The Further Adventures of U.S. 1, Part 1

Noel

And you thought we were done with U.S. 1, didn't you! DIDN'T YOU! BWAH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-oh lord what have we unleashed this day....


The Sensational She-Hulk #4 "Tall Dis-Order"

Let me state up front that, while it's a book I've always been curious to check out, I've never read any of John Byrne's She-Hulk before, so I'm diving into this without any knowledge of prior established threads or characters. But these aren't going to be full reviews anyways, focusing more solely on the aspects that somehow feature the leads from U.S. 1. Which will only be referred to as U.S. Archer in titles from this point, as the numeric is part of the deal they had with TYCO, which had since expired.

U.S. 1 - Final Thoughts

Tony

My first draft for this post simply read "It sucked." But this is a final thoughts piece, so I grabbed my trusty thesaurus and set about finding how many different ways I could express this particular sentiment without being too redundant. Let's see how I did.

U.S. 1 - The Toyline

For additional information on this line, as well as photos, please visit the TYCO U.S. 1 Trucking fansite.

Tony

The late 70s and early 80s saw a resurgence in the popularity of semis and large trucks, and naturally, toy companies tried to cash in. Companies like Tonka, Nylint, and Buddy L filled toy shelves with large, well made metal trucks of all types, and kids snatched them up just as fast as they could make them. TYCO clearly wanted in on the big rig fad, and thus U.S. 1 was born. But if you were hoping to pick up your very own Wide-Load Annie action figure on eBay (Noel), I've got bad news for you. While, in true 80s fashion, Marvel's U.S. 1 was based on a toy line, that line didn't really have a "concept". There was no U.S. Archer, no Highywayman, no alien invaders, or old greedy white bankers. There were electric truck sets and
their various accessories. That's it.

U.S. 1, issues 11 & 12

Issue 11 "Transmissions from Space"

Ulysses stares, stunned at his revealed, raging brother, who turns violent when he sees the aliens arriving. They pull Jeff off Ulysses with a tractor beam and haul both drivers and bigrigs into the air with promises to explain once they're back at the Short Stop.

At the diner, our supporting cast is still reeling from events, surrounded by the statues of the hypno-frozen truckers and Nazis in mid-grapple. When the hero and villain arrive, everyone is equally stunned at the revelation of Jeff as the primary alien joins everyone on the ground. He lifts the hypno freeze off of the others, zapping Baron von Blimp and his Nazis away as the truckers leave, blaming the ill effects on bad food, which is quickly pounced on by LeGreed and his fellow bankers as they get the truckers to start spreading word against the Short Stop.