It’s important to remember that Cap was born out of necessity in the worst war of all time and into the greatest generation. Even though we are all familiar of Captain America thanks to The Avengers #4 (March 1964) and Tales of Suspense #58 (Oct. 1964), Marvel Comics is well aware that the importance of the character lies with his earliest adventures in Captain America Comics #1-75 and other Golden Age titles (All Winners Comics #1-19, Marvel Mystery Comics #80-84 and #86-92, USA Comics #6-17, and All Select Comics #1-10). Over the years Marvel has painstakingly republished the stories as part of their Masterworks line and even collected the short lived 1950′s Atlas Era revival. But the love of the Golden Age version has always been a favorite of Roy Thomas.

Thomas was a writer and editor-in-chief at Marvel and was looking for a new angle on classic stories. He came up with The Invaders. This was a 5 member team of Captain America, Bucky, Sub-Mariner, The Human Torch and Toro, all of whom did have adventures with one another in the 1940′s comics, but did not ever consolidate into a formal team. The Invaders #1 (1970) changed all that with the premise being untold tales of this retro fitted superteam. It worked so well that in just a few issues Thomas quickly expanded the lore by reintroducing more obscure golden age characters including Whizzer, Miss America, Blue Diamond, Jack Frost, The Patriot, Red Raven, and The Thin Man in the pages of Marvel Premiere. Under Bucky’s leadership they became known as The Liberty Legion and now the complete storyline has been collected in Marvel Premiere Classic – The Thing: Liberty Legion.

The plot is as simple as they come: Cap, Namor, Torch and Toro have somehow been captured and brainwashed by the Red Skull and it’s up to Bucky to rescue them before they and the Nazi’s destroy New York City and take over the world. Bucky realizes that he is a bit out of his league and must recruit the other heroes and form the Liberty Legion. With each appearance Thomas retells the origins and brings us up to speed. As with most reviews here on the CCL Blog, I avoid spoilers but I can tell you that the fight sequences and the interaction between characters are well done, especially when brainwashed Cap meets up with The Patriot and calls him a poor imitation. The Red Skull is in typical form, even when his master plan goes array he yells out, “Not Now! Not when I’ve come so close to total triumph”!

The 4 part crossover with The Invaders did so well, that the Liberty Legion would see three more comics, this time teaming up (of sorts) with The Thing and the rest of the Fantastic Four for a series of time traveling adventures. It should be stated that a few of the characters, The Patriot, Red Raven and The Whizzer were reintroduced into the Bronze Age before Marvel Premiere #29, but here Thomas sets it all straight in the Golden Age taking into account their individual appearances elsewhere.

As for the extras in this book there are none, but what is nice is the complete Liberty Legion story all in one book. Marvel’s Invaders Classic TPB collects the initial 4-issue cossover, but nothing else. Also reprinted are the end notes from the original issues. In them Thomas describes just who these forgotten characters are and when they first appeared. Without them, the reader (of yesterday or today) would be lost and wondering who these people are. Thanks to books like these and the Captain America movie, Golden Age Marvel is in style and will be for another great generation.

Marvel Premiere Classic – The Thing: Liberty Legion Variant (Volume 69)
Written by Roy Thomas
Art by John Buscema, Sal Buscema, Frank Robbins, Don Heck and others
168 pages, $24.99, Marvel Comics
Collects The Invaders #5-6, Marvel Premiere #29-39, Fantastic Four Annual #11, Marvel Two-In-One Annual #1 and Marvel Two-In-One #20

Recommended reading:
Marvel Masterworks Golden Age Daring Mystery Volume 2 – The Blue Diamond (introduced Daring Mystery Comics #7, April 1941)
Marvel Masterworks Golden Age USA Comics Volume 1 – Jack Frost (USA Comics #1, Aug. 1941)
No reprint of first appearance – Miss America (Marvel Mystery Comics #49, Nov. 1943)
Marvel Masterworks Golden Age Human Torch Volume 1 – The Patriot (Human Torch Comics #3, Spring 1941)
Golden Age of Marvel Volume 2 TPB – Red Raven (Red Raven Comics #1, Aug. 1940)
Marvel Masterworks Golden Age Mystic Comics Volume 1 – The Thin Man (Mystic Comics #4, July 1940)
Marvel Masterworks Golden Age USA Comics Volume 1 – The Whizzer (USA Comics #1, Aug. 1941)

Alter Ego started out as the first comic fanzine in March of 1961 by Jerry Bails in Detroit, Michigan. Thomas knew Bails from Wayne State University and was asked to be a contributor and has been at it ever since. Alter Ego, in case you don’t know, is a love letter to the medium and mostly focuses on comics from 1930-1970 but sometimes crosses into the 70′s and 80′s (that era is usually saved for Back Issue Magazine edited by Michael Eury). Now we have the Centennial issue and it is oversized with color and an extra page count. It features a Justice Society of America cover from Rich Buckler that was originally drawn for the All-Star Squadron preview from Justice League of America #193 (September 1981); Jerry Ordway did the inks. Among the pieces in this issue are:

• The Annotated Alter Ego #1, a complete reprint and look at the very first issue
• A tribute to A Giant Of The Industry: Mike Esposito by Frank Lovece
• A reproduction of the 1964 Superhero Calender with contributions from Jack Kirby, Alan Weiss and Russ Manning just to name a few.
• Correspondence, Comments and Letters from greats like Stan Lee and Dick Ayers
• A captivating pin-up art section of the super-heroines of the 1940′s by Alex Wright
• The Fawcett Collectors of America look at Superman and Captain Marvel meeting “for the first time” in 1942, retroactively, in the pages of All-Star Squadron #37 (September 1984)
• Tributes to Alter Ego #100 from creators and luminaries in the comic book industry
• 32 pages of commentary complete with gorgeous never before seen full color artwork

But the real gem of the book is part three of the Roy Thomas career retrospective which began in AE #50 (Roy at DC and Marvel in the 1960′s), AE #70 (Roy at Marvel in the 1970′s) and finishes up here with Roy back at DC in the 1980′s. The two previous Alter Ego magazines are available at TwoMorrow’s Publishing. The interview is conducted Jim Amash and you can tell by the looseness of the talk that they have been friends for years. Thomas sometimes goes so in-depth that you would swear that you are at the the drawing board with him. It also has a great look at the revival of the JSA in All-Star Squadron and Infinity Inc. in the 1980′s.

You see it a lot in comic book solicitations, but here it rings true: if you have never read Alter Ego, this is a great jumping on point. There is so much that AE has to offer. The tone of the magazine is welcoming and not highbrow. The history contained is both informational and educational as to how everything works and you even get some good backroom gossip, which is always fun. And catching up on past issues is easy and inexpensive as TwoMorrows offers digital editions at a fraction of the printed price. Finally, the art is fantastic, every issue Roy digs up new treasures for us to look over and drool. Did I tell you that in this Centennial issue there is a rarely seen Steve Ditko Spider-Man drawing made exclusively for the 1964 New York Comicon? In a word: Awesome! So go out and brush up on your history, you’ll learn much more then a thing or two.

My thanks to TwoMorrows for supplying me with a copy of this magazine.

Alter Ego: Centennial – The 100th Issue of Alter Ego
Edited by Roy Thomas
$19.99, 160 pages, TwoMorrows Publishing

My sincere thanks to Alter Ego contributor Lynn Walker for helping me with this post. If you are interested in more information on Alter Ego and classic comic books, please visit the Alter Ego Fans Yahoo Group. Anyone can join, all you have to do is request permission, telling us your real first and last name and something to prove you actually read the magazine and aren’t a spammer.

What makes for a great storyline that stand the test of time, copied and refocused and is transformed into another great storyline that will have implications for future generations? A great creative team. They must not only mold their vision but they must also look to the past for inspiration and to the future to envision their long lasting effects.

I’m talking about the Avengers: Kree-Srull War (Avengers #89-97, 1971-1972) by Roy Thomas and Neal Adams (among others). Thomas took the best part of what Stan Lee and Jack Kirby did in the pages of Fantastic Four and created what would turn out to be the first “event” of the Marvel Age of Comics. Even though it was self contained in the Avengers title, it featured a multitude of characters including Captain Mar-vell, Rick Jones, The FF, The Inhumans, and Nick Fury and villains such as Ronan The Accuser and The Super-Skrull. Not only did it establish just where Earth stands in the universe (literally) but also how far humans have come and where they will eventually end up on the evolutionary scale. Minor plot points have lasted into today’s books, as well. The seeds of the relationship with The Vision and Scarlett Witch started here and Infinity Gauntlet series, The (Marvel) Illuminati, Secret Invasion and Annihilation events were based off of this story.

I picked this to read for this past Saturday’s Read Comics In Public Day. I wanted to choose something special and that I have never read before. I pulled out Marvel Masterworks Volume 10 and brought it on a weekend vacation with my family. I’m so glad that I finally got around to reading it. It’s important to delve into history and read the greats. More on my thoughts of this in the podcast.

Also on the show this week:

• The CCL RSS Feed is fixed thanks to Derek Coward (Comics Book Noise)
• The Harvey Awards were announced at the Baltimore Comic Con
• Image Comics is now on iTunes thanks to ComiXology
• Comic Book Apps for your Android phone
• Location based apps – Do you check in at you LCS?
• Giveaway: Manga For The Beginner – Shoujo (Watson-Guptill)

And the New Releases Of The Week!

Please visit my site sponsors: In-Stock Trades and Forbidden Planet International (UK)

Collected Comics Library Podcast #215

http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/

Thanks to a little black book called Twilight, vampires are all the rage these days. In reality, they’ve always been cool. Bela Lugosi made it look easy, Keifer Sutherland made it look punk and Robert Pattinson is making it look like Justin Timberlake with fangs. Today’s feature got started because my wife, Patty, decided to get with caught up with the whole Twilight phenomenon. I, on the other hand, started to wonder what Vampire-esqu books I owned. It turns out I own several (including anthologies). But on the show today, I’m going to focus on three: the 30 Days of Night Trilogy Hardcover Slipcase (IDW), Stoker’s Dracula (by Roy Thomas and Dick Giordano) and The Tomb of Dracula Omnibus (both by Marvel). I even dabble a bit with Dynamite Entertainment’s new take on Dracula that you will not want to miss.

All this and the New Releases of the Week.

Chris

Please visit my site sponsors: In-Stock Trades, Forbidden Planet International (UK), and Library Binding Company.

Links of note:
Warren Ellis on Dynamite’s Complete Dracula

http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/

Today on the show, I focus on one of the “super-groups” of the Marvel universe – The Invaders. What’s interesting about this team, consisting of Captain America, Namor: The Sub-Mariner, The Human Torch and Bucky, is that it was created retroactively in 1975, with all their adventures taking place in World War II. Their series lasted 41 issues and they appeared in only a few other titles throughout the years which included two limited series that revived the team. Today in 2009, The Invaders can be found in two series: Avengers/Invaders and in the pages of Captain America. These important characters, whether they are adventuring as individuals or as a team, are the cornerstones of the Marvel Universe, come learn more about them.

Also on the show, I touch a few news items including the Nexus Archives going black and white and digest size and the Creepy Archives going to 26 volumes.

All this and the New Releases of the Week.

Chris

Addendum: I did record audio to talk about Invaders Classic Volume 2 (Invaders #10-21 and Annual #1) and Invaders Classic Volume 3 (Invaders #22-23 and #25-34), but the audio did not come through as I had hoped.

Please visit my site sponsors: In-Stock Trades, Forbidden Planet International (UK), and Library Binding Company.

http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/
In preparing for the show this week, I decided that I would cover the 100th Marvel Masterworks The Defenders Volume 1. Little did I realize that it was actually missing the first three try-out pseudo teams-ups from Doctor Strange #183, Sub-Mariner #22 and Hulk #126, all of which was included in the Essential Defenders Volume 1. It then seemed wise to compare the books as part of my When Trade Collide series that I do from time to time. After writing up my notes for that, I began to speculate on what a MMW Volume 2 might look like and that’s when the Marvel Premiere Classic edition of The Avengers/Defenders War came into play. It got to be too much and my initial review of one single book leads me to a whole gambit that is today’s feature presentation. I look at all the collected editions of Marvels first anti-team and a few runs that have yet to be collected and yes, I do dive head first into the chicken soup that would be a Volume 2 of The Defenders Masterworks series.

I also cover a bit on the upcoming Trinity Volume 1 trade paperback (DC Comics), the 2008 Ignatz Awards, the Product and Shipping Changes and the New Releases of the Week.

Please visit my site sponsors: In-Stock Trades, Forbidden Planet International (UK), and Library Binding Company.

Chris

Discuss this topic on the CCL forum

Collected Comics Library Podcast #178

34,560Kb; 36m 25s

http://www.collectedcomicslibrary.com/

Sometimes a comic book comes along and makes you think. It makes you think about the world you live in; makes you think about your own life and makes you think about comic books in general and how they definitely are not just for kids. Writer Brian K. Vaughn (Y: The Last Man) and artist Tony Harris (Starman) do exactly that in Ex Machina and that is the reason we feature it on the CCL Podcast today. Yes, all of it is excellent story wise and artistically, but it’s with the incoherent editing of this Deluxe Hardcover from DC Comics/Windstorm, that I have a problem with.

Also on the show, as promised I tell you about my conspiracy theory with the upcoming X:Men: Longshot Premiere Classic Hardcover and its’ subsequent and timely Press Release from over the past weekend. And I read off a few e-mails regarding the Marvel Illustrated books and who they really meant for – and yes I have an issue with that, too.

So basically the show today is a very cynical view of things. All this and The New Releases of the Week.

Please visit my site sponsors: In-Stock Trades, Forbidden Planet International (UK), and Library Binding Company.

Chris

Links of note:
Fanboy
Timothy Callahan
Nine Panel Nerds Podcast
Discuss this topic on the CCL forum