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Invaders, The #41: Review

Sep 1979
Don Glut, Alan Kupperberg

Story Name:

Beware the Super-Axis!

Review & Comments

Rating:
4 stars

Invaders, The #41 Review by (April 9, 2019)

Review: A epic all-battle issue seems like an appropriate way to end a superhero comic set during a war and they nail it. No classic (like the series) but highly entertaining.

Comments: Final issue of series, oversized and published after a four-month hiatus. Part two of two parts. Cool joke: the couple at the amusement park appear to be Steve Trevor and Diana (Wonder Woman) Prince. Chic Stone is credited with the finished pencil art. Issue includes a two-page pinup of all of the heroes who have appeared in the series.

Period Pop-Culture References: TOM MIX RALSTON STRAIGHT SHOOTERS (Western radio show). Orson Welles' War of the Worlds broadcast (1938). Dracula movies. Torch mentions “the power to cloud men's minds,” a reference to THE SHADOW. Torch also calls Subby's ship a “tin lizzie,” slang for Ford's model T cars. Miss America makes a joke about the radio show JACK ARMSTRONG, THE ALL-AMERICAN BOY and eating Wheaties, the “Breakfast of Champions.” The Abbott and Costello film BUCK PRIVATES.





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invaders, The #41 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

The Invaders (Captain America, Sub-Mariner, Human Torch, Whizzer, Miss America) are recovering from last night's activity at the airport (last issue) where they managed to rescue the crews of the two wrecked planes. Torch spies a faint fog trail left behind by the escaping Baron Blood. He follows the fog to the House of Lotus and enters. There, Lady Lotus explains that U-Man and Baron Blood, Master Man and Warrior Woman are to become a team called the Super-Axis under her direction; Warrior Woman rebels against this scheme and LL uses hypnosis to convince her that her whip has transformed into a giant serpent strangling her. Master Man tries to help his beloved and LL gives him visions of the Invaders as demonic monsters. At this point Torch enters the shop and LL goes out to meet him; with her hypnotic powers she makes Torch fall in love with her and join her gang....

The following night, the Invaders are wondering why Torch never came back when they hear on the radio that a band of super-powered villains is destroying Chicago's railroad yards. They speed out there via Subby's flagship to encounter the Super-Axis wreaking havoc. They come in with guns blazing and there's a lot of mayhem until the baddies reveal their secret weapon: the hypnotized Human Torch. As Torch faces his friends, Lady Lotus sends a psychic command to the other villains to move on to the next target. Torch fires blasts at his pals until Namor takes a dip in Lake Michigan then rips up the band shell, fills it with water and douses the Torch, which also snaps him out of his spell. The reunited heroes move along to find the Super-Axis wreaking more havoc at Riverview, the amusement park. Miss America saves a couple when the parachute ride cable snaps and Namor and Master Man punch each other all over the park....

The Human Torch, meanwhile, returns to New York and crashes into the House of Lotus, melts the soldiers' weapons, snaps the Samurai and servant girls out of their hypnotic spells, but Lady Lotus herself gets away....

Namor stops U-Man from ripping apart the roller coaster, Whizzer distracts Baron Blood until Namor can skewer the vampire with a wooden spear, Miss America picks up Warrior Woman and drops her, Cap battles Master Man until the high structure they are on falls apart; Cap leaps to safety and MM drops all the way down and knocks himself senseless. The baddies are taken away by the authorities, the Invaders say farewell to Miss A and Whiz, and return to England where they are reunited with Spitfire and Union Jack...and in Chinatown, Lady Lotus encounters the disguised Yellow Claw, who admires her ambition but tells her she struck too soon....



Alan Kupperberg
Chic Stone
Carl Gafford
Al Milgrom (Cover Penciler)
Al Milgrom (Cover Inker)
? (Cover Colorist)


Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Captain America
Captain America

(Steve Rogers)
Human Torch
Human Torch

(Jim Hammond)
Spitfire
Spitfire

(Jacqueline Falsworth)
Union Jack
Union Jack

(Brian Falsworth)

Plus: Baron Blood, Lady Lotus (Lotus Newmark), Master Man, U-Man, Warrior Woman, Whizzer (Golden Age), Yellow Claw.

> Invaders, The: Book info and issue index

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