After six issues that were almost unreadable, we get a solid story. And issue #8 was the first Invaders comic I ever bought, probably at a yard sale or a used book store somewhere for a dime or something. The team is in London taking a break when Human Torch happens upon a vampire attacking a lady. They fight, and the vampire has some kind of wind ability to douse Torch’s flames, but Torch is enough to scare him off.
Torch takes the lady, Jacqueline Farsworth, home where it turns out her dad Lord Falsworth, who served as Union Jack in WWI. He’s apparently a cross between Captain America and Black Panther. He was in a group called Freedom’s Five.
I do love that cover to #8.
It also subsequently turns out that the lady’s cousin, John, is Baron Blood. The cover to #9 is good, too.
Good covers. Not a great comic though.
When the whole team has dinner at Lord Falsworth’s house, and both Jacqueline and John are present, you can imagine the fun they have. After several battles with Baron Blood, they kill him.
However, Blood had bitten his cousin Jacqueline, who then must be rushed to the hospital. In issue #10, on the way to the hospital, Captain America tells the story of Captain America Comics #22. It lets Marvel reprint a bunch of old stuff that reminds us that Cap was much cooler in those Golden Age books than he has been in The Invaders.
In #11, Human Torch gives Jacqueline a blood transfusion and his weird blood gives her the super-speed powers that enable her to become Spitfire in issue #12.
These issues also mark the first appearance of Iron Man.
No. It’s a guy called Blue Bullet. He’s a guy in a suit of armor that’s blue and looks like a bullet.
Ralph Macchio writes in to the letters page, which is called “Axis, Here We Come!”
I will agree that the entire ‘Invaders’ series was tepid, at best-pure grade “C” stuff. But, back in 1976, the concept of superheroes battling vampires was still new and exciting ( it’s old-hat now ) and these issues had great promise which totally failed to meet their potential. My own personal biggest gripe with this “Baron Blood” trilogy concerned the Human Torch, more than anyone else, for three reasons: 1) In spite of the fact that everybody and his brother are fully aware that the “Human” Torch is actually an android, ( Marvel-Earth’s very first, unless I’m mistaken ) the only time he ( it? ) ACTS like an android is when the fact is convenient to the storyline- such as when we need android “blood” to soup somebody up with convenient superpowers! Where does all the Torch’s emotions come from-?? Did Dr. Horton install him with an “emotion chip” like what Mr. Data got in “Star Trek: Generations”-?? I can buy that from 24th Century technology, but not early 20th. Even Dr. Horton was not THAT much of a genius. No, I can buy the idea of a fully-sentient android in 1939 Marvel-Earth, but NOT one with the complete, full range of human emotions. Early in this trilogy, the Torch and Captain America are vying for the affection of Jacquelyn Falsworth, which is purely asinine, because what would an android need with a human woman-??? ( sorry, Vision- a debate for another post ) No, the correct portrayal of the “Human” Torch would be a sentient being totally devoid of human emotion, as the Vision was in the late Sixties, and Mr. Spock, too, for that matter. 2) The second point is an extrapolation of the first: At the dinner at Falsworth Manor in issue#7, why didn’t the Invader’s hosts- the Falsworths-notice that the “Human” Torch wasn’t eating-??? Of COURSE he/it wasn’t eating!! He’s an ANDROID_ androids don’t EAT!!!!! They have no NEED for FOOD!!!! ( see ‘Star Trek’, season one’s excellent “What Are Little Girls Made Of??” ) If writer Roy Thomas hadn’t been asleep at the switch during this sequence, he would have had SOMEBODY either notice and/or remark on the fact that the Torch was not eating anything!!!! You have GOT to figure that at least ONE of the Falsworths would have NOTICED that ONE of their celebrated dinner guests was ignoring his plate!! At least Toro would have had something to say about it! 3) The “Human” Torch’s “blood”. Lady Jacquelyn Falsworth quite conveniently-and unbelievably-develops super-speed after a transfusion of blood from- the “Human” Torch-??? Blood-??? Really-??? From an ANDROID-??? What, pray tell, does an ANDROID need with BLOOD-???? Motor oil, maybe, but not BLOOD!!! All these technical gaffes in re the Torch’s circumstances are due to, of course, the fact that roughly HALF of his writers at Marvel, at any point in time, seem to be blithely unaware that the guy is NOT actually a human being at ALL, but an extremely powerful synthetic simulacrum who was deliberately designed-right down to his beautiful, synthetic, and obviously flame-proof head of blond hair, to RESEMBLE one!!!! I ask all fans of science-fiction and superhero fiction reading this post the following question: What is more interesting: A comic-book series about a super-powered android with the personality of any other random super-hero, like Spider-Man, Daredevil, Hawkeye, or Nighthawk- or a super-powered android who possesses absolutely NO personality at ALL, ala the late sixties Vision, Mr. Spock, or the pre-emotion-chip Mr. Data-?? Androids do not REQUIRE emotion, for the exact same reason they do not require FOOD- they don’t NEED it!!! If a superhero, or a Starfleet Officer, or a police officer, ( like Peter Weller’s “Robocop”, for instance ) did not possess the emotion of fear, then he or she would consequently not require the emotion of bravery, to OFFSET it!!! As celebrated Starfleet Officers Mr. Spock and Mr. Data have shown us, Science Officers with no fear to hamper their effectiveness are QUITE useful!!! So- here’s hoping that, someday, Marvel will FINALLY get a handle on how to write the “Human” Torch-without any “Golly! Gee whiz!! Jumpin’ fireballs!!!” “Why won’t this human woman fall in love with me???” “I’m hungry!!! What’s for supper-???” personality quirks!!! In closing- okay, Mr. Ekko, I’ll bite- what’s so great about the covers of ‘Invaders’#’s 8 and 9-??? I don’t see anything great about them, at all! As a matter of fact, of the entire “Baron Blood” trilogy, I actually thought that issue#7’s cover was the best! And the best overall cover of the ‘Invaders’ entire forty-two issue series was issue #40’s “The Final Blitzrieg of Baron Blood!!”, which also, perhaps coincidentally, featured……….Baron Blood!! ( you just can’t keep a good vampire down! ) It must be true- the cover of ‘Invaders’ number 40 is the ONLY issue of this series I have ever seen for sale commercially on a T-shirt!!! Excelsior!!