Superpatriot: Liberty and Justice

3.5 stars for SUPERPATRIOT: LIBERTY & JUSTICE. SuperPatriot as a character is about as subtle as a hammer smashing into your private areas. To expand on this, the guy's go-to battle strategy is to "keep firing till nobody's left standing." When creator Erik Larsen introduced him in the pages of SAVAGE DRAGON, SuperPatriot had already been transformed into the no-nonsense cyber supersoldier. But dude's crime fighting history goes decades deep. Back in World War II, American soldier Johnny Armstrong was captured and experimented on by the enemy. This resulted in Johnny gaining special abilities, and with him going the superhero route as the SuperPatriot. In the '90s he ran into the supercriminal gang, the Vicious Circle, and got seriously mutilated for his troubles. In one of those "Gentlemen, we can rebuild him" moments, Johnny Armstrong gains malleable cybernetic limbs capable of transmogrifying into hellacious weaponry. And with SuperPatriot not at all squeamish about taking out the bad guys, what you get is pretty much Captain America crossed with the Punisher. SUPERPATRIOT: LIBERTY & JUSTICE, coming out in 1995 and comprising 4 issues, is the second mini-series to feature SuperPatriot, following the explosive 1993 mini-series. Note that when SuperPatriot first got Steve Austin-ed, this had so traumatized his mind, for a while rendering him more machine than man, that he easily fell under the control of insiduous organizations lke CyberData (the scientific group which had rebuilt him) and the Covenant of the Sword. Accordingly, in the first mini-series, SuperPatriot came off more as cold and robotic. But with Johnny Armstrong now more comfortable in his "skin" and in full command of his faculties, what we get is a more talky comic book. Not to say that SuperPatriot turns into a chatterbox, or anything. One of Erik Larsen's childhood creations and debuted during the rampant Rob Liefeldism of the early 1990s, SuperPatriot is one of those characters ideally suited for adolescent geeking out. Guy's an unstoppable killing machine, with cool morphing guns and some acrobatic moves. There's some angst thrown in to pass off as character development, but SuperPatriot is for the most part no-frills, laconic, and hardcharging. So, not a deep cat, no. Probably the most endearing thing about him is that he conducts himself in such a no-nonsense, almost blue-collar way. No annoying grandstanding for the SuperPatriot (incidentally, this is also what I like best about Erik Larsen's most popular creation, Dragon). SUPERPATRIOT: LIBERTY & JUSTICE may contain more dialogue, but it still espouses the featured theme in the first mini-series, which is SuperPatriot and his big honking guns taking on all comers! As such, this is the go-to comic book when the inner child in me starts wailing to come out and play. As issue one opens up, the persistent Covenant of the Sword is still all up in Johnny Armstrong's bizness. SuperPatriot is damn tired of being ambush

First appearing in Erik Larson's Savage Dragon, Super-Patriot is a patriotic (as you might guess) hero from WWII. He grew a beard and a ponytail during the 60s and marched against the war. In the 90s he was crippled and left for dead by crazed villains and rebuilt as a gun-totting cyborg. In this book he takes on a secret conspiracy trying to take the world and meets two children he never knew he had. 'Liberty' and 'Justice' are twins he fathered with a girl he met at a peace rally and never knew existed. Now they're following their old man into the superhero business. None of this is why Super-Patriot is so darn good. All credit goes to artist Dave Johnson who combines a fine eye for characters and faces with wild designs for mecha, robots, weapons and vehicles. The writers (the very talented Keith Giffen, and Tom and Mary Bierbaum) know his strengths and give him plenty of high-octane chases and battles. And just when you think it's over, they give an encore so over the top you just have to laugh in joy. These days Johnson limits himself to covers and occasional jobs, he is sorely missed. Like too many projects this one ends in a tease for a sequel that, 14 years later, still has not come out. But if it did, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Fun stuff all around.