"THUNDER IN THE EAST!"
Writer/Editor: Roy Thomas | Illustrators/Storytellers: Alan Kupperberg & Frank Springer
Letterer: Joe Rosen | Colorist: Carl Gafford
Consulting Editor: Jim Shooter
Writer/Editor: Roy Thomas | Illustrators/Storytellers: Alan Kupperberg & Frank Springer
Letterer: Joe Rosen | Colorist: Carl Gafford
Consulting Editor: Jim Shooter
Meanwhile, after viewing a performance of Wagner's "Gotterdammerung", Hitler returns to his headquarters, where a scientist named Olsen has opened a portal to the realm of Asgard. Olsen pulls Thor through the portal, and Hitler quickly convinces the Thunder God that the Allied forces have attacked the Germans, and that Germany needs Thor's help. Thor agrees to aid the Nazis.
The Invaders arrive in Russia in time to save a train carrying Stalin from strafing Nazi planes, after which they land. Just as they're about to present the tank to Stalin, however, Thor arrives to assassinate the Russian premier.
Continuity Notes: The opening page states that the Invaders' return from America occurred "only days ago," and that the battle against the Teutonic Knight took place in those ensuing days.
Brian Falsworth begins to doubt his usefulness to the Invaders as Union Jack during their journey to Russia.
When the Invaders meet Stalin, we're told that Namor is the only one among the group with any mastery of the Russian language.
But there are always the immortals -- characters like Thor and Hercules, who can show up at any point in history with minimal need for explanation. The only thing we'll need to see resolved before this tale ends is how Cap and Thor don't recognize one another when they meet years later as Avengers, and I'm certain Thomas should be able to pull that off. So for now, I'm going to enjoy the ride, which is shaping up to be quite a fun one.
In other news, the artwork seems to have changed subtly as of this issue. It's still Alan Kupperberg and Frank Springer, but it appears Kupperberg is doing less of a Frank Robbins pastiche, or Springer has adapted his style to complement Kupperberg rather than try to make him look like Robbins. In any case, I like it. While I had no problem with the Robbins imitation to ease the transition, I'm happy to see more of a "true" Kupperberg beginning to appear, and I look forward to watching him finish out the series. It's hard to believe, but there are fewer than ten issues remaining!
If memory serves, Roy Thomas was still mentioning that Reed and Ben were in World War II as the writer of FF, but he left sometime around or just before this time period, and that is the last time I recall anyone mentioning their service in World War II. Of course it was Roy Thomas.
ReplyDeleteThe Thor story is the last Invaders story I remember, which suggests to me that I stopped reading it after that. Guess we'll see when we get past this one!
Oh, just wait — next week I have quite a post about sliding timeline issues, as we learn just who the mysterious bandaged “Hans” really is!
DeleteAlso, I just noticed above my continuity note about Hitler’s mysterious scepter. I’m wondering if this is the Marvel version of DC’s Spear of Destiny that you and another commenter (Angmc?) mentioned a while back…? In any case, it never shows up again in this original series.
I would not be shocked if that's a rough draft of the Spear of Destiny idea, because it's not like Thomas stopped writing WWII era superhero stories after this!
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ReplyDeleteI don’t have any reactions to the story itself beyond what you covered. However…
A very Roy Thomas caption explains the Nazis’ usage of what’s essentially a television screen to view Thor in Asgard by noting that such practical elements already existed at the time but “the Great Depression and perhaps a lack of business vision” didn’t allow for “workable commercial television” until later. ’Cause everyone reading this story about Hitler compelling scientists to draw Nordic/Germanic deities to Earth got hung up on the existence of a television screen in 1942.
Look, I’m the kind of person who chafes at real-world stuff being wildly misrepresented in fiction while buying into its purely fantastical elements, and I can even sympathize with the desire to preemptively mention this before the letters pour in, but it’s still kind-of hilarious.
Speaking of letters: One asks why Prof. Horton isn’t turning out an army of androids to help the war effort and Torch’s blood isn’t being used to infuse anyone possessed of receptive biology with super-speed, which Roy acknowledges he’s pondered and hopes to address in the future. In response to another noting the discrepancy between events in The Invaders and old Timely comics, specifically the coming of the Kid Commandos, Roy writes, “As far as we’re concerned, Young Allies #1 didn’t strictly occur — but, as Giant-Size Invaders #1 confirmed, Bucky and Toro did have a run-in with the Red Skull,” probably without the involvement of the non-costumed, non-powered kids in said team.
Meanwhile, back in the department of ancillary captions, there’s another “Schickelgruber” reference. Having long wondered about the name, at times used mockingly by characters in-story, I finally looked it up a while back and learned that Adolf Hitler’s father, born Alois Schicklgruber, petitioned to have his name legally changed to that of his stepfather, although Hiedler became Hitler in the paperwork.
Thanks, Blam. I still have not read the letter columns for these issues, since they aren't reprinted in the collected editions I'm using, or on Marvel Unlimited.
Delete(Surprisingly, I recently found that the letter columns for the project I've planned for the majority of next year ARE on MU for some reason! I'm not used to that.)
Television was already established by the Second World War and Germany had regular broadcasts from 1935 onwards. Unlike the UK service it remained on the air for much of the war.
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