FASCIST GOON CLEARING HOUSE 008

Will they ever mend their evil ways?

Like the Purple Shirts before them, the Black Legion exists mainly to represent the Forces of Unamericanism that Uncle Sam stands against, as they seek to win the hearts and minds of in this case the small Midwest community of Glen Valley (by shooting anyone who resists). The only real bit of innovation that they bring to the table are these rad machine gun motorcycles they go into battle on.

They also have a nose cutout on their masks, which indicates that they prioritize comfort over style. (National Comics 005, 1940)

The unnamed group that Uncle Sam fights in the next issue has a similar uniform in warm brown tones, and makes the interesting choice to wear it even while operating their submersible aircraft carrier base in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. That's some real dedication to secrecy. (National Comics 006, 1940)

The European-American Band, yet another take on the German-American Bund, is deceived and then dismantled in fairly short order by vacationing cartoonist-detective Pen Miller. (National Comics 006, 1940)

No comic book analog of the German-American Bund is particularly kind in its depiction but the Moronia Bund might just be the most insulting. I'm not sure why all the Moronian Americans are bald - it doesn't seem to be a requirement for entry as Perry "the Press Guardian" Chase is able to join up as a junior member to spy on them despite his luscious black locks. (Pep Comics 002, 1940)

(surprisingly, the Moronia Bund - under the slightly more sleek name "the Moroniabund" manages to scrape up another bunch of bald fascists to make a second appearance in Pep Comics 003, but gets its ass just as thoroughly kicked by the Press Guardian as the first time)

REAL PERSON ROUND-UP 007

It's a bumper crop of real people (and famous fictional ones) showing up in comics!

Adolf Hitler:

This is very, very tenuous but this adventure story is concerned with a hunt for mythical man-goat lycanthropes known as "weredolfs" and I'll be danged if I can think of a reason for them to be called that other than as a very oblique jab at Adolf Hitler. (Hyper Mystery Comics 001, 1940)

Less tenuous: when Cartho (one of the seemingly limitless number of lost empires dotting the jungles of Africa) attempts to invade Camilla's Lost Empire, its jerk of a leader is of course named Hitlo. (Jungle Comics 010, 1940)

Mias here is the leaser of a small Asian country that has set its sights on conquering the Philippines. He's a pastiche of 40s dictators but his Hitlerian traits shine brightest. (National Comics 003, 1940)

FDR:

Minor appearances:

Congratulates Wonder Boy for helping some farmers (National Comics 005, 1940)

the Forty Thieves:

It's never really explained how, but the Forty Thieves of Arabian Nights fame steal the Ophar Jewel from a lady in modern London and Merlin the Magician heads back in time to get it back with the help of a contemporary Cockney street gang. (National Comics 004, 1940)

Jack Dempsey:

Former boxing champ Jack Dempsey and his New York restaurant pop up with a fair frequency in 1940s comics, particularly ones featuring boxers such as Kid Dixon here. Why he and other boxers tended to show up under their own names rather than under flimsy pseudonyms like "Dack Jempsey" is a mystery - although I suppose that the real life boxing community had already proven to be okay with showing up in the "Joe Palooka" comic strip so perhaps comics creators assumed that they would be fair game. (National Comics 003, 1940) 

John D Rockefeller:

Minor appearances:

Never-seen millionaire and target of criminal scientist von Lohfer is by context clues an analog of Rockefeller. (National Comics 005, 1940)

Michael Malloy:

The story of Michael Malloy, the seemingly unkillable man targeted by a gang in a life insurance racket, is an evocative one, so it's unsurprising to see it crop up as a comic book plot here and there. Happily for Malloy's in-story equivalent Milligan, the gang is rounded up by comic book artist/ detective Pen Miller before they are finally able to overcome his iron constitution. (National Comics 002, 1940)

Neville Chamberlain:

The Kid Patrol, a mid-to-low-tier kid gang, encounters this clearly allusive lad, Sir Chamberlain Bumbershoote by name, while they are being pranked and vexed by another gang. Weirdly, though Bumbershoote's talk of appeasement and attempt to get a signed nonaggression pact with this very Hitlerian gang leader are presented derisively he himself is a formidable figure who routs the entire gang with his trusty umbrella. Neville Chamberlain must have been hovering precisely on the precipice of becoming an historical punchline when this one was published. (National Comics 006, 1940)

Ruby Keeler:

Hollywood comic strip 'Olly of the Movies,' well into its second year, was overdue for some gratuitous movie star cameos so actress Ruby Keeler just kind of shows up on a beach along with Dick Powell and Busby Berkeley. Everyone says hello and then parts ways. (Famous Funnies 023, 1936)

The gratuity continues in the next issue, with perfunctory appearances by Hugh Herbert, Joan Blondell and Zasu Pitts, and with Guy Kibbee in a very minor role in the actual plot. (Famous Funnies 024, 1936)

(Famous Funnies 024 also features this crowd of what are presumably supposed to recognizable Hollywood faces but I can only identify Bing Crosby in the yellow sweater vest and then only because someone did an impression of him on the previous page. Bub bub boo!)

Sherlock Holmes: 

They may not have given him a parody name, but Dinky Dinkerton here is clearly a Holmes parody comedy character, aided by Doctor Philip Anbust (aka Sniffy) in the Watson role (the third member of the trio, secretary Flossie, is not a Holmes character parody but is the brains of the operation, something that Holmes pastiches often leave out, to their ultimate detriment). (Reg'lar Fellers Heroic Comics 001, 1940)

Another broad Sherlock Holmes pastiche is the unfortunately-named-to-modern-eyes Fuller Spunk, who is actually an actor known for playing "Herlock Olmes", so perhaps he is more of a reference to Basil Rathbone. (interesting to note that the character of Marcel was originally bringing "female impersonation" to the group but that that skill was tossed aside in favour of a suite of stage magician tricks) (Hyper Mystery Comics 002, 1940)

Shoshenq I:

In Jungle Comics 011, previously straightforward jungle explorer Roy Lance goes nuts for discovering the mystic secrets of the pharaohs* and specifically for finding the genie-controlling power of Sheshonk. Who is Sheshonk, you ask? Why, he is better known as Pharaoh Shoshenq I, more famous than he might otherwise be because he is associated with the Biblical figure Shishak who warred against Solomon and looted the treasures of the Temple - he is mentioned as having been the one to hide away the Ark of the Covenant in Raiders of the Lost Ark, for example. (Shoshenk I is also a candidate to be the father of an Egyptian princess married to Solomon, which the story alludes to by calling him "father-in-law to King Solomon")

*based on the fact that both the Roy Lance and Red Panther stories in Jungle 010 were out-of-context sci-fi adventures and that the Simba story in 009 was made up of repurposed panels from earlier Simba stories I suspect that Fiction House had gotten a bit behind and were renaming characters in any old stories they had spare in order to make deadlines.

This story also features two other possible allusive figures: Lance's doomed companion Lord Carvon seems likely to be a reference to Lord Carnarvon of the Curse of King Tut fame, while "Tera Bey, Mistress of Mysteries" is a figure as evocative as she is elusive. Literally the only thing I have been able to come up with is the possibility that she is a reference to Queen Tera, mysterious ancient mummy from the Bram Stoker novel The Jewel of Seven Stars, but it's equally likely that she is a made-up bit of deus ex machina to get our heroes out of a sealed tomb. (Jungle Comics 011, 1940)

MINOR SUPER-HERO ROUND-UP 031

Great guns! More of them?

the Masked Angel:

Steve Oakes, wealthy playboy just so happens to also be the Masked Angel, vigilante feared by the underworld and wanted by the police.

Steve's father Detective Inspector John Oakes was murdered by crooks, so the Masked Angel act is his way of getting back at the criminal fraternity. It also seems to be a way to troll his brother, Detective Inspector John Oakes II, who is an asshole and who hates the Masked Angel in your classic way that a police officer does when they're part of a vigilante's supporting cast. Also please note the fun "angel shooting a gun" signature on the Masked Angel's taunting note. (Miracle Comics 001 1940)

Uncle Sam:

We're skirting the edge of what might be considered "minor" here, at least to DC Comics fans, but I have no Median Super-Hero category and however you slice it your parents almost certainly have not heard of him so here goes:

Uncle Sam is the physical embodiment of the patriotic ideal of the United States: good, kind, powerful and just. He emerges to lend a physical hand in times of turmoil by inhabiting of reshaping the body of a recently slain patriot.

This time around, Uncle Sam is (implicitly, all of this isn't really spelled out until later) reborn from the death of Ezra Smith, who stands up to fascist agitators the Purple Shirts and gets a bullet in the back for his trouble. He sticks around to beat Axis ass for the duration of the war and then is not seen again until DC integrates the Quality characters into Earth-2 continuity in the 1970s. (National Comics 001, 1940)

National Comics 005 expands the Uncle Sam lore slightly, firstly by making it a bit more explicit that he incorporates the spirits of dying patriots into himself with what is perhaps the initial time he did so, when a man named Sam sacrifices his own life to advance the cause during the American Revolution.

Secondly, Sam is seen merging with a living patriot named Samuel in order to help drive the fascist Black Legion out of Glen Valley. Is this a common event? Does Uncle Sam roam the land absorbing patriots? Who can say, but it certainly would put a new spin on the character.

Buddy Smith:

When Ezra Smith is murdered by the Purple Shirts, his grandson Buddy is left alone, presumably some sort of double-orphan. He is almost immediately found, shamed for crying, and adopted by Uncle Sam (and hopefully the near immediate recovery Buddy has from the grief of seeing his grandfather gunned down in front of his eyes is a function of Uncle Sam being partially Ezra Smith and not some sort of deep traumatic repression left to fester in his soul).

Buddy fills a pretty standard kid sidekick role: getting into trouble, getting Uncle Sam out of trouble, inventing things, befriending people, spotting clues, etc. He is unusual in that he is one of the few kid sidekicks who is a proper kid as opposed to being a young teenager (I know the common wisdom is that Dick Grayson was eight when he became Robin but that's mostly because Golden Age artists - and particularly Bob Kane - were mostly very bad at drawing kids. Robin was absolutely supposed to be somewhere in the 12-15 range when he debuted). He's also notable for - as far as I know - never ever showing up again post-Quality, not even in that event earlier this year that was specifically focused on bringing back all the old (and new) Golden Age kid sidekicks. Maybe Uncle Sam ate absorbed him once he got old/patriotic enough. (National Comics 001, 1940)

Merlin the Magician:

Jock Kellog, a wealthy playboy in the classic mold, spends the last of his family fortune on the same day he is summoned to the bedside of his sole relative, an unnamed uncle. Instead of the fat stacks of cash that he is hoping for, Kellog comes away with a cloak and the knowledge that he is supposedly the last descendant of Merlin of Arthuriana fame.

It turns out that he is in fact the last descendant of Merlin, of course, and that the cloak is a source of unlimited magical power in the grand tradition of mystic super-heroes like Zatara. Lucky for the world at large, the application of vast power has the opposite of its usual effect on the young wastrel and Jock devotes his newfound power to the defense and betterment of humanity. (National Comics 001, 1940)

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)