JOHN FORCE

John Force is an agent with the ASG.

He is in fact considered that organization's top agent, able to do such remarkable things and achieve incredible results that he is known by all as their 'Magic Agent'. He earns the epithet through hard work, daring exploits, and having real magic to get his backside out of the trouble those exploits invariably get him into.

ASG stands for the American Security Group, described as "top secret and all powerful" (the last one a tad unsettling) which has its headquarters in an unmarked office in the Pentagon. It is "composed of agents, experts sworn to risk their all in the service of their country."

John Force is a man who looks in his mid 30s though that is deceiving. One of the tales in the first issue shows how he was sent in 1944 to aid Transylvanian guerillas against the Nazis and he looked around 25. Since the era in which the recorded adventures take place is 1962+, 19 years later, he would likely be in his 40s.

Force is usually found dressed in a suit and tie and habitually wearing a long tan trenchcoat. He works from time to time with other ASG agents but he is the only one who seems to favor the coat. Black haired, he sports an eye patch over his left eye which he worn in his WWII adventure so he obviously suffered the eye loss earlier.

Despite taking place in the 60s, a time when operatives sported all manner of hi-tech doodads, the agents of the ASG are old school and rely on their guns and fists. The one big exception is the invisible ink tattoo each member has on the back on their hand. When needed, a flashing symbol, the sign of ASG, appears sending a special message. The tattoo can radiate in different colors indicating the type of message coming in: green for help, blue to head to see "Mr. Big himself", red to call headquarters "fast". It can also be used by HQ or the agent himself to transmit Morse code to provide further data. Apparently the signals can get through anywhere in the world.

By far the most important aspect to John Force and the real reason he is the Magic Agent is the thick gold medallion he keeps in his pocket, an object which looks to be slightly larger than a silver dollar. On one side of the object is a depiction of a Greek building fronted by four doric columns. Overlaid on each of these pillars is a word showing a different power: reading left to right they are Telepathy, Illusion, Hypnosis, Extra-Sensory Perception. Pressing a finger to one of these columns gives Force the ability specified, though how long it lasts is not known.

In a short tale in the first issue of the comic, the manner in which Force becomes the owner of the medallion is told. As the Allies prepare for D-Day during the Second World War, a concern was that Germany would transfer a large panzer division from the Balkans to France and stymy the invasion. To help keep the need for the forces in that area, Force is sent to Transylvania to help the partisans.

When he is captured and inprisoned in a dungeon at Castle Cagliostro, held by the Nazis, in a daze he is visited by four ghostly apparitions. Nostradamus, Merlin, Cagliostro and Harry Houdini all appeared to join their abilities to create a talisman that Force could use to break free and then use in the name of freedom.

Now, Nostradamus was said to have great ESP to see into the future. Merlin was a great magician and worker of awesome feats. Cagliostro was a noted mystic and magician. Houdini? One of the best escape artists and a terrific showman but as far as I have heard, not in possession of any special power.

Nevertheless, Force will use this medallion many, many times over the next couple of decades in his fight to keep his country safe and secure. Some adventures Force would never have come close to succeeding if not for his medallion but other times it is good old fashioned spy craft aided with a smidgen of magic that gets him through. However, it is shown in one case when he loses the talisman for a while that it has become a much needed crutch for without it, he loses confidence quickly. Once he got it back, though, he was his old self even with the object stowed away.

It was an interesting twist to the spy game to have an agent using magic to get the job done but in truth it was not magic so much as really outré spy gadgets like Bond would use. And magic did not play much of a part in the stories other than as his tools of the trade. No one else had powers, good or bad. No one else called upon anything supernatural at all, even Force.

In fact, at one point when Force has to investigate a supposedly haunted house, he claims boldly and forthrightly that he does not "believe in ghosts". Odd that it was four ghostly dudes that handed him the medallion while he was in a German prison. Of course that was nearly twenty years before so maybe it slipped his mind.

The telepathy angle is played well. The extra-sensory perception is cool and not overly done. The hypnosis is very well handled and used intelligently. The illusion, though, was way over the top and just plain goofy sometimes. Making someone or some animal see a tiger to scare them - got it. Making a bunch of people see tanks coming over the hill - way too much!

But the stories are fun and so I cut John Force some slack. Or maybe I just imagined I read about fake tanks. Or maybe the Magic Agent hypnotized me. Yeah, I'll go with that.