The Hidden S in Phone Booth

The Hidden S wishes the comic book Uncle Sam a Happy Birthday...

Uncle Sam, the icon was created in 1852 and as such, could be argued to be the first superhero ever (almost one hundred years before Superman). That might be a stretch, but Uncle Sam the comic creation is almost 60 years old. US (comic version) was created by Will Eisner (whose greatest creation the Spirit has enjoyed a rebirth of late) in 1940 and his origin was that of a deceased American Colonials Spirit From the 18th Century who manifested himself as the Human Embodiment of the American Spirit in times when the USA was under threat.

The dying Spirit actually merged with the Spirit of Liberty and stayed on Earth to fight for America in times of threat or war (got all that?). This character became fairly popular, buoyed by the pro-American sentiment that flourished during WW2, and was published by Quality Comics until 1944 when the character's popularity had begun to decline.

In time, DC acquired some of the Quality Comics characters (why someone could own the publishing rights to Uncle Sam I don't completely understand) and the label attempted to revive the character as part of the Freedom Fighters in the 70s. The Freedom Fighters were a league of Quality characters including The Human Bomb and the Black Condor. This superteam was from Earth X (yet another Parallel earth from the DC writers) where World War 2 lasted into the 70s.

Uncle Sam was the unofficial leader of the group and his origin was slightly tweaked to be more interesting and more in keeping with some of the Mystic Conspiracy theories that surround the creation of the Republic. In the newer version, Uncle Same was conjured up by a kind of Occult ritual performed by the Founding Fathers.

The Freedom Fighters series was given a big push in the 70s, but the team didn't have any breakout performers and never really became more than third tier characters (at best). Recently, the group has gotten their own comic and a slick and even sexy reboot with sleeker versions of old Freedom Fighter standbys like the Black Condor and the Human Bomb. In this present incarnation, the Uncle Sam character is trying to bring the Freedom Fighters together while negotiating the tricky moral areas of violence.

In other words, Uncle Sam is more than a perfect metaphor for the American consciousness. That is why I think US is an under-realized, under-used character. He could be DC's version of Captain America (DC really doesn't have a Captain America equivalent-although Superman is surprisingly close). US has powers that rival Superman's and a cool costume (funny how easily the traditional representation of US lends itself to superhero imagery). However, he is usually a cardboard figure and under-represented in DC's superhero universe.

The reasons for this are somewhat apparent. Once upon a time, comic creators like Jack Kirby and Will Eisner could create unabashedly pro-American heroes like Captain America and Uncle Sam. Those heroes are still around, but contemporary politics are awfully murky and let's face it, the comic readership has grown up. In the mid 70s (around the time of Watergate) Captain America briefly renounced his identity and became "Nomad," a disillusioned Vigilante. I had never been a big Marvel follower, but this really rattled me because it didn't seem natural and, more importantly, it struck at the heart of what you might call Captain America's identity and even his life's work. This wasn't Robin growing up and evolving into his own man as the hero Nightwing; this was a cynical, bitter move that soured my perception of Cap.

Comic creators have trouble with patriotic oriented superheroes these days (who can really blame them). It seems to be many times more attractive for them to write about a dysfunctional, violent personality like John Constantine, Batman or Wolverine than write about a character who has a moral compass like Captain America, Superman or Uncle Sam. (Captain America, one of Marvel's great signature characters was, as you probably know, just killed off and is in the process of being reborn-a typical sign of desperate, lazy, make-it-up-as-you-go-along comic creation).

Uncle Sam does not have the potential to be a first rank comic character. However, he does have seriously untapped potential. The occult origin of the character is an intriguing, largely unexplored part of the character that might be exploited, for instance, in say a four issue mini-series of the Vertigo line. A guy like Joshua Dysart with a penchant for mystical, occult themes could make hay with this kind of interesting premise. The character of the Fighting Yank in the recent Project Superpowers from Dynamite Entertainment is a well written, complicated patriotic themed superhero so this kind of narrative can be done with impact and gravity.

Do I have hope that Uncle Sam can upgrade his image in the DC Universe? Yes. Will it happen? Well, a lot of obscure characters have surfaced of late that I had not thought about in a long time (Unknown Soldier anyone?).

I think the Freedom Fighters are kind of an awkward team with some individuals who work better solo than as part of a group. I think the Human Bomb is really cool and I love the fact that the Black Condor is the highest profile Native American character in DC's universe. If Uncle Sam could get away from this group and establish his own individual identity he might have a shot at laying the groundwork for something a little more interesting in his mythology. After all, the man has been around for over 150 years and it is time he got his due...

The Hidden S