Help Wanted: Can we list the American "Flagsuit Characters"?

[Lorendiac]

Okay, with the Fourth of July fast approaching, I'm trying to compile a list of what I call the "Flagsuit Characters." Specifically, characters who seem to have taken the U.S. flag as their inspiration. When July 4, 2007, rolls around, I intend to post the list of all the Flagsuit Characters we can come up with.

To make it onto my final list, a character has to meet a few basic criteria:

1. He (or she) wears a costume that includes red, white, and blue. (The presence of other colors is also acceptable as long as all three of those are included. But if the costume only has two out of three -- red and blue without any white, for instance -- then that doesn't count!)

2. The character obviously wants to be viewed (by the general public) as an exceptionally patriotic American hero. I'm not saying the person must "really" be a hero, or even has to be a citizen or legal resident of the USA, for that matter! I'm just saying that this is the image the character obviously wants to project! If there have been any villains who put on red-white-and-blue outfits in order to fool people into thinking they were heroes for awhile, I'm perfectly willing to count that! (But not if they were just impersonating Captain America, for instance -- only if they invented a fresh identity for the occasion.)

3. He (or she) must have appeared in at least one published comic book story. (I don't want costumed characters who only existed in movies, TV shows, videogames or whatever.

As a few examples of what I don't want:

Rule #1 eliminates Superman. There's nothing white in his standard costume, so he doesn't match the color scheme requirement. (Besides, I don't think the red and blue in his costume were meant to be signs of conspicuous patriotism, so he'd also be disqualified by Rule #2.)

Rule #2 means that Marvel's (long-dead) character La Bandera is disqualified. She wore red-white-and-blue when she debuted in a story arc in Wolverine's series, way back around 1989, but she was not and did not claim to be a U.S. citizen. By the same token, I imagine there are probably several other characters in one comic book universe or another who wear red, white, and blue for reasons that have nothing to do with patriotic loyalty to the USA.

Rule #2 would also eliminate Spider-Man. His costume is mostly red and blue, but the things over his eyes are solid white. That color combo could meet the requirements of Rule #1, and he is certainly a U.S. citizen. However, he doesn't normally go out of his way to stress that he is "the Amazingly All-American Spider-Man" or anything like that, so he is still disqualified by Rule #2. As with Superman, I don't believe Spider-Man chose his color scheme with the American flag in mind. (Probably just said to himself: "Bright primary colors -- that's the way to go! It will look good on television!" :))

And to be fair about it, I have a request: Please, only mention a maximum of three names at once.

(Although if you want to post three names today, and come back and post three more names tomorrow, that's fine! Just space it out, okay? I say this in order to discourage any fan with an encyclopedic knowledge of the subject from posting a list of 20 or 30 such characters, all at once, and leaving practically nothing for anyone else to do!)

Just to start the ball rolling, I'll mention three examples:

1. Captain America (Steve Rogers). A Marvel character.

2. The Shield (Joe Higgins and others). Allegedly the Very First American Flagsuit Superhero Character; he debuted in MLJ's "Pep Comics #1" in 1940. (MLJ eventually morphed into the company we now know as "Archie Comics.")

3. The Torch of Liberty (Paul Gibney), created by John Byrne for a backup feature in his "Danger Unlimited" miniseries for Dark Horse in the mid-90s. The Torch was basically a shameless Captain America knockoff who enlisted in the military right after Pearl Harbor and thus started his career in the WWII era (and stayed active for many years thereafter, evidently).

I can think of a lot more, but I'm going to follow my own rule and stop at three for the time being.

P.S. At the moment, I'm not planning to list every single character who has ever called himself "Captain America." Not unless that character has also had a separate, more "original" identity instead of just trying to be yet another "successor" or "imitator" of Steve Rogers.

[Tommy]

Does Wonder Woman count? She is clearly wearing the American Flag, but I believe at some point, someone came up with a convoluted explanation about how she isn't really wearing it...

[Loren]

Skyrocket

General Glory

Fighting American

[Lorendiac]

Does Wonder Woman count? She is clearly wearing the American Flag, but I believe at some point, someone came up with a convoluted explanation about how she isn't really wearing it...

I didn't even think of her. :o What was the "original version" of the origin story of her costume supposed to be? I mean, back in the 1940s, did she claim to be wearing her costume as a tribute to the American flag? I'm not any kind of big expert on the Golden Age/Silver Age Wonder Woman continuity, I'm afraid.

[Jeremy A. Patterson]

Captain Freedom (Harvey)

Commander Steel (DC)

Skyman (Columbia Comics Group)

Flag-Man (Holyoke, later AC Comics)

Miss Victory/Ms. Victory (Holyoke, later AC Comics)


J.A.P.

[Expletive Deleted]

Spirit of '76, Patriot, and Super-Patriot/USAgent were all alternate costumed identities of characters who became Captain America.

There's also the new Patriot and his uncle, Josiah X (derivative of Captain America's costume, but different).

There was the villainous Super-Patriot and the short-lived Anti-Cap (ditto Josiah X).

In terms of Cap's sidekicks at various points in time, there's Free Spirit, Jack Flag, Battlestar and (of course) Bucky.

From the "Lost Generation" and other points past, there's Liberty Girl, Miss America, and the 1770s Captain America.

Would Nuke count? How about either of the American Eagles, the one currently in THUNDERBOLTS and the Squadron Supreme version (can't find a good picture of that one)?

[Jessica Drew]

The Star-Spangled Kid (DC) - first appearance (in an ad): September 1940; first appearance in a comic: October '41.

Uncle Sam (Quality) - first appearance: July 1940

[foxley]

American Crusader (Thrilling Publications) [had only minimal white in his costume, but enough to qualify]
the Banner (DC) [Batman villain]
Captain Flag (MLJ)

(I missed the 3 characters per post rule when I originally posted, so I've edited it down to 3 and will post over characters in later posts.)

[ragnarok_2012]

Doctor Tomorrow from the late 90's 12-issue mini from Acclaim.

The Comedian from Watchmen.

Flagg from American Flagg (I really should read that series sometime).

[FanboyStranger]

Flagg from American Flagg (I really should read that series sometime).

Thing is, Rueben Flagg gets disqualified under rule #2 since the United States of America wasn't the United States of America. It was a coalition of former world governments and business interests "ruling" the Earth from a base on Mars. The Plex uniform does look based on the American flag, but the badge has three red stars representing Earth, the moon, and Mars, deliberately red in honor of Soviet Russia. Moreover, Flagg would never identify himself as American.

Still, one of the greatest series ever, especially the perfect first year. That hardcover needs to come out soon.

Now, Patriot, originally named Flagg, from Rising Stars, is a different story...

[foxley]

The American and Kid America (Dark Horse)
American Avenger (Timely)
American Eagle and his sidekick Eaglet (Better Publications)

The latter two are obscure golden age characters.

[Schornforce]

Stargirl from JSA

American Maid (Tick) was in an illustrated book or two, but perhaps not a comic book, so I dunno if she'd count.

Major Glory (Dexter's Lab)-- anyone know if he appeared in any of the Cartoon Network comics? I can't remember. I'm pretty sure he would have at least in a cameo, but I'm not certain on that.

Minute Man (Freedom Force)

Liberty Lad (Freedom Force)

Uncle Sam (Vertigo)

There was a Kingdom Come character-- Americommando, I think...

Didn't Citizen V (Baron Zemo) wear a U.S. styled costume in Thunderbolts?

It seems Jessica Drew mentioned Uncle Sam and I never noticed. So I changed him to the Vertigo Alex Ross one.

[Babylon23]

Super-Patriot from Savage Dragon.

[foxley]

These three all come from the Caliber 'Big Bang' universe:

Mr U.S.
Venus
Dr. Stellar

Dr Stellar may be a bit of a borderline case. His costume certainly qualifies but whether he ever wanted to be viewed as an exceptionally patriotic American hero is debatable. However, as he was intended, in part at least, to be the Big Bang equivalent of the Star-Spangled Kid I think he qualifies.

[foxley]

American Knight (appeared in a comic called ActionFolksinger)
American Woman (Antarctic)
Captain Battle and his sidekick, Captain Battle, Jr (Lev Gleason) [one of the few golden age heroes whose sidekick actually was his son]

And yes, Baron Zemo did wear a flag themed costume as Citizen V in 'Thunderbolts' and this variations of this costume and the flag motif were kept by the subsequent incarnations of Citizen V (Dallas Riordan and John Hawkins III [I think])