Titan Comics 2018
Written by Gordon Remmie
Illustrated by Andie Tong
Coloured by Tracy Bailey
Lettered by Simon Bowland
In 1954, NELSON FLAGG took part in an experimental US Military procedure that saw his mind transferred into the enhanced and revitalized body of his dead brother, JOHNNY FLAGG, to become America’s first and only super hero, FIGHTING AMERICAN! 63 years later, FIGHTING AMERICAN and his sidekick, SPEEDBOY, have found themselves marooned in the 21st Century. With MADAME CHAOS now safely behind bars, FA and SB have begun the mammoth task of tracking down all of the stolen PROFESSOR DYLE TWISTER tech that she sold on the Dark Web to every whack-job, fanatic, terrorist and weirdo she could find. Meanwhile, one of FA’s old 1950s villains (sent through time by CHAOS LAD), the notorious DOUBLE HEADER, is now the head of the FBI and starting to make life difficult for our two-fisted man of action.
I said in the first arc that I had hoped that the pair wouldn’t end up stranded in our time period but now I am rethinking that. While it makes perfect sense that they need to stay here, at least long enough to clean up the mess that Chaos Lad created in the first place. Then they can go back prevent Chaos Lad from killing his uncle Professor Dyle Twister. Which of course would create a time paradox, unless Uncle Dyle is still alive in that chamber we saw last arc. This is fun and I love the culture shock and adaptability of youth that we see here Gordon really does go above and beyond with the whole values aspect of the story.
How the book is structured is extremely well done and opening up in the midst of action was the right way to go. That we get to see them in action again right away sets the stage for this story arc. Also I have to say zombies really that was an unexpected treat as is their depiction here considering they were created by a ray and not through a disease of sorts which is somehow in the repertoire of what Professor Twister items sold by Madame Chaos and well the possibilities are endless. That right there is the hook for his arc and it’s played extremely well.
Andie and Tracy do some extremely solid and interesting work on the interiors here. I like what Andie does with the main characters versus the stylised version of the creatures themselves. Yes Fighting American and Speedboy have that “normal” look while the zombies are ala Allred and the differences are fantastic. I like the use of page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels which shows a good eye for storytelling. I am always going to want more backgrounds because they really do enhance the mood, tone and feel of what’s going on not to mention expanding the world. So when we do see them I'm impressed and definitely want to see more.
The story and character development here is great to see. The characterisation and how we see it diverge in Speedboy is some of the most fun to be had in this book. Then of course Fighting American’s staunch use of the lingo he’s familiar with which sounds great and is tinged with that good ole boy unintended bigotry well yeah it’s all good. Then add in the gangsters from the past in the present, their FBI liaison and new folks we’ve not met yet and well suddenly the whole world is just that much more interesting.
The fact that this is a Simon & Kirby creation and that it can hold up to what it was and the ideals it held is not just a testament to them but to the creators on this right now. This is what got many into comics and it’s what keeps them coming back.