the first of the comic book fans to become a professional in the 1960's as the Golden Age talents were reaching retirement. He brought with is a great enthusiasm for a form which most thought was on its last legs. He and his close friend Len Wein made their first marks at DC but soon were shuttling back and forth between there and Marel. Wolfman would write one of comic's greatest with The Crisis on Infinite Earths. 

The Man Called Nova burst onto the comic racks in the late Bronze Age and was a breath of fresh air. Marv Wolfman had the notion of Nova rumbling around in his imagination since his boyhood but brought the idea to Marvel with fantastic effect. He'd first used the character in fanzines, magazines of his own creation. 

(You can see the back of Nova in this fanzine cover.)

The character combines aspects of Spider-Man (angst-ridden teenager struggling to be a superhero) with aspects of Green Lantern (part of a space-spanning police force). I really loved the villains in Nova, they all had a nifty retro glow to them. The creators really worked overtime to make the villains distinctive and colorful. Diamondhead, Condor, Powerhouse, and the mastermind the Sphinx all tingle the memory.

Sal Buscema inherited the book from his brother's debut and "Our Pal" Sal was the perfect artist for the title, his style clear and light. Later when Carmine Infantino took over, I was less enthusiastic as his artwork at that time was exciting but felt muddled to me somehow. In retrospect, he was an ideal choice. 

Nova only lasted a couple of years, but the character like most all Marvel characters became a part of the broader universe and has been revived and revised more than a few times. 

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The Black Knight Rides!

The Black Knight was getting a push with a Marvelmania poster all his own back in 1971. The poster featured the art of Howard Purcell. Since the poster captures a scene from the story which focused on the Knight, I'd imagine the scene was a rejected cover. 

 

There was something about the stories of the Black Knight which were special, and that was the artwork of Joe Maneely. I first fell in love with the original Black Knight in the pages of Fantasy Masterpieces and Marvel Super-Heroes when the Atlas-era adventures of Sir Percy of Scandia were reprinted alongside those of other Marvel heroes. Joe Maneely was immediately one of my favorite artists, as his nearly glowing pages, filled with detail told stories with economy and potency. He was a deft hand, and I wondered why he was not doing more, then I read of his tragic accidental death. He was reputedly Stan Lee's favorite artist and if he had not passed away, it's entirely likely that instead of Jack Kirby, Stan might've gone a different way when he decided to give the world of superheroes another shot. 

When the Black Knight as a hero was revived by Roy Thomas in the pages of Marvel Super-Heroes Howard Purcell was selected as the artist. Purcell an artist from the Golden Age of comics who had spent most of his time at DC on things like the original Green Lantern and later the Sea Devils. He co-created Sargon the Sorcerer and the Enchantress so he was a good pick to handle the heavily mystical yarn about the legacy of Dane Whitman. The Black Knight's legacy was further developed in the pages of The Avengers as Roy Thomas brought the character back as a hero. The Black Knight had been a villain, but Thomas gave us a scientist who became a practitioner of sorcery when got the ebony blade of his ancestor Sir Percy. 

The Black Knight always seemed to be on the perimeter of the Marvel Universe, an Avenger but rarely seen. He was even turned to stone for several years. He eventually became a mainstay, and I have to say I usually liked his appearances.

When he is transformed to stone by the Enchantress only to become the impetus for the great Avengers-Defenders Clash, then gets trapped in time during the Crusades, later appearing in British comics getting involved with Captain Britain, and even journeys across dimensions to lead Malibu's Ultraforce. Here are some key covers from across the decades featuring the Black Knight.

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