History: (Marvel Two-In-One Annual#1 (fb) - BTS) - In his youth, Slicer was a skilled swordsman. (see comments)
SLICER
Real Name: Tochigi Mamoru
Identity/Class: Human (conventional weapons user); citizen of Japan (World War II era)
Occupation: Government agent
Group Membership: Unnamed Axis team (Brain Drain, Master Man, Skyshark, U-Man), Japanese government
Affiliations: Prime Minister Hideki Tojo
Enemies: The Liberty Legion (Blue Diamond, Jack Frost, Miss America, Patriot, Red Raven, Thin Man, Whizzer)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Suraisu (possible Japanese translation of alias)
Base of Operations: Mobile aboard Skyshark's aircraft carrier
First Appearance: Marvel Two-In-One Annual#1 (1976)
Powers/Abilities: Slicer was a skilled swordsman (presumably trained in kendo, or Japanese fencing) in his youth. Whether he retained his abilities in older age is unknown. He did not carry swords on his mission with Skyshark.
History:
(Marvel Two-In-One Annual#1 (fb) - BTS) - In his youth, Slicer was a skilled swordsman. (see comments)
(Marvel Two-In-One Annual#1) - Slicer, personally sent by Tojo, accompanied Skyshark and his team as an observer for Japan. He was a passenger in Skyshark's plane when the Nazi's squadron attacked New York and was destroyed by the Liberty Legion. As Slicer questioned Skyshark's competence back aboard his secret aircraft carrier, Skyshark revealed that the airplane squadron had merely been intended to unnerve the Americans by demonstrating Germany's ability to strike at their country. He then showed Slicer the giant flying swastika-craft designed by Brain Drain and assembled from stolen American war materials.
((Marvel Two-In-One Annual#1 - BTS) - Slicer apparently remained aboard the aircraft carrier while Brain Drain completed the flying swastika and piloted it over New York.
(Marvel Two-In-One#20) - The time-traveling Ben Grimm damaged the flying swastika and forced Brain Drain to crash it aboard the aircraft carrier, where Grimm was attacked by all of the Nazi super-agents. They were defeated by the arrival of the Liberty Legion, however, and Slicer slipped aboard Skyshark's plane when the latter abandoned his comrades to make good his escape. When Skyshark found that Slicer was aboard, he told him that the extra weight would slow the plane, and jettisoned Slicer from the plane. He was caught by Miss America and presumably incarcerated as a prisoner of war.
Comments: Created by Roy Thomas and Sal Buscema.
It may or may not be a coincidence that Tojo himself had the nickname "Kamisori", or "Razor". If Slicer parallels Tojo in other respects, he probably served as a young officer in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, putting him at roughly sixty years old during WWII, which somewhat mitigates his rather sad performance on the operation shown in MTIO.
Hey...I thought that that story was in an alternate universe...
"Since the story in MTIO#20 and MTIO Annual#1 involved Ben Grimm going back to
1942 to retrieve a half-cylinder of Vibranium that had been accidentally sent
back in time, the whole story SHOULD have been set in a divergent timeline.
That's what happened with FANTASTIC FOUR Annual #11, in which the FF went back
in time to 1942 France to retrieve the other half of that Vibranium cylinder and
met up with the Invaders. That story, written by Roy Thomas, ended with Reed
Richards explaining that the reason why their friends (Captain America and
Namor) had never mentioned meeting them in 1942 was because the whole adventure
had taken place in an alternate timeline which diverged from the mainstream
timeline when the Vibranium appeared out of nowhere and fell into Nazi hands.
Unfortunately, the fact that several issues of INVADERS refer to the MTIO
adventure indicates that the writers involved were a bit unclear on the concept.
First, there's INVADERS #17 in which Master Man mentions that "It is good that
(Hitler's) spies rescued me from the top-security cell in which the hated
Liberty Legion had me confined." Since Master Man's only known prior encounter
with the Liberty Legion was in that MTIO storyline, this would indicate
that writer Roy Thomas believed that that storyline took place on Earth-616's
past and not in a divergent timeline. However, if you wanted to get around that
reference, you could argue that, in Earth-616's history, the Liberty Legion DID
fight and capture Master Man in an (unpublished) adventure that took
place sometime between the events depicted in Giant-Size Invaders #1 and
Invaders #16.
Second, there's INVADERS #41 in which Meranno the U-Man mentions that "Once,
Master Man and I even fought side-by-side...against the Liberty Legion."*
Although this story was written by Don Glut, editor Roy Thomas added the
footnote which reads "*Way back in Marvel Two-in-One #20." I can't think of any
way around this reference except to say that both the writer and the editor made
a mistake.
In conclusion, while the 1942 events depicted in those MTIO stories should have
taken place in a divergent timeline, there are stories which were written as
though the MTIO adventure was part of Earth-616's history. Should those
in-story references be ignored as mistakes? Or should they *somehow* be treated
as canon?
--Donald Campbell"
Actually, this is discussed in the Official Marvel Index to the Fantastic Four#10.
A pocket universe is created by the divergence, as visited in FF An11 and MTIO Annual#1 and MTIO#20. When Ben returns the other half of the Vibranium canister, this "brings pocket universe correctly into line with the Marvel Universe, ending the chronal disturbances, and saves the world."
As I see it:
The pocket dimension is not an alternate reality to start with, but an altered reality (like Forever Yesterday) to some degree, with the effects beginning to ripple forward in time. Ben's actions restore things, with those involved recalling things.
The pocket realm was indeed an alternate/divergent reality, but it was actually re-merged with Earth-616, with the natives of both realms combining, and thus recalling the events. The events to some degree became part of the history of Earth-616.
Either way, it would seem that yet another divergent reality would exist where the two worlds never re-merged.
I think they've been referenced so frequently that they have to be accepted. This is further confirmed in the OHotMU: Golden Age 2004, in which the issue was run past and approved by Tom Brevoort.
Slicer's real name was revealed in Liberty Legion's entry in OHOTMU A-Z HC#6.
Clarifications: The Japanese agent Slicer has no known connection to
Images:
Full shot - Marvel Two-In-One#20, p27 (including ads)
Head shot - Marvel Two-In-One Annual#1, p34
Marvel Two-in-One Annual#1 (1976) - Roy Thomas (writer/editor), Sal Buscema (pencils), Sam Grainger, Tartag, & George Roussos (inks)
Marvel Two-In-One#20 (October, 1976) - Roy Thomas (writer/editor), Sal Buscema (pencils), Sam Grainger (inks)
First Posted: 05/02/2005
Last updated: 05/19/2005
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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