One of the reasons why I got along so well with my buddy David Steckel is that we tended to like a lot of the same Marvel comics. Like myself, he was a huge fan of the Fantastic Four, and that affection carried over to the golden age Human Torch who was being featured in INVADERS. Consequently, he had issues that I had missed, and vice versa. So we would routinely loan our books to one another to read. This issue, #16, was one of the ones that he lent me: I’d read most of the issues situated around it but had somehow never gotten a copy of this particular one.
INVADERS was something of a dream assignment for writer/editor Roy Thomas. It was a book that allowed him to write about the versions of the characters that he liked best, the ones whose exploits were being published when he was just a kid. It also permitted him to indulge in his clear interest in the period of WWII, which he delighted in doing. For me, the fact that these were the original versions of these characters with stories set back during their formative years was compelling–I was already both a bit of a comic book historian and I’d also developed a huge fondness for DC’s Earth-2 characters, who were likewise the original versions. So INVADERS was akin to a regular Earth-2 series to me.
In this particular story, Roy also pays tribute to one of his friends in early comic book fandom. Captain Billy Joe “Biljo” White was a firefighter whose hobby was collecting vintage comic magazines. He stored his collection in a white concrete building out back of his property, which became known as the White House of Comics. Biljo was also a bidding fan cartoonist, and while he never broke into the field professionally, his work could be found in any number of fanzines in the 1960s. His most well-known character was probably The Eye, a crime-fighter whose full helmet was kitted out to look like a gigantic eyeball.
After a preamble that showcases Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes taking in a newsreel of their latest exploits with the Invaders, the story really gets started as the pair suit up in response to sounds of a scuffle, and find themselves interceding as a gang of hooded and swastika-wearing goons attempt to capture a United States Private named Biljo White. Cap and Bucky put a hurting on the bad guys, but it turns out that Biljo’s date for the night is also a Nazi agent, and she’s able to turn the tables such that the Nazis get away with Biljo. Back at headquarters, as Cap relates the evening’s excitement to the brass, it’s Toro who identifies Biljo White as the artist of the popular Major Victory Comics, the greatest comic book in the world.
In this regard, Biljo is a stand-in for Jack Kirby, with Major Victory replacing Cap himself. Perusing a current issue, Cap is startled to discover that the origin Biljo gives for his character is almost exactly his own–including references to Dr. Reinstein. It’s now clear that the Nazis were interested in Biljo because they think he may know some of the secrets of the super-soldier formula that created Cap in the first place. Feeling guilty that Biljo is in peril in a way thanks to him, cap is determined to mount a rescue mission despite how the brass feel about it. And of course, his Invaders teammates are all on board as well. It’s worth noting that the actual Biljo White apparently penciled the comic book page Cap is looking at here, so this was all done with his awareness and consent.
On the flimsiest of evidence, the Invaders cross the Channel and soar into Germany, heading for Berchtesgaden, Hitler’s armored fortress where intel has it that Nazi scientists have been assembling–they figure that if they’re trying to recreate the super-soldier formula, this will be the place. Namor’s airship is able to penetrate German airspace easily (so easily that I sort of wonder why they just didn’t move in and clobber Hitler directly.) But as they near the stronghold, the airship is shot down. The Invaders are able to bail out with not loss of life or injury. But they’re immediately set upon by their old foe Master Man, a previous attempt by the Nazis to field their own Captain America who has now also been granted the ability to fly. It’s a sad day for the Allies as Master Man makes mincemeat out of them in two pages. When the team awakens, they’ve been chained up inside the dungeon of the fortress.
As the issue races to its close, a commanding voice rings out and all head turn. It’s Adolf Hitler himself, who is just about ready and willing to order the deaths of the captive Invaders. And that’s where this issue is To Be Continued! The artwork on this issue was a fill-in job produced by stalwart Jim Mooney, subbing in for the absent Frank Robbins. Robbins’ work was divisive, so my guess is that fans of the era may have preferred what Mooney did here. Inker Frank Springer does his best to keep everybody on model.
