REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 016

Are you ready for some comic book versions of real life and fictional people? I sure hope so! 

Adolf Hitler:  

Premier Grahvin of the fictional African country of Cadiwa is a pretty broad pastiche of the Axis leaders, but the sheer speed at which he accelerates into full-blown dictator mode (before Mr Mystic turns up to reveal that he had not, in fact killed the king of Cadiwa and was not, in fact, in charge) must be highlighted. (The Spirit Section, 21 July, 1940)

Likewise, Karoly Gore is an Axis dictator pastiche from a Mr Mystic story a few weeks earlier (but I read them out of order so it's okay) (The Spirit Section, 9 June, 1940) 

Axtrol here is a third in our series of Axis dictator pastiches, and he's possibly the biggest shithead of the bunch. (The Spirit, "Dr Prince von Kalm", 17 November, 1940)

Nargoff, aka the Leader, is either a would-be North American dictator or the agent of a European one looking to set up a local franchise. Either way, the Spirit burns down his fake island/submarine base and then engineers a situation in which the might-makes-right philosophies espoused in Nargoff's book "The New Order" are explored by way of Nargoff and his burly assistant Max being stranded on a small boat in the Caribbean with a limited amount of water. (The Spirit, "The Leader", 29 December, 1940)

Don Juan: 

Mr Mystic and his fiance Elena encounter a whole castle full of ghosts in the woods of Spain, among whom is the spirit of the entirely fictional man Don Juan, who mistakes Elena for his missing wife Ysabel and almost kills her before himself being double-killed by Mystic. (The Spirit Section, 15 December, 1940)

Khufu aka Cheops: 

When Mr Mystic decides to go back in time to the creation of the Great Pyramid of Giza, he is mistaken for the god Ammon Ra and of course just immediately gets his grubby little mitts all over the progress of history. It's kind of okay, though, because the history he's in seems to already be a big mess - for instance, while Pharaoh Cheops is indeed the ruler supposed to have commissioned the building of the Great Pyramid c. 2600 BCE, the Babylonian invasion they're worried about is tricky because a) Babylonia is dated from 1890 BCE b) the earliest Nebuchadnezzar I can find ascended to the throne in 1121 BCE and c) given the cultural milieu that this comic was written in they're probably talking about Nebuchadnezzar II, the one from the Bible, who did invade Egypt a couple of times but didn't come to power until 605 BCE. Like I said: a real mess. Plus, Amun didn't even become associated with Ra until the 16th Century BCE!

There's also this guy, Prince Sargon of Babylonia, and while there's a part of me that wants to say that he's supposed to be Sargon II (the most famous Sargon, 722 BCE), I don't reckon that Bob Powell, mad as he was with creative power when he wrote this story, would make someone the son of someone else born a hundred years after them. Right? (Sargon does return as a time-travelling mummy out for revenge in the next installment of Mr Mystic but this alas does nothing to clear up the puzzle of his identity) (The Spirit Section, 29 September 1940)

Misc Arthurian Figures: 

During one of his jaunts into the past, the Ghost finds himself in Camelot, where he meets a very small selection of Arthurian figures (all of the big name knights are away on the Crusades, we are told). These include Sir Kay, who acts like a weird creep (accurate) and gets beaten up for his efforts, King Arthur, an amiable doormat, and Merlin the Magician, who is portrayed as a fraud with no magical power who sells out Arthur as soon as he gets the chance. An interesting choice for a comic about a magic man, but perfectly in keeping with 1940s secular values. (Thrilling Comics 005, 1940) 

Myrna Loy & William Powell: 

A simple flip of the last names renders Myrna Loy and William Powell into Myrna Powell and William Loy on this marquee, with a bonus "Boris Scarloff" for Boris Karloff. (The Spirit Section, 10 November, 1940)

Ty Cobb: 

If there's anything more tedious than a 1940s sports comic it's a 1940s hillbilly comic, so trust me when I say that this one-off about a baseball-playing hillbilly named Obadiah "Pie" Gobb is one of the the worst things I have ever read. 

What's even more egregious is the fact that while Pie Gobb and his new teammate Moe de Muggio (the World's Greatest Slugger, thanks to the fact that he eats his Fleeties every morning) are easy to identify as Ty Cobb and Joe DiMaggio, respectively, the rest of his team also have goofy names but as far as I can tell none of them are also puns on famous baseball players, meaning that I just spent all that time playing rhyming games on Wikipedia for no reason. (The Funnies 047, 1940)