What would happen if a rift in time transported American WWII heroes fighting in 1943 into New York, circa 2008? That is the question asked in Marvel’s second tier summer event titled Avengers / Invaders (the 1^st tier being Marvel’s Secret Invasion), written by Jim Krueger and Alex Ross. The answer, it seems, is the heroes wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between Americans enforcing the law and Nazis.

In Avengers / Invaders #1 readers are introduced to Captain America and Bucky, the Human Torch and Toro, and Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner - comics Golden Age “Invaders”. These five superheroes, working with the American military and British superheroes, Spitfire and Union Jack, are in the midst of a raid on Monte Carrino, an Italian monastery that is now a Nazi stronghold, where Hitler is engaged in occult research. As they storm the monastery Capt. America, Bucky, Human Torch, Toro, Namor and one of the American soldiers are enveloped in a green cloud. When the air clears these six are in 2008 Manhattan, where the Thunderbolts, enforcers for the “Superhuman Registration Act” (read: Patriot Act), are fighting “vigilante” superheroes. The connections with Nazis is obvious. Right?

The dialog that greest this blast from the past is not anything close to “who?”, “what?”, “how”, etc.. Instead readers get, “Spiderman is an unregistered superman. Get in our way … and I’ll bring the whole American government down on you!” (emphasis added). To which, Capt. America responds, “I think we’re being lied to … Nothing changes.” In other words, they were fighting Nazis in Italy, now they are fighting Nazis in New York. Much fisticuffs ensues, wherein Nazi and fascist is the common epithet against the American government.

The issue closes with a splash page showing Iron Man dropping his head, muttering “Steve”, before numerous video screens showing Capt. America’s heroic image. Marvel’s Civil War, it seems, is getting a do-over.

  Issue #2 opens with the Iron Man led Avengers taking off from the S.H.I.E.L.D. hellicarrier to bring in the time displaced Invaders. If you didn’t get it from the first issue, Capt. America’s cry when they attack the Avengers surely drives the point home. This series is hinging on the idea that the American government are today’s version of the WWII Axis.

I can’t say I read a lot of comics, but those that I have read I have not seen Nazi and fascist used so readily. Namor calls Ares a Nazi, Capt. America calls Iron Man a fascist, the Human Torch thinks it all a Nazi trap, and, after all but Namor are captured by the Avengers and brought back to the hellicarrier, Bucky refers to S.H.I.E.L.D. medical personnel as Nazis. Readers get it. Marvel and Dynamite Comics The Invaders think Nazis run America in 2008.

Namor escapes vowing to return “with more Allies then you can imagine.” In the closing panels we see Wolverine, part of the New Avengers (six heroes that refused to obey the Patriot Act “Superhuman Registration Act”), barking out the Invaders battlecry, which they would yell before fighting Nazi soldiers, “Okay Axis, Here we come.” Hmmm … Axis … Allies … do think they’re trying to tell us something?

Issue #3 has Prince Namor fighting King Namor for rule in Atlantis. The New Avengers gather at the Lincoln Memorial in order to start their own plan to return the Invaders to their proper timeline, and Bucky frees Capt. America from the S.H.I.E.L.D. holding cell, but not from the hellicarrier.

In between the Namor/New Avenger scenes and the Bucky/Capt. America scenes, readers are allowed a breather as we follow the one normal soldier who came through the time warp with the heroes. Paul Anselm is his name and he has sought out and found himself in Manhattan, so he can talk to himself to find out what’s happened since 1943. This is may be the only interesting part of the story, if Krueger and Ross do anything with it, other than drive home the point that they seem to think America is Nazi Germany.

Avengers / Invaders is a 12 issue mini-series (does that qualify as a maxi-series?) so I do hold out some hope that something comes of this story. If the books continue with the ‘Nazi / fascist’ America meme, I will be sorely disappointed, but not in the least bit surprised.

If you’ve read this entire post, then you may wonder why I would spend good money on this stuff. One reason is the Alex Ross painted cover art. I’ve been a fan of cover work since Justice, though I can’t say he does good panels. The Justice panels often had too much going on and were very hard to follow.

A second reason as to why I’m reading this rather than Secret Invasion is that it is limited to 12 monthly titles, rather than 6 issues with seemingly endless tie-ins.

And finally, I want to see how the radical left thinks. Alex Ross is responsible for one of the most heinous depictions of Pres. Bush that I know of. How an artist goes from this to this:

I’ll never know, but President Bush at Lady Libety's throat does seem to summarize the first three Avengers / Invaders books rather well.