Contributed by Sidney Osinga
Mary Loo was the producer for the talk show “Flagg Waving”. It’s host, Johnny Flagg, was secretly the hero Fighting American, and also Johnny’s brother Nelson’s brain in Johnny’s body. Johnny/ Nelson was attracted to Mary, but something always interrupted when she tried to explain why she couldn’t return his feelings. She was outed in issue #4 when it showed her joining her girlfriend, Denise, in bed.
Mary helped Fighting American and his unnamed sidekick against the Free Association and their minions, the Media Circus, Gross National Product and his sidekick Def Izzit, and Phoroptor. She also discovered that Congressman Dorkin, the man in charge of the Fighting American project, was in league with the Free Association. They tracked Dorkin to Ireland where they found that an unnamed alien was in charge of the Free Association.
It captured them, and what followed is one of the funniest exchanges in comics that I ever read:
Fighting American: Mary, I’m sorry I dragged you into this. If things had gone differently, we might have been married… Lived in a house with a white picket fence…
Mary Loo: Johnny, can’t you get it through your sweet, thick head? I’m gay!
F.A. : That’s what I love about you, Mary! Even at a time like this, you’re so upbeat, so happy…
M.L. : Not Happy… Gay! GAY! I’m oriented toward my own sex!
F.A. : … oh. F.A.: Sheesh! Why didn’t she say so in the first place?
They were freed with the inadvertent help of a family named the Nielsens. Fighting American forced the alien to flee and congressman Dorkin was captured, although the Free Association remained active.
This was a really good series that sadly lasted only six issues. It’s too bad that this series wasn’t continued, since it was, in my humble opinion, a lot better than Rob Liefeld’s version of “Fighting American.
Mary Loo’s first appearance is in Fighting American #2 and her sexuality is confirmed in #4. Fighting American was based on concepts created and © by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Presumably Mary Loo is a character that was created for this mini series.
Art by Greg Larocque, Richard Space, and Robbie Busch.
All rights reserved DC Comics.
