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It’s Fourth of July Weekend here in the US and, given my
obsessive need for topicality, that means reviewing something American. This Independence Day I’m going to be
focusing on one of my all time favorite comics starring one of my all time
favorite superheroes: Uncle Sam.
I’ve already covered Uncle Sam’s history on this program but if you need
a refresher: Uncle Sam was a 1940s superhero version of the famous propaganda
character. He doesn’t really have
an origin in the conventional sense, but rather just exists as a persistent
embodiment of the American Spirit.
That’s a weird set-up for a superhero at the best of times
so Sam’s always had an eclectic history in comics. Case in point, in the late ‘90s, one of the most fertile
times in DC Comics’ entire history, the people running DC decided to give Uncle
Sam over to their newly formed imprint Vertigo Comics for a 2 issue prestige
graphic novel. The result is one
of the most challenging and politically charged works to come out of superhero
comics this side of Civil War or that
one time it turned out Nixon was part of the Secret Empire.
