I don’t want anybody to get me wrong when I praise the DC Comics version of the O.S.S., which appeared in old war comics – mostly G.I. Combat – and were, well, basically war comics. War comics geared more towards espionage, obviously, with all the cool fripperies that World War II-era spying had on the side. But, yes, by and large, bog-standard war comics, really only noteworthy by the fact that Control – the dude with the pipe – was actually really awesome both visually and as a character, a predecessor in a lot of ways to the modern incarnation of Nick Fury (who’s become a lot different than the 60s-era Nick Fury, who was a glamourous secret agent rather than a byzantine spymaster). But other than that, nothing beyond perfectly good war comics.
But I love the idea that there’s more to work with here. Basically, what you have the potential for here is the World War II equivalent of Greg Rucka’s Checkmate: an espionage and spy comic set in a superhero universe. Except that here you’ve got the Golden Age equivalent: a spymaster working with a variety of secret agents to defeat Nazis (and the Dragon King, why not?) in the secret war-beneath-the-war. The tone would be pulpier than Checkmate is, because spying just plain used to be pulpier in the old days: Sten guns hidden in bushes, spy cameras baked into loaves of bread. But it’s the DCU, so you’d get the little touches that would make it worthwhile: an ongoing series of missions to attempt to seize the Spear of Destiny and/or Holy Grail, for example, to break the Axis’ magical wall preventing American superheroes from attacking them. Or maybe an undercover op to destroy the War Wheel Mark II before it can be deployed at Arnhem. Control could have any number of great and relatively underused Golden Age characters to call upon: the Crimson Avenger, the Jester, the Invisible Hood, Giovanni Zatara, G.I. Robot…
…the more I think about this, the more I want to write it.
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In some ways, Wildstorm’s StormWatch: Team Achilles looked at what happened when you had talented but ‘normal’ people acting as a team against super-powered opponents.
Or for superheroes and spies, Wildstorm’s Sleeper did a great job of mixing the two.
If I recall correctly, when Truman dissolved the OSS the surviving members became the first incarnation of Task Force X, later to be known as the Suicide Squad.
So that’s what Hunter S. Thompson was doing during the war…
I seem to recall an Unknown Soldier backup where Control decided to take a mission himself. (For whatever reason: info only he had, unwillingness to see anyone else die on his orders, or death wish.) I wanna say he parachuted into occupied France, still with his pipe clenched in his teeth.
After the war, apparently Control created Argent, sort of a higher authority or arbiter to the world’s espionage agencies, intended to keep the playing field level. (I guess.) Control does make an appearance in Ostrander’s Suicide Squad…but he’s looked better.
So does this mean we’re going to get a “Why I Should Write The OSS” series of posts?
Along those lines:
http://www.davidbrin.com/thor1.htm
Something that has probably been said before: “Why is Michel Foucault playing with that man?”