Content Warning: This section of the guide includes depictions of wartime violence and death, as well as depictions of racism and anti-Asian racial slurs.

The epigraph of Part 1 reads: “We must be the great arsenal of democracy,” and is attributed to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a 1940 radio broadcast.

On December 6, 1941, Frank McCoy and Stanley Summers steer their motorboat across Pearl Harbor, heading home. Both boys are 13 years old but are very different. Frank is tall and feels clumsy in his growing body. Stanley possesses a “casual confidence” that Frank envies. They are also different physically: While Frank is white and blue-eyed, Stanley is Japanese American with dark brown eyes and black hair from his white father and his Japanese American mother. Despite their differences, they are like brothers and bond over their shared love of comic books.

As Stanley steers the boat, they brainstorm ideas for the comic book superhero they want to create. Frank is the writer and Stanley is the illustrator. Frank wants to give their character many powers, like Superman. Stanley believes Superman is too overpowered and thus less interesting, and wants to make their hero more like Captain America.