NOTE

Monday, December 6, 2021

INVADERS #13

"THE GOLEM WALKS AGAIN!"
Writer/Editor: Roy Thomas | Artist: Frank Robbins & Frank Springer
Colorist: George Roussos | Letterer: John Costanza

The Plot: The Invaders, awaken, prisoners of Colonel Eisen, a.k.a. "The Face" -- the commander of the Nazi forces in Warsaw. Eisen taunts the Invaders and then takes Captain America's shield to study it as a way to get back into Hitler's graces, following the recent theft of some heavy water under his care.

Elswhere, Jacob Goldstein, who has come into possession of the heavy water, performs a ceremony with the water to create a Golem. Goldstein is merged with the earthen creature and storms through the Nazis in Warsaw, headed for Eisen's castle. There, the mindless Golem frees the Invaders and goes in search of Eisen. Captain America follows, recovers his shield, and watches helplessly as the Golem pursues Eisen to a tall tower and throws him off, killing him.

In the aftermath, the Golem changes back into Jacob. He insists on remaining in Poland to aid his people in someday revolting against their Nazi overlords The Invaders honor his wishes and depart.

Continuity Notes: This issue, it's Spitfire's turn to recap previous events for the readers, albeit without any footnotes.
The story's final panel mentions that the Invaders leave, with no way to know that eventually the Jews of Warsaw will attempt an uprising, and that thousands will die in the process.

And that's it! A surprisingly continuity-light issue from Roy Thomas. I gotta be honest; I didn't know he could do it!

My Thoughts: First, let me note that this is a great issue. Lots of fun. Colonel Eisen devises some fun traps to keep the Invaders prisoner (trapping the Torches in a tank of water with breathing apparati on their faces, and shining infrared light on Namor to dehydrate him while encasing him in a concrete block). Captain America is sort of the "main" Invader in this one, getting a moment to shine as he attempts to escape captivity, deducing that the Golem is actually Jacob, and providing a POV for readers as the Golem takes out Eisen. It's a very fast-paced, exciting story; probably my favorite straight action issue thus far.
But, all that said, the issue also unfortunately shines a light on how the Invaders inherently don't really work as a concept. I mean, think about it: this is a group of the most powerful super heroes of the Golden Age, retroactively banded together to fight the Axis. And they've shown time and again that the Nazi war machine poses little challenge to them. They can demolish planes, warships, and tanks with minimal effort. In reality, they should be leading a charge through occupied Europe, liberating nations as they go, sending the Nazis into a panicked retreat. But they aren't. Here, they come to Warsaw, spend some time in the Jewish ghetto, and, aside from witnessing the death of the city's German commander, do nothing to make things better. They just beat up some Nazis and then leave, rather than liberate the city to make way for an Allied advance.

You can argue that the Allies aren't ready yet to station troops across Europe behind an Invader-led column, but that feels weak to me. The Invaders, as they exist here, are revisionist history on Thomas's part. There was no Golden Age super-team originally; it was just a bunch of separate heroes doing their own thing, and that can be used as a very simple explanation as to why they didn't liberate Europe early and often: they weren't organized. But when you turn them into a team, there's no more excuse. Thomas wants to retain the real-world history of World War II, because that's how the Marvel Universe rolls, but it really just doesn't work with this premise he's created.
So we readers must enjoy INVADERS with a very large suspension of disbelief. But the flip side of that, in my opinion, is a responsibility from Thomas to help guide that suspension by not sticking the Invaders into situations where they could absolutely make a massive difference and choose not to. Can anyone really imagine Captain America wandering into a place where people are being oppressed and killed, and then just leaving without so much as trying to liberate them? I sure can't. And the fact that Thomas puts Cap and the rest of the team into a situation where they do exactly that is a huge failure on his part.

I can suspend disbelief with the best of them, but when we get to the extent where a writer is practically dangling that disbelief in front of me, daring me to really and truly overcome it -- which is exactly what Thomas does here -- then I can't help but see the cracks in the premise, amplified to the Nth degree. Hopefully this won't become a recurring thing as the series moves along!

9 comments:

  1. To respond to your last comment on the last issue: it's one thing to say that the Invaders didn't know at the time what was going to happen in Warsaw. But Roy Thomas KNEW what happened in Warsaw. He knew he was putting superheroes, especially Captain America, in a position where Thomas had to violate his principles for the story to work. World War II with superheroes in it always runs this risk, unless it's an alternate reality, like Kieron Gillen's Uber, where the Nazis develop superhumans at the end of World War II and turn the tide against the Allies. Putting superheroes into the real WWII requires something to eliminate their ability to end it in five minutes: DC Comics solved this problem by having Hitler gain possession of something called the Spear of Destiny, which would allow him to mind control any superhero that came near him, which kept the Justice Society out of the war.

    It's a little thin, but it beats hell out of "hey Captain America didn't know he was leaving people to die!"

    ReplyDelete
  2. I vaguely recall Hitler had the Spear in Marvel continuity as well. Given Thomas's role at both companies it wouldn't surprise me if he was behind that.

    "Can anyone really imagine Captain America wandering into a place where people are being oppressed and killed, and then just leaving without so much as trying to liberate them?"

    Yes. For one Jack Kirby on the very next month's Captain America (#207). This has the infamous scene where Cap finds himself in a Latin American jungle where a Himmler lookalike called "The Swine" is brutalising the people and thinks to himself "But this is not my country and not my place to fight for causes I know nothing about."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I remember the Spear of Destiny from an episode of JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED, but I don't believe I've ever read a comic with it.

      Having finished the full run of INVADERS at this point, I don't remember coming across the Spear, but it certainly could've been in some other series or in one of Thomas's later engagements with these characters. There is a scene much later, in the issues with Thor, where Hitler makes cryptic comments about some artifact in his museum, but Thomas's narration says we will learn about it another time. That time never comes before the series' end, though.

      I've never read Kirby's 1970s CAP run, though I've heard bits and pieces about it, mainly on the subject of what a surreal, wild ride it is in places. I guess it's hard to argue with Cap's co-creator, though I still have a hard time buying such an attitude from him.

      That said, I'm also, whether I realize it or not, perhaps applying modern day Cap's sensibilities to 1970s Cap. He very much was a different character back in the Silver and Bronze Ages; I mentioned in an earlier comment how weird it is to see him treated as basically a "normal guy" for purposes of getting knocked out, not being a master strategist, and so forth.

      Delete
  3. What's ironic in how Thomas learning his lesson about incorporating superheroes into WWII via the Magic Axis field in DC Comics is that the Invaders, being science-based powers, would have been immune (unless Namor is vulnerable to magic).

    ReplyDelete

  4. I hear what you’re saying about Cap and, more saliently, about Roy putting him in that position. That’s among my biggest peeves as a reader or viewer — most ’specially when it comes to characters, heroes, who really mean something to me. I’ve just totally crossed myself up writing and rewriting further thoughts, which means that it’s time to bail out of self-preservation lest I while away the gloaming, but: yeah.

    Also, setting aside the larger questions, it’s kind-of sad for a group to charge into another country, surrender, and leave after one small victory when that group is literally named The Invaders.

    On a more positive note, I’m getting such wonderful bursts of nostalgia reading along from the original issues and wallowing in the ads. The last couple of issues hawked Marvel’s Bring on the Bad Guys and not only Mego superhero dolls but 12" figures in the Six Million Dollar Man line from Mattel — including Steve Austin, natch, and the dastardly Maskatron. This issue featured the Mission Control playset, which I received for Christmas/Chanukah 1976, on the inside front cover; I got myself a new heating pad last year and to my inexplicable delight the plastic casing smelled exactly like that playset.

    ReplyDelete
  5. "I’ve just totally crossed myself up writing and rewriting further thoughts, which means that it’s time to bail out of self-preservation lest I while away the gloaming, but: yeah."

    This happens to me when I try to write my own thoughts on various issues now and then! Often, when I say "I don't really have much to say about this one," it's because I couldn't come to a coherent point among all the things I did have to say about it!

    "I got myself a new heating pad last year and to my inexplicable delight the plastic casing smelled exactly like that playset."

    Olfactory memories fascinate me. Like, of all the senses, why is it that how something smells can create such a strong reaction? I have sometimes considered that maybe it's simply because it doesn't happen all that often (at least to me) -- when I smell something that reminds me of a past experience, that feeling is very strong because I'm so unused to scents triggering that feeling.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. // [W]hy is it that how something smells can create such a strong reaction? //

      I think in large part it’s because nothing is different. Visual triggers are likely not totally immersive (seeing a photo) or not entirely identical (being in the same place but time having changed details). And scents likely aren’t distant or in competition for the same sensory organ the way sound might be; when you smell something you’re probably right on top of it and not trying to pick it out among other scents or you wouldn’t have noticed it to begin with.

      Just spitballing, though. I’ve obviously thought about this before. 8^)

      Maybe a year ago I got a whiff of cigarette smoke (despite my best efforts to avoid it) that I realized I hadn’t smelled in ages — I wasn’t even aware that my dad’s parents’ brand had a unique smell until then.

      Delete
  6. I think at least part of why Cap and the Invaders left without liberating or evacuating the Warsaw Ghetto is that in the moment, they trusted Jacob Goldstein to hold the fort. He could change into a giant stone man, after all. Unfortunately, Roy Thomas showed how an American superhero turned traitor, Dr. Nemesis, kidnapped Golem and caused the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to eventually fail in an issue of the 1993 Invaders series. So essentially Roy Thomas did correct the very dilemma he brought up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Anonymous! I had considered reading the '93 INVADERS mini-series after I finished up the full original run, but I was kind of "INVADERed out" at that point and opted not to. I had no idea the Golem was in the story! Perhaps someday I'll check it out...

      Delete