The Fightin' 5 are a

Charlton Comics Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1945 to 1986, having begun under a different name: T.W.O. Charles Company, in 1940. It was based in Derby, Connecticut. The comic-book line was a division of Charlton ...

Special Forces paramilitary team, similar to

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

' Blackhawks. They debuted in ''Fightin' 5'' #28 (July 1964), and were created by

Joe Gill Joseph P. Gill (July 13, 1919 – December 17, 2006)_Goodman.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Martin/nowiki> Goodman">/nowiki>Martin/nowiki> Goodman – who wnedMarvel later – into comics, and did the first omicsin my brother's office". Gill is reporte ...

and Bill Montes.

Publication history

The ''Fightin' 5'' comic started in July, 1964 with issues #28 (continuing the numbering of the 1959 Charlton series ''Space War''), and ran until #41 in January 1967. After the cancellation, the characters starred in a backup feature in ''

Peacemaker Peacemaker or The Peacemaker (in various forms) may refer to: Individuals and groups * UN Peacemaker, a project of the UN to support international peacemakers and mediators * Peace makers, a list of contemporary individuals and organizations inv ...

''. Toward the end of the original series, the team took on a disastrous mission which resulted in the death of Irv, while team leader Hank lost an eye and arm. During the Peacemaker run the team added an ex-

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

agent named Sonya to the group, and Hank was relegated to the role of tactician and organizer. From 1981 to 1982, Charlton committed to a partial reprint of the series, running from issue #42 through issue #49. When the Charlton Comics Group was dissolved, the trademark and indica of these characters was purchased by Canadian publisher

Roger Broughton Charlton Media Group (CMG) is a Montreal-based publisher owned and operated by Canadian entrepreneur Roger Broughton. CMG has published Charlton Comics and American Comics Group reprint comics, under several names, including Sword in Stone, A+, a ...

. Broughton issued one reprint series, under the title ''The Power of Five''.

Fictional team biography

These five men were recruited by the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

in the fall of 1963, during the height of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

. This team consisted of five commandos, their initials spelling out, "FIGHT". The five undertook missions around the world fighting international terrorists, despotic rulers, and thwarting Communist agents. They wore bright blue

BDU The ''Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote'' or BdU (Eng: "Commander of the U-boats") was the supreme commander of the German Navy's U-boat Arm (''Ubootwaffe'') during the First World War, First and Second World Wars. The term also referred to the Comma ...

's with

red beret The red beret is a military beret worn by many military, paramilitary, commando, and police forces and should not be confused with the maroon beret worn by airborne troops all around the world. Military police Red berets are worn by the military ...

s. They usually flew around in a modified

Convair B-58 The Convair B-58 Hustler, designed and produced by American aircraft manufacturer Convair, was the first operational bomber capable of Mach number, Mach 2 flight. The B-58 was developed during the 1950s for the United States Air Force (USAF) St ...

Hustler Supersonic Bomber and used many different military-use weapons systems as well as

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

-like gadgets to accomplish their missions.

Membership

*FF1: Frenchie the Fox - A rather stereotypical

French American French Americans or Franco-Americans (french: Franco-Américains), are citizens or nationals of the United States who identify themselves with having full or partial French or French-Canadian heritage, ethnicity and/or ancestral ties. They ...

and ex-

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

underwater demolitions expert. *FF2: Irv "The Nerve" David - A decorated former

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i commando, member of

Haganah Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the ...

and

private investigator A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI and informally called a private eye), a private detective, or inquiry agent is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigators of ...

. *FF3: Granite Gallero - A former mercenary and weapons expert. *FF4: Hank Hennessey - A career

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

Captain in the Special Forces and

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

veteran. *FF5: Tom-Tom - A former

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

References

Charlton Comics superheroes Charlton Comics titles Comics characters introduced in 1964 War comics {{comics-stub