Marvel Read-Through: Invaders
Following up from last time’s Nick Fury blog, it’s time to look at another World War II-set comic: The Invaders. First appearing in Avengers #71 and then getting a long-running series through the latter half of the 1970s, the Invaders are a Nazi-fighting super-team from the Second World War in the vein of the Timely Comics All-Winners Squad. While this comic did not crossover with the modern-day comics, it was still an integral part of Marvel’s lineup from 1975–79 and therefore deserves to be examined as part of this read-through.
Following up again from my last post, I also realized that I had to go back and read an issue I missed along the way: the aforementioned Avengers #71. Kang sends Yellowjacket, Black Panther and Vision to 1941 to battle Captain America, Namor, and the original Human Torch. They are not named as the Invaders but they do utter the Invaders battle cry: “Ok Axis — Here We Come!” (Not as catchy as Avengers Assemble, is it?) It’s a standard issue of hero vs hero battle. The Avengers win and return to the present to defeat Kang while Black Knight joins the team. Huh, I wonder how I missed this important issue. Roy Thomas wrote this in 1969 so I don’t know if he intended for it to be the introduction of the Invaders or if he retconned that in later but now it’s time to jump ahead to the Invaders’ proper introduction in 1975’s Giant-Size Invaders #1. Taking place in 1941, Cap and Bucky, Human Torch and Toro, and Namor all converge in an effort to defeat the Nazi super-soldier Master Man. The heroes save the day and band together to become the World War II Nazi-fighting super-team the Invaders.
After the Giant-Size issue, the team was given its own ongoing title depicting the adventures of the team throughout the second World War. In a fun four-part crossover with Marvel Premiere, the whole team except Bucky is brainwashed by the Red Skull. Bucky puts together a team of mostly forgotten Golden Age heroes dubbed the Liberty Legion. Only two of the team members I had ever heard of: Whizzer and Miss America. The joy for me in this arc wasn’t seeing the formation of a secondary WWII super-team but it was seeing Bucky take charge and save the day. He might be Cap’s kid sidekick but he’s still a hero. Red Skull underestimating him and not including him in the brainwashing ultimately leads to the heroes winning. It’s a great use of using the villain’s cockiness against him. I also liked that at the end the Invaders agree to take the fight overseas to Europe while the Liberty Legion fights on the homefront. So far this all took place in the USA and I was expecting Invaders vs Nazi soldiers on the battlefield to be the focus of the book. By issue #7, the Invaders finally got there.
While the writing so far has been very Thomas, and he is a legend, it wasn’t really doing it for me. Thomas is clearly trying to emulate the Golden Age in the dialogue and it feels dated. It didn’t come off as an homage but more as a ripoff. Thomas just can’t get the dialogue to land. You can tell he’s trying too hard. I think if he just wrote it as any of his other 60s-70s comics it would have been a lot better. Unfortunately this problem didn’t get any better in the next arc I picked up that sees the Invaders square off against Baron Blood the Nazi vampire and introduces British hero Union Jack to the world of Marvel Comics. I definitely liked the addition of a supporting cast, James Falsworth aka Union Jack and his daughter Jacqueline. It gave some much needed character development to the team as Cap and Torch end up in a love triangle with Jacqueline and the whole team must now work together with Union Jack, a World War I British hero. Baron Blood is also an actual threat. He nearly kills a few characters and despite not being at all similar to the other vampires in Marvel, is a fun villain for the Invaders. Of course he is defeated in the end and Britain is spared his wrath. Having been a hero in the first World War, Union Jack is a little old and the arc ends with him losing his ability to walk, while his daughter gains powers. It’s only a little better than the Liberty Legion arc, mainly because Baron Blood is a better villain than Red Skull. I don’t mean overall. Red Skull is one of the greatest Marvel villains, but in these specific stories, Baron Blood is the better villain. At this point there was one major gripe I had with this book as a whole: it was really superhero-y and not war-y enough. I really went into this thinking that we’d get the Invaders fighting regular Nazis with some supervillains in charge but so far there was no interaction with the actual battlefield. The book has so far taken place in America and England. Save for a couple of Blitzkriegs on London, the Invaders felt too far removed from the war for my liking.
I am glad to say that changed in issues #20–21 which I read next. Jacqueline has now joined the team as Spitfire and her brother Brian has stepped into his father’s shoes as the new Union Jack. They are also joined by diminutive British hero Dyna-Mite who rescues Cap’s shield from Hitler himself. In these issues, the team is in Berlin and while not really on the main battlefield, they are actually squaring off against Nazi soldiers and not just supervillains. As expected, though, there a couple of supervillains involved. Master Man returns with his female counterpart Warrior Woman. Between the larger cast and the actual Nazis as villains (including a prominent role for Hitler) this was a much improved arc over the last two. I still couldn’t get on board with the writing though. Thomas just isn’t casting his usual magic on this book.
Lastly, I jumped to the final issue of Invaders. Don Glut has taken over writing duties but Thomas is still on as editor so I assume he’s still behind the creative decisions. It seems Bucky and Toro have left the team to form the Kid Commandos. Too bad, I liked having them on the team with the adults. Part of the team is also back Stateside; Cap, Namor and Torch are teaming up with Whizzer and Miss America to take down the Super-Axis, a team consisting of Baron Blood, Master Man, Warrior Woman and the Atlantean U-Man under the mind control of Lady Lotus. Wait, what? The Nazi supervillains are being hypnotized by a psychic Japanese woman? Aren’t they already evil and working for the Nazis and don’t need an excuse to wreak havoc on Chicago? Weird choice there, Don and Roy. Of course, the Super-Axis is defeated in a double-issue-long battle and the core trio returns to England to rejoin Union Jack and Spitfire in the fight against the Nazis. It’s an uplifting ending with British and American (and Atlantean) heroes heading off to help the Allies win WWII, but we do know that it ends in tragedy for Cap. This issue was all over the place. Glut’s writing sheds Thomas’ failed attempt at the Golden Age and is much more enjoyable to read and the battle is epic. Good. However, no signs of Bucky and Toro, and Spitfire and Union Jack only appearing just at the end is and odd way to spend the last issue. The giant splash page to close it out is pretty cool though:
Safe to say that I did not end up liking the Invaders all that much. I was very excited to read this actually, but it let me down. Maybe it’s because I expected a lot more of the WWII battlefield in a similar vein to Sgt. Fury, or maybe it is just a lacklustre part of Marvel history. I’m glad to be done with it.
Issues read:
Avengers #71
Giant-Size Invaders #1
Invaders #5
Marvel Premiere #29
Invaders #6
Marvel Premiere #30
Invaders #7–9, #11, #20–21, #41
Favorite issue: Ehhhh I’ll give it to #20 and #21 since they are both only half an issue long and together make one full issue. But really I didn’t like much here.
Next time: Back to the main timeline with the Avengers!
