REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 004

More of those pesky real people have gotten into my comic books!

Andrew Jackson:

Character Keith Kornell, aka the West Pointer, is a descendant of Andrew Jackson, something you would perhaps be more proud of in 1939 than today. (Top-Notch Comics 001, 1939)

Benito Mussolini:

He's a fairly oblique reference to Benito Mussolini but I reckon that up-and-coming Filipino dictator Remy Mussoni fits the brief. (Wonderworld Comics 008, 1939)

Billy the Kid:

Appears in a questionably true story told by character Windy Parks (Western Picture Stories 004, 1937)

the Dionne Quintuplets:

"Ad-Ventures at the Circus" was a recurring feature throughout the life of Star Comics (1937-1939), and it's a fascinating artifact of the time that someone more qualified than me should write about some day. Long story short it was a twee little comic about advertising mascots going to the circus to watch other advertising mascots perform. There's maybe a 75/25 split between the Surprisingly Familiar and Surprisingly Unfamiliar mascots with regular appearances by Surprisingly Racist ones. It's a bit like a Neolithic Foodfight!. 

Everything about this feature is weird, from the slightly uncanny valley illustrations by Raphael Astarita to the fact that it doesn't really seem to be sponsored content (other than a command appearance by NRG, mascot of heavy Star Comics advertiser Baby Ruth). And then the final extant installment comes around and we get the weirdest advertising mascots of all as the Quaker Oats Man leads the Dionne Quintuplets onto stage - five living humans given the same status as the Crackerjack kid or Mr Peanut or some anthropomorphic orange who used to work for Sunkist. It's a grim reminder of just how commodified those poor kids were, right down to their "act" being a pantomime of them going about their day, just like they did in the weird zoo they grew up in. (Star Comics v2 007, 1939)

Gene Autry:

An adventuring version of the singing cowboy in modern times (the Funnies 030, 1939)

George VI of England:

This here visit by King Arnold and his unnamed Queen is certainly meant to evoke the 1939 tour of Canada and the US by King George VI of England and Queen Elizabeth, the future Queen Mother. (Wonderworld Comics 005, 1939)

George Washington:

Not quite an appearance by Washington as adjacent to him, but the fact that one of the Wizard's ancestors is given credit for a key part of the history of the American Revolution is worth noting. (Top-Notch Comics 001, 1939)

FDR:

Misc Minor Appearances: Thanks secret agent K-51 for saving foreign royals (Wonderworld Comics 005, 1939) 

the Mona Lisa:

As the "Lona Dizzi", painted by "Lombardo da Ginki" ("Dixie Dugan" strip, 1931)

Paul Revere:

Ride witnessed - and hide saved - by American Revolution-era child-patriots the Liberty Lads. (Champion Comics 008, 1940)

Robert E. Lee:

Wizard ancestor Thomas Whitney accepts the surrender of Robert E Lee at Appomattox, whether in place of Grant or prior to his showing up cannot be said. (Top-Notch Comics 001, 1939)

Tom Mix:

Like Gene Autry, Tom Mix was a movie cowboy who starred in adventure comics as a larger-than-life version of himself having rootin' tootin' Wild West adventures. Unlike Autry, Tom Mix generally starred in stories set in the Old West, as himself but in the past. Tom Mix also holds the special distinction of appearing in comics from this earliest example (that I have found, at least) to at least the early 50s, long after he had died in October, 1940. (The Comics 001, 1937)

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 564: THE GHOST OF WINTER RANCH

(The Funnies 030, 1939)

This fellow is from a story starring Gene Autry, singing cowboy. It's printed in a comic put out by Dell that mostly features reprints of comic strips and that's probably what this is? Even though online sources suggest that the first Gene Autry comic strip started in 1940 and this came out in 1939? Ultimately, these are mere details. The important fact is that this is my most favourite style of putting a film cowboy actor in an adventure comic: the real Gene Autry is just riding around in the Western US - Montana, in this case - with some sixguns and a guitar, having adventures but also doing all of the singing and movies that are his bread and butter. It's somehow slightly less plausible than when they just drop Tom Mix or Buck Jones into the Old West with no justification but the weirdness makes it fun.

As for the comic itself, we find one "Rowel" Collins (I had to look this one up - a rowel is the pointy wheely bit on a spur, so this is just a more Western version of calling someone Spike) who has just discovered that the mine full of useless ore that he sold as part of his former ranch is in fact a mine full of extremely valuable pitchblende and since Rowel Collins is a dastardly character (just look at his evil mustache!) he vows to get the money that the mine is worth by hook or by crook.

Lucky for Rowel, there are a lot of local superstitions for him to take advantage of: the ranch is situated on a piece of land called the Devil's Ironing Board; the pitchblende is in the Devil's Cave and crucially the ranch is supposed to be haunted (by a cow leg-stealing ghost?). Rowel immediately heads to a nearby shack to activate his old crony Smoky Plants.

Smoky, as the glowing Ghost of Winter Ranch, only really takes one pass at scaring off ranch owners Dan and Peg Winters and since they have the moral support of Gene "ain't scared of no ghosts" Autry Rowel has to resort to gunplay and kidnapping to force the sale.

Rowel and Smoky almost get away with it, in fact, but it turns out that hatching a scheme to sell a mine full of radioactive ore and knowing anything about radiation are two different things and they both end up dropping dead of radiation poising due to the radium they used to make the Ghost's glowing robes. It's terrible, terrible poetic justice.