Never Fear, the G-Men are Here!

Here come the G-Men!

In the beginning…

Recently, we backed a Kickstarter for G-Man Comics and were rewarded with eight delightful, all-ages comicbooks from that publisher. While we were not familiar with the characters themselves, we have been familiar with Rik Offenberger’s work for some time. He began his writing career for the Comics Buyer’s Guide back in 1992, this was followed with stints at the British Borderline Comics Magazine, Silver Bullet Comic Books (now Comics Bulletin), Newsarama, and Comic Book Resources and others.

Here comes the King

The men behind the men

G-Man Comics was established in June of 2019, and is a guild-style publisher that features characters created by not only Rik, but Jim Burrows, Eric N. Bennett, and others. In this guild-style shared publishing universe, each creator retains exclusive ownership rights to their own creation, while they interact with other characters in each other’s comics. Meanwhile (and much to our delight) the comic universe features traditional-style superheroes.

The Kickstarter group

A Kickstarter gaggle of comics

The eight comics in question for this particular Kickstarter included G-Men United #5, Highlight #4, Invictus Outrage #4, Lynx #5, Sgt. Flag #4, Simon N Kirby #9, Endless Summer #1(a ‘90s-style pin-up issue featuring the various heroes at the beach), and Handbook #10 (again, similar to the handbooks of Marvel, DC, and several of the other comic companies from the ‘90s).

Rik Offenberger

Here come the comics

As indicated, the last two comics on this list didn’t so much contain stories as they were pin-ups of the characters in bathing suits, and personal information, hero histories, as well as descriptions of various character’s powers and abilities. Again, as we were unfamiliar with the different heroes, both of these books proved helpful in reading the remaining six comics in the group. So, in no particular order, we’ll work our way through the rest of the pack.

G-Man Comics

G-Men United #5

First up we’ll look at G-Men United #5, which is an anthology title, with the first story written by Offenberger, and illustrated by Bobby Ragland. This issue started out with Meredith Freemont (who goes by the moniker Atomic Bombshell) who is spending time on her family’s farm with her elderly parents, who are concerned about her operating as a superhero due to the nature of her powers, which are epic. We then devolve into an origin story that harkens back to Superman’s origin (her arriving on Earth and coming to grips with her powers as she passed through puberty.) Then it veers off with her being approached by Agent Kirby from the G-Men agency and turned over to the Agency for training, who then placed her with her foster parents. The tale winds up with her first public appearance as a superhero.

G-Man Comics

A tale of two generations

The second tale Generation Gap, by Offenberger, Chris Squires and art by Joshua 1:9 Holley), that has Jamal Rashed (the son of the original Terror Noir now acting in the role of his deceased father) and his mentor, Agent Squires. The pair are tasked with returning to the scene of a crime to acquire some missing evidence. During the mission, Agent Squires dons the uniform of the Gray Hornet to stop a team of thugs. In True Blue (Jim Burrows & Dean Juliette) where a team of powered agents attempt to resurrect a woman named Lili only to run across a demoness who desires to possess Lili’s body. This results in honestly one of the most highly frenetic, two double page spread fight scenes we’ve ever seen in comics. This is followed by Temptation (Offenberger, and Samir Sumão staring the team Lynx, and In the Hot Seat (Eric Bennett and Holley) where the Junior G-Men (Noir, Danny-Boy and Pollita) go up against Firebomb.

Highlight #4

Highlight #4

In Highlight #4 (words and pictures by Gilbert Monsanto) a team of agents faces off against a team of villains in the first half of a continued story. The back-up story in this issue (Welcome to the Jungle Dark/ Monsanto) has Joe Dragon, Sgt Flag, looking to rescue Congresswoman Sonaya in a mythical village in the Philippines, as they are being escorted by a pair of locals.

Invictus Outrage #4

Invictus Outrage #4

Invictus Outrage #4 (Burrows & Monsanto) has the super Team Invictus — lead by agent Outrage — (which includes Maiden America, Iris Moneypenny along with others) to go up against a team of super-powered villains in a tale that deals with the power of the media, and the consequences of misreporting stories. Oh, and there are some very cool fight scenes included as well

Lynx #5

Lynx #5

Lynx #5 (Retribution) by Offenberger and Alan Faria is about a former Army Ranger and a Kindergarten teacher (Mateo Martinez & Maya Santiago) who are engaged and together form the costumed duo Lynx. The pair work for the Agency and fight street criminals. In this story they are tracking down a man named Máscaras Asesino who is killing children. They are attempting to get to Máscaras before a local gangster named Piñata gets to him first and exacts street vengeance before they can bring him to justice.

Sgt Flag #4

Sgt Flag #4

Sgt Flag #4 by Offenberger and Monsanto is the comic line’s patriotic figure, only this guy is no “Mom & Apple Pie Captain America paragon of virtue. This guy is a down in the trenches fighter who shoots to kill and curses like a sailor. He is also a no-nonsense soldier who has no use for the camera crew the Agency contracted to follow him around in order to create a reality show similar to Cops that will show off the prowess of the Agency. Needless to say, things don’t quite go the way the Agency brass hoped.

Simon N. Kirby The Agent #9

Simon N. Kirby The Agent #9

Last up in the bunch is Simon N. Kirby The Agent #9 also by Offenberger and Monsanto (and yes, the character is named after Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, two creators on which this industry is founded). In the comic, Agent Kirby was selected to lead the F.B.I.’s superhero task force with a team of deputized vigilantes whose job it is to protect the non-powered civilians from extraordinary threats. This tale starts out with a fight between Sgt. Flag and Vencejo, two F.B.I Agents. Once that dispute is settled, thy join Agent Kirby, Pocahontas, and Agent Squires and go out on an assignment which leads them to a nightclub and well, another big brawl.

A G-Man from the past

Making sure your readers know what’s happening

Each of the six story-filled comics were interesting, fun reads as the writers seemed to understand that every comicbook could very well be someone’s first copy of said comic (as each of these were to us), so it is important to make sure that the reader can pick up on the storyline as well as the characters themselves as well as the interpersonal relationships between them. (John Byrne once told us that when writing the Fantastic Four he made a point to have each character referred to by every permutation of their name, as well as how they were each related to each other.)

G-Men swag

Check them out!

G-Man comics bill themselves as The World’s Finest Micro-Publisher of Comics & Fanzines, and after reading these comics, we are inclined to believe them. All-in-all, this proved to be a very cool bundle of comics, making us very glad that we backed their Kickstarter, and would highly recommend the line of G-Man Comics to all readers interested in a line of well-done superhero comics operating in a shared universe.

Find their comics on ebay

Here is a link to their ebay page.

This content reflects the personal opinions of the author. It is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and should not be substituted for impartial fact or advice in legal, political, or personal matters.

© 2024 Robert J Sodaro