REVIEW BY ANSON SAUER

There’s an indie comic book publisher called G-Man Comics that’s been around for the past four or so years.

The premise is that Superheroes have to be registered with the FBI in order to be seen as legitimate, otherwise the government will classify them as Supervillains. They’re collectively referred to as “G-Men”

There is a “Capes” division, headed by FBI Agent turned Superhero Simon. N. Kirby aka The Agent, putting him in charge of all other Superheroes registered with the government.

The only way to get these comics was to back them on Kickstarter, and this was the first project I’ve backed. Very happy with the results

I bought four out of six comics from this kickstarter (their largest kickstarter yet!); Simon. N. Kirby The Agent #6, 3IN1 #3, Invictus: Outrage #2, and Lynx #2

The Agent #6:

The story for this series so far has been that The Agent has been fighting against an organization called The Aryan Alliance. And these aren’t your typical Neo-Nazis. It’s not just racist skinheads, but a large number of mercenaries, assassins, and Supervillains, all led by Henry Rothlander, the mastermind behind a white supremacist “hero” called Murder Hornet.

While at a Coffee Shop and reminiscing about recent events, including the death of fellow Superhero Terror Noir, The Agent and Sergeant Flag are attacked by an army of robots led by…General Nuisance. Who just so happens to be dressed as a Nazi from World War 2

The two heroes are overpowered and taken to a military base where, yes, we learn that The General’s full name is Charles Winston Nuisance, who’s captured the heroes as “prisoners of war”

After antagonizing this new Supervillain, one of his robot henchmen makes the mistake of hitting The Agent in the chest (he has technology that allows him to absorb kinetic energy), he breaks free just as other Superheroes show up. Fun fact, G-Man Comics has a tier on Kickstarter that if you donate $100, you can have your original character show up during the climax of these comics and have them participate in the fight.

The robots are trashed, General Nuisance is arrested, and the comic ends with the heroes planning to interrogate him about the “war” he mentioned.

A lot of villains don’t get their full backstory revealed in these comics, so the G-Man Comics website fills us in. No, Charles Nuisance didn’t serve in the Military. He just chose that as his Supervillain theme. But he’s a brilliant engineer working for Henry Rothlander and the Aryan Alliance who relies on his robot henchmen.

Overall, this comic was pretty enjoyable. Only thing I’m not a fan of is the character Sergeant Flag. He’s way too gung-ho and kill happy for my taste

3IN1 # 3

This is an anthology series, meaning it contains three shorter stories instead of one longer story, and each story focuses on different characters.

Story 1: Besties

This story revolves around two superheroines, Atomik Bombshell and Sister Flag (Sergeant Flag’s sister), wanting to become friends with a newer Superheroine called Mummy Girl.

By the time they meet up with Mummy Girl, both of them are drunk from partying at a club, which couldn’t come at a worst time as The Agent calls them into action to deal with a Supervillain threat

Mummy Girl teleports them to the scene of the crime, where The Pride, a literal Pride of Lions led by a man calling himself Hercules is in the middle of an armored car robbery. Sister Flag and Atomik Bombshell are too drunk to be of much help (don’t drink and fight crime, kids)

Mummy Girl casts a spell to make the other heroines sober, they scare off the Lions, arrest Hercules, and they decide to be friends.

Hercules is another villain who’s backstory is explained on the website. He was once a lion-tamer for a traveling circus, before the circus was bought by a crime lord and the performers became criminals.

Story 2: Witness

This story revolves around Sergeant Flag escorting someone to a courthouse to testify against convicted cartel boss Adrian “El Jefe” Londono

Londono’s lawyer contacts a group of Ninja assassins called The Red Hand and puts a hit out on the witness in exchange for them getting Londono’s “territory”

Sergeant Flag manages to cut the witness to the courthouse, destroying parts of his home in the process, and the Red Hand is defeated.

This was an alright story. Again, just not a fan of Sergeant Flag

Story 3: After School Special

This story features the preteen Superhero Kid Terror, the son of the deceased Terror Noir.

From the art style, I could tell that this story is meant to be seen as more cutesy and light-hearted, such as Kid Terror complaining that he has to do his homework and take out the garbage before his mom allows him to fight crime.

The story is mostly banter between Kid Terror and FBI agent Squires before they bust a counterfeiting ring.

Invictus: Outrage # 2

I didn’t read the first issue since I missed the kickstarter for it, but one of the driving conflicts in this issue is a media mogul called Midnight Blue who really has it out for the Superhero community.

Her employees seem to solely talk about Superhero violence and how some like Murder Hornet and Lionheart only seem to be protecting their corporate interests/sponsors.

They’re not the only ones feeling this way, as a mysterious masked figure sends a group of super-criminals to systematically target superheroes one by one. These criminals are Dart (uses darts and can fly), Brut (super-strength), Glam (can cast illusions), Hack (expert hacker), and a currently unnamed member.

They kill one of the Murder Hornet body-doubles and put Lionheart in critical condition, with Glam using her powers to disguise Brut as Outrage and the rest of them as Lionheart’s private security force; Lyongate

The issue ends with Outrage being a wanted criminal due to people believing she brutally assaulted another Vigilante

Lynx # 2

This comic series revolves around street-level crime-fighting couple Mateo Martinez and Maya Santiago, both of whom share the Lynx identity

The main threat of this issue is a man running a protection/extortion racket on small shops in the neighborhood calling himself…Hombre Pinata. I can always appreciate when villains in Superhero comics have flat-out ridiculous themes.

After preventing him from extorting a shop owner and he retaliates by ruining another shop, the couple track him down to a warehouse where he’s with his main henchmen; Los Bandoliers.

They make quick work of the thugs and they are hauled off to prison.

Hombre Pinata and Los Bandoliers are more villains who’s backstories are explained on the website. All of them went to High School together and were on the baseball team, which explains Hombre Pinata’s affinity for a barbed-wire baseball bat

Ads

You’re probably not aware, but Hostess did have an ad campaign in the 70’s that featured several Superheroes.

Typically the hero would be fighting an established member of their rogues gallery, or in most cases, a pretty ridiculous Supervillain such as The Borrower, The Vacuum Vulture, Sable Lady, K-9, and the Bureaucrat, before defeating them with the temptations of Hostess

G-Man does the same things with a parody of these ads at the back of their comics. The best one for me was at the end of Invictus # 2 when a pair of heroes stops a clown/commedia dell’arte themed villain called Scaramouche with these pastries