The Black Liberation League (1975-1980)
Inception – Another unorthodox League that was boldly anti-authoritarian. The Black Liberation League was formed in 1975 by the mystic Jericho Drumm who was inspired to create a League of his own after seeing the effectiveness of the League of the Extraordinary Investigators during their fight against the vampire Prince Mamuwalde in 1974. Drumm felt compelled to create a League that would be dedicated to the defense of Black Americans during a turbulent decade where the hard-fought civil rights victories of the 1960s were seemingly being eroded by nefarious forces within and without the Black community that wished to exploit his people for malicious ends. Believing that conventional groups like the government-sponsored League of the Extraordinary Investigators and even the socially conscious X-Men wouldn't be able to step up to the task, Drumm recruited four individuals who shared his concerns and wanted to make a difference for their communities.
Members
Jericho Drumm – Also known as the superhero, Brother Voodoo, Drumm was a Haitian man who had gone to the United States to become a psychologist. Unfortunately, Drumm was destined for greater things as his return to his home country started a chain of events that led to the death of his twin brother and his training to become a 'houngan,' a witch doctor charged with the sacred duty of protecting the Haitian people from harm. While Drumm loved his people and respected the ancient houngan ways, he believed that it was his duty to protect all peoples with his powers. Thus, Drumm became a superhero in not just his native Haiti, but the United States as well, routinely allying with other rising superheroes of the time like Doctor Strange, Moon Knight, and Spider-Man. This optimist outlook would not last though as violent encounters with US authorities and their blind eye towards, or even participation in, the exploitation and harm of Black Americans led Drumm to sadly conclude that he would have to focus his efforts on protecting his people from a White America that seemed determined to deny their personhood.
John Shaft – A former cop turned private detective from New York City, Shaft had gained infamy among the Italian crime families after he succeeded in rescuing the daughter of a Harlem crime boss from a kidnapping that could have escalated into a brutal race war. While not a fan of working with others and something of rugged individual unafraid to thumb his nose at authority, Shaft accepted Drumm's offer to join his League, believing that since the cops couldn't be trusted to do their jobs, he and the Black Liberation League would have to serve as an alternative. Shaft was an incredibly cunning individual and while Drumm may have been the leader of the League, Shaft was its strategist.
Foxy 'Coffy' Brown – Going by several different aliases, with Coffy simply being the most commonly used one, Brown was one of the most feared vigilantes of her era. Originally a nurse who was sick of seeing so many young Black people die of drug overdoses or the gang violence that drug trafficking bought to Black neighborhoods, Brown became a violent vigilante after her own sister (or her boyfriend, the accounts vary) was killed due to the actions of a major drug syndicate. But even after bringing down the traffickers little changed since new ones simply took their place. Undaunted, Brown remained a vigilante, abandoning her nursing career, and even her true name, to continue her war against drug pushers. Drumm was hesitant to invite Brown to the League since his training as a psychologist made it painfully obvious that Brown's crusade was slowly eroding her mental health. Begrudgingly, he still made the offer to her believing that her talent for infiltration, and even her ruthlessness, would be necessary for his League.
Black Belt Jones – This extremely talented martial artist had been an effective bodyguard for important ambassadors for years before he was recruited into the Black Liberation League. Similarly to Shaft, Jones had gained notoriety after avenging the murder of his former mentor who was killed by the Mafia. Unlike Shaft, and indeed all his other League members, Jones was not adverse to working with the police or the government given his personal experiences with the institutions weren't always negative, and were even positive. Despite that, Jones was not blind or apologetic to injustices done to Black Americans and joined Drumm with little hesitation or concern over how it could affect his reputation as a freelance bodyguard for the government.
Youngblood Priest – Once a highly influential and powerful drug dealer in New York City, Priest had decided to quit his life of crime and take up an honest living, but only after successfully managing to pull off one last heist that could allow him to keep his standard of living and support his girlfriend. While ultimately Priest did manage to break away from his violent past he still felt guilt-ridden over it, so when Drumm came to him with the opportunity to join his League and undo some of the damage he had committed when he was younger, he jumped at the chance despite the possibility of doing so attracting old enemies. With a deep knowledge of the criminal world and a host of old connections, Priest frequently served as the League's main source of information when it came to the inner workings and politics of criminal syndicates.
Team Dynamics – Mostly stable. Drumm was an effective and wise leader who used his experience as a psychologist and as a spiritual leader to bind his League together as a collective. This was fortunate since while the League was united in purpose to protect the Black community there were still personality clashes that would occur on occasion. The most prominent being Shaft's and Brown's utter distaste for Priest due to his past as a drug dealer. Jones too wasn't initially trusted by his other teammates on account of his connections to the government and willingness to work with the police. Still, while even this League had its prejudices, they were almost always cast aside by their greater dedication to protect the most vulnerable and marginalized of communities.
Missions
- Going after various small-scale criminal organizations and gangs. Focusing most of these efforts in New York City, which at the time had an exploding crime rate not seen since the 1920s, they confronted up-and-comers like the ambitious Harlem-based mobster Tommy Gibbs, the charismatic Cyrus of the Gramercy Riffs, Mariah Dillard the drug-pushing leader of the Rat Pack, and the seemingly harmless Kung-Fu novice and pimp, Dolomite. With the help of Power Man's 'Heroes for Hires,' the League also worked to bring down and infiltrate the powerful criminal syndicates that practically ran the city. The allied crime families of the Maggia, the growing criminal empire of Wilson Fisk, and the seemingly unstoppable Corleone family were all frequent targets. (1975-1977)
- Besides taking down conventional criminals, Drumm's League spent no small amount of time taking down explicitly anti-black and white supremacist terrorist groups, many of whose activities were conveniently ignored by normal policing and counter-terrorism forces. The nativist Sons of the Serpent, the neo-fascist militia of National Force, the international Nazi cult HYDRA, and even the black supremacists of Colonel Kojah's 'Black Gestapo' were all at one point or another enemies of the League. Given the high-profile and secretive nature of many of these organizations, top FBI agent Cleopatra Jones regularly gave the League intel on them. (1977-1980)
- While this League rarely traveled just for the sake of an exploratory mission, it did every once in a while travel for symbolic gestures, such as going to the Deep South to find the remains of legendary Black vigilante, John Henry, and giving them a proper burial, and going to Canada to visit Jangotown, a community founded by another famous vigilante, this one being a cowboy and bounty hunter. (1977-1978)
- Using Shaft's detective skills, the League was able to notice a series of disappearances in Los Angeles that seemed to be only targeting young black people. Going to the city and making closer inquiries they were able to link the disappearances to a Dr. Franklyn Stein, a once acclaimed Nobel Peace Prize-winning geneticist and surgeon who was forced to fake his death after a highly unethical experiment in limb transparents went horribly wrong and created a monster that rampaged across Los Angeles. Driven mad by the experience Stein desired to correct his mistake by reanimating what was left of his destroyed creature. While Stein was able to recover what remained of the monstrous experiment he needed the surgical skills of skills of his former protégé, Dr. Roman Armitage, and also the new 'material' to truly resurrect the abomination. With Armitage's help, he did just that, kidnapping several young black people (mostly transients and the homeless) and using their limbs and organs in his desperate attempt to recreate his 'Black Adonis'. When the League confronted the mad scientist in the secret crypts of his Los Angeles mansion, they saw a slaughterhouse of mutilated black bodies. Disgusted and outraged the League tried to take Stein down but were collectively blindsided by the nausea-inducing creature suddenly appearing and attacking them while Stein and Armitage ran for it. Fortunately, Shaft's marksmanship shined through, even as the super-strong monstrosity swung wildly at the League, and he was able to clip Stein in the back killing him instantly. Armitage, unfortunately, was able to make his escape. Even with one of his creators dead the creature was still driven to slaughter the League and might have been succeeded if not for Drumm using his necromantic powers to summon the restless ghosts of all Stein's and Armitage's victims and unleash them upon the very monster that used their stolen limbs. The ghosts tore the creature apart in a gory spectacle that left even the hardened members of the Black Liberation League stunned. Later, after destroying what remained of the creature for good and telling the families of the victims of their loved one's fates, they tried to track down Armitage, but sadly they lost his trail in Connecticut. It would be decades later before the mad surgeon and his twisted family would receive the justice they so rightfully deserved. (1977)
- Acting as bodyguards for various prominent Black leaders and activists. Roman J. Israel and Philip Banks were only a few of the figures they protected from everything from assassinations to frame-ups set up by the CIA or S.H.I.E.L.D. (1977-1979)
- Allying with the League of Extraordinary Investigators and together stopping the satanist Petey Wheatstraw from consummating his marriage the Devil's daughter and finally creating the Anti-Christ. Notably, it was this mission where Drumm made his first offer to the vampire hunter Eric Brooks to join his League. While Brooks denied the invitation on account of his commitments to the LXI, Drumm left the door open for him to join the Black Liberation League when he was ready. (1977)
- The League's perhaps most morally and emotional taxing mission was their confrontation with the Vigilante League. On the heels of their triumphant victory over Petey Wheatstraw in Los Angeles, the League returned to their home base in New York City only to learn that a number of murders directed at several gangs had occurred out while they were away. While they at first believed that these murders were the opening salvo of another gang war in New York, a closer examination of the crime scenes by Shaft and Priest revealed that the killings were far too methodical to be the work of even talented hit-men. In fact, it quickly became apparent to the League that these killings were the work of someone, or someone's, with a vast amount of military experience as they were all textbook military protocol. While the League was determined to figure out who was behind these deaths what they planned on doing once they did was a divisive topic for the team. Drumm, Jones, and Priest thought that even though the vigilantes were only targeting criminals their actions were still far too extreme given that they used lethal force on all the criminals they dealt with regardless of how low-level or young they were. Shaft and Brown are said to have been unsympathetic towards these arguments and even believed that their teammates were being hypocrites given the extreme actions that the Black Liberation League had taken over the years. Despite these divisions, the League still managed to track the Vigilante League down by getting into contact with New York detective Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle who himself had been investigating the vigilante murders longer than the League. During his early investigation, Doyle had been approached by 'admirers' of his reputation as a ruthless cop willing to do anything to catch a perpetrator. While Doyle declined their offer to join them he did promise to keep their existence a secret. But as their killings became more deranged and publicized, guilt began to wear at Doyle, so much so that by the time the Black Liberation League approached him he was willing to tell them about the vigilantes and where their likely hide-out was. According to Doyle, the Vigilante League was led by a man that only went by the title 'The Executioner,' an expert sniper during the Vietnam War who returned home only to discover that most of his family was dead due to Mafia loan sharks, prompting him to go on a murderous war against mobsters and even those remotely connected to them. Along with him, an infamous vigilante that was reviled by New York City's superhero community for his ultra-violent and murderous tactics, a seemingly harmless middle-aged man who had lost his entire family to a violent home invasion, another Vietnam veteran who only a few years prior was held up as a hero by the people of New York for brutally gunning down several criminals involved with prostitution, and lastly a young traumatized woman who violently avenged her rape only a few months ago filled out the rest of the Vigilante League. Even though the League was formed in 1978, and had only existed for a few months, it still managed to rake up a high kill-count in New York and elsewhere. When Black Liberation League confronted the Vigilantes in their safehouse near Yancy Street Drumm attempted to convince them that while their goals were noble their means would likely do doing but make the criminals they wished to stop more paranoid, causing them to acquire more weapons and recruit more followers to defend themselves. Unfortunately, the Executioner and rest of his League believed otherwise, with Travis Bickle in particular refusing to listen to "A bunch of spooks," and opening fire on the League. Immediately, a firefight broke out between the two Leagues with Jones being severely wounded by Bickle, who himself was killed by Shaft. While the exchange was intense by all accounts the Black Liberation League were the victors with Drumm's magic giving them an edge that the Vigilantes could not counter. In end, the Vigilantes retreated but not before the Executioner, trying to cover his remaining comrades escape, was himself cut down like Bickle. Little was heard about the surviving Vigilantes after this confrontation and after a few months, it was assumed that they had disbanded rather than continue on without their leader. Drumm was reported to have been deeply disturbed by the ordeal with the Vigilantes and blamed himself for how things turned out given his failure to reach them. (1978)
- Late in the year of 1979, Eric Brooks finally accepted Drumm's offer and joined the Black Liberation League. In hindsight, his arrival on the team was well-timed as they were soon alerted about a growing supernatural threat brewing in New Orleans by Dr. Garrett Williams, an archaeologist, exorcist, and an old friend of the League. Regrettably, by the time the League made it to New Orleans Williams himself had been possessed by the very threat he had warned the League about. The demon and trickster god Eshu, an old enemy of Williams and a powerful minion to the Devil himself, had masterminded a plot to both satisfy his desire for vengeance against Williams and also win approval from his infernal master by destroying one of the League's that foiled the most recent attempt at siring the Anti-Christ. Luring the League to a secluded graveyard, Eshu used his demonic powers to summon a horde of zombies against them. Unlike the walking corpses that rampaged across Philadelphia in 1968 and 1978, these poor creatures were still technically alive but put under the spell of Eshu that made them mindless servants. Given that the League was unwilling to kill, or seriously maim these innocent victims, and with Drumm's own magic being unable to counter the voodoo sorcery of Eshu, the League almost found itself overwhelmed by the zombies. Ultimately, it was Brooks who saved the League. Since he didn't have the close personal connection to Williams that the rest of the League did, it was easier for him to make the decision to fire at the possessed Williams, killing him instantly. Immediately, the zombies regained their senses and Eshu vacated Williams' dead body. He attempted to find a new host but Drumm, although momentarily in shock over Williams' sudden death, was able to react fast enough to magical seal the demon away in a djembe before the demon could possess another of his friends. Afterwards, the League considered kicking Brooks out due to his unilateral killing but Drumm, who grieved the most over Williams' death, ultimately decided against it believing that Brooks made the right choice as tragic as it was. (1979)
- Once again working with Cleopatra Jones, the League was able to uncover a decade's old conspiracy within the international spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D. With a young Nicholas Fury acting as their informant they learned that S.H.I.E.L.D had been compromised by agents of the Nazi terror cult HYDRA for decades, starting as far back as the final months of World War Two when numerous high-level Nazi scientists and agents like Arnim Zola, Paula von Gunther, and Heinrich Zemo were seemingly defecting to the Allies, but in truth still held their allegiance to HYDRA and its supremacist ideologies. For years they corrupted S.H.I.E.L.D from the inside, eventually reaching the height of their influence in the 60s when race relations were at a boiling point in the United States. Realizing that leaking this information to the press would likely just result in the story being buried and traced back to Fury, the League instead opted to use the information to attack several S.H.I.E.L.D facilities that were secretly fronts for HYDRA operations all the while collecting more damning evidence of S.H.I.E.L.D's corruption. Eventually, after foiling a plot by HYDRA to replace the relatively progressive President Jimmy Carter with a Life Model Decoy android, the League went directly to the President himself with their findings. Notably, they did so in a rather dramatic fashion, literally teleporting into the Oval Office using Drumm's magic. Unable to deny the evidence brought before him but unwilling to expose and dismantle S.H.I.E.L.D given the huge political fallout that would bring, he instead offered the League a compromise. S.H.I.E.L.D would publicly undergo a massive restructuring and budget cut that clandestinely would serve as house cleaning of suspected HYDRA agents and influences in the organization. The spy agency would still exist, but as a shell of its former self until it could be proven to be no longer compromised. Conversely, the government funds normally put aside for S.H.I.E.L.D would be redirected towards the creation of a new secret spy agency, one charged with protecting African Americans and acting as a watchdog for other major government agencies that may be susceptible to supremacist corruption. Carter offered the League control of this organization. Realizing that despite their reservations that this would be their best shot at taking down S.H.I.E.L.D, the League agreed to Carter's deal and formed B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. (1980)
Dissolution – With the creation of B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D, the Black Liberation League was no longer necessary, and it was decided by Drumm that it would disband so that the former team could focus on building and leading a much bigger organization.
Final Fates
Drumm was the first Chief of B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D for several years before retiring in 1992 and passing on the leadership of the spy agency to Jones, who had become his second-in-command over the years. Drumm was not idle during his retirement and continued to fight the forces of exploitation as the superhero Brother Voodoo, even teaming up with the tragic FBI League in 1994. We know at some point in the 2000s, Drumm became the Sorcerer Supreme after Stephen Strange, a longtime friend of Drumm, retired from the position. Given that the current Sorcerer Supreme at the time this chronicle was written is now William Kaplan, we can safely assume that Drumm likewise eventually retired and passed the title on as well. Beyond that little of Drumm's current whereabouts is known.
Shaft only stayed with B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D for a year or two before getting fed up with the number of regulations that the organization imposed upon him. On his own again, Shaft continued as a private detective. He eventually got married and had a son who took up the family business.
As mentioned earlier, Jones stayed on with B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D, becoming Drumm's second and eventually his successor. He would retire in 1999.
Brown's final fate would be tragic. Like Shaft, she eventually came to find B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D's rules confining and the entire organization incapable of doing what had to be done to clean the streets of crime. Though Drumm tried his best convince her to stay, Brown left and once again became a vigilante. Without the emotional support of her former teammates, Brown started to devolve, becoming increasingly more violent and indiscriminate towards those she saw as irredeemable. Eventually B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O. D's was forced to intervene when they found out that Brown was planning on assassinating President Ronald Reagan. Brown has held at Mayfield Psychiatric Hospital for several years for mental treatment. She was eventually released in 1997. She currently works as a nurse at Mayfield.
Priest, on the other hand, would go on to have a much happier departure from B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D in 1990. Still fearful of being caught by his former criminal associates, Priest and his long-time girlfriend eloped to Europe where they married and gained new identities. While reports are uncertain, it is said that Priest and his wife are living quite comfortably in Paris.
Brooks never joined B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D and went back to his solidarity existence as a vampire-hunter after the Black Liberation League was disbanded.
Author's Notes – First I want to say that I've gone back and done some editing on some of my previous Leagues. It's mostly grammar corrections and fixing tense issues, but for the 80s League, I added a whole other adventure and made some more significant changes.
I got to say. At first, I was really struggling with this League. A problem that wasn't helped by me accidentally forgetting to save a losing a couple hours' worth of writing. But once I figured out how Blackenstein and Get Out could have a crossover everything else fell into place. Hope y'all enjoy the chapter. The next one is my rendition of the villainous Twilight Heroes.