In Young Men #24 (August 1953), Atlas (Marvel) Comics attempted to revive its three most popular Golden Age superheroes. First, the Human Torch steps into the spotlight after a 4-year hiatus, explaining his super-powers to the readers, er criminals, narrating his history wherein he explains that he burned Hitler to death: And ensuring everyone still […]
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Timely (Marvel) Comics tries to flesh out Captain America’s back story in Captain America #59 (August 1946), with a re-telling of his origin, an updating that Steve and Bucky have been recently honorably discharged from the Army, and then Steve choosing to go back to his role as a school teacher. I blame Stan Lee, […]
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By the mid-1940s, Miss America from Timely (Marvel) had transitioned from a comic book into a “magazine” with lots of ads targeting young women and articles/stories seeking to shape young girls minds into proper “American ideals”. I love how every article consists of the the first page and then a “continued on some later page” […]
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In Captain America #54, Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes appear out of their army uniforms (for the first time, I believe) though they are both still working for the army. Speaking of civilian garb, I got a big kick out of the ad at the end of Captain America #54 for a “trick tie”. By […]
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USA dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 with Japan announcing surrender in a matter of days. Nonetheless, it took until October 1945 for stories mentioning “atomic” science to make their way into the public’s hands. The stories had been held back thanks to wartime censorship. I actually found it pretty […]
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By May 1945, Germany had surrendered to the Allies – yet the comic books that came out in July 1945, like Sub-Mariner Comics #17, had been written before that. In this one, Namor takes on the Order of the Blue Flower, a fascist group that looks and talks a lot like the Ku Klux Klan. […]
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In February 1945, Comic Cavalcade #10 reprinted “Tomorrow, the World”, a 17-page story based on the 1944 movie of the same name, which, in turn, was based on the 1943 Broadway play of the same name. It’s a pretty powerful story of a Nazi-influenced Germany boy coming to live in America with his uncle and […]
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In All-Star Comics #24 (February 1945), Wildcat and Mr. Terrific are called in on a case and join the Justice Society of America. Honorary members The Flash and Green Lantern show up to hear about the case. The story is more World War 2 propaganda told through the re-education of a recently drafted young American […]
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The war was still going strong in January 1945 when “Johnny Everyman” stories began to show up in DC’s World’s Finest Comics. In Worlds’ Finest #17, the installment describes the story of Ralph, an African American soldier and a friend of Johnny Everyman, as he returns to the United States a decorated war hero. Johnny […]
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Throughout 1944, Timely Comics (Marvel) featured increasingly vicious covers as its heroes were shown battling Nazis and Japanese soldiers in surprisingly violent ways. Here, Captain America is shown simultaneously punching, kicking and shooting three different Japanese soldiers, while Bucky Barnes uses a flamethrower on another in an effort to prevent a bridge from being blown […]
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