INVADERS #27

"AGENT AXIS-- MASTER OF MURDER!"
Writer/Editor: Roy Thomas | Illustrators/Storytellers: Frank Robbins & Frank Springer
Colorist: George Roussos | Letterer: John Costanza

The Plot: Aboard Agent Axis's "mechanical mole" machine, Bucky lets slip that Toro lies near death in a nearby hospital. Axis changes course to go kidnap Toro as well. At that instant, a young man named Davy Mitchell wanders into Toro's room. When the mole arrives, Davy is taken along with the young Torch.

Captain America, the Human Torch, and the Sub-Mariner arrive at the Sandy Flat internment center, where they find Namor's parked flagship and learn of Bucky's kidnapping. Namor realizes that Bucky took a homing device from the ship before he disembarked, and sets about tracking the young man down.

Agent Axis and his captives arrive at his hidden underground lair, where he demands that Doctor Sabuki cure him of his multiple personality disorder. Sabuki agrees, on the condition that he be allowed to help Toro first. Some time later, Sabuki begins work on Toro, and removes the bullet. With Toro stabilized, Sabuki turns his attention to Axis. The villain has attached Davy and Sabuki's daughter, Gwenny Lou, to equipment that will kill them if Sabuki tries anything on Axis during the procedure. But when Toro awakens and blasts Axis's henchmen, a fight breaks out. The equipment is ruined, and in the process, Gwenny Lou and Davy are endowed with super-powers. A moment later, the Invaders burst into the room.

Continuity Notes: There's a reminder, via footnote, that Bucky's story is not running concurrently with that of the Invaders. To wit, the opening scene sees Toro and Davy taken from the hospital, but when when Cap and the others arrive at Sandy Flat, it is after visiting the hospital and learning of the abduction -- and Namor notes that his ship has been parked outside the internment camp for days. The timelines sync back up in part due to the Invaders' cross-Atlantic flight which began last issue, and in part because Doctor Sabuki stalls as long as possible before operating on Toro and Agent Axis.

Gwenny Lou gains light-based energy blast powers, while Davy finds that he can spin super-fast -- leading Agent Axis's henchmen to christen him the Human Top.

My Thoughts: I'm going to be flat-out honest -- I really can't think of much to say about this one. It's fine; a competently-created super hero comic to be sure. But, like last issue, it feels more concerned with moving characters around than with advancing a plot -- at least until the final couple pages, where suddenly two characters gain super-powers and the Invaders finally arrive. Beyond that, it's a lot of rehashing of material the prior installment already covered: namely, the horrific treatment of Japanese internees (which, don't get me wrong, should certainly be called out often), some random racial slurs thrown around, and Agent Axis cruising around in his mole machine.

I mean, I guess the debut of Davy "Human Top" Mitchell is something -- and he and Gwenny Lou (soon be called Golden Girl) add some much-needed diversity to the cast -- but since neither character will ever really amount to much in the grand scheme of things, it's hard to get too excited. (Though I admit that judging things like that with the benefit of hindsight is cheating a bit. At the time this was published, the Human Top and Golden Girl were Marvel's two newest super-stars, with unlimited potential ahead of them -- full stop.)

I can't figure out what I think of Agent Axis. He's goofy, yet somehow cool at the same time. Though I think all the coolness comes from Frank Robbins -- Axis looks like some kind of pulp gangster-villain, with his wide-brimmed hat, cloak, and Cobra Commander hood, while his henchmen all wear spiffy evil uniforms along the lines of Hydra and AIM. So yes, all of this more than offsets Axis's really weird origin and penchant for randomly uttering epithets in three different languages from panel to panel. I like him!