The Freedom Fighters Return: Punching Nazis on Earth-X
By J. Czelsch
The Human Bomb, by Dave Johnson (Courtesy DC Comics)
The Human Bomb
The last member of the original Quality characters listed as a member of the new Freedom Fighters is the Human Bomb. The original version of the character was Roy Lincoln, the son of a scientist. Roy gained his power to detonate things by touching them after he swallowed an experimental explosive to keep it away from Nazis—proving once and for all, you are what you eat. Because of his near uncontrollable power, Lincoln had to wear a head-to-toe hazmat suit at all times.
After arriving in the DC Universe, the Human Bomb worked with the freedom fighters to liberate Earth-X, and spent time with the JSA on Earth-2, before sacrificing himself in “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” Later retcons would show him retired, until he was finally killed by Bizarro in 2005’s “Infinite Crisis.”
The second Human Bomb debuted in “The Battle for Blüdhaven” series that led directly into the 2006 reboot of “The Freedom Fighters.” Andy Franklin was a scientist who got caught in a nuclear explosion; instead of dying he was held captive in an internment camp by Uncle Sam’s evil counterpart, Father Time. Franklin’s powers, while essentially the same as Lincoln’s, are far more devastating, capable of leveling city blocks with a snap of his fingers. Franklin takes medication to keep from spontaneously combusting, and like the original is confined to a suffocating containment suit. Even among members of The Freedom Fighters he’s treated like an outcast, isolated and emotionally unstable.
More from Comics
- X-Men: 6 reasons why Marvel’s mutants are the best superhero team
- Harley Quinn renewed for a fifth season on Max (and it’s well-deserved)
- Marvel Comics announces seven important X-Men comic books
- The X-Men were betrayed by Captain America in Uncanny Avengers
- Spider-Man: Miles and Peter team-up for their first ongoing series
As with most of DC’s Freedom Fighters characters, the Human Bomb received a reboot miniseries by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti in 2012. This fresh version featured Michael Taylor, a Marine fighting an alien plan to use human bombs like himself to destroy the United States. The Human Bomb has always been one of the Freedom Fighters mightiest weapons, and no matter how his character is revised for this new series, that is sure to be the case again.
These six long-lived characters are ones the most likely to appear in the year long Venditti/Barrows “Freedom Fighters” series. Whether we’ll see lesser members like Firebrand, Miss America or Red Bee remains to be seen. What is known is that Quality Comics most iconic creation will appear, sort of. Eddy Barrows recently previewed sketches of the PlaSStic Men, Nazi super-soldiers exploiting the stolen shapeshifting powers of Eel O’Brien.
Speaking to CBR, Robert Venditti explained:
"“Plastic Man doesn’t exist on Earth-X because he was captured by the Nazis and they extracted his DNA, his ability to shape shift, and now they’ve used that science and applied it to an entire force of covert agents called the “PlaSStic Men”. So there’s a new SS, and they live among the American population. They can literally be anybody.”"
Until the “Convergence” miniseries by Simon Oliver and John McCrea in 2015 The Freedom Fighters never spent time alongside Plastic Man.
Next. Plastic Man No. 6 Sticks the Landing!. dark
That series and the upcoming one put Plaz’ back alongside his Quality family where he started life 75 years ago. The first issue of “Freedom Fighters” is scheduled for release Wednesday, Dec. 19, with 11 further installments monthly through the end of 2019.