Fighting American
Fighting American | |
---|---|
Awesome Entertainment | |
First appearance | Fighting American #1 (May 1954) |
Created by | Joe Simon (writer, artist) Jack Kirby (artist) |
In-story information | |
Alter ego | Nelson Flagg John Flagg |
Partnerships | Speedboy |
Abilities | Artificially enhanced strength, speed, endurance, and agility Master hand-to-hand combatant Longevity |
Fighting American is a
Subsequent publishers have had short runs of Fighting American stories with the permission of the owners' estates. The character gained some notoriety due to a lawsuit in the late 1990s when
Publication history
Bitter that
Simon said in 1989 that he felt the anti-Communist fervor of the era would provide antagonists who, like the
The first stories were deadly serious. Fighting American was the first [C]ommie-basher in comics. We were all caught up in Senator McCarthy's vendetta against the 'red menace.' But soon it became evident that McCarthy ... had gone too far, damaging innocent Americans.... Then, the turnaround, [as] his side became talked of as the lunatic fringe.... Jack and I quickly became uncomfortable with Fighting American's cold war. Instead, we relaxed and had fun with the characters.[5]
Published bimonthly by the
The character was revived by Titan Comics in a new series starting in October 2017.[12]
Fictional character biography
In the 10-page story "First Assignment: Break the Spy Ring" in Fighting American #1 (May 1954), Nelson Flagg was the unathletic younger brother of star athlete and war hero Johnny Flagg, and served as the writer for popular TV news commentator Johnny at station USA. When outspoken anti-Communist Johnny is killed by one of the many enemies his commentary has earned him, Nelson makes a deathbed promise to hunt down his brother's murderers. Recruited for the U.S. military's "Project Fighting American", Nelson has his mind and life force transferred to Johnny's "revitalized and strengthened" corpse. Assuming Johnny's identity, he adopts the costumed alter ego Fighting American to battle Communist threats. In the premiere issue's second story, the six-page "Second Assignment: Track Down the Baby Buzz Bombs", an unnamed, blond-haired teenager working as a
The two went on to battle an array of mostly Communists grotesqueries with physical deformities and colorful names, such as the two-headed criminal Doubleheader, the redheaded battleaxe Rhode Island Red, the Russian dwarf Sawdoff, the super-smelly Super-Khakhalovitch, the bouncing bank robber Round Robin, and Invisible Irving, the Great Nothing.
Powers and abilities
Though not specified, Fighting American's powers are shown to be increased strength, agility, endurance, and speed. His aging was also slowed to the point where a fellow WWII vet notes he hasn't "aged a day".
Alternate versions
DC Comics
In a six-issue miniseries (February–July 1994), published by DC Comics and written by Dave Rawson and Pat McGreal, with art by Greg LaRocque,[14] the character was a former TV host bent on avenging his brother's death.
Awesome Entertainment
A two-issue miniseries (August–October 1997) from
In later comics published by Awesome Entertainment, Fighting American was John Flagg, a former soldier who gained powers through an unspecified experiment "never to be duplicated" (namely, the periodic transference of his brother Nelson's mind into John's body for crime-fighting purposes). A subsequent miniseries, Rules of the Game, written by Loeb with art by Ed McGuinness, reintroduced some of the original Simon & Kirby villains. It was followed by the miniseries Dogs of War, written by Jim Starlin and penciled by Platt. While Awesome was legally prohibited from having him throw the shield, Rules and Dogs showed several additional weapons are built into it, including multiple spike projectiles, a Gatling gun and a mini-missile. This version has also used throwing stars tipped with tranquilizers.
Dynamite Entertainment
In 2009, Dynamite Entertainment's Nick Barrucci revealed that his company would publish the character[17] with creative contributions from artist Alex Ross,[18] although character co-creator Joe Simon contended he never gave his approval: "There are some penciled covers of Fighting American by Mr. Ross that are printed in the story without copyright notice. I find that damaging, as is the whole fake story".[19] Kirby-estate attorney Paul S. Levine countered that Simon's attorney, Tedd Kessler, had been informed and approving of Fighting American negotiations involving Barrucci "from the very beginning", including the drafting of contracts among Dynamite, the Kirby estate, and Simon, which were unsigned at the time of Barrucci's announcement.[18] Following this disagreement between Simon and Barrucci, the Kirby estate withdrew its own participation.[18]
Titan Comics
In 2017,
References
- ^ Markstein, Don. "Fighting American". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ISBN 1-58234-345-4.
- ^ Ro, p. 54
- ^ Lovece, Frank (1974). "Cons: New York 1974!". The Journal Summer Special (fanzine published by Paul Kowtiuk, Maple Leaf Publications; editorial office then at Box 1286, Essex, Ontario, Canada N0R 1E0).
- ISBN 978-0871356000.
- ^ As listed on the covers; the copyright indicia gives Headline Publications, Inc.
- ^ Fighting American (Prize, 1954 series) at the Grand Comics Database
- ^ Fighting American (Harvey, 1966) at the Grand Comics Database
- ISBN 978-1-84576-930-7.
- ISBN 978-0-8109-9447-8.
- ^ Fighting American (Marvel, 1989) at the Grand Comics Database
- ^ "Nerdly » Titan Comics announce debut for all-new 'Fighting American'".
- ISBN 9781605490540.
- ^ Fighting American (DC, 1994 series) at the Grand Comics Database
- ^ Fighting American (Awesome, 1997 series) at the Grand Comics Database
- ^ Thompson, Luke Y. (October 11, 2007). "Youngblood at Heart": 3. Archived from the original on August 13, 2010. Retrieved February 23, 2012.
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(help) - ^ McGuirk, Brendan (July 25, 2009). "SDCC 09: Dynamite Explodes into Multimedia". Newsarama.com. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011.
- ^ a b c Doran, Michael (August 3, 2009). "Update: Kirby Estate Responds to Simon on 'Fighting American'". Newsarama.com. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011.
- ^ Mendryk, Harry (August 2, 2009). "Fighting American Does NOT Come to Dynamite". The Jack Kirby Museum.
Further reading
- Super Patriotic Heroes by Craig Yoe (2018). ISBN 1684051797
External links
- Fighting American at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on July 25, 2016.