"UNION JACK IS BACK!"
Author/Editor: Roy Thomas | Artist: Frank Robbins | Inker: Frank Springer
Colorist: Petra Goldberg | Letterer: John Costanza
Author/Editor: Roy Thomas | Artist: Frank Robbins | Inker: Frank Springer
Colorist: Petra Goldberg | Letterer: John Costanza
The next morning at dawn, Captain America chats with Jacqueline about her father's war stories, and the two encounter John Falsworth in the estate garden, shortly after Jacqueline mentions that she never sees him about during the day. That night, the Invaders set out to hunt Baron Blood. But using trickery and dummies, the Baron takes out the Human Torch and Toro, then Namor. Captain America and Bucky confront Blood and are captured, thrown into a death trap with their teammates.
Lord Falsworth, clad once more in the costume of Union Jack, appears to aid the Invaders. With the help of his rigged revolver, he sends Baron Blood into retreat and frees the heroes. Jack asks to join the team, and the Invaders agree.
Continuity Notes: Not regarding continuity, but worth noting: as the cover blurb indicates, beginning with this issue, the previously bi-monthly INVADERS is now on sale every month.
Lord Falsworth is (or perhaps was, at least during World War I; I don't know if they have "term limits" on such appointments) a member of Britain's House of Lords. It's also revealed that his wife, Jacqueline's mother, was killed during the Blitz of London two years earlier.
Moving on -- the Baron Blood story continues, but with a brief detour, as Lord Falsworth regales our heroes with the adventures of Union Jack in the Great War. It seems he spent some time on the homefront, defending England against saboteurs, before heading out to the front lines, where he became a stealth operative himself. It's interesting -- and probably intentional on the part of Thomas -- that Jack's story parallels Captain America's. Cap also spent the early part of his war defending the U.S.'s shores from Nazi saboteurs before heading out to Europe with the Invaders.
After Falsworth's story, which comprises about the first half of the issue, comes to its end, we see the Invaders go up against Baron Blood once more. The prior issue established the Baron's brute strength, as he rammed Namor's flagship, damaging it and getting the better of the Invaders before retreating. This installment gives us a look at his cunning, as the Baron uses trickery to take out the entire team -- including powerhouse Namor, who was absent for the prior issue's skirmish.
I always like these sorts of single villains who can take on an entire team, but who aren't necessarily cosmic-level threats like Thanos or Kang. Sometimes, depending on the villain's power set, it can be hard to swallow -- but Thomas does a fine job here of selling Baron Blood as a credible threat against all of the Invaders -- and I remain rapt as we wait to see what happens next!
Toro looks like some kid they found outside the Farnsworth place just before dinner and they decided to let him in to have a meal. Though let's face it, the true horror in that image is Bucky's head. What the hell's going on THERE?
ReplyDeleteThe Torch's thoughts whining about how he can't get the girl are pretty funny too. And borderline creepy, as he goes on about his perfectly simulated self. Half expect him to say "my supple, perfectly smooth simulated flesh" there. Ease up there Torch.
"Using trickery and dummies"-only in comics can this line not only make sense, but work perfectly.
I pick on this issue, though, because it's still in my memory because of how good the Baron Blood arc is. It remains a high water mark of my early days reading comics as a kid.
I guess Bucky just has a lot of hair! Which actually brings up a point I don't think I made in any of the upcoming posts: Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes are supposed to be in the army, but neither of them has a regulation haircut in these stories. In fact, I think the only character who sports the sort of hair I would expect of military men in this era is Master Man!
DeleteAnd indeed, Frank Robbins tends to draw most male characters, aside from Namor, as pretty shaggy during his run. For all the effort he puts into the machinery and uniforms of the War, most of the male characters' haircuts look anachronistic, at least based on what I've seen of 1940s hairstyles. The Torch's hair up there is comparable with how Robbins drew Bruce Wayne over at DC a few years earlier, and those Batman stories were set in the then-present day.
(Which isn't to say men didn't have longish hair back in the '40s -- but they tended to comb it tighter against their scalps to make it appear closer cropped, again based on old movies and such.)
Membership of the House of Lords is generally for life with no term limits although there is now a process that allows peers to retire with dignity from the Lords. (Lord Denham retired this year after nearly 72 years service!) Though for British aristocrats sitting in the Lords was never the defining feature of their role in society and it's odd that Fallsworth describes himself in such terms rather than a "peer of the realm". Nor is he a "country squire" - that's a term for the gentry.
ReplyDeleteThe letters page includes a box claiming they've made a mistake in using "Falsworth" as both the title and the surname and will try to correct it. In fact a lot of peers have the same name for both surname and title and this goes back centuries - Nelson is one of the most famous examples.
ReplyDeleteAt last, Frank Springer replaces Vince Colletta. He’s so much more sympathetic an inker to Frank Robbins’ pencils.
Roy mentions in this issue’s lettercol specific books that he read for background on The Invaders’ British milieu and the home-front setting of the Liberty Legion crossover, “in addition to a number of books on Hitler and Nazi Germany in particular, and World War II in general.”
Toro’s outfit always bugged me as well. Ditto Iceman’s, which is essentially the same, as I mentioned at Teebore’s once upon a time; at least he finally got a full bodysuit in the Champions era. Since both characters have powers that allow them to never be and/or care about being cold, they probably don’t need to wear clothes, but for the sake of decorum it really is ridiculous to have them hanging out in just trunks and boots. Cap and Bucky took off their gloves for dinner, so Toro could at least pull on a shirt.
Those inks are a blobby mess (no disrespect to Mr. Springer intended) but Robbins is probably the most difficult penciler to embellish. Springer left all of the odd angularity in there while Colletta softened it. Different strokes, literally....
ReplyDelete