I think I've picked up a few back issues of this one lately, and I wonder if maybe they weren't all from the same collection. From 1977, Freedom Fighters #8, "D-Day at Niagara!" Written by Bob Rozakis, pencils by Dick Ayers, inks by Jack Abel.
Traditionally, if a hero was blackmailed or mind-controlled into committing a crime or two, that would be cleared up by the end of the issue; but the Freedom Fighters had been wanted by the law since the first issue or two of their series, after being blackmailed by the Silver Ghost. Wonder Woman had previously tried to bring the outlaw team in, and this month it was the Invaders! Or, well, the Crusaders!
Although the Ray doesn't recognize "Sparky" and "Fireball," the Human Bomb and some other locals remember them from World War II-era comic books. The Americommando and Uncle Sam throw down hard, seemingly taking each other personally, but Sam is distracted by worry for his team after the Bomb knocks out most of them. "Americommando" sends Sam down for the count, then unmasks as the Silver Ghost for a good gloating; unmindful of reporter Martha Roberts seeing the whole thing.
There are a couple news broadcasts here that look like they could be courtesy of Clark Kent, but his name isn't mentioned. I wonder if it might've helped sales if those broadcasts also appeared in one of the Superman titles, but I don't think DC's cross-continuity game was on point at that time.
Nice twist. I wonder if Kurt Busiek ever read this and it influenced his similar reveal for Thunderbolts#1....
ReplyDeleteToo bad DC doesn't bring the Americommandos back. I like the Earth 8 take on them that was done a couple years back.
Freedom Fighters is a severely underappreciated series. No idea how they'd justify it but I'd love a collected edition, especially if they could print the material from the unpublished issues.
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