I’m re-visiting AVENGERS/INVADERS, one of my favorite series of 2008. I’m still entertained by this, but not as enamored of it the second time around. This is an unusual crossover, a collaboration between Marvel and Dynamite that features only characters from the Marvel stable. I guess the difference is that the creative team was supplied by Dynamite. Maybe the good folks at Captain Blue Hen have more knowledge of why this series was labeled as a publisher crossover and can enlighten us?
The Invaders in 1943 (Captain America & Bucky, the original Human Torch and Toro, the Sub-Mariner) were on a mission to disable Nazi plans to develop Occult weaponry. They, along with American soldier Paul Anselm, are thrown forward in time to 2008 by a mysterious green mist.
Bad time to visit New York City, right in the middle of Marvel’s Civil War event and smack dab in a battle between Registered Hero Hunters The Thunderbolts and Anti-Registration Spider-Man. Tony Stark/Iron Man (director of S.H.I.E.L.D.) learns of this and the Mighty Avengers capture the Invaders, imprisoning them (except the escaped Namor) on the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier. Namor heads to Atlantis, confronts King Namor and attempts to rally the Atlantean troops to attack the surface world.
Meanwhile the Anti-Registration New Avengers led by Luke Cage help Cap and Bucky escape the helicarrier. Act One of this limited series ends on a cliff-hanger with the new Captain America (Bucky/Winter Soldier) giving a grim warning to his 1943 Bucky version.
Steve Sadowski’s art is great, although sometimes inconsistent, and presents a slightly different and fresh look to these oft-used characters. The script is solid, adding layers of complexity as it moves along.
Here’s some of the highlights from these issues:
ISSUE #1: One of my favorite scenes occurs on the opening pages, as Bucky plants explosives along a Nazi bridge. There’s some commentary that applies to a recent corrupt politician and his puppet sycophants.
There’s no dialogue and the captions share some entries from Bucky’s war journal: “Cap says that if we don’t do something now to stop that rotten piece of Kraut filth named Hitler, freedom’s gonna be a goner. . . Not sure I agree . . . Hitler’s a murderer. An’ the Krauts are letting him get away with it. They’re even helping him. . . . You ask, this ain’t about losing freedom. . . It’s about one man having too much.”
ISSUE #2: Tony ponders the implications of time travel and warns his Avengers, especially Ares, to not kill any of the Invaders while he works on a plan to return them to the past. The scenes involving the Paul Anselm WWII solider meeting himself (now a grandfather) are touching. The original Human Torch (an android) is having difficulty coping with the sacrificial treatment of Life Model Decoys in combat with the Invaders (trying to avoid human to human confrontation and messing with time).
ISSUE #3: The entitled Namor getting rebuffed by himself is a hoot. Jim Hammond/Human Torch apologizing to an L.M.D.: “I’m sorry for what I did to you. I thought you were a human. . . . . . They want us to be robots, don’t they?” It’s an awakening of sorts for the subservient L.M.D.s and they appeal to the Human Torch as their savior.
ISSUE #4: Dr. Strange looks into the past, and realizes that the reality of 1943 has been altered - - Churchill was killed. England fell. There’s a time wave rolling through history and altering the entire world” “It just hasn’t caught up to us yet.” He builds a mystical wall to keep the effects of those changes from altering the present. Strange suspects that someone is using the Cosmic Cube, which may be what brought the Invaders to 2008.
Okay, I’m sort of hooked on this series all over again. FOUR STARS.
AVENGERS/INVADERS #5 - #8 (Marvel/Dynamite, 2008-2009)
Beginning with Issue #5, Steve Sadowski gets an assist from Patrick Berkenkotter and the art gets even better. The cast is huge: The Invaders (Captain America, Bucky, Namor, Human Torch, Toro) ; The Mighty Avengers (Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Woman, Wasp, Wonder Man, Black Widow, Ares, Sentry); The New Avengers (Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Wolverine, Iron Fist, Ronin, Echo).
Here’s the succinct summary from the credits page of Issue #6:
“Meanwhile, Dr. Strange discovers that before he can send the Invaders home, they must first find and rescue Paul Anselm, a young soldier who came forward in time with them.
But, the Human Torch is at wit’s end. Their escape from the Helicarrier came at the cost of many Life Model Decoy S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. His own android roots feel the suffering his colleagues cannot, and it brings back the emory of the death camps he helped liberate in World War II. Incense Torch returns to the Helicarrier - site of the destruction of these robots - to avenge their lives.”
This leads to an L.M.D. mutiny/revolution aboard the helicarrier as the robots outnumber the heroes. Meanwhile Toro learns that his future self is dead. Grieving, he visits his own gravesite.
After the L.M.D.s take over the helicarrier, they lead the Human Torch to Cap and Namor, who are trapped in a virtual reality of World War II. The Torch entered the reality to get them out, finds himself double-crossed and equally trapped.
This is where the plot makes several unexpected turns involving D’Spayre the demonic fear-lord now in possession of the Cosmic Cube (and actually a front for the shape-shifting original Vision, an alien from space). Enter Ultron, the real culprit behind the L.M.D. revolt and now fully in control. In a final twist, the younger version of Paul Anselm grabs the Cube and returns by himself to WWII to save his soldier friends and alter history- - already capturing several characters in a time wave as Issue #8 and Act Two ends.
FOUR STARS.
AVENGERS/INVADERS #9 - #12 (Marvel/Dynamite, 2009)
Just in case those plot twists in the prior eight issues weren’t enough, what happens in Act Three of this limited series is a doozy!
Paul Anselm goes back to 1943 with the Cosmic Cube to reverse what happened to his deceased soldier companions, achieves that, then is shot and loses the Cube - - into the hands of The Red Skull!
The Avengers and Invaders then find themselves back in 1943 New York City, with some immediately noticeable changes. No more Statue of Liberty - it’s been replaced by a statue of a beaming Red Skull holding the Cosmic Cube.
The Avengers disguise themselves in costumes of heroes of 1943 in order not to give the Red Skull a glimpse into the future, and enlist the Original Black Panther of Wakanda plus Sgt. Fury & his Howling Commandos to stage a last attack on the Red Skull and his empire. The Skull brings in the superhero champions of the Axis for the final battle.
ISSUE #9: The Red Skull uses the Cube to erect The Aryan Wall surrounding most of Europe and all the lands that Hitler claimed belong to his master race. Reminds of a recent wannabe autocrat’s obsession with a Great Wall.
ISSUE #10: The 1940’s heroes that The Avengers impersonate are The Black Avenger (Luke Cage), The Challenger (Spider-Man), The Silver Scorpion (Spider-Woman),Captain Terror (Wolverine), Electro the robot (Iron Man),The Black Widow with the death touch (Ms. Marvel), and The Wasp as The Wasp since she so tiny as to be almost invisible.
There’s an ironic and touching conversation between Captain America the 1943 Invader and Iron Man the 2008 Avenger. Cap asks: “What was the Civil War, Iron Man? I heard mention of it in your time.” To which Tony replies: “It was a war. A terrible war when the rights of an individual super-being’s identity came into conflict with the nation’s needs.” Cap says: “I see . . . And you, you fought for your nation, didn’t you? Against men you considered your friends? “ Tony’s answer: “Yes. Good friends.” Cap responds: “I’m sure it was very difficult for you. To do what you knew was right.”
ISSUE #11: This entire series could be viewed as a long morality play for those wishing for deeper meaning. Captain America 1943 seems to get the best lines. When Paul Anselm apologizes and admits these dire circumstances were his fault, Cap counsels: “Sometimes doing what we think is right turns out to be the wrong thing entirely . . . . The question is, are you man enough to fix it once it’s broken?”
ISSUE #12: This next section is long, but I’m sharing as it’s another favorite moment from this series, and ironic as hell . . . .Along with Cap’s inspirational moments, the Bucky of 1943 goes through the most changes (as revealed in both his journal entries and his actions). Just suppose you were told of a fatal life-changing incident by your future self and warned not to take certain actions. Bucky asks advice of Electro/Iron Man: “I need to ask you a question about changing the past.” Tony replies: “Yes, Bucky. That’s what we’re her for. To change the past back to the one you were supposed to live through.” Bucky thinks about that, then says: “I’m not talking about undoing something I did, but not doing something I think I will do. Or would have done.” If you were Bucky, and knew you had this chance, would you make the changes knowing that you could be altering the course of history because of it?
Tony speaks again: “There are many mistakes I wish I could undo. . . But the things we want to change are usually the ones we think will save us. It’s never about someone else, and that’s the problem. Isn’t it? . . . . . Paul took the Cube and came back to save his friends. But was he really saving them, or appeasing his own guilt for surviving? . . . . . Heroism is doing the right thing even if we’re damned in the process . . . . . There are things I have done recently. Relatively speaking. . . . . If I had them to do over again, I would do the same thing no matter what.”
The capper comes in Bucky’s grateful response: “You know, ‘Electro’, it’s too bad my Cap wasn’t around in your era. I think you two would have been great friends.” (I realize this passage might not mean anything unless you are familiar with the events of Marvel’s Civil War. But it’s too good not to share with those in the know.)
ISSUE #12: The final battle royale and the last great measure. There’s a postscript scene between the Vision and Toro that puts a warm-hearted cap on the whole series as things go full circle. Yes, it’s a happy ending and when faced with a choice - - people do the right things. It was definitely worth my time to read this over again. FOUR STARS.
No comments:
Post a Comment