1943 Graphic Novel Idea

1943 takes place in an alternate 20th Century, in which much of the technology available is electronically powered and based upon designs by Nikola Tesla. The story opens on June 30th, 1908 at a remote laboratory near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River. Mad scientist Nikola Tesla has nearly completed a devastating directed energy weapon that he could use to take over the world. Before he can complete the weapon, the laboratory is broken into by a squad of American heroes, called the Freedom Force; consisting of heroes the Shade, twins Stars and Stripes, fighter pilot Aviator, and leader Captain Freedom. During the fight, the core of the energy weapon, an unstable precursor to plutonium, becomes damaged and explodes; creating an explosion that devastated the surrounding countryside and killing Freedom Force and supposedly Tesla with them.

The story then jumps ahead to the early years of World War II and the Germans have strange war machines seemingly powered by inventions of Tesla's design. A reporter named Ace discovers a secret Allied conference consisting of President Roosevelt and Albert Einstein, among others, and a new Freedom Force who are sent on a mission to stop the German war machine and find out who's responsible for the creation of the German's new weapons.