The Fightin' 5 are a Charlton Comics

Special Forces Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

paramilitary team, similar to DC Comics' Blackhawks. They debuted in ''Fightin' 5'' #28 (July 1964), and were created by Joe Gill and Bill Montes.

Publication history

The ''Fightin' 5'' comic started in July, 1964 with issues #28 (continuing the numbering of the

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

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 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 intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

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 Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

agents. They wore bright blue BDU's with red berets. They usually flew around in a modified Convair B-58 Hustler Supersonic Bomber and used many different military-use weapons systems as well as James Bond-like gadgets to accomplish their missions.

Membership

*FF1: Frenchie the Fox - A rather stereotypical French American and ex- US Navy underwater demolitions expert. *FF2: Irv "The Nerve" David - A decorated former Israeli 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. *FF3: Granite Gallero - A former mercenary and weapons expert. *FF4: Hank Hennessey - A career US Army Captain in the

and Vietnam War veteran. *FF5: Tom-Tom - A former professional wrestler.

References

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