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Invaders, The #1: Review

May 1993
Roy Thomas, Dave Hoover

Story Name:

The Invaders Return

Review & Comments

Rating:
4.5 stars

Invaders, The #1 Review by (January 24, 2023)

Review: And the Invaders are back for a second dose in a fast-paced, action-filled adventure penned by Roy Thomas, comic’s number one expert in Golden Age heroes, both real and among his own creations. Herein our heroes face a bunch of American heroes who have turned traitor and are aiding the Nazi enemy. Thomas’ interesting twist on this is that his new villains were all authentic WW2-era superheroes—but not published by Timely (Marvel’s name in the 1940s). Instead these are heroes from competing companies that have passed into the public domain and are therefore free for any use to which Roy Thomas may wish to put them and he chose to make them the mostly formidable, if a bit generic, villains. It all looks exciting and the art lacks most of the 1990s standard flaws. Pretty cool.

Comments: The Kid Commandos, Bucky, Toro, Golden Girl, and Human Top, are mentioned but do not appear. There is a reference to eight saboteurs captured by the FBI “a couple of days ago;” this was a real incident, Operation Pastorius to the Germans, taking place in June 1942. Issue includes an essay by Roy Thomas on how he created the Invaders.






 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Invaders, The #1 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

On June 22, 1942, a Nazi U-boat near New York fires a torpedo at a freighter and the InvadersCaptain America, Sub-Mariner, Human Torch—fly into action (Cap’s in an Atlantean airship). Namor seizes the torpedo and turns it around so that it strikes the U-boat, forcing it to surface. Torch burns the big gun aboard. They think their mission over when suddenly the Battle-Axis appears, a team of American-born Nazi superheroes: Strongman (strength), Human Meteor (speed), Spider Queen (web-shooters), Volton (electric powers), and Dr. Death (tranquilizer darts). The two teams fight and the Invaders lose, Namor is beaten down by Strongman, Torch shocked senseless by Volton, and Cap tied up by Spider Queen and shot with a hypnodart by Dr. Death. Cap’s unmanned ship circles back and hits the U-boat, knocking the three unconscious heroes into the ocean. The bad guys take off, having achieved their goal of protecting the U-boat. The water revives Namor and he rescues his two compatriots. The three reach land and head to the headquarters of the Liberty Legion where they are at first attacked by the Thin Man who mistakes them for enemy agents until he gets a good look at them. Thin Man tells them that most of the other Legionnaires are in Miami; he also recognizes the names of the bad guys and shows the Invaders his files on these American heroes who had dropped out of sight. The Invaders vow to stop them….

In a Manhattan park, Bob “Whizzer” Frank and Madeline “Miss America” Joyce are on a date when they spot a U-boat on the East River; changing into their hero identities, they pursue the ship and encounter the Battle-Axis. Whizzer is knocked out by Human Meteor and Miss America overpowered by Spider Queen—but Miss A recovers quickly and flies off, hoping to get help for her partner. Volton and Human Meteor pursue her, quickly overtaking her; she grabs the two guys and slams them into each other and they create an explosion. Thinking she was killed in the blast, they head back to the others as Miss America hides among the spires of St. Patrick’s Cathedral….




Dave Hoover
Brian Garvey
Paul Becton
Dave Hoover (Cover Penciler)
Dave Hoover (Cover Inker)
? (Cover Colorist)


Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Captain America
Captain America

(Steve Rogers)
Human Torch
Human Torch

(Jim Hammond)

Plus: Thin Man, Whizzer (Golden Age).

> Invaders, The: Book info and issue index

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