Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers #2 - Death-Hive U.S.A.

The first half of this issue is most of the original proposed CAPTAIN VICTORY #1 from the 1970s (except a few pages that were in #1), and the second half is from the pages that were added when the story was expanded to a proposed 50-page graphic novel, before finally being published by Pacific for the then-emerging direct market. Pick up the CAPTAIN VICTORY GRAPHITE EDITION for more details.

It's interesting to read this imagining it as a first issue, without the background that was in the first issue. It does seem Kirby originally planned to jump right into the story, with the Insecton invasion already underway and starting with Victory's first encounter with the law on Earth.

In this story, Victory goes with the local sheriff to check out an Insecton body they have at the morgue, which promptly self destructs. Meanwhile, the other Rangers face a small Insecton force, while in Spartanville the Insecton's use their devices to take mental control of the population to use as workers and hostages.



Victory orders the Tiger to seal off the area with an experimental negative barrier, which the Insectons manage to weaken by sacrificing some hostages and soldiers in a frontal assault while the Lightning Lady prepares a new type of Insecton.

Mike Royer inks the 25-page story and Mike Thibodeaux inks the front cover and backcover, which has headshots and brief blurbs on the major members of the main Rangers. The Kirby checklist credits Royer with inks on the alternate cover on the inside cover, but it looks a little flat to me compared to the other Royer inks.

Published 1982