Slugfest!

Some of you may be wondering, 'Where is Giant-Size Invaders # 1? Did I miss it?' Well, if you were buying comics during the summer of 1975, you might have been lucky enough to pick one up then. See, Marvel has decided to resume publishing the "Giant-Size" specials and keep the old numbering from the 70s. But all the confusing numbering aside, as the black banner at the top of the cover states, this issue features an all-new story written by original Invaders scribe Roy Thomas. Jay Anacleto incredible cover alone is nearly worth the price of admission. The new story titled A Drive in the Country features pencils by Lee Weeks and finishes by Jesse Delperdang, Mike Perkins, and Lee Weeks. I suppose the title is meant to be a play on words refering not only to actual story events, but to the sweeping patriotism fueling America's current mission.

The story opens with a splash of the Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, and Miss America (Madeline Joyce) flying through the sky during the summer of '42 as they escort a mysterious guest aboard an aircraft. The guest turns out to be Winston Churchill and the destination is Hyde Park, Franklin D. Roosevelt's family estate. Namor recalls the day Churchill gave the group their name and comments that in retrospect it seems to be a "bad joke" because he wonders, "Who do we "invade"?" I'm a little surprised at this comment because it's obviously meant to be a dig at current foreign policy. But I guess I shouldn't be too surprised considering some of the anti-Bush comments recently published in Alter Ego, Roy Thomas' magazine. Personally, I've always regarded the name The Invaders to be a boast: We invade territories that have been invaded by our enemies!....in this case, the Axis forces.

Anyway, Namor seems his usual moody self and thinks it is beneath him to play bodyguard to other heads of state, so he heads off to spend some time alone in the Hudson River and wait for the conference to finish. Captain America is on the ground with Roosevelt and after Churchill's plane lands, both leaders head off for a drive in Roosevelt's car, which has been modified for him to drive. He speeds off so quickly he leave his secret-service agents behind.

Elsewhere on the estate, two German operatives working directly for Hiltler have managed to sneak onto the President's property fully aware of the secret meeting taking place. Their plan: to kill the leaders! Both swallow special capsule that turn them into giants, and when the car carrying the two dignitaries approaches, the giants assualt the vehicle. But luckily, Torch and Miss America are nearby and engage the giants in a slugfest!

Miss America is quickly knocked for a loop as one of the giants backhands her and sends her flying off. But the Torch is a little more formidable and manages to go toe-to-toe for a while. Unexpectedly, one of the giants pulls out a laser gun and fires it directly at him, momentarily knocking him down. The giants use these stolen moments to try to complete their devious mission. Then Cap shows up and gives them what for. Yet, even Cap can't seem to best them, as they knock him down too.

Meanwhile, in an effort to escape from the Germans, Roosevelt accidentally winds up driving the car into a shallow part of the river. So as the Huns once again attempt to complete their deadly mission, Namor surprises them by providing the necessary protection. Then Miss America, Captain America and the Torch join in the fray. The Torch surrounds them in a ring of fire, and immediately the giants scream in agony. So Torch quickly puts out the fire. They witness the giants shrivel down to corpses and realize it was not the flames that killed them. Cap search them and finds the carrying cases which contained the pills that induced their transformation. Cap deduces that the rapid growth caused by the pills is ultimately what caused their death.

In the most poignant point in the story, Cap wonders if the enemies were aware they would die once they took the pills and says, "If the day ever comes when America confronts a horde of suicidal fanatics--it's liable to find them even harder to defeat than an army."

Marvel kinda kills a couple of birds with one stone with the release of this book since it includes reprints of two golden-age stories from the upcoming All-Winners Marvel Masterwork volume, as well as featuring complete reprints of the first two issues of Invaders with the story The Ring of the Nebulas! written by Roy Thomas, who will be the feature writer in the upcoming Marvel Visionaries to be released in January.

Marvel should have reprinted the first Giant-Size Invaders story because the first issue of the regular series from 1975 was a continuation of the story begun in the first Giant-Size issue. Getting to see Frank Robbins artwork vibrantly reprinted on the nice paper is a real treat. During the original run of this series, I was always ambivalent about Robbins' talents, but as an adult, there is no doubt about it....he's the real deal. Heck, even Vince Coletta's inks over Robbins pencils look good here!

The reprints of the golden-age material are the real tease here. The reproduction quality looks great, so the Masterwork volume should be fun reading. And of course, this package saves the best for last as they reprint a Joe Simon/Jack Kirby Captain America story titled The Strange Case of the Malay Idol.