Druglords

Captain America and the New Warriors — Night Thrasher, Firestar, Marvel Boy, Namorita, Nova, Speedball, and Silhouette — to stop the evil Drug Lords. The Drug Lords are a group of drug themed super-villains who have powers based on the drugs they are hooked on. They include Ms. Fix, Ice, Crack, and Weed.

Captain America recounts how he was investigating a drug case recently.[1] The trail led him to a drug operation that was being busted by the New Warriors who were conducting an investigation of their own. Agreeing to work together, the team encountered Ms. Fix who lead them back to the drug dealer’s hideout leading to a clash with the Drug Lords.

In the ensuing clash, Silhouette spots their leader and uses her shadow walking powers to ambush them from behind. She discovers that the Drug Lords’ master is an alien member of the Tzin. Breaking loose, the alien order the others aboard his ship to teleport himself and the Drug Lords away. As they make their escape, Night Thrasher notes that their teleportation abilities are based on the same Shadow Force as Silhouette’s shadow walking powers. With the battle over, the heroes look over the supply of drugs and are shocked by the sheer volume of product they prevented from getting onto the streets. Captain America commends the New Warriors but asks them to call the Avengers immediately if they pick up anymore leads on this situation. Night Thrasher gets defensive about this, saying that his team can handle the situation on their own. Cap reminds him that since they are dealing with aliens there are a lot of unknowns on this one and not to let pride override his good sense. After informing the NYPD of the drugs, Captain America and the New Warriors part company.

Meanwhile, the Drug Lords are brought before their masters and are chastised for their failure to eliminate Captain America and the New Warriors. Since the Drug Lords need drugs to stay alive, the Tzin wait until they are in full withdrawal to make them suffer for their failure before giving them the drugs they crave.

Back on Earth, Silhouette heads off for classes and as she passes by the dance studio, she pauses long enough to watch the class in session. She really misses dancing, something that she has been deprive of since her accident.[2] Ms. Fix just happens to be lurking in the halls and picks up this thought with her telepathic abilities. She finds this development just perfect. Silhouette meets with her friend Doreen, who is one of the best dancers at school. When she gets a charley horse she excuses herself to go to the bathroom. However, Sil senses that there is something wrong and goes to the bathroom to check on her friend. She catches Doreen trying to smoke crack in one of the stalls and scolds her for doing drugs. That’s when Ms. Fix appears and reveals that she was the one who got Doreen hooked. When Silhouette tries attacking her, Ms. Fix offers her the chance to walk again so she can dance once more.

Little does Ms. Fix realize that Silhouette signaled the New Warriors for help. Before leaving, they also contact Captain America, much to Night Thrasher’s chagrin. Cap is close to the school and gets there first. However, it appears as though Silhouette has accepted Ms. Fix’s offer and she attacks Cap from behind. When the two leap away, Captain America is able to leap at them to get caught in the teleportation beam as well. They are all brought before the Tzin who order the Drug Lords to deal with Captain America.

As it turns out, Sil was only faking it to get aboard the alien ship and shut it down. She and Captain America battle the Drug Lords and use their foe’s superior numbers and drug addled minds to wreck the entire ship. When it turns out that the device that gave them their powers and their supply of drugs were destroy in the battle, the Drug Lords then turn on their masters. With the ship about to explode, Silhouette channels her powers through the damaged teleportation device so she, Cap, and Doreen can be returned to Earth. They escape just moments before the alien ship blows up, killing the Tzin and their minions.

In the aftermath of the battle, Doreen has learned the dangers of drug addiction and Silhouette promises to be there for her to kick the habit.

Recurring Characters

Captain America, New Warriors (Night Thrasher, Firestar, Marvel Boy, Nova, Namorita, Speedball, Silhouette) Tzin

Continuity Notes

1. Captain America is of course referring to the events of last issue.

2. Silhouette, a street vigilante with her brother Aaron until she was shot in the back by some gang bangers. See New Warriors #2.

Topical References

• This story operates on the pretense that all drugs are addictive, including and especially marijuana. At the time this story was published, pot was considered a “gateway drug” that would lead people to doing more addictive narcotics. However, a lot of this was scare mongering propaganda to drum up support for the War on Drugs. Ultimately, the detrimental effects of cannabis is not as extreme as once thought. I’m not going to say pot is 100% healthy, but it’s not going to kill you or get you hooked on other drugs. Can you get addicted to it? Probably. People can get addicted to literally anything that makes them feel good even without establishing a chemical dependency. Anyway, the severity in which pot is handled in this story — particularly since the substance is legal and/or is becoming legal in most places in North America — makes a lot of this stuff topical and a product of its time. However, that doesn’t just eliminate Weed as a character. One could assume that the Tzin got all their drug information from Earthly sources and bought into all the negative propaganda about weed that still prevails even to this day.

• All the drug statistic information provided in this comic should also be considered topical as they are relevant to the year in which it was originally published.