"Prisoners of War"

The Invaders are still stuck in the alternate Marvel Universe. Here Iron Man waged a Civil War among heroes. Register with the government, reveal your secret identity to big brother, enlist in a super-hero army, expose your loved ones to danger, or Iron Man and his forces, which ironically refer to themselves as Avengers, will hunt you down and throw you into the light. To the Invaders it appears that the Nazis have won, and they're not too far off from the correct answer. Instinctively, they know that this world is wrong. Don't we all?

The snappy plot exposes the Marvel Universe as it stands for what it is, a totalitarian regime, and the conflict between villains and heroes arises from a schism in philosophies. Iron Man and his cronies believe absolute power must be wielded to force order. Spidey and his friends put their faith in freedom and free will. The dialogue rings true for the whole cast, even the perverted Avengers. Although their true selves are heroes, these mirror images act how you imagine the Spock-beards would act.

Turn to the first page, and something presents itself that will immediately give you the giggles. Captain America is referred to as Captain America, but the alternate universe adult Bucky who donned the stars and stripes is referred to as "New Captain America." That's a lot like New Coke.

Go deeper into the story, and you'll be treated to Namor beating the crap out of Sentry. I remember when I first encountered Sentry and asking the question "Who hell is this poser, and what is he doing in my comic book?" Ross and Krueger come up with a whacky idea to exploit Wolverine's mutant, healing factor, and Krueger's dialogue for Spider-Man is descriptive of the character. He's intelligent and witty, and my, oh my, does he get on his fellow resistance fighters' nerves. The resistance fighters also refer to themselves as Avengers by the way.

All of this is good, but the Human Torch makes the issue ignite. Krueger's and Ross' remarkable insight into the mind of the Torch sent shivers up my spine. This is writing. This is taking a two-dimensional character with an unrealistic super power and giving him the substance of a character from a novel. Avengers vs. Invaders is fun, but it isn't "just a comic book." The imagery in the scenes depicting the Torch's thoughts are chilling. These are the black and white nightmares of photographs and film forever recording the greatest evil of history contrasted by the fiery colors of imagined optimism.

In the context of the story, the evocations deepen the Torch's character, give his android soul more humanity than a human and resonate because of the Torch's experiences against the Nazi war machine. Symbolically the scenes craft the very reason why super-heroes still dominate our psyches. The super-hero represents a beacon into a better world. He sees injustice and says no. He sees evil and says no. It does matter from where that evil comes, he says no.

The Torch boards the SHIELD Hellicarrier. He faces down Iron Man's dilettante Ms. Marvel, and there's no doubt in your mind that he can not only burn through her but all her little minions. The Torch is angry because the atrocities of World War II repeat in this alternate universe. The scenes are so sublime. He picks up a broken LMD arm. He studies the number on the arm, and the comparison is undeniable.

The anti-personification of the LMDs is at once a reminder to history, a science fiction warning and yet another symptom of the corruption of the Marvel Universe now dominated by Iron Man. The Iron Man of old would have recognized the LMDs sentience and their rights. The Iron Man of old was a teammate of the Vision as well as Jocasta. He even rescued Jocosta's intelligence by installing her in a computer system, offering as well to build her a new body. This version of Iron Man is devoid of such empathy and intelligence.

At first, you're carried along through Avengers vs. Invaders by the shear whimsy of the dialogue, the little things in the plot and the enjoyable distortions of well known heroes, but once you encounter the Torch's ponderings on his true nature and the Holocaust, the mood shifts, the heroism skyrockets and the idea that this book is just a really good ripping yarn fades. The story's much more than that.

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