It's that time again! It's time to join the First Line, the Lost Generation of Marvel's superheroes, as we look at their history from the end to the beginning. Last time, we saw Pixie and Black Fox battle the Fox's old enemy Nocturne in late-70s Romania. And now, we go a few short years back, still in the turbulent 1970s, when the First Line cross paths with another old-school Marvel villain. This is Marvel: The Lost Generation #7!
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The cover is a John Byrne piece. I do like it, although I do think that the rendition of Nocturne in the back does look a bit...stretched and incomplete. I wonder if Byrne was homaging the cover of X-Men #100 (August 1976) with this cover. I didn't see an "after Cockrum and Crespi" on his signature, so maybe it wasn't an intentional one. We got members of the First Line and the Invaders facing off, which is actually a pretty cool thing to see. Makes you wonder what Nocturne's involvement is in this whole thing. And the Invaders are not the surprise guest stars? Well, who is? Only one way to find out!
"Highly Placed Sources"
Writers: Roger Stern, John Byrne
Penciler: John Byrne
Inker: Al Milgrom
Letterers: Jack Morelly, Jim Novak
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-in-Chief: Bob Harras
The place? Cleveland, Ohio. The time? The Nixon Era, which means this story is set between 1969 and 1974. So, this issue is set likely not too long before the events of the last one.
First Line members Pixie and Effigy are joining forces with Russian heroine Katyusha, as well as English heroes Ian Fitzwilliam-Dare/Templar and his Scottish squire Vulcan to face something unseen. Elsewhere, something smashes into some snow. But that's not important, you're here to see some superheroes fighting villains, right? Well, we do get some of that, in the form of the First Line facing off against...the Invaders?! And the Red Skull?! And they're on the same side?! And they're all under the command of Nocturne?!
Yeah, that's something that'll shock a reader. Meanwhile, we learn what crashed in the snow.
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| "Oh GAWD, what'd I drink last night?!" |
Yup, it's our heroine Cassandra Locke. She realizes that she has ended up in some snowy mountains. Meanwhile, back with the First Line! A chained-up Oxbow is horrified at the idea of the Invaders in league with the Red Skull of all people. Mr. Justice (who is also chained up with the First Nations powerhouse archer) notes that the Skull has brainwashed the Invaders before. Around the time of Invaders #5 to be exact. If Nocturne has learned how the Skull pulled it off, then the First Line is going to be for one heck of a fight.
Meanwhile, out in the snowy mountains of...somewhere, Cassandra is trying to figure out where she is. While also not freezing to death.
She then spots a trail of flame in the sky. That means only one thing: the Human Torch. But is it the Jim Hammond Torch or the Johnny Storm Torch? Only one way for her to find out: follow that fiery trail.
Back to the fight! Captain America tosses his Mighty Shield at Oxbow and Mr. Justice, who are struggling to free themselves. Vulcan blocks the shield with his sword...sort of.
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| "I knew this sword was tough, but boy howdy!" |
Don't worry, folks. Templar is just as confused as you are. After all, isn't Captain America's Mighty Shield supposed to be for all intents and purposes indestructible? That's a second sign that there's something funny about these "Invaders". The first was Vulcan noticing that if this was somehow the supposedly-dead Bucky Barnes, he'd be in his 50s by now. Remember, this was long before the Winter Soldier storyline in Captain America's book revealed Bucky was actually alive, but that he was also actually an older man who was trained in black ops that looked like a teenager.
Meanwhile, Cassandra finds the source of the flame trail: Johnny Storm, the second Human Torch. She realizes that she's in the Modern Age of Marvels. But enough of that revelation! Back to the titular "Lost Generation"! First Liner Reflex realizes these Invaders are fake.
He rips off "Captain America"'s mask, revealing that...
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| "NOOO, NOT MY PRETTY ZOMBIE FAAAAAACE!" |
It's a zombie! Yes, these "Invaders" are actually zombie minions of Nocturne's. Realizing they are not really alive, our heroes take care of these fake wartime heroes...only to find that Nocturne has escaped. Again.
Back in the snowy mountains, Cassandra watches Johnny Storm make a fire, and then get attacked.
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| "Where's my money, Johnny?!" |
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| "I know the First Line wants to see me naked!" |
President Richard Nixon, in a fit of paranoia thanks to his being up in his ears in the whole Watergate scandal, is seriously considering revoking the First Line's government privileges, for some reason. My guess is that he's trying to distract the press. Again, Watergate. Jake Scott (aka the Skrull hero known as Effigy) is horrified by this, as it's nothing more than domestic subversion. Black Fox also makes his way into the Oval Office and gets in Nixon's face about it.
Back in the snowy mountains, Johnny Storm pursues the Yeti, having heard him say he must warn the other Inhumans. Johnny pursues him, hoping Yeti will lead him to Attilan where Crystal is. Yes, Cassie is in the Himalayan mountains, during the events of Fantastic Four #99 (June 1970). In that comic, Johnny Storm had flown off to the Inhuman city of Attilan (which was in the Himalayas at the time), thinking that his then-main squeeze, the classical Greek element-manipulating Crystalia "Crystal" Amaquelin was taken there against her will. He was also attacked by the Yeti in the original comic. Clever stuff by Stern and Byrne here.
Black Fox and Effigy argue over the former's actions in the Oval Office. Fox wants Nixon stopped. If he outlaws the First Line, then it will harm their ability to help others. He suggests Effigy impersonate Nixon, but the Skrull refuses, believing that'll make him no better than Nixon. Robert Paine tells him that if Scott won't do something, he will.
The story then goes to the 22nd century, in Tranquility City. Cassie Locke's father Alexander heads to her room, and finds it still looks like it's being used, even though she's been gone for a week at his point...from his perspective. That's because it is still being used.
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| "And if you call me 'Flathead' again, I will kick you in the nards." |
Meet Omega-20, or as he likes to be called, "Gene". I don't know, he seems more like a "Tom" to me, but if he wants to be called "Gene", I'm not going to judge.
Alex Locke never liked the idea of Cassie dating Gene. Mainly because of the fact that Gene here got himself genetically altered for life in deep space. To him, it's something crazy people do. Gene also said that Omega-20 is his "cyborg classification", so I'm assuming that he also has some cybernetic parts put in. Anyway, Gene knows full well that Alex doesn't like him and Cassie together due to Alex having a prejudice against people like Gene.
Gene says his alterations were radical, but they are nothing compared to what the Skrulls were doing. Their diplomats preach peace, but they've been secretly reigniting the old flames of bigotry and hatred among humans. Alex blames Gene for Cassandra going off on her little time-travel adventure. Thing is, he did not tell her to do so. All he did was give her information. Cassie's a historian, so of course she'd see the pattern of Skrull deceit over the centuries. And someone else confirms this. Someone who's been dealing with Skrulls for a long time.
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| "I never did get that money Oxbow owed me." |
Yup, Pixie is still around. Which makes sense, as she's an Eternal.
We then look in on Detroit of the mid-1970s. In particular, a man named Russell.
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| This family should be a sitcom. |
As you can see, he's a loving family man. A hard worker, formerly of Texas. His eldest son, a cynical sort named Russell Junior, just got fired from McDonalds. His wife Alma suggests he have a talk with him. He agrees to, after dinner. Until then, he be in his workshop. While down there, it's seen exactly what he's building: the Flatiron armor we briefly saw him wearing in issue #12. Oh yeah, didn't the First Line fight some fake Invaders? We kind of have forgotten about that, have we? Well, let's look in on them, shall we? Back in Cleveland, Pixie is in hot pursuit of Nocturne, but he manages to get away.
The next day, it's time for a happy occasion. It's the wedding of Templar and his lovely missus Rossalyn.
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| "Gettig married is for losers! Did you see what it did to that one Parker guy?" |
With this, Dare is hanging up his sword and retiring. Robert Paine is outraged by this, as he feels Dare is ignoring his responsibilities as Templar. Thing is, Dare has new responsibilities now, and his sword will be taken up by Vulcan. Not to mention that there are now plenty of other heroes that can take up the slack. Robert refuses to retire, even if he has to go underground. He'll still play best man for Ian, though.
Over in Georgetown, a week has passed. Effigy laments that he couldn't stop Nixon from rescinding the First Line's security clearances, which is why they're shown to operate underground in previous issues. The Skrull considers Black Fox's idea to pose as Nixon...but he shoots it down. Nixon has a family, and not to mention he swore he would be different. He would be better than that. He does admit the Fox is right, and there is something else he can do. All he has to do...is make a phone call...
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| "And after this, I'm ordering me some pizza!" |
Yup, he places a call to Bob Woodward of the Washington Post. Yes, that Bob Woodward. The very same man alongside Carl Bernstein who would help expose the Watergate scandal to the public, which would lead to Richard Nixon resigning the Presidency. So, yeah. In the Marvel Universe, a Skrull was Deep Throat. Keep in mind, this comic was put out (based on cover dates) about five years before the informant's actual identity was revealed to the public.
As all this was happening, Cassandra had made her way to Attilan and met the Fantastic Four, who again, were going through the events of Fantastic Four #99. Reed is able to fix her time belt, which causes her to undergo another time jump...and the FF to forget she was ever there. She finds herself in 1961. And she intended to be in 1964.
It's revealed that she was thrown off course thanks to something that happened in the upcoming issue #4. Remember, this miniseries is numbered backwards. She hears footsteps and spots the Sub-Mariner. This confuses her, as in 1961, he was still missing. He wouldn't be discovered until Johnny Storm discovers him living as a vagrant in Fantastic Four #4 (May 1962). She discovers that he isn't just around, he's become a servant of Plan Chu, aka the Golden Claw. Or as he was known back then, the Yellow Claw.
I enjoyed this comic. I do feel that this is one of those stories that's better enjoyed if you read the whole maxiseries at once. I do wish we had more of an idea as to why Nocturne and the Golden Claw created the fake Invaders. Was it for the purpose of disgracing them? I mean, this story is set in the late-60s/early 70s, so WWII was long over, but it was still fresh in people's minds, so maybe that was the plan? I don't know.
I can imagine that for Robert Paine, seeing Templar getting married must also be pushing his buttons a little bit, as the woman he loved was killed by Nocturne, as we have seen in the last issue. It does make sense why he would be angry at the idea of a fellow superhero wanting to retire after being a hero. For Paine, being the Black Fox was likely the only thing he felt he had in his life, and seeing Templar put away the armor for good must feel like he's being forced to see something he believes he can never have. It's a nice little character bit.
I also have another question. In earlier issues, set later in the First Line's history, we saw they were still operating underground in the 1980s. Why didn't Gerald Ford or Jimmy Carter or even Ronald Reagan restore their governmental clearances and privileges? Was Nixon's move against the First Line seen as a popular one? I get the idea that he did it out of paranoia, and I also understand that in the Marvel Universe, mistrust of superhuman beings is a bit of a regular thing, but it's still something that confuses me.
The usage of the Golden Claw does make some sense. He's appeared in stories set in the 1950s before, and it's a nice way to link the First Line to the rest of the Marvel Universe.
John Byrne still turns in some decent art, but it doesn't quite fit his X-Men/Fantastic Four prime. I believe I have said that before.
If you want to read this for yourself, you're going to have to look on eBay for issues. It was collected in the 2018 Omnibus: The Marvel Universe by John Byrne Vol. 2, but this maxiseries has never been collected in a standalone trade. I think it may be available in Marvel Unlimited, though. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! If you like what I write and want to give this blog some additional support, please make a donation to my Ko-fi! See you next time!
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