The Invaders Omnibus

by Roy Thomas (Writer), Frank Robbins (Illustrator), Donald F. Glut (Writer)

Long before Captain America led the Avengers, he joined the original Human Torch, Namor the Sub-Mariner and more as the mightiest heroes of World War II — the Invaders! With young adventurers Bucky and Toro by their side, they charged into overseas action, taking on Nazi threats such as Baron Blood, Master Man, Warrior Woman and the vilest of them all — the Red Skull! Along the way, the Invaders made new allies including Union Jack, Spitfire and the Liberty Legion. And witness the heroes of two eras collide, as the Invaders battle alongside the Avengers and the Fantastic Four! Collecting GIANT-SIZE INVADERS #1-2, INVADERS (1975) #1-41 and ANNUAL #1, MARVEL PREMIERE #29-30, AVENGERS (1963) #71, INVADERS (1993) #1-4, WHAT IF? (1977) #4, FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #11, MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE ANNUAL #1, MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE (1974) #20 and material from CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS #22.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Fiction

1152 pages, Hardcover

First published November 8, 2022

About the author

Roy Thomas was the FIRST Editor-in-Chief at Marvel--After Stan Lee stepped down from the position. Roy is a longtime comic book writer and editor. Thomas has written comics for Archie, Charlton, DC, Heroic Publishing, Marvel, and Topps over the years. Thomas currently edits the fanzine Alter Ego for Twomorrow's Publishing. He was Editor for Marvel comics from 1972-1974. He wrote for several titles at Marvel, such as Avengers, Thor, Invaders, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and notably Conan the Barbarian. Thomas is also known for his championing of Golden Age comic-book heroes — particularly the 1940s superhero team the Justice Society of America — and for lengthy writing stints on Marvel's X-Men and Avengers, and DC Comics' All-Star Squadron, among other titles.

Also a legendary creator. Creations include Wolverine, Carol Danvers, Ghost Rider, Vision, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Valkyrie, Morbius, Doc Samson, and Ultron. Roy has also worked for Archie, Charlton, and DC among others over the years.

Reviews

[Dan Schwent · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed a few issues but it was mediocre as hell for the most part. I don't know who decided Frank Robbins inked by Frank Springer looked good. The combination goes together like orange juice and tooth paste. Springer looks like he's inking with a chicken bone at times.

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 2 out of 5]

"I always punch anything I see that's wearing a swastika!" - Steve Rogers

It was ok.

This one was tough to rate, but alas, I went with this one because it wasn't all fun and it wasn't that good. It's got lots and lots of repetitiveness and more than half of the stories are straight up dumb and too simple to wanna pay attention to anything that's happening.

All of it here is set in 1940s mainly and the team is fighting mostly nazis during WWII. It's got a few good stories, and the artwork is mostly good, with one or two guest appearances that are good additions and a nice break from the usual team. But as much as I tried, the script is mediocre at best, all the enemies are dumb as hell and the dialogue half the time is cringeworthy to say the least.

So, if you're a fan of the Invaders team from the 1970s and you love some nostalgia towards your way, then you're gonna like this one. If not, then you're not missing on anything.

[Kent Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Frank Robbins so this tome is great for his work on the majority of the issues. And even the few by Kupperburg are nice looking. The stories themselves I find rather dull but I've never been a huge fan of WW2 books. Especially 1000+ pages of them. I realize it was an extremely different time during the war and the use of racial perjoratives was pretty commonplace but I don't think this series from 30 years later would have suffered any without so much use of 'nip'.

[Shannon Appelcline]

I was intrigued by the Invaders because I'd read a few issues back in my youth, but moreso, I wanted to see if it held a candle to Thomas' excellent later work on the All-Star Squadron. Sadly, not so much.

Intro (GS, #1-4). The first five issues really set the model for the Invaders. We met some major foes like Master-Man and U-Man and were introduced to the trope of the Sub-Mariner fighting his buds, but also got a bit of innovation with a battle against German(?) gods. Sadly, these issues all felt like they ran too long (and I suspect they might have all been intended as Giant-Sized issues as a result). They also revealed that the characters of the Invaders just didn't have the depth of those from the All-Star Squadron, and there were too few of them to have really interesting dynamics [2+/5].

Liberty Legion (#5-6, Marvel Premiere). The first Marvel Premiere issue, which introduced the Liberty Legion, is one that I definitely remember reading decades ago, and it remains intriguing, with its intro of a whole bunch of additional WWII heroes. They really could have helped to diversify this group, but they're sadly left on the home front after the inevitable battle with the (hypnotized) Invaders [3/5].

Blood & Spitfire (#7-11). Thomas again seems to recognize the need to expand (and diversify) the cast, and it leads us to the most memorable arc so far: the one that introduces Baron Blood, Spitfire, and Union Jack. (Wow! All in just a few issues.) They're great new characters, with their own internal mythology: excellent additions to both Marvel and the Invaders. [3+/5]

The Golem (#12-13). I suspect that in its time, writing a pair of issues to highlight heroism in the Warsaw Ghetto was pretty break-edge. It's still a pretty good story, other than the arbitrary nature of the Invaders getting captured just so they an get rescued [3/5].

The Crusaders (#14-15). This looks like an attempt to create yet another WWII team, but in reality it was just a silly pseudo-crossover with The Freedom Fighters that resulted in a really shallow, dull new team (that would almost immediately diasppear). The plot twist in this story is also somewhat obvious [2+/5].

The Grandmaster (Annual #1 + Avengers #71). Thomas' Avengers story focused on the Grandmaster and Kang is a true classic and was a neat use of the Golden Age heroes at the time. Unfortunately, his return to the topic in the Annual feels like a tiresome shaggy dog story solely focused on explaining why Cap had the wrong shield, and the Golden Age art unfortunately looks like satire [2/5].

Germany (#16-21). Thomas' longest saga to date (though only because the last issue is split in two) is a fun trip to Germany. We get the continually pathetic Master Man, a secret origin for Warrior Woman, and even Adolf Hitler! Thomas is also increasingly showing his like for retcons that tie together Golden Age stories as he reveals the Mighty Destroyer and then turns him into Union Jack 2. This is still not up to the later quality of All-Star Squadron, but you can see the trends. [3/5]

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never really liked Namor or Captain America. Their characters just aren't very interesting. That being said, I am probably not the target audience for this collection. But I picked it up because I thought reading stories with forgotten characters fighting Nazi monsters would be interesting. I guess it might have been more fun if it didn't just mostly feature Captain America and Namor. And if the plots weren't so generic and bland this would be so much better.

This collection does have a few couple of good things going for it. Some really fun art by Frank Robbins and the occasional fun villain. There is an Ilsa She-Wolf of the SS ripoff, a vampire that doesn't look like Dracula, and a brain in a jar with a robot body. There is also an attempt at romance, although it feels like it was written by a 14 year old boy. Also some guest appearances by sadly underused members of forgotten superhero groups. Funny thing about these characters: they were forgotten again after this title was cancelled and used as cannon fodder to be tragically killed in issues of Captain America and Avengers.

You know what would have made this a five star collection? If our big-name characters were replaced by others and the stakes were raised. Have a character die or quit every few issues. That would have been so much better.

[Troy-David Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was Winter, 1974 when I first read the Invaders, and thus began my lifelong love affair with the legendary superheroes of World War II.
This volume collects the entire 41 issue series, annuals and Giant-Size issues, as well as their crossovers with Fantastic Four and Marvel Two-In-One, and the 1993 limited series.
Good stories and great stories within: not always great but often so.
The art at times takes getting used to: Frank Robbins’ art is very remniscent of Milton Caniff (Terry and the Pirates), but you become accustomed to it.
Roy Thomas is a master of Marvel/ Timely golden age characters, and also at using story plot from comic history to make new stories.
All in all, another fine compendium of bronze-age Marvel stories.

[Trevor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read using Marvel Unlimited.