REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 024

You just can't keep 'em out of comics, those real people.

Adolf Hitler:

Dispatches super-spy Miss X to America. (Daredevil Comics 005, 1941)

Raymond Stokes, the actor playing Hitler in a British propaganda film about London (the super-hero, not the city) inexplicably also turns out to be a Nazi agent who attempts to murder the Prime Minister when he makes a cameo appearance in the movie. (Daredevil Comics 005, 1941)

Al Capone:  

No-first-name Perrone here is another classic example of a crook lent a bit of legitimacy via a Capone-alike name. (Daring Mystery Comics 001, 1940)

Charles Biro:

Carnival stunt-eater Ydlab Orib is a transparent Biro name-drop, though the "Baldy" part of his backward name doesn't really jibe with the pictorial record of the man himself. Whether he was a prodigious eater or not is unrecorded as far as I can find. I would venture that we are witness to a series of in-jokes here. (Daredevil Comics 005, 1941)

Comics Folk:

Give a Golden Age comic creator like Edd Ashe a chance to write a list and you'll get a bunch of references to other Golden Age comics guys. For example, this collection of football stats features a (Harry "A") Chesler College, a (Gil) Fox University and a (Mort) Meskin Mining & Mech. And a double-barrelled reference to Bob Wood, with Wood Military College and also Woodro College, referencing a Bob Wood/Charles Biro combination pen name. (Daredevil Comics 006, 1941)

The list of schools also includes one called Lamont and I was ready to discount it, but then remembered that there was a reference to a Lamont in the previous issue, as a circus freak called the "Man of Wood," which made me think that this might be a third Bob Wood reference and wouldn't you know it some places list his middle name as Lamont or Lemont. What's with all the Bob Wood references, Edd Ashe? 

Franklin Roosevelt: 

Once again, President Roosevelt is placed in the unenviable position of being in charge of a country plagued by the Claw's particular brand of bullshit. He's also placed in shadow and a 3/4 reverse view, because comic artists didn't like to draw his face, presumably out of respect. (Daredevil Comics 002, 1941)

Fritz Julius Kuhn: 

I'll be honest: I had no idea who Fritz Kuhn was and certainly didn't twig to "Herr Kahn" here being a version of him until I took a look to see if "Nordic infested [...] Yorkville" was a real place and spotted his name associated with our favourite band of overhyped losers the German-American Bund on its Wikipedia page. Like the Bund itself, the spectre of Kuhn seems to have haunted comics long after he himself was relevant - he had already been slung in jail for tax evasion by the time this comic was published. (Daredevil Comics 005, 1941)

I was curious, so I looked back at the various Bunds we have thusfar encountered to see if any of them had their own version of Kuhn, and the only real candidates to jump out at me were Fritz Kessel, leader of the Termania Bund (Wonderworld Comics 018, 1940) and Fritz Hewn - presumably rhymes with Kuhn - leader of the Young Bundists (Blue Ribbon Comics 014, 1941)

George Roussos: 

Given the uncommon nature of the surname "Roussos" I have to assume that the crooked newspaper editor in this 13 story is yet another example of Lev Gleason reference-your-coworkers style yuck-em-ups. (Daredevil Comics 003, 1941)

Three issues later sees a murder be committed above the Roussos Pool Room. (Daredevil Comics 006, 1941)

And in the same issue, an index of insane asylum inmates yields a Roussos, a (Jerry) Robinson and a (Bob) Wood. And possibly others, but I can't place them.

Heinrich Himmler:

One of several Nazi officials vexed by the hero London and his "L" campaign (Daredevil Comics 006, 1941)

Rudolph Hess:

Rudolph Hess (or Hesst) and his flight to England are framed as a straightforward espionage mission, with Hesst landing along with fifty picked men via black parachutes. He is immediately captured by London. (Daredevil Comics 003, 1941)

Winston Churchill: 

Initially, I was all set to point out that this "London" adventure featured a completely made-up niece of Winston Churchill making a daring escape from Nazi-occupied Holland, but imagine my surprise when her uncle showed up and was a store-brand imitation Churchill with a mustache. I was particularly caught off guard by this as while US-based comics had a weird reluctance to portray or name FDR they usually had no such qualms about doing so with the PM. (Daredevil Comics 002, 1941)

The False-Churchill returns in the "London" feature in Daredevil Comics 004, and this time his inexplicable presence is highlighted by the unaltered name of Lloyd's of London in the upper left.

Finally, the Churchill-alike in Daredevil Comics 005 looks different enough from both the real deal and Mustache Churchill that we must assume that there has been some sort of regime change between issues. 

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)

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-HERO ROUND-UP 010

MORE MLJ ACTION

Doc Strong:

Doc Strong is a famous scientist living in the year 2041, in a world where WWII dragged on for an entire century and a new Mongol Horde has swept in and conquered the battered remnants of civilization. The strangely Doc Savage-like Doc Strong gathers a group of like-minded scientists and starts a new civilization called the Isle of Right from which to strike back at the invaders with such inventions as a ray gun that solidifies shadows. (Blue Ribbon Comics 004, 1940)

the Fox:

Paul Patton, photographer for the Daily Globe, gets the tar beaten out of him by some fellows called the Night Riders and comes up with a plan:

That's right, he's about halfway between Spider-Man and Batman. Okay, he's mostly Batman but his wearable camera scheme anticipates Perter Parker's epic work hack by about twenty years. The Fox's first attempt at a costume is a bit rough, but eventually...

... he adopts one of the top costumes of the Golden Age! His adventures may be a bit regular but he looks great doing it.

BONUS FOX FACT: his "bat flies through the window" moment comes when he hears a song on the radio. (Blue Ribbon Comics 004, 1940)

the Green Falcon: 

The Green Falcon feature is essentially a Robin Hood Elseworlds story in which Robin is a knight instead of a forest outlaw and his pals Tiny Tuck and Jolly Roundfellow kind of encapsulate a few Merry Men each. Prince John is still there, and Maid Marion, but there are more swordfights than arrow tricks. Hey, I never said it was a particularly compelling Elseworlds story. It is more high concept than you usually get in a Golden Age comic, though. (Blue Ribbon Comics 004-015, 1940-1941)

Ty-Gor:

Ty-Gor is MLJ's answer to Mowgli: a British child orphaned in the jungles of Malaysia and raised by tigers. Ty-Gor is a shortened form of his birth name, Tyrone Gorman, which he learns thanks to an absurd series of events pictured above.

I don't usually have a lot of time for jungle adventures but Ty-Gor does have a pretty fun twist in that after a half dozen issues he is brought to New York by explorer Dr Davis and his daughter Joan and Does Not Adapt. He's just a wild kid who knows about five word maximum thrust into the public school system and causing havoc. It's fun! (Blue Ribbon Comics 004, 1940)

BONUS TY-GOR AS A BABY EATING GRAPES