REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 025

If comics are reflections of the real world then why should we be surprised to find them so full of real people?

Adolf Hitler:

Hiller is the "mad dictator" who inspires Hercules to reincarnate and eventually become Marvel Boy. He's about as close as you get to putting a Hitler in your comic as you can get without actually saying the name. The whole name. The "t" part. (Daring Mystery Comics 006, 1940)

This otherwise-unnamed Fuehrer of a likewise nameless underground nation that vexes the America inhabited by Captain Daring in 3051 CE is a clear inspired-by-Hitler type. (Daring Mystery Comics 007, 1941)

Citizen V takes a break from his propaganda campaign in Occupied Europe to sneak into Germany and become a member of the Punched Hitler in the Nose Club. (Daring Mystery Comics 008, 1942)

This version of Hitler appears in a long dream sequence in the comedic Army Life strip "Private Rook" that appears to exist solely to make a joke about him being gay (the bit where he is the Princess Tanya's Fairy Godmother, specifically). This isn't great, but it is remarkable for being the only time I personally have seen such a thing in a Golden Age comic. (Army and Navy Comics 003, 1941)

Though Cap punches Hitler on the cover of his very first issue, it is in fact Bucky who lands the first blow on him (and Goering) in the pages of a comic. (Captain America Comics 002, 1941)

the Borgias:

Cesare, Lucrezia and the rest of the Borgia family might not actually appear in comics all that often, but they certainly do figure into their plots via the absolute piles of poisoned and poison-adjacent artifacts that are attributed to them. Borgia trinkets crop up so frequently, in fact, that I am surprised that it's taken us this long to encounter one, in the form of a hollow silver statuette that contains a deadly contact poison. (Fantastic Comics 018, 1941)

Fort Knox:

Stardust the Super Wizard's final foe, the unfortunately-named "Slant-Eye," was a classic comic book Fort Knox robber. (Fantastic Comics 016, 1941)

Francis Biddle:

Major Victory has to consult with the US Attorney General in 1941, and in 1941 the US Attorney General was Francis Biddle. The man in the panel above is not Francis Biddle. (Dynamic Comics 002, 1941)

Franklin D Roosevelt:

Seen ordering the creation of a super-soldier, i.e. Captain America, to combat domestic espionage. (Captain America Comics 001, 1941)

Fritz Kuhn:

Fritz Knoll, purveyor of domestic espionage, is probably a reference to the chief Bundist. (Fantastic Comics 021, 1941)

Henry L Stimson:

The US didn't even have a Secretary of Defense until after WWII, so I am not sure who this guy hanging out with Samson is supposed to be. The analogous position at the time this comic came out was Secretary of War, and that was Henry L Stimson, and this is not him. A true mystery man in all senses. (Fantastic Comics 023, 1941)

J Edgar Hoover:

J Arthur Grover, head of the FBI and clear J Edgar Hover stand-in, is also the man in charge of the program that would eventually be known as Project: Rebirth, aka the super-soldier program that produces Captain America later in this same issue. (Captain America Comics 001, 1941)

Tutankhamen:

Some of King Tut's grave goods are among the items stolen by the Butterfly. (Captain America Comics 003 1941)

ALIENS AND SO FORTH ROUND-UP 038

Where are we going to put all of these aliens? 

Undergrounders: 

I want to call these guys mole men who invade the surface world in the year 3050 CE, but looking at the battle scene and the remainder of this adventure I reckon that Abovegrounders of that particular future also look all bald and gangly. It's a whole world of mole men! Science adventurer Captain Daring kills the Undergrounders' underground Fuehrer and installs his own ladyfriend as the new Queen of the Underground, which has to be an improvement. (Daring Mystery Comics 007, 1941)

Juno Men:

These fellows hail from the planet Juno and are invading the Earth of the far future of the year 3000. We don't really learn any more than this because we are seeing these events play out from the persepctive of a time-travelling Minimidget and Ritty, and so not only are they without context but they are too small to ask a passerby to explain just what the heck is happening. They are driven off with what I would call embarrassing ease. (Amazing-Man Comics 014, 1940)

Followers of Elo: 

Underwater adventurer the Shark is possibly my favourite Centaur Comics character, because he spends a lot of his time palling around with his dad, Father Neptune. A little-explored aspect of this father-son relationship is that it is part of a Phantom-like generational super-hero legacy, with each Shark serving for 500 years before becoming Father Neptune and passing his legacy on to his son. One of the few times that this arrangement is explored is in Amazing-Man Comics 014, when Father Neptune tells the story of how he served on a pirate crew for a while back when he was the Shark, and how in 1664 his crewmates were all slaughtered in the name of the Great God Elo by some lumpy-headed green guys on an island off South America.

Cut to 1940, and the Shark and Father Neptune decide that a trip to that same island would be a perfect father-son outing. They find that the Great God Elo has only two followers left, and that one of them is a capable enough scientist that he has developed super-hero strength sleep gas grenades. Father and son are swiftly taken prisoner.

The unnamed scientist has also created an interplanetary teleportation device, which he employs to teleport in some...

Martians: 

Specifically, a pretty lucky first teleport brings him Prince Zog, son of Diggo, King of Mars. But just why bring Martians to Earth? We will never know, because Zog is a very rude warmonger and he has electric eyes. The tribe of Elo is down to its very last member and he has sensibly vacated the area.

No aliens are going to invade the Earth on the Shark's watch, and he KOs on after another as they pour out of the teleport beam, until a lucky punch sends one crashing into the equipment, wrecking it.

Though the teleporter is no longer spewing out Martians, there are still a pile of knocked-out ones lying around. How to tie up this loose end? Why, have Father Neptune, who missed the fight due to still being knocked out, throw a bucket of water on them so that they will wake up and engage him in the manly art of fisticuffs, of course! And then make it so that Martians are water soluble! Gruesome! (Amazing-Man Comics 015, 1940)

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 088

To continue my recent trend, 3/4 of these characters are very unlikely to appear in a modern Marvel comic and the fourth is decently likely to.

Mr Million:

Mr Million is kind of what everyone yaps about wanting Bruce Wayne to be: a rich guy who uses his money to help people instead of beating people up, and while that might be better for society in this completely fictional version of New York City it's pretty boring to read about. But this one orphan kid is no longer being bullied and his child labour is netting him enough to support his sick mother, so that's something, I guess. (Daring Mystery Comics 007, 1941)

Categorized in: Alphanumeric (a Million), Generica (Misters)

Captain Daring:

Captain Daring is the square-jawed hero of America in the year 3051 CE, and while short-lived sci-fi adventurers are so plentiful in both the Golden and Silver Ages that I don't usually bother with them, this is another early Jack Kirby strip. As such, you get the fun of spotting the first-draft versions of things that he will come back to throughout his career, like the cast of differently-shaped background characters above, or the cool armour that everyone sports.

The technology isn't quite as ornate as it will get but you can see the base structures that Kirby will build upon.

And of course there is Kirby's love of a tough woman and (less common but still something that he will return to) his fondness for dog cavalry.

Captain Daring himself is notable for facing both a Hitler-inspired subterranean Fuehrer and Hitler himself, but sadly is dropped from Daring Mystery Comics while he is mind-controlled by the latter. I can't believe that they made Captain Daring a Nazi, etc. (Daring Mystery Comics 007, 1941)

Categorized in: Generica (Captains), Language (Superlatives - Daring), Origins (Heroes of the Future)

the Challenger:

Bill Waring is a physically-unimposing young law student who is almost killed when his father attempts to expose a city-wide corruption scandal and is gunned down in the street. Swearing vengeance, Bill sets out to learn everything he needs to become a crime fighter.

Waring travels the world, mastering among many other things the secrets of: jujutsu, chemistry, nerve control, fencing, the rifle, aerial combat, boxing, swimming, baseball, football and most useful of all, polo. He's the complete crimefighting package!

Finally prepared, Bill dons a costume that is simultaneously kind of cool- and quite goofy-looking (I thought for sure that that little white dot in the centre of his mask was meant to be his nose poking out but I checked the original art and even there it's just a weird white dot) and confronts Dram, the gang boss responsible for his father's death. His name, it turns out, is in reference to his habit of challenging crooks to single combat that is sometimes, as in Dram's case, to the death. The Challenger moves over to Mystic Comics after his first appearance, so we will be seeing him again in a few months to find out if he keeps this habit up. (Daring Mystery Comics 007, 1941)

Categorized in: Activities (Duelling), Origins (Crime Orphans), Powers (Martial Artists, Weapons Masters)

Citizen V:

Citizen V is in reality British Army Lieutenant John Watkins, who is seemingly killed during the evacuation at Dunkirk but is only mostly dead. After being nursed back to help by a kindly French fisherman, Watkins makes his way back to England and is recruited as an officially sanctioned costumed agent to head back into Axis-occupied territory and incite rebellion.

Watkins' Citizen V uniform is interesting for being one of the few super-hero costumes to incorporate Morse code (just above the "V" on his chest) and is also a fine example of how some design choices just don't work. If there is a super suit out there that looks good with both long sleeves and short shorts, it isn't this one. More modern depictions of the character lean into the "military uniform" aspect of the look more and give him pants. It's a bit less super-hero-y but much nicer looking.

Though Watkins does punch plenty of Nazis (and Hitler himself!) in the snoots, the main focus of his mission is in promoting the "V for Victory" campaign, a real-life thing that actually happened in occupied Europe, and which characters such as the Silver Streak and London were also involved in in their respective comics.

Citizen V is of course most well-known today for having been murdered by Baron Zemo, who stole the identity for use as the leader of the first Thunderbolts team. He also has a surprisingly extensive collection of successors, all of whom unfortunately seem to prefer the terrible Zemo version of the costume, which I had always assumed was purposefully designed to look like an exercise in patriotic bad taste but which is evidently preferable to wearing a little service cap. (Daring Mystery Comics 008, 1942)

Categorized in: Alphanumeric (V), Generica (Citizens), Origin (Faked Own Death)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 324: HITLER

(Daring Mystery Comics 008, 1942)

Hitler is going to show up more than a few times as you go through the history of comics, even if you set aside all the times he or a pastiche of him show up as the antagonist of a WWII comic you have reams of They Saved Hitler's Brain or I Recruited the Worst Men of History stories. This here is possibly the first of those and there's not a lot to it.

So: Hitler, Goering, Goebbels and a scientist named von Schalz, seeing the writing on the wall circa 1942, escaped by cryogenically freezing themselves until 3050 AD. Hitler being Hitler, he decides to make another attempt at world conquest. The story ends with von Schalz having hypnotized 3050's protector Captain Daring into leading their armies - presumably the comeuppance would have taken place in the next ish, but this was hampered somewhat by there being none. Hitler's destruction by Captain Daring has existed in potentia for 82 years and counting. Our only consolation must be that this Hitler's defeat in 1942 means that some of the excesses of the Holocaust must have been avoided. 

(and of course Hitler is only a minor super-villain in the context of being in the future fighting space men)