REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 021

They just love putting real folks and versions of real folks in comics and I just love finding them and putting them on my blog. 

Adolf Hitler:

An in-all-but-name version of Hitler gets mad at Citizen Smith for foiling his plans and plots. (Captain Fearless Comics 002, 1941)

Gang boss and Deacon foe Duke Adare's little toothbrush mustache is what initially drew my attention, even though that wasn't nearly as glaring a signpost of a character being a Hitler stand-in in the 1940s. As the story wore on it became clear that my instincts were correct, as Adare used overwhelming military force to overwhelm the lawmen of Midland City and loot its treasury. And then of course you get to the end of the story, where they're referring to him as a "would-be Crime Fuehrer". (Cat-Man Comics 005, 1941)

Minor appearances: 

Captain Fearless Comics 001, 1941 

Al Capone: 

Lou Pacone, gang boss and murderer of the Secret Circle's father, is yet another example of Al Capone's name being remixed to give someone a gangstery sounding moniker. (Choice Comics 001, 1941)

Axis & Allied Figures: 

"America's Air Army" was an extremely patriotic feature that was essentially US Army Air Force fan fiction about what would happen if and when the United States entered WWII, published just before they did. It's the tale of the US forces (with a little help from the Brits) curb stomping the Axis for about half an hour before we get this little scene, with Hitler surrendering while Goering, Walther von Brauchitch (recently relieved of duty when this comic was published), Cordell Hull (I think) and Churchill observe. (Air Fighters v1 001, 1941) 

FDR: 

The President gets kidnapped by Dr Sivana! And Rescued by Captain Marvel! (Whiz Comics 014, 1941)

Minor Appearances: Captain Aero Comics 001, 1941

Lord Haw-Haw: 

In his final Golden Age adventure, the Arrow aka intelligence agent Ralph Payne heads into Germany to apprehend the traitorous broadcaster "Lord Hawford." (The Arrow 003, 1941) 

Manuel Prado Ugarteche: 

Lance O'Casey and his pal Dan'l Doom wash up on the shores of Peru and get mixed up in a scheme to overthrow the country by the wicked El Tigre. They foil him and restore power to the rightful president, Alfredo Blanco, who is extremely not Manuel Prado Ugarteche, the Peruvian president in our version of 1941. (Whiz Comics 015, 1941)

Rudolph Hess: 

"Deputy-Dictator Brinker" lands in a farmer's field near Washington in what is certainly a reference to Hess' flight to Scotland but is in fact revealed to be part of a plan to invade the US. The whole thing is nearly undone by the fact that the FBI doesn't even bother to check on this seeming defection and just tells the poor farmer to deal with it. (Captain Fearless Comics 002, 1941)

Sherlock Holmes:

Dr Miracle is on the trail of a mystery, and who better to help than the summoned spirit of Sherlock Holmes Herlock Sholmes? Per the conceit of the story I guess this means that Sholmes was a real living guy at some point. (Champ Comics 012, 1941)

Unknown Dancers: 

Yet again we have an example of "this seems like a reference to something but I can't find specifics," in this case a dance team known as Velox & Costanza. The concept of a duo performing cultural dances from exotic locales crops up now and then as entertainment in comics but I'm never sure if the references to them are general or specific, and brief fads in live entertainment are among the trickiest things to casually research on the internet - it's more of a "comb through several years' worth of newspapers" kind of thing. (Whiz Comics 023, 1941)

Walter Winchell: 

As an example of why I include the Unknown entries in these round-ups: I had Walter Chinwell here listed as "Unknown Reporter" for something like two weeks before I came across Walter Winchell's name in a list of 1940s radio announcers. And Winchell is someone I had already heard of! (Silver Streak Comics 008, 1941) 

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 077

Please enjoy about half of the Great Comics stable of characters.  

Kangaroo Man:

The Kangaroo Man is Jack Brian, who gets his name thanks to his animal companion: Bingo, an astonishingly well-trained kangaroo. 

Jack might be a pretty standard comic book adventurer, but Bingo, though his vocabulary is limited to a "rsp, rsp" sound, is of seemingly near-human intelligence and able to act essentially as another human character in the strip. Here's Bingo parachuting out of an airplane, for example.

Bingo also has a respectable body count for an animal hero - he does a lot of whacking explosives at people and people at explosives. (Choice Comics 001, 1941)

Categorized in: Animals (Marsupials), Generica (Mans), Origins (Nonhuman)

Atlas the Mighty:

Atlas the Mighty has exactly one recorded adventure, in which he foils a band of fifth columnists who are stealing war materials in Oregon and then smuggling them to Canada. Or possibly the other way around. Though his name and his powers (super strength, invulnerability) evoke the Titan Atlas, Atlas the Mighty gets not one whiff of an origin and so any connection between the two is speculative at best. (Choice Comics 001, 1941)

Categorized in: Famous Figures (Mythological), Language (Superlatives), Origins (Unknown)

the Secret Circle:

The Secret Circle are actually brothers Jim (heavyweight boxing champion), Larry (pole vault record holder) and Mac (track star) Storm. Does it bother me that there are three of them and they went with a circle rather than a triangle? Heck yes it does.

Though there's some indication that the Secret Circle are already established vigilantes, they really get going when gang boss Lou Pacone murders their father, Police Commissioner Storm (incidentally, this happens while all three brothers are out setting records in their chosen fields, and while I won't go so far as to say that Commissioner Storm deserved to be murdered for being a bad father I will note that he would still be alive if he had taken the day off to support his sons instead of doing work that could have been delegated).

Though Larry and Mac's specialties do occasionally come in handy, all three Storm brothers spend most of their adventures punching out crooks, which kind of devalues Jim's contributions. (Choice Comics 001, 1941)

Categorized in: Generica (Circles), Origins (Crime Orphans)

Fire-Eater: 

Fire-Eater, aka Mike O'Malley, is a stage performer whose act consists of the same fire-eating and -exhaling that he employs in his crimefighting. This is very important for those of us who are interested in the in-universe origins of super-hero (and super-villain) costumes, because it means that Fire-Eater's is in fact his stage outfit, and that he looks like that for professional reasons rather than as an expression of his secret inner self.

Despite his name, Fire-Eater does not actually eat any fire in his two recorded adventures. Instead, he eats "sodium capsules" (yikes) that allow him to breath streams of flame hot enough to melt lead and iron, and with enough force to travel at least a few dozen feet. He also seems to be at least somewhat invulnerable to heat and flame, which is handy not just because he deals in the stuff but because like a lot of fire guys he mostly fights arsonists, together with his girlfriend, nurse Louise Peters (Choice Comics 001, 1941)

Categorized in: Activities (Eating), Elements (Fire)