Giant-Size Invaders #1

Jun 1975
Roy Thomas, Frank Robbins

Giant-Size Invaders #1 cover

Story Name:

The Coming of the Invaders!


Synopsis

Giant-Size Invaders #1 synopsis by Peter Silvestro
Rating: 4 stars

Part One: A Captain Called America!

Synopsis: After Captain America and Bucky defeat a gang of Bundist saboteurs at a shipyard, they are approached by FBI agents, who tell Cap about Dr Anderson. The name causes Cap to meditate on his origin at length and then to go to Walter Reed Hospital to see the doctor, who was part of the team responsible for his becoming Captain America....

Part Two: Enter: the Human Torch!

Synopsis: At the hospital, the gravely injured Dr Anderson fills Cap in on a new development: a few weeks earlier, Anderson was snatched by Nazi agents and taken to their hideout at an abandoned farm. There, Colonel Krieghund showed him a Nazi super-soldier in a glass tank, called Master Man. They just needed the final key to recreating Dr Erskine's formula—and they believed Anderson knows it. He was put into a ghastly device called the Psyphon which drained him of every last shred of memory. The formula was added to Master Man's tank and so a Nazi super-soldier was born! Being a Nazi, Master Man refused to follow orders, considering himself superior to all others. The Human Torch and Toro assaulted the barn and Master Man turned out to be impervious to their flames. Krieghund and MM escaped the conflagration while the Torch absorbed all the flames and rushed the wounded Dr Anderson to the hospital. Now Cap and Bucky meet the Torch and Toro and Anderson tells them they must go to Chesapeake Bay....

Part Three: The Sub-Mariner Strikes!

Synopsis: The four heroes head to Chesapeake Bay where a German U-boat commanded by Col. Krieghund is attacking a British battleship. Master Man leaps aboard the ship and begins taking out their big guns—but one of the seamen is Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner in disguise and he takes on the super-powered Nazi who gives him a much harder fight than he had expected. Cap and the others join in the battle but suddenly Master Man feels himself weakening and he escapes to the land. Cap and Bucky pursue the fleeing villain while Torch and Subby sink the U-boat by sending back its own torpedoes. Meanwhile, as he runs down the street, Master Man begins to shrink, revealing himself to have been a scrawny little man before his treatment. When they catch up to him, Cap and Bucky easily take him down. When the five heroes are reunited at the docks, they begin arguing among themselves, and then Prime Minister Winston Churchill—the Nazis' target—rebukes them and suggests they work together against the common enemy, as unofficial invaders. And they do....

Deep-Sea Blitzkrieg!

Writer/Artists: Bill Everett.

Reprinted from SUB-MARINER COMICS #1 (1941)



 

Review / Commentaries


Giant-Size Invaders #1 Review by (June 26, 2018)

Review: One of Marvel's most enduring teams, hampered a bit by the fact that all of their adventures needed to be set in the early 1940s, was the Invaders and here we see their debut. It's a nice old-fashioned affair—all action and drama without any real depth or complexity—and you know what? It didn't need them. Roy Thomas perfectly captures the feel of a Golden Age comic while avoiding some of the flaws and silly bits. Now I must admit that Frank Robbins was never one of my favorite artists: his big staring eyes and contorted limbs in action scenes just looked a bit silly to me but it does set the Invaders apart from other titles and I came to accept it as their particular look. And it was a lot of fun. Even most of the later, more realistic versions. There's nothing like a good old battle where the goodies and the baddies are so clearly defined to take one's mind off more pressing (and true-to-life) matters.

Comments: First appearance of the Invaders. Yes, you read that right. Contrary to popular opinion, while Cap, Subby and Torch were around in the 1940s, they never appeared as a team. It was right here that Roy Thomas, major fan of wartime heroes and teams, debuted the Invaders. Issue includes an essay by Thomas introducing the title. Only “Giant-Size” issue; the title became a regular-size series with its next appearance. First appearance/origin of the original Master Man. Appearing in flashbacks: Dr Erskine, General Phillips, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The story is set on December 22, 1941, two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor.




> Giant-Size Invaders comic book info and issue index

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Holy smokes, Batman!
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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Frank Robbins
Vince Colletta
Petra Goldberg
Frank Robbins (Cover Penciler)
John Romita (Cover Inker)
Unknown (Cover Colorist)


Characters

All stories. Listed in alphabetical order.

Bucky Barnes
Bucky Barnes

(James Barnes)
Captain America
Captain America

(Steven Rogers)
Human Torch
Human Torch

(Jim Hammond)
Sub-Mariner
Sub-Mariner

(Namor McKenzie)
Toro
Toro

(Thomas Raymond)
Plus: Master Man.

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