INVADERS #25

"THE POWER AND THE PANZERS!"
Writer/Editor: Roy Thomas | Artists: Frank Robbins & Frank Springer
Colorist: George Roussos | Letterer: John Costanza
Consulting Editor: Archie Goodwin

What's this? Didn't we just look at issue 23 last week?? Did we skip an issue?! No, Frantic Ones, you didn't miss a thing. Apparently INVADERS #24 was entirely and completely a reprint of a Golden Age story, without even a new framing sequence to explain it! Chalk up another casualty to the Dreaded Deadline Doom, I guess. We now rejoin our Scarlet Scarab epic, already in progress...

The Plot: The Human Torch and Sub-Mariner battle Scarlet Scarab near the pyramids, while Captain America, Spitfire, and Union Jack aid British forces against the German advance on Cairo. Sacrlet Scarab wins his battle and moves along to the front line, where he seeks audience with the Nazi general leading the charge. When the battle briefly stops, Cap and the others go in search of Namor and the Torch.

Scarlet Scarab offers to fight for the Nazis if they will leave Egypt when the battle is done. When the Germans agree, the Scarab charges out to battle the reunited Invaders. But when he spots the German general about to execute an old Egyptian man for defying the Reich, the Scarab turns on his new allies. With the Invaders fighting alongside the Scarab, the Nazis are driver into retreat. In the aftermath, the Scarab departs, declaring himself neither friend nor foe of the Invaders.

Meanwhile Bucky arrives in California with the injured Toro, seeking Doctor Sabuki -- but is shocked to learn that the doctor has been sent to a Japanese internment camp.

Continuity Notes: The Scarlet Scarab tells the Torch that he is no longer Doctor Faoul; that the doctor perished when he donned the ruby scarab, and was fully replaced by the Scarlet Scarab persona (with a footnote to issue 23).

After the Scarab defeats the Sub-Mariner and Human Torch, Namor recalls some of the hieroglyphs he read last issue, deducing that the ruby scarab drains and duplicates the powers of those with whom it comes into contact.

My Thoughts: I'd call this a satisfactory, if abrupt conclusion to the story begun last issue. And the only reason I use the word "abrupt" is because it feels like everything happens a bit too fast. I've mentioned before that Thomas, in my opinion, seems to have issues with pacing multi-part stories in the seventeen-page format. Usually it comes through in the form of a story that feels artificially extended to fill two seventeen-page issues, where it would have fit nicely into a single twenty-some pager. But this one almost feels like the reverse; like Thomas had enough material for three seventeen-pagers, but cut things short in order to get it done in two.

But in any case, the story is fine, and while the final battle and the Scarlet Scarab's change of heart feel a bit perfunctory, they work well enough on the page.

Besides, I'm more interested in the fact that we did get the further development of Scarlet Scarab here which I had hoped for last week. Yeah, he initially runs off to join up with the Nazis, but all he really wants is to get the foreign powers -- all foreign powers -- out of Egypt. When he realizes the Germans aren't to be trusted, he turns of them quickly, and by the final page, declares himself a free agent. He's fighting for independence, and not allying himself with anyone in order to do so.

I'd like to add that I appreciate Thomas's handling of all the characters' perspectives in this story. Scarlet Scarab is a native Egyptian who wants his land back. Namor, as sovereign of his own kingdom which has fought off invaders in the past, sympathizes with the Scarab even as they find themselves fighting against each other. Then you have two more of our protagonists, Union Jack and Spitfire, who fall very firmly on the "British Imperialism is Good" side of things. Which may seem an odd direction to take the good guys, but they're upper class Brits and in the context of the time these in which stories were set, would likely have been raised to believe exactly that -- so it makes perfect sense. Thomas could've gone the route of having all the Invaders agree with Scarlet Scarab's position (even if not his methods), but he instead has those who, realistically, would be naturally inclined to voice opposition to him, do so. I'm always happy to see this approach. Not all heroes are perfect, after all.