The Fighting Five Revealed, by Michael Davis – Straight No Chaser #104

February 6, 2009 Michael Davis 28 Comments

Jeremiah Avery asked last week what inspired me to create the Fighting Five. Jeremiah I’m ready to tell you now, and everyone else who cares to listen.

I created the Fighting Five because:

I was filled with wonder at what was before me.

I was excited about comics so much I could think of little else.

I was happy all the time despite being poor and sometimes hungry.

I was more than willing to stay up all night drawing. In fact I looked forward to it.

I was never shy about showing my work. Everybody loved it!

I was ten.

The Bulldozer, The Anything Man (created because I could not think of anything else to name him. Get it?) The Liberator (spelled sometimes Liverator) The Whizzer and Judo Master (both stolen, one from Tower comics the other from Carlton comics) came from my ten-year-old imagination.

That imagination that was being fueled daily by Adams, Lee, Kirby, Ditko, both Buscema’s, Wrightson, Wein, Wolfman, O’Neil and more of comics’ silver and in most cases SECOND silver age of comics. ALL were giants to me and there were many, many more.

Except for Steve Ditko (who I saw at Marvel comics once picking up a check but was to chicken shit to say anything to)  I have met every single one of those men whom were my heroes growing up. Most are now friends and in fact Marv Wolfmen, Len Wien and Bernie Wrightson I love like family.

I hate to say this, because there’s a chance they may read this but anytime I’m at Len’s or Marv’s home I pinch myself and try and steal something. As far as Bernie Wrightson goes, I met him 20 or so years ago at DC comics. Like the pain in the ass dick I can be I would not let him get a word in edgewise while I gushed over him like a little bitch.

I was told later that day by someone that I was being annoying to Bernie and I felt like shit. That is until I was about to leave and Bernie handed me a small drawing of Bat-Man along with his phone number.

THAT was a good day.

Oh, to that person who told me I was annoying and who still works at DC…KISS MY ANNOYING ASS!

MAN OH MAN, comics meant everything to me. No matter what was going on in my life good or bad comics were a mainstay.

Comics, comics, comics!

I was not kidding when I said The Fighting Five would change everything.

It did. Well for me anyway.

I came across my Fighting Five pages while my studio assistant James was organizing my flat files. We were in the middle of preparing the studio for a new project when I took a look at the pages I had not looked at for at least 25 years.  Every single thing I LOVED about comics and why I was involved in the first place came rushing up in me when I started reading the story again.

When it comes to comics. I guess I’ve become jaded although I fear that still may not be the word for what I’ve become. MDW has been up for months and except for an occasional sly remark I’ve written nothing about comics and my love for them or the industry.

MDW started because of comics. Hell, most everyone who writes on this site writes here because comics were why we met. I met Mike Gold and Martha at DC. Mike Raub and Tatiana at a comics convention, Kevin was a student of mine in a master class on comics I taught. I talked to Stacy about writing comics as a black woman.

Yeah, as I said in my piece on Fighting Five last week that nothing was bigger than what was premieres here today. I said that was not hype that was the real deal.

I was telling the truth. To me nothing is bigger than this, and I really feel that if I was able to give you a tiny, tiny, tiny glimpse of the wonder I felt when I was creating this then truth is nothing IS bigger than that.

All that aside, take a GOOD look at those pages. No panels, every page a full page spread which tells the story clearly and with direction.

Did I not tell you that this would be unlike anything you have ever seen? Look at the art, I was TEN YEARS OLD and I created a character called The Liberator (spelled sometimes Liverator) The Liberator was my black character. MY BLACK CHARACTER. I was a black kid living in the freakin projects and I had ONE black character.

How cool was that? I mean think of it, my flagship character was black and he was the coolest mofo in the strip. How easy would it have been for me to create NOTHING BUT black characters?

AND I WAS TEN!!!!

I remember like it was yesterday that I only wanted one black character so he could stand out and be the coolest…and I WAS TEN!!!

TEN, TEN, TEN, TEN!!!!

I hope that you all got the joke, if not just think of it as a Vertigo book.

More importantly than getting the joke I hope that even for the briefest of moments you saw the wonder that was to me, The Fighting Five.

Click on the images to enlarge