Story title: "The Invisible Empire, Part 2"
Cover Date: June 1936
By: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
So, let's see how The Invisible Empire continues...
We're right where we left off: Steve has infiltrated a submarine that's about to torpedo the president's yacht. For no apparent reason though, he gets caught. I guess you can kind of see people's faces through those old-fashioned diving helmets if you pay attention.
A fight begins and Steve is doing well, but apparently, not even he can't take on three men at the same time, so two of them hold him still while the third one points a gun at him. I think I know how he's gonna get out of this one...
Whaaat? I guess this was hilarious in 1936, but to me, it just sounds like nonsense.
The terrorists want Steve to activate the torpedo that'll kill the president. Oh, how devious! I'm sure that will turn out fine for them. Before seeing how this tense situation gets resolved, a commercial break:
"100,000 members" sounds like a pretty bold number for a character that has four appearances at this point and only gets two or four pages in an anthology magazine. Also, I'm sure the FBI is very concerned with whether or not kids join this fan club.
Anyway, continuing with the story, Steve pulls off his usual maneuver:
Then he hides behind a metal partition and starts shooting. Of course, the terrorists charge an armed man who has a perfect cover like complete idiots and get shot. Then Steve has a great idea! He shoots at the fucking torpedo...
After the explosion, the present sends a boat after Steve "The sole survivor" and that's how this story ends (For now)
And now, something I actually liked:
We're left with a lot of questions, but this last panel addresses them, and from the looks of it, we're probably going to get answers soon.
That's how you end a story! My guess is that Siegel and Shuster had written these four pages to be published in one issue of the magazine, but then the editor decided that Federal Men wasn't popular enough or whatever to get four pages, so they cut it in half... At least they should've put a to be continued though...
So, the ratings:
Quality/Enjoyment: 3/5
This is much better than the last entry, mostly because this time it doesn't feel like it's missing pages. The story functions by itself, and even though it leaves a lot of loose ends, it's fine because it promises to tie them in the future. The only thing I didn't really like was the explosion (or more accurately, the fact that Steve survived). I know there were a lot of conveniences in the Golden Age, but this one is a bit too much.
Just one more Federal Men.
So, this story still has four more parts to go, but we'll get to them later. I can see why they divided the story in the order: this one is a nice cutoff point, almost like an arc within the arc has ended and a different one is about to start. So next time, Doctor Occult comes back for a three-part story! Thanks for reading and have a nice rest of your day!
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