You’ve heard of DC Comics Justice League of America, The Legion of Superheroes, The Justice Society, The All-Star Squadron and even Infinity Inc.
But, have you ever heard of the Freedom Fighters? No? Thought so.
The Freedom Fighters consisted of some of DC Comics Golden Age heroes: Black Condor, Uncle Sam, The Ray, Doll Man, The Human Bomb and Phantom Lady. All were introduced in issue #1.
The Freedom Fighters pop out of thin air as they appeared on earth having left their alternate earth where the Nazi won WWII.
Immediately upon arrival they confronted a malicious madman hell-bent on obtaining ultimate power. How convenient and timely.
OK, so the story was corny, the art below par and the concept overdone but it was still a fun read. It certainly wasn’t as sophisticated and relevant as many of the comic books today.
The ‘relevant’ dialogue was forced and the dialogue was as cliched as it gets, still there was something about seeing heroes from yesteryear trying to fit in today’s society.
The Freedom Fighters lasted a good number of issues but like so many titles introduced during DC Comics’ ‘Explosion’ it soon fell and vanished when DC’s ‘Implosion’ hit in the mid 1970s.
Both Marvel and DC Comics had greatly increased the number of its titles in the hopes of garnering more readers. Part of their strategy was introducing a number of larger page count books (some containing reprints) and jacking their prices up to 25 cents-some titles even selling for 50 cents.
The strategy backfired and instead of gaining titles both companies lost titles-in DC’s case nearly 50 percent of them. Marvel fared slightly better.
Both companies cut back, reduced their prices and somehow managed to survive.
It was a bold move on for both companies-especially DC that had fallen in numbers behind Marvel Comics.
DC never quite recovered until the mid-1980s when it basically reinvented itself and became one of the most progressive and innovative comic book publishers of all time.
Crisis On Infinite Earths, Watchmen, Vertigo, The Dark Knight Returns and The Killing Joke were just a few of the ground-breaking titles that turned the company around and made it a powerhouse of creativity going head to head with Marvel Comics.
Hebrews 11:1 (KJV) “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
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