Protecting The President With Captain America And The Invaders #1
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
President Franklin Roosevelt is set for a “fishing trip” in the Bahamas where he will be secretly be meeting with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor in Nassau to solidify their position with the Allies instead of defecting to the Axis. New heroes Captain America and the Human Torch of secretly and separately been assigned as the president’s security guards during the visit. Good thing too, as Baron Heinrich Zemo sails for Nassau to abscond with the Windsors and bring them back to Germany as future proxy rulers when Germany overtakes the United Kingdom.
Captain America and the Invaders #1 provide a first meeting of the Invaders during a secret diplomatic mission during World War II. Both Cap and the Torch are new to the superhero business, but they leap at the chance to protect the president himself.
It’s nice seeing a greener and less confident Captain America just getting started. It reminds the reader that Steve Rogers is still just a man underneath that mantle of living legend, and even he had a time when he wasn’t so sure of his capabilities.
Funnily enough, FDR and Baron Zemo get the most lines of the comic and much of the attention. They are the main ones driving the plot of course, and Captain America and the Invaders #1 seeks to evoke a classical comic experience. That is to say, there is a lot of monologuing and explaining of plans aloud.
Jerry Ordway’s artwork is absolutely phenomenal, giving a realistic and highly-detailed aesthetic to the comic. It compliments the more human view of Steve Rogers we get in this comic, as he looks like (an admittedly bulky) regular young man trying to fit into a new costume, the weight of which he’s not used to yet. Jay David Ramos backs it up with a well-balanced and gleaming color palette that suits the likes of Captain America and the Human Torch well.
Captain America and the Invaders #1 is a delightful and charming throwback one-shot that gives us the view of a younger Steve Rogers just getting started as a hero and meeting another like himself in Jim Hammond. It’s a good read and emulates that old comic storytelling style quite well, which you should expect from a legend like Roy Thomas. This one gets a recommendation. Feel free to give it a read.
Also, the Jack Kirby cameo was a great touch.
Captain America and the Invaders #1 comes to us from writer Roy Thomas, artist Jerry Ordway, color artist Jay David Ramos, letterer VC’s Joe Caramagna, cover artist Jerry Ordway with Frank D’Armata, and variant cover artists Patch Zircher with Frank D’Armata; and Ron Lim with Israel Silva.
Final Score: 8.5/10
