Comic Info
Comic Name: The Invaders
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Roy Thomas/Don Glut
Artist: Jim Mooney/Alan Kupperberg/Chic Stone
# of Issues: 12
Release Date: 2009
The Invaders #28
Reprints The Invaders #22-23 and #25-34 (November 1977-November 1978). The Invaders continue to battle the Nazi forces in Germany and find the horrors of the war stretch far beyond Europe. With battles in Egypt and America, the Invaders face off against the Teutonic Knight, a Nazi Frankenstein Monster, and the god of thunder Thor…under the control of Adolf Hitler! World War II rages on, and the Invaders hope to stop it.
Written by Roy Thomas and Don Glut and featuring art by Jim Mooney, Alan Kupperberg, and Chic Stone, The Invaders Classic—Volume 3 continues the adaptation of Marvel’s 1970s World War II comic. The collection does not feature The Invaders #24 (January 1978) which featured a reprint of Marvel Mystery Comics #17 (March 1941) and a team-up between Namor and the Human Torch.
The Invaders is a rather dense comic. Each issue feels really heavy and jam packed…more so than many standard comics from this period of time. Though I do like a lot of the story aspects and the characters, the comic doesn’t really seem to flow very well with characters dropping in and out of plotlines.
This volume tries to mainstream the Invaders a bit more by including other popular characters from the time. The Invaders #32-33 (September 1978-October 1978) featured an appearance by Thor (who is conveniently “forgotten” after he returns to Asgard) but it also has a surprise appearance by Victor Von Doom. Frankenstein had been featured in comics in the 1970s and here a descendant of Victor Frankenstein takes on the Invaders with a new Nazi Monster. The stories do add a little life but also demonstrate a problem.
The Invaders #33
The Nazi Frankenstein story is a flashback story…something that The Invaders does far too much of. There is no continuity flow to the comic because the story always seems to get caught in flashback stories (or reprints). It was a different style of writing at the time and reprints weren’t readily available, but it does hurt the overall product of the Invaders.
I do like that this volume touches on the Japanese internment camps in the United States. Bucky has to find a doctor who has been placed in one with Toro’s life hanging in the balance. This is a rather dark part of the United States’ World War II history and it isn’t always looked at…but it also serves as a way to get Toro and Bucky off the main team (something I wish hadn’t happened).
The Invaders is a very classic feeling comic written in a style that does feel more like a World War II comic than a comic written in the ’70s. I kind of enjoy The Invaders, but I also feel that there is something missing that keeps it from being a great comic. The Invaders Classic—Volume 3 is the penultimate volume in the collection as The Invaders comic ends with The Invaders #41 in September 1979 and this and the ’90s Invaders limited series are reprinted in The Invaders Classic—Volume 4.
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