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Yellow Claw #8
Invaders Classic, Vol. 4
The Invaders return to New York just in time to aid the Liberty Legion against the deadly Iron Cross! Then, with the Kid Commandos, the Invaders face the deadly Super-Axis - Lady Lotus, U-Man, Baron Blood, Master Man, and Warrior Woman!
248 pages, Paperback
First published July 28, 2010
32 people want to read
About the author
Roy Thomas
4,479 books271 followersRoy 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 11, 2025
Last and definitely the least fun to read of all the volumes in the series. Bunch of cliche and a chore to read stories with villains like "Nazi Vampire". 'Nuff Said True Believer!
April 18, 2019
When I started reading Invaders, it was for Brian Falsworth aka Union Jack aka Marvel's first gay character (publication chronology speaking). With Volume 4, here is the end of the Invaders portion of that journey, as Roy Thomas hands the superhero reins over to other writers and artists. Unfortunately, the finale was more pop than bang.
Collecting Invaders (1975) #35-41 and Invaders (1993) #1-4, this volume has three major plotlines, and in all the Invaders join forces with the USA-based Liberty Legion. The first is the fight against Iron Cross, the second is the fight against Lady Lotus, and the last is against the Battle-Axis. There are some great moments. Miss America, the Liberty's Legion resident super-flyer, rebels against her male colleagues having her play secretary. It's a satisfying jibe against how the Justice League regulated Wonder Woman to a secretarial role. Classic baddies are back, including Baron Blood, Master Man, Warrior Woman, and U-Man. The evil doppelgänger vibe is strong. Spitfire and Union Jack have a classic sibling team-up. The Kid Commandos show up briefly. According the back matter, the Liberty Legion and Battle-Axis members are classic Timely Comics characters, which is a nod to the long time fans. With all these callbacks, the volume succeeds at feeling like a farewell.
Among this fanfare, however, there are a lot problems. It seems like Thomas wanted to explore what causes regular democracy-lovin' citizens to become fascists. The first leg of this discussion mostly checks out. The Liberty Legion are told to investigate the loyalty of German Americans, which totally disgusts them. Yay! When the Legion stumbles upon the Iron Cross, he insists that he's not a Nazi, but loyal to his home country of Germany...which happens to be Nazi. These idiotic mental gymnastics will be familiar to anyone who has that one racist family member who says they don't support the USA's loud yam, but it's important to be respectful of the President and his laws, even though the loud yam LITERALLY wants to make it illegal for you to work, adopt children, or basically be queer. Here's what tripped me up: the Iron Cross is gay. Supporting fascism when he's one of its victims is a much more complex kettle of fish. Iron Cross is not given page space to explore that, so the story fell flat for me.
The second arc was distractedly misogynistic, homophobic, and racist. Thomas had good intentions. Lady Lotus is a Japanese woman who, after escaping Internment, has taken a vow to dismantle the USA from the inside as revenge. Add some queer femme fatale vibes and we have the makings of a super interesting story. Instead, things derail. In the back matter, Thomas says Lady Lotus was his answer to Fu Manchu, and she doesn't stray far from this hyper-racist origin. She uses "Oriental magics and psychic ability" to control men. Her queerness turns predatory as she attempts to seduce Gwenny Lou to her side. She disguises herself as a Chinese woman for protection, but it comes off as a "two for one" exotic deal. It's just...bad.
The last arc is the worst yet. The Battle-Axis are a team of white Americans who sell out to fascism. Spider-Queen's husband was killed by Russians; the Nazis fight the USSR. Similarly, Human Meteor wants to get back at the UK for their mistreatment of his native Ireland. Doctor Death feels jilted by the scientific community. Strong Man is a bully and an idiot. Voltron...was given a sandwich by Doctor Death so I guess he's okay with genocide now??? Vision, who pops up, says he's neutral, and therefore fights for the Nazis. IDK. None of these reasons felt super compelling. In answer, the Invaders...punch them. Thomas doesn't go deeper than that. He doesn't call on Cap's own Irish heritage, have someone point out that the USSR is likely the USA's next target, or tell the men to get over themselves. There's none of the complexity and compassion of earlier volumes. Heck, a Jewish character returns and fights for the Battle-Axis and reading that felt like swallowing acid. The art itself is also dreadful, with lots of eternal male grimaces, panty shots, and ridiculous revealing costumes.
I have other petty quibbles. Brian and Jacqueline barely make an appearance. Namor and Jim's resentment of one another comes out of nowhere. If the Kid Commandos are meant to be fighting Internment, why are happily hosting a war bond rally? Why do we spend so much time in the USA when the Invaders are a European team? This volume is a mess.
I'm giving stars to the mess because Brian, Jacqueline, and Miss America refusing to play secretary. I can't say I recommend Invaders volume 4. Maybe my expectations were just too high after previous stellar volumes.
Collecting Invaders (1975) #35-41 and Invaders (1993) #1-4, this volume has three major plotlines, and in all the Invaders join forces with the USA-based Liberty Legion. The first is the fight against Iron Cross, the second is the fight against Lady Lotus, and the last is against the Battle-Axis. There are some great moments. Miss America, the Liberty's Legion resident super-flyer, rebels against her male colleagues having her play secretary. It's a satisfying jibe against how the Justice League regulated Wonder Woman to a secretarial role. Classic baddies are back, including Baron Blood, Master Man, Warrior Woman, and U-Man. The evil doppelgänger vibe is strong. Spitfire and Union Jack have a classic sibling team-up. The Kid Commandos show up briefly. According the back matter, the Liberty Legion and Battle-Axis members are classic Timely Comics characters, which is a nod to the long time fans. With all these callbacks, the volume succeeds at feeling like a farewell.
Among this fanfare, however, there are a lot problems. It seems like Thomas wanted to explore what causes regular democracy-lovin' citizens to become fascists. The first leg of this discussion mostly checks out. The Liberty Legion are told to investigate the loyalty of German Americans, which totally disgusts them. Yay! When the Legion stumbles upon the Iron Cross, he insists that he's not a Nazi, but loyal to his home country of Germany...which happens to be Nazi. These idiotic mental gymnastics will be familiar to anyone who has that one racist family member who says they don't support the USA's loud yam, but it's important to be respectful of the President and his laws, even though the loud yam LITERALLY wants to make it illegal for you to work, adopt children, or basically be queer. Here's what tripped me up: the Iron Cross is gay. Supporting fascism when he's one of its victims is a much more complex kettle of fish. Iron Cross is not given page space to explore that, so the story fell flat for me.
The second arc was distractedly misogynistic, homophobic, and racist. Thomas had good intentions. Lady Lotus is a Japanese woman who, after escaping Internment, has taken a vow to dismantle the USA from the inside as revenge. Add some queer femme fatale vibes and we have the makings of a super interesting story. Instead, things derail. In the back matter, Thomas says Lady Lotus was his answer to Fu Manchu, and she doesn't stray far from this hyper-racist origin. She uses "Oriental magics and psychic ability" to control men. Her queerness turns predatory as she attempts to seduce Gwenny Lou to her side. She disguises herself as a Chinese woman for protection, but it comes off as a "two for one" exotic deal. It's just...bad.
The last arc is the worst yet. The Battle-Axis are a team of white Americans who sell out to fascism. Spider-Queen's husband was killed by Russians; the Nazis fight the USSR. Similarly, Human Meteor wants to get back at the UK for their mistreatment of his native Ireland. Doctor Death feels jilted by the scientific community. Strong Man is a bully and an idiot. Voltron...was given a sandwich by Doctor Death so I guess he's okay with genocide now??? Vision, who pops up, says he's neutral, and therefore fights for the Nazis. IDK. None of these reasons felt super compelling. In answer, the Invaders...punch them. Thomas doesn't go deeper than that. He doesn't call on Cap's own Irish heritage, have someone point out that the USSR is likely the USA's next target, or tell the men to get over themselves. There's none of the complexity and compassion of earlier volumes. Heck, a Jewish character returns and fights for the Battle-Axis and reading that felt like swallowing acid. The art itself is also dreadful, with lots of eternal male grimaces, panty shots, and ridiculous revealing costumes.
I have other petty quibbles. Brian and Jacqueline barely make an appearance. Namor and Jim's resentment of one another comes out of nowhere. If the Kid Commandos are meant to be fighting Internment, why are happily hosting a war bond rally? Why do we spend so much time in the USA when the Invaders are a European team? This volume is a mess.
I'm giving stars to the mess because Brian, Jacqueline, and Miss America refusing to play secretary. I can't say I recommend Invaders volume 4. Maybe my expectations were just too high after previous stellar volumes.
June 14, 2022
I've got a soft spot for WW2 superheroes, 70s comics and Roy Thomas in particular so this one rings all the bells for me. I had a bunch of these single issues back in the day so it was fun to read all the missing pieces.
January 4, 2020
The final issues of this classic run improved in the artwork department, thus making it a more enjoyable read for me than volumes 2 and 3.
April 22, 2016
This book collects the final seven Issues of the 1970s Invaders series (Issues 35-41) and the four Issue 1993 Invaders Series.
The 1970s entries have some strong points, particularly the Whizzer and Miss America being drawn into the action as they would later be part of the All Winners Squad. Roy Thomas has a fun time tweaking DC's Golden Age for making Wonder Woman Secretary of the Justice Society as Miss America finds herself secretary of the Liberty Region for a reason she can't understand and then sets off for action. While there's a bit of a bumpy ride through the 1970s series, the fact that it ends with a big battle with the Invaders joining with the Liberty Legion to battle the Super Axis made up of some of the toughest villains they'd faced in the series, it was a fitting finale, even though Thomas left for the final four issues and the series was closed out by Don Glut.
The 1990s mini-series has some good moments, including the return of the Golden Age vision as the Invaders and the Liberty Legion faced a team of fifth columnist Americans known as the Battle Axis. The plot does get a bit convoluted, the art shows all the hallmarks of bad art that were so popular in comics, and while I can understand while Marvel didn't use their predecessor company heroes to play the part of heroes gone bad, I have mixed feelings of altering public domain superheroes from defunct companies that dramatically. And really they didn't give the Battle Axis (except for Spider Queen) much of a motivation for turning evil.
Still, the book is solid read, helped by the reprinting of background material from Invaders #36 explaining Thomas' rationale behind the series along with some important character notes for the 1990s Invaders series.
Overall, this is an okay collection of comic stories that's a cut below prior Invaders collections.
The 1970s entries have some strong points, particularly the Whizzer and Miss America being drawn into the action as they would later be part of the All Winners Squad. Roy Thomas has a fun time tweaking DC's Golden Age for making Wonder Woman Secretary of the Justice Society as Miss America finds herself secretary of the Liberty Region for a reason she can't understand and then sets off for action. While there's a bit of a bumpy ride through the 1970s series, the fact that it ends with a big battle with the Invaders joining with the Liberty Legion to battle the Super Axis made up of some of the toughest villains they'd faced in the series, it was a fitting finale, even though Thomas left for the final four issues and the series was closed out by Don Glut.
The 1990s mini-series has some good moments, including the return of the Golden Age vision as the Invaders and the Liberty Legion faced a team of fifth columnist Americans known as the Battle Axis. The plot does get a bit convoluted, the art shows all the hallmarks of bad art that were so popular in comics, and while I can understand while Marvel didn't use their predecessor company heroes to play the part of heroes gone bad, I have mixed feelings of altering public domain superheroes from defunct companies that dramatically. And really they didn't give the Battle Axis (except for Spider Queen) much of a motivation for turning evil.
Still, the book is solid read, helped by the reprinting of background material from Invaders #36 explaining Thomas' rationale behind the series along with some important character notes for the 1990s Invaders series.
Overall, this is an okay collection of comic stories that's a cut below prior Invaders collections.
March 23, 2013
The premise of The Invaders is that a team of superheroes were called together to bring the fight to the Nazis in the early days of World War II, as the Allies were being pushed back on all fronts. Those stories that stayed true to this premise were the best ones.
Unfortunately, this volume is set entirely in the States, with the Invaders fighting some shabby second string villains. The series feels rudderless. Union Jack and Spitfire's near-total absence is especially galling. In their place, Roy Thomas and Don Glut chose to dredge up some tired old characters which Marvel inherited from its predecessor company, Timely Comics. Overall, the stories lack the right tone. The WWII setting seems like window dressing for very routine superhero stories.
The 1993 mini-series is also included in this volume, but suffers from the same problems as the later issues of the 70's run. It’s mainly more conventional superhero fisticuffs with nearly nothing that places the story in 1942.
Unfortunately, this volume is set entirely in the States, with the Invaders fighting some shabby second string villains. The series feels rudderless. Union Jack and Spitfire's near-total absence is especially galling. In their place, Roy Thomas and Don Glut chose to dredge up some tired old characters which Marvel inherited from its predecessor company, Timely Comics. Overall, the stories lack the right tone. The WWII setting seems like window dressing for very routine superhero stories.
The 1993 mini-series is also included in this volume, but suffers from the same problems as the later issues of the 70's run. It’s mainly more conventional superhero fisticuffs with nearly nothing that places the story in 1942.
November 19, 2014
This is definately the weaking of these Classic editions for the Invaders. Between some horrible scripting through the middle of the volume and some artwork that looks like the artist attended the Rob-Liefeld-school-for-lack-of-anatomy ... yep, I can certainly see why this title did not last. There are some good points. When Roy Thomas is actually handling the dialogue it works and some of the art in the middle of the volume saved the issues that suffered from the worst of the scripting, but over all this was a pretty lame contribution to the Invaders. It is a pity it was also the final volume.
January 5, 2014
Termina in questo volume la serie originale degli anni '70, scritta da Thomas e disegnata da uno scarso Kuppenberg; inoltre la mini di 4 di metà anni '90 dempre scritta da Roy Thomas e disegnata da Hoover, decisamente in forma. Certo, adotta lo stile simil-Image tipico dell'epoca, ma la storia c'è ed è anche buona.
August 2, 2012
The big plus to this collection was the inclusion of the 4 Issue mini-series from the early 90's. What kept this from being a Five Star rating was the lack of the two What If appearances that have sort of wormed themselves into continuity...
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews