REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 003

Once more they ride: the REAL PEOPLE OF COMICS

Abraham Lincoln:

Lincoln's shadow is used to symbolize the power of the US exerting a calming effect on the European belligerents. (Smash Comics 005, 1939)

Adolf Hitler:

Chancellor Rudolf of Wurtberg here is a more dynamic than usual Hitler analog (Smash Comics 004, 1939)

Misc minor appearances:

Getting some bad news about Nazi operations in Yugoslavia (Blue Ribbon Comics 015, 1941)

Captain Kidd:

For no particular reason this aviator/ adventurer is named after him. (Fantastic Comics 001, 1939)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt:

Discusses the threat of the Black Hand With J. Edgar Hoover (Blue Ribbon Comics 016, 1941)

Misc Minor Appearances: appraised of the danger of invasion by Vlamir Koran (Smash Comics 001, 1939) 

Seen ordering Americans in Europe to return home; meets Black Ace/X after he saves the transports that are returning them. (Smash Comics 003, 1939)

Determines to defensively arm the US (Smash Comics 005, 1939)

H.V. Kaltenborn:

Radio commentator, appears as "H.V. Baltenhorn" (Blue Ribbon Comics 017, 1941)

John Dillinger:

Gangster "Jack Dilger" is vexed by Ty-Gor. (Blue Ribbon Comics 015, 1941) 

Joseph Stalin:

The same 3/4 perspective shot always used for FDR, now in Stalin form! (Smash Comics 002, 1939)

Mahatma Gandhi:

Aside from the pun name "Mohlasos Candhi", this version of Gandhi is hitting a lot of the overt and casually racist checkmarks of the 1940s, including a disregard for the difference between India and the Middle East and a complete indifference for the distinction between Hindus and Muslims. Oh and also it's another classic adventure based on propping up colonial rule. (Blue Ribbon Comics 017, 1941)

Shirley Temple:

As "Curley Semple" ("Dixie Dugan" comic strip, 1935)

Sherlock Holmes:

Philpot Veep (along with his sidekick Waldo) was one of many humourous takes on Sherlock Holmes in Golden Age comics. Note also the wanted poster for G. Brenner, almost certainly referring to George Brenner, creator of the Clock. (Smash Comics 001, 1939)

BONUS PHILPOT VEEP, DRUG FIEND

COMIC BOOK DRAMA: in Smash Comics 005, George Brenner strikes back! Here's Philpot Veep scribe Joe Devlin depicted AS A CLOWN! EPIC GOLDEN AGE BEEF SPOTTED

Woodrow Wilson:

Meets and gives sage advice to young Blane Whitney, who would grow up to become MLJ hero the Wizard. I am legitimately flabbergasted to see Wilson show up in this capacity. (Top-Notch Comics 001, 1939)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 529: RATZER

(Blue Ribbon Comics 018, 1941)

Ratzer is a Nazi agent who tangles with American-serving-in-the British-Army Corporal Collins a couple of times. There's not a lot to say about him, honestly: the first time he meets Collins he's trying to spring a load of Nazi prisoners and destroy a lot of British gun cotton in then-Bombay, while the second time he's stealing oil in Iraq. He is not notably villainous, particularly in the ranks of Nazi super-villains.

He does, however, have a certain style, so I'll speak on that. Starting with his plane! I really like the question mark! Custom planes are absolutely the on the list of things that make aviator characters at least a bit interesting.

I wouldn't call Ratzer's costume one of the greatest of all time but it does have some flair, particularly with the little scarf dangling off the top of his head. And as a bonus it doesn't have any swastikas on it, which I appreciate a lot more than I did before I started posting pictures of super-villains online regularly.

Ratzer's second appearance doesn't really involve flying and so he's dressed in what I guess is his Desert Combat Costume - perhaps he has a whole closet full of slight variations on the theme, like a 1990s action figure line. Look out for Ocean Exploration Ratzer!

In any case, I like this costume best - he looks a bit like a pro wrestler.

At the end of his second appearance Ratzer gets away again and just... never returns. This is probably down to the end of Blue Ribbon Comics when Corporal Collins moved over to being a supporting character to MLJ's other military hero Sergeant Boyle. No room for the secondary characters to have their own villains, after all.

REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 002

How did these real people come to be trapped in the 2D realm? We may never know

Adolf Hitler:

This one is more tenuous but Blitz Krieg here is Fuehrer of the pseudo-Nazi Bundonian forces in America. He's not not a Hitler analog. (Blue Ribbon Comics 006, 1940)

This is Boris Thorax, first foe of Rex Dexter of Mars, who collaborates with the Moon People in order to take over the Earth of 2000 AD. Look at that hair: that's a Hitler analog. (Mystery Men Comics 001, 1939)

Alexander the Great:

Time traveller Stuart Taylor and pals visit Ancient Macedonia for a larf and get mixed up with Alexander and for some reason the Amazons in an adventure that will inspire much eye-rolling in the modern reader. (Jumbo Comics 017, 1940)

Charlie Chaplin:

A "Harly Shaplyn", attacked by "Bundonians" for making a version of the Great Dictator. (Blue Ribbon Comics 006, 1940)

Samuel Goldwyn: 

The bald guy in the Harly Shaplyn panels above is named Sam Wyngold and it took me a concerningly long time to realize that he was an analog of Samuel Goldwyn, the G in MGM.

Count Zaroff:

Aristocrat Baron von Krasner wants a little of that "Most Dangerous Game" action, so he wrecks a ship and hunts adventurer Gypsy Johnson and his companions on his be-castled island (Blue Ribbon Comics 006, 1940)

Heinrich Himmler:

Unnamed head of secret police for Mr Justice foe and Hitler analog the Dictator. Ends up skewered by his own men. (Blue Ribbon Comics 014, 1941)

Hermann Goering:

As "Field Marshall Boreing" is manipulated into killing/ being killed by other Nazi analogs by Mr Justice. Boreing is the only survivor but Mr Justice gets him in the next issue. (Blue Ribbon 015, 1941)

Kit Carson:

It's one of those "why did they bother obfuscating this" moments: "Kit Karston" here is probably meant to Kit Carson, formerly widely regraded as a hero of the Old West and now as a mass murderer. "Gravestone" is obviously Tombstone, Arizona. (Blue Ribbon Comics 007, 1940)

Joachim von Ribbentrop:

Nazi foreign minister. As "von Fibbenfop" is manipulated into killing/ being killed by other Nazi analogs by Mr Justice. (Blue Ribbon 015, 1941)

Joseph Goebbels:

The confusingly-named Deenbee serves as Minister of Propaganda for Mr Justice foe the Dictator (Blue Ribbon Comics 013, 1941) 

Two issues later, Deenbee is out and "Gobbels" is manipulated into killing/ being killed by other Nazi analogs by Mr Justice. (Blue Ribbon 015, 1941)

Mahatma Gandhi:

Cast as "Mahatmama", leader of a group of Italian-allied North African Arabs, a choice as baffling as it was racist (though it does fit with the sort of broad confusion between the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent I have noticed in other comics of the period) (Blue Ribbon Comics 013, 1941)

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 009

All Archie/MLJ edition!

Rang-a-Tang the Wonder Dog:

The Wonder Dog is an uncommon but distinct type of comic book hero and Rang-a-Tang here is typical of the breed: essentially a dog with human intelligence. Rang-a-Tang escaped from a cruel but evidently very talented circus dog trainer and almost immediately teamed up with police Detective Hy Speed, who was perhaps lashing out at the world for his own moniker when he gave his new dog one of the all-time worst names. I mean, I get that it's a knockoff of Rin-Tin-Tin but he also had a very bad name. 

By issue seven of Blue Ribbon Comics Rang and Hy had moved to Hollywood and acquired a third companion in Richy Waters, aka Richy the Amazing Boy, and apparently free-range child actor with no adult supervision to speak of. Richy gradually usurps Rang-a-Tang's place as the strip's protagonist over the next year or so, which is disappointing to those of us who enjoy dogs more than child actors. (Blue Ribbon Comics 001-022, 1939-1942)

Bob Phantom:

As far as his super-hero identity goes, Bob Phantom is fairly regular: he shares with many other Golden Age heroes the power to suddenly appear - in a cloud of smoke in his case (though crucially he is generating the smoke as opposed to appearing in a preexisting cloud like the Vision. Or preexisting fire like the Flame, preexisting water like the Shark, etc. You get it) - and also has some degree of intangibility - definitely enough that bullets don't affect him. Per his name, he's very into spooking crooks out via psychological torment.

Bob Phantom's civilian identity is that of Walt Whitney, writer of the newspaper gossip column "On Broadway" which he uses to taunt both criminals and the New York District Attorney for some reason. Possibly just to be a scamp. (Blue Ribbon Comics 002, 1939)

(between Bob Phantom, Top Ten character Jack Phantom and cartoon character Danny Phantom there are just enough characters with "Phantom" as a last name to make me think I'm missing some sort of very obvious pun)

UPDATE

UPDATE 1940 

Corporal Collins, Infantryman:

An American serving in the French Army (and later the British Army after the Nazis conquer France), Corporal Collins is for no apparent reason a super soldier with crack reflexes,  a danger sense that allows him to dodge enemy bullets and a "fabri-steel flexible repeller" that allows him to effectively deflect incoming bullets back to their source. The more overtly super-heroic aspects of  Collins get toned down after a couple of issues and he becomes just another comic book military paragon with a comic relief sidekick named Slapsie and a rivalry with fellow MLJ military hero Sergeant Boyle and his sidekick Twerp. (Blue Ribbon Comics 002, 1939)

Hercules:

It's time for another Hercules! This Hercules is the real deal Olympian, sent to Earth by Zeus to combat evil (and possibly also as a prank? He seems to be completely unprepared when he pops up in the middle of a New York City analog). Functionally, he's exactly the same as the other two Herculeses we've seen so far: a great big shirtless blonde guy with super strength. He even gets a job as a sideshow strongman like the both of them.

The real innovation in this version of Hercules is the assertion that his famous Twelve Labours were in fact "wiping out the evils of Ancient Greece" and then drawing parallels between them and his adventures in the modern day, including:

- the Slaying of the Nemean Lion -> killing gang boss Leo Nymia, the Lion of the Underworld (Hercules also steals Nymia's suit as a version of wearing the lion's hide)

- the Slaying of the Lernean Hydra ->  deposing political fixer Hy Dralerny and his "Nameless Nine" organization

- the Cleaning of the Augean Stables -> cleaning up crooked gambling at the local racetrack - very tortured and involves both a gambler named Augie King, and two jockeys named Tom and Dick Rivers who had to be "set in the right channels"

- the Capture of the Erymanthian Boar -> very disappointing. Hercules captures a fat pseudo-Nazi General (who isn't even named Hairy Man Ian) and because he shoots down a bunch of planes while doing it shoehorns in the Slaying of the Stymphalian Birds. Absolutely the worst of the bunch.

- Stealing the girdle of Hippolyta -> Contending with the villainess Natch, about whom we shall speak anon.

Sadly for the mythological completionists out there, Hercules stopped appearing after just six labours, so we'll never get to see him take on Mary Diomedes the Cannibal Equestrian or twin cattle rustlers Gary and Gerry Young. (Blue Ribbon Comics 004, 1940)

NOTES - APRIL 2024

Nazi Superweapon:

There's nothing terribly special about this giant dirigible that the Phantom Sub encounters after it starts to fly as well as submerge, but I do appreciate a dirigible that can not only camouflage itself as a stormcloud but has a proper old-school lightning cannon mounted underneath. And is filled with hydrogen, nuch to its later detriment. (Blue Bolt v2 007, 1941)

Honours:

Corporal Collins, Infantryman earns the French Croix de Guerre. (Blue Ribbon Comics 002, 1939)

Rang-a-Tang the Wonder Dog is made a full-fledged policeman in the NYPD (Blue Ribbon Comics 001, 1939)

Assuming that this guy knows what he's talking about, Rang-a-Tang the Wonder Dog probably gets the Congressional Medal (maybe of Honor, maybe another one) (Blue Ribbon Comics 004, 1940)

Rang-a-Tang the WOnder Dog gets place of honour in a circus parade. (Blue Ribbon Comics 013, 1941)

Place Names:

Hercules travels to Missiansas, only our second fake state after the Whip's "New Texirona" (Blue Ribbon Comics 005, 1940)

Costumes:

Speaking of Hercules, this version of Zeus from his adventures might just be the greatest outlier in general dress and design I have ever seen (Blue Ribbon Comics 005, 1940)

Aliens:

Really enjoy the vibe of these Martian invaders. Screw cold rationalist aliens; bring on the party aliens! (Blue Ribbon Comics 008, 1941)

Cops Shoot:

The police of whatever town Mr Justice lives in attempt to summarily execute him for fleeing a third degree interrogation about him supposedly being bribed by a fake medium. (Blue Ribbon Comics 012, 1941)

And over in whatever town Captain Flag calls home the cops attempt to gun him down as he breaks jail to stop the Black Hand from carrying out the scheme that he is in jail for due to those same cops being credulous morons. (Blue Ribbon Comics 018, 1941)