Fighting American #1
Writer: Gordon Rennie
Artist: Duke Mighten
Colorist: Tracy Bailey
Published by: Titan Comics
Titan Comics have been rebooting a lot of old properties lately, and Fighting American is the latest one. For those who may not know Fighting American is a creation of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in the 1950s after Marvel Comics (then Atlas comics) relaunched their other patriot looking hero Captain America. Simon and Kirby created Fighting American in a time where communism was the great evil and they hoped that he would be the opposition as Captain America was to the Nazis in the 1940s. And this is the take that Rennie and Mighten have inspired themselves it seems for this 2017 version of Fighting American.
I would like to say, it was very appreciated that the issue starts off with a quick recap as to who Fighting American is and what his origin story actually entails. Too often in these relaunches much of the first issue, if not first few issues, are dedicated to the retelling of the origin story. Here, Titan Comics has a one-page recap which then allows Rennie and Mighten to go straight to the action.
And that is exactly what they do. We join the story in progress as Fighting American, his sidekick Speedboy, the Professor and his nephew make it through a time portal landing in 2017, 62 years into their future, in pursuit of Poison Ivan and his gang of communist thugs. After they catch up with Poison Ivan, Fighting American and Speedboy are able to subdue most of the group, but Poison Ivan manages to escape.
This leads to the professor deciding to go back to his own time with his nephew, since the time portal is not stable, leaving behind Fighting American and Speedboy for a period of 72 hours to capture Poison Ivan. What follows is a “man out of time” series of events where we get to see the reactions of both Fighting American and Speedboy to how different things are in 2017 compared to 1955. The final couple of pages was published weeks in advance of the release of the comic, but suffice it to say, Fighting American and Speedboy will not be returning to their own time anytime soon.
Rennie has done a fine job in this debut issue. He has succeeded in giving both Fighting American and Speedboy distinct voices within this debut issue. You can tell from the moment Fighting American begins to talk that he is the straight-laced, no-nonsense, almost stereotypical man of the 50s. He doesn’t suffer commies, he won’t allow beatnik talk, and he’ll be the first to remind you not to complain, ever. Speedboy on the other hand comes off as the young apprentice who will be distracted by flashy billboards, prone to talking in a more “hip” way and just putting up with Fighting American’s rigidity. We also get the introduction to another X factor at the end that allows the series to have an underlying mystery as to how Fighting American and Speedboy are now stuck in 2017.
On art, Mighten channels somewhat Kirby in his choice of panel layouts and the movement of the characters, but it is subtle enough, that if you didn’t know, you could probably miss it. He brings his own style that is his own to the comic as well, which helps distinguish himself that the inspirations are seen, but are not overwhelming. On colors, Bailey does a fantastic job of not drowning out Fighting American and Speedboy. They are always vibrant in their blue, red and yellow suits and easily stand out from the background.