FASCIST GOON CLEARING HOUSE 007

Once again we must discuss the fascists.

The Black League are a pretty regular-style gang of fifth columnists with two points of distinction: 1) they call one another "Black One", which is kind of fun and 2) they are trying to steal this completely awesome WWII mech suit and get beat up by Dick Cole, Wonder-Boy for their efforts. (Blue Bolt v1 011, 1941)

The nation of Bundonia deploys this crack squad of idiots, the Bundsters, to Hollywood to prevent film star Harly Shaplyn from filming the MLJ universe's version of the Great Dictator but they end up getting beaten up by Rang-a-Tang the Wonder Dog, child actor Richy Waters and a bunch of Boy Scouts. (Blue Ribbon Comics 006, 1940)

The Young Bundists were just that: a junior version of the German-American Bund. They made the mistake of recruiting naif/ agent of chaos Ty-Gor and the adult leadership ended up jailed while the youths decided to join the Boy Scouts instead. (Blue Ribbon Comics 014, 1941)

The Purple Shirts are on the one hand a pretty rote version of the American fascist movement working with foreigners of ambiguous origin in order to weaken the US from within and allow leader Angel Cobra and his decidedly Hitlerian lieutenant Scar to take over. On the other hand they have a real place in comics history that their contemporaries never quite manage to match, due to the fact that they are the ones who kill patriot Ezra Smith and trigger his incarnation as the latest version of Uncle Sam. It's not much of a legacy but it's better than most of these fascist shitbirds get.

The Purple Shirts also manage to briefly capture FDR! (National Comics 001, 1940)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 513: DOKTOR KARNO AND SIMBA

(Blue Bolt v2 001, 1941)

Twelve issues into the story of Dick Cole, Wonder-Boy, a wrinkle is introduced: another Wonder-Boy! And rather than the usual thing where an evil lab assistant etc. steals Professor Blair's research for his own use, this story introduces the concept of the double-thought wave. This is a theory that all the times in history that two people have had the same idea at the same time are not as a result of coincidence but rather some sort of psychic connection and thus when Professor Blair had his idea to raise a perfect boy the villainous Doktor Karno in Vienna had it too, and while Blair raises Dick to be a paragon of virtue, Karno is raising his Wonder-Boy Simba to be the perfect criminal.

This would be a parable of nurture over nature if Simba wasn't also specified to be the orphan child of two convicted murderers by the very chatty nun that Karno gets him from. As it stands we have two Wonder-Boys, ignorant of one another, one min/maxed for physical prowess and one with a more morality-heavy build.

Eventually, Karno and Simba hit the Big Apple and are immediately made aware of Dick's exploits. Simba has an immediate hatred for Dick so they hit upon the idea of doing some robberies while dressed as him - frame your rival/ make a few bucks at the same time!

The first hint of a rift in the Doktor Karno/ Simba team come when Simba is so taken with Dick Cole's military school uniform that he insists on joining the school himself.

Meanwhile, Dick is subjected to torture by the local idiot cops until they bother to check his alibi and learn that it is watertight. His initial effort having failed, Simba settles in at Farr Military Academy in what amounts to a bully role with occasional forays into crime with Doktor Karno. In both capacities he regularly gets beaten up by Dick Cole.

Eventually, one of those beatings must have knocked something loose, because Simba realizes that what he really wants is not to destroy Dick Cole but befriend him. 

To that end, Simba tries to reform but Karno blackmails him into one last job, with the clear implication that this will continue ad nauseam. Simba confesses to Dick who helps him go straight - he's put on probation in the school's care and Karno is arrested. A happy ending for all!

BUT HOLD ON KARNO GETS OUT and uses brain surgery to return Simba to his former amoral state!

Simba is almost doomed to be Karno's criminal tool forever but lucky for him Dick gets word, stops him from stealing a mess of radium and forces Karno reverse the operation. Karno is sent packing and the next time he's heard from it's because he's died. Finally a happy ending for everyone! Except Doktor Karno!

Going forward in the Dick Cole strip, Simba is just part of the gang - I just checked and he's in Blue Bolt v10 002, the final issue of the series. Just a second super-powered boy palling around with the first one, though given Novelty Press' commitment to removing all elements of unreality from their comics Simba is eventually just a regular guy with a very weird backstory. Still, it's all very wholesome, although my Been On the Internet Too Much sense tells me that if it were a thing today I'll bet the shippers would have their filthy mitts all over its unintentional homoeroticism.

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 007

All Novelty Press edition!

Dick Cole, Wonder-Boy: 

Dick Cole was left on the front steps of scientist Professor Blair as a baby, and according to him there was an accompanying note requesting that he use his hitherto-untested experimental child-rearing techniques to bring the kid up to be superhuman. And it works! Dick Cole is stronger and faster and smarter than everyone else, and works to help those around him in whatever way he can.

Sadly for me the Dick Cole series is set at a military academy, a surprisingly popular location in early comics. I think that the weird pseudo-military class structure that such places had/have was popular for the easy drama inherent in the noble protagonists being forced to kowtow to undeserving upperclassmen but reading comics about teenagers being assholes to each other for imaginary reasons palls quickly. (ADDENDUM: I wrote this at the beginning of my Dick Cole reading and am pleased to say that the military academy stuff isn't as bad as it is in other comics of the time) (Blue Bolt v1 001, 1940)

BONUS: here's Dick Cole as a very cool baby.

Sub-Zero:

AKA Sub-Zero Man. Part of a Venusian expedition to Earth whose extremely awesome looking spaceship crashed through a frozen gas ball en route, killing everyone but Our Hero, who instead becomes uncontrollably and destructively super-cold.

After a couple of issues of misunderstood wandering and being hunted, Sub-Zero endears himself to the city of Centro... Oregon? by saving it from a volcano. (highway signs place Centro somewhere between Los Angeles and Topeka, so it's probably either Oregon or Northern California, and Oregon is closer to volcano country). There, he settles down to a regular super-hero life, albeit one with no secret identity, Centro slowly becomes NYC like so many other comic book cities and people basically forget the fact that he's an alien. (Blue Bolt v1 001, 1940)

the Phantom Sub: 

A bunch of young men led by Jack Damon and Slim Dugan construct an advanced submarine in secret, as you do, and end up as wanted fugitives dispensing justice on the high seas via an electrified water cannon and some plucky attitudes. (Blue Bolt v1 001, 1940)

Near the end of 1941 the Phantom Sub added the power of flight to its many features, and shortly after that the Phantom Sub crew were able to come in from the cold and begin aiding the US war effort. (Blue Bolt v2 006, 1941)

the White Rider and Super Horse:

During a stagecoach holdup, a youngster named Peter (no last name given) is orphaned and flung into a river that eventually flows into the mysterious Lost Valley, where he befriends and is raised by an old hermit named Jeb and a cool horse named Cloud. Eventually, the hermit dies of puma and Peter and Cloud make their way to the outside world where it turns out that due to the valley's depth it somehow had more gravity and thus the two are super strong. Anyhow, Peter immediately hunts down and kills the bandit who orphaned him and resolves to stamp out crime as the White Rider and Super Horse. 

Despite the superpowers the White Rider is a bit of a dud, hero-wise and Super Horse does most of the heavy lifting, both literally and metaphorically. (Blue Bolt v1 001)

NOTES - MARCH 2024 PART 2

I used up all the tags on the first one.

Honours:

Dick Cole gets the Carnegie Hero Fund Medal for saving a baby and a shirtless lunatic (Blue Bolt v1 001, 1940)

Dick Cole also saves the Princess of the fictional European nation of Dania from pseudo-Nazis and is awarded the Danian Order of the Exalted Knight for his efforts. (Blue Bolt v1 012, 1941)

Sub-Zero saves the city of Centro from a volcano and gets a banquet in his honour (and more importantly goes from a wanted fugitive to a civic hero) (Blue Bolt v1 002, 1940)

Ten issues later, Sub-Zero saves the South American nation of Latonia from invasion by crypto-Nazis and is given an unspecified medal (Blue Bolt v1 012, 1941)

Train engineer Runaway Ronson gets a medal from the Governor of... some state for saving a town from a flood with his train - the story takes place in the Mississippi River Valley which is not exactly a precise geographical location. (Blue Bolt v1 003, 1940)

Runaway Ronson and his pal Pat also get a personal visit from FDR after stopping some spies from their nefarious train-based plotting (Blue Bolt v1 006, 1940)

Sergeant Spook is honoured by former President of the US and current president of Ghost Town, George Washington! (Blue Bolt v1 008, 1941)

Trophy Room:

Sub-Zero just gives away a huge ruby to his gal pal Janet Ware at the end of his encounter with the Great Green Turtle (Blue Bolt v1 004)

Kid inventor Edison Bell wins the *checks notes* National Gas Midget Auto Race complete with a trip to the South Seas (Blue Bolt v2 004, 1941)

Cops Shooting at Fleeing Suspects:

PANG! PANG! The cops are trying to shoot fleeing teen Dick Cole in the back after he is framed for murder. (Blue Bolt v1 007, 1940)

Twice!

Crossdressing:

Sub-Zero might just have the least amount of gender panic of any crossdressing Golden Age hero bar Madam Fatal. (Blue Bolt v2 003, 1941)