The American Way
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The American Way is an eight-issue comic book limited series produced under DC Comics' Wildstorm Signature imprint. The series debuted in April 2006, and was created by John Ridley and Georges Jeanty.
Contents |
[edit] History
The series represented a skewed parallel history of America, where the United States Government created its own super powered heroes and villains. In the early 1940s, the United States government hatched a plan to create the Civil Defense Corps: a group of supposed "super-heroes" who could fight alien invasions, evil super-powered beings, and communism, all in front of an adoring public, courtesy of television. When an African American hero named the New American is inserted into 1962's premier superteam, the turmoil begins.
[edit] Plot summary
The first issue introduces the Civil Defense Corps, a team of superheroes, and their handlers the FDAA (Federal Disaster Assistance Administration). The FDAA stages showdowns between "superheroes" and "supervillains", who are in reality little more than superpowered actors that front for the public. The FDAA is put on the spot when Old Glory, a hero representing the epitome of American ideals, dies of a heart attack during a staged superhero battle.[1]
The New American is introduced in the next issue. Offered as Old Glory's replacement, the New American is secretly an African American man named Jason Fisher. Jason was selected by the FDAA to undergo gene therapy treatments that gave him superstrength and invulnerability, but with a built in weakness: Jason had the pain receptors of a normal human, so that if he was subjected to enough pain he would die even if his skin remained unbroken. The New American is outfitted in a helmet and a pseudo Astronaut's uniform, because 1962 America was depicted in the series as not ready for a minority superhero.[2]
The New American is accidentally "unmasked" at the end of the third issue, while battling a crazed Wanderer.[3]
In the fourth issue the FDAA unleash Hellbent, a homicidal and sociopathic supervillain, to draw attention away from the racial strife caused by The New American's unmasking. The team is split in half along racial views with the southern heroes leaving in disgust. Most of the rest go to confront Hellbent, who has slaughtered a busload of people on their way to a civil rights rally. They fail miserably, with CDC members Freya being decapitated, Pharos wounded, and The Secret Agent losing a hand. The New American's brother was among the wounded survivors.
In the fifth issue it is revealed that The New American's brother was the sole survivor of Hellbent's slaughter but was tortured and left paralyzed. Members continue to debate recent events. The New American escapes to seek revenge on Hellbent after battling his teammates.
[edit] Civil Defense Corps
- Amber Waves - Can wield energy that allows her to generate forcefields and other shapes similar to Green Lantern, and fly. Former girlfriend of Muscle Shoals from the Southern Defense Corps. Her name comes directly from the lyrics to America the Beautiful.
- East Coast Intellectual - An old school pulp character, based on the supergenius archetype embodied by characters like Doc Savage, and modern characters like Will Magnus and Reed Richards. His power is super intelligence.
- Freya - A self proclaimed Asgardian goddess and Thor analog, who was decapitated by the villain Hellbent with her own "magic axe".[4] Her sister Skadi, presumably also an Asgardian shows up for her funeral in the next issue.[5] In actual Norse mythology Skadi was married to Njord and was therefore stepmother to Freya and her brother Frey. Freya's true mother is never named.
- New American - Jason Fisher an African-American, is given invulnerbility and superstrength by the FDAA. His invulnerability comes with a catch because the project left him with the pain receptors of a normal human. Similar to the way that Luke Cage is invulnerable but still feels pain when struck. According to FDAA scientists he is almost as strong as Muscle Shoals.
- Old Glory - A chain-smoking, sixgun toting patriotic hero, with a faked generational backstory similar to that of Uncle Sam. He dies of a heart attack during a faked fight with Johnny Lau the Red Terror.[6]
- Pharos - An alien Superman analog, incredibly powerful but plagued by doubt and indecision. The CDC's FDAA handlers have no idea how powerful he really is, or where he got his powers. He has demonstrated, flight, invulnerability, heat vision, and a weakness to magic (the wound from Freya's magic axe won't heal). As evidenced by the symbol on his costume, the name Pharos comes from the Lighthouse of Alexandria.
- Secret Agent - Another old school pulp analog in the vein of G-8 and Operator No. 5 with superhuman reflexes, heightened deductive capabilities. He has also demonstrated an uncanny shooting skill that allows him to predict the path of his ricochets and plan for them. In issue #3 he calls himself a "genetically juiced up super shooter".
- The Wanderer - An actor named Paul Simms. Simms played The Wanderer from Dimension 8, an alien ally similar to the Martian Manhunter, he originally wore a special costume and flight pack. He later gained telekinetic powers through as yet unknown means and killed his entire family, he was finally stopped by the Civil Defense Corps, but in the process the New American's faceplate was smashed and captured on film by nearby reporters.[7] As it turns out, the Wanderer was also a racist.
- X-15 - Depicted as a loudmouthed racist. X-15 is a super speedster in the vein of the Flash. He is only interested in his salary, and asks for a pay raise whenever one of his teammates dies. Named after the USAF/USN North American X-15 from the X-plane series of 1960's experimental aircraft.
[edit] Southern Defense Corps
- The Captain - A precognitive hero who dresses and looks like Mark Twain. And effects all of Twain's mannerisms, constantly quoting words of wisdom originally written by Twain, demonstrating a moderate non-racist outlook. Also wears a white suit and always has a smoking pipe. He has no problem with the New American being on the team. His name might be based on a Mark Twain story titled Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven. Or "Captain" a term of respect that originated in the regional vocabulary of Southern Louisiana.
- Mighty Delta - A racist Captain Marvel analog, with super strength, flight and energy vision. Mighty Delta rarely has an opinion of his own, but is led by the strongest personality around him, which in this case is Southern Cross. His name is possibly a reference to the Mississippi Delta.
- Mister Lucky - Luck powers and the ability to charge playing cards with an unknown energy similar to Gambit. Both in design and costume he resembles Clark Gable from Gone with the Wind. Unlike Southern Cross he is a moderate racist.
- Muscle Shoals - An illiterate, kind hearted invulnerable hero. He is the strongest member of the Souther Defense Corps, and possibly the strongest member of the formerly united CDC. Also Amber Waves' ex-boyfriend. He has no problem with the New American being on the team. Named after the city of Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
- Ole Miss - Has the power to turn back local time in order to save the lives of her teammates, but every time she does so, she loses a little over three months from her own life. She has brought Southern Cross back from the dead so many times, that he's cost her a year and a half of her life. She can also permanently age her enemies to dust if she so wishes. This use of her powers does not affect her in a detrimental way. She has no problem with the New American being on the team.
- Southern Cross - A powerful southern pyrokinetic and hotheaded racist. He can cover his body in flames and fly. His costume is similar to that of the Human Torch, but is white and black with a Klu Klux Klan cross on it.
[edit] Notable villains
- Hellbent - A super-intelligent serial killer, hired assassin and cult leader formerly in the employ of the US government. He goes rogue after killing a bus full of African-American activists, a rogue group of heroes from the CDC (the Secret Agent, Pharos and Freya), track him down with the intent of ending his threat permanently. During the fight he decapitates Freya with her own magic axe, wounds Pharos' face and chest with the axe, and lops off one of the Agent's hands. He was later tracked down and beaten to death by the New American.[8]
- Red Terror - A Chinese-American actor named Johnny Lau. Lau was employed by the FDAA to play the Red Terror while wearing a special flight pack. After Old Glory's death while fighting him in a mock battle, his paranoid fear that the FDAA was going to kill him and his delusion that he had actual superpowers led him to jump from a rooftop to his untimely death.[9]
