Fighting American

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caption=Fighting American in action.
Art by Jack Kirby.
comic_color=background:#ff8080
character_name=Fighting American
real_name=Nelson Flagg, John Flagg (Awesome Era)
publisher=Prize Comics, later Harvey Comics, DC Comics, Awesome
debut="Fighting American" #1 (1954)
creators=Joe Simon
Jack Kirby
alliance_color=background:#ffc0c0
alliances=
aliases=
powers=Artificially enhanced strength, endurance and agility.|

Fighting American is a patriotic comic book character created in 1954 by writer Joe Simon and artist Jack Kirby, published by Cretswood Publication / Prize Comics and, against normal industry practices, creator-owned. It was later published by Harvey Comics, with Marvel Comics in 1989 publishing a hardcover collection of all his stories.

Original version

The original Fighting American has been called "the Doctor Strangelove of comic books".Fact|date=February 2007 It began as a serious attempt at a "Commie-smasher" comic, but after disappointing initial sales, Simon and Kirby turned the magazine into a pastiche, deliberately overdoing Fighting American's attitudes; despite this change, the title was cancelled after seven issues.

The character was similar to war-era Captain America (aside from his jingoisticly patriotic attitude), wore a similar flag-inspired costume, and worked with a youthful sidekick, Speedboy, but didn't use a shield. Nelson Flagg was the timid younger brother of star athlete and war hero, Johnny Flagg. After suffering a crippling injury during the war, Johnny later becomes a popular news commentator and stumbles upon a Communist plot to "overthrow the government." He is struck down before he can reveal it to the world, and Nelson makes a deathbed promise to hunt down his brother's murderers. Due to super technology provided by the U.S. military under the code name "Project Fighting American," Johnny's corpse is strengthened and revitalized. Nelson agrees to switch bodies by having his mind transferred via "life force probers." Following the operation, Nelson assumes both his brother's identity of Johnny Flagg and the dual persona of the Fighting American. Soon afterward, Dan Sprite,a blond-haired teenager working as a page at Flagg's news network assists the hero on one of his early adventures. The youth also discovers Flagg's true identity in the process. As a result, the teenager is given his own costume and the name "Speedboy." In case of emergencies, both heroes wore their costumes under a suit and tie and page uniform respectively. Villains were mostly Communists with physical deformities and colorful names, such as Round Robin and Poison Ivan.

Simon told a panel audience at the 1974 New York Comic Art Convention that the character was not so much inspired by Captain America as it was simply a product of the times. [cite news | title=Cons: New York 1974! | publisher= | work=The Journal Summer Special | date=1974 (fanzine published by Paul Kowtiuk, Maple Leaf Publications; editorial office then at Box 1286, Essex, Ontario, Canada N0R 1E0) | author=Lovece, Frank]

Modern versions

Fighting American was brought back in 1994 in a six-issue mini-series, published by DC Comics, where the character was turned into a former radio host bent on avenging his brother's death, and later in 1997 by Awesome Entertainment, based loosely on the Simon/Kirby stories, as a retired hero coping with the death of his partner. However, since the new series creator was Rob Liefeld, who months before had been working on the Heroes Reborn version of Captain America (and had indeed plans for a patriotic hero of his own named Agent America), he was accused of plagiarising Captain America, as the new Fighting American possessed a round shield and a youthful female sidekick (actually a cyborg named S.P.I.C.E.) virtually identical to the Heroes Reborn Bucky. Not surprisingly, Marvel Comics sued. The case was settled and one of the unique clauses allowed Fighting American to have a shield, but he must never throw it, like Captain America does.

In later comics published by Awesome Entertainment, Fighting American was John Flagg, a former soldier who gained powers through an unspecified experiment "never to be duplicated." The character lasted for three miniseries; a self-titled one, "Rules of the Game," which reintroduced classic Kirby/Simon era villains, and "Dogs of War." Jeph Loeb wrote the first two of the mini-series with Liefeld and Platt providing art for the first, Liefeld the modern-era parts and Platt the yester-year, respectively, followed by Ed McGuinness pencils in the second [Rules of the Game] . The third series was written by Jim Starlin and had artwork by Stephen Platt.

This Fighting American is reluctant to fight again, and is pained by the loss of his sidekick Speedboy, whose death is never elaborated upon. He is also very stern, and willing to kill if necessary, as when during a skirmish with Russian soldiers in World War II, or driven to extreme anger, as when his farm home is destroyed by two Russian Mafia hitmen, but believes in honoring the dead. Despite this, he becomes angry when one of his suspects is shot in the knee during interrogation.

Powers and abilities

Though not specified, FA's powers are shown to be increased strength, agility and speed. His aging was also slowed to the point where a fellow WWII vet notes he hasn't "aged a day."

Weapons

Originally, none (he was a "two-fisted hero"). The Awesome version of FA's main weapon is his silver shield with a blue eagle emblazoned on the front. The durability of the shield is never stated, but withstood all attacks, including missiles and lasers. While Awesome was legally prohibited from having him throw the shield, "Rules" and "Dogs" showed several additional weapons are built into it, including multiple spike projectiles, a gatling gun and a mini-missile. This FA has also used throwing stars tipped with tranquilizers.

Footnotes