Written by Jim Starlin
Art by Stephen Platt; Jimmy Yu; ‘Tanya & Rich;’ Elizabeth Lewis; & Brett Evans
Cover Art by Stephen Platt & ‘BOOCH’
SUMMARY:
Published by Awesome Comics for May 1999, this untitled issue has Fighting American tag-teaming with the nihilistic mercenary, No-Name. In an underground chamber of Colonel Zarkov’s Albanian castle, the two patriotic operatives pilfer vital computer data before escaping an explosive booby trap. At the Pentagon hours later, “Project: Zero Tolerance” is revealed as Zarkov’s terrorist bio-weapon capable of terminating racial groups through their skin color. While Fighting American withholds a secret zip-drive disk, he ponders ex-teen sidekick Speedboy’s evolution into the chauvinist No-Name.
Fighting American & No-Name invade Zarkov’s secluded Peruvian villa where he is hosting Texan white supremacist mastermind Cody Buffit. Joined by China’s Scarlet Dragon, the three heroes engage Zarkov’s flying robotic sentinels. With one ally seriously injured, Fighting American is forced to make a tentative alliance.
Note: At the time, Awesome Comics had licensed Joe Simon & Jack Kirby’s post-Captain America creation: the ‘Fighting American.’
REVIEW:
Despite the offensive dialogue attributed to the bigoted Buffit and No-Name, this issue is intriguing at times. Backing reliable Marvel veteran Jim Starlin’s scripting are decent visuals by the art team. Yet, there’s no mistaking that the ridiculously steroid-laden physiques are out of Awesome publisher Rob Liefeld’s playbook. The more significant detriment, of course, is the derivative nature of Fighting American as merely Captain America (or even the U.S. Agent) under a different alias.
Curiously, the obnoxious No-Name foreshadows how Marvel Comics and DC Comics later transformed Jason Todd and Bucky Barnes into the Red Hood and the Winter Soldier, respectively. The intriguing Scarlet Dragon also delivers a fairly original hero to this surprisingly coherent storyline. Though the clichéd characters aren’t endearing, this comic’s plotting still merits at least a single read.
ADDITIONAL CONTENT:
With a flip back cover, it’s a seven-page, black-and-white Kaboom sketch preview by Rob Liefeld & Keron Grant. A two-page spread hypes Awesome’s imminent answer to Marvel’s Avengers: The Allies.
BRIAN’S 10-STAR RATING: 5 Stars
