The Freedom Fighters vs. Flamesplasher
writer: Bob Rozakis?
penciller: Dick Ayers
inker: Jack Abel
colorist: uncredited
penciller: Dick Ayers
inker: Jack Abel
colorist: uncredited
Plot Summary:
First Day of School.... and after a happy summer, doesn't everybody kinda hope maybe the school burned down and you won't have to go back? Well, it's happening here thanks to the fiery FLAMESPLASHER...but the young students would've been victims of this inferno if not for the FREEDOM FIGHTERS using their powers to rescue the children and stop this blazing baddie!
First Day of School.... and after a happy summer, doesn't everybody kinda hope maybe the school burned down and you won't have to go back? Well, it's happening here thanks to the fiery FLAMESPLASHER...but the young students would've been victims of this inferno if not for the FREEDOM FIGHTERS using their powers to rescue the children and stop this blazing baddie!
Appearance: All six original members appear in the illustration, attempting to stop Flamesplasher from destroying a school in Chicago. No sign of Firebrand....!
Marvel came out with a calendar in 1975 that must have made a lot of money, because in 1976 DC followed suit, and for several years in a row you could feature awesome DC and Marvel calendars on your walls!
In the 1978 version, somebody decided to include the Freedom Fighters. Of couse, the product was created in the end of 1977, which is before Firebrand joined the group! So by the time September 1978 runs around and the Freedom Fighters are featured, Firebrand is nowhere to be seen!
That makes this work a hard one to place in Freedom Fighter continuity. On the one hand, the Fighters WERE moving around the States trying to find a "home" in 1977. However, after they battled the Crusaders at Niagara Falls, the group split up and this scene really wouldn't fit into that timeline.
So, THAT is why you're seeing it now. My thought is that sometime between the events in FF #15 and Secret Society of Super-Villains #16 the team considered moving to Chicago. Firebrand went back to upstate New York to get all of his personal belongings, which is why he didn't join them at this time. Anyway, that's MY story and I'm sticking to it.
Credits on these calendars besides the artists are hard to find, but the overall "plot" reads to me like a Bob Rozakis story. Also, the calendar features Rozakis favorites such as Robin & Batgirl, Kid Flash, and of course, the Freedom Fighters. Besides, this month's bad guy Flamesplasher is also a Bob Rozakis creation, as is Quakemaster (who fights Wonder Woman). So there is plenty of circumstantial evidence that the plotter/writer was him, but I don't know for sure.
Here's the story in case you can't read the fine print:
On Labor Day 1978, the water-powered Flamesplasher is upset when only his fire-powered twin is sent orders from the Mystery Mastermind!
On Sept 6 Flamesplasher, sans costume, arrives in a Chicago suburb....unaware that six of his fellow passengers are the civilian garbed Freedom Fighters!
On Sept 9, unaware of the villainy about to unfold nearby, the Freedom Fighters rent a house, hoping to establish a base of operations for themselves!
On September 11, Flamesplasher attacks the neighborhood school!
As an extra special treat, here's a scan of the original artwork before it was colored. In this case, I want to say that it looks better WITHOUT colors! What do YOU think?
The Freedom Fighters
assembled by Len Wein
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