The Further Adventures of U.S. 1, Part 3

Noel


The Sensational She-Hulk #44 "Cognito"

Our last issue brought up mention of the Asparagus People, and when I vaguely recalled them being a thing from Byrne and Chris Claremont's time on X-Men, Al Lobama commented that they were the inhabitants of the world Dark Phoenix destroyed. Byrne goes a few steps further, not only recounting Dark Phoenix and what she did, but going all the way back to Avengers #4, where Captain America first woke up, found the Avengers turned into stone statues, and encountered an Asparagus Person (actual name, the D'Bari) who'd been stranded on Earth for thousands of years, and whose green sprout head and petrification ray gun formed the basis for the Medusa myth.

The Further Adventures of U.S. 1, Part 2

Noel


The Sensational She-Hulk #39 "Date Worse Than Death"

Almost three years have passed in the publishing world since where we left off. Again, having not read this series before, I don't know what all has gone on in Jennifer "She-Hulk" Walters' life between then and here, but she's now in a relationship with Wyatt Wingfoot, the old college roomie of Johnny "The Human Torch" Storm. Having reached mid-1980 (where Byrne's infamous run is about to begin) in my read-thru of the Fantastic Four, I'm thrilled to see Wyatt here as he's always been a favorite.

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.

U.S. 1, issue 10 "Good Man in the Clutch"

The Highwayman continues to gloat before the shocked cast of the Short Stop. Ulysses first tries to attack him with Midnight's whip, then the mind-controlled U.S. 1, but both prove ineffective, especially as the Highwayman also has a psychic link with his jet black semi. Ulysses demands to know what happened to his brother, Jeff, but just before the Highwayman can respond, Baron von Blimp swings out of his zeppelin on a rope ladder, sword between his teeth, as he personally joins the fight. Only to slip off a rung and hit the ground. As everyone looks down on him, he spots a shadow in the sky as a large flying saucer drops down and hovers over the Short Stop, the aliens within debating the outcome of the pending battle.

The Highwayman recognizes the aliens and bolts to his truck, with Ulysses hopping into U.S. 1 and roaring on his tail. Not only is the Highwayman outmaneuvering him, but every trick and gadget Ulysses has up his sleeve is deflected by the Highwayman's superior technology: tire spikes hit impenetrable wheels, heat-seeking missiles hit an electromagnetic force field, an oil slick dodged as the enemy semi casually lifts into the air and flies.

U.S. 1, issue 9 "Big Mack Attack"

Our heroes continue to gape at Midnight, who stands over the lifeless body of Taryn and gloats at how she caused these friends to turn on one another. As a few civilians walk out of the Short Stop, U.S. shoves them into Midnight, sending everyone into the pool of oil*, where a big free-for-all brawl breaks out, during which Midnight's whip accidentally cracks into Taryn, the electric shock bringing the dead woman back to life. She joins the brawl.

[* Which was thoroughly spread and established in the previous ish --Know-It-All Noel!]

U.S. 1, issue 8 "Heart-Brakes"

Poppa Wheelie and Retread are running like hell as the cab of U.S. 1 roars down the road behind them. No matter where they turn, it sticks to their heels, and just as it's about to run them down, pulls a dime stop with the help of a grappling hook. U.S. pops out of the cab, thrilled at how even more finely tuned and responsive the controls have become now that his CB skull has formed a link with U.S. 1's computers.

U.S. 1, issue 7 "Semi-Intelligence"

Ulysses arrives back home at the Short Stop, collecting the payment for his haul and turning the money over to Poppa Wheelie, with apologies for not doing his part to keep their home running. When LeGreed shows up again with police, everyone's worried Wideload will start another fight, but unknown to everyone else, she's still under the hypnotic trance of Midnight and instead calmly apologizes. LeGreed begrudgingly accepts the mortgage payment and decides to drop all charges, but leaves with a warning that he'll still gladly foreclose should payments slip behind again.