Reprints Invaders #5-6, Marvel Premiere #29-30, Fantastic Four Annual #11, Marvel Two-In-One #20 and Marvel Two-In-One Annual #1
Written by Roy Thomas.
Penciled by John Buscema, Don Heck, Sal Buscema, Frank Robbins, Rich Buckler & Dick Ayers.
Inked by Vince Colletta, Sam Grainger, Jim Mooney, George Roussos & John Tartaglione.
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Variant cover. |
The Bronze Age meets the Golden Age in this World War II era time travel epic!
The Invaders have turned evil! The World War II era team of Captain America, Namor, Human Torch and Toro have destroyed a defense plant in the Midwest. It appears that the Invaders have allied themselves with their arch enemy, the Red Skull, and joined forces with Nazi Germany! But looks are often deceiving.
We later learn that the Invaders have been brainwashed by the Red Skull's Nulla Ray. But the general public believes the Invaders are traitors.
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The Invaders ransack a defense plant. |
Captain America's sidekick, Bucky Barnes, takes it upon himself to organize a new super-team. He goes on the radio and calls for any hero to step up and defend Uncle Sam.
Bucky gets plenty of replies from various crimefighters:
Blue Diamond: Super-strong hero with skin as tough as his namesake!
Miss America: Wears a costume that gives her super-strength & power of flight!
The Whizzer: Super-speedster who is also Miss America's husband!
Thin Man: Possesses the ability to stretch his body into any shape!
Jack Frost: The mythological spirit of winter!
The Patriot: World-class fighter in peak physical condition!
Red Raven: Wears anti-gravity suit made by the Bird People that allows him to fly!
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R: Miss America, Blue Diamond & Jack Frost take out Nazis; L: The Liberty Legion makes its first public appearance. |
They form a new team and call themselves the Liberty Legion! They will act as America's Homefront Heroes, defending the U.S. from saboteurs and other Nazi sympathizers.
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Thin Man & Red Raven take down some American fascists. |
But the Red Skull is undaunted. He takes over the airwaves and challenges the Legion to fight the Invaders at Yankee Stadium. A battle ensues and the Human Torch destroys the Skull's dirigible. It explodes, freeing the Invaders from Red Skull's control. The villain disappears for the time being.
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Liberty Legion accepts the Red Skull's challenge at Yankee Stadium. |
Back in the "present" (1976), the Fantastic Four are attacked by Nazi soldiers! They wonder what they're doing in New York, so many years after the war. The Watcher shows up, saying nothing (he was not allowed to speak at the time), but his presence alerts the FF that something isn't right.
It turns out the Nazis won WWII and it was the FF's fault! They accidentally sent a cylinder of vibranium into the past. Hitler used it to deflect missiles and ultimately won the war because of the Fantastic Four's mistake. Reed Richards decides they must go back to 1942 to fix this. When they enter the war, they're joined by the Invaders.
After recovering the vibranium, the FF return home to their time. But the Thing feels there is still something wrong. Newer buildings start disappearing from New York's skyline! The Watcher appears once more and Ben decides he must go back in time to finish the battle with the Nazis.
Grimm (correctly) theorizes that a small piece of vibranium was left behind in 1942. The Thing knows that he must go back in time once again.
When he appears in New York of the past, he encounters the Liberty Legion. They fight at first, but then realize they're on the same side. The city is under attack from a Nazi pilot called Skyshark. Ben and the others quickly stop Skyshark and his squadron of stukas, but Skyshark escapes.
It turns out the Nazis won WWII and it was the FF's fault! They accidentally sent a cylinder of vibranium into the past. Hitler used it to deflect missiles and ultimately won the war because of the Fantastic Four's mistake. Reed Richards decides they must go back to 1942 to fix this. When they enter the war, they're joined by the Invaders.
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The Fantastic Four fight the Invaders until cooler heads prevail. |
After recovering the vibranium, the FF return home to their time. But the Thing feels there is still something wrong. Newer buildings start disappearing from New York's skyline! The Watcher appears once more and Ben decides he must go back in time to finish the battle with the Nazis.
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The Thing tries to get the Watcher to help him, but the Watcher can't speak. |
Grimm (correctly) theorizes that a small piece of vibranium was left behind in 1942. The Thing knows that he must go back in time once again.
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The Thing finds himself in 1942. Nice drawing of the Flatiron Building! |
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The Legion takes on Skyhawk. |
At the same time, a military base is attacked in upstate New York. The Legionnaires check into it and learn that it was work of the Nazi strong man Master Man and Merrano of Atlantis, better known as U-Man. These two have battled the Invaders in the past.
But these baddies aren't the real menace. The literal and figurative brain behind the operation is Braindrain, the living Nazi brain! Braindrain attacks New York in a swastika-shaped aircraft. Will the Thing and the Liberty Legion be able to stop the threat of Braindrain, U-Man, Master Man and Skyshark?
Review:
Thing: Liberty Legion contains some ridiculous stories that are very contrived, even by comic book standards. But as silly as it is at times, it's lots of fun! Any book that features a Nazi brain flying a giant swastika can't be all bad!
Story:
Roy Thomas wrote everything in this book. It gets off to a good start, with the Invaders "betraying" the United States and the Legion forming to combat them. I liked the depiction of the radio show that featured Bucky and the Patriot. Thomas loved to write World War II stories and he does a nice job showing what the homefront was like.
I should mention that this is an odd and little-remembered period where the Thing was turned human for a short while. When Ben felt superfluous, Reed Richards built a "Thing suit" so that Ben could still fight crime.
Red Skull is used well in this story as the "Big Bad". Braindrain is ridiculous, but lots of fun. I always thought U-Man (that's "U-Man" as in "U-Boat") was a cool villain when he fought the Invaders, it was fun to see him battle the Thing.
During the Fantastic Four portion, it gets a bit convoluted. The FF go back in time because Nazis stole their vibranium, changing the outcome of WWII. Fine, they defeat the Nazis, the world is back to the way it should be. Then the Thing has to go back by himself because they didn't bring back all the vibranium? It feels a bit forced. There is no good reason for the Fantastic Four to be left out of this tale. But it was nice to see Ben Grimm use his brain and take a leadership role.
I'm a fan of time travel stories in general, so I appreciated that aspect of these stories.
Art:
The art here is a mostly good but never great.
Rich Buckler and Dick Ayers give us some good Kirby-esque art in the first part. Theirs is the best art in the book. I've written here before of my general dislike of the work of Don Heck and Vince Colletta during the Bronze Age. But I thought they made a decent art team here.
Heck and Colletta's work has a decidedly Golden Age quality, which suits the WWII setting. The pencils from Frank Robbins are par for the course for his Bronze Age work, meaning they're not very good. John Buscema is one of the all-time greats, but his art is a bit over-inked by Sam Grainger. John's brother Sal Buscema is embellished by multiple inkers, so his art sometimes changes from page to page.
How does it look?:
It looks good. I don't own all these issues, but I found a scan online from one of them. Here's the original page, from Marvel Premiere #29 (borrowed from the excellent Diversions of the Groovy Kind):
The reprinted version can be seen on the left side of the image below:
Review:
Thing: Liberty Legion contains some ridiculous stories that are very contrived, even by comic book standards. But as silly as it is at times, it's lots of fun! Any book that features a Nazi brain flying a giant swastika can't be all bad!
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Thing faces off against Braindrain and his minions. |
Story:
Roy Thomas wrote everything in this book. It gets off to a good start, with the Invaders "betraying" the United States and the Legion forming to combat them. I liked the depiction of the radio show that featured Bucky and the Patriot. Thomas loved to write World War II stories and he does a nice job showing what the homefront was like.
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Anthropologist Elton Morrow is attacked by Nazis & changes into Blue Diamond. |
I should mention that this is an odd and little-remembered period where the Thing was turned human for a short while. When Ben felt superfluous, Reed Richards built a "Thing suit" so that Ben could still fight crime.
Red Skull is used well in this story as the "Big Bad". Braindrain is ridiculous, but lots of fun. I always thought U-Man (that's "U-Man" as in "U-Boat") was a cool villain when he fought the Invaders, it was fun to see him battle the Thing.
During the Fantastic Four portion, it gets a bit convoluted. The FF go back in time because Nazis stole their vibranium, changing the outcome of WWII. Fine, they defeat the Nazis, the world is back to the way it should be. Then the Thing has to go back by himself because they didn't bring back all the vibranium? It feels a bit forced. There is no good reason for the Fantastic Four to be left out of this tale. But it was nice to see Ben Grimm use his brain and take a leadership role.
I'm a fan of time travel stories in general, so I appreciated that aspect of these stories.
Art:
The art here is a mostly good but never great.
Rich Buckler and Dick Ayers give us some good Kirby-esque art in the first part. Theirs is the best art in the book. I've written here before of my general dislike of the work of Don Heck and Vince Colletta during the Bronze Age. But I thought they made a decent art team here.
Heck and Colletta's work has a decidedly Golden Age quality, which suits the WWII setting. The pencils from Frank Robbins are par for the course for his Bronze Age work, meaning they're not very good. John Buscema is one of the all-time greats, but his art is a bit over-inked by Sam Grainger. John's brother Sal Buscema is embellished by multiple inkers, so his art sometimes changes from page to page.
How does it look?:
It looks good. I don't own all these issues, but I found a scan online from one of them. Here's the original page, from Marvel Premiere #29 (borrowed from the excellent Diversions of the Groovy Kind):
The reprinted version can be seen on the left side of the image below:
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Nice splashpage from Don Heck & Vince Colletta. |
Looks very close to the original page, no recoloring here.
Extras:
Two essays from Thomas about the Golden Age appearances and origins of the characters that make up the Liberty Legion. These were originally published in the pages of Marvel Premiere #29-30.
Rating:
Thing: Liberty Legion might seem a bit silly to readers who haven't read many Bronze Age stories, but it's undeniably fun and fans of time travel and WWII era stories should enjoy it.
J.A Morris' rating:
3 Sals.
Extras:
Two essays from Thomas about the Golden Age appearances and origins of the characters that make up the Liberty Legion. These were originally published in the pages of Marvel Premiere #29-30.
Rating:
Thing: Liberty Legion might seem a bit silly to readers who haven't read many Bronze Age stories, but it's undeniably fun and fans of time travel and WWII era stories should enjoy it.
J.A Morris' rating:
3 Sals.
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