Issue(s): US 1 #2
Cover Date: Jun 83
Title: "After midnight"
Credits:
Al Milgrom - Writer
Herb Trimpe - Penciler
Mike Esposito - Inker
Ralph Macchio - Editor

Review/plot:
This issue introduces a pair of ladies to the cast, waitress Mary McGrill (seen here engaged in one of the perennial fights at Poppa and Annie's truckstop)...

Click to big-rig size.

...and trucker Taryn "Up The Highway" O'Connell.

The issue also introduces the villain Midnight, a motorcycle-riding, leather-wearing femme fatale armed with a "hypno-whip".

To add to the intrigue, the possibility that either Mary or Taryn is Midnight is teased by having both ladies conveniently disappearing when Midnight appears.

U.S. Archer foils Midnight thanks to the foil wrapper in a stick of gum...

...but he lets her go instead of grilling her about her employer, the Highwayman, that U.S. is supposed to be pursuing.

With jokes about "foiling" your enemies, and the endless supply of trick weapons in U.S.'s truck, like these biodegradable caltrops...

...this is definitely a silly, kid oriented comic. The fact that it's lighthearted makes it much more fun than, say, the Human Fly or Team America.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A