Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters

(DC, 2006-2007)

In the war against terror, super-heroes have become an important tool. The agency known as S.H.A.D.E. dispatches The Ray, Phantom Lady, Human Bomb, and Doll Man, among others, into high-risk situations to defuse potential terror threats. However, their project is threatened by Phantom Lady’s father, Senator Knight.

Citing the illegal assassination of a drug kingpin at his grandson’s birthday party, Knight promises to dissolve S.H.A.D.E. once he wins the presidential election. Amid these moral mix-ups is Firebrand, who claims to be the herald of Uncle Sam, who will very soon be trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. None of this pleases S.H.A.D.E.’s director, Father Time, who shows he’s willing to do anything to preserve American security, including hunting down Uncle Sam.

A comic gestating in the paranoid 90s and born in the terrified 2000s, it’s got unbelievable Daniel Acuña art and the reliable team of Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti writing.

— Brendan McGinley

Jump to issue: