Book Review: Invaders Classic, Volume 1

Invaders Classic - Volume 1 by Roy Thomas

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Unlike DC, Marvel's World War 2 history wasn't marked by great team battles. DC had the Justice Society and the Seven Soldiers of Victory, Marvel had a bunch of individual battles with the occasional Submariner-Human Torch team up thrown in.

But Roy Thomas had the perfect solution for Marvel: If you don't have a great Golden Age Team history make one up.

So, the Invaders were born. This book collects Giant Invaders #1, Invaders 1-9, and Marvel Premiere 29 and 30.

The books with Giant Invaders #1 and sees Marvel's golden age big three (Captain America, Human Torch, and Sub-mariner) and their kid sidekick (Toro and Bucky) joining forces in a 32 page adventure against the Nazi super soldier replica Masterman. They're urged to join forces on a permanent basis by none other than British Prime Minister Winston Churchill with a goal of invading Hitler's Fortress Europa.

Issues 1 and 2 of the regular Invaders series has them battling Brain Drain and encountering some apparent Norse gods who aren't from Asgard. A mostly okay story.

Issues 3 and 4 of the Invaders have the Invaders up against U-man. Other than the obligatory battle of Namor v. the rest of the Invaders due to the latter's insistence on taking down U-man on his own since U-man had attack at the sea, the serial is more good but not outstanding work.

The middle section of the book is what earns it my 5 star rating including Marvel Premiere #29 and 30 and Invaders #5 and #6. In Invaders #5, all the Invaders other than Bucky are kidnapped and brainwashed by the Red Skull into attacking America's war production. Marvel Premiere #29 sees Bucky taking to the airwaves and calling for all the costumed heroes to gather to form a new team to stop the Invaders and rescue them from the Red Skull's clutches. This is a story that only Roy Thomas could have written. Each of the seven was introduced with a half page explaining their origins and histories in the Golden Age. It was a magical experience reading this, and the rest of the arch with these lesser know heroes in action was just a plain delight, and one of my favorite issues of any book I've read.

Issues 7-9 concludes with the Invaders facing Baron Blood, a vampire for the Nazis. Vampires were pretty big at Marvel in the 1970s with Morbius, so this is a case of what goes around comes around. The story featured the introduction of the Union Jack, who had been a top war commando in World War I. I was somewhat less than impressed with the imaginary World War I superteam he'd been a part of, but maybe it'll come in handy later. Despite his advanced years, he joins the the Invaders.

The one aspect of this story that bothered me was the war weariness setting in for Captain America and Torch in 1942. Mind you, there's some realism here and it may ring true for the era it was was written in the 1970s. But it doesn't ring well with the golden era replication of the rest of the story. This can get too heady too fast, but we'll see how it plays out in Volume 2. Overall, despite the moodiness of the last 3 issues, it's still a great book for those who like World War II stories and the Golden Age of Comics. The important thing to remember is that it is basically a love letter to the Golden Age from the Bronze Age, and the publication era does influence it.



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