USA

Real-life History

 

Check out USA’s stories at Comicbookplus.com. She’s in Feature Comics 42-48.

 

Now here’s an obscure character. How obscure is USA? Well, consider Roy Thomas.

 

Roy Thomas was the original comic book geek. Back when he worked for Marvel, Jack Kirby gently lampooned Roy Thomas as Agent Sitwell in Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, a young recruit that constantly bugged Nick and Dum-Dum Dugan with questions about how it was like in the old days. You see, Roy kept asking Jack question like why Captain America’s shield went from being a heater shield to a rounded shield, and Jack really didn’t have an answer because golden age comics weren’t made with continuity in mind. But the point is, Roy Thomas was the king of comic book nerd mountain back in the day and he had a special love for the golden age characters of both Marvel and DC. He retconned Marvel’s Timely comics characters into belonging to a group called the Invaders and did the same for DC with the All-Star Squadron which was composed of the historic Justice Society of America, the world’s first superteam, as well as golden age DC characters that were never on the JSA like Robotman (the first one, not the Doom Patrol one), Liberty Belle, and Airwave. When DC acquired Quality in the 1980’s Roy got his hands on Quality’s many golden age characters and had them join the All-Star Squadron before leaving the Squadron’s world of Earth-2 to fight the Nazis on Earth-X.

 

Roy wanted the All-Star Squadron to be the ultimate golden age team. If they were a superhero in the 1940’s they were on the team. He put in Firebrand, Human Bomb, Plastic Man, Uncle Sam, Red Bee, Red Torpedo, Doll Man, Black Condor, Phantom Lady, etc, etc, all of them, absolutely all of them, that was the point of the All-Star Squadron. He even found a way to put in Wildfire, sort of, who DC didn’t want Roy to include because she shared a supername with Wildfire of the Legion of Superheroes. He created Dannette Reilly, sister of Firebrand, and gave her fire powers through a convoluted series of events involving evil wizards and volcanoes. Roy found a way to include everyone barring a few non-powered two-fisted types with only a handful of apperances like the Whistler and Mouthpiece, and it can be argued that they weren’t properly superheroes anyway but detectives. Roy found a way to include everyone–but USA, the spirit of Old Glory.

 

When asked about USA, he admitted that he had never heard of her, which is understandable. Roy was the king nerd of his day, but his day didn’t have Internet databases. USA had a very brief run in Feature Comics, a book known for Doll Man and various non-superhero features like Samar (your typical Tarzan clone), Bruce Blackburn (your typical Sam Spade clone), and Zero the Ghost Detective (your typical John Silence clone). Feature Comics was the “Doll Man and non-superheroes” book, so it’s very possible that USA simply slipped under Roy’s radar during his research. He read it for Doll Man and skipped over all the “non-superhero” features in the back of the book.

 

USA is essentially essentially a female version of Quality’s Uncle Sam. Sam was one of Quality’s big characters and his “spirit of freedom” schtick would be copied by various characters–Nedor’s Fighting Yank, Centaur’s Sentinel, and Quality’s own USA and Miss America. In 1777, a young girl (nameless, but I gave her the name Sophronia Adams) watches Betsy Ross weave the first flag. Touched by its beauty, she took threads from the flag, placed them within her locket, and went to show them to her uncle Sam (the temptation to make her uncle the Revolutionary soldier who died and became Uncle Sam was strong, but I resisted it). The girl apparently wasn’t very smart, because she took ill in the cold weather and died on the way to her uncle Sam’s (I gave her a light retcon of taking ill while delivering aid to Revolutionary scouts). But a nameless robed figure, perhaps God, perhaps the spirit of America (I made him an extension of the same Spirit of Freedom that appeared to Uncle Sam and Miss America, specifically the Roman god Liber Pater) appeared before the girl and told her that she would be reborn as the spirit of Old Glory.

 

Old Glory is, generally, a name for the US flag across its many incarnations. Every flag is Old Glory, in this sense, but there’s also a flag that is specifically Old Glory, and I got a feeling the writer thought the Betsy Ross flag was this Old Glory, but that’s simply not the case. The Old Glory flag was an 1824 flag flown by William Driver and is now on display at the Smithsonian.

 

The girl’s spirit seemingly slept in her locket for decades (I had her go into the Astral realm to be trained by the Spirits of Freedom) until a passerby opened it and unleashed her spirit, now fully grown and ready to fight for America.

 

And yes, she called herself USA. I would have gone with Gloria, personally.

 

USA was, like Wonder Woman, inspired by various female personifications of liberty and freedom going back from Lady Liberty to Marianne of Revolutionary France to the goddess Libertas of Rome. It’s an archetype that really needs to be used more in comics if you ask me.

 

USA was armed with two symbols that helped her in her fight against 5th Columnists. The first was the Torch of Freedom (not Liberty, but Freedom. I feel like they missed a beat there, but I suppose carrying the big lady’s torch around would have been awkward, to say the least). This torch could project blasts of energy, reverse projectiles, hold people still tractor beam style, and serve as a nation-wide radio. An odd power, to be sure, but if you have a magic item that can project a vague form of energy, why can’t it project radio waves?

 

USA’s second symbol was her flag, which she carried in her hand until she started wearing it around her neck in 46. That’s the issue number, not the year, but its very likely she was also wearing the flag around her neck in 1946. The flag didn’t have a cool name, though I call it the Flag of Glory. If its supposed to be the Betsy Ross flag, it’s got the wrong design, and William Driver’s Old Glory was from several years after USA died, so it can’t be that either. But then again, it’s clearly a magic flag, as she says in 48 that it’s invincible because “its an ideal.”

 

Platonic flag, I guess.

 

The Flag of Glory could move and was unbreakable. Think of it like a very patriotic version of Dr. Strange’s cloak of levitation. In 42, USA uses it to shield FDR from an assassin’s bomb. In 48, she uses it to reflect bullets back at their gunmen. In various stories, her flag would droop to warn her of incoming danger. It seemed to have a mind of its own, not only because it warned her of danger, but because it revived her after she was knocked out in 46.

 

Yeah, she was knocked out by the ever-common “blow to the back of the head” trick. Like Uncle Sam, USA started out invincible. She would fly over bad guys and rain down divine judgment like a vengeful goddess, but as time went on she become more grounded in several respects. She started doing a lot of two-fisted brawling on the ground starting with 46 and while earlier in 43 she was said to be invincible, a good crack to the noggin puts her down for the count.

 

The Flag of Glory possibly gave USA the power to fly and teleport, though these powers might came packaged with being a ghost. In 45, she distributes threads of her flag to Alaskan natives and promises that the threads will protect them, but we never get to see this protection in action. In 46, she pulls off a weird move in which she teleports into her flag and then moves out of it. I guess its sort of like a Funny Valentine thing. Now wouldn’t that make for an interesting fight? But it might be a little unfair for USA, because she has a weakness–she can’t harm anyone beneath a flag, even if she knows they’re evil (43). Live by the flag, lose by the flag.

 

In her first appearance in Feature Comics 42, USA ferries a woman teaching children to hiel Hitler across the sea so that she can see the horrors her teachings lead to, resulting in the woman’s full repentance. That was nice of her, I like it when super people are merciful like that. Fantomah would have turned her into a goose and made her goose step into a volcano. But the mercy would be short lived as she would kill a group of 5th columnists with their own bomb USA had a merciless “avenging goddess” streak to her. She wasn’t as bad as Stardust or Fantomah, but she certainly would rate about a Specter on the scale of mortal punishment. Her ruthlessness would continue. In 45, she not only sinks a Nazi cruiser, but when she learns that they’re plotting to invade Alaska by starving the native inhabitants, she steals the food back and then poisons their food so that they die to the man. Brutal! Superman this lady was not!

 

Was that a war crime? I think poisoning food is a war crime. Jesus, USA…

 

In 46, she buries an entire army under a mountain in another show of overkill. She amassed quite a body count, perhaps the most of any Quality character, but I’m still reading through the material.

 

In 47, USA began working at a munitions factory…as herself, as USA. I think this may be the only time in comic book history where the superhero takes a 9-to-5 job…as themselves and not as a secret identity. Imagine if Batman showed up to a board room meeting not as Bruce Wayne, but as Batman. It’s crazy.

 

48 would be USA’s final appearance in which she attends a military ball and beats a group of 5th Columnist thugs with a shoe. For some reason, this incident has become her most well-known feat. Everywhere online that mentions her talks about it. If you knew anything about USA before checking out my site, you probably didn’t know about the torch radio, but you probably did know about the shoe.

 

With only 7 stories, you can read through all of USA in minutes. I recommend doing so. She’s a memorable little forgotten oddball, part Uncle Sam part Specter, all American.

Eternal Universe History

 

In 1777, young Sophronia Adams watched her aunt Betsy Ross weave the first flag of a new nation. Charmed by its beauty, she kept some threads of the flag for herself and placed them in her locket. Later, she risked her life to deliver food to hungry Minutemen during winter, took ill, and perished. But that was not the end of Sophronia Adams. Because of her patriotism, because her life ended before it could really begin, the Spirits of Freedom empowered her. She was lifted up, taken into the Astral beyond the Mists of Eternity, and raised by Liber Pater and Eleutheria to be the spirit of symbols of freedom: the Phrygian cap, the torch of Prometheus, and now the flag of the United States of America. They trained her to be a warrior, for they knew that soon, the freedom of all the world would be threatened.

 

In 1941, Sophronia Adams, now calling herself USA, for she was the spirit of the name of the United States as well as the flag, manifested on Earth to fight the Axis. She was joined by two others that were empowered by the Spirits of Freedom: Uncle Sam, a merger of ghost and god who embodied the people, ideas, and land of the United States, and Miss America, a woman granted the freedom to make matter what she wished it to be. The three represented a continuum between man and spirit. Miss America was pure human, albeit one with fantastic powers. Uncle Sam was part human ghost, part divine spirit, USA was nearly all divine spirit with only a little core of human ghost. She had only vague memories of her time as a human child. She considered herself a spirit, for she was raised by spirits.

USA was armed with two symbols of liberty which gave her incredible power. Her Torch of Freedom was powered by pyros, the divine fire which Prometheus stole from the tyrant Zeus long ago, and could project blasts of destructive energy and emit all the kinds of energy known and unknown to man. Her Flag of Glory allowed her to move faster than light and was unbreakable by any physical force. The Flag of Glory was sentient and could droop to warn USA of incoming danger. In times of danger. USA could enter into the Flag of Glory, and it would protect her from all harm.

 

If the Axis was not aided by infernal powers, any one of the three champions of the Spirits of Freedom could have defeated their armies in hours, if not minutes, but their forces were bolstered by the necromancer Master Man, who granted the Axis infinite resources and soldiers pulled from throughout the multiverse. Because of Master Man, the superheroes of the 1940’s had to band together to defeat the Axis and combine their powers. Placed loosely under the command of the United States military, the superheroes were divided into codenamed teams. USA was placed on the team codenamed National along with Uncle Sam, Miss America, Merlin, who was a bloodline descendent of the first Merlin, his student Tor the magic master,  Tor’s student Margo the Magician, and Kid Eternity, a young ghost who had the power to summon beings from the Mists of Eternity. National largely fought against the Axis within the metaphysical Astral, cutting off the Axis’ resources at their source. They typically fought against gods, demons, and ghosts, but on occasional they were able to appear and act on Earth.

USA was just as ferocious against the human agents of the Axis as she was against their metaphysical backers. She once poisoned a group of German saboteurs who stole food from Alaskan natives in preparation for an invasion and buried an invasion force beneath a mountain. This led to a falling out between her and Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam believed in proportional violence and fair play. He believed in mercy. USA did not, not until Sam helped her realize that those they were fighting were every bit as human as Americans. The soldiers of the Axis were humans bound in chains of ideology and lies and by killing them USA was betraying her role as a Spirit of Freedom. Sam’s rebuke caused USA look deep within her heart and temporarily leave National. She journeyed to New England where she studied Sophronia Adams’ family tree and made contact with her descendants. She attempted to connect with them as their ancestor, but though they attempted to be friendly and accepting of her, they could not hide the fear in their eyes–fear which USA realized was well-deserved. She held another funeral for Sophronia, then returned to National as a far more merciful being.

When the Axis was defeated in 1945, the US government began a process of consolidation that resulted in the National Bureau of Investigations, the NBI. The various components of the NBI struggled with corruption, and their merger resulted in an organization concerned only with its expansion and preservation at all costs. The national corruption drove away Uncle Sam, Miss America, and USA. The Spirits of Freedom called them to other worlds, other less-corrupt Americas that needed their aid. They would not be able to return to their United States until the NBI’s corruption was exposed and the organization reformed from the top-down by Plastic Man in 1958.

 

In the 1960’s USA experimented with syncretism, the natural tendency of Astral beings to merge and diverge with one another. She split herself into several freedom-based spirits. Some were benign, like the libertarian Anarch Queen and the disembodied telepathic network Association Anonymous. Others were less so, like the expansionistic and martial Liberator and the mind invading People’s Free Association. In 1968, Master Man emerged from hiding with an army of ghosts who wished to possess every man, woman, and child on the planet as their “benevolent guardian angels” and “obligate conscience.” The Liberator and PFA were on the side of the ghosts while Anarch Queen and AA were on the side of the superheroes that opposed them.

 

In 1977, Vitons, a race of beings descended from the Vril-Ya that once inhabited the center of the Earth, invaded from the future with the intent of capturing the superhero Neon the Unknown and using his latent power to revive their fallen civilization. USA’s participated in the conflict by splitting into the being Mozod, the new Vril-Ya goddess of freedom, who convinced the Vitons to rebel against their oppressive masters after she convinced them that though she was a novel goddess, that she was based in tenets of their old faith.

 

In the 1980’s USA’s various divergences merged back into her 1940’s self. Whole again, and having learned much about freedom from her various experiences, she became a politician and served as President of the United States. In 1985, a cosmic crisis in the distant multiverse echoed sent rippling echoes across the Eternal Universe leading to cosmic upheaval. One consequence of this chaos was that the forces of cosmic tyranny were able to sweep aside the mystical defenses that held them and spread across the Astral.

 

USA, Uncle Sam, and Miss America were called by the Spirits of Freedom to their homeland high above the Mists of Eternity, the Torch of Prometheus, which shined the light of freedom across the multiverse, dubbed the “TOP” by Uncle Sam. The TOP had been invaded by the the Solar Empire, a multiversal collection of conquered races, and the Empire’s technicians were quickly working to transform Prometheus’ torch into a weapon to expand their territory and subjugate countless universes. To assist USA, Uncle Sam, and Miss America, the Spirits of Freedom summoned a version of Uncle Sam from another universe named the Sentinel, a man partnered with the ghost of his 18th century ancestor, and others.

 

USA continues to protect freedom in America and the wider universe. She hasn’t split herself in decades, but has recently announced that she plans to do so soon. What forms these new beings will take is anyone’s guess.

 

Sentinels of the Multiverse Cards

Character Cards

USA

Power: Unfading Glory

Summon an equipment card.

Defeat: Fallen Flag

–Deal 1 target 1 radiant damage. Heal 1 target 1.

–One player summons and equipment from their deck or trash.

–Prevent the next damage that would be dealt to one target.

Equipment

The Torch of Freedom

Equipment, Limited

5 HP

Increase damage dealt by USA by 1.

This is the light of Libertas, of Eleutheria, won at great cost from the Tyrant Thunderer by Father Forethought.

The Flag of Glory

Equipment, Limited

5 HP

Decrease damage dealt to USA by 1.

This is the union of 13 and growing.

Strands of Glory

Equipment

Place in any hero’s play area. At the end of that hero’s turn, that hero heals 1.

Power: Heal 1.

Here. It is a ward against danger, taken from the the spirit of the nation itself.

Ongoings

Protect the Innocent

Ongoing, Limited

Power: If Torch of Liberty is in play, whenever a non-hero deals USA damage, USA deals the source of that damage 1 fire damage, until the start of your next turn. If Flag of Glory is in play, you may redirect all damage dealt to USA until the start of your next turn.

Punish the Guilty

Ongoing, Limited

Power: If Torch of Liberty is in play, deal 1 target 2 fire damage. If Flag of Glory is in play, deal all villain targets 1 melee damage.

I am not unfamiliar with martial arts. Eleutheria taught me pankration herself.

We Stand United

Ongoing, Limited

Power: If Torch of Liberty is in play, increase all damage dealt by heroes by 1 until the start of your next turn. If Flag of Glory in play, heal all heroes 1.

You are not alone. The light of freedom guides you. The shield of union protects you. Stand, and fight with me.

Oneshots

Freedom Unleashed

Torch of Freedom must be in play for this card to be played.

Destroy an environment or ongoing card. Deal all non-hero targets 1 projectile damage. Deal 1 target 5 radiant damage.

“Freedom is cousin to chaos.”

Let Freedom Ring

All players draw a card. If Torch of Freedom is in play, 1 player may play a card.

Yes, I can connect us “from sea to shining sea,” but not if you keep making light of my power.

Flaring Torch

Deal 1 target 3 fire damage. If Torch of Liberty is in play, deal 1 target 2 radiant damage.

You know what earthly fire does to flesh. Now imagine what the divine pyros of my torch does to flesh

Rescinded Freedom

Until the beginning of your next turn, increase damage dealt to a target by 1. If the Torch of Liberty is in play, whenever damage is dealt to that target, USA deals the target 1 radiant damage.

Freedom is a precious gift, one that I may take away.

Just Desserts

Choose a target. Until the start of your next turn, when that target would be dealt damage, you may prevent that damage. If Torch of Liberty is in play, when that damage is prevented, deal the source of that damage damage equal to the damage prevented and of the same type.

I do not share Sam’s mercy. We are spirits, and our judgement is fairer than any a human court could produce.

Metaphysical Shield

 

This card cannot be played unless Flag of Glory is in play.

Choose a target. Until the start of your next turn, prevent all damage that would be dealt to that target. Inflict damage of the same type equal to the damage prevented to the source of that damage.

What is physical harm to one such as I, kin to goddesses and ideals?

Star Spangled Teleportation

Deal one character 2 melee damage. If Flag of Glory is in play, draw a card.

I learned most of my “tricks” from the Spirts of Freedom, but this one, I learned from Firebrand. He called it a “sucker punch.”

Eternal Glory

Heal 1 character 3. If Flag of Glory is in play, heal 1 character 2.

You may flip over a defeated character.

There is no such thing as defeat for us, only momentary setbacks that sweeten the inevitable glory.

Eagle Ascent

Heal all heroes 1. If Flag of Glory is in play, heal all heroes 1.

I feel more at home here, among the clouds and sun and stars. Yet, my duty is on Earth.

My Flag Droops

Reveal the top two cards of the environment deck. You may place one at the bottom of the deck and one on top. If Flag of Glory is in play, you may repeat this process for the villain deck.

Danger approaches. All the better. It means we can resolve this crisis swiftly.

Heroclix

Support: Distribute these threads of my flag…have faith.

Probability Control: My flag droops! Danger threatens the nation!

Defend: The flag is stronger than your bullets! It is an ideal!

Regenerate: Revived by my flag.

Pulse Wave: Death to invaders in America!

Phasing/Teleport: Freedom of movement.

VS Battle Information

 

As a patriotic superheroine, possible matchups include Centaur’s Sentinel, Nedor’s Fighting Yank, and Wonder Woman. Of course, Uncle Sam and Miss America make good matches if you want an in-continuity match, though in the Eternal Universe, the power levels to Uncle Sam> Miss America> USA. USA just doesn’t have the raw power to hang with Sam or the broad powerset to hang with Miss America.

 

Powers and Abilities: Is the ghost of a little girl from the Revolutionary period empowered by the vague cosmic forces (I made them the Spirits of Freedom) to be the spirit of Old Glory. She was summoned into the modern era by a curious man who opened a locket on her grave. Now an adult, she protects the USA as USA.

Her powers stem from her symbols, two objects of power she carries around with her. The Torch of Freedom is able to fire blasts of destructive energy, hold objects, disintegrate objects, reverse projectiles, and function as a nation wide radio. Her flag (unnamed in the stories, but I call it the Flag of Glory) warns of danger by drooping, can revive her if she’s knocked out, can reflect bullets, shield from explosives, and is said to be indestructible because its an “ideal.” Presumably, she also uses it to fly, but this was never explicitly stated, and as a ghost, she may be able to fly without aid from the Flag of Glory. Her affinity for flags gives her the ability to teleport through them (46) though she can also teleport in flashes of light (44). She once handed out threads of her flag to protect people, though the exact nature of this protection is not stated (45). But her association with Old Glory comes with a catch–she cannot harm those that hide behind the flag, not even if she knows they’re evil (43). Live by the flag, lose by the flag.

Though she originally flew above bad guys and rained punishment down upon them like many nigh-omnipotent golden age heroes (Specter, Stardust, et al) she would eventually come down to earth to brawl with the bad guys like any good two-fisted hero and demonstrated a knowledge of jiu jitsu. I would have gone with pankration.

As with Uncle Sam, who she took a great deal of inspiration from, she got less powerful over time. In 43, she was said to be invulnerable, and 5th columnist didn’t even bother trying to shoot her because they said it would be useless. But in 46, she’s temporarily knocked out by a blow to the back of the head, bane of all golden age superheroes. And while it was implied that she could summon her symbols at will (they came out of the locket with her), 48 showed that she couldn’t, and that without them she had no powers.

Strength feats: Torch of Freedom disintegrates a bomb, reverses a boat, and lifts a crowd of bad guys (Feature Comics 42). Torch blows up a bomber (43), Blows up a ship (45). Blows up a mountain and buries an army in the fragments (46).

Speed feats: Dodges an artillery shell, catches it with her Torch, and throws it back (45).

Misc: Worked in a munitions factory, not as a secret identity, but as herself (47), Once beat the crap out of 5th columnists with her shoe (48).