Capeworld Comics

Happy Memorial Day 2021!

 

It was in 1942 that District Attorney Grant Gardner took on the iconic costume of Agent Republic to fight crime in Atwill City.

 

The red A on his head, of course, stood for “Agent.” What did you think it stood for, Algeria?

 

When the Worlds War started in 1940, Grant Gardner considered joining a secondary hyperstasis supersoldier unit like the Black Terrors, but underwent primary hyperstasis while watching a Captain Marvel historical film serial. He got so excited watching the serial (it does hold up) that he gripped the armrest of his chair tightly–and ripped it clean off.

 

That was his origin story–no super serum injection, just an injection of movie magic excitement.

 

Now that he had superpowers, Grant considered joining USA (Uncle Sam’s Army), a unit composed of primary hyperstatics like himself whose natural powers couldn’t synergize with the precisely measured powers of secondary hyperstasis units. But he was approached by the famous Spy Smasher who offered him two years of counterspy training and membership in his “Smasher Agents.”

 

Grant was one of several superheroes with backgrounds in law trained by Spy Smasher  to defend America from saboteurs and criminals while he went on the offensive overseas. Mr. Scarlet protected New York City, Red Bee protected Superior City, Bronze Terror protected Houston, and Agent Republic protected Atwill City. If Spy Smasher had created his “Smasher Agents” back in the FDR years, there would have been considerable conflict between their law practice and their spy smashing practice. The first Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett, caused considerable controversy when he unmasked in 1934. Dan Garrett was a police officer who arrested criminals that he assaulted and captured as the Blue Beetle. That was a conflict of interest and then some, and more than a few gangsters went free following Dan’s unmasking. But the Smasher Agents were formed after the founding of the Statesmen Organization whose liaisons helped superheroes maintain their anonymity while working within the law, not outside it.

 

The logic behind the Smasher Agents was that in knowing the legal system, they would know how to use it to their advantage. For much of the 1930’s, superheroes had seen the law as something that stood between them and defeating criminals. But Smasher Agents knew how to use the legal system as an ally, and how to check to see if anyone was using the legal system for nefarious purposes. Criminals that bent the law to shield themselves might protect themselves from Agent Republic, but DA Grant Gardner knew how to put them in checkmate. Axis spies knew how to use the American legal system, but nowhere near as much as Smasher Agents.

 

In terms of superpowers, Grant was a fairly typical enhancile who used a fairly standard weapon for superheroes, a pressure gun. While training under Spy Smasher, he briefly entertained using other kinds of weapons–swords, slings, shields, but in the end, he went with the simple reliability of a pressure gun. After a very eventful 1944, he would use gadgets reverse-engineered from the weapons his archfoe the Scarab–hallucinogenic gas pellets derived from a plant known as the “purple death,” vibrational shockwave generators hidden in his gloves derived from a “dynamic vibrator,” and energy blaster circuitry in the star on his chest derived from an “electronic firebolt.”

 

In February of 1944, a string of mysterious suicides targeting scientists in Atwill City gained the attention of Grant Gardner–and Agent Republic. Scientists were often targets of Axis assassins, the 1940 raid on ARGO’s Groom Lake facility being a prime example, and Agent Republic suspected an Axis plot. But as it turned out, the scientists were all targets of a new supervillain–the Scarab.

 

The Scarab was secretly Dr. Cyrus Maldor, who years ago participated in an expedition to South America to study a plant related to the infamous Xuthalian black lotus known as the “purple death” and it’s possible ties to the ancient Yucatan superhuman civilization of Uctotol. Apparently, Cyrus felt that his contribution to the expedition was understated by his colleagues, and decided the sensible solution to this problem was to systematically drive them to suicide using the purple death. Not satisfied with revenge, he decided to go full supervillain and use the inventions of his last victim, Dr. Lyman, to terrorize Atwill City as the Scarab.

 

Cyrus Maldor believed in going big or going home.

 

By 1945, the Scarab was defeated (blown to bits by his own dynamic vibrator), but Atwill City still needed Agent Republic, or more specifically, DA Grant Gardner. When an artificial named Jim Hammond caused a fire in Atwill City by his activation, his creator placed him in a half-aware stupor and buried him underground in a cement block. Gardner filed an injunction arguing that such treatment violated Jim’s rights under the Primus Accords. When Jim regained consciousness and burned his way out of the ground, he caused a public scare as a walking human torch, though he promised he could control his flames. Grant became his lawyer and helped him not only keep his freedom, but sue his creator. Jim would go on to join the Atwill police department as the Human Torch and rise through the ranks to become police captain. Captain Hammond would work closely with DA Gardner to put away the bad guys that Human Torch and Agent Republic captured.

 

When a half-human royal of the aquatic sub-mariner race, one of the many aquatic races that fought for control of the mid-Atlantic Dyeus ruins known to surface dwellers as “Atlantis,” ran afoul of some divers, he declared the entire surface world his enemy and began his counter attack by raiding the docks of Atwill City. It wasn’t a very smart move, but the royal was young and hotblooded and wanted desperately to prove that despite his mixed parentage he was a “true sub-mariner.”

 

Before he could do too much damage to the docks, he was confronted and defeated by the Human Torch and Agent Republic, who explained to him that 1. He was hopelessly outclassed against the entire surface world when he couldn’t even handle two superhumans and 2. The divers were not an invasion force.

 

Gardner represented the sub-mariner royal, whose name was Duke Namor, in court and managed to get his sentence reduced to serving in the Hydroman Navy. Duke Namor was thankful, and became a lifelong friend of the Human Torch and Agent Republic, helping them defend the very city he sought to raid when not serving with the Hyrdoman Navy.

 

When the Worlds War ended in 1949, Agent Republic retired to focus on his law career. Grant founded the law firm Gardner and Partners which specialized in superhero clients. Gardner and Partners continues to function to this day and serves as a contact education partner with Martin’s School. Tomorrow’s attorneys are in the hands of great teachers.