Fighting American #1 is an exciting start to a very colorful series that brings us back to “simpler times” and then places us right in the forefront of the future. It’s quite fascinating to look at just what we are getting with this series. Writer Gordon Rennie and artist Duke Mighten join forces to not only place us in the center of an amazing series but give us a great introduction to all the different characters. This series will likely become larger than life with time.
Have you ever thought about time traveling Communists and our heroes, Fighting American and Speedboy, taking them on? Well, then this is definitely the right series for you. The characters find themselves going after evil Communists that have made their way into the present using time travel technology. While watching and seeing how the Communists are characterized as if they are out of an old comic book, it’s the reaction of our two heroes to different things around them that makes for the most entertainment.
At one point, our heroes stop to stare at all of the big billboards, and they are shocked by how different things have become in today’s time. It’s for different split seconds we get those character moments, but they are effective in establishing our heroes as out of time. They are not in the time periods of American history they grew up in. In order to get the bad guys, they need to go to the lengths that these Communists are willing to. It’s noteworthy of the lengths these characters are willing to go in defeating the enemies.
As their pursuit of their enemy, Poison Ivan, continues, they begin to be shown on the news. Everyone is holding their cell phones up at our heroes, as they wish to share the news of all the action occurring. Fighting American wonders out loud what exactly the cell phones that are being held up are. “And…uuuh…Why’s everyone holding those shiny pocket notebook things at us?” If you were from his time period, you could wonder yourself just exactly what world you were in.
There are other costumed villains that make an appearance, too, as they seek to rescue Poison Ivan from the grip of Fighting American. Fighting American and Speedboy decide to regroup in order to put a plan of action together where they can go after the enemy. They go to the bank and receive a message that Professor Twister, one of their allies, left them, which shows one of their enemies in peril and apparently there is no way for them to go back since he cannot help them anymore.
It’s apparent now that our heroes are in great danger. The issue leaves us wondering whether or not there is any chance for our heroes to undo what one of their villains did. With them in their future, Professor Twister was left vulnerable to an attack. It’s now up to our heroes to see if they might be able to stop these nefarious fiends from getting away with everything.
The art by Mighten hearkens back to the old, in-house style some artists used in the past. The attention to detail is really what makes the artwork stand out. The same goes for Rennie’s writing. He truly understands the speech of the past and makes that apparent with every bit of dialogue in the book. With future issues coming in the months ahead, we are left wondering whether our heroes will ever defeat Poison Ivo and go back in time to save Professor Twister.
Tommy Zimmer is a writer whose work has appeared online and in print. His work covers a variety of topics, including politics, economics, health and wellness, addiction and recovery, and the entertainment industry.
