Thursday, December 22, 2022

MINOR SUPER-HERO 028: USA, THE SPIRIT OF OLD GLORY

(Feature Comics 042-048, 1941)


USA, the Spirit of Old Glory might just be the most overtly patriotic super-hero concept ever, which is saying something. Especially as she is a Quality Comics character, a company that also featured Uncle Sam (the literal Spirit of America) and Miss America (literally given her powers by the Statue of Liberty) in their roster.


USA was originally a little girl who saw Betsy Ross sew the first American flag and was just so friggin' jazzed about the whole thing (and by that locket full of threads) that she immediately ran out into the rain and died. Betsy Ross dropping that last stitch was so metaphorically powerful that an anime dust ring blew out from it and knocked that kid into the Spirit Realm.


Then, in 1941, she returns! Conspicuously aged up about a decade so that she can fly around with her back arched all the time without it being weird! And she uses her magic flag and torch of liberty to kill lots of spies and traitors!

Cards on the table: I'm a Canadian, so I'm always looking at American patriotism through an anthropological lens - Canadian patriotism is mostly about being quietly smug about not being American. Like I said before: this is possibly the most ultrapatriotic origin story of all time: the creation myth of America, as it is happening, is so powerful that it creates this super-human. Uncle Sam might be the spirit of America, but the other countries all have spirits too - John Bull shows up once or twice to help beat ass and all of the Nazi-occupied countries languish in a sort of mystic otherworld waiting to be liberated. Uncle Sam being an unstoppable juggernaut is just American exceptionalism, while this here is the mythologization of America.

ADDENDUM:

USA's second appearance introduces perhaps the most on-the-nose weakness for a patriotic hero:


Yes, all one must do to thwart her is to literally hide behind the flag. These men are kidnapping a man's child in order to prevent him from testifying about their spy activities, and she knows that. Remarkable!


ADDENDUM II:

Surprising nobody, when USA adopts a secret identity in order to do defense work, she goes by the name Usa.

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