The Coming of the Liberty Legion Part Six Meet The RED RAVEN

Last time I told how Bucky Barnes had forced his way into the main Radio broadcasting station in New York City and after a bit of convincing on his part was allowed to broadcast to the American Networks a plea for to any near by Hero who could help him.

As Bucky  continued his broadcasts every 30 minutes non stop throughout the Evening into the early hours, it allowed Bucky's new found partner , The Patriot to use his Presidential contacts and obtain some very  secret files that may help.

Bucky Broadcasting from the Gallery with the NCA staff now willing to help 

These files held details of most of the So Called Masked Heroes that the FBI had heard about and had started to investigate. Many of the individuals information was sketchy to say the least, but sorting through the files both The Patriot and Bucky discovered a few who may be ideal for  next stage of Bucky's plan.

Secrets that may Help

The first file that the new "super friends" decided on was about The RED RAVEN

Bucky had never heard of him, but the Patriot had done some digging on this high flying marvel.

From information obtained it appeared that the man calling himself The Red Raven had been the sole survivor of an Aeroplane accident  in the Atlantic. The plane had entered a mysterious fog bank at high altitude and had then collided with a floating Island in the Sky.  All the  crew and passengers had been  killed apart from a young baby, who the people on the floating island raised. The people of the Sky Island were kind and they called the infant RED RAVEN mostly in part to the baby having flaming red hair.

Although Red Raven enjoyed his time with his new family he grew up and realised that he was different from them. The sky people had wings, whilst he didn't. Red Raven wanted to find out more about his real heritage.

The King of the Sky people at first refused to let Red Raven leave, but later relented and gifted Red Raven with a pair of artificial wings to aide him in both leaving the island and finding his past and future.

Although some of the information given by Red Raven freely to the America Government over the time, he kept secrets about the exact location of the floating island.  It was apparent that Red Raven had yet to discover his real identity as the Bird People had disposed of all useful artifacts and information contained in the wreckage of the plan crash.  Was this an oversight or a bigger secret ?The final notes added that as Red Raven  identified more with the Bird Race than with the Human race, and such so his  loyalty could not be guaranteed.

The character of the Red Raven had first appeared in Red Raven Comics 1# published in 1940, he would not be seen again until 1968 when he popped up in the Original run of the X-Men issue 44# when he ended up having a run in with The Angel.

He like a lot of the Liberty Legion were old Timely Comics Heroes, so when Marvel Comics looked at trying to do what DC had done with the Justice Society and All-Stars, using existing characters made sense.

The original 1940's Red Raven looked more "Bat-Man-ish" with very strange looking wings. The 1970's redesign made a better marriage of the hero and his costume.

Here is may version of the 1940's original look Red Raven.

The Original Red Raven Look from 1940

Continuity of costume  for Red Raven was good, with only a few changes during the Liberty Legion outings. This was more to artist own view than over all concept.

Here are a few other versions of the Wing Hero.

The Re vamped look from Marvel Premiere issue 29# from 1976

Small changes as the story continued in The Invaders Comic in May 1976 

Now Back to our Story........................    As Bucky and the Patriot reviewed the files Bucky would add each name to his next radio broadcast.

Next time another Legion Member


Until Then ENJOY !